The redevelopment of the LeBreton Flats: An occasion to “bring justice” to the Francophone community of Ottawa?
Following the example of many Western cities, the Canadian capital implemented, at the turn of the 21st century, an urban densification policy to counteract the harmful effects of urban sprawl. In that context, it launched its first project to convert a brownfield into a sustainable neighbourhood − the LeBreton Flats. After having been a vacant lot for nearly forty years, and struck with massive expropriations during the 1960s, the terrain today accommodates one of the largest “sustainable” realizations of the capital. However, since its launch in 1998, the project has been met with heated reactions, as reported in the media. Aside from concerns over the potential impacts of the project, the reactions concerned the hopes as well as the “painful memories” which the project could stir up among the expropriated Francophones. The urban renewal of the 1960s is then used as an argument in support of a return of the Francophones to the new neighbourhood − a return considered to be the “debt of justice” with the Francophone minority of the capital.