Champ des possibles, Green space in Mile End, Montreal, Canada.
Champ des Possibles is a roughly 9,000 m² green space in Mile End, Montreal, lying south of the Canadian Pacific railway line between Henri-Julien and de Gaspé streets. Former textile workshops border it to the west and the Carmel de Montréal to the east. The flat, open terrain holds vegetable gardens, wild vegetation and paths, with about 300 plant and animal species recorded on the site.
The site was a Canadian Pacific Railway sorting yard from the late 19th century until the late 1980s, when the tracks were removed and the land was left fallow. In 2006 the City of Montreal acquired the plot. In 2007, as real-estate development threatened the site, resident Emily Rose Michaud traced a Roerich symbol on the ground, and in 2010 an association was formed to protect the space.
Residents of Mile End reclaimed the former rail yard by laying out vegetable gardens, holding concerts and cleaning the plot themselves. In 2007, resident Emily Rose Michaud drew a Roerich symbol on the ground to oppose real-estate development, and in 2010 an association formed to protect the site, now managed by Les Amis du Champ des Possibles.
The space is open year-round and managed by a local organization that maintains the grounds, making it accessible in all seasons. Visitors can walk through freely and enjoy the area at their own pace without restrictions.
In 2007, resident Emily Rose Michaud drew a Roerich symbol on the ground here to oppose planned real-estate development, referencing the artist behind the 1935 treaty protecting artistic and historic monuments. The mark was a protest gesture on land that had been a rail yard.
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