The video opens with a 360-degree view of a 3D model of a toilet bowl. The bowl is made of white ceramic. The video stops after 10 seconds, offering a complete view of the toilet bowl reconstructed from fragments.

[Opening shot of the place D’Youville in Montreal on a sunny day. The title “Treasures beneath the city” appears on screen.]

[Shot of Hendrik Van Gijseghem, project manager in archeology and history at Pointe-à-Callière.]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

I’m standing on place D’Youville where in 1832, St. Anne’s Market was built over the course of the Little River. In 1844 the Parliament of the Province of Canada came and sat here until 1849, when it was burned down. 

[A 19^th-century lithograph of the smoking ruins of the Montreal Parliament appears on screen.]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

It’s on this site of national importance that Pointe-à-Callière undertook, between 2010 and 2017, major archaeological excavations. 

[A series of pictures of the archaeological dig appear on screen.]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

Welcome to place D’Youville ! 

[The title “The Parliament’s washrooms” appears on screen.]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

The market had to undergo lots of transformations to become the Parliament. 

[A virtual rendering of St. Anne’s market appears on screen, followed by a virtual rendering of market transformed into the Parliament. Large wooden doors have been added between its columns.]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

For instance, the butcher stalls became offices, and the large rooms on the second floor became the chambers of the council and the chamber of the assembly. 

[A virtual rendering of the large sunny entrance hall of the Parliament appears on screen. Parliamentarians are chatting together around the hall.]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

Archaeology has taught us a lot about these changes and renovations that the building underwent. 

[Shot of reconstructed objects. The objects are toilet bowls. François Gignac brings a tray with a reconstructed toilet bowl to a table. A bubble pointed to the bowl indicates, “First automatic toilets in Montréal.”]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

One of the things that we found, for instance, that was not documented historically, but that archaeology has been able to provide is the existence of flushing toilets. And we actually found where these 15 toilets were located within the building.

[A virtual rendering of a Parliament washroom appears on screen. A red arrow points to a toilet bowl.]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

Archaeologists were able to locate exactly where they were and how they flushed into the canalized, the channelled river that was underneath the building.

[Shot of François Gignac manipulating a partially reconstructed toilet bowl.]

[Shot of Hendrik Van Gijseghem outside on place D’Youville.]

Hendrik Van Gijseghem:

I’m headed right now to an area where archaeologists found hundreds of odd-looking pieces of ceramics, and they didn’t really know what they were initially. They turned out to be toilets, the first kinds of flushing toilets that were contained within the Parliament. And they also found that they were connecting directly with the collector sewer, Montreal’s first stone-built collector sewer that ran underneath the site. 

[A photograph of an archaeologist illuminating the tunnel of the collector sewer in front of them appears on screen. They are standing from behind.]

[The logo of “A parliament under your feet” appears on screen, under the title “outdoor exhibition.” There are two bubbles saying “free!” and “guides on-site.” The address “Place D’Youville, between St-Pierre and McGill streets” is at the bottom of the screen, next to the mention, “Until November 1^st.”]

[The logo of the Pointe-à-Callière museum appears on screen. Underneath it is the mention, “This project was made possible thanks to financial support from Tourisme Montréal’s Fonds de maintien des actifs stratégiques, with the financial participation of the Government of Quebec.” At the bottom of the screen are the logos of Tourisme Montréal, the City of Montreal and the Government of Quebec.]