Site near Nepean Sportsplex chosen for asylum seeker 'welcoming centre'
Knoxdale-Merivale councillor believes community will support newcomers
UPDATE: The city had originally planned to build the first centre on a football field near the Nepean Sportsplex. Staff now say they are looking at other land at the same site so that the community can keep using the field.
A large, tent-like structure to shelter and support asylum seekers seems destined for the Nepean Sportsplex area, according to Ottawa city staff, with another headed to Kanata South if necessary.
A memo issued late Thursday indicated the first "welcoming centre" could be open by the end of 2025.
The sites aim to ease the substantial pressure on Ottawa's shelter systems caused by a recent influx of people who come to Canada for refuge.
A form of tent-like structure — such as those made by the Sprung company — were deemed most suitable, because of cost and the speed with which they can be put into use.
Clara Freire, the city's general manager of community and social services, described them in the memo as a "more dignified option for newcomers who are currently sleeping on bunk beds in recreational facilities that have not been designed for human habitation."
The centres can be customized to include private living spaces, kitchens, washrooms and communal areas.
The first to be built will be west of the core on the cusp of the Greenbelt: Woodroffe Avenue near West Hunt Club Road, at the site of the Sportsplex — a community and recreation hub — and a training facility run by the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
While it's owned by the National Capital Commission, the city has an existing lease for an "underutilized football field" and has been given permission to shift its use.
Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine, whose ward includes the site that landed in the top spot, said he's confident that people in his ward will be understanding.
"I don't begrudge people for having adverse reactions, or responses immediately to what they're learning here," he told CBC. "But I'm not going to let fear get in the way of compassion."
Devine has some concerns about the communications from staff given that he learned about the site within a day of it being chosen. But he said "Ward 9 is ready to help."
- Hundreds of asylum seekers now living in makeshift shelters in Ottawa
- City plans 'sprung structures' for up to 300 refugees, asylum seekers
The facilities have been a lightning rod for controversy in Barrhaven since staff placed that community on an earlier shortlist.
"I know [the memo is] going to put a lot of my community at ease," Barrhaven East Coun. Wilson Lo told CBC before sharing the news at an online meeting with residents Thursday night.
WATCH | Barrhaven pushes back against proposed shelter:
'They will have what's needed'
Much of the memo focused on the assessment of the locations, including access to transportation and walkability, along with adequate water and sewage infrastructure.
But Devine also wants people to know that staff will be providing appropriate support to the temporary residents.
"Food will be on site, transportation for these residents to and from the Sprung shelter to whatever kind of appointments they need to go to.… Social services will be on site," he said. "They will have what's needed provided for them."
Once the site is open and other transitional facilities are up and running, staff said they'll be able to reopen community centres currently housing those in need of emergency shelter.
These would not be permanent homes for the newcomers, Freire wrote. The aim is to move the single adults to a more suitable home within 90 days.
WATCH | What it's like to seek refuge at a community centre:
2nd site contemplated
Staff told councillors that the city also found that a site near the Eagleson Park & Ride would be suitable to host one of the structures, but there are no immediate plans to build that one just yet.
"Staff were very clear to me today that they're just building one structure," Kanata South Coun. Allan Hubley told CBC.
Bound by a plaza and the Highway 417 exit ramp, consultant Stantec identified no major concerns with the site.
Hubley emphasized the need for the federal government to make the city whole.
- City looks to federal budget for millions to house, support asylum seekers
- Canada prepares for threat of mass deportations under Trump
"The actions of the federal government, we don't control that," he said.
"If the prime minister comes out tomorrow and says, 'We've got another 100,000 asylum seekers coming in next week.' Well, it's not just one more Sprung Structure, it's going to be 10 Sprung Structures that we're going to need to build. So we need some consistency."
The city has submitted a proposal to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for $106 million to fund the facilities and three years of operations.
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With files from Nathan Fung