From: Lindsay Lambert <m.lindsaylambert@gmail.com>!

Date: Wed, Mar 28, 2018 at 9:56 AM!

Subject: Re: Development of Chaudière, Victoria and Albert Islands!
To: EXEC - Mark Kristmanson <exec@ncc-ccn.ca>!
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Dear Dr. Kristmanson,!
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I might accept your assertions if I didn't have evidence to the contrary.!
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The National Capital Commission and Treasury Board of Canada designated the Chaudiere
Islands as National Interest Land Mass (NILM) in 1988. I made an Access to Information Act
request for the documentation. It is quite clear: NILM lands "have high symbolic value for
Canadians." They are "essential to the achievement of the NCC mandate to have the Capital
communicate Canada to Canadians, serve as a meeting place for Canadians, and to safeguard
and preserve the Capital for future generations." They are "to be retained by the NCC on behalf
of the government in perpetuity." It is acknowledged that some NILM lands are privately-owned,
but "the long-term intent of the NCC is to acquire these lands." The specified plan for the E.B.
Eddy (Domtar) site is that it is "to remain in existing ownership until it becomes available or a
land use change is suggested."!
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The latter isn't optional or subject to future approval. It's an imperative which has been pre-
approved by the Treasury Board. It's an established part of the NCC's mandate. Why are you all
now working against this?!
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In actuality, there is no fee simple private property on Chaudiere & Albert Islands. The legal
history precludes this:!
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- On August 25th, 1854, the Government of the Province of Canada approved an Order-in-
Council reserving the Chaudiere Islands among others for Public Purposes, along with part!
of Lot 69 on the Ottawa shoreline.!
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- Section 108 of the British North America Act (1867) states that "The Public Works and
Property of each Province, enumerated in the Third Schedule to this Act, shall be the !
property of Canada." Two items from this Schedule apply here:!
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5. Rivers and Lake improvements.!
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10. ... lands set apart for general Public Purposes.!
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- An Act respecting certain Works on the Ottawa River was assented to in 1870 and is still
in force. This Statute establishes that Parliament has exclusive authority over everything!
in or on the Ottawa River, irrespective of whether it is for the purpose of public utility or
not, or constructed by the government or private interests. It all "shall be held to be works for!
the general advantage of Canada."!
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The Islands are Crown Land, administered for the greater public good. Has Parliament passed a
new Act rescinding this, and did they direct the NCC's Board of Management to approve private
development on the Islands during the April 6th, 2017, meeting? The Board lacks the
independent authority to do this otherwise.!
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I have been researching the primary documents at the National Archives regarding the
industrialization of Chaudiere, Albert and Victoria Islands. In 1852, they were surveyed into
Hydraulic Lots, where the river's flow can be harnessed, and Building Lots. These were made
available to lumber entrepreneurs who wished to immediately put them to industrial use. They
were not for speculation. The Government needed to build a dam and other infrastructure to
make this possible or it wasn't going to proceed. To raise the funds, they put the Hydraulic Lots
up for sale in a limited and controlled way: These were specifically for the construction of mills,
and the occupants then paid an annual rent for the water power they used. They had to run their
mill, pay their water lease and maintain their operations so as not to interfere with their
neighbours, or the land reverted to the Crown. The Crown could also take them back "at any
time for any Public Purpose." The Building Lots were treated separately and briefly. These were
offered at 10 Pounds each on the condition that an industrial building worth at least 100 Pounds
is constructed within a year. If this wasn't done, it reverted to the Crown. This is again a special-
purpose use, not unrestricted fee simple private ownership. It's a License of Occupancy. Due to
ongoing legal disputes between the industrial occupants and against the Crown, the Crown
ultimately took all the Hydraulic Lots back in 1889 and reissued them under the current leases.!
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Domtar and Windmill have been asserting that the proposed Zibi development site on
Chaudiere and Albert Islands is largely privately-owned. This is supported by the National
Capital Commission. They seem to be referring to the area of Building Lots. It's time that they
produce their Land Deeds for all of them, proving fee simple ownership. I don't believe that they
have any, or they would have been on the table long ago. Could the NCC please provide me
with copies of these? Even if they do have something, it would still be in contravention of the
legislation. !
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I have a copy of a 1926 map of the Chaudiere Islands from the National Archives. It
identifies them all as Federal Government Property. Are you aware that half of Albert Island is
still Unpatented Land? It has never been officially assigned to anybody in any way. I found this
in the Service Ontario Land Registry.!
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On May 21st, 1927, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada approved "that the
Chaudiere Portage, Hull, be declared of National Importance." A cairn with a bronze plaque was
unveiled in Eddy Park in 1937, but has since been removed. Parks Canada and the Historic
Sites and Monuments Board currently identify the Portage by the peculiar term "National
Historic Event," but this is a recent re-interpretation. The original correspondence regarding the
designation refers to the Portage as "an historic site." It is acknowledged as a pivotal location in
Canada's history, where explorers, missionaries, soldiers, fur traders and settlers all passed en
route from the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes, the Prairies, the Rocky Mountains and beyond. !
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Here is a list of some famous individuals who stopped at the foot of the Chaudiere on their
way up the Ottawa River. -- Etienne Brule, Samuel de Champlain in 1613, Le Caron, Jesuit
Father Jean de Brebeuf, Lalement, Jogues, Radisson and Groseiller on their way to Hudson's
Bay, Dulhut, and La Mothe-Cadillac en route to the mid-west. The founders of the North West
Company, Alexander Henry, Peter Pond, Thomas, Benjamin & Joseph Frobisher and Simon
McTavish came here in 1761. The area also saw Alexander Mackenzie, Lord Selkirk, Nicholas
Garry, Deputy Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company who Fort Garry was named after, and
Sir John Franklin. !
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The National Capital Commission and Treasury Board did the right thing in designating the
Chaudiere Islands as National Interest Land Mass. The Chaudiere Falls and Islands are the
reason the Portage exists. The entire area is truly of national symbolic and historic importance.
It's not a place for a local condominium & commercial development.!
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Prime Minister Mackenzie King commissioned Parisian urban planner Jacques Greber to
submit a Master Plan for the long-term growth and development of the Capital Region. His Plan
for the National Capital was published in 1950. Greber doesn't refer to history. However, he
specifies that:!
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The most effective improvement will be the central park at the Chaudiere
Falls. (his italics)!
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The time will come when the heavy and obnoxious industries, now occupying
the Islands, peninsula, and the rocks from which the falls originally receded, will
finally move to more appropriate sites, for their development and more economical
operation.!
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The Master Plan is a long range programme based upon which the Capital will
grow; urban planning demands resolute perseverance, and the Falls will always
remain the main feature of Ottawa's natural setting.!
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He further states that this:!
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is properly a restitution scheme, the merits of which can be judged by a great many
old prints, which show how impressive was the original setting of the Chaudiere
Falls, the Ottawa River banks and the whole of Parliament Hill. Such proposal aims
to give a more dignified environment to the representative buildings of the nation,
and is more particularly a matter of national pride....!
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The restoration of the Chaudiere Islands to their primitive beauty and
wildness, is perhaps the theme of greatest importance, from the aesthetic point of
view --- the theme that will appeal, not only to local citizens, but to all Canadians
who take pride in their country and its institutions.!
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The National Capital Commission was established in 1958 "to implement Greber's
recommendations." These are the Commission's own words from the timeline accompanying
"Capital Vision: Shaping the Future of Canada's Capital" in the October, 2011, Canadian
Geographic. It announces the joint cross-country consultation by the NCC and The Royal
Canadian Geographic Society to hear people's ideas on the future of Canada's Capital. I have
read the findings. People want to see the Chaudiere Falls freed and the Islands re-naturalized
as parkland in accordance with William Commanda's vision.!
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The Federal Government is breaking its own laws and violating Public Trust in permitting
private development on Chaudiere and Albert Islands, and the NCC is betraying it's own
mandate and consultations in being complicit. Please reconsider your support for the Zibi
development. I'm doing my best to be on the right side of history and leave something special
for our children's children, and I am not alone in this. I will be grateful if you can please help. !
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Yours sincerely,!
Lindsay Lambert.!