Keep your hands off the Prison for Women.

According to a May 6, 2019 article by Elliot Ferguson, the new owners of P4W are trying to convince the City of Kingston to give them $19,000 so they can assess the property at 40 Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard:
"City asked to provide funding for assessment of former prison site"-Elliot Ferguson, Kingston Whig Standard, May 6 2019.
An Environmental Assessment of Corrections Canada land surrounding Kingston Penitentiary recommended that the land should remain public:

All of the land within the red lines was restored to green space for the public to enjoy, see the Internet article "Kingston Penitentiary Harbourfront Property-CSC-SCC" 2015.  "The remediated area will no longer be leased for boat slips or for long-term boat storage, so the refreshed space will be open for the public to enjoy!" The penitentiary is across the street from the Prison for Women; and the Pen will be one of the landmark buildings when the Village of Portsmouth becomes a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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In some alternate universe the Prison for Women will be extensively renovated; three new buildings will be constructed on the grounds; and the prison will be converted into residential, retail and office space. And 146 parking spaces will be created. Over my dead body.
Twelve years ago I received a letter from Kingston and the Islands MP Peter Milliken; Mr. Milliken stated that the Administration Building and cellblocks would be preserved. I have posted the letter on this blog page.

I am calling for a moratorium on the redevelopment of the Prison for Women, Kingston Pen, St. Helen's and Stone Gables, Corrections Canada Buildings on Union Street, the Isabel MacNeill Halfway House, the Penitentiary Water Tower and the Penitentiary Museum for the following reasons:

1.)  The Kingston Penitentiary is a National Historic Site of Canada and a Classified Federal Heritage Building and the other buildings mentioned are either Classified or Recognized Federal Heritage Buildings and provincially recognized buildings.

2.)  A United Nations agency called UNESCO may designate the Village of Portsmouth a UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site. A buffer zone would prevent the construction of three residential towers on the grounds of P4W; and a buffer zone would prevent the loss of the southern portion of the Pen, guard towers and walls. Corrections Canada still owns the Kingston Penitentiary, I contacted the Federal Heritage Buildings Review Office by telephone a few weeks ago and I was given that information. What will it take to stop the destruction of the Prison for Women? A legal injunction? Emergency letters from the United Nations agency UNESCO? An intervention from the Prime Minister of Canada and Federal Member of Parliament Mark Gerretsen? A representative from Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's government signed the 'UN Convention for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage" treaty in 1976.

3.)  The Canada Lands Company owned St.-Vincent-de-Paul Penitentiary in Laval, Quebec is now in the process of being demolished. Vieux Pen in Laval was a National Historic Site of Canada, and was on Heritage Canada's "Ten Most Endangered Buildings List."

4.)  The CLC is an arms-length Crown corporation that sells and demolishes properties that are supposedly "no longer needed" by the government of  Canada. Much of Canada's railway, maritime, penitentiary, postal and aeronautical history has been decimated by the Canada Lands Company.

Penelope Cruz and Halle Berry in the Atrium, St. Vincent de Paul Pen. From: The horror movie "Gothika"

5.)  Canada Lands Company, the Crown corporation that sold the  Prison for Women to Queen's University, may be the focus of an inquiry. See the article "Canada Lands is no stranger to scrutiny-Awash in audits, investigations and criminal convictions" by Andrew McIntosh, National Post, 11.1.02.

6.)  The CLC may have to explain why all federal property in Canada will be transferred to the Crown corporation for disposal:

"Let the Future Begin" 1997.

Nothing is sacred, not even the grounds of Parliament Hill. Ten years ago there were plans to make Parliament Hill inaccessible to the public, for "security reasons". Also, a high rise condominium was going to be constructed on The Hill, next to the Parliament Buildings. The drawing is from a front-page Ottawa Citizen article, about 12 years ago.

Penelope Cruz and Halle Berry in the yard at the St. Vincent de Paul, Penitentiary, Laval Quebec. This photo is from the horror movie "Gothika".

Local politicians and architectural preservationist Dr. Jennifer McKendry are desperately trying to save historic limestone buildings in the Village of Portsmouth, Kingston.

The Kingston Pen, Prison for Women, Penitentiary Water Tower, Corrections Canada Museum, St. Helen's and Stone Gables, the Corrections Canada Training Centre on Union Street, Isabel MacNeill Halfway House for Women and the Church of the Good Thief are all clustered in one area. Which means that UNESCO will most likely designate the Village of Portsmouth a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also, the buildings and tower were all made with local limestone; they were all built by Kingston Pen inmates, they have all been given federal, provincial or municipal heritage protection, and they can all last for thousands of years because of the construction material (limestone) and craftsmanship.

"Surplus" federal buildings in the future?:

Royal Canadian Mint - Sussex Drive.
Connaught Building - home of Revenue Canada - Sussex Drive.
Martello Towers
Lester B. Pearson External Affairs Building - Ottawa.
Royal Military College, Kingston - The Chretien government decommissioned Royal Roads Military College in British Columbia  in 1995. The Chretien government also reactivated the CLC in 1995.
The Kingston Armoury on Montreal Street.
The Collins Bay, Joyceville, Millhaven and Frontenac prisons.
The former American Embassy across from the Parliament Buildings.
The Campanile Complex, a former convent in Alta Vista, Ottawa.
The Almonte, Ontario Post Office - currently for sale.
The Higginbotham Canada Post Building - Lethbridge, Alberta - currently for sale.
$8 billion dollars worth of highways, culverts, nature trails, bridges and roads in the National Parks.
The RCMP Complex in Alta Vista, Ottawa.
The huge mail sorting plant in Alta Vista where my Dad worked during the Christmas season in 1962 and 1963.
The VIA Rail train station, Ottawa.
The National Capital Commission Greenbelt that surrounds Ottawa. The NCC has identified 18,000 acres of Greenbelt land that may be "surplus" and available for residential and commercial development.
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Below: A May 2007 letter I received from the Hon. Peter Milliken, Federal Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands: