Villa Maria College’s future could be decided ‘within weeks’ by Sisters’ hand-picked board

Villa Maria College has stood on the slope of Mount Royal for more than 170 years.

Now, the school’s fate could be decided “within weeks,” according to Désirée McGraw, the member of the National Assembly for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, where the school is located, as a fight over the fate of the land owned by the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame wears on.

A newly appointed board — ushered in and hand-picked in March by the Congregation — is expected to make recommendations in June on what should happen to the historic private school, McGraw told The Gazette. The school educates about 1,800 students in both French and English and employs roughly 200 staff.

“My understanding now is that the timeline has been moved up,” McGraw said, adding that the decision was initially expected to be made in August.

Following the board’s recommendation, the congregation will make the final decision, per Villa Maria’s governance rules.

But even before a decision is made, McGraw warned the prolonged uncertainty is already hurting enrolment and threatening the school’s survival.

“A terrible scenario would be that Villa Maria would close even before its lease ends in 2030,” she said. “That is a plausible scenario.”

If the school were ultimately to close, she added, the consequences could extend far beyond Villa Maria itself, affecting Montreal’s wider public education system.

Notre-Dame-de-Grâce MNA Désirée McGraw says the prolonged uncertainty surrounding Villa Maria College is already hurting enrolment and threatening the school’s survival. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette files

In 2023, the Sisters announced that they intended to sell the property once the school’s lease expires in 2030 — just not to the school itself. 

That triggered an embittered standoff between the two sides, seeing accusations of bullying, public protests and legal action.

In April 2025, Villa Maria filed a lawsuit seeking either to force a sale or trigger a public call for tenders for the property. But one of the first actions taken by the new board was to drop that legal challenge.

“I was frankly pleased to see that lawsuit dropped,” McGraw said, adding that it allowed her petition supporting the school to resume in the National Assembly. McGraw said she hopes the petition will show the Sisters that the community-at-large wants the school to stay put.

The Sisters have previously suggested their reluctance to sell directly to Villa Maria stems from concerns over the school’s long-term financial stability. The school has rejected that characterization.

In March, Suzanne Gouin, the newly appointed chair of the board, wrote to the school community that the sweeping overhaul of directors was necessary “to ensure the survival of Villa Maria College.”

“Faced with an impasse and a lack of concrete solutions over the past five years, the congregation has chosen to act responsibly,” Gouin wrote.

The board now includes 11 members, all appointed by the congregation. For the first time, Gouin added, it will also reserve one seat for a parent and another for an alumna.

Asked whether a board entirely selected by the Sisters could fairly decide the school’s future, McGraw replied: “My hope is that board members understand their fiduciary responsibility is to the college.

“The first thing that board should do is ask for an extension of the lease,” she said.

“And just to be clear, the Congregation are well within their rights to sell the land. It’s the way in which it’s happening.”

McGraw said she has also been in discussions with the Quebec government about Villa Maria’s future. Ministers, she said, are following the situation “very closely.”

“Villa Maria does receive public subsidies to the tune of approximately $6,000 for each of those 1,800 students,” McGraw said. “If Villa Maria moves, or God forbid closes, there will be reverberations on the overall school system, including the public system.”

Villa Maria announced Christian Corno as its new director general in December 2025. John Mahoney / Montreal Gazette files

Hope was renewed last December when Villa Maria announced Christian Corno as its new director general. 

He previously helped negotiate a deal to save nearby Marianopolis College when it faced a similar property dispute with the same religious order. Those talks, he told The Gazette last year, even required Vatican approval.

“I was certainly ready to go to Rome if need be,” Corno said at the time.

He acknowledged, however, that Villa Maria’s situation is “more complex,” citing the size of the estate, heritage-designated buildings and the site’s historical significance to the congregation.

“I can’t imagine any other scenario than the school continuing,” he said then.

The Sisters of the Congregation of Notre-Dame were reached for comment but did not respond before publication.

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Harry North

I’ve been writing for the Montreal Gazette since 2023. My favourite stories are ones that make you think and I'm always looking for new ways to tell them. At McGill, I studied economics and computer science. Now I live in the city’s Plateau, where I wear Doc Martens to try and blend in among the hipsters. Got a story? Email me: [email protected]

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