As of 2002, Quebec bill 137 has required projects with planned demolitions to be reviewed formally before obtaining permits from municipal councils. Councils must also notify citizens that demolition of a building has been authorized at least ten days before it occurs.
Five communities on the island of Montreal handle these decisions publicly, but most assign the job to people who sit on council or on urban planning advisory committees (CCU). Sometimes these committees are called demolition committees and some hold public consultations on occasion, but reviews are usually held behind closed doors. Resulting recommendations go directly to borough and city councils with no appeal possible.
Plateau Mont Royal and the Town of Mount Royal provide permits for demolition through public review committees. Both publish notices about projected demolitions prior to public hearings. After decisions are made, citizens have thirty days to appeal to city or borough councils to overrule decisions. The Plateau Mont Royal Borough goes even further than TMR by publishing presentations and decisions on its website. Despite the public process, most projects considered get approved. In the last two years, the Plateau demolition committee considered 15 demolition projects, with 12 initially approved and three rejected. Three decisions were appealed, with the council siding in favour of demolition in two of the cases. In the end, 14 buildings were authorized to be torn down.
Lachine, Pierrefonds-Roxboro and the Southwest borough all require demolition hearings to be heard in public. Each has officially appointed their urban planning advisory committees to function as demolition review committees. All the decisions must be ratified by council but Lachine’s process includes a 30-day period for citizens to appeal the decisions.
Here’s a list summarizing demolition procedures for each community on the island of Montreal:
| Beaconsfield | city councillors |
| City of Montreal | |
| Ahunsic-Cartierville | urban planning advisory committee |
| Anjou | urban planning advisory committee |
| Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce | urban planning advisory committee |
| Ile-Bizard–Sainte-Geneviève | urban planning advisory committee |
| Lachine | urban planning advisory committee with open hearings and 30-day appeal |
| LaSalle | urban planning advisory committee |
| Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve | urban planning advisory committee |
| Montreal-North | demolition review committee |
| Outremont | urban planning advisory committee |
| Pierrefonds-Roxboro | urban planning advisory committee with open hearings |
| Plateau-Mont-Royal | demolition review committee |
| Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles | urban planning advisory committee |
| Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie | urban planning advisory committee |
| Saint-Laurent | urban planning advisory committee |
| Southwest | urban planning advisory committee with open hearings |
| Verdun | urban planning advisory committee |
| Ville-Marie | urban planning advisory committee |
| Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension | urban planning advisory committee |
| Dorval | city councillors |
| Town of Mount Royal | demolition review committee |
| Westmount | city councillors |
