Weekly newsletter: February 11, 2025
Hi, everyone!
For something fun related to the SuperBowl, I asked staff for wastewater flow data from Sunday to see if flushing patterns matched different points in the game (eg. commercials, halftime). I’ll share it if I get something. Promise I won’t misspell “Eagles.”
Recreation registration opens this week! Registration for aquatic activities opens tonight (February 11) at 9:00 pm, while non-aquatic activities registration opens Thursday February 13 at 9:00 pm. Summer camp registration opens February 27. Browse activities here↗!
Shelter permissions
Committee passes motion to loosen shelter permissions, item rises to Council tomorrow. Motion asks staff to report back before implementation.
Last week, the Planning and Housing Committee voted 10-1 in favour of a motion to loosen emergency shelter permissions in all zones inside of the urban boundary.
I was the lone dissenting vote.
I voted against the motion, because it is both redundant to an existing process and it bypasses a public consultation step within that process.
City staff have been working on updates to the Zoning By-law since last year. The process includes multiple draft stages and corresponding public consultations, as agreed to by Council in 2023. The length and care of the set process reflects how impactful the policy is.
As background, the updated Zoning By-law is expected to include permissions for shelters in all zone types inside of the urban boundary to reflect the Official Plan that was adopted by Council back in 2021.
However, through that process, a second draft of the by-law is scheduled to be released the coming spring, along with another round of public consultation, while the motion seeks to accelerate and bypass the remainder of the process for shelters.
Aside from bypassing important steps in a process, the benefit of the motion is low, considering staff still have to report back to the Planning and Housing Committee and Council in a few months for an implementation vote.
So what happens now? Staff will be tasked with creating an amendment to the existing Zoning By-law, even though they have already been working on updating the by-law as a whole. It’s interesting, because one of the rationales for moving the motion is to “place less burden on staff,” so let’s give them redundant work, right?
In the end, it accelerates that part of the policy by just six months.
At Committee, the public speaker and at least two other Councillors shared concerns about the broad definition of “shelter,” as did I. There are many different kinds of shelters ranging in scale, operation, and people served.
The argument that further expanding the shelter system will not contribute positively to the City’s housing-first policy is somewhat confused by the broad definition of “shelter.”
Small scale emergency shelters (eg. fleeing domestic violence) are appropriate and necessary across the City, including in Barrhaven. Large scale shelter operations, homeless or otherwise, are not. Both are considered “shelter” in the existing by-law definition.
As I highlighted last year when discussing sprung structures, Barrhaven is already home to many small-scale supportive homes embedded throughout the community serving a variety of purposes. Interestingly they are defined separately as group homes.
Additionally, the motion includes a protection for 40 Hearst Way, a site in Kanata that was ultimately selected as the location of a second sprung structure shelter for asylum seekers. Councillor Leiper, who moved the motion, included the exception so that community’s views can be heard at a future rezoning hearing, as to not “by-pass that commitment made by the Mayor and others.”
That’s insulting. Even though the two sites in Barrhaven (at Highbury Park and at Nepean Woods) were ultimately removed from consideration, the experience last year is still fresh in the community’s mind.
A commitment was also made to ensure our community’s views were heard, which is why I moved an amendment to apply the exception to the two previously considered sites in Barrhaven as well. That failed 1-10, with me as the only supporter.
The problematic part is some believe their presumption of the public’s feedback is licence to bypass public feedback… yet, an exception was carved out for one site to fulfill a commitment, but it doesn’t apply to our community where the same commitment was made.
Controversial policies are important and obviously worth discussing, but when half the controversy is poor process, it muddles and takes away from the substance of the policy discussion.
Case in point, emergency shelters are an important part of the housing continuum and are a system with potential for policy and operational improvements. Yet, I’ve used about 708 words droning on about a motion that doesn’t achieve that.
Council votes on the item tomorrow (Wednesday). If it passes, staff will work on the amendment. Early information indicates that work will take about three months, after which staff will report back to Committee and Council for a vote to implement or not.
The Rhineland Campaign
Towards Germany’s last major line of defence in the Second World War, 80 years ago this month.
The photo above is from Library and Archives Canada and shows Canadian soldiers from New Brunswick boarding an amphibious vehicle during Operation Veritable during the Rhineland Campaign, February 8, 1945.
The Rhineland Campaign was a series of Allied offensives 80 years ago, starting February 8, 1945. Through a series of operations, the campaign’s goal was to secure the entire west bank of the Rhine River in Germany before crossing it on the advance towards Berlin.
A few months earlier, the Allied victory in the Battle of the Scheldt in November 1944 secured and opened the Antwerp port to Allied shipping. The port became critical in the Allied advance into, and eventual victory in, Germany.
After months of planning, the first phase of the campaign began. Code named Operation Veritable, the Canadians advanced southeast from the Dutch town of Nijmegen, while the Americans advanced northeast to meet the Canadians on the bank of the Rhine River across Wesel, Germany.
Under the command of General Harry Crerar (who has a street in Carlington named for him), the Canadian advance was the largest army a Canadian ever commanded in action, when factoring in the additional Allied soldiers.
Despite a preceding air and artillery attack, the Canadian advance was not easy. Soldiers were hampered by mud and flooded ground, and at times floundered through metre-deep water. Additionally, the American advance was delayed by flooding, allowing the Germans to reinforce some of their positions.
The “water rats” of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division used their amphibious operations skills from the Battle of the Scheldt to make significant gains across flooded terrain, forests, and water-logged countryside.
On February 21, the Canadians broke through the infamous Siegfried Line, Germany’s 630-kilometre western defensive line comprised of 18,000 bunkers, tunnels, and tank traps.
Operation Blockbuster began on February 26, 1945, as a finishing push towards the Rhine River, meeting up with the Americans across Wesel, Germany, on March 3, 1945.
Most of the Canadian Army did not participate in the crossing of the Rhine River, but its contributions and sacrifice secured the way for the successful crossing in operations Plunder and Varsity, allowing the Americans, British, and other Allies to continue their advance towards Berlin.
The Canadians turned north towards the Netherlands, first to open up supply routes, and eventually to root out the Germans towards the North Sea coast.
Canadian momentum was fast and harsh, liberating Dutch towns and cities along the way. A truce was arranged on April 28, thus ending fighting in the country. Canadian generals Foulkes and Simonds accepted the formal surrender of German troops in the Netherlands at their respective fronts on May 5, 1945.
Many of the 5,304 Canadians killed, wounded, or missing during the Rhineland Campaign are buried at the Groesbeek↗, Reichswald Forest↗, and Rheinberg↗ war cemeteries in the Netherlands and Germany.
If you’re observing Valentine’s Day with your boo, please consider supporting a local business.
Be safe in your travels, especially if the snow in the forecast materialises.
-Wilson