Kitigan Zibi will hold a referendum to decide whether the community north of Ottawa should purchase the land at 250 Lanark Ave. Photo: APTN.
Citizens of the Kitgan Zibi will vote in a referendum next month to decide if they will buy back a bite-size piece of Algonquin homeland, close to the Ottawa River, in the capital’s trendy Westboro Beach area.
”Basically, I think Canada should just give it to us for $1 – period. But that’s not the case. We’re trying to negotiate and hopefully, a fair deal will come out of it,” said Chief Jean Guy Whiteduck.
The property is 250 Lanark Ave. called the Graham Spry Building, which was built in 1977 and named after a journalist, diplomat, and international business executive who is largely credited with pushing the federal government to create the CBC.
Until 2004, the federally-owned building was home to local CBC television, where shows like Under the Umbrella Tree and Music Works were filmed alongside local news.
The property later became a Health Canada building and in 2023 it was converted into a temporary warming shelter for the unhoused offering 45 beds and showers.
Buying back Algonquin land strikes some of the community as more than a bit ironic, admits Whiteduck. The Algonquin nation never gave up title to their lands, which span 34,209 square kilometers in Ontario and Quebec, including the whole City of Ottawa.
“Our members say exactly that, look, it’s our land. And we agree it’s our land,” said Whiteduck. “But our whole issue of Aboriginal title is not settled yet, we’re still struggling in the interim. In the interim, we see an economic opportunity.”
The Graham Spry building sits near Kichi Zībī Mīkan, formerly the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, a scenic drive along the Ottawa River taking commuters west out of downtown and the property is a 15-minute walk from Westboro Beach, which has been getting updated and renovated in recent years.
If the vote goes ahead to purchase the land it will likely become an urban reserve and citizens of Kitigan Zibi will direct the chief and council on how to develop the land.
It is clear from communications about the project that the chief and council favor economic development. A newsletter points to how Long Plain First Nation in Manitoba opened a lucrative Petro Canada station on their urban reserve in the St. James area of Winnipeg.
“ That decision would come from the community. It would have to be a discussion about what’s the best option for development, economic development, and whether it’s apartment buildings or office buildings or service delivery,” said Whiteduck.
Canada’s Treasury Board has given the community a March 21, 2025 deadline to purchase the land.
If it goes ahead, the Algonquin Nation will hold a 7.63-acre prime real estate property valued at $24 million, directly on the light rail transportation line, just blocks away from the river where they used to trade with the Hudson’s Bay company until the 1860s.
In the Algonquin language Ottawa means ‘to trade.’
Even if the sale goes ahead in March, they are looking at three to five years of planning and development. Kitigan Zibi will have to negotiate service agreements with the City of Ottawa for utilities and essential services like water, police, and ambulance.
Kitigan Zibi earlier settled a specific land claim on lands lost to its closest neighbour, the Town of Maniwaki, Que. The First Nation received $116 million in compensation – some of which was distributed to citizens, the rest put into a Trust.
Whiteduck said it was always a plan to replace lost lands.
“We lost 363 acres in the Maniwaki area and the objective was to replace that land as an addition to reserve anywhere in our traditional territory, which includes the Ottawa Valley area,” he said.
“So the objective was to look at land, and this opportunity came along.”
Today, I received information on an upcoming referendum to be held on my home reserve of Kitigan Zibi(KZA). Here is the question:
Do you agree that KZA buy the land located at 250 Lanark Avenue in Ottawa, Ontario from Canada for the purpose of adding to the reserve….,…
— Senator Patrick Brazeau -Algonquin 🇨🇦 (@senatorbrazeau) January 16, 2025
Of the $24 million price tag, Kitigan Zibi plans to draw from $9 million in existing funds and a one-time land purchase allocation of $5 million from the trust, leaving approximately $14 million to be financed. Annual trust income will be used to repay the loan, preserving other funding streams for programs and services.
The Graham Spry Building is one of 10 federally owned properties in the National Capital Region Public Services and Procurement Canada wants to dispose of.
Environmental assessments have already shown the site needs little remediation. Nevertheless, Kitigan Zibi has engaged an environmental engineer to identify any potential issues, and Canada has promised to adjust the purchase price if any remediation is needed.
Kitigan Zibi is located about 150 km north of Ottawa.
