Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante hailed the importance of Montreal’s Chinese community Wednesday as she opened an outdoor exhibition in Chinatown’s Place Sun Yat-Sen.

The outdoor display, made up of 10 modules scattered along de la Gauchetière St. from Jeanne-Mance to St-Dominque Sts., is titled Dialogue with the Montreal Chinese Community. Through the stories of 13 people linked to Chinatown’s past and present, it bears witness to the community’s largely untold history and its resilience in the face of stigmatization and exclusion.

Produced by the Centre des mémoires montréalaises in collaboration with Chinese Family Services of Greater Montreal, it will run until Oct. 16.

Earlier, at a meeting of the city’s executive committee, Plante said her administration is determined to preserve Chinatown’s heritage, threatened by real estate development. She and Culture Minister Nathalie Roy announced the creation of a joint committee to propose solutions. Roy has vowed to act on the recommendations, calling the 200-year-old neighbourhood “a unique ensemble in North America of which we are proud and which we must protect and enhance.”

The committee, to submit its report in the next few months, “will allow us to unite our efforts and identify the right tools to preserve Chinatown’s unique and important character and showcase its heritage,” the mayor said.

The district must “continue to develop, of course, but it must keep its unique character,” she added.

Neighbourhood advocates raised the alarm last month after developers Brandon Shiller and Jeremy Kornbluth bought several properties on the northern two-thirds of the block bounded by de la Gauchetière, St-Urbain and Côté Sts. and Viger Ave. The developers, who have been in the news over allegations of evictions and harassment of tenants, have not yet announced a project for the block, whose zoning permits 20-storey towers.

Plante also promised that a long-promised action plan on Chinatown’s future, based on input from citizens and local organizations, will be unveiled soon.

In addition to facing development pressures, Chinatown’s businesses have been hit by a drop in business and rise in anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic.