This article was originally published in Canadian Architect on January 27, 2025. Heritage Regina has not contributed to, or edited, this article.

By Catherine Nasmith, OAA (RET) FRAIC CAHP

With climate change and housing shortages being two of the top issues in Canada and around the world, how does it make any sense to continue to have the virtually unfettered right to demolish buildings in Canada? Unless a building has heritage status, (less than 1 per cent do) you can obtain a demolition permit over the counter on demand anywhere in the country. The right to demolish is rooted in outmoded planned obsolescence practices that originated in the post-war building boom. A right to demolish has no place in the era of climate change. Conservation of all resources is critical to survival.

Society rationalizes demolition by saying, “the old must make way for the new.” We would never apply that rationale to the elderly or infirm. We do all we can to extend the life or people as long as possible, surely, we should do the same for our buildings.

Buildings contain irreplaceable environmental resources. In some Canadian jurisdictions, cultural heritage value or rental housing protection policies intervene between buildings and the wrecking ball. Heritage laws emerged in the 1960s and ’70s to try to keep important buildings out of the demolition stream. In the 21^st century, the question of cultural value is eclipsed by the environmental dangers of demolition. It’s not only an issue of running out of landfill space to deal with the approximately 30 per cent of landfill from the construction industry, but it is also the loss of material that could, and should, be re-used, recycled, and repurposed. The best way to conserve material is to maintain our building stock where it stands. I am writing this article from home in a 100-year-old repurposed school building. Down the street an older hotel has been repurposed by the City of Toronto for social housing. Smart developers are rehabilitating office space for housing.

With every new build, our debt to the environment mounts. In the middle of a housing crisis, in Toronto’s Regent Park, buildings that could and should be rehabilitated sit boarded up, waiting for demolition and new construction to create new housing units. With a bit more imagination, we could build over and around what we have.

How is it that Canada has excellent policies on recycling small stuff like pop cans and paper but not buildings? How is it that the school boards and other institutional property owners are permitted to defer maintenance to the point that demolition and its associated waste and disruption become inevitable? The Toronto District School Board has a mounting maintenance backlog of more than 4.2 billion in 2023.

Thinking is changing. The Declaration of Chaillot, passed March 2024 in France at the United Nations Environment Program’s Building and Climate Global Forum, represents a major shift in approach. Endorsed by over 70 countries, including Canada, it calls for, among other things, “prioritizing the re-use, repurposing and renovation of existing buildings and infrastructures to minimize the use of non-renewable resources, maximize energy efficiency and achieving climate neutrality, sustainability, and safety with particular focus on the lowest performing buildings.” The report cites an annual production worldwide of “100 billion tons of waste annually generated from construction, demolition, and renovation processes,” and that “most of the materials are wasted at the end-of-use phase of these processes, with about 35 per cent sent to landfills.”

There are two things our Canadian governments can do right away. The first is to introduce planning policies that prioritize building adaptation and reuse over demolition and new build, with financial incentives to match; the second is to introduce a notice period of 60 days prior to issuing a demolition permit. That nominal notice period can be easily worked into the construction planning calendar and would give municipalities a chance to ensure that all measures are taken to avoid the environmental damage of demolition.

As your grandmother said, “waste not, want not.”

Catherine Nasmith is a recently retired architect. As a heritage consultant and volunteer advocate, she specializes in the conservation of buildings from her two offices (both rehabilitated buildings) in Muskoka and Toronto.

Sandra Schmirler – perhaps better known in many circles by her nickname “Schmirler the Curler” – is one of Regina’s best-known athletes. Originally born in Biggar, Saskatchewan, she went on to become one of the world’s best female curlers, leading her team as skip to win 6 provincial, 3 Canadian, and 3 world championships throughout the ‘90s before leading Team Canada to gold at the 1998 Olympic games. The win against Denmark solidified Schmirler’s place – alongside her teammates Jan Betker, Marcia Gudereit, and Joan McCusker – in history, with the medal being the first awarded for women’s curling since the sport’s last Olympic appearance in 1924.

Having earned a Bachelor’s in Physical Education from the University of Saskatchewan in 1985, Schmirler moved to Regina and began working at the city’s leisure centres, where she ultimately became the supervisor of the South East Leisure Centre. She married Shannon England in 1996, and their two daughters were born in 1997 and 1999.

Schmirler passed away at in March, 2000 after a battle with cancer at the age of just 36. Her passing was mourned across the country, with Prime Minister Chretien memorializing her “as a champion curler” and “exemplary sports ambassador”, noting her “bright, engaging personality and her incredible zest for life, qualities that were so clearly in evidence as she fought so valiantly against her illness”. In honour of Sandra, the South East Leisure Centre was renamed in her honour, as was the road leading to her team’s practice rink at the Callie Curling Club.

In honour of Women’s History Month, we honour incredible contributions of the “Queen of Curling” to sport, to recreation in Regina, and her legacy that lives on through the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.

Photo credit: Sandra Schmirler Foundation, retrieved from Discover Humbolt

Sandra Schmirler speaking at a banquet for her 1994 World Champion Women’s Curling Team. City of Regina Archives, CORA-C-1015. Lieutenant Governor Dr. Sylvia Fedoruk is in the background, herself the first woman appointed to the role.

Heritage Regina is a proud contributor and supporter of the new Tracy Youck Foundation Memorial Scholarship at the University of Regina, which will be award to a student in either the elementary or secondary streams of Arts Education in the Faculty of Education. The scholarship is in memory of Tracy Youck, who passed away in 2023; many of you will know her husband, James Youck, who is a friend of Heritage Regina and has spoken at our Lecture Series several times in recent years. For more information about the Foundation, or to donate, you can visit their webpage.

IN MEMORIAM

The Gordon Block (1912-2023)

The Novia Café pictured in 1975, seen from Victoria Park. Photo credit City of Regina Archives, CORA-A-1306

After a difficult retirement, the Gordon Block – the former home of the beloved Novia Café – passed away at the age of 111 in a tragic incident of arson. She had been a recluse for over a decade.

Gordon Block opened at 2170 12^th Ave, on the north side of Victoria Park, in 1912, right as Regina was rebuilding from the devasting 1912 Tornado. The Novia Café, once a beloved downtown staple, opened in the building in 1918. Initially a fine-dining establishment, the café underwent a renovation in the 1960s that transitioned the restaurant into a more casual dining atmosphere. It was an iconic downtown restaurant, even surviving a frightening incident in 1982, when a metal I-beam from the implosion of the McCallum Hill Building smashed through the east wall of the building, into the Novia. After 93 years of hospitality, the beloved café ultimately closed its doors in 2011.

In 1996, the building was designated a Municipal Heritage Building as part of the creation of the Victoria Park Heritage Conservation District. The bylaw that created the district created guidelines to “preserve and promote the distinctive heritage and character of the area surrounding Victoria Park and the Scarth Street Mall by facilitating the rehabilitation of the predominantly pre-World War I heritage buildings and encouraging the redevelopment of properties in keeping with the character of the adjacent heritage buildings”.

Heritage Regina supports the revitalization of the lot formerly occupied by the Gordon Block and hopes to see that it respects the Conservation District’s guidelines, which stipulate that any new buildings “should relate to the design elements of the heritage buildings in a way which enhances the existing heritage character”. The presence of so many buildings surrounding the Gordon Block within the District that predate World War I means that careful attention must be paid to the character and history of the district whenever development projects are undertaken.

Throughout its life, Gordon Block had its doors open to the community. Now, with her gone, the space will continue in that spirit, with an outdoor recreation space being planned for the site where she once stood.

Cremation of the building has taken place. In lieu of flowers and in memory of the Block, please consider attending a Heritage Regina event to learn more about the history of our city, or talk to your city councilor to advocate for the preservation of Regina’s cultural and built heritage.

Photo by Troy Fleece, National Post.

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