Re-elected Ottawa councillor wants Inuit-led housing projects in city

Stéphanie Plante says she wants to see more Inuit-led housing and culturally appropriate services in Ottawa as she begins a second term as the councillor in Rideau-Vanier, a ward encompassing an area known as “Little Nunavut” because of its urban Inuit community.

Plante won almost 54 per cent of the votes in Monday’s municipal election, defeating five other candidates also in the running, according to unofficial results published by the City of Ottawa. 

Plante was first elected in 2022. Her new four-year term begins Nov. 15.

In an interview Tuesday, Plante said homelessness, mental health and addiction were among the most common concerns raised by residents during the campaign.

“We need to better spread our social services around the city,” she said.

“We need to make sure every ward is doing its fair share, and I think we’ve gotten a bit better with that,” Plante added, pointing to the planned new Larga Baffin medical boarding facility project set for 1470 Hunt Club Rd., about five kilometres northeast of the Ottawa airport. The current boarding facility is on Richmond Road.

The six-storey, 220-room boarding home for Nunavummiut was planned as Larga Baffin’s new location, but construction has stalled as it awaits a long-term service contract from the Government of Nunavut.

Plante said Ottawa should move away from relying on large emergency shelters and focus more on permanent housing, with services distributed across the city rather than concentrated downtown.

“If there’s housing for Inuit, it has to be led by Inuit,” Plante said. “The workers on site have to be Inuit or trained in the relevant cultural practices.”

Plante said she also wants to hear from Inuit medical travellers and their families about what the city could do to make their stay down south easier, including possible support for transit passes, culturally relevant daycare and community programming.

Before she became a councillor in 2022, Plante was an advocate for changing the name of Sandy Hill Park to Annie Pootoogook Park in honour of the Inuk artist, who died in Ottawa. As a councillor, Plante supported changing the name of Emond Park in Vanier to Mary Papatsie Park, in memory of a missing Inuk woman whose remains were found in Ottawa in 2022.

“Our amenities need to tell the stories of the people who lived here and sometimes those stories don’t have happy endings, but there’s a lesson there, and we need to learn that lesson,” Plante said.