June to September 2011 - Crime Prevention Ottawa

Letters of Commendation
and
Media Coverage
From June 4, 2011
To September 9, 2011
__________________________________
Lettres de mention élogieuse
et couvertures dans les médias
4 juin 2011 au 9 septembre 2011
Vanier builds on stellar past year
Posted Jun 23, 2011 BY SABINE GIBBINS
EMC News - A real team effort is what makes Vanier the community-oriented place it is today. Just ask
members of the Vanier Community Association (VCA), who held their annual general meeting last Tuesday,
June 15 at the Richelieu Vanier Community Centre, reported a strong past year.
Elections of new board members were held - two positions of which remain vacant - and guest speakers such
as Mayor Jim Watson and Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury attended the organization's meeting. OttawaVanier MP Mauril Belanger was also in attendance at the meeting, and congratulated the VCA on its
accomplishments over the past four years.
The community association, which is still a relatively young organization entering its fifth year.
Elaine Leger, vice-president of the association, said the organization is striving to increase their membership
and educate residents on community events, initiatives, and projects the association takes part in.
One of the most successful projects the VCA is involved in is the partnership held between the beautification
committee and Crime Prevention Ottawa when it comes to cleaning, greening and ensuring a safe environment
in parks and outdoor facilities across Vanier.
The goal is to reduce crime and other activity taking place within the community when taking on these types of
activities.
The beautification committee is but one subgroup in the association, one other active group in the association
is the drugs/prostitution committee, which encourages people to report crime in their neighbourhood in order to
find ways to prevent it from occurring.
President Michael Horne said the membership was also pleased to have in attendance students from
Assumption School, who delivered "I am safe - kids making a difference" bracelets to attendees as part of what
continues to be an inspiring fundraising project for safety initiatives in the community.
The proceeds from this fundraiser - $4,000 - will go to the Wabano Centre.
The VCA also presented a cheque to the volunteers from Vanier's community garden, located on the grounds
of the Richelieu Community Centre.
The community garden provides residents with a place to grow their own produce.
The $300 donated to the garden will go towards the establishment of a second plot of land, to be used by a
local resident.
"Plans for next year include increasing our use of social media to reach our residents and strengthening ties
with other groups and services in the area," stated Horne.
Some of the highlights of the past year reported at their AGM last week include developing committee
structures to address issues, organizing consultation with community resident to improve bus service, creating
opportunities for residents to share ideas with city hall and in particular, Coun. Fleury.
For more information on the VCA and on how to become a member, or if interested in hearing more about the
available positions or community events, please visit www.togetherforvanier.com.
L'Express Ottawa - Société - Vie communautaire
Une promenade qui jette un regard éclairé sur sa communauté
(Photo: Courtoisie)
Publié le 23 Juin 2011 -Karine Régimbald
Sept ans d’existence pour Les yeux de Vanier
Sujets : Service de police d’Ottawa , Quartier Vanier , Promenade Les , Parc Marier
Lorsque Lucie Marleau est déménagée dans le quartier Vanier en 2004, elle a vite déchanté en raison de ce qu’elle
voyait dans le quartier. À peine établie dans sa nouvelle demeure, l’inconfort était au rendez-vous, mais bien au-delà
de ce malaise, sa maison a été vandalisée à plusieurs reprises.
«Quand j'ai déménagé à Vanier, je ne connaissais pas un chat. Je me sentais vraiment inconfortable, raconte-t-elle.
Ma maison est entourée de propriétés à revenu. Quatre de ces propriétés-là étaient des propriétés négligées et les
propriétaires ne faisaient pas de bons choix de locataires. J’étais mal à l’aise. Je ne me sentais pas en sécurité. Je
n’osais pas prendre de marche à Vanier parce que je ne me sentais pas confortable. Je me faisais solliciter
régulièrement.»
Malgré cela, la nouvelle venue a décidé de prendre le taureau par les cornes au côté d'autres résidents et de mettre
sur pied la promenade Les yeux de Vanier, une activité qui se déroule sous le parapluie du groupe de travail sur
l’embellissement du quartier.
Depuis maintenant sept ans, les promeneurs, qui se surnomment les Walkaboos, se dévouent pour leur
communauté par l’entremise de l’initiative Les yeux de Vanier. «On se rencontre toujours à la même place, au même
arbre dans le parc Marier, explique Mme Marleau. C’est vraiment informel. Ceux qui veulent venir viennent. Parfois,
on est trois et parfois une douzaine.»
Ça nous aide à jaser, à rencontrer les voisins, mais aussi à prendre note des changements à Vanier et des
changements que l’on aimerait faire à Vanier en explorant nos parcs et nos lieux publics, explique-t-elle. Aujourd’hui,
des gens viennent nous rejoindre au parc pas pour une marche, mais pour annoncer des nouvelles et nous donner
de l’information.»
Cette collaboration s’est faite dès le commencement. «Au début, ceux que ça faisait plusieurs années qui restaient
ici étaient avec nous pour nous donner l’historique de certains endroits, certaines maisons, indique-t-elle. Si on voit
une prostituée et qu’on voit qu’elle travaille, on va arrêter un peu pour qu’elle soit inconfortable.»
Sans oublier qu’en 2009, la promenade Les yeux sur Vanier s’est mérité le Prix du Mérite de la sécurité
communautaire accordé par Prévention du crime Ottawa. Cette reconnaissance était la deuxième accordée et elle
visait à souligner le travail des résidents impliqués dans le domaine de la prévention du crime.
Ainsi, la sécurité est un volet qui reçoit une attention particulière de l’organisme. «Si on voit des choses qui sont tout
croche, on appelle la police. Si on voit des immeubles et des résidences qui ont besoin d’attention, on peut
communiquer avec le 3-1-1. Si on voit des graffitis, des déchets pas ramassés, on va les ramasser», donne à titre
d’exemple Mme Marleau.
Les bons coups sont aussi soulignés par les gens affiliés à l’organisation qui parcourent Vanier de long en large.
«On va les (résidents) remercier pour avoir embelli leur propriété», fait-elle valoir.
Des améliorations au fil des ans
Pour les adhérents de la promenade Les yeux de Vanier, il ne fait pas de doute que le quartier a connu une vive
amélioration au fil des ans. Le progrès que semble connaître le secteur, Mme Marleau l’observe à travers divers
éléments tels que la baisse des appels lancés au Service de police d’Ottawa lors des marches hebdomadaires, mais
aussi en termes de déchets amassés.
«Au début, on appelait régulièrement les policiers parce qu’il y avait des activités illégales qui se passaient et tout le
monde pouvait les voir. La grande différence que j’ai vue, et surtout dans la dernière année, c’est que c’est rare
maintenant qu’on voit des choses croches», soutient à cet effet Mme Marleau.
Outre la criminalité, cette résidente impliquée remarque que de moins en moins de détritus parsèment le paysage de
Vanier. «On ne voit plus les mêmes choses qu’on voyait avant. Je n’hésite pas à marcher seule. Je n’ai plus ces
inquiétudes-là.»
Le constable Marc Daviault, qui est policier communautaire à Vanier, témoigne aussi de l’amélioration. «La
communauté s’est beaucoup mobilisée avec le comité d’embellissement et les Walkaboos, constate-t-il. Vanier a
beaucoup changé. Il reste des améliorations à apporter. Il y a encore des prostituées. Les gens sont au courant.»
Selon M. Daviault, les Walkaboos sont véritablement un atout. «Ça nous aide à faire notre travail. Quand on fait des
opérations contre la prostitution, on travaille en partenariat avec les citoyens. La police est là 24 heures par jour, mais
ce n’est pas toujours les mêmes policiers. Les gens, eux, ils vivent là. C’est leur quartier, donc ils savent ce qui se
passe.»
Un engagement pour le futur
Dans la même veine que Mme Marleau et que le constable Daviault, le conseiller municipal du quartier Vanier,
Mathieu Fleury, croit qu’il est incontestable que Vanier n’est plus le même que jadis.
«J’applaudis cette initiative. Vanier a tourné la page sur la tache du passé de prostitution, de drogue et de criminalité.
C’est un renouveau, soutient Mathieu Fleury, lui qui est visiblement fier de son quartier. C’est une communauté
accessible et avec des services. On est à cinq minutes du centre-ville.»
D’ailleurs, en gage de soutien et question de faire l’expérience, il a pris part à l’une des marches organisées par le
regroupement le 8 juin.
Selon lui, ce type d’initiative est bénéfique pour le quartier puisqu’elle incite les gens à venir s’établir dans le secteur.
«Ils (résidents impliqués) incitent les gens à déménager à Vanier et à s’impliquer, à être engagé», croit-il.
L'Express Ottawa - Société - Vie communautaire
Une nouvelle murale colorée pour Vanier
Une dizaine de jeunes vaniérois ont participé à la confection d’une murale qui donnera plus de couleurs à la vie de ce
quartier bordant le centre-ville. Publié le 3 Août 2011 Bryan Michaud
Le paysage de Vanier est plus coloré depuis quelques jours. Le 28 juillet, une dizaine de jeunes
du secteur ont dévoilé leur nouvelle œuvre, une murale illustrant la vie de ce quartier, qui a été
créée sur l’un des murs de la pizzeria Louis de l’avenue McArthur.
Sujets : Centre de services communautaires Vanier , Vanier , Ottawa
Ce projet intitulé J’aime Vanier, une collaboration du Centre de services communautaires Vanier (CSCV)
et de Prévention crime Ottawa, vise particulièrement à faire découvrir les arts aux jeunes du quartier tout
en égayant la vie du secteur francophone.
Afin de donner une homogénéité au produit final, le CSCV a donné comme mandat à l’artiste de
Clarence-Rockland, Bernard Lévesque, d’assurer la direction artistique du projet et de suivre les jeunes
dans la conception de leurs graffitis. «Les dessins sont tous des éléments conducteurs représentant
Vanier pour les jeunes, explique M. Lévesque. Je leur ai demandé ce qu’est Vanier pour eux. Ils ont dit
qu’on a des personnes âgées qui s’occupent des petits enfants. On m’a dit les ordinateurs puisque tous
les jeunes sont sur Facebook. Le français était très important. Ce sont tous des items qu’ils ont dessinés
séparément.»
«De mon côté, j’ai embelli ou repris tous ces éléments et je les ai placés graphiquement pour que ce soit
beau», ajoute M. Lévesque. Ce dernier, qui se décrit comme «jeune de cœur», a apprécié travailler de
concert avec ces artistes en herbe. Avec la chaleur accablante qui a frappé la région au cours des
dernières semaines, l’artiste les a motivés à poursuivre leur travail.
Des batailles de bouteille d’eau ont d’ailleurs pigmenté la création des jeunes vaniérois. «J’avais pitié
pour eux», se rappelle en riant le coordonnateur. «Ma vocation est de motiver les jeunes, dit M.
Lévesque. Si je peux aider les jeunes à se placer dans les arts ou à travailler dans le domaine, je leur
lèverai mon chapeau. Je veux démontrer qu’on peut vivre de l’art, que c’est un coup de cœur et que ce
n’est pas quelque chose qui se juge.»
Résultat positif
Les sourires étaient nombreux chez les jeunes artistes qui ont participé à la conception de la murale. Par
ailleurs, Élyse Robertson, qui a chapeauté le projet du côté du CSCV, a reçu plusieurs commentaires
positifs, certains automobilistes faisant même un détour lorsqu’ils vont travailler pour apercevoir quelques
instants la nouvelle œuvre d’art. «Je me suis impliquée depuis le début, à la fin de l’année scolaire, dit
Édith Dogva, une adolescente ayant participé au projet. Je trouvais que l’idée d’avoir une murale pour
représenter Vanier est une bonne chose. J’en ai entendu parler en participant au programme Franc
succès.» «Je suis fière de moi et j’aime ça», a conclu Mme Dogva.
Taking back Vanier
How residents took back their community from the drug dealers, addicts, panhandlers
and prostitutes and created a place where planters are full of flowers instead of trash,
families are moving in and vacant lots are becoming new homes.
By Maria Cook, The Ottawa Citizen August 8, 2011
Kim Yull is a community activist in Vanier. She helped clean up prostitution, the drug trade and a local
park. When she first moved in, she had to chase prostitutes out of her driveway. Photograph by: Jean
Levac, Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — Kim Yull had heard that Vanier was once a “nasty side of town,” but she figured
those days were over. Besides, it was affordable and she wanted to be able to pop out for
breakfast and walk downtown to her job as a bank collector.
It turns out, “I didn’t know how bad it was,” she recalls.
From the day they moved to Marier Avenue, she and her partner had to chase prostitutes off their
driveway, where they’d stand to solicit clients.
“Inside the time it takes to smoke a cigarette I would count 12, 13 prostitutes waving to cars,
smiling, yelling at each other, fighting, yelling at us when we asked them to move along.”
One day a transvestite prostitute photographed her and her son, the house, the car, the licence
plate. “That was a little disconcerting.”
Yull flagged down a police car. “What’s with all the prostitutes here? Get ’em off the street.”
She’d only been there a week and she’d already had enough.
This was in August, 2007, before Vanier residents began to take back their community from the
drug dealers, addicts, pimps, panhandlers and prostitutes.
Now, four years later, crime is down and property values are up. Houses are being renovated and
built. Developers are buying up vacant sites. Concrete planters that were filled with trash
overflow with flowers. New families are moving in.
“I jokingly call it Eastboro,” says Ottawa Police Chief Vern White. “A little bit of a shot at
Westboro. If I were buying investment property that’s where I would buy right now. A number
of my officers bought homes there.”
In 2007 it was a neighbourhood in crisis. It’s property crime rate was 1.4 times higher than the
rest of the city. Violent crime was almost three times as high.
White says that in 2007 when he took over as chief of police: “Everybody I talked to in and out
of this organization said the biggest challenge we have is to turn Vanier around.”
In the past four years, the crime rate has dropped a “substantial” 32 per cent, he notes. The
Vanier model of joint community-police action is being studied for application elsewhere.
Today it is an area in transition. Residents have regained a sense of community. There is a
marked difference in people’s lives. Theirs is a textbook case of making a better neighbourhood.
“It’s one of Ottawa’s success stories,” says Ottawa Police Inspector Alain Bernard. “I give
tremendous credit to the community and what they have accomplished.”
If Yull didn’t know much about Vanier, she wasn’t alone. It remains unknown territory for many
who live in Ottawa today.
Vanier is bounded on the west by the Rideau River, across from Lowertown and Sandy Hill, and
on the east almost to St. Laurent Boulevard (Belisle Street, Ducharme Avenue and Notre Dame
Cemetery.) To the north lies Beechwood Avenue and the neighbourhoods of New Edinburgh,
Lindenlea and Rockcliffe Park; to the south Stevens Avenue and the Overbrook area.
Vanier was amalgamated into the City of Ottawa in 2001. It had been an independent
municipality for a century: one square mile of land, totally surrounded by the capital, a
francophone island in a sea of mostly anglophones.
The first bridge dates to 1836. The link to Ottawa has been a mixed blessing. As a community of
modest means, the issues affecting its larger wealthier neighbour are soon felt. When the
ByWard Market and Lowertown swept out hookers in the 1980s, Vanier with its limited police
budget and low rents provided a ready option.
That it has a working-class French heritage is well-known. According to the 2006 census, 63 per
cent of the population can speak French. The streets have French names and this where you find
French churches and clubs, francophone social services, and Museoparc, the only francophone
museum in Ottawa.
But when Mathieu Fleury, the new city councillor went door-to-door last fall he was surprised at
the diversity. “You have families, professionals, English and French, new immigrants.”
It is home to many First Nations people, as well as recent immigrants, including French speakers
from Africa, Haiti and the Middle East. Along the shopping strips one sees African, Caribbean
and Latin American grocers.
“My sense of Vanier is it’s a community that’s redefining itself,” says Rob Dale, minister of the
evangelical City Church in the former Notre-Dame-du-Saint-Esprit church.
Dale makes an analogy to the bikers welcomed by his church. “Bikers, like the people of Vanier,
are often misunderstood. A small percentage because they’re newsmakers, that’s what defines
the community. A lot of individuals are transient, here for a couple of years. Sometimes those are
the ones that give the community a negative image.
“When you talk to the people of Vanier, that’s not who the community is made up of. You
discover incredibly friendly people who love their community,” he says. “The biggest need is
just hope, the recognition that we don’t need to believe our press reports. We don’t need to
believe the image.”
In 1961, the population was 24,555, before closure of the railway and industries which provided
jobs. In the 2006 census, the population was 15,726 residents. Of those, 69 per cent rent their
homes, compared with 37 per cent in the rest of Ottawa.
The 2006 household income was about $48,000, far less than Ottawa’s average of about $86,000,
which may help explain the pawn shops and payday loan outlets.
Vanier looks like a small town. It has its own cenotaph. Telephone and electrical wires thread
through backyards and along streets. Brick is rare except on the small postwar walk-up
apartment blocks.
Light colours predominate; lots of white aluminum. Balconies and exterior stairs witness the
division of many houses into apartments, as do multiple satellite dishes and mailboxes. White
picket fences are popular. Many front lawns boast well-tended flower gardens.
Vanier was laid out block by short block by small builders; differently oriented street grids
intersect creating variety. It’s not flat. There are hills and slopes and views of the Peace Tower.
Many houses date back to the 1920s or before. On tidy St. Ambroise Street you find postwar
cottages. Elsewhere there are curving suburban-style streets in areas laid out in the 1950s and
later, and more recent developments that could be in Orléans or Kanata.
The shopping strips — Beechwood Avenue, McArthur Avenue and Montreal Road — are mostly
single-storey strip malls or houses converted to business.
Vanier has just one-tenth the green space per person compared to Ottawa. Much of it is found in
17.5-acre Richelieu Park where pillars at the entrance and a statue of the Virgin Mary are
reminders of the past presence of the White Fathers Catholic order.
A community centre and library sit in this serene setting. It is also the site of an urban sugar
bush.
“Vanier has changed a lot and is changing,” says Ottawa Police District Inspector Ian Kingham.
“In the past Vanier had a fairly bad reputation as an area problematic for crime. The reputation
from the past is not deserved. The situation is dramatically improved.”
But the reputation is hard to shake. “The No. 1 issue is stigma,” says Suzanne Valiquet, of the
Quartier Vanier Merchants Association.
Adds Michel Gervais, executive director of the Vanier Community Services Centre. “When an
incident occurs in Overbrook, the media says it’s Vanier.”
This past winter Yull was shovelling snow when she noticed a car drive by slowly four times
with the window down. “I actually yelled at the guy,” she recalls. “Do you honestly think a
prostitute is going to be shovelling the driveway?”
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
How Vanier bounced back
By 2007, neighbourhood streets were mired in drugs, prostitution and crime.
Residents felt they had lost their voice after amalgamation with Ottawa. Then,
something changed -By Maria Cook, The Ottawa Citizen August 8, 2011
Debbie St. Aubin and John Hocking in a park near their home in Vanier. Debbie and John were very active on a local
beautification committee, cleaning grafitti and garbage and planting flowers. Photograph by: Jean Levac, Ottawa
Citizen
OTTAWA — Debbie St. Aubin grew up in New Edinburgh and Elmvale. When she and her
husband John Hocking were looking for a house in 1988, suburbia wasn’t for them. In Vanier,
they found a 90-year-old house they loved, charmingly irregular streets, and a school within
walking distance for their daughter. By 2007 both were retired — she had been a travel agent, he
was an accountant — and they started to notice changes.
“The look of our community was dirty,” St. Aubin, 54, recalls. “There was garbage everywhere.
Sunday on Montreal Road was absolutely disgusting.”
Streets were littered with fast-food wrappers, broken bottles and condoms.
The corner of Carillon Street and Marier Avenue was like a drive-through for drugs. “There’d be
a guy on the corner and cars would stop in the middle of the road and a drug deal would take
place,” says St. Aubin.
Vehicles circled the streets picking up crack-addled prostitutes. “Their face is almost skeletal.
They’re twitching. They will do anything for their next fix.”
Absentee landlords ran flophouses where drug-addicted prostitutes crashed on floors covered in
mattresses. Drug deals and prostitution were visible in broad daylight.
Suzanne Valiquet, executive director of the Quartier Vanier Merchants Association, recalls
people smoking crack outside her Montreal Road office window.
“I was really upset about it,” she says. “They feel like they own the place and if you don’t say or
do anything it will continue.”
Back then there was despair and a lot of anger. Many knew that Vanier could be so much more,
but people were paralyzed as to how to solve the problems.
When Vern White returned to Ottawa in 2007 as chief of police, he rode along in squad cars with
officers to familiarize himself with neighbourhoods. In Vanier, he says: “I saw a heart.” People
loved the community but hated where it was then.
“It was kind of like the brother who had an addiction problem but they didn’t stop loving him.
They just didn’t know how to fix him and he wasn’t ready for treatment.” He recalled in an
interview a woman complaining she couldn’t leave her lawn chair outside. “Do they steal your
lawn chair?” he asked.
“No, but they’re having sex on it.”
“It was that simple for her,” said White. “She wanted to leave her lawn chair out. She didn’t
want to pick up used condoms on her driveway or in her grass.”
A 2009 report entitled, “Vanier, taking back its streets,” by Ottawa Police Inspector Alain
Bernard and community members characterized a general sense of hopelessness.
Neither residents nor businesses reported crime or suspicious activity. A local Community Police
Centre had difficulty setting up a Neighbourhood Watch program. There was no existing resident
community association, therefore, no real voice to speak collectively on behalf of citizens.
There was a higher-than-average crime rate, including break-ins and theft from vehicles,
unkempt streets and shabby businesses.
Another 2009 report by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy traced the worsening conditions to
2001 when the amalgamated City of Ottawa was formed. The former City of Vanier went from
having seven regional and municipal council representatives and its own mayor to being onequarter of one city councillor’s ward (with Sandy Hill, Lowertown and ByWard Market.)
“Vanier’s traditional problem-solving process faltered,” said the report. “Prior to amalgamation,
it was common for Vanier’s residents to engage elected and appointed municipal officials in
casual conversation, heading off small issues before they became big ones.
The report noted that Vanier’s 15,726 residents seemed to have given up hope for better days.
“You had a community that was in some ways fearful to get involved,” says Bernard. “The
question was how do you rally the troops?”
Late in 2006, Crime Prevention Ottawa, an arms-length City of Ottawa agency with a mandate to
improve safety in crime-affected neighbourhoods, decided to take a more active role in
community development.
“We were looking for where we could have an impact,” says executive director Nancy Worsfold.
The ByWard Market, though it had the city’s highest crime rate, was mostly commercial. In
Vanier, they saw a residential area with busy main streets where “nobody was addressing crime
and safety issues in a systemic way,” she said.
Crime Prevention Ottawa invited Vanier leaders to a meeting in January 2007. Were they
interested in help and startup funds for a community project to make Vanier safer? The answer
was yes.
From the start, partners included: the Vanier Community Service Centre, the merchant’s
association, police, staff from the city’s parks and recreation, public health and bylaw
departments, former city councillor Georges Bédard’s office, Pauline-Charron seniors centre,
Boys and Girls Club, Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health as well as churches and cultural
groups.
The first step in May 2007 was a household survey that confirmed residents’ concerns about
street prostitution, open drug dealing and crack houses. They were unhappy about rundown
houses, broken sidewalks, and needles and condoms in the streets. They felt unsafe because of
noise, out-of-control people and fights. Landlords who ignored drug activity were a problem.
In June 2007, Crime Prevention Ottawa held a public forum at the Richelieu-Vanier community
centre. “We expected 50 people to come and were thrilled when 115 showed up,” recalls
Worsfold. “It was an angry meeting. People felt nothing was being done. People were going up
to the mike and airing grievances. They felt disconnected. It was good. With anger there is
energy.”
Ginette Gratton, then a Rogers television host, chaired the meeting. “One group was telling
police you have to take the prostitutes out of our sight. Another group understood that these
things are changed by community and that Crime Prevention Ottawa will be there to support us
and give us the tools to do it.”
At the meeting two committees were formed — one focused on beautification, the other on drugs
and prostitution. Andrew Leuty, a 60-year-old federal public servant who moved to Vanier in
2000, put his name down for both.
“We were under siege,” he says. “Everybody was a little mad and wanted to do something.
People who lived there for years just accepted it. The newcomers didn’t.”
Leuty saw prostitutes walking around topless. He’d been offered oral sex while shovelling snow
in front of his house. His wife was propositioned by men while gardening. They were cursed at
by streetwalkers.
One night at 4 a.m. Leuty’s cat woke him. Outside the window, a man was beating a woman.
There was a large pool of blood on the sidewalk. Leuty phoned 911. “Basically, I saved her life.”
St. Aubin and Hocking joined the beautification committee. “This is neat,” she thought. “I feel
empowered.”
And the new movement had a name: “Ensemble pour Vanier/Together for Vanier.”
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Cleaning up Vanier, with a vengeance
In 2007, citizens started Together for Vanier, a movement that battled crime and
promoted beautification. Said one volunteer to Maria Cook: 'I was looking around
for some way to show that this was a neighbourhood that cared.'
By Maria Cook, Ottawa Citizen August 9, 2011
Lucie Marleau, centre, and other members of Eyes on Vanier Walkabout go for regular strolls to report illegal activities and
pick up trash. Photograph by: Mike Carroccetto, The Ottawa Citizen
One evening in September 2009, about 40 people joined hands in a circle in Marier Park and
sang the hymn Amazing Grace. Its message of redemption - "I once was lost, but now am found"
- resonated with their efforts to clean up Vanier.
That evening two groups had bumped into each other by chance. One was the Eyes on Vanier
Walkabout, area residents who go for regular strolls to report illegal activities and pick up trash.
The other was Prayer Walkers, parishioners from City Church in Vanier who felt the tiny park then used for drug deals and prostitution - needed a prayer.
Marier Park occupies a former house lot. A circle of benches on concrete pavers is shaded by tall
linden and maple trees.
Coincidentally, two weeks later, hoodlum tenants across the street moved away. "I still get
goosebumps," says Lucie Marleau, a 48-year-old public servant.
She started the Walkabout in spring 2008. It was one of many activities that followed the June
2007 launch of a citizens movement called Together for Vanier. It initiated two sets of actions:
anti-crime and beautification. Dozens of volunteers, together with Ottawa police and local
organizations, mobilized to restore the safety and attractiveness of their streets.
"There's no one thing that any of the partners have done that has been the essential thing," says
Nancy Worsfold, of Crime Prevention Ottawa, the city agency that guided the campaign. "It's a
thousand threads weaving together."
Walkabout participants, sometimes as many as 15, with dogs and baby strollers, used cellphones
to call in prostitution, drug use, public intoxication and suspicious activities.
It wasn't unusual to make a dozen calls during one walkabout. "The cops were there that fast!"
says walker Kim Yull, snapping her fingers.
Walkabouts cleaned public spaces, took note of neglected buildings, and left a "Bravo!" note on
improved properties. They met with police dispatchers to learn the lingo and how to make useful
complaints. "You can't phone in and say there's a crack house and boom they're going to raid it,"
says Yull.
When garbage and graffiti dominated public spaces, the whole neighbourhood felt derelict.
Debbie St. Aubin and her husband John Hocking, decided to make beautification their focus.
The first thing they did was spruce up two neglected planters at the corner of Dagmar and
Baribeau streets. They pulled out weeds replaced them with black-eyed susans, phlox, impatiens
and hostas.
Once they got over their surprise, people who live on the street took over the maintenance.
Today there are 34 street planters tended by residents. Other people agreed to empty new public
garbage bins placed on residential streets, while still others planted a community vegetable
garden in Richelieu Park.
Armed with graffiti removal kits from the City of Ottawa, St. Aubin and Hocking jumped on
their bikes and sought out the spray-painted tags that defaced mailboxes, bus shelters and park
benches.
"We went at it with a vengeance," recalls St. Aubin. "I couldn't even guess at how many tags we
removed - thousands."
Over on Emond Street, Kate Greer-Close, while pregnant with twins, set up Vanier's first
Neighbourhood Watch in September 2007. That led to five more. "I was looking around for
some way to show that this was a neighbourhood that cared."
In April 2008, 150 volunteers began the first annual Vanier spring cleanup, removing rubbish
from the area's 10 parks and celebrating afterward with a barbecue.
The Quartier Vanier Merchants Association co-ordinated its efforts with those of residents.
The association removed graffiti in the business district, and dropped off a broom with business
owners, asking them to spend 20 minutes every Friday sweeping the sidewalk in front of their
shops and talking to neighbours.
It hired students from the police foundations program at La Cité Collégiale to patrol for property
damage, drug activity and prostitution and report crime to police.
In summer 2008, the association introduced a farmers market in a lot at the corner of Hannah
Street and Montreal Road to bring fresh food to residents and animate the streets. Now in its
fourth season, it has grown to 20 vendors offering locally grown fruits and vegetables, meat,
cheese, flowers and baked goods.
For their part, the Ottawa police increased the level of activity by uniformed officers, and in
November 2007 set up a new undercover street team. "Their work led to the closing of numerous
crack houses and made a significant number of arrests of crack dealers and prostitutes," said
Insp. Alain Bernard. "This often led to these criminals seeking treatment for addictions."
Men cruising for prostitutes were pulled over and a registered warning letter was sent to their
home, which included statistics about street prostitutes: 25 per cent have HIV.
Police presented victim impact letters to judges to allow the courts to hear how drug dealing
affects the daily lives of people. This resulted in longer sentences in some cases.
The targeted enforcement paid off. Between 2007 and 2008 reports of violent crimes declined to
275 from 387. Mischief to property and theft also went down.
In February 2009, a community survey found that residents had noticed improvements, though
they still had concerns about prostitution and other problems.
Vanier's successes have been recognized beyond its boundaries.
In June 2009, Vanier and the Ottawa Police Service received a Community Mobilization Award
from the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police. And in 2010, the Vanier working group on
beautification won the 2010 United Way Community Builder Award: Turning Lives Around.
During last May's spring cleanup, there wasn't much to do. "I guess you could say we are a
victim of our success," says St. Aubin.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Neighbourhood full of hope
OTTAWA CITIZENAUGUST 9, 2011 7:01 AM
In recent years, Ottawa's core neighbourhoods have undergone rapid and largely positive change.
Almost nowhere is that transformation being felt with as much force as in Vanier, one of the most
historic communities in what is now the City of Ottawa and, at times, one of the most troubled.
The revitalization of Ottawa's central neighbourhoods reflects demographics, as older residents
downsize and move in from outer suburbs; lifestyle choices, as young families and singles move to
pedestrian and cycling-friendly parts of the city that are close to work; and the resulting influx of
business and new housing to serve residents.
The result is that, beyond Parliament Hill, Ottawa is becoming defined by its vibrant and lively
neighbourhoods.
In a series of articles that began on the weekend and continue until Wednesday, the Citizen's Maria
Cook takes a close look at Vanier and the hope and hardship involved in renewal of the heavily
francophone community.
Revitalizing Vanier has been a challenge for residents. Once a small city on the edge of Ottawa (at
one time Vanier, formerly Eastview, was the smallest city, by area, in the country), it became
hemmed in by what are now Ottawa's eastern suburbs. The loss of industry means less tax revenue
and, beginning around the 1960s, it became a magnet for many of Ottawa's poor. At one time
Eastview had the highest welfare rate in the province for its size, one of the lowest household
incomes and crime rates that were going up.
In recent years, Crime Prevention Ottawa and members of the community began targeting its
streets, many of which had become havens for drugs, prostitutes and crime. The community formed
its own organization to clean up Vanier's streets and its reputation, similar to the movement in
another Ottawa neighbourhood - Hintonburg, which has emerged from a period in which prostitutes
and discarded needles were part of the streetscape to become one of the city's hippest
neighbourhoods.
Vanier, like Hintonburg, is now a neighbourhood in transition and full of hope.
It is encouraging to see signs of growing community pride in recent years as residents have worked
to take back their streets and watched new development and new businesses come into the
community. But it is important that some of the problems that have plagued Vanier in the past are
not simply swept into another part of the city.
Intensification can often be controversial. The Glebe and Westboro, two of the city's most vibrant
neighbourhoods, have seen battles, big and small, in recent years over development that some area
residents thought would have a negative effect. But when done carefully and intelligently,
intensification makes cities like Ottawa richer and more vibrant.
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Building the new Vanier
As the crime rate is dropping, a sense of community is rising. So are new developments
and property prices By Maria Cook, The Ottawa Citizen August 10, 2011 7:14 AM
Kanata residents Karen Bennett and Michael Leroux are now building their new home on Carillon Street on a
“gem” of a lot in Vanier. It is a rare opportunity to build near downtown in an area “that could see its Westboro-like
days ahead,” Bennett says. Photograph by: Mike Carroccetto, The Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA — When a friend suggested going to Vanier for maple syrup, Karen Bennett laughed
thinking it was a joke.
“To my surprise, I discovered tucked in the middle of this „bad part of town‟ this beautiful and
serene Vanier sugar bush that hosts a wonderful festival each year,” she says.
Bennett, 32, used to think Vanier was “scuzzy.” A marketing professional looking to move from
Kanata, she did her research and learned that Vanier was on an upswing.
She and her boyfriend, Michael Leroux, 33, are now building a $350,000 house on Carillon
Street on a “gem” of a lot that once held a swimming pool for a French-Canadian family with 16
children.
It is a rare opportunity to build near downtown in an area “that could see its Westboro-like days
ahead,” she says.
Though the area is poised for physical changes, the biggest changes in Vanier since 2007 have
been less tangible.
When Lucie Marleau, a public servant and community champion, moved to Vanier in 2004, she
did not feel comfortable walking the streets alone. “I could not take a walk without being
solicited.”
Today “things have changed dramatically,” she says. “I now feel very comfortable taking a walk
in Vanier, day or night. Our streets and parks are much cleaner and safer. There is minimal
graffiti. The problem tenants that lived nearby are all but gone.”
Crime dropped 32 per cent between 2007 and 2010. Police statistics show that there were 638
fewer reported crimes: from 1,985 incidents in 2007 to 1,347 incidents in 2010. (See box).
“I‟m seeing a sense of community, a sense of belonging” says Mehdi Louzouaz, community
liaison officer at the Vanier Community Services Centre.
Lang Chi Dang, who runs Fantastic Tailor and Cleaners on Montreal Road, has had dry cleaning
snatched from the store, and prostitutes used to follow customers into the shop.
“Now you can see the street is more clean, more safe,” she says. “Now police come very quick
when we call.”
The shift began in 2007 with the launch of a joint community-police action called Together for
Vanier. It galvanized residents like Marleau “who were all living the same experiences — many
of them negative — but in isolation,” she says.
Residents monitored streets and parks and reported crimes. They cleaned up garbage and graffiti
and started a community association and Neighbourhood Watch. Police responded swiftly to
calls and targeted the drug and sex trade. The business association hired safety patrols and started
an outdoor farmers‟ market.
“It was one of the most rewarding projects I‟ve ever worked on,” says Nancy Worsfold,
executive director of Crime Prevention Ottawa, the city agency that provided seed money and
mentorship.
“It‟s so wonderful watching people take ownership of their neighbourhood. There‟s greater
community pride.”
Inspired by their success, the Ottawa Police Service has adopted a similar approach in other
neighbourhoods including Lowertown, Banff-Ledbury and Pinecrest-Queensway.
“It was a textbook case of what community engagement and community mobilization is all
about,” Insp. Alain Bernard says. “We can‟t do it alone. We need to have the community
working side-by side.”
Ottawa Police Chief Vern White says it worked because Vanier residents stepped up to the plate.
“They didn‟t want us to go fix it like we get from some communities,” he says. “That was the
impressive piece. I don‟t have near enough cops to fix it.”
A new community policing model, developed by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and
taught to new recruits, is based in part on the Vanier strategy.
“Our Vanier experience certainly supported the rationale for the design of this model,” says
Bernard, who served on the subcommittee that developed it. “It‟s very much a reflection of what
we‟ve been doing. There was a very real sense we‟d made a marked difference in the
community.”
While at the opening of the farmers market in 2010, “I watched a crack deal going down across
the street, standing with my granddaughter in my arms,” White recalls.
“We still have challenges there and most of the same problems are still there to a lower degree,”
he says. “From a policing perspective, it‟s still a sustained effort.”
The difference? “I don‟t think the people will allow it to falter now.”
On Beechwood Avenue, Domicile Developments is proposing a nine-storey condo building with
120 units on the site of Kavanaugh‟s gas station, an old-fashioned place where the friendly
owners still pump gas and say “Thank you. Come again.”
The 103-year-old St. Charles church along Beechwood with its commanding silver tower and
distinctive blue neon cross, is closed. Commercial real estate agent Charles Mirsky it‟s “highly
likely” it will be sold and observes “the site would lend itself well” to a condo tower with
commercial space on the ground floor.
“Everyone wants to work together to make Beechwood another Westboro,” says Mark Kaluski,
chair of the Quartier Vanier Merchants Association‟s economic development committee.
Vanier‟s city councillor Mathieu Fleury is not sure Vanier wants to be the next Westboro, but
sees its potential to be rediscovered. “You‟re five minutes from downtown, close to water. It‟s a
great, tight-knit community.”
As crime has gone down, property values have gone up. According to the Ottawa Real Estate
Board, between 2006 and 2011, the average price of a Vanier house increased from $225,534 in
2006 to $290,528 in 2011.
The increase has almost kept pace with the rest of Ottawa, where the average house price
increased from $255,889 in 2006 to $347,874 in 2011.
White points to the new Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health under construction on Montreal
Road and predicts: “Wabano will in many ways change the face of Vanier, like Mountain
Equipment Co-op has in Westboro.”
Designed by architect Douglas Cardinal, designer of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, and
his son, Bret, the $14.2-million Wabano Centre features an exterior curving glass facade and a
domed gathering space. It is expected to be completed next summer. Ottawa‟s aboriginal
community is largely concentrated in Vanier.
“Our project is part and parcel of the complete makeover that Vanier is undergoing,” says Carlie
Chase, Wabano‟s director of initiatives.
“We‟re hoping to be a leader in the cultural reclamation of this area.”
Elsewhere, a 20-storey office building is under construction beside the Royal Canadian Mounted
Police compound on Vanier Parkway. Longwood Building Corp. wants to turn an auto repair
shop near McArthur Avenue into an eight-storey condo building. A large lot on Montreal Road
at Marier Street has been bought for an office building.
Redevelopment is still mostly along the edges of Vanier, Mirsky says. “The inside is very much
what it was.”
Claridge Homes is building the second tower of its condo project along the Vanier Parkway
called Edinburgh Common. Started in 2007, it has townhouses, stacked townhouses as well as
20- and 24-storey towers. Sitting on former industrial land, it orients itself beyond Vanier in
name and layout.
One aspect of Vanier still to change is perception. When Mirsky asks clients where they want to
buy real estate “the first answer I get is not in Vanier,” he says. “It‟s a management nightmare.
That‟s the perspective at least. Your rents are still very low. It‟s not a very high profile spot.”
The business association is trying to recruit new businesses to the area and expand the
boundaries of its commercial zone to include the north side of Beechwood, which was
historically Ottawa.
It is lobbying for sidewalk and streetscape improvements on Montreal Road, including getting
18-wheelers off the road and improving the safety of the Vanier Parkway and Montreal Road
intersection. They hope to attract furniture stores, high-end fashion boutiques, and cafés.
While investment is a welcome indicator of confidence, Michael Horne, president of the new
Vanier Community Association, says the association wants to be ready to respond to
“development issues” such as the sort of large-scale projects debated in other communities.
“The fact that Vanier maintains a neighbourhood feeling was very appealing to us,” says Horne,
who moved to Vanier in 2006. “It feels like a small town in a big city. It‟s a community that has
a rich history of volunteerism and working together.”
Akash Sinha, whose company Dharma Developments is building Bennett‟s house, predicts
interest in Vanier will continue to grow.
“It is a great blend of diverse housing types, proximity to a lot of amenities and inherently
showcases all the things we consider great in neighbourhoods such as walkability, diversity and
compact design,” he says.
“It has the potential to be a fantastic example of urban regeneration in Canada.”
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
From: Kavanagh, Julie A [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: June 17, 2011 12:04 PM
To: Worsfold, Nancy
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for dropping off the usb stick a while back with the "Don't be that guy"
posters on it. Would you like me to pop it back in the mail to you or shall I
keep it as a souvenir? ;)
By the way, one of our foot patrol officers mentioned that he was getting quite a
bit of positive feedback about the posters from the downtown/young crowd. The
general consensus is that it's a great 'in your face' message and very effective
imagery. FYI.
Julie
Sent: June 27, 2011 11:18 PM
To: Fleury, Mathieu; Watson, Jim (Mayor)
Cc: Worsfold, Nancy; Demers, Francine N; Bonia, Pertrina; Berthelet, Helene; MacGregor, Gord; Mullin,
Nathaniel
Subject: Compliments and thanks all around re our Neighbourhood watch Block BBQ --Photos of the
Events - enjoy
Hello, Mayor Watson and Councillor Fleury!!
We on Longpré Street send this video**
https://picasaweb.google.com/101593254234586252298/LongpreBlockPartyJune262011?authkey=Gv1s
RgCPTJ6eGxkvrIEQ&feat=email#5623021932807378466
and the photos** below, to share the good time we had at our non-alcoholic Neighbourhood Watch BBQ
on Sunday, June 26th.
We want to thank the city for this original initiative which made it possible:
Crime Prevention Ottawa's promotion of Neighbourhood Watch sites in Vanier (thanks Nancy Worsford
and Francine Demers); and for the city's support in making our party a great event which included the
following:
Easy process for road closure (thanks Pertrina Bonia) Barriers and a drop off location from from the
Centre Communautaire Vanier ( thanks Hélène Berthelet) A fantastic portable tennis game from a chain
of people beginning with Nathanial Mullin in the councillor's office and ending with Gord MacGregor of
Recreation at the City of Ottawa (thanks Nathanial and Gord!)
A council and mayor who support creating an environment which encourages neighbours to work and
play together. (Thanks Mayor Jim and Councillor Mathieu!)
Thanks so much, everyone. Our event raised $355 for the Fred McCann unit of the Boys and Girls
Club. We received many compliments and no complaints! We are really pumped! :0)
Regards
Rose Anne Leonard for the Longpré Street Neighbourhood Watch.
-----Original Message----From: Britt [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: July 8, 2011 9:58 PM
To: CPO-PCO
Subject: Congrats on your "That guy" campaign!!
Just an ordinary private citizen wanting to say thank you for your incredible
posters!!
I've long maintained that victim-centric efforts do NOTHING to stop the violence
as those services are always provided after the fact. For some reason, we are
socially afraid of distinguishing male-perpetrated violence from femaleperpetrated violence. Yes, both do occur, but it's weighted heavily on the male
side (I believe the ratio is close to 95:5).
I also believe that real change will come only when male-instigated crime is
removed from the feminist agenda and placed squarely in the laps of men
(figuratively and literally). Most of the men who perpetrate acts of violence
have no regard for women, so the message of "it's not cool to hit a woman" coming
from a woman is futile. Men need to step up to the plate, and adopt, promote and
support a behaviour code amongst themselves. And I don't know how it could be
done yet, but having pre-emptive proactive counseling available to men who are
fantasizing about violent acts BEFORE they enter into acting them out, or at the
beginning stages, also seems like a necessary service.
Good luck, and do let me know if this ordinary private citizen can do anything
(anything at all) to support you and promote your message. What a job well done!!
-Britt Santowski
Author of the Amazon best-seller
The Three strategies of the Unstoppable Woman http://www.TheThreeStrategies.com
From: Cheryl & Vance [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: August 10, 2011 11:45 AM
To: Worsfold, Nancy; Justinich, Michael; Demers, Francine N
Subject: Congratulations
The Citizen articles are great. Well done. It would not have happened without CPO.
I have worked with Vanier for probably 15 years. 2 groups organized and then after a couple of years
could not maintain the momentum and everything died.
You have given them the tools to organize and keep it going.
Cheryl