The cost to build a massive complex at Commercial Drive and East Hastings that will include a native youth centre and more than 200 units of housing has reached $90 million.
The cost means the Urban Native Youth Association is still a long way from realizing a dream that began 14 years ago to transform the 1600-block of East Hastings into a “state of the art” centre for Aboriginal youth.
“This is more robust, and it’s a great opportunity,” said Dena Klashinsky, the executive director of the association, who noted the original plan called for 20 housing units.
The association, in partnership with the city, plans to take out a $30 million mortgage and rely heavily on the provincial and federal governments to provide the remaining $60 million for up to 220 units of housing, according to Mukhtar Latif, the city’s chief housing officer. The cost to build the centre has held steady at $30 million for more than a decade. An additional $5 million endowment fund is also being sought to cover operating costs.
“I’m an optimist,” said Latif, when the Courier asked whether he was confident funding would be secured for the project to proceed.
He said the city has applied to the provincial government for funding. The city will also highlight the project in its submission to the federal government, which is compiling information from municipalities for its proposed national housing strategy.
When the project was first imagined 14 years ago, the provincial government, a couple of banks and the Vancouver Foundation provided a small amount of pre-development money towards the initial design. Most of that money has been spent.
Klashinsky pointed out similar complexes in Vancouver dedicated to youth have since been built and received substantial funding from the provincial government for construction costs. Directions Youth Services at 1138 Burrard St. and Broadway Youth Resource Centre at 2455 Fraser St. are both located in new social housing buildings.
“We trust that the province will want to step up and support the Aboriginal youth hub to the same level that the other hubs have been supported because we’re all doing excellent work in the community,” Klashinsky said.
She and Latif were at city hall Wednesday to announce the land portion of the project had been finalized, with Suncor Energy donating a former gas station site, valued at $9.5 million. The corner lot is adjacent to two pieces of property owned by the city and the youth association. Combined, the three pieces of property allow for the expansive design of the project. The renewed Grandview-Woodland plan allows for buildings up to 10 storeys but the city and association have yet to finalize a new design.
Tracey Wolsey of Suncor Energy opened her presentation to council by acknowledging she was on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. Wolsey said the Calgary-based company has had the “wonderful good fortune” to work alongside many indigenous communities in Canada, including nations on the B.C. coast.
“And what we’ve learned is how deeply we’re all connected,” she told council. “And it’s because of this deep connection that spaces like the native youth centre, where we can all join together and learn from young people, are so important. It’s one of the main reasons our support of the native youth centre, through our land donation, is so important to us.”
Added Wolsey: “This unique partnership is a tangible example of reconciliation in action.”
Suncor's donation, which the Courier first reported Monday, set off a round of questions and comments from NPA Coun. George Affleck, who wondered if accepting the donation put the city in a conflict. He cited the majority of council’s vocal opposition to the expansion of oil pipelines.
Mayor Gregor Robertson and his fellow Vision Vancouver councillors, along with Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr, have campaigned and protested Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain proposal to build a pipeline from Alberta to Burrard Inlet. City staff has spent money and time fighting Kinder Morgan’s proposal and recommended in a report before council Tuesday that the federal government “keep its climate commitments and say no to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.” The city also has goals to be “the greenest city in the world” by 2020 and rely 100 per cent on renewable energy before 2050.
Suncor has four oil and gas terminals in B.C., including a terminal adjacent to Burrard Inlet. It receives fuel from two Edmonton refineries and international suppliers, processes it and distributes to customers in Metro Vancouver and internationally.
“At this point, we are enthusiastic about this partnership [with Suncor], while concurrently raising our concern with the National Energy Board process and the proposed pipeline,” city manager Sadhu Johnston told council. “We don’t see that there’s a conflict here.”
Affleck said he believed the city was being hypocritical by accepting Suncor’s donation when the message from the city has been that the expansion of pipelines would not benefit Vancouver’s economy.
In a scrum after the meeting, the mayor said there was benefit to have Suncor donate the former gas station site to the city, adding that the company remediated the polluted property before turning it over. In return, Suncor will receive a tax credit.
“I think it’s a positive for Suncor to be able to donate it to such an important cause — urban Aboriginal kids — and then that liability of an old toxic site that was a gas station is off of their books, too,” Robertson said.
Suncor’s donation comes a few weeks after Aboriginal leaders in B.C. and Quebec signed a document that had them promise to fight all tar sands pipelines, including five proposals for pipeline and oil tanker expansion in Canada. Kinder Morgan is one of the proposals.
Klashinsky is a member of the Musqueam Indian Band, which has joined the mayor in opposing the Kinder Morgan proposal. When asked how she reconciled moving ahead on a project with the $9.5-million donation from one of the world’s biggest oil producers, she said: “I’m a First Nations woman, I support the work that our chiefs do, advocating on behalf of our communities. But that’s another conversation. For me, the native youth centre is about providing opportunities for native youth, and we happen to have a neighbour that was located right beside us — Suncor — and we approached them. What a fantastic opportunity, especially in this city where land is pretty scarce and of tremendous value.”
@Howellings
