Helping support affordable housing
LAVAL, QC, March 8, 2025 /CNW/ - Everyone deserves a place to call home. However, for many across the country, home ownership and renting are out of reach due to the housing crisis Canada is facing. We need to build more homes, faster, to get Canadians into homes that meet their needs, at prices they can afford. That's why in Budget 2024 and Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada's Housing Plan, the federal government announced the most ambitious housing plan in Canadian history: a plan to build 4 million more homes.
As part of this plan, the Government of Canada is identifying properties within its portfolio that have the potential for housing and is actively adding them to the Canada Public Land Bank. Wherever possible, the government will turn these properties into housing through a long-term lease, to support affordable housing and ensure public land stays public.
Today, the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant, announced that the Correctional Service Canada will complete its due diligence in April 2025 for the disposal process of the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Penitentiary in Laval, Quebec, and that the property will be transferred to Canada Lands Company (CLC) by the end of 2025, where it will be further developed to benefit Canadians.
The property was added to the Canada Public Land Bank by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) in November 2024. The property will remain on the Canada Public Land Bank following its transfer to CLC. Work will continue between CLC and stakeholders to create a vision for the site.
Through the Canada Public Land Bank, we are providing access in a transparent way to all stakeholders: large developers, small companies, Indigenous communities and organizations, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, provinces, territories and municipalities, and Canadian citizens. This allows us to accelerate the federal government's established disposal process. To date, we have received hundreds of initial inquiries for properties currently listed in the land bank. These inquiries span properties located across most provinces and territories.
The Correctional Service Canada will continue to work with PSPC, Justice Canada and CLC to complete the disposal due diligence requirements, including heritage and environmental considerations, by the end of 2025.
Quotes
"Since we launched the Canada Public Land Bank in August 2024, almost 100 properties have been identified as being available for potential development. I'm pleased to announce the transfer of the Laval Penitentiary and associated land to Canada Lands Company, where it will be developed in a way to provide socio-economic benefits for Canadians. This is one example of how our whole-of-government approach is addressing the country's housing crisis."
The Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos
Minister of Public Services and Procurement and Quebec Lieutenant
"This facility has been part of the Laval landscape for over 100 years and has contributed to the safety of our communities. The addition of this federal property to Canada's public land bank, and its upcoming transfer to Canada Lands Company, will guarantee it a new purpose. Our government is committed to ensuring that the well-being of the community in the East of Laval is at the heart of this new purpose."
The Honourable David J. McGuinty
Minister of Public Safety
"We have reached a key milestone in the transfer of the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Penitentiary grounds. The Vieux-Pen is part of our city's history, and it will soon be back at the service of our community. Our priority is to ensure that its new purpose meets the needs of the area's residents, in particular by making the land available for the construction of affordable housing and community spaces."
Angelo Iacono
Member of Parliament for Alfred-Pellan, Quebec
Quick facts
- Formerly the site of a Sisters of Providence, Sacred Heart Convent, in 1861, the Government of Canada East purchased the site to establish a reform school. In 1872, the federal government purchased the site from the Province of Quebec and renovated it for use as a federal penitentiary.
- The first offenders, officers and their families were transferred to Saint-Vincent-de-Paul Penitentiary by steamship from Kingston Penitentiary on May 19, 1873.
- Saint-Vincent-de-Paul-Penitentiary ceased operating as a federal correctional facility and was declared a surplus asset in 1989.
- The property was declared a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990.
- In Budget 2024 and Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada's Housing Plan, the federal government announced an ambitious whole-of-government approach to addressing the housing crisis by building more homes, making it easier to rent or own a home, and helping Canadians who cannot afford a home.
- A key component of Canada's Housing Plan is the new Public Lands for Homes Plan. This plan aims to partner with all levels of government, homebuilders and housing providers to build homes, faster, on surplus and underused public lands across the country.
- The Public Lands for Homes Plan supports the government's goal of unlocking 250,000 new homes by 2031.
- The Canada Public Land Bank was launched in August 2024 under the Public Lands for Homes Plan.
- Canada Lands Company is a self-financing, federal Crown corporation specializing in real estate and development, and attractions management. For almost 30 years, the Company has developed some of the most sought-after communities in Canada while serving as the innovative steward of some of the country's most iconic attractions.
Associated links
- Budget 2024
- Solving the Housing Crisis: Canada's Housing Plan
- Public lands for homes
- Canada Lands Company
- History of penitentiaries in Canada: the early years
- National Historic Site of Canada
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SOURCE Public Services and Procurement Canada
Contacts: Mathis Denis, Press Secretary and Senior Communications Advisor, Office of the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, 343-573-1846, [email protected]; Media Relations, Public Services and Procurement Canada, 819-420-5501, [email protected]
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