Belcourt Centre to be sold by Catholic diocese

The Belcourt Centre in Rustico is not going to be torn down.

Instead, the Catholic Diocese of Charlottetown says it plans to sell the building and land and build the new spirituality centre elsewhere.

"More recently in the last month or two, we've been looking at alternate sites," said diocese spokesman Gerry Gabriel.

"All of these sites are within Queen's county and so we're trying to make sure that it's centrally located vis-a-vis the population of P.E.I."

Some residents of Rustico have been lobbying to save the 80-year-old building since the diocese announced it would be building a new centre on the same property.

The Belcourt Centre was built in the 1880s. It burned down and was rebuilt in the 1930's.

It has been used as a convent and as a school but for the past 40 years, the Catholic Diocese has been running the building and using it for retreats.

Residents says it is an important piece of Acadian culture in the area and they want the building preserved. They filed an application with the province to have the old Belcourt Centre protected as a heritage building.

Art Buote is heading the committee to save the building. He said bothsides met Thursday in Rustico and they "made progress" and will continue talking.

But for the diocese, the decision to build elsewhere has been made and it's the best option.

"It will be a delay in the construction process, but we're still hopeful that we can get construction underway in this so-called construction year," said Gabriel.