Saint Raymond is concerned about traffic.

A citizen's group is hoping that the MUHC and Transport Quebec will reexamine their traffic circulation plans.

The MUHC: a summary of the impact of the project

This document from the public consultation summarizes several key reports and offers a quick overview in under 10 pages.

The Turcot Yards: a place of beauty?

This article describes a photographer's efforts to capture the beauty of the Turcot Yards, while others seek to chronicle the place, both from underneath, and from other views.

How will we coordinate the work in three different neighbourhoods?

Governance structure for the Concertation interquartier: The CIQ has opted for a simple structure, with a principle of parity representation on each committee. The project director will have overall responsibility for the project and its management. A steering committee of 12-15 people will meet quarterly with responsibility for overall orientation of the project. Each community and academic partner will have a representative on the committee. Ongoing operations will be managed by a coordinating committee comprised of the director, project coordinator and four members of the steering committee. The project coordinator will keep projects moving forward and have overall responsibility for organization, dissemination and animation of research results, including assuring that training, outreach and dissemination are integral to the project.

What is the CURA about?

Governments and public institutions throughout Canada and the world build mega-projects – large-scale facilities and infrastructure – to improve health or other services. These projects channel investment into specific locations in the city, often generating new businesses and real estate development. They also may exacerbate economic and social tensions. Change in demographics, neighbourhood character or transport patterns may be followed by rising rents and taxes, displacement of residents or services, and further marginalization of low-income people. Because most mega-projects focus on the design and construction of physical infrastructure, and because financial pressures dictate a rapid pace of implementation, potential social and economic effects on the wider community often are understudied and, crucially, not properly addressed in the project itself. In so doing, opportunities to use major investments to build sustainable and inclusive communities are missed.

The proposed CURA explores how mega-projects can be made to work better for communities and the city at large. The central question is: under what conditions, and through what mechanisms, can urban mega-projects contribute to the building of stable, inclusive and healthy neighbourhoods? The CURA takes as a starting point the new Glen campus of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), a research-teaching hospital complex to be built on a site bordering two Montreal boroughs and Westmount. The MUHC and local organisations have agreed to work together, asking: What can be done to maximize benefits and minimize potential negative effects of the MUHC on surrounding areas? How can collaborative approaches to planning and implementation help to meet these objectives?

The project will address these questions through research and related training on:

(1) Neighbourhood quality and change, including spatial structure, residential quality-of-life, socio-economic vulnerability, environmental risks, and potential impacts of the MUHC;

(2) Planning strategies and projects that institutional, governmental or community stakeholders can pursue to foster (a) participation and civic engagement, (b) employment and economic development, (c) affordable housing and appropriate land development, and (d) sustainable urban environments.

(3) Community capacity to contribute to urban planning and development, including routes of access, effectiveness of different types of stakeholder alliances and interactions, and, importantly, the role of community-hospital collaboration.

The CURA draws on a strong and varied academic team, and an experienced and representative network of community organizations. A working relationship established among community organizations in two Montreal boroughs – the Sud-Ouest and Cote des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce –and Westmount in 2001 was formalized in an Inter-Neighbourhood Coalition. These groups entered into partnership with the MUHC in 2004 to find mutually-beneficial forms of interaction. Academics from five Montreal research institutions – McGill University (Urban planning), Université de Montréal (Architecture), UQAM (Géographie, Études urbaines), Concordia (Geography), INRS-Urbanisation, Culture et Societe (Études urbaines), and McGill/Douglas Hospital (Psychiatry and community health) – now bring expertise in municipal policy, sustainable design, economic development, housing, community health, and participatory governance to this process. Professors and students from will work with neighbourhood, hospital, community health and government stakeholders to conduct research, train students and community members, and generate practical and theoretical insights into a collaborative, community-building approach to mega-project development in Montreal and elsewhere.

The key contributions of this research are: (a) a better understanding of how mega-projects affect their urban environments and how their impacts can be mitigated; (b) innovative, multi-disciplinary tools with which to evaluate a community’s well-being and with which to improve its physical, social and economic conditions; and (c) increased theoretical and practical knowledge of the means by which diverse stakeholders can build partnerships and collaborate on plans across institutional divides.

CSSSs: community partners "avec du coeur"

Each CSSS has deep roots in its respective neighbourhood and an extensive track-record in serving the community. Organisers from the CSSS Cavendish (NDG) are leading the development of a food-security project in Saint Raymond (immediately adjacent the MUHC) that will see the creation of a community-controlled kitchen and a meals-on-wheels service. Organisers from the CSSS de la Montagne have played a leadership role in the activities of the CDEC CDN-NDG since 1992 and in the development of day-cares, seniors’ day centres, youth programs and non-profit housing. The CSSS Sud-ouest/Verdun, through its CLSC St-Henri office, has been a key actor, in close collaboration with Solidarité St-Henri, in the delivery of health, social and community services for the past 30 years.

The Westmount Municipal Association: a profile

The Westmount Municipal Association (WMA) has built an excellent network throughout Westmount and has well-established links with the Westmount Healthy City Project (active for nearly 20 years) and the Contactivity Seniors’ Centre. It has played an effective role in creating awareness of and involvement in local issues that may affect the quality of life of residents. The WMA has brought strong leadership, effective public participation and good political connections to the Inter-neighbourhood Coalition and will continue to draw on these strengths throughout the CURA project. The City of Westmount has adopted a position on the Glen Yards.

Solidarité Saint Henri: a profile

Rooted in a working-class neighbourhood, Solidarité St Henri is an umbrella organization drawing together an array of groups around common neighbourhood concerns. Historically, it has used an effective blend of confrontation and program development to achieve neighbourhood goals in the realms of urban planning, housing and social development.

Partner Organisations

The Interneighbourhood Coalition has a range of different community organisations. 9 key organisations signed a partnership agreement with the McGill University Health Centre.

At the core are three kinds of organisations whose agendas overlap: those concerned with the social and economic development of their neighbourhoods (CDEC and RESO), those concerned with improving the living conditions of the community and with enhancing its participation in collective decision-making (Solidarité Saint Henri, the NDG Community Council and the Westmount Municipal Association) and those concerned with the health and well-being of residents (the CSSSs and the Contactivity Seniors’ Centre). These nine core groups are recognised as playing a leadership role in their respective neighbourhoods. They also collaborate with other groups on different issues such as housing development, senior services, food security and access to employment. They have been joined by Montreal Urban Community Sustainment, a recently formed environmental NGO with expertise in local planning and design, and strong links to academic and community partners. Batir son quartier, a technical resource group with nearly 30 years of non-profit housing development experience is also a partner, as well as the Centre de gestion des deplacements, who mandate is to reduce the number of single-passenger cars in the CDN-NDG borough.

Public Consultations by the City of Montreal

Here is the official report of the Office des consultations publiques of the City of Montreal on the proposed McGill University Health Centre. Additional documents and memoires submitted by citizens and groups are here, such as memoires submitted by the NDG Community Council, the RESO, and the CDEC CDN-NDG. There are many others.

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