Stone carving, craft beer, and yoga; Jabapalooza cancelled; Weekly Covid stats

Issue 561 Volume 3 Number 58

HELLO OTTAWA

It’s Friday, June 24, 2022 and bonne fête nationale, Gatineau.

Today

▪️This is Canadian Stone Carving Festival weekend, and today’s carvers have already started crafting blocks of Indiana Limestone and Quebec Soapstone into art, using traditional tools. The event finishes on Sunday June 26th with the auctioning off of the artworks produced over the weekend. Visit the stone carvers in the tents at 190 Sparks Street.

▪️Ottawa’s music community and those wanting to enter the industry will be heading to Cranium Conference and Showcase 2022 this weekend. The free conference, showcase and block party kick off tonight with a networking opportunity. Bring your A game, and talk to the people who matter.

Tomorrow

▪️Carp Farmers Market will be celebrating its 32nd birthday this Saturday. Get to the events tent by 11:00am to enjoy a slice of birthday cake.

▪️Join the party at Welcome to Stittsville, a free multicultural event with exhibitors, performances, and activities at the Village Square Park on Saturday from 12:00pm to 4:0pm.

▪️Combine great craft beer with local shopping as Freewheeling Craft pops up at Dominion City Brewing. 11:00am to 4:00pm Saturday. 15-5510 Canotek Rd.

Sunday

▪️Enjoy free community yoga at the Preston Street Market on Sunday. 10:00am. It will happen rain or shine.

▪️The Ottawa International Writers Festival presents an evening with Oscar-nominated screenwriter, director, and actor Sarah Polley, as she discusses her recently published memoir Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory. $25. 7:00pm, Christ Church Cathedral, 414 Sparks St.

Deals of the day

▪️Solo Stove’s Surprise Sales Event means you’ll find the “lowest prices of the year” site wide, which means up to 40% off everything from fire pits to accessories.

▪️Message Factory is celebrating St Jean Baptist Day with a sale running until June 27th. Save 25% on eco-friendly tunics and dresses made in Quebec. No code required.

▪️Martino, who make comfortable and stylish shoes, boots, and moccasins in Quebec, are offering a $24 gift card with orders of $74.99 or more (before taxes and delivery costs). The offer is valid until June 26th. Darren recently purchased a pair of the moccasins in a classic brown colour, and he finds them so comfy that he basically hasn’t taken them off.

▪️Flash sale at Numi: save on women’s undershirts, shirts, and loungewear, but only until 11:59pm tonight.

We'll see you Monday – Martha and Darren

? Is there something that Ottawans should know about? Email to us at [email protected]. We read every single comment.

STATS

Weather: ? Sunny. High of 28°, low of 14°.

Number: 2. Where Little Italy lies on a list of ‘Best Neighbourhood in Canada for a Night Out’. That's not unreasonable, but in first place is the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, which, as Vancouver-native Darren notes, is kind of like giving first place to that stretch of Carling Avenue where the Canadian Tire is located. [A Questionable Source]

Ottawan of the Day: Claudette Commanda. The Algonquin Anishinaabe elder from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation has been appointed as the University of Ottawa’s next chancellor. Commanda started as a student there in 1987. [Ottawa Citizen]

Quote: 'The number of times I’d hear Canadian trans people thanking American celebrities … It drove me nuts. Those are not the people you should be thanking!’ – Tara Sypniewski, founder of the Hintonburg’s new Ottawa Trans Library, specializing in literature by, for, and about transgender people. Sypniewski says Canadian campaigners need to be recognized. [Apt 613]

Sport: CEBL Ottawa BlackJacks 92 – Edmonton Stingers 84, last night Frontier League Ottawa Titans 42 – Sussex County Miners 3, last night

Support the ottawan

Buy one of our Ottawa Historic Logo t-shirts or an ottawan logo t-shirt (which is sure to be historic one day).

Historic the ottawan

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

▪️Councillor Diane Deans has dropped out of the Ottawa mayoral race. Nor will the representative for Gloucester – Southgate ward run again for her councillor seat in October’s election. Dean was the chair of the Ottawa Police Board during the Trucker siege until she was removed by council, after which the Ottawa Police moved to oust the occupiers. [Twitter]

▪️This weekend's Jabapalooza is cancelled. Dr Nili Kaplan-Myrth, who has run several of the outdoor mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics in the past, has cancelled this one due to a risk that Dr Vera Etches would be reprimanded by the Province. This Jabapalooza was intended to give boosters to health care workers, essential workers, parents, pregnant women, and other high risk people – however, those high risk people are not on the Province's acceptable-for-boosting critera. [Twitter]

Convoy Part II

? Ottawa Police plan to swear in 491 Mounties as special constables to assist on Canada Day, in the expectation of more Convoy-style protestors. [Ottawa Citizen]

+ Related Much of downtown will be cordoned off on Canada Day, next Friday. Our apologies if this City-produced map causes some PTSD memories.

The Inquiries

? LRT Inquiry: The City knew full well the O Train had defects when it took delivery, it also eased testing requirements. City engineer and rail manager Richard Holder testified that the City knew that there were problems but reasoned that they would be worked out once service began. The City also watered down its reliablilty test to ensure that the system would be ready. [CBC]

+ Related The Inquiry has ordered City Councillors and City staffers to turn over text messages and WhatsApp chats by the end of today. The City has turned over 500,000 documents but an Inquiry lawyer noticed a reference to the Mayor's text messages – which were not included.

? Emergency Act Inquiry: The Parliamentary committee on the declaration of the Emergencies Act is not currently in session.

+ Related The Ottawa People’s Commission on the occupation of downtown Ottawa is looking for volunteers to get hearings underway and to reach affected groups. The Commission intends to report on events from the point of view of residents and others affected by the occupation.

+ Related A new book alleges that Police and the Truckers were negotiating an end to the siege before the Emergencies Act was declared.

WEEKLY CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

We're now reporting COVID 19 information on Fridays only, as both Ontario and Ottawa Public Health have stopped daily updates.

We’ll be starting our new format updates with a snapshot of the Ottawa Wastewater Analysis, which measures the amount of COVID indicators found in the city’s sewage.The dotted line shows the upcoming predictions.

Today's chart shows that we were on a downward trend until the provincial mandates were lifted June 11. After that, COVID indicators have risen slightly but we may be set to return to the downtrend.