After a somewhat acrimonious public meeting Monday, the federal government has decided not to relocate the Gilmour Street parole office to 1010 Somerset Street West.
The decision was announced Tuesday in the House Commons by Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan.
The minister said he had asked the Correctional Service of Canada to “reconsider the pursuit of the 1010 Somerset Street location” as a site for the office.
“As a result of that, we have chosen not to pursue that as a possible site,” said June Blackburn, CSC director for greater Ontario and Nunavut. That means that CSC will have to start another search for a new location. But time is running out. The lease on the present location runs out in September.
The announcement came on the heels of a town hall meeting at Bronson Centre at which residents demanded answers about the relocation, asking about numbers and types of parolees who would attend the office and voiced their concerns about sharing their neighbourhood with sex-offenders and murderers.
More than 140 people attended, many angered by the lack of information provided about the new facility and the hasty consultation process.
Residents said they were worried about the office being close to both Devonshire Public School and the Plant Recreation Centre where young children frequent. Many wanted to know the facts about the number of parolees visiting the office, the nature of the crimes committed by the about how likely they are to re-offend in the community.
“You have a choice,” reasoned Doug Gabelmann, president of the Plant Pool Recreation Association, who encourages free and unregulated play in the park near the centre.
He spoke his concern for the safety of young children should the parole office find a home on Somerset: “We can’t move the park. We can’t move the Plant. We don’t have other parks and we can’t move.”
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, whose jurisdiction covers both the current and proposed Somerset location of the parole office, attended the meeting and urged the CSC to consider a new location in the business district.
“I’ve made it clear to the parole office that I want to see the parole office return to the central business district north of Gloucester in the high rise commercial area and leave the residential area,” she said.
Despite the latest setback, CSC has promised to move out of the Gilmour Street office by September.