Delayed Batshaw project remains a work in progress
The Batshaw Youth and Family Centres campus in Beaconsfield remains a fenced-in construction site three years after the project’s original estimated completion date and the situation has Beaconsfield Mayor Georges Bourelle frustrated. “Beaconsfield is frustrated. Neighbours are frustrated,” Bourelle said. “We’d like to see it finished, earlier rather than later.” In 2013, groundbreaking ceremonies took place at Batshaw campuses in both Dorval and Beaconsfield. The idea was to consolidate the services for anglophone at-risk youth and young offenders in the West Island. (There is a campus in the Laurentians that is less than ideal because it distances its clients from their communities.) In 2015, then Quebec Liberal health minister Gaetan Barrette launched a major reorganization of the province’s health-care system that resulted in newly-configured CIUSSS health authorities and budget cuts. During that process, the Batshaw Youth and Family Centres became the responsibility of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île. Ensuing budget cuts ran deep and there was no more money to finish the Batshaw projects. Bourelle said things were looking up when he met with the CIUSSS just before the Quebec elections in October and was told the necessary funds had been approved. “But they didn’t give us a timeline,” Bourelle said. “And then the elections happened and a new government came into power.” Will the new government support the project? Is the promised funding still in place? Quebec Junior Minister for Health and Social Services Lionel Carmant was set to meet with CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île Monday, but his press attachée told the West Island Gazette that no announcement would be made. “It is a badly-needed campus,” Bourelle said. “I’m not pointing a finger at CIUSSS. I am pointing a finger at the new government and asking them to honour the previous government’s promise.” A CIUSSS spokesperson gave the following update on the Beaconsfield campus. The exteriors of the two buildings on the campus are completed. Finishing work on the interiors of one of the buildings needs to be completed and major work on the interiors of the second building remains to be done. There will be seven residential units, but the spokesman could not say how many buildings there will be. Along with residential units, there will be an activity centre, a cafeteria, a physical plant and an administrative and clinical-services building which will also house an area for family visits. The budget for completing the Beaconsfield campus is $50 million. A CIUSSS spokesperson said renovations at the Dorval campus will happen in 2020 with a budget of around $5 million and take around one year to complete. Renovations include exterior brick work, the installation of increased security measures for the garage and the roof and interior renovations of residential units. Once renovations are completed, there will be three closed units with 36 beds and two open units with 18 beds.