Photo credit: Dawson Couture – Associate Editor

Article written by Dawson Couture – Associate Editor

The more than 200 square kilometers of protected green spaces surrounding urban Ottawa have long been an important part of the region’s landscape. This area, administered primarily by the National Capital Commission (NCC), is not protected from urban development by any law. With new transmission line expansion projects, is it time to worry about the future of the green belt?

This area, located on the unceded territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin, was proposed in 1950 to control urban expansion of the City of Ottawa. Today it is home to vast, pristine ecosystems while being welcoming at the same time 3.5 million visitors yearly. “It has become a true gem of the city for Ottawa residents, with its close access to nature and the opportunity for a variety of leisure activities,” said Paul Johanis, President of the Alliance for Canada’s Capital Green Spaces (AEVCC).

Game Status

The green belt around the city of Ottawa was laid out in 1950 with the Gréber Plan. Over time, the federal government bought land, including through expropriation, to complete what is now the area (including Mer Bleue Bog and Stony Swamp). However, as communities outside the Belt began to grow, such as Orleans, Barrhaven, and Kanata, several roads and other infrastructures disrupted the territorial continuity of this area.

It was not until 1985 that the NCC received approval to manage the area under the NCC National Capital Law. According to Benoît Desjardins, strategic communications advisor to the Canadian Crown Corporation, property is “the tool I have.”The largest used by the NCC protect the territorial integrity of the green belt”. Today only 26% of the land in the region is owned by third parties other than the NCC, mainly other federal ministries, he continues.

According to Johanis, however, the management of the state-owned company is a double-edged sword. While conservation has always been a priority for the NCC, he says the focus can vary depending on the composition of the board. “It’s not absolute, there is always a risk that over time the NCC will reassess the integrity of the green belt,” he concludes.

It has now been ten years since the federal agency renewed its master plan, a document that offers guidance for planning and management decisions in the green belt. In the last version (2013), the NCC placed the territory’s “arbitrary boundaries” first in its list of threats to the region’s ecological integrity, followed by landscape fragmentation from urban development. The NCC” foreseen However, it has not yet succeeded in developing a legal definition of the limits of the duration of the plan.

An ecological barrier

Even if the climate crisis was not so obvious in 2013, Johanis emphasizes that it has now become unavoidable. According to him, the new strategic plan must take into account the acceleration of climate change and prioritize the conservation of wildlife and flowers around Ottawa.

Desjardins assures that The planned revision of the plan in 2024 “must take into account the increasing impacts of climate change as well as the need for reconciliation with indigenous communities”. Still, the outline of the plan could be “refreshed,” he said.

The NCC representative also announced the development of a ten-year strategy forclimate adaptation in partnership with the City of Ottawa and the City of Gatineau. According to him, this strategy will include “measures to address the main climate-related risks,” such as last year’s weather events.

For Johanis, last year’s derecho raises concerns about the NCC’s ability to sustain the green belt on its own. The NCC is still in the process of cleaning up the area after winds of over 180 km/h swept across the area on May 21 causing destruction 70% coverage. Due to the “underfunding” of the NCC by the federal government, the President fears that it will “sell certain properties” and sell them to private third parties.

One possible solution: convert the region into a national park. The portion of Parks Canada’s budget earmarked for the creation of new urban national parks could be used to meet the NCC’s green belt development needs, Johanis said. Although AEVCC supported the idea, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe opposed it during his campaign.

The belt is tightening

Today, some transport projects risk further fragmenting the green belt. Phase 2 of the light rail project expansion will transcend the unofficial boundaries of the region, particularly in the vicinity of Macdonald-Cartier International Airport.

However, the initiative that has attracted the most attention is the expansion of Brian Coburn Boulevard and the construction of another corridor for the boulevard transit way from Cumberland to the east. In 2021, after evaluating seven options, the City of Ottawa chose Option 7, a plan that would cut through the green belt.

The NCC has so far refused to allow such a development near the Moors Mer Bleue, preferring options 1 and 4. Option 1 is also supported by the AEVCC as “the best solution to ensure the integrity of the green belt”, according to its president . This option would add additional bus lanes to the existing Blackburn Bypass Corridor.