The federal government has agreed to help buy land from a developer that was planning to build condos near the historic Juno Beach landing site in France, sources tell CBC.
The land borders the Juno Beach Centre, a privately operated Canadian museum that, for nearly 20 years, has commemorated the Second World War D-Day landing which claimed the lives of hundreds of Canadian soldiers.
For more than two years, the museum has been engaged in a legal battle with French developer Foncim, which planned to construct two buildings near the beach with 66 condos. Construction was set to begin as early as this fall.
But last week, the local council of Courseulles-Sur-Mer decided to purchase the land back with the Canadian government, the sources said. Canada's contribution will be about $4 million.
The dispute between the developer and the Juno Beach Centre was largely about the use of a road — la Voie des Français Libres — constructed and operated by the museum.
Foncim planned to use the road during the construction. The museum tried to block access to the developer on the grounds that construction — which it called an "existential threat" — would disrupt access to the site.
In April, Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay vowed to do "everything possible" to resolve the dispute after meeting with the mayor of Courseulles-sur-Mer and the French minister delegate for remembrance and veterans to stress the importance of commemorating the Canadians who died at Juno.
"My job is to indicate how important paying respect and commemoration is, and of course to indicate how important Juno Beach is to Canada, because a lot of our blood has been spilled here," MacAulay said at the time.
On the day MacAulay made that statement, then Conservative veterans affairs critic Frank Caputo also toured the museum in a show of bipartisan support.
The dispute got the attention of many Canadians, including those who formed the group Save Juno Beach to oppose the condo project.
"[D-Day] was a remarkable battle and the examples of fearlessness and courage and bravery just were outstanding," Cindy Clegg, spokesperson for the group, told CBC News in March.
"And now, to think that there are condos going up right next to [the beach], where people can go on holidays and hoot and holler and play their radios loud on this battlefield, just made me sick to my stomach."
An official announcement is expected to be made Friday morning at Canada's War Museum in Ottawa.
