Some local activists are questioning the snail's pace at which the federal government is searching for a new location for the controversial parole office on Elgin Street.
The parole office is located across the street from Elgin Street Public School and the Ottawa Monument to Murdered and Abused Women. It moved there without warning in September 2004 and some residents have been campaigning to have it moved ever since.
After a two-year battle, the Correctional Service of Canada announced in 2006 that the office would be gone by October 2009, once the lease is up for renewal.
However, community activist Albert Galpin said he is concerned that there has been no word of any public consultations to determine a new location for the office.
“What I’m worried about is that a year from now a place still hasn’t been found and we’re stuck with it,” he said.
“I’ve had assurances that the parole office is moving but the secrecy is troubling.”
Janine Chown, regional communications manager for the Correctional Service of Canada, said the CSC is waiting for the department of Public Works to find office space.
“It isn’t up to us right now,” she said.
“We’re working with Public Works to find a new location and when we have confirmed info we will engage in public consultation.”
With a deadline of summer 2009 to find a new location, but no deadline for consultations, Galpin says the community should be involved to “prevent another fiasco like what happened with the planning of this parole office.”
Ottawa Centre MP Paul Dewar said he thinks it’s time to get the ball rolling on finding a new home for the parole office.
“The deadline is around the corner, and if they let it go too long they could run the risk of missing their move date,” he said.
In February, a Correction Canada Review Panel Report recommended the CSC ensure more strict guidelines in order to protect vulnerable communities when locating parole offices.
The report states that the CSC’s guidelines should include more extensive community consultation when choosing locations for correctional facilities and parole offices.
“We want to know two things,” Galpin said.
“Where is it going, and is it going to be dumped in another neighbourhood?”
He says Corrections has “failed every step of the way” and did not abide by the federal government’s Good Neighbour Policy – designed to promote good relations between federal government offices and residents of the neighbourhood.
“This isn’t just a ‘not-in-my-backyard’ issue,” he said.
“We are not Orleans, we are not Kanata, but we are a residential neighbourhood. We don’t want to see it moved near another school,” he added.
While Galpin waits for consultations to begin, Dewar said he thinks they should start soon.
“They can’t just do it at the last minute.”
Chown said there is no confirmed date yet for public consultations.