The Kanata Lakes community was built around the Kanata Golf and Country Club. The vision for our community included preserving 40 percent green space. This was solidified by the signing of the 40 percent agreement in 1981. This document survives today and has been the instrumental in the shaping of our community.

Copies of the 1981 Forty Percent Agreement and the 1988 Amendment are available here for download:

In December of 2018, ClubLink announced their intentions to develop the Kanata Golf and Country Club lands. Many in our community live along the 18 holes and have enjoyed this greenspace for many years. Legal actions have been ongoing since and updates are provided as they become available.

For latest updates from the Kanata Greenspace Protection Coalition, please visit their website here.

Please visit the Development page for details.

The Kanata North Mosquito Program is unique to Kanata North. Updates are provided as they become available.

Please call Ottawa by-law at 3-1-1 to report a possible violation related to these subject matters:

  • Business licensing
  • Discharge of firearms
  • Fence height
  • Noise
  • Park
  • Pool enclosures
  • Portable and temporary signs
  • Smoking – Public Place
  • Smoking – Workplace
  • Taxis
  • Weeds
  • Parking

Please visit the City of Ottawa website for details.

To report an issue with lawn maintenance, please call 3-1-1 or create a service request online on the City of Ottawa website under “Park Maintenance”. Once the request is made, it will be sent directly to the department and you will be provided with a tracking number for follow up.

The Kanata Food Cupboard is a non-profit charitable organization providing food assistance to Kanata individuals and families in need. Please visit their website for details.

To renew or apply for an open air fire permit (burn permit) or for general information, please visit the City of Ottawa website.

Get all your questions answered regarding building and renovating by visiting the City of Ottawa website here.

Details on the City’s standing committees, commissions, sub-committees and other are available here.

We are fortunate to have active Community Associations working on initiatives ranging from hydro corridor revitalization, to cleaning the capital events, community wide garage sales, and providing input on proposed development applications. For details and to get involved, visit our Neighbourhoods page.

A detailed ward map is available on the City of Ottawa website here.

From recreation and cultural facilities to courses, camps and swim schedules, all details can be found here.

Absolutely! Engage Ottawa introduces new and innovative online tools to improve how the City engages with you. These online tools give you the opportunity to weigh in on the projects and initiatives that you care about, at your convenience. Visit the City of Ottawa website for details.

Details can be found on the City of Ottawa website here.

For information on Kanata North specific developments, please visit our Development page or contact our team.

The intention of the residential Vacant Unit Tax is to encourage homeowners to maintain, occupy or rent their properties, thereby increasing the housing supply. This is one of the tools the City of Ottawa is using to address the affordable housing crisis in the City of Ottawa and revenue from this tax will be used to support affordable housing initiatives. Details are available here.

Stay up to date on road construction, closures, incidents, and special events here.

The City is responsible for Wild Parsnip, Poison Ivy and Giant Hogweed on municipal property. Private property owners are responsible for removing these plants from their property. For details and to report wild parsnip, poison ivy, or giant hogweed, visit the City of Ottawa website here.

Coyotes are usually wary and fearful of humans. But should you encounter a coyote, follow these important instructions:

  • Remain calm and slowly back away from the coyote
  • Do not turn your back and run
  • Stand tall, wave your hands, and make plenty of loud noises

For details and to report a coyote sighting in your neighbourhood, visit the City of Ottawa website.

No park-and-ride is planned for the Moodie O-Train Station. As part of the EA study for the Moodie Extension, a new park-and-ride lot was considered but not recommended due to the lack of space adjacent to the station. Given the space constraints, a parking structure (garage) would likely be required, which would be costly. Once the O-Train is extended to Kanata, there is a risk that the parking structure will be under-utilized, with the potential for significant throw-away costs. Further, a sizeable park-and-ride lot is already in place at Eagleson Station, and a new one at Moodie Station would encourage additional car traffic across the Greenbelt, contrary to City and NCC policy.
The potential to provide a limited/short-term paid (“Gold Permit”) park-and-ride facility was considered using an existing nearby surface lot. This option was dependent on whether any unused spaces could be made available to the City.  Discussions to assess the feasibility of implementing this additional parking were explored, considering issues such as traffic access and community impacts. Based on the findings, this option was not pursued.

The link for bills of the current Parliament at the provincial level is: https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/current

The link for bills of the current Parliament at the federal level is: https://www.parl.ca/legisinfo/en/bills

There is no single sentence that says ‘Councillors must apply the precautionary principle,’ but under Ontario law, once risks to health, safety, or the environment are known, Council has a duty to act carefully and reasonably. That duty comes from provincial law and the courts, not politics. The precautionary principle means we don’t wait for harm to happen before asking hard questions or taking protective steps — especially when residents didn’t choose the risk.

 

However, here is a lot more information that might be helpful.

 

1. Is “duty of care” explicitly written in a Councillor oath or code of conduct?

No — not in those exact words.

But that does not mean it does not apply to City Councillors.

At the City of Ottawa, Councillors are bound by:
  • The Councillor Declaration of Office
  • The Code of Conduct
  • Provincial legislation
  • Common law obligations once risks are known

These documents use language like honesty, integrity, good faith, and acting in the public interest — which is how duty of care is expressed in public law.

 

2. Where does a Councillor’s duty of care actually come from?

A. Ontario’s Municipal Act (statutory duty)

Under the Municipal Act, 2001, municipalities — through Council — must act:

  • In the public interest
  • For the health, safety, and well-being of residents
  • With reasonable care once risks are known

Once Council (or an individual Councillor) has actual notice of a risk (e.g., contamination, vibration impacts, drainage interference), the standard changes from passive governance to active responsibility.

Courts have repeatedly held that:

Once a municipality has notice of a foreseeable risk, failure to act reasonably may constitute negligence.

That is duty of care in law — even if the phrase is not used in the oath.

B. Common law negligence (very important)

Under Canadian common law, elected officials can engage municipal liability when:

  1. A risk is foreseeable
  2. The municipality (or Council) has knowledge of that risk
  3. There is a failure to take reasonable steps

You, personally, are protected from personal liability in most cases —
but the City is not protected if Council knowingly ignores risk.

Once residents are reporting:

  • shaking homes,
  • possible environmental exposure,
  • drainage interference,

Council is on notice.

At that point:

  • asking questions,
  • demanding independent review,
  • improving transparency,
  • pausing or scrutinizing activity

are not political acts — they are risk-management acts.

 

3. Where does the precautionary principle come from?

A. It is embedded in Ontario environmental law

The precautionary principle is not political rhetoric — it is recognized in Ontario and Canadian environmental jurisprudence.

It appears (explicitly or implicitly) in:

  • Environmental Protection Act decision-making
  • Water protection frameworks
  • Tribunal and court reasoning

The principle is generally stated as:

Where there is a risk of serious or irreversible harm, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent harm.

For a Councillor, this means:

  • You do not need certainty to act;
  • You are allowed — even expected — to ask for caution where harm may be irreversible.

B. Councillors are expected to rely on precaution when risks affect people who did not choose the risk

This is critical.

Residents:

  • did not choose mercury contamination,
  • did not choose vibration,
  • did not choose drainage alteration,
  • did not choose winter construction with little notice.

That is precisely when precaution is most defensible.

 

4. Does this conflict with OLT decisions?

No — and this is crucial.

The Ontario Land Tribunal decides:

  • planning conformity,
  • land-use approvals.

It does not:

  • remove municipal duty of care,
  • override environmental protection,
  • eliminate responsibility to respond to new facts.

Once new circumstances arise (e.g., unanticipated vibration, resident harm, incomplete testing, drainage interference), Council has both the authority and obligation to respond.

That is settled law.

Do you still have questions?

Please contact us; we’d be happy to assist you.

613-580-2474

Cathy.Curry@Ottawa.ca