Local heritage supporters are pushing to have Saskatchewan Hospital declared a provincial heritage site.
The matter came up March 19 at the meeting of the City of North Battleford's Parks and Recreation Committee. The Battlefords Heritage Society asked for a letter of support from the City in their quest to apply for the designation.
That motion was carried at the meeting and will be recommended to council.
The 100-year-old Saskatchewan Hospital, the province's only forensic psychiatric hospital, is slated to be retired from active use and replaced by a facility in the coming few years. Construction of a new hospital is slated for 2013.
In his letter to the committee, Battlefords Heritage Society president Richard Hiebert noted the grand history of the existing structure and its importance to the surrounding communities.
"Officially, the Saskatchewan Hospital is not part of North Battleford, or Battleford, proper. But in every other sense, it is. The histories of the hospital and both the city of North Battleford and town of Battleford are intimately bound together."
At the meeting Hiebert reiterated his support for the historic structure's preservation.
"There's no place like it around here," Hiebert stated.
He urged the committee to make efforts to have it declared a heritage site in order to prevent it from being demolished by developers.
"I'd really hate to see it fall under the wrecking ball," said Hiebert.
While it seemed like a far-fetched notion, Hiebert said this was exactly what happened in Weyburn to a historic hospital there.
He raised the spectre that Saskatchewan Hospital could be demolished by a developer in favor of "luxury condos."
Hiebert urged that the exterior of the old Saskatchewan Hospital collective - the main building, and auxiliary buildings, such as the stone church, the old power house and the curling rink, as well as the grounds, be preserved and the buildings used well into the future.
