See the 8 day forecast at the ottawan weather

HELLO OTTAWA

The Ottawa Humane Society is looking for humans to sit on its board.

The three selected will begin their term in September and serve for six years.

In particular, the Society is looking for people who have experience in some of the following:

• Community leadership;
• Equity, diversity and inclusion;
• Financial/accounting;
• Governance;
• Management/strategic planning;
• Charitable or not-for-profit experience;
• Evaluation/performance management;
• Fundraising;
• Human Resources/recruitment & retention;
• Privacy/Security;
• Information technology;
• Communications or public relations;
• Government relations; and
• Specialized skills as needed

If this sounds like you and you can prove that you are not three domestic animals in a trenchcoat, click here for details. (h/t West Carleton Online 🔒)

🌗 Correction

Sorry, we really had this eclipse thing muddled in our heads.

We believed this trend to move teacher professional development days was to bring kids to school on a planned closed day so staff could monitor the students. Then teachers would have their professional development day later on.

But no, the idea is to close the schools so the kids stay at home and roam free.

the ottawan apologizes for getting this so wrong.

While we were at it, we gave the wrong date: the eclipse will be April 8, between 2:00 pm and 4:45 pm. Don’t look directly at the sun.

Most schools in Eastern Ontario will be closed that day, with the notable exception of those with the Ottawa Carleton District School Board.

Thank you to those readers who sent us quizzical emails.

– Martha and Darren

Our Valentines Guides

❤️ Valentine’s Day Experiences and Gifts

14 different ideas.

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When you can’t find the words to express your feelings, a well chosen card can help. There’s no need to buy a mass produced greeting when these locally- and Canadian-made options are available.

❤️ Romantic Gift Ideas for Your Valentine

Seven easy ideas.

❤️ 5 Food Gifts and Dining Ideas for Valentine’s Day

It’s not just chocolate. But chocolate is included.

TODAY’S LINE UP

•  Ottawa Stats
•  City Hall Agenda
•  What Ottawa is Talking About
•  Events
•  Deals of the Day

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OTTAWA STATS

CITY HALL AGENDA

What’s going on at City Hall

No meetings Monday.

WHAT OTTAWA IS TALKING ABOUT

🙏 City of Ottawa

•  Flags at Marion Dewar Plaza at Ottawa City Hall will be lowered to half mast Sunday in honour of Brian McGarry. The well known funeral director at Hulse, Playfair & McGarry Funeral Homes served on the Ottawa Board of Education 1985 – 1994 and was elected Capital ward councillor for the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Council in 1994. He was 80. (City of Ottawa)

📱 Federal Public Service

•  The Privacy Commissioner has testified that steps had been skipped when the Federal government installed tools capable of extracting personal data from mobile phones, computers, and tablets. Philippe Dufresne said that he should not have learned from the media about the tools after the fact. Thirteen departments and agencies installed the tools which can secretly reveal a public employee’s internet search history, deleted content, and social media activity. The testimony came out at Parliament’s standing committee on access to information, privacy and ethics yesterday. (Brigit Bureau at CBC)

🏒 Ottawa Senators

•  Mayor Mark Sutcliffe wants a new hockey arena walkable from the Parliament buildings, not in LeBreton Flats. Promoters of the South of Parliament Area concept would be aligned with the Mayor  – he’s in favour of a site in ‘proximity to dozens of restaurant and bar options on Elgin St, Sparks St. and the Byward Market’. The idea is feasable, he says, because the Federal government now has surplus buildings and land. (Ian Mendes (Not Menard! Not ... – oh, give it up, Darren – Martha) in The Athletic)

🎷 Ottawa Jazz Festival

•  The Ottawa Jazz Festival has a new executive director only a month after the previous one started. Long term artistic director Petr Cancura has been appointed the interim executive director after Jody Larose stepped down within a month of starting the job. The Festival has not given any reasons for the switchover. (Peter Hum in the Ottawa Citizen)

🙄 Rolling Thunder

•  The man who drove through police barricades in the Rolling Thunder event in April 2022 has been found guilty of dangerous driving. The man, driving a purple car painted with ‘Freedom’ and ‘Hold the Line!’ crashed through pylons at a police checkpoint on Bank Street, hit several police cars, and was eventually surrounded and hit with a tazer. The man, who yelled ‘Freedom!’ as he was arrested, had previously been convicted of mischief during the Convoy, however, the judge said that Rolling Thunder was a different political event than the Convoy and therefore he did not break the terms of his suspended sentence. Rolling Thunder was mostly a motorcycle event and was billed as a salute to veterans. (Aedan Helmer in the Ottawa Citizen)

💥 Ukraine – Russia War

•  An Ottawa-based charity that works to send non-lethal aid to Ukraine is in a bit of an argy-bargy. The other day, the Ottawa Citizen reported an allegation that not all the equipment purchased from a supplier was delivered. Mriya Aid, which counts several Canadian Forces officers as volunteers, responded on its website that the supplier issue was only two per cent of the aid the organization has arranged, was a delivery problem, and was already sorted out. 
  
  At the same time, two women in Toronto started receiving threats from unknown people who say the women are supporters of the alleged whistleblowers. On Twitter, the two were sent a picture a picture of a dildo wrapped in barbed wire with the legend, ‘No amount of lube can save them this time’. 
  
  One of the women made a complaint to Durham Police over the image, to which the police concluded it did not ‘constitute a threat under the Criminal Code’.

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• 🍺 Our Ottawa-Gatineau Craft Brewery Map

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• 🏆 The Best Of Ottawa Awards 2023

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• 🎧 Best Podcasts from Ottawa

EVENTS

Is there an event we should know about?
Please use our easy event submission form
 

Today

•  The Winter Season has launched at Gladstone Theatre, with Just Say the Word running until Saturday February 3. After that, the romantic season heats up with comedy It Had to Be You (February 7 - 17) and Steel Magnolias February 28 through March 9.

•  Another fine winter tradition, the Grand Ice Bar opens in the ByWard Market at 4:00 pm, with the fire pits lighting up at 6:00 pm. Calabogie Beer will be sampling. Running Fridays through Sundays until February 18. At Grand Pizzeria, 74 George St 

• b current’s Freedom: A Community Kickback follows the launch of Freedom: A Mixtape Live and unplugged last night. Find tonight’s party in the GCTC lobby, starting with a Mix and Mingle from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm (catered by Baccanalle), and followed by a facilitated group talk from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. 

•  Unikkaatuarniq: Stories of the North Snowscreen returns with more Indigneous films from the circumpolar North, screened in a theatre made of snow. Screenings are free, shown one per hour from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm at Lansdowne Park. Tonight and tomorrow night (Saturday February 3). Presented by the Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival.

•  Rising star (and Ottawan with Nigerian roots) Asuquomo takes to the NAC’s Fourth Stage, performing tracks from his debut album. With guest S.O.A.P. Part of the NAC’s Hip Hop Theatre Festival.

•  This weekend at the Diefenbunker, Winterlude programming includes an exhibition giving the Inuit view of the Cold War. The exhibition An Inuit Story: The DEW Line is accessible with the regular museum admission. On today through Sunday February 4. Later, take part the ongoing Snowflake Scavenger Hunt.

• Author and environmentalist Bill McKibben (“The End of Nature”) discusses current global warming and the growing global environmental movement. Free but registration is required. 

• Ambassade de France Au Canada and the City of Gatineau join forces to illuminate the Tour Eiffel Bridge aka Montcalm Street Bridge as part of Winterlude. The choreographed show in Gatineau is an homage to Gustave Eiffel, and will be projected from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm through February 19. 

•  Pibòn Festival (Interlude Edition) brings Indigenous performances to Sparks Street tonight and tomorrow (Saturday February 3) from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Catch Pow Wow dancers, Throat Singers, and more.

•  Bring the family to Manotick’s Shiverfest, starting tonight at Centennial Park with a bonfire at 6:00 pm. The skating club exhibition, outdoor hockey, and magic show round out the evening. The festival continues tomorrow (Saturday February 3) with a pancake breakfast, curling, crafts for kids, a horse drawn sleigh ride, and chili cook off.

•  

  Mayfair Theatre: The Boy and the Heron, Freud’s Last Session, Koyaanisqatsi.

•  

  ByTowne Cinema: Origin, The Teachers’ Lounge, Ru, Memory.

  
  
  Gigs

   

•  Alpacas Stole Your Birthday Card. Avant-Garde Bar

•  Latin Fiesta. Mavericks

•  Sam Roberts Band (relocated from EY Centre). Bronson Centre

• Thursday Blues Sessions. Irene’s Pub Restaurant

• The Rump Revue Burlesque Show. Cafe Dekcuf

•  Steve Stacey. Stray Dog Brewing

•  Alturna X. LIVE on Elgin

•  Finely Tuned Elephant. Irene’s Pub Restaurant

•  Mike Essoudry Trio. Montgomery Scotch Lounge

• The Barrow Gang. Atomic Rooster
   

Tomorrow

•  February is Heart Month, and the Community Winter Pentathlon will give hearts and smiles a workout with five events in two hours: snowshoeing, tobogganing, winter running/walking, winter bowling, and a winter workout adventure. The family friendly event is presented by Happiness Habits 613 and the Heart Institute Foundation. 11:00 am to 1:00 pm tomorrow at Lansdowne Park. Free but you must register.

• Winterlude’s first weekend heats up with Biboon Baakdakmigziwinan, where you’ll see demos of traditional hide tanning, maple sugar making, and more. It’s all happening at Adaawewigamig, 55 ByWard Market Square.
   
• Manotick's Shiverfest continues with a pancake breakfast, curling, crafts for kids, a horse drawn sleigh ride, and a chili cook off.
   
• Nibi indigenous Arts Festival packs workshops, activities, performances, and great food into just a few hours at Shenkman Arts Centre in Orléans. 10:00 am to 1:30 pm in the Lower Lobby. 245 Centrum Blvd, Orléans.
   
• Improv, music, and a fictional radio station collide in All Request Radio at Arts Court’s Atelier Studio. Watch as comedians are directed to create songs, backing tracks, and titles on the fly. $20 at the door.
   
• The Unikkaatuarniq: Stories of the North Snowscreen film series continues at Lansdowne Park. Screenings are free, shown one per hour from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Presented by the Asinabka Film & Media Arts Festival.
   
• Also at Lansdowne Park: The Winterlude Roller Disco, presented by Ottawa Recreation and Culture / Loisirs et culture Ottawa. Register in advance to ensure you can participate. $10.77 for those 15 and older; $9.53 for everyone 14 and under. Skates are available to rent or bring your own.
   

•  Mayfair Theatre: My Carpathian Grandpa, The Boy and the Heron, In The Heat of the Night.

•  

   ByTowne Cinema: Ru, Origin, Ru, Dawn of the Dead 4K Restoration.

   

   

• Gigs

• The Paper Boys Live! Bar Robo

•  The Ed Lister Group. Montgomery Scotch Lounge

•  Mod Nite 1960s Rock & Soul Dance Party with Collective Arts Brewing. LIVE on Elgin

•  Tin Constellations. Irene's Pub Restaurant

•  DJ Alber Remix. Mavericks

•  Melissa Lauren and Kaya Fraser. LIVE on Elgin

•  Kurtis Adams Live. Atomic Rooster

• Generation Alice, Das Nice. The Brass Monkey

Sunday

•  Ottawa’s PWHL team meets visitors New York at 1:00 pm, TD Place.
   
• Take a free house dance workshop at the National Arts Centre. You’ll be learning from the pros at Capital Sessions, and no experience is necessary. 1:30 pm at the Glass Thorsteinson Staircase.
   
•  Bring your cross country skis and try out the Rideau Winter Trail’s first ever Loppet, to raise funds for the trail’s ongoing maintenance and activities.
   
•  Look to the skies at a Sunday birding excursion. Birding: Sarsaparilla Trail & Other Greenbelt Habitats - Ottawa West will be guided by two professional bird guides. 8:00 am to noon. $75 per person.
   
•  As Winterlude’s first weekend continues, drop by the ByTown Museum to hear about the origins of the Rideau Canal, the museum’s stone structure, and more. 11:00 am - 3:00 pm.
   
•  The National Arts Centre Orchestra’s Music for a Sunday Afternoon features Blake Poulio and a program of Richard Strauss, Julia Perry, Lera Auerbach, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 355 Cooper St. 3:00 pm. $49.
   
• Groove to the Jazz Vespers at All Saints’ Anglican Church Westboro. 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm.
   

• Mayfair Theatre: The Boy and the Heron, Freud’s Last Session, In the Heat of the Night.

• ByTowne Cinema: Memory, Ru, Origin, Romero Birthday Event: Dawn of the Dead.
  
  
  Gigs

•  Jazz Nite. Lavender Grill

•  The Sunday Night Revue. Irene's Pub Restaurant

•  Lyle Odjick & The Northern Stream. Atomic Rooster

•  Spitalfield with NKWM, Laughing in Slow Motion. The Brass Monkey

•  Acoustic Coffee House. Red Bird

Monday

• The OPL Main Branch is screening Korean thrillers for free each Monday night in February. Note: these screenings are not for kids. Tonight’s 6:00 pm presentation: Burning from 2018. In Korean with English subtitles.
   

• Mayfair Theatre: The Boy and the Heron, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Mad Dog Morgan

•  

  ByTowne Cinema: Origin, Ru, Memory

• Gigs
   

• Open Mic Night. Art House

• Bluegrass Mondays featuring Open Stage, with the House Band. Red Bird

• Karaoke Mondaze. Atomic Rooster

Just Announced / Now Booking

• As part of its Black History Month programming, the Canadian Museum Of History presents a free screening of an episode of the CBC documentary series Black Life: Untold Stories. The series explores the histories of Black experience in and contributions to Canada over the last 400 years. Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion with the filmmakers and a cash bar reception. Thursday February 8 at 6:00 pm Registration is required.

• Ottawa Art Gallery’s PA Day Camps (February 16, April 8, May 17, June 3, and June 7) offer a creative outlet for kids aged six to 12. $65 per person. Pre- and post- care options are also available.

• I Heart Beer + Taco touring festival pulls up at Aberdeen Pavilion Friday March 1 and Saturday March 2 after passing through Toronto and Hamilton. A number of Ottawa’s breweries will be there, alongside out of towners like Black Lab Brewing (Toronto), Miski Brewing (Barrie, ON), and Daft Brewing (Kingston, ON). If you get hungry you’ll find vendors selling tacos, cookies, and more.

• Stomp your feet to Toronto veteran alt-rockers Sloan, Canadian fiddler Ashley Macisaac, MacEoin Ramsay Pipe Band, and Bytown Sea Shanty Collective at Bronson Centre Music Theatre’s St. Pats-A-Polooza, Saturday March 16. $25 per ticket.

DEALS OF THE DAY

BUT, ONE MORE THING ...

• Ottawa’s most expensive house for sale just sold for $5 million. The 4,500 sq ft house was built in 2018 and overlooks Dow’s Lake. The third floor 50-foot-long balcony has views of the Rideau Canal. Pix!

RAPID RESPONSE QUALITY CONTROL

Comment of the week: ‘Love that you bring stories I would have never seen and venues with fun things happening. I always look forward to your newsletter.’

THE END

the ottawan is written and edited every work day by Martha and Darren.

Is there something that Ottawa should know about? Email to us at hello@theottawan.com. We read every single comment. 

We’ll see you Monday.

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