Make Sprung Structure Info Public: LO, HILL

The secret nature of Ottawa City Hall has spread to the controversial sprung structure debate:

This is an excerpt from the newsletter of Barrhaven East Councillor Wilson Lo:

Over the last month, you may have been following the City’s plan to use temporary sprung structures to house asylum seekers upon their arrival until proper housing is found for them.

Parcels of municipally owned land across Ottawa were considered and evaluated for that use, which led staff to short-list three potential locations, including one here in Barrhaven.

Since then, Councillor David Hill and I have voiced our opposition to that plan, considering better, more permanent options are achievable in the same federal funding stream under similar or better timelines and costs with better outcomes for the community, service providers, and asylum seekers.

We believe the city should continue and further scale up the great progress made in our housing strategy to seek out permanent solutions, including through building acquisition/retrofit and scaling up transitional housing programmes, both of which staff are already doing.

We reiterated our desire to see rapid construction permanent structures used instead of sprung structures, considering the industry options available at timelines similar or better than the city’s current operational timelines for the sprung structure.

All are wins for the city, the federal government, the community, asylum seekers, and taxpayers.

Yesterday, we had meetings with the Mayor and city staff to continue advancing our position. It was a positive meeting and staff are looking further into nuances of the funding stream. We stressed the importance of making the details of the project, the list of properties considered and the criteria that led to the short-list, and the location rankings public.

The advocacy for federal properties and buildings continues, as Ottawa is uniquely positioned with many opportunities of that type, with the added consideration that immigration is a federal issue.

(It’s not that the federal government is leaving cities with no help in dealing with the issue—the funding stream and related supports is provided by the federal government. There’s just added opportunity in Ottawa due to the number of federal properties!)

Over the next week or two, we will engage in a series of follow-ups with staff. I will share updates by newsletter and social media, as always!

I’m grateful for the continued engagement by the Mayor, staff, and you on this critical issue.

Clarification – asylum seekers, refugees, newcomers

In previous newsletter issues discussing the topic (July 9 and July 23, 2024), I used the terms asylum seekers, refugees, and newcomers interchangeably. To clarify, sprung structures are intended to be temporary accommodations for asylum seekers until proper housing is found for them.

What’s the difference between an asylum seeker, a refugee, and a newcomer?

An asylum seeker is a person who has arrived to seek protection after fleeing their home country, making their declaration at the port of entry or online.

The Canada Border Services Agency or Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada reviews the claim and accepts or deports the asylum seeker accordingly. If approved, the asylum seeker can stay until the federal government decides on their status as a refugee.

Meanwhile, they may have access to social assistance, education, health services, emergency housing, and legal aid through federally funded programmes, including the Interim Housing Assistance Programme (IHAP), the funding stream relevant to the sprung structure discussion.

An asylee can become a refugee if the Immigration and Refugee Board agrees that the person has a well-founded fear of persecution based on ethnicity, belief, or other distinction, and/or a risk to life or to cruel and unusual treatment, like torture.

People recognised as refugees can stay in Canada and apply for permanent residency and eventually citizenship.
Newcomer is an umbrella term to refer to somebody new to Canada, usually less than five years.

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In journalism, we fight to make as much relevant information public as we can. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe was a journalist.

At city hall, people fight to keep information secret.

In a democracy and particularly in municipal government which is closest to the people, city hall’s actions are wrong.

Ken Gray

This excerpt is courtesy of the city-wide community group Your Applewood Acres (And Beyond) Neighbours

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