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This historical association deserves to be celebrated, if not by saving the whole house, at least by saving its outside walls facing Cobourg Avenue and Wilbrod Street. Yet the Ugandan government wishes to demolish the house in its entirety and replace it with a purpose-built three-storey office building. Worse, the city approved these plans last year, and even effected a zoning bylaw change that compromises any future residential use.

A lot is wrong with this picture: demolition by neglect of a house in a Heritage Conservation District; siting of an office building on a quiet street zoned residential; turning our collective back on an important highlight of Canadian history.

Is this really how the Ugandan government wishes to be known in Canada – as the developer that tore down the former home of our most distinguished diplomat? Does it have no respect for the memory of a former Canadian prime minister and architect of the Commonwealth that unites our two countries? How would it react if the Canadian government compromised an element of its own heritage?

It does not have to be this way. The house at 231 Cobourg is still standing, and some of its features can be saved. What is required is some goodwill and a little imagination to salvage what can still be saved. Will the High Commission rise to the challenge, and will the City of Ottawa support this effort?

Architectural heritage is a non-renewable resource. Once it is gone, it is gone forever. When it disappears, our memories of who used to live there, what they did and how they lived dim and fade. The house where Pearson lived when he made all Canadians proud by winning the Nobel Peace Prize deserves a better fate than ending up in rubble.

François Bregha is a member of the Planning and Heritage Committee of Action Sandy Hill.

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