The conservatives in the MBAM support Mary-Dailey Desmarais

Photo: Thomas Ledl CC
Eleven professionals to sign “in block” a letter of support for Mary-Dailey Desmarais, including two heads of service and nine conservatives.

No offense to Nathalie Bondil, the staff of the Museum of fine arts of Montreal (MBAM) said he was very pleased with the appointment of Mary-Dailey Desmarais, director of conservation.

In a press release issued Wednesday, the team of “professionals of the Management of the conservation of the Museum indicates “support” the choice of the board of directors to appoint Ms. Desmarais in this new position.

“Since a few days, the question of his appointment has elicited many comments often harmful to its reputation and that of the Museum, written-on. This group of employees wanted to express his opinion on the subject. “

The conservatives say they are ” convinced that the exceptional training of Mary-Dailey Desmarais, phd in history of art at Yale University, as well as his experience as a curator already in a post to the Museum will make it a leader, a valued and trusted within the Conservation team. His knowledge of the complexity of the current operations of the institution is a definite asset. “

They also pointed out that Ms. Desmarais has ” earned [their] profound respect for its openness to collaboration, his intelligence, his capacity of listening and learning fast, his discretion, his modesty, his integrity and the quality of its scholarly publications. “

Choice of words

The choice of these words is not trivial in the current context. Director-general chief curator of the MMFA, Nathalie Bondil has been fired by the C. A. on Monday for the official reason to have left is to install the “labour relations toxic” to the inside of the Museum.

An independent firm of human resources was established in February 2020 a diagnosis which ” evoked a significant degradation and factor in the work climate “. Following this, the ” retry many times repeated by the C. A. to find a solution to this situation that had become intolerable faced the intransigence of Ms. Bondil and its denial of a number of conclusions, however, without any appeal from the report “, said the press release published on Monday.

Several testimonies collected by The Duty for a week with former employees confirm the importance of this issue within the institution.

But, supported by various voices of the media, Ms. Bondil for its part, considers that his dismissal is rather linked to his opposition to the appointment of Ms. Desmarais, and that it is a form of taking control of the MMFA by the president of the C. A., Michel de la Chenelière.

The position of Ms. Desmarais has been created in the wake of the conclusions of the diagnosis on the workplace climate, specifically to reduce the tasks of Ms. Bondil.

However, the C. A. has conducted the selection process in leaving aside an executive committee of the Museum, complained of Ms. Bondil Tuesday. It is estimated that the process was biased, and that Ms. Desmarais would not have had to get a job as ” senior “. “It has very little experience, she has never managed a team “, said Nathalie Bondil Tuesday. It relied on a other nomination, best classified according to the “evaluation grid” of the four candidate finalists.

Several sources contacted by The Duty in the last few days have, however, called into doubt on the rankings, especially the strong assessment of the one that came first.

Eleven professionals to sign “in block,” the letter of support Wednesday, including two heads of service and nine conservatives.