Leave the Prison for Women alone.

According to a November 15, 2018 City of Kingston report, a company wants to dig up the land surrounding the prison.
The redevelopment of the Prison for Women will never happen. Either the United Nations or the Province of Ontario will intervene and protect the former Recognized Federal Heritage Building. Do local politicians not read newspapers or Internet articles or petitions? Do they realize how many people are fighting to save the penitentiary's architectural history? 

The Government of Canada supports UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund - March 28, 2018 - "The Government of Canada has announced this week a contribution of 200,000 dollars to the Heritage Emergency Fund, in support to UNESCO' s work in the areas of preparedness and response to emergencies affecting cultural heritage." The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Cultural Heritage.

Prison for Women. See the YouTube video called "P4W walls coming down." (Photo from Wikipedia).

A representative from the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau signed the UN Convention for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage treaty in 1976. The Village of Portsmouth, where  the Corrections Canada properties are located, meets all the criteria for designation as a United Nations World Heritage Site.
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Staff at the City of Kingston contacted a heritage preservation committee when they discovered that Corrections Canada was decommissioning 440 and 442 King Street West:
"Once the Federal Government ceases to own St. Helen's and Stone Gables, the federal heritage protection will be removed, making it susceptible to possible demolition or remodeling. Staff feel it is imperative that these properties be given heritage designation prior to their sale, to ensure the conservation and protection of this cultural heritage asset. (From: MHC-14-067-City of Kingston.)

Prison for Women. A card that I purchased from the Penitentiary Museum, across the street from Kingston Pen. From: Ballow Perspectives Drawing @ Painting.

Stone Gables.

                   

UNESCO could save historic properties in Kingston, Ontario.

 The following buildings and landscapes will be untouchable, off limits to real estate entities:
1.) The Kingston Provincial Campus, where Rockwood Asylum is located. The area is designated an Ontario Cultural Heritage Landscape. An Ontario government agency called Infrastructure Ontario is currently selling hundreds of "ghost buildings" including former psychiatric hospitals.
2.) Kingston Penitentiary
3.) Prison for Women
4.) The Corrections Canada Learning and Development Centre located at 443 Union Street.
5..) Isabel MacNeill Halfway House
6.) The Church of the Good Thief - City councillors green-lighted a proposal to build residential housing units on the grounds of the Church.
7.) The Portsmouth Olympic Harbour.
8.) A City-owned park right next to the Olympic Harbour, which was a gift from the taxpayers of Ontario to the people of Kingston during the 1976 Olympics.
9.) The Ontario Regional Headquarters for Corrections Canada, 462 King Street West.

The property located at 462 King Street West encompassed 8.525136 acres.

The Rockwood hospital in Kingston Ontario will either be sold or re purposed.

 Rockwood was built by Kingston Penitentiary inmates to house individuals who were too mentally ill to be locked up in the pen. Canada's history no matter how depressing should be respected. Demolishing or converting a House of Pain is terribly disrespectful; the hospital should be a museum or a teaching centre devoted to psychiatric, philosophical and psychological studies.

The City of Kingston has already put its stamp of approval on the massive redevelopment of the Provincial Campus, where the hospital is located. Public open houses are nothing more than a sham. Do you really think that Infrastructure Ontario or Crown corporations care about suggestions from the general public? The yellow post it notes are probably thrown in the garbage. 

The Village of Portsmouth will have to fight the behemoth organizations that are invading their community. Write letters to your Federal Member of Parliament and MPP. Hire lawyers and consult heritage preservation organizations.
The Don Jail in Toronto was nearly demolished, now it is a filming location for the television program "Suits".

The Ontario government is privatizing 243 "surplus" properties.

     Included on the list are former psychiatric hospitals, jails, courthouses, schools and vacant land encompassing 14,000 acres.
 Is the Kingston Provincial Campus on the list? The Rockwood Asylum is located on the Kingston Provincial Campus.
Many Kingstonians are bitterly opposed to the redevelopment of the provincial campus, the nearby Kingston Penitentiary and the Prison for Women.
 Rockwood could be demolished, if the buildings are transferred to a Government of Canada Crown corporation. Federal heritage laws supersede provincial and municipal heritage laws. And buildings lose all heritage protection once they are privatized.
The United Nations agency UNESCO was created to save endangered buildings and landscapes.
    " A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area which is selected by UNESCO as having cultural historical, scientific or other form of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties." (From: Wikipedia).

In the year 1976 a representative from the government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau signed the World Heritage Convention Treaty.

Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage
Article 1
For the purposes of this Convention, the following shall be considered as "cultural heritage":
   groups of buildings: groups of separate or connected buildings which, because of their architecture, their homogeneity or their place in the landscape, are of outstanding universal value from the point of view of history, art or science;
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The Village of Portsmouth in Kingston, Ontario meets all the criteria for inclusion as a UNESCO World Heritage Site:
1.) The Kingston Penitentiary, Prison for Women, Isabel MacNeill Halfway House, Penitentiary Musem, Church of the Good Thief, Penitentiary water tower and the Correctional Learning and Development Centre (443 Union Street) are all clustered in one area. A tunnel connects the Pen to the Prison for Women.
2.) Inmates from Kingston Penitentiary constructed the Kingston Penitentiary, Prison for Women, Rockwood Hospital,the Church of the Good Thief, Penitentiary Museum and the Penitentiary water tower.
3.) All of the buildings were constructed with limestone. Elmhirst House at 443 Union Street has a limestone foundation.
4.) The buildings served a common purpose, or shared a common theme.
5.) The buildings were all protected by federal, provincial or municipal heritage laws, in some cases all three.
6.) Several of the buildings are endangered.
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Local politicians are also trying to preserve the historical integrity of the Village:
City of Kingston Official Plan - October 5, 2015

Potential Heritage Conservation Districts
7.3.C.6.
The City intends to investigate areas for designation as heritage conservation districts, including but not limited to:
(c) Portsmouth Village

 

The Rockwood Asylum, Kingston Ontario.

 People will be dancing in the streets if the government of Canada saves the Kingston Penitentiary, P4W, the Isabel MacNeill House and the Penitentiary Museum.

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Currently for sale:
Psychiatric hospitals - St. Thomas and London. Dr. Richard Bucke was the superintendent of the London Asylum for decades and he was the author of the book "Cosmic Consciousness: A Study of the Evolution of the Human Mind". See: The movie "Beautiful Dreamers"---Colm Feore portrayed Dr. Bucke and Rip Torn was the American poet Walt Whitman.

Jails - Windsor and Chatham. The Guelph Reformatory.
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The bars and walls will be removed from the Prison for Women, Kingston. Photo was sent to me from the Heritage Buildings Review Office, Gatineau Quebec. P4W was a Corrections Canada property.

The Shop Dome Atrium, Kingston Penitentiary. This area will be the focus of extensive redevelopment. Eleven buildings are slated for demolition. And the guard towers and walls will be preserved "if possible".(Photo from Wikipedia).

The Central Atrium, Kingston Penitentiary, a.k.a "The Big House".

The Brooke Claxton Building, Tunney's Pasture Ottawa.

My father took photos of the building during the early 1970's. John Lennon and Yoko Ono met Health Minister John Munro in the Brooke Claxton Building during their "Bed-Ins for Peace" tour. They talked about the legalization of marijuana.

Hank LeClair, John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Health Minister John Munro,(Photo from Flickr)

Government of Canada real estate, immortalized in YouTube videos.

SAFEDRIVERMAN - GARDENCITY LANDS - A former Fisheries and Oceans Canada transmitter station located in Richmond, British Columbia.  The rap song GARDENCITY LANDS is imploring the government of Canada to keep the green space green.

Movin' In (from Montreal by Train)-Stompin' Tom Connors.The video was filmed at the Parkdale Toronto CNR train station.

Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell - Expo 67.

This Land is Your Land Canada - by The Travellers.

Snow Music - Color/Dance by George Winston - a journey through the Central Experimental Farm Ottawa. The Farm has been involved in a tug-of-war between the National Capital Commission and environmentalists for at least 43 years.

A Danielle Aykroyd video was filmed inside the Kingston Penitentiary, Google:"Vera Sola-Small Minds".                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Give Peace a Chance - John Lennon and Yoko Ono wrote and recorded the song in the Queen Elizabeth Hotel Montreal. The global corporation Fairmont eventually bought the CN Rail hotels.

Help Save Old Upton Farm - A country and western song. Upton Farm was a Charlottetown PEI Agriculture Canada experimental farm.

CN Building implosion London - CN Towers were located in London, Ontario, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Toronto.

P4W walls coming down - Prison for Women.