MONTREAL — A museum northeast of Montreal named in honour of Canadian racing legend Gilles Villeneuve says it is temporarily shutting its doors amid a legal battle with the late driver's family over his memorabilia.
In a statement Thursday evening announcing the closure, museum general manger Alain Bellehumeur accused the Villeneuve family of "squandering" the Formula One star's heritage. He said bailiffs showed up to the museum on Thursday and started to seize items.
"This difficult decision was made to preserve the integrity of the collections and ensure a harmonious future for this institution dedicated to the memory of the legendary Quebec driver," the statement said, adding, "recent disagreements over the ownership of certain artifacts and the management of the museum have led to this necessary pause."
Earlier on Thursday, the driver's widow and two adult children — including former F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve — announced they were taking legal action to recover memorabilia from the museum, citing concerns over the institution's ability to safeguard the racing star's legacy.
Mélanie Villeneuve told The Canadian Press the theft late last year of a large bronze statue of her father from outside the Gilles Villeneuve museum was the "point of no return" that cemented the family's loss of confidence in the institution.
In November, thieves sawed off and made away with the five-foot-three-inch tall likeness outside the museum in Berthierville, Que., leaving behind a pair of metal boots and a podium, in what provincial police said was likely a plan to melt the statue down to sell the metal.
Quebec-born Gilles Villeneuve participated in 67 Formula One races from 1977 to 1982, winning six. He died at age 32 in a crash during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982.
The family is seeking items including personal possessions as well as trophies and memorabilia, some dating back to Villeneuve's early days of racing on Quebec's snowmobile circuit and the Formula Atlantic league.
Mélanie Villeneuve said the items the family wants back were on loan, adding that they are not staking a claim to anything donated by other parties.
The family's spokeswoman did not return an email seeking comment about the closure.
“I can’t believe they’re doing this in memory of Gilles Villeneuve," Bellehumeur said in the statement. "For nearly 40 years, we’ve made it our pride and duty to spread the legacy of our national driver.”
But after a visit from bailiffs on Thursday, "the Villeneuve family is squandering this heritage,” he said.
The museum, which opened in 1988, and its lawyers say they offered to keep the memorabilia during the legal proceedings to avoid anything being seized, but the family refused. "Never, in nearly 40 years, has an item in the collection been damaged," the statement said.
"This is the project of a lifetime that we see disappearing little by little," Bellehumeur said. "This unreasonable attitude of the Villeneuve family is not positive for anyone."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 28, 2025.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
