After two years of intense negotiations with the authorities of the City of Dorval and Transport Canada (Federal Government), on June 1st, 1990 we finally signed a lease to rent a large piece of land on the grounds of the Montreal International Airport. At that time, our company carried the name “Centre Canin Dorval Inc./Dorval Canine Centre Inc.”.
JUNE 1990
The first year in 1990, we started the construction of Phase I, which included a reception area, a small dog boarding area, a grooming room and the employee house. Two small houses were carried on a flat bed truck and placed on a large empty field at 175 Jenkins in Dorval.
A substantial loan, initially promised by a Charter Bank, was withdrawn at the very last minute because of our land lease. So here we were, situated in the middle of an open field without water, electricity, natural gas and no financial assistance. In effect, we had nothing… just a grand dream and the determination required to make it happen.
Phase II was conceived and built in 1992. It included the construction on the west building containing our Dog Training Hall (now used for our Geriatric Canine), offices and the owner’s appartment.
During this period we started to offer cat boarding. In 1996 our name was modified and re-baptized as Manoir Kanisha (‘Kani’ = dog, ‘sha’ = cat, in French). With the asistance of our accountant, we structured our Board of Directors and finally obtained a Small Business Loan (SBL) from the Royal Bank of Canada. This loan was guaranteed by the Federal Government.
In 1997 we built our Phase III, the North building, comprising a large two-story dog kennel. This allowed us to expand our dog boarding spaces which were essential during peak periods. We also built the garage to hold all our seasonal equipment.
Finally in 2004, thanks to the assistance of the BDF (Federal Development Bank) and a very cooperative investor, we obtained a significant loan to complete our Phase IV. This last Phase allowed us to finish the central area that contains the dog condos, the cat condos, enclosures and crates, the employee’s kitchen, the cat playroom, a large interior dog playground (90′ x 90′) and three workshops. This new construction allowed us to link together all the previous buildings constructed between 1990 and 2004. In 2011, we reconstructed all the outside decking and rebuilt our large outdoor dog runs.
In 1988 the founder, Nicole MacDuff launched her project entirely alone. In 2022, the Manoir Kanisha employs 12 people year round, rising to 16 persons during peak periods.
