MoveIn Status
Praying for a team.

Firsthand
If you were to wander into the Bayshore Central patch, the first thing you might notice is the density of the housing. Arrayed in rows, with some buildings recessed from the road, they all follow the same pattern − houses, backyards and parking space. Each apartment has a small, fenced area outside, and behind that is a large, shared backyard. A visitor to the Bayshore Central patch was greeted by a pack of kids who were playing soccer in one of those shared backyards. They were friendly, and clearly more comfortable speaking Arabic than English.

Also in Bayshore Central is the neighbourhood park, called Bayshore Park. During warmer months, the park is home to a pair of baseball diamonds and a soccer field. During the winter, it is home to the local skating rink, maintained by a resident of the next neighbourhood over who moved there from Newfoundland. Concerning Bayshore, he had this to say: “I’m learning a lot about [the] different cultures, something new every day. … I’ve learned all about Ramadan and … Hanukkah.”¹

The Landscape
The Bayshore Central patch includes all of the row housing encircled almost entirely by Woodridge Crescent. The eastern boundary of the patch includes Bayshore Public School but not the large apartment buildings on the south side of the block, nor the areas east of the school. The Central patch truly is central − all of the other Bayshore patches surround it on the north, west, and east. To the immediate south is the Bayshore Shopping Centre. Other than housing, the Bayshore Central patch contains Bayshore Public School, home to around 430 students representing over 50 countries and more than 35 languages including Arabic, Mandarin, Urdu, Somali, and Bengali. Almost all (95%) of the student body walk to school, indicating many hail from the immediate Bayshore community.

Bayshore is a large community in Ottawa’s far west end, right near the shores of the Ottawa River. The larger Bayshore neighbourhood extends from Carling Avenue in the north to Richmond Drive and the Queensway (Highway 417) in the south, and from Holly Acres Road in the west to Ridgevalley Road in the east. Bayshore is home to one of Ottawa’s largest malls, Bayshore Shopping Centre, and one of Ottawa’s largest theatres, the Famous Players Coliseum. In and around the neighbourhood are many Catholic and public schools, as well as numerous churches, community and recreation centres set up to serve those who live in it. A couple of other parks are just outside the Bayshore area such as Judge Park and Andrew Haydon Park, providing beautiful greenspace and excellent recreation opportunities. This is a working class neighbourhood, home to a wide diversity of cultures including Arab, Caribbean, Somali, Sudanese, East Indian, Afghani, and many more. Despite consisting primarily of two streets, Bayshore Drive and Woodridge Crescent, Bayshore sports a remarkably high population, due in large part to its very high-density housing.²

The People
In the larger Bayshore community of which this patch is a part:

• The population in 2006 numbered 7,535
• The population density is 6,244 people per square kilometre compared with Ottawa’s 198 people/km² average
• A full 50% of those older than 15 are legally married
• Two-thirds (68%) of the families in the area are led by a married couple
• Apartment buildings comprise 61% of the total dwellings, with row housing comprising 32%
• A clear majority (81%) of the housing in the area is rented, as opposed to owned
• The mother tongues of 59% of those who live here are something other than English or French, and 40% of the population speak neither official language at home, hinting at a large immigrant population
• These hints are confirmed, as fully 52% of the population is identified as immigrant and 40% of those have arrived since 2001, many of whom are not yet Canadian citizens.
• Of those over the age of 15 who are employed, 35% take public transit to their jobs
• About 56% of the population are visible minorities, with just over a quarter of them being South Asian and other major groups including Arab, black, and Chinese

The History
Bayshore was originally conceived as “Canada’s first country-club style rental community.” Styled after a development originally observed near Houston, Texas it launched as a part of the former city of Nepean in 1963 as a high class 2,400-unit rental development and had such amenities as tennis courts, swimming pools, and a clubhouse for tenants. Named after Sir Evan Nepean, the city itself was established in 1792 on the Rideau River, incorporated as a city in 1978, and amalgamated into the city of Ottawa in 2001. The area continues to be called Nepean, and Bayshore remains a key community within it despite being a hotbed for crime − numerous criminal incidents have occurred even since the start of this year (2009).⁴

The Challenge
Home to the local school and neighbourhood park, the Central patch is the heart of Bayshore. Will you go to the heart of Bayshore with the heart of the Gospel? Would you be willing to move in?

Sources
¹www.ottawacitizen.com
²www.rapdict.org
³All statistics in the section taken from the Census tract profile for 0138.00 (CT), Ottawa-Gatineau (CMA) and Ontario
⁴ en.wikipedia.org and www.ottawacitizen.com