Heritage Ottawa remains concerned about the proposed transfer of 64 acres of Central Experimental Farm lands for construction of a new hospital. The Central Experimental Farm is a National Historic Site of Canada, and currently on Canada's Top Ten List of Endangered Places as a consequence of the proposed land transfer. International scientists are now expressing their concern for the loss of significant experiments in progress relating to climate change, food supply and other matters of critical global importance. 

While we agree that Ottawa needs a new hospital facility, we believe that a new local hospital need not come at the expense of a National Historic Site of Canada, or at the expense of scientific research of global importance. Other solutions exist.   Heritage Ottawa will continue to advocate for a better solution.  

The following article appears in today's Ottawa Citizen. See the links following this article for more information regarding concerns for the Central Experimental Farm.

 

OTTAWA CITIZEN, By Elizabeth Payne

Scientists and senior managers at Agriculture Canada were unhappy about plans to relocate the Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital to 60 acres of the Central Experimental Farm, with one manager telling a scientist no one in the government cared that irreplaceable research would be destroyed.

Edward Gregorich, a scientist whose experiments would be lost under the plan, emailed the associate director of the Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre on Nov. 4, 2014, the day after former Conservative MP John Baird and hospital CEO Dr. Jack Kitts made a surprise announcement that one of the most historic fields in the Experimental Farm would become the site of a new Civic hospital, according to documents obtained by the Citizen.

Gregorich wondered whether there had been any consultation about the move, noting that his long-term work in Field No. 1 where the hospital is to relocate is “core to my research” and “irreplaceable.”

“I know,” replied Marc Savard, associate director of the centre under which much of the research was taking place. “They didn’t care. Well, AAFC (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) cared. No one else.”

Gregorich wrote that abandoning tillage and crop rotation research on that site “would mean the loss of 24 years of accumulated ecological knowledge. More importantly, it would mean re-starting the experiment elsewhere and delaying by several decades the findings so urgently needed by farmers.”

Loss of the research, wrote Gregorich, “would undermine the value of the international network, tarnish the Central Experimental Farm’s leadership in this experiment and negate the findings most pertinent to our climate and soil conditions.” The loss of the land would negatively affect scientists around the world, he added. Some of the research in that field contributed to the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded to the International Panel on Climate Change.

Baird also received letters after the announcement expressing concern about the future of the research and of the Experimental Farm, as well as the lack of public consultation on the issue. In addition, scientists from around the world have expressed dismay at the potential loss of the research.

At the time of the announcement, Agriculture Canada’s Assistant Deputy Minister Siddika Mithani sent employees a memo assuring them that the farm “is not for sale” and research will continue.

“The CEF has served Canadians for many generations and it will continue to do so. It is a rare jewel in our Capital city that affords a rich green space as well as providing the means to conduct science that improves the lives of Canadians.”

However, documents obtained under the Access to Information Act by researcher Pete Anderson show a number of Agriculture Canada officials were concerned about loss of research land — amounting to 15 per cent or more of all research fields on the farm, according to the documents — as well as the size of the proposed hospital site.

Many feared the chunk of land to be transferred would require Experimental Farm roads to be rerouted, which would have an even greater impact on the farm than originally thought. At the public announcement of the land transfer late last year, a map was released showing a block of about 60 acres at the north-west corner of the Farm at Carling and Fisher avenues, ending at Ash Lane on the east.

But a spokesman for Agriculture Canada said that the boundaries for the new hospital site have since been re-drawn and they require Ash Lane to be rerouted.

“This rerouting is not expected to impact research fields,” said spokesman Patrick Girard. “The actual development of the site is not likely to begin for a number of years. ”

Girard added that Agriculture Canada will work with the NCC and The Ottawa Hospital to develop land use and design guidelines for development that “will ensure the protection of the cultural landscape of historic and architectural significance.”

While the government has approved the memorandum of understanding between the hospital, Agriculture Canada and the NCC, which is managing the land transfer, the transfer agreement has not been finalized.

 

For More Information Regarding Concerns for the Central Experimental Farm, click the following links:

New Hospital Would be Built on Site of Irreplaceable Soil Experiments, Say Scientists

Concerns for the Future of the Central Experimental Farm

Central Experimental Farm's Management Plan Should Be Respected

Central Experimental Farm: One of Canada's Top Ten Endangered Places

Continued Advocacy Efforts to Protect the Central Experimental Farm

Advocating for the Integrity of the Central Experimental Farm, A National Historic Site

Re: Severance of Land at Central Experimental Farm for a New Civic Hospital Campus