Updated on 16 April 2026 at 13h11
The possible demolition of the Richard-Trottier Arena continues to spark discussion at city council. The issue took up nearly 30 minutes of the question period during the April 14 meeting.
Eight citizens had registered to speak. Some questioned the current process, while others wanted to highlight the lack of ice rinks in the Fabreville area.
Audrey Charpentier, vice-president of Ringuette Laval, was among them.
“While I have been working to promote ringette for over 30 years — and as the recruitment coordinator for my association for the past six years — I am completely stunned that I cannot work in my own neighbourhood,” she said. “[…] The closest arenas to our neighbourhood are a 15-minute drive away.”
It should be noted that the Demolition Committee held a public hearing on March 30 to invite citizens to express their views on the demolition of this heritage building, which has been unused since 2018. Following the hearing, the municipal body decided to postpone its decision to a later meeting, the date of which has not yet been announced.
Giving citizens a voice
The opposition used this question period to reaffirm its position on the issue: it wants a public consultation on the future of the site to be held before any demolition takes place, not after the building is already gone.
“We are putting the cart before the horse,” said Louise Lortie, municipal councillor for Marc-Aurèle-Fortin. “We are talking about demolishing first, then thinking about the future of the site. That is exactly the opposite of what we should be doing as a local government.”
“During door-to-door outreach, [the future of the arena] is a question that comes up regularly,” added councillor Martin Vaillancourt, whose Fabreville-South district includes the arena. “Citizens are concerned about what is happening and […] it shows that we need a consultation. A demolition is irreversible.”
Ms. Lortie also tabled a letter from Jocelyn Thibault, former NHL goaltender, calling for the preservation of the arena.
“Renovating, modernizing, and bringing the Richard-Trottier Arena back to life would send a clear message that Laval chooses to invest in its youth and in its communities,” wrote the former Director General of Hockey Québec. “I respectfully invite you to reconsider the current approach and to prioritize an option that would preserve this neighbourhood arena, where many young people took their first steps in hockey. Laval needs spaces for its youth to be active. The Richard-Trottier Arena is one of them. We cannot afford to lose such an infrastructure in Laval.”
Mr. Vaillancourt instead tabled a notice of motion asking the executive committee to commit “not to authorize the demolition of the Richard-Trottier Arena until a public consultation on the future of this building has been completed.”
He also calls for the executive committee to “mandate the general administration so that the public consultation covers all possible options to meet the neighbourhood’s needs for local infrastructure.”
The motion will be debated next month.
Excessive costs
For his part, Mayor Stéphane Boyer justified the process by stating that the building is no longer usable.
“Regardless of what we decide to do and what purpose we assign to the site, the building is so outdated that we will need to rebuild something and obtain authorization to demolish the existing structure,” he said.
He pointed to the condition of the concrete slab and structure, corrosion, and the clay soil beneath the arena where water accumulates, as some of the reasons that would lead to “excessive costs to renovate the arena.”
However, Mr. Boyer added that he hears the citizens calling for a public consultation regarding the demolition. “We will suspend the decision to ensure clarity on what the next steps will be before taking any further action,” he concluded.
Petition launched
A petition was also launched by Parti Laval on the evening of April 14.
It calls on the City “to hold a complete, accessible, and transparent public consultation on the future of the site, including the option of preserving the arena building, and to do so before any irreversible decision regarding the Richard-Trottier Arena.”
At the time of publication, it had a little over 350 signatures.
It is available at: voselus.info/pétitionarénatrottier.
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