'Burning angry': Vanier councillor condemns sign threatening charges for taking Salvation Army donations at Concorde Motel

Pushback against new Salvation Army Community Hub Vanier residents are calling for more supportive housing in the new centre. CTV’s Shaun Vardon reports.

The city councillor for Rideau-Vanier says a note posted at the Concorde Motel on Montreal Road has her "burning angry."

Stéphanie Plante posted a thread to X, the platform formerly know as Twitter, on Wednesday, where she took aim at the notice.

She shared an image of a laminated piece of paper on Concorde Motel letterhead that said the following:

"To all residents of the Concorde Motel, please be aware: The Salvation Army Thrift Store is a tenant of the Concorde Motel and all donations that are dropped off are the property of the Salvation Army Thrift Store – the taking of donations is stealing and will not be tolerated. The Salvation Army reserves the right to press criminal charges and you may face immediate eviction from the premises. Cameras are monitoring donation area 24/7."

The note was attributed to Concorde Motel Management.

"People who drop off donations do so in a haphazard way – sometimes bags are left to accumulate over several days and items they can't sell are donated to the Motel clients. No one has ever complained to me, Ottawa Bylaw or OPS or city caseworkers about this issue," Plante wrote in her thread on X.

"Now the Concorde and Salvation Army want to threaten their tenants (most are immigrants and with very little knowledge of our legal system) with 'eviction' and 'criminal charges' for taking a pair of discarded toddler snowpants before they are triaged."

Speaking on Newstalk 580 CFRA's "Ottawa Now with Kristy Cameron", Plante said she went to the Concorde Motel Wednesday afternoon to meet with families staying there.

"This was just something that just got me so burning angry," she said. "The Salvation Army building has a donation bin area. It's always overflowing, there's always bags everywhere and sometimes families will just go and see like some discarded snowsuit and they will take it and apparently now this is grounds for the Salvation Army and the Concorde Motel to evict them or press charges? We are not pressing charges against people who rummage through a donation bin; you've got to be kidding me."

In a statement to Newstalk 580 CFRA, the Salvation Army said it did not post the sign and does not agree with it.

"The sign referenced by the local Councillor appears to have been placed there by the Concorde Motel, not The Salvation Army Thrift Store," said spokesperson Glenn van Gulik. "The language used in the sign's message does not reflect how The Salvation Army addresses the challenges of donations that are dropped off outside of normal business hours."

Van Gulik said the Salvation Army does encourage people to drop items off during normal business hours to ensure they're not piling up outside.

"The Salvation Army is grateful for the public's support and generous donations to our Thrift Stores and the positive impact they will have. All funds raised by The Salvation Army’s Thrift Stores support vital programs and services in the community," van Gulik wrote.

CTV News Ottawa received delivery failure notices when attempting to email the motel on Wednesday and a manager was not available when CTV News Ottawa called the motel Wednesday afternoon.

Plante said she didn't appreciate the message threatening eviction.

"A lot of the people who are here are on housing benefits from the city. For them to get evicted, it's not the Salvation Army's call to do that," Plante said. "It would involve the city, the landlord and tenant board; they have the same rights that you and I do, as renters. Just because they may be immigrants or don't speak English doesn't mean people can threaten them or take advantage of them."

Plante said she spoke with families staying at the motel, some of whom were wondering why the notice was put up in the first place.

"Some parents thought they were being stigmatized," she said. "It's a donation bin. Nothing's been triaged yet. The stuff is just sitting there. It's not like anybody has any more right to it than anybody else, especially when people are living on like $800 a month. Give me a break."

Plante says that with more people accessing food banks in Ottawa, tackling the cost of living issue should be a priority over policing people who take items from a donation bin.

The councillor says she is trying to meet with the owners of the Concorde Motel to take the sign down.

"It's simply a sign that is inaccurate; it's a sign that is threatening. I want a ward that is welcoming to everyone and this doesn't align with that vision."

Plante said Wednesday afternoon that she had yet to hear back from motel management.

The motel at 333 Montreal Rd. is slated to be torn down and replaced with a larger Salvation Army shelter. The "Centre of Hope" project has been in the works for years and has faced strong opposition from local residents from the moment it was announced.

Plante is also opposed to it, saying in her thread on social media that that area of Vanier is one of the "poorest postal codes for children in Canada."

"I would say it doesn't bode well for the future shelter that is going here and we are quite well aware about a lot of the social disorder issues around emergency shelters," she said of the sign when speaking on CFRA. "All in all, not a good look for me."

Construction on the project, which will include 32 supportive housing units and 99 beds in the emergency shelter, is slated to begin this fall, with doors opening in 2025 or 2026, the Salvation Army says.