Law Times

Law Times • September 29, 2014 Page 9 www.lawtimesnews.com Infrastructure challenges Federal Court building plan wiped out BY JudY van rhiJn For Law Times uestions remain in the wake of the re- assignment of the proposed site for the Pierre Elliott Trudeau judicial building to house the Federal Court and the Tax Court on the 5,000-square-metre property next to the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa. The government presented the change as a fait accompli with the announcement of a de- sign competition for a memorial to the victims of communism on the site. But as for the court plan, there has been no public announcement or consultation as to its continued viability nor even a courtesy call to the archi- tects or urban planners involved in the project for decades. Like everyone else, architects NORR Ltd. and urban designers DTAH Architects Ltd., learned of the change through the an- nouncement of the Tribute to Liberty memorial project. Sil- vio Baldassarra of NORR says he was "quite surprised" to read that the memorial was to take the site for the buildings his firm had designed. NORR has worked on the project since 1990, first designing a building for the Federal Court alone and then in 2000 combining it with the Tax Court. "It was a good consolidation on the govern- ment's part. In 2006, it was put on hold," he says. Baldassarra is very unhap- py at the proposal to replace the 10-storey, multifunctional building with a memorial. "It is the last buildable site on govern- ment hill. It is a very large site and to be given away the way it has is incredible. It will be a sad story if it goes through. It should be a judicial building. What bet- ter purpose could there be than to house the Federal Court and the federal Tax Court?" It's a similar story at DTAH, which has been preparing plans for the parliamentary and ju- dicial precinct for the last 20 years. "It was a surprise to me," says Roger du Toit a partner at DTAH. "We prepared the master plan for the parliamentary pre- cinct and the Supreme Court area. The site was allocated as a building that would complete a triad of buildings that would ref lect a similar triad on parlia- mentary hill." He refers to the long-range visions plan by Public Works and Government Services Can- ada and endorsed by the Na- tional Capital Commission that has informed all other planning projects. The commission is a Crown corporation that guides the use and development of federal lands in Canada's capi- tal region through a land-use planning framework. It prides itself on consulting widely with the Canadian public, but there's no evidence of consultation on this major change to its plan- ning framework. The Depart- ment of Canadian Heritage now appears to be handling the com- memmorations. Ottawa architect Barry Pad- olsky describes the court plan as "a marvellous work that formed the core of the thinking about the area. It established where the principal markers should be in the capital and where secondary markers should be. It is a whole strategy that the NCC and Pub- lic Works have thought through. On this site, you see a building, not a marker." It was Padolsky who brought the issue to light with an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper published in the Ottawa Citizen on Aug. 29. He requested an explanation of why the chosen site was "stolen" from its intended use. He refers to the plans as an "exemplary and inspiring vision" for the national capital. "The so- called judicial precinct needs a significant piece of archi- tecture, not a low-profile landscaped memorial, on the west side of the judicial lawn to achieve the urban design vision for the parliamentary and judicial precincts. . . . Our national 'acropolis' de- serves to be completed and embellished as proposed in our shared, homegrown vi- sion." He also noted other coun- tries, such as the United States, have erected similar memorials with ideological inclinations in less signifi- cant sites and in more mod- est proportions. "They clearly understood that this type of controversial memorial should not occupy a place meant for more significant expressions of American values," he said. Padolsky has had no reply from the prime minister but has received many e-mails and phone calls from sup- porters, including those in- terested in national capital planning and the judiciary, who expressed their outrage. He has also had messages from former refugees who make the point that we have to recognize the abuse of hu- man rights. "My letter was not about the validity of the memorial but about the loca- tion," he says. According to Public Works, the memorial reco- gnizes Canada's role in offe- ring refuge to those who f led communist regimes. It's also an effort to raise awareness of FOCUS CANADA & USA 1.800.265.8381 | EMAIL info@mckellar.com | www.mckellar.com The reason why we are Canada's largest and most comprehensive structured settlement firm has everything to do with our passion for service and performance— without exaggeration, we make life easier for you. The largest Swiss Army knife has 85 tools that can perform 141 tasks. Almost as helpful as McKellar. Untitled-8 1 14-08-26 4:06 PM Q 'Having all the functions in one place makes sense,' says Paul Harquail. See Plans, page 10

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