Larga Baffin proposal creates community tension as need increases for Inuit health care

A proposal to create the first purpose-built medical boarding home in Ottawa for Inuit has been met with a force of local opposition.

With the city's planning committee set to vote on the development, arguments over land use will run headlong into concerns that some in the community don't value Inuit health care.

A new building for Larga Baffin, a boarding home for Inuit attending medical appointments in Ottawa, is slated for Hunt Club Road and Sieveright Avenue, an intersection just south of Bank Street and south of downtown.

The current location on Richmond Road is regularly overcapacity, with staff booking additional patients in local hotels. 

The planning firm described the project as akin to the Ronald McDonald House, with guests sometimes coming for short stays to see a specialist, while others stay several months to receive treatment for more involved procedures. 

An application to increase the new building's height by an additional four metres in some places and two storeys in others is set to go before planning committee starting 9:30 a.m. ET Thursday. 

City staff recommend that the changes to the official plan go ahead, but note in their report that 350 comments were collected in the consultation process — 100 in favour of the proposal and 250 against.

In a summary of the comments received, staff noted there was "great concern" about increased crime and drug use, along with worries about loitering and decreasing property values as a result of the facility. 

"Residents believe the facility caters to an audience outside Ottawa and does not benefit the community directly," the report said. 

Coun. Diane Deans, who represents the ward where the building would go, said she's opposed to it "in its current form." 

In April, Deans held a public meeting that nearly 300 people attended virtually. Many against the project raised concerns from increased traffic to "unlawful activities" to Nunavut's high smoking rates and as a result, the need for more parkland to accommodate tenants. 

One neighbour, who identified herself only as Madalaine on the Zoom call, was concerned the building would affect water pressure for the homes that border the proposed property. 

"We are here first," she told the meeting. 

Other residents concerned about increased traffic said the location wasn't right for Inuit because it was already on a busy road.