To my fellow residents of Ward 9,
By now, many of you have heard about yesterday’s announcement that a site in Ward 9 has been selected as one of two reception centres being planned for Ottawa, to be used as temporary, short-term housing for asylum seekers and refugees. The site in Ward 9 that’s been recommended for one of these sprung structures is a large greenspace adjacent to 1645 Woodroffe Avenue, near the Nepean Sportsplex.
I want to thank everyone who has written or called me about this. And that includes those of your expressing your concerns or anger, and those voicing your support and appreciation. Clearly, this is a polarizing issue.
I only learned on Wednesday afternoon that this site was being listed as a possible location. And it was only Thursday afternoon (yesterday) that this site was confirmed. The memo from City of Ottawa staff was only issued publicly last night just before 6:00pm.
I would’ve liked to have learned this information sooner, so that I could have been better prepared to speak to my constituents. I can appreciate that residents would have preferred to have been consulted prior to the City making this decision. Based on recent experiences, I can understand why city staff wanted to carefully prepare the information before releasing it to the public. The City can and will do a better job in the future in meeting the needs of residents – and councillors – for transparency of information.
I want residents to know that I support the City’s plan for these newcomer reception centres. I believe they will be an essential component to a much-needed, sustainable solution to an immediate crisis. And I believe that it’s the right thing to do.
To quote my colleague Councillor Jeff Leiper, we need the courage that comes from a common purpose to do what’s right.
It’s important to know that that this decision was made by city staff, as part of a city-wide program, and that these newcomer centres are one component of a city-wide solution that will affect many wards. But we should not turn this into a fight over why one ward was selected over another. We should not be pushing the responsibility from one group of Ottawa’s residents over to another.
Before I provide more comments below, the first thing that I would like to offer residents is information:
- City staff have prepared a thorough list of Questions & Answers, which addresses many of your concerns.
- Here is a link to the Memo that was released by the City of Ottawa on Thursday, November 7th , which explains the process of how the two sites were selected.
- I will be asking City staff to organize a Public Information Session, where residents of Ward 9 can have their questions answered, and to hear the city’s plan for the site at 1645 Woodroffe.
Cities across Canada are dealing with the pressures of handling the current global migration crisis, and Ottawa is no exception. Currently, newcomers already in Ottawa are overwhelming our homeless shelters and other facilities. They are living in difficult conditions in community centres that were not designed for this purpose, and these community centres have not been available to serve local residents for over a year. We need to find a better solution. And as you will read in the Q&A provided above, these newcomer reception centres are one part of a comprehensive plan to help house and support newcomers arriving in our city.
This is an opportunity to help newcomers who are fleeing horrible circumstances land in Ottawa on solid footing, and to give them a better chance at success. And we have done this before. In 1979, former Mayor Marion Dewar demonstrated our city’s compassion and humanity to the world when we welcomed thousands of refugees fleeing violence and persecution in Vietnam. I believe that the residents of Ottawa are able to show our compassion and humanity once more.
I am very grateful that Mayor Sutcliffe and several of my Council colleagues are showing their support for this initiative. I urge residents to watch Mayor Sutcliffe’s remarks for media earlier this afternoon.
Rest assured, I will continue to make myself available to hear my residents, and to be transparent in my communications. I hope that enough residents of Ward 9 will join me in showing that, when called upon, we will be ready to help.
Thank you,
Sean
