Who are the VELAN, KUCHAR and WHEELER pavilions named after ?

They are the donors of these buildings. Karel Velan was the owner of VELAN, a company that specializes in industrial valves. He was also a philanthropist and an astrophysics buff. He published two works on astronomy, The Multi Universe Cosmos: The First Complete Story of the Origin of the Universe (1992) and The Birth and History of the Cosmos (2000). He donated the pavilion that bears his name as well as the professional telescope. The pavilion was inaugurated in October 2005.

The late Joseph Kuchar was the founder of the chemical company Recochem. He was particularly interested in the arts, and since 2005, under the aegis of his daughter Eva, has funded the Symposium des Arts du Domaine Saint-Bernard. The Symposium welcomes over thirty artists each year in the month of August. The Kuchar family donated $75,000 for the construction of the KUCHAR Pavilion, which serves as an annex to the WHEELER Nature Centre.

The Wheeler family founded Gray Rocks Inn at the beginning of the 1900s and installed the first ski lift in the Laurentians. The Wheeler family name is associated with various sports (skiing, golf, tennis), in particular Lucile, who was an Olympic and World champion. Her achievements led to increased opportunities for other Canadian skiers to compete at the international level. The Wheeler Nature Centre and Wheeler Training Circuit are legacies to the community courtesy of Biff and Dianne Wheeler.