Hundreds of trees in Queen Juliana Park on the Experimental Farm in Ottawa are slated to be cut down for the development of the new Civic Hospital’s parking lot. Work began in April, despite years of protesting, petitions, and the fact that the park is a designated National Historic Site. Join us this week to discuss how we got here, where things stand, and what happens next at the farm.
Speakers:
Susan Ross is an Associate Professor in the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies cross appointed with the School of Architecture and Urbanism. Her research focuses on sustainable heritage conservation with particular focus on the intersections of heritage and waste.
Diane McIntyre will be representing Re-Imagine Ottawa, a community organization working against development-funded politics and planning in Ottawa. They are currently running a campaign to save the trees at Queen Juliana Park.
Joel Harden is the MPP for Ottawa Centre. He has been an active opponent of the plan to cut down trees at the Experimental Farm.
Resource List
Primary Resources on the Situation at the Farm:
September 2014 – Tunney’s Pasture Master Plan
June 2016 – NCC Ottawa Hospital Site Review
November 2016 – NCC Ottawa Hospital Site Review Public Consultation Report
November 2016 – NCC Ottawa Hospital Site Review Final Report
2019 – Tunney’s Pasture Master Plan Update
Background on the Farm and Context for the Planned Development:
One of our speakers, Susan Ross, agreed to share her slides from the event, which provide detail on the site layout. You can view them here.
Re-Visit the Farm offers a visual depiction of the planned changes to the farm as well as further resources.
Pete Anderson, Field Experiments: Critical Historical Geographies of Canada’s Central Experimental Farm, 1886-1938 (2017)
Jane Keeler and Jake Morrison, We Stand with the Trees (forthcoming publication)
Richard Hinchcliff and Patricia Jasen, Building Canada’s Farm: An Illustrated Guide to Buildings at the Central Experimental Farm (2021)
Marcel Beauchamp and Robert Cretien, “A historic garden at the Central Experimental Farm is about to be replaced by new Civic hospital’s parking lot,” Ottawa Citizen, March 21 2022.
Online Webinar: Parks, Nature, Cities. Connecting to Health and Wellbeing. May 17 at 11AM (EST). Register: https://bit.ly/3u6U3qu
On Ottawa and Development:
Visit the follow the money website to search your councilor and see how much money they received from developers.
For more information on the follow the money project, visit Horizon Ottawa’s website here.
Other Accounts of Tree, Forest and Habitat Loss:
Following our continued interest in collaboration and community building, one of the attendees for this event shared details on a similar campaign to save urban trees in New York City. You can read more about the campaign on the Forest for All NYC Coalition Website.
Jeff VanderMeer, “The Annihilation of Florida: An Overlooked Tragedy,” Current Affairs, May 18 2022
To-Dos:
Our Noons for Now community and climate commons more widely can brainstorm on what we and Carleton University can do for this issue.
Campaigns like those being run by Re-Imagine Ottawa, and Ottawa Aboriginal Coalition need support to keep going.
The upcoming municipal and provincial elections are key to this issue, and so by focusing efforts there we can make a change on the farm.