Posted Jan 5, 2012, 9:40 PM
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This was reported on OpenFile.ca today
Quote:
Who are the Friends of Lansdowne?
REPORTED BY
Peter Henderson .
Reported on
January 5, 2012
The people behind the Lansdowne Legal Challenge
Thursday, January 5, 2012
The Friends of Lansdowne has lost a "spark plug" of its movement to another city.
June Creelman, the former president of the Glebe Community Association and a leader in the opposition to current plans for the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park, is leaving Ottawa to take a new position at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.
Creelman is one of the most important voices in the opposition to the City of Ottawa’s partnership with Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which plans to build a new shopping centre and stadium on the site. But even if she's moving to a different city, Creelman vows to continue working hard on the issue—at least for the short term.
“Until we know where we stand on the legal case, it’s hard to predict what our actions and our future is going to be,” she says. “I think I will stay on as a leader, and we’ll have to have some rethinking once we see what happens with the legal challenge.”
Bob Brocklebank, a past president of the GCA and community activist who has been involved with the Friends of Lansdowne, calls Creelman a “sparkplug” of the movement. He says that her absence will be a blow, but that others may step up.
“There may be somebody else who is interested and would like to pick up the torch,” he says. “In voluntary organizations, when someone is willing to take over a task, we always say 'yes'.”
Who leads the Friends of Lansdowne?
There are two organizations known as Friends of Lansdowne: the incorporated body involved in the legal case with the city, and the informal association that has organized meetings and worked to raise awareness of the Lansdowne redevelopment plans within the community.
Both organizations include three executive members: Creelman, Gordon Henderson from the Kanata Beaverbrook Community association, and Jack Gilmer. The board of the informal community association also includes Martha McKeen, Brian Tansey, Ken Shipley, and Jo Wood.
Although Creelman has stepped down from the GCA, she says she has no plans to leave her positions with the two Friends of Lansdowne organizations.
Who supports the Friends of Lansdowne?
Brocklebank says the informal Friends of Lansdowne includes people from many different neighbourhoods in Ottawa, and points to Henderson’s participation as an indicator of how the issue affects people outside of the immediate area of Lansdowne Park.
“While there is a concentration of interest by people in this part of the city, it isn’t only people from the Glebe and Ottawa South,” he says. “Everybody who attends is not necessarily a supporter, but there were hundreds at the last meeting.”
According to Creelman, the informal Friends of Lansdowne association has more than 7,000 subscribers on its mailing list and has received individual donations from more than 1,000 people. The group has been active since 2009, and the incorporated body was founded in August 2010.
“It was only when we decided to launch the legal suit that we got a bit more organized,” says Creelman. “We always think that we’re going to not have to keep going further. We’ve always assumed that we would win or that the city would do the right thing
Will the Friends of Lansdowne release their list of supporters?*
Creelman is reluctant to release the names of those who have supported the Friends of Lansdowne financially, as well as the members of the non-profit association. She says she has received hate mail online—both on the group’s Facebook page and in comments posted on news articles.
“We get a fair bit of nasty stuff,” she says. “People have told us that we should go to jail, that they hope we lose all our money. Some people have accused us of being anti-Semitic.”
Creelman also says the Friends of Lansdowne have faced an undue amount of attention without corresponding coverage of the machinations behind the OSEG deal.
“I find that the citizens who are concerned are given more scrutiny than the people who are signing this deal for hundreds of millions of dollars,” she says.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Creelman's comments about membership lists were not included in the first version of this story.
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.”
Maude Barlow chairperson of the Council of Canadians has spoken at least once at one FOL support event.
A check of the CC web site shows FOL lawyer Steve Shyrbman as a member of the Board of Directors of CC.
Pam Beattie--exec assistant to the national president of CUPE is also a member of the CC. CUPE national office gave $15000 to FOL. Is CC the driving force behind FOL? Are FOL's leaders and most of its donors members of CC?
Last edited by LeadingEdgeBoomer; Jan 6, 2012 at 1:08 AM.
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