HERITAGE OTTAWA

Ottawa's Central Experimental Farm (CEF), a National Historic Site of Canada, is currently under serious threat.

The federal government has offered 60 acres of the CEF's land for development as a hospital. Plans for the hospital are advancing quickly. The National Capital Commission has been tasked with surveying the 60 acres in March of 2015.

While we agree that a new hospital is warranted, we do not agree that it should come at the cost a unique National Historic Site that continues to conduct valuable research of benefit to all Canadians. 

Organizations including Heritage Canada The National Trust, the Greenspace Alliance of Canada, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, and Heritage Ottawa have expressed concern for the future of the CEF. In extensive coverage by local media, journalists have questioned how the decision to sever a National Historic Site - a site that belongs to all Canadians -  was made without public consultation or apparent consideration for the negative impact on the integrity, heritage character, and land use history of this National Historic Site.

Each year, Heritage Canada / The National Trust compiles a list of Canada's Top Ten Endangered Places to bring national attention to important historical sites at risk. The National Trust uses three primary criteria to determine the 10 final sites for inclusion on the list: 

• Significance of the site
• Urgency of the threat / potential for a positive and creative solution
• Community support for its preservation

Heritage Ottawa feels that the CEF meets all three criteria. As a unique cultural landscape and a National Historic Site in our Nation's Capital, the Central Experimental Farm is a worthy candidate for inclusion on Canada's list of Top Ten Endangered Places.