Sun Life Building - Permanent seat of the Provisional ICAO

Temporary accommodations for Provisional ICAO (PICAO) had been sought in the Windsor Hotel, prior to occupying more permanent quarters in the Sun Life Building. With 85 staff in January 1946, PICAO’s quarters were located on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th floors of this building; the offices of the President and the Secretary General were located on the 10th floor. Tea or coffee was served without charge twice a day on the 10th floor. Whereas the first Session of the Interim Council was held in the Windsor Hotel, further Sessions were held in the Council Chamber located on the 10th floor of the Dominion Square Building until early 1947 and later on the 12th floor of the Sun Life Building when the offices of the President and the Secretary General moved to the latter building. The Council Chamber was thus located on the same floors as the Offices of the President and the Secretary General.

The number of staff grew up progressively to 140 in June 1946 and to 190 by the end of 1946; hence, due to unsatisfactory accommodations available in the Dominion Square Building, the PICAO Council came quickly to a recommendation to solicit office space in the Sun Life Building. In June 1946, staff from the administrative offices started to occupy space in this building. In July 1947, the number of staff was 250. At the same time, a Council Committee on Accommodations was formed to make recommendations on questions relating to the housing of the permanent Organization.

With the exception of the offices of the President and Secretary General, the Council Chamber and Committee Room 1, all offices of the Secretariat and meeting rooms were equipped with furniture loaned by the Canadian Government, which was replaced when the Organization moved into its permanent quarters in 1949.

Arrangements for additional temporary space were occasionally made with the head office of the International Labour Office (ILO), transferred from Geneva to Montréal during wartime until 1948 at the invitation of the Government of Canada and McGill University. ILO set up its offices at McGill’s Morrice Hall (3485 McTavish Street, Montréal) from August to November 1940; from November 1940, their offices were first located on 3480 University Street and later on 3450 Drummond and 3540 Mountain (now de la Montagne). When ILO’s head office moved back to Geneva in 1948 and was replaced by their Branch Office for Canada, the whole of ICAO’s Air Navigation Bureau occupied the empty space left by ILO on Drummond until ICAO’s new premises on University Street were completed in 1949.