HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2015-12-16, Page 17Dave Flaherty Postmedia Network
The Bluewater Youth Centre has been proposed as a place to potentially house Syrian refugees. Central Huron Mayor, Jim Ginn, said the
building has several deficiencies that would need to be fixed before it could happen.
Bluewater Youth Centre could be
used to house Syrian refugees
Laura Broadley
Postmedia Network
A committee has proposed the
idea that Syrian refugees could be
housed in the Bluewater Youth
Centre.
Central Huron has sent a letter to
the province in support of the idea
that Syrian refugees could be
housed in the centre, which closed
in 2012.
Central Huron Mayor, Jim Ginn,
said he was approached a few weeks
ago by a group of community mem-
bers about the idea.
Ginn said there were "major" defi-
ciencies in the building that would
need to be repaired before anyone
could be brought there.
"There's no kitchen facilities there
right now and some washroom facil-
ities have been taken out," Ginn
said.
There could also be problems
with the sewage system as there
were issues with it before the build-
ing closed three years ago.
The building is owned by Infra-
structure Ontario and so it limits
what Central Huron can do.
Ginn said he assumes that with
the large number of refugees com-
ing to the county the federal govern-
ment might be still looking for
places to house refugees
temporarily.
"Tweny-five thousand is a big
number, even for a country the size
of Canada," Ginn said.
If the government agreed to the
proposal Ginn said it would get fed-
eral dollars into the building, which
Central Huron doesn't have the
money to fix. He said he is also look-
ing at this from an economic devel-
opment point of view because down
the road the building could be used
by the municipality for other things
like senior housing.
"The idea is, let's put our name
out there. If they're looking for spots
we think that would be a good use of
that facility," Ginn said.
Ginn said he hoped that if it did
happen some of the people would
stay in Huron County, which he
noted is looking for ways to bring
people to the area.
At Huron County council, Ginn
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said he thought there was a less
than 50 per cent chance it would
happen.
"That's my own opinion. There's a
lot of things that have to fall into
place for this to happen and most of
it is out of our control," Ginn said.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015 • News Record 17
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