The committee continued its study of federal surplus and underused properties, hearing from four witnesses about the Colonel James Layton Ralston Armoury in Amherst, Nova Scotia, and the wider question of converting former military sites into veterans' housing and services.
Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, MLA for Cumberland North, said DND ended reserve use of the 1915 armoury in 2016, closed it during the pandemic in 2020 and shuttered it again in July 2025 without notice, displacing the regimental museum and cadets. She said a veteran's 2021 access-to-information request for the closure documents remains unanswered, and that a local proposal to convert the armoury into veterans' housing would cost a reported $20 million. She asked the committee to recommend that alternative federal properties, including 222 acres of DND land outside Amherst, be assessed for veterans' housing, and that reservist training be restored to the armoury.
Marie Blackburn, executive director of the Veterans Association Food Bank, argued that transferring vacant federal buildings to non-profits cuts security and upkeep costs and shaves months or years off construction timelines, though zoning and upfront capital remain obstacles. She pointed to historic buildings at Currie Barracks at the former CFB Calgary as a candidate for affordable veterans' housing and a community hub offering food security, peer support, mental health services and employment help, noting her organization pays over half a million dollars annually in rent. She asked the committee to recommend that qualified veteran-serving organizations get access to suitable surplus or underused federal properties, especially former military ones, before permanent disposal.
Justin McKay, a veteran and chair of the Nova Scotia Highlanders Community Council and Regimental Museum, said he trained in the Amherst armoury and wants it saved for veterans' housing, wraparound services or renewed use as an armoury. He said rural veterans struggle to access psychological and physiotherapy services, describing having to travel to Halifax or use Zoom, and suggested satellite services such as Echelon Wellness. Questioned about $3 million transferred out of a program for homeless veterans, he said he was surprised by the claim that veterans in need could not be found, citing local cases he had worked on, and said organizations like VETS Canada and Homes For Heroes should have been consulted.
Robert Small, Mayor of Amherst, described the armoury as a nationally recognized 1915 landmark that DND declared surplus in 2016 and listed for divestment with a housing focus in 2024. He outlined VETS Canada's preliminary concept of roughly 20 veterans' apartments with a drop-in centre, a living Highlanders museum, a satellite recruitment presence and a veteran-run coffee shop, supported by $50,000 in early municipal funding. He recommended designating Amherst a pilot with one accountable federal lead, funding predevelopment work, offering flexible transfer terms for non-profits delivering public benefit, and using the lessons to build a repeatable pathway for other properties; he also said the project should be integrated with the wider community rather than reserved exclusively for veterans, a view McKay endorsed.
Witnesses disagreed on the armoury's best use. Smith-McCrossin supported veterans' housing in principle but argued the $20 million would be better spent repairing the armoury and building on vacant land, and she and Small differed over whether the concept comprises 16 or 20 units. Small and McKay both favoured mixed, integrated development with provincial health partnerships.
In the closing procedural portion, members debated the study's scope and the pace of federal action, with Bloc and Conservative members questioning whether the exercise would produce only another framework; Marie-Hélène Gaudreau asked that documents referenced by witnesses, including the 2017 letter to veteran Russell Clarke, be submitted for the report. No motions or votes are recorded in the transcript.
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