Cassie AllenWow, a Nordic spa to be built in central Edmonton — what fun! But only for those who can afford hundreds of dollars for spa treatments. The spa is set to be built on land that Sandy and Cécile Mactaggart donated to the University of Alberta in 2010. The land was home to the Mactaggart Family Mansion, built in the 1950s, commonly known as the Soaring Estate. The university decommissioned the estate in 2018. With that, the U of A transferred the property to the U of A Properties Trust (UAPT) with the mandate to redevelop the property. And of all the possible uses for this land, the UAPT has chosen a Nordic spa.
The UAPT has selected Scandinave to redevelop this land, which would add an Edmonton location to their four other spas. Vincent Damphousse co-founded the company, and played centre for various National Hockey League (NHL) teams from 1987–2004. Notably, he played for the Edmonton Oilers for one season in the 90s. The Edmonton Journal reported that Damphousse said that this new spa will help reduce stress and drive tourism in Edmonton. While I do believe that it will attract some odd spa-loving tourists into Edmonton, I don’t believe this spa will have an overall long-lasting, stress-relieving effect in Edmonton.
According to Damphousse, this spa will boast winter tourism, offer life-changing experiences, and contribute to Edmonton on a grander scale. I can kind of understand the tourism point, but at the same time you can’t even convince many born and raised Edmotonains to go outside in the winter — and you expect tourists to do so? It is completely nonsensical. Other than that, I do not understand at all how this spa will positively impact Edmonton or offer “life-changing services” as promised.
This service will be inaccessible to the majority of Edmontonians. While prices are not yet available for the coming Edmonton location, other locations’ week-day admission costs around $150. On top of that, there’s a suggested 18 per cent gratuity on all massage treatments. Adding additional services too can drive the price all the way up to $400 per visit. Many Canadians are still feeling the pressure of inflation and the cost-of-living. The continuous tariff threats from the United States (U.S.) government is only exacerbating the cost-of-living issue. So who exactly is this service for? And how could this specialized, expensive spa possibly survive Edmonton’s economy? The only people that this spa will positively impact is Damphousse’s fellow extremely wealthy Canadians. The rest of us will just lose access to another section of the river valley.
The UATP shouldn’t be selling this land to be redeveloped into a service that will serve only a microscopic fraction of Edmontonains and hypothetical tourists. Rather, UATP could use the land for something that would greatly benefit the community as a whole. This would also follow the philanthropic examples set by the Mactaggart family. With the soaring rates of homelessness in Edmonton, the property could better serve Edmonton’s needs as a large low-income housing development. Additionally, there should be close consultation with Indigenous representatives of Treaty 6. The river valley is culturally and historically significant for Indigenous Peoples, and the lack of consultation so far is concerning.
The use of this land must consider concerns raised by Indigenous Peoples, the homeless epidemic, and the severe lack of housing opportunities for low-income people in Edmonton. I beg the city and UAPT to think logically about how best to use this land. The majority of us are five bad months away from being homeless. Very few are five good months away from being about to afford $400 spa services regularly. This is useless and fundamentally greedy.
