Toronto’s first Indigenous healing lodge for women in conflict with the law has been given the green light.

Scarborough’s committee of adjustment approved the proposal Thursday despite an emotionally charged community meeting last month and objections by nine residents at Thursday’s meeting who raised concerns about parking, increased crime and declining property values.

Four supporters, most of whom are also area residents, urged the committee to approve the project and were thrilled by the decision.

“I don’t even have words to describe it,” said Patti Pettigrew, board president of the Thunder Woman Healing Lodge Society.

“I’m just elated. And I am so grateful. This is going to help a lot of women,” she said, tearing up with emotion after the meeting.

The decision, which gave the nod to a set of minor variances for the building, is final, pending appeal to the Toronto Local Appeal Body, which replaced the Ontario Municipal Board as the forum for committee of adjustment appeals in 2017.

The healing society says the facility, proposed for the corner of Kingston Rd. and Cliffside Dr., poses no community safety threat and is one way to address last month’s damning report on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

The 24-bed program is aimed at helping women on parole or on probation who are transitioning back into society, as well as those who are on bail and not convicted of any crime, the society’s lawyer Alex Lusty told the committee.

The proposed six-storey building includes commercial space on the ground floor with single rooms and apartments on the upper floors. It will provide restorative care, supportive housing and gathering spaces for cultural programming, including an outdoor sweat lodge and fire pit, Lusty said.

It would be the first of its kind in Ontario and only one of three in the country.

Area Councillor Gary Crawford, who was not able to attend the meeting, said the decision means “the project is moving forward.

“Let’s see where things go in the next 20 days,” he added, referring to the appeal period. “The committee has made the decision based on the application before them and I understand they were very respectful of everybody who was there.”

But tempers flared after the meeting with several residents charging the committee of ignoring their concerns.

“You have 24 people there who have committed crimes (and) you have two supervisors,” resident Paul Chamberlain told reporters after the meeting. “How are they going to take care of that situation? These people are going to have drug traffickers. They will be there like bees to honey. It’s just a big mistake and they haven’t thought it through.”

During a raucous community meeting in June, residents complained about lack of notice of the project, even though a public meeting was not legally required.

While some residents said the project needs more parking for staff — just one space is included — others worried about a lack of area services for the women, and fears for children in nearby schools. Those concerns were echoed in 17 letters of opposition submitted to the committee.

However, in more than two-dozen letters of support, others said the project should be approved in light of the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation report.

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“Creating safe, healing spaces for Indigenous women is what reconciliation looks like,” wrote Toronto East York resident Michelle Kushni.

Danny Bourne, vice-president of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, which operates women’s shelters and more than a dozen residences for people in addiction recovery across the city, said residents and staff in these homes “have a vested interest in being good neighbours.

“In my view, providing safe, secure and affordable housing with on-site staff and supports for the residents is a recipe for success,” wrote Bourne, who lives 500 metres from the proposed project.

Area high school teacher Carmela Arangio, said “many residents who oppose the healing lodge speak from a place of ignorance.

“Bowing to their ignorance will continue to feed misinformation, racism and injustice,” she wrote. “Further, it sends a message to young people, future citizens, voters and lawmakers of this country, that Indigenous women have no value, and that we as Canadians do not need to engage in reconciliation.”

In her letter to the committee, Ward 20 resident Chelsea Braun urged members to base their decision on fact rather than fear.

“I would much rather these people have supportive care, supervision, counselling and services to help them get back on their feet, than just be released into the community to fend for themselves,” she added.

Diane Hill, who described herself as a 62-year-old white woman who has lived in the area since 1984 and is a two-minute walk from the site, also voiced support for the healing lodge.

“Given the uphill battle many Indigenous communities face — the terrible legacy of residential schools, the Sixties scoop and the ongoing foster care crisis, the chronic lack of health care and education and even clean water in so many of their communities, and all the other struggles they are facing — given all of this, how can we turn our backs?” she wrote.

During last month’s public meeting, Pettigrew said the Scarborough project should not be confused with the Corrections Canada healing lodge in Saskatchewan for women still serving their sentences. That facility made headlines last fall when convicted child-killer Terri-Lynne McClintic was sent there after serving eight years of a life sentence for her role in the 2009 kidnapping, rape and murder of 8-year-old Tori Stafford. McClintic was returned to secure custody after a public outcry.

The Thunder Woman program will be run by and for Indigenous women. Two staff, including elders and counsellors with expertise in addictions and trauma, will be on-duty at all times, including overnight. And all the women will be vetted by program staff for suitability, Pettigrew said.

Indigenous women make up just 4 per cent of Canada’s female population, but account for 43 per cent of inmates in federal and provincial jails for women.

Ward 20 Scarborough Southwest has the largest concentration of Indigenous residents in the city, with almost 1,700 living in the ward, according to city staff.