Meet and Greet and Meet the Author Watch Party - Hot Mess
2025-01-18 15:00 - 17:00 (America/Toronto) | Social Innovation Atelier, 95 Clegg St, Ottawa
Join For our Kids Ottawa/Gatineau parents on Saturday January 18 for a casual meet and greet at 3 pm and stay to watch the online conversation and Q&A with author Sarah Marie Wiebe at 4 pm
We will gather in the Desjardins Room at St Paul’s University, at 95 Clegg St, starting at 3pm. We’ll spend some time mingling before joining the online event from 4pm-5:15pm. The room is wheelchair accessible and has bathrooms. We’ll provide snacks.
As part of Veganuary, we also encourage you to bring your favourite vegan (or vegetarian) recipes to share (particularly ones that are kid-friendly)
Hot Mess is the story of mothering amidst a climate crisis to shape futures that will flourish under the politics of care. Blending vulnerability with analysis, Wiebe discusses how community and care are essential for us to address the climate crisis and to thrive in our changing world. Each chapter is its own vignette – feel free to join if you’ve read only part of the book, or if you’re interested in exploring these themes.
If you have capacity to help with running this event, please contact sara.parkes@gmail.com. We appreciate your support.
About the author:
Dr. Sarah Marie Wiebe (she/her) grew up on unceded Coast Salish territory in British Columbia, BC, is the mother of a three-year old and an author of the recently published Hot Mess: Mothering through a Code Red Climate Emergency. She is an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Administration at the University of Victoria and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa as well as a Co-Founder of the FERN Collaborative. Her research focuses on community development and environmental sustainability. At the intersections of environmental justice and public engagement, her teaching and research interests emphasize political ecology, policy justice and deliberative dialogue. As a collaborative researcher and filmmaker, she worked with Indigenous communities on sustainability-themed films including To Fish as Formerly. She collaborated with artists from Attawapiskat on a project entitled Reimgining Attawapiskat which is a companion website to her recent book Life against States of Emergency: Revitalizing Treaty Relations from Attawapiskat. Dr. Wiebe is also the author of Everyday Exposure: Indigenous Mobilization and Environmental Justice in Canada’s Chemical Valley (2016). For more about Dr. Wiebe’s research see: https://www.sarahmariewiebe.com/.

Ottawa South Community Mending Circle - January
2025-01-19 13:00 - 16:00 | Social Innovation Atelier, 95 Clegg St, Ottawa
Come learn from our volunteer Mending Mentors, who will show you how to repair or hem your favorite garments, give advice on simple sewing projects, and help with sewing machines. All skill levels are welcome.
What to bring:
Item to work on such as a garment, cushion, curtain, blanket – see below for details on the types of projects with which we can assist you.
(Optionally) Sewing supplies such as needles, thread, or cloth for patching. If you do not have your own supplies, you can use ours!
(Optionally) Your sewing machine. If you do not have a sewing machine, you can learn hand mending or use one of our machines.
A willingness to learn.
What we offer: We can coach you on making simple repairs (e.g. seams, small tears, buttons, darning of socks, opened seams, patching), visible mending, repair of knitted or crocheted garments, hemming, and answer basic questions about using sewing machines. If you have something to patch, please either bring some cloth for the patch or contact us in advance with the colour and material type required.
While we are here to help, some projects may be outside our abilities. In particular, we are not able to help with leather or zippers, significant clothing alterations/big sewing projects/clothing re-designs or broken sewing machines. If you are unsure, please contact us via FB message or on our webiste (www.osean.org) with the details in advance (pictures encouraged!).

Book Launch: Reading the Room: Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom (Concordia University Press, 2024), edited by Natalie Kouri-Towe
2025-01-21 18:30 | FSS Building, Room 4004, University of Ottawa, 120 University Prvt., Ottawa, K1N 9A7
Registration Link: https://carleton.ca/fist/cu-events/reading-the-room/
Join us Tuesday, January 21, 2025 at 6:30pm, for the official launch of Reading the Room: Lessons on Pedagogy and Curriculum from the Gender and Sexuality Studies Classroom (Concordia University Press, 2024), edited by Natalie Kouri-Towe. This groundbreaking collection brings together first-hand experiences from gender and sexuality studies classrooms, offering profound insights into the transformative power of pedagogy.
The event will be hosted at FSS 4004, 120 University Private, Ottawa, ON K1N 9A7 and will feature conversations with contributors and a panel discussion that delves into the book’s key themes: navigating power dynamics in the classroom, addressing debates around “trigger warnings” and “cancel culture,” and creating equitable and inclusive learning environments. Panelists include: Natalie Kouri-Towe, Gulzar R. Charania, Kelly Fritsch, Dan Irving, and Megan Rivers-Moore.
This event is hosted by the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies, University of Ottawa and the Feminist Institute for Social Transformation, Carleton University with support from the Joint Chair in Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.
Registration Link: https://carleton.ca/fist/cu-events/reading-the-room/
Light snacks will be provided and copies of the book will be available for purchase!
Book Description:
First-hand experiences from gender and sexuality studies classrooms that add depth to a topic often distorted by the media.
The contemporary post-secondary classroom has become a flashpoint in public debate on gender and sexuality, giving rise to controversies over gender-inclusive policies, “trigger warnings,” and “cancel culture” that have been misrepresented by opportunistic and divisive voices within and outside of the education sector. However, gender and sexuality studies scholars have long engaged in these debates over pedagogy, and closer study of gender and sexuality classroom practices reveals constructive and transformative ways of learning that grapple with power, conflict, discomfort, and safety in the classroom.
Reading the Room collects candid discussions on classroom experiences from instructors and students throughout Canada to provide guidance to educators on often-fraught issues relating to gender, sexuality, race, class, disability, and decolonization. Working from a place of coalition building, this volume is a frank, insightful, and pragmatic invitation to share different pedagogical practices with educators in a range of academic disciplines.
Contributors to this volume discuss an array of topics including asymmetrical power relations between students and teachers, how students and professors learn from each other, how to negotiate conflict in a classroom, and how to be self-reflective about methods of teaching and learning. They also consider debates around trigger warnings and students’ expectations, discuss methods for curriculum selection and pedagogical practices, reflect on what it is like to embody a subject one teaches, and show how university equity, diversity, and inclusion work is often offloaded to overburdened racialized students and precariously employed staff.
A thoughtful and generous work, Reading the Room shows how teachers and students can navigate the difficulty and discomfort of contentious topics and learn more from each other.

Book launch: Burnt by Democracy
2025-01-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Irene’s Pub, 885 Bank St, Ottawa, ON
Join us for the launch of Burnt by Democracy: Youth, Inequality, and the Erosion of Civic Life, a powerful new book by Carleton University Sociology Professor Jacqueline Kennelly. The evening will feature a panel discussion with the author, leading scholars, and youth activists, alongside performances by young musicians.
Wednesday, January 22, 7:00pm – 8:30pm
Irene’s Pub, 885 Bank Street, Ottawa
RSVP on Eventbrite
Against a vivid and often heart-breaking backdrop of stories from young people struggling to survive and thrive under conditions of ever-expanding state retrenchment and inequality, Burnt by Democracy makes a timely and impassioned plea for protecting and strengthening democracy by truly levelling the playing field for all.

Disability Justice and Queer Crip Curation
2025-01-23 16:00 - 18:00 | Dunton Tower, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Dr, Ottawa, K1S 5B6
In partnership with the Department of History, Cultural Mediations, and the School for Studies in Art and Culture, join Kenny Fries for an evening discussing the intersections between queer and disability histories. We will explore depictions of “the perfect body” in queer communities, and how individuals who identify as both queer and disabled have been integrating these histories through art.
Location: 2017 Dunton Tower

Yes, it is a genocide
2025-01-23 19:00 - 21:00 | Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa, 404 McArthur Avenue, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Want to learn talking points from anti-Zionist Jews on how to counteract Zionist gaslighting ?
Well, some Palestinian solidarity allies organized an information session on Thursday, January 23rd, at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ottawa at 404 McArthur Avenue! The event is free of charge.
The presentation will consist of video footage of prominent anti-Zionist Jews like Norman Finkelstein, Ilan Pappé, Gabor Maté, Naomi Klein, Miko Peled and many others calling out the actions of the Zionist entity for what it is: a genocide.
Guest speakers will be former MP for Gatineau, Richard Nadeau, who also participated in a parliamentary mission to Gaza and the West Bank in 2009, as well as Nir Hagigi, president of the Carleton University chapter of Independent Jewish Voices.
So please attend the event to learn – and unlearn – from anti-Zionist Jews of conscience.

Labour for Palestine - Ottawa Chapter Meeting
2025-01-28 19:00 - 21:00
If you are a unionized worker, part of a union, and want to see the labour movement take action in solidarity with Palestine, please join us at our next in-person chapter meeting. Help us strategize for the next year to make it clear that Palestine is a labour issue and our solidarity must be global.
We will share the location by email. Sign up here.

Attend Court in Person and On-Line for Final Submissions in Abousfian Abdelrazik's Torture Lawsuit
2025-01-29 09:30 - 2025-01-31 16:30 | Downtown Ottawa
Join us in court January 28-30 in Ottawa or online as closing submissions are presented in the lawsuit over Canada’s complicity in the overseas detention, torture and exile of Canadian citizen Abousfian Abdelrazik.

To register online to observe proceedings, visit: https://cas-satj.zoom.us/…/WN_fSbwmniiRZ2f7_T7xFLkGg

To receive court location details for Ottawa, contact tasc@web.ca

Abousfian Abdelrazik is “the victim of a series of gross injustices attributable directly or indirectly to Canadian state actors, including arbitrary and illegal detention, prolonged solitary confinement, torture, and forced exile and separation from his home and young children. These breaches of the Plaintiff’s fundamental human rights were flagrant, extreme and continuous over a period of six years. Most egregiously, many senior Canadian officials were fully aware that Canada could have ended the Plaintiff’s cruel and unjust ordeal at any moment by simply securing a flight home to Montreal. In this action, he seeks redress and compensation that vindicates his Charter rights and is proportionate to the unprecedented seriousness of this wrongful state conduct.” (from his lawsuit)

Canada has a loathsome history of rendering Muslim citizens to torture abroad and being complicit in their torture. The case of Abousfian Abdlerazik is the first time such a case is scheduled for a trial.
When a combination of civic action and a court action successfully brought him home in 2009, Abdelrazik told the Globe and Mail a “ chilling account of six years of imprisonment and forced exile abroad… Mr. Abdelrazik recounted stories of interrogation and alleged torture. He told of Canadian Security and Intelligence Service agents laughingly saying “Sudan will be your Guantanamo” when he begged to be allowed to return home.

His ordeal – described as Kafkaesque by the federal court judge who ordered him repatriated – is far from ended. But the Harper government made it clear that Mr. Abdelrazik couldn’t expect any support in his efforts to remove his name from the UN list.
Mr. Abdelrazik said one of the two CSIS interrogators was the same agent who questioned him at his home two days before he flew to Khartoum in March of 2003. Mr. Abdelrazik said he had called the Montreal police to get the CSIS agents to leave.

“One of them, he turned and said to me, ‘You will see…’ ” he said.

Although CSIS denies it arranged for Mr. Abdelrazik to be imprisoned in Sudan, heavily redacted government documents say he was arrested “at our request,” meaning Canada’s.
After months in solitary with little food and occasional torture, Mr. Abdelrazik said one day his Sudanese jailers told him the “Canadian muhabarat want to talk to me,” using the feared Arabic term for secret police.
Mr. Abdelrazik says he was taken to a room with a table laden “with cakes and fruits and juice and bottles of water,” but before he could say anything, one of the CSIS agents said, “Remember I told you in Montreal that ‘You will see,’ … and now, you will see.”

Mr. Abdelrazik said he begged to be allowed to go home and offered to face any charges the agents wanted to press.
“I am not going to help a terrorist,” the CSIS agent replied, according to Mr. Abdelrazik. The agent added that Mr. Abdelrazik was “Sudanese, not a Canadian, and should stay in Sudan forever.”
“My country doesn’t need you,” the CSIS agent said. After the two left, Mr. Abdelrazik said the worst period of torture and abuse began.

Stay in touch at Stop Canadian Involvement in Torture, tasc@web.ca

Breaking Social - documentary screening
2025-01-30 18:30 - 21:00 | The Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank St, Ottawa, K1S 3X3, Canada
Oxfam Canada is organizing a free screening of Breaking Social, a documentary by award-winning Fredrik Gertten, at the Mayfair Theatre in Ottawa. The film explores global patterns of kleptocracy and extractivism, weaving threads between global uprisings, shared anger and courageous action.
Admission is free, but seats are limited. Please reserve your spot!
https://www.eventbrite.ca/…/breaking-social-mayfair…

Call to Action: Canada Must Urgently Complete all Gaza Applications and Open Borders During Ceasefire
2025-02-01 09:00 - 2025-02-15 08:30
https://homesnotbombs.blogspot.com/…/family…
(Details on letter writing, phone calls, and Family Day public vigils below)
During the first several weeks of February, please take the simple actions described below to ensure we can save the lives of loved ones in the Palestinian Canadian community.
THE ISSUEDuring the fragile temporary ceasefire in Gaza – one whose second phase may not come to pass, especially given the daily violations by Israeli forces that have killed over 80 Palestinians in Gaza – Canada has a rare but very brief opportunity to fix the Gaza temporary residence program.
As the much criticized Gaza program marked its 1-year anniversary January 9, some 4,700 applications had been received, but only 616 individuals had arrived in Canada. None received Canadian assistance exiting Gaza; rather, those lucky enough to escape and their Canadian sponsors exhausted life savings to pay exorbitant border crossing fees into Egypt. An estimated 3,500+ applications remain unprocessed after more than a year.
The punishingly slow pace of visa processing for Gazans – a paltry average of 2.5 applications completed per day, with a lethal waiting time for some of over a year – stands in stark contrast to the Canada–Ukraine Authorization for Emergency Travel (CUAET) program. During CUAET’s first year, Canada welcomed 129,000 Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion and approved over half a million visas (an average of 1,370 applications per day), usually within a two-week turnaround. Canada waived security screening for those aged up to 17 and over 61, and dropped a required medical exam despite the Ukrainian population’s much higher risk of carrying tuberculosis, which Ottawa conceded “posed potential health risks to Canada.”
Similarly, Canada welcomed over 8,000 Israeli visa holders during 2024. Palestinian Canadians and refugee advocates point to such figures as clear proof of a painful, discriminatory double standard that fails to adequately respond to what Canadian officials acknowledge are “catastrophic conditions” in Gaza.
To make best use of this short ceasefire time frame, Canadian immigration officials must urgently devote the same energy they invested into the Ukraine program, complete remaining Gaza applications (which could be done over 3 business days based on the Ukraine program pace), and negotiate with the Egyptian government and the Israeli regime for the rapid exit of Canadians’ loved ones.
TAKE ACTIONWrite to and Call Immigration Minister Marc Miller and Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly to demand they take immediate urgent action to save the lives of Canadians’ loved ones still in Gaza and those languishing in Egypt.
Sample Letter (feel free to personalize this and change up the subject line as well)
Subject: Urgently Process all Gaza Visa Applications; Ensure Safe, Speedy Exits!
To: IRCC.Minister-Ministre.IRCC@cic.gc.ca, Minister@cic.gc.ca, Melanie.Joly@parl.gc.ca, Melanie.Joly@international.gc.ca, marc.miller@parl.gc.ca
Cc: Pam.Damoff@parl.gc.ca, rob.oliphant@parl.gc.ca, Paul.Chiang@parl.gc.ca, Harpreet.Kochhar@cic.gc.ca, Scott.Harris@cic.gc.ca Salma.Zahid@parl.gc.ca, tasc@web.ca, pm@pm.gc.ca, ps.ministerofpublicsafety-ministredelasecuritepublique.sp@canada.ca
Dear Ms Joly and Mr. Miller,
The devastation in Gaza grows more serious by the day, and the risk of renewed carpet bombing by Israeli forces continues to increase.
I am writing to you to urge that you take emergency action to immediately process all remaining Gaza visa applications and ensure that those applicants will be able to exit Gaza and make it to either Egypt or Jordan on their way to being reunited in Canada no later than Family Day, February 17, 2025. You must also immediately approve for travel the almost 1,000 loved ones of Canadians languishing in Egypt who have been waiting more than a year.
You have both expressed frustration and even admitted the Gaza visa program was a failure as early as February 2024, but have done little to fix it. As a result, hundreds of lives of those hoping to escape have been wiped out. It is clear, however, that both Canadian immigration and Global Affairs officials have the capacity to not only immediately process the remaining 3500+ applications in a very short time frame (it would take 3 days based on the pace of the Ukraine program), but also to leverage your diplomatic relationship with the Israeli regime to facilitate the exit of Canadians’ loved ones. This is a rare opportunity to act and prevent further losses in a genocide that has only been suspended temporarily, with many indications that it is set to resume.
The average number of Gaza applications processed per day – 2 to 3 – has utterly failed to meet the moment (especially when 1,370 Ukraine applications were processed daily). Other countries like Australia have been able to get the loved ones of their citizens out of Gaza without going through the obstructive Israeli border authorities.
Canada must do the same in the coming weeks before it is once again too late. As most people in Gaza return to their utterly destroyed former homes, they are seeing for the first time the complete obliteration of the lives they had before the current slaughter, one that some medical experts believe has wiped out 10% of the population, decimated the health care system, destroyed food distribution networks, and eliminated basic services like sewage treatment and water purification.
Canada must take the lives of Palestinians seriously. I join in the voices of those who are tired of your excuses blaming others for your failure to do the right thing and step up to save lives. I urge you to act now, as Palestinian Canadians and supporters have been urging you to do for the past 16 months, before it is too late.
Sadly, it is too late for those who could have survived had Canada cared enough to push for their right to live.
But it is never too late to recognize failure and fix it when lives are on the line.
Instead of writing a form letter back to me, I instead urge you to devote all staff time to addressing this crisis
NameCity/Town

Sample Phone Call(Feel free to use your own wording, but please, do NOT leave hostile or abusive messages, as that will only hurt this effort. ALSO call your own MP as well. You may or may not get an answering machine (if you do, please leave a polite message)
Mélanie Joly (Foreign Affairs)613-992-0983 (Ottawa office)514-383-3709 (Montreal office)
Hi, my name is XXXXXXXX and I’m calling from XXXXXXX. I am shocked that Canada has failed the people of Gaza. I am shocked that Canada has only processed 2 applications a day when people are trying to escape a genocide and that there are still 3500 unfinished applications. During this fragile ceasefire, I am urging that you take every possible step to engage Egypt and Israel to ensure the immediate exit of the loved ones of Canadians under the Gaza temporary residence program.
Marc Miller (Immigration)Ottawa office: 613-995-6403Hi, my name is XXXXXXXX and I’m calling from XXXXXXX. I am shocked that Canada has failed the people of Gaza. I am shocked that Canada has only processed 2 applications a day when people are trying to escape a genocide and that there are still 3,500 unfinished applications. During this fragile ceasefire, I am urging that you assign the necessary staff to urgently finish application processing so that everyone waiting to be reunited with their loved ones in Canada is ready to leave within one week’s time. You did this for Ukrainians. You did this for Israelis. You can do it for Palestinians.

Please call Justin Trudeau at 613-992-4211 with a similar message
VigilsHold a Family Reunification Vigil sometime during February (including the Family Day Weekend, February 17) at a Liberal MP’s office or federal government building. Ask that those MPs put pressure on the federal government to act urgently. Bring pictures of loved ones. Need help or have questions? Contact us at tasc@web.ca
For more information contact the Rural Refugee Rights Network and the Gazan Canadians League at tasc@web.ca

Ottawa Book Launch of Got Blood to Give: Anti-Black Homophobia in Blood Donation
2025-02-03 14:00 - 16:00 | University of Ottawa, 75 Laurier Ave East, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N6N5, Canada
Join us to celebrate the launch of OmiSoore Dryden’s book, Got Blood to Give: Anti-Black Homophobia in Blood Donation. Presented by the Joint Chair in Women’s Studies at Carleton U and Ottawa U, and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Black Health at Ottawa U.
Monday February 3, 2:00pm – 4:00pm
University of Ottawa, Faculty of Social Sciences Building, room 4007
Dryden, a Black queer femme academic and the foremost scholar on Canadian blood donation practices, examines contaminated blood crises in the 1980s and 1990s, Canadian Red Cross Society, and Canadian Blood Services. She contextualizes contemporary homonationalisms, medical anti-Black racism, homophobia and transphobia in blood-related practices, connecting blood stories with health disparities affecting Black and Black queer populations.

Teach-In: What is the Palestinian Authority?
2025-02-03 18:30 | Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Join us on Monday, February 3rd as we dive into an introductory lesson on the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its role in Palestine.

As the violence in the West Bank continues to rise, we must understand what the PA is. We will discuss the history of the institution, its relationship to zionism and its current operations. We will also explore Canada’s role in maintaining the PA as a tool for its own interests.

Together, we will learn: WHAT IS THE PA?

DATE: February 3rd
TIME: 6:30 PM
PLACE: Mac Hall (Bronson Centre)

Register here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xaKwRiMoQEsngM0YHJzxVHCeaff2Ssxeb-0qnfl6h4o/viewform https://www.instagram.com/p/DFY2Wiou-7y/?igsh=MWYzZHNwMWd3dDYwbA==

Ottawa Book Launch of Eros and Alienation
2025-02-03 19:00 - 20:00 | Octopus Books, 116 Third Ave, Ottawa, Canada
Join us for the Ottawa launch of Eros and Alienation: Capitalism and the Making of Gendered Sexualities, by social justice activist and academic Alan Sears. Alan will be joined in conversation by Carleton University’s Julie Tomiak, Azar Masoumi, and Dan Irving.
Monday February 3, 7pm to 8pm.
Doors open at 6:30pm.
Octopus Books, 116 Third Ave., Ottawa
In Eros and Alienation, Sears delves into the underexplored relationship between alienated labor and sexuality. Our instinctual drive to shape the world around us and fulfill ourselves through labor is subverted by capitalist alienation, leaving us to find fulfillment elsewhere.

How to Start a Community Garden
2025-02-05 18:30 - 20:30 | Zoom
Join us to learn about the steps you need to take to start a community garden in the Ottawa region. Learn everything you need to know to make your community garden a reality, including:

How to search for land
How to access City and NCC land
Information on garden design, building, leadership, & community outreach
How to apply for funding through the Community Gardening Development Fund (CGDF)
Important tips for long-term success!

Suitable for new gardens, or existing gardens looking to onboard new volunteer coordinators.
No experience required – simply your passion for local and organic food security!
Register here.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Attending a How to Start a Community Garden workshop is a requirement in order to apply for funding through the Community Garden Development Fund (CGDF).
If you live outside Ottawa – you are most welcome to join anyway, as the information you will learn at this workshop can be applied to any community garden project!
Please contact communitygardening@justfood.ca with any questions.
We look forward to seeing you at our interactive workshops!
PLEASE NOTE: This workshop is offered in English. If you are interested in attending this workshop in French, please get in touch so we can let you know when a date is scheduled. Thank you!

"Life in Gaza" Film Screening Tour in Ottawa
2025-02-07 18:00 - 21:00 | University of Ottawa, 75 Laurier Ave East, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N6N5, Canada
Insaf and CMPAC are bringing the “’Life in Gaza’ Film Screening Tour” by Al-Jazeera 360 to Ottawa on February 7, 2025! Journalists from Gaza will be attending the event in person and online to discuss their experiences for the past 15 months!
We will be screening the film “Under the Rubble” which showcases the resilience and bravest forms of steadfastness from the medical staff in the impossible conditions at the Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip. This thought-provoking film offers a rare glimpse into the lives of those enduring immense challenges, sharing powerful stories of survival, hope, and perseverance.
Following the screening, you will also have the chance to listen to an in person panel of international journalists, featuring Belal Khaled, Youmna El Sayed and Jamal Elshayyal. Journalist Wael Al Dahdouh will also be joining us virtually from AlJazeera, offering their insights and perspectives on the realities in Gaza.
Join us to educate, inspire, and stand in solidarity with Gaza’s people. Don’t miss this meaningful opportunity to witness untold narratives that demand global attention.
Registration: https://tr.ee/vf5T1Mrsxc

Snowscreen 2025
2025-02-07 19:00 - 2025-02-09 21:00 | Horticulture Building, Landsdowne Park, 1525 Princess Patricia Way, Ottawa
Unikkaatuarniq | Stories of the North | Contes du NordExperience Indigenous films from the circumpolar North,Outdoors in a theatre made of snow!
DATE:Fri./Sat./Sun., Feb. 7, 8, & 9, 2025, 6-9pm
LOCATION(S):Lansdowne Park (Outside the Horticulture building & Aberdeen Pavilion ) 1000 Exhibition Way, Ottawa, ON K1S 5J3&Beandigen Cafe 106-900 Exhibition Way, Ottawa, ON K1S 5J3
*Films to be announced Programming by Jocelyn Piirainen & Geronimo Inutiq
WHAT TO EXPECT+ Free & everyone is welcome+ Films shown outdoors (Approx. 1 hour)+ Post-screening DJ & VJ performances+ Hot Drinks+ Warming Stations* This event takes place outdoors on the Friday & Saturday, so please remember to dress appropriately for the weather! Sunday’s programming will take place indoors at Beandigen Cafe.
ABOUTThe word Unikkaatuarniq is an Inuktitut word that means “Storytelling”. Storytelling is an ancient form of magic, with the power to connect the past with the present, teach lessons, impart values, heal, to explain the world and connect us to the universe through language and mythology. The stories, films, and music in this program, come from Indigenous peoples from the circumpolar north — such as the the Inuit of Canada and Greenland, or the Sami of northern Scandinavia — peoples that have thrived in the Arctic regions of the world for thousands of years, enduring the changing seasons of dark and light, of colonialism, and of climate change. Although these cultures live thousands of kilometres away from each other, they share a common history of resilience in their language, culture and magic through storytelling.
MIIGWECHWe would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council and the Government of Ontario for their support. This event takes place on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Nation, and is being held in partnership with the City of Ottawa, Lansdowne Park, Winterlude, Beandigen Cafe, Tungasuvvingat Inuit, DARC, Gallery 101, and the NFB. A big thank you to our funders and partners.

Valentine's Fundraiser for Roaya Cultural Center & A Gazan family with food, medical, and rebuilding costs
2025-02-09 10:30 - 14:00 | The Grove, 280-18 Louisa street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
More than we love our community, we love a good way to avoid the traps of capitalist holidays. Come spend love day with your family, friends and loved ones, while showing love to those fighting colonialism and genocide.
Come on out to our fundraiser on Feb 9th at The Grove, where we will have cute anti-capitalist crafts, freshly baked delicious goods, satirical cards to politicians, letter writing to prisoners and those who have been criminalized for their solidarity, cookie decorating, a collective poetry making station and much more.
Masks mandatory but you can take them off when taking your photo. Photo Booth will be open from 12-2. Please take your baked goods home to eat as masking is required. If you’re removing your mask to drink please step out of the unit. Thanks for making sure it’s safer for all to attend.

ART AGAINST GENOCIDE: Silent Auction
2025-02-09 18:00 - 21:00 | SAW Gallery, 67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N7B9, Canada
A silent auction art show and fundraiser in support of Palestine. Donations will go to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Canadian Palestinian Federation of Quebec (CPFQ) and their support for Palestinian Children.
Date: Sunday Feb. 9, 6-9pm – Club Saw, 67 Nicholas St, Ottawa.
For more information, or to donate art, please contact Don Monet by email: don@cubegallery.ca Just a few of the fine artists participating so far: Russell Yuristy; @tiril.valeur (Norway); Peter Dolan (Barrys Bay); @lyndacroninworks; @2murraydineen; @petra.halkes; Rene Price; @stokesandrea/ @andreastokesart; @dawndaleart; Paula Mitas Zoubek; @susanukkola5157; Martha Nixon; @eleanordoranart; Selma Hassan and Don Monet (More to come)

Screening and discussion of Sugarcane
2025-02-11 17:30 - 20:30 | National Gallery of Canada, 380 Sussex Dr., Ottawa, K1N 9N4
PSAC-NCR and the Regional Indigenous Action Circle (IAC) are honoured to host a viewing and discussion of the documentary movie Sugarcane, a documentary film set amidst a ground-breaking investigation of abuse and death at an Indian residential school. The film empowers participants to break cycles of intergenerational trauma by bearing witness to painful, long-ignored truths – and the love that endures within their families.
All are welcome to attend, including union members and community members from across the National Capital Region. Please note that the film includes challenging and/or triggering subject matter, including discussions around child abuse, racism and colonial violence. This event seeks to support healing, correct the historical record, provoke dialogue and seek accountability from the church, government and individuals.
Knowledge Holders and peer workers will be onsite for trauma support.
To attend this free event, please register on Eventbrite to give a sense of the number of attendees. Find more information about the film and the accessibility measures for this event here.

How to Practice Hope in a Hurting World
2025-02-11 18:00 - 19:00 | Arlington Five, 5 Arlington Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
✨ How to Practice Hope in a Hurting World ✨
The world can be a difficult place, but hope remains our best tool for transformation. 💛 Join us for a special talk with the community to reflect, share, and learn together how to keep hope and take action in challenging times.
📅 Date: Tuesday, 11 February 2025
📍 Location: @arlingtonfive at 5 Arlington Avenue, Ottawa
⏰ Time: 6 pm to 7 pm
Join us and let’s work together for a more just future. 💪🌍💫

Queer Death Salon - Medical Assistance in Dying
2025-02-11 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
We will be joined by two guest speakers from Dying with Dignity Canada who will lead us through the choices that come up around accessing medical assistance in dying. In Canada (and likely elsewhere), there are important concerns tied to the way MAiD is made available while other life-saving supports are not. Although the presentation will not focus on these aspects, the presentation will be followed by discussion where we can ask questions and share experiences about MAiD and how it relates to our lives. Expect engaging discussions and a supportive community to share your thoughts and experiences.
This session is for people curious about MAiD, who are considering it for themselves, or with loved ones who have accessed or applied for MAiD.

Acorn Fair Banking National Day of Action
2025-02-12 11:00 - 17:00 | 2714 Alta Vista Dr., 2714 Alta Vista Dr., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Ottawa, It’s Time to Fight Back!

Wednesday, February 12, 2025
11:00 AM
Meet at Scotiabank (2714 Alta Vista Dr)
March to MP David McGuinty’s office (1883 Bank St)
Banks are making billions while charging up to $50 per NSF fee—trapping low- and moderate-income Canadians in debt cycles.
15.8 million NSF transactions processed in 2023.
$7.73 billion in excess profits from fees in 2022.
We’re demanding a $10 cap on NSF fees. Stand with ACORN to hold big banks accountable!

Join the movement for fair banking!

Give the Earth a Valentine
2025-02-13 12:30 - 15:00 | Beaverbrook Community Centre, 1002 Beaverbrook Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Come and enjoy a home-made lunch at Beaverbrook Community Centre!
Meet others who care about the climate chaos. Make some new friends and discuss how to … give the earth a valentine.

Warm your heart, not the planet: Speed Dating and Friending for Progressives
2025-02-13 19:00 - 23:00 | The Rainbow Bistro, 76 Murray Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 5M6, Canada
Do you rant about the value of good public transit? Shake your head at Ottawa’s inaction on climate change? Wondering how to find an eco-minded cutie off the apps?
CJO invites you to our first ever speed dating and friend making event! From 7 – 9pm meet up with other progressives who just want to see Ottawa reduce its fossil fuel emissions. Get to know new people IRL and learn about some of the great organizations taking action against oil and gas companies and ways you can get involved.
Whether you’re looking for a long-term leftist love or just want a social hang with some like-minded folks, we’ll have you covered with speed-dating/friending games and crafts (buttons and card making).
Want to keep the conversation going? Stick around for a DJ and some dancing! Whether it turns into a first date or a flourishing friendship, you’re guaranteed to meet some of the coolest people in Ottawa.
Tickets are available for $10+HST at therainbow.ca or $15 at the door ($12 for students)!

Bisan & Ahmad Alive Double Feature: Stories Straight from Gaza
2025-02-16 18:30 - 20:30 | Hall of Peace, 241 Northwestern Avenue Ottawa, ON K1Y 0M1, Ottawa, Canada
📢 Bisan & Ahmad Alive Double Feature: Stories Straight from Gaza 🎥
Join us for an eye-opening film screening featuring two fearless documentaries from Seen Palestine/Seen TV—”Bisan” and “Ahmad Alive.” These raw, unfiltered stories cut through the media blackout to bring you real voices from Gaza.
📅 Date & Time: Sunday, February 16 · 6:30 – 8:30 PM
📍 Location: Hall of Peace – 241 Northwestern Ave, Ottawa
✨Presented in partnership with Islamic Relief Canada, INSAF Ottawa, SJP Carleton & Run For Palestine.
🔹 Special guest: Former CNN journalist & Seen TV Co-founder Yusuf Omar will share his game-changing approach to shifting hearts & minds through storytelling.
🎟️ Get your tickets here or through the link in our bio: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bisan-ahmad-alive-double-feature-stories-straight-from-gaza-to-ottawa-tickets-1219613790679?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Applications open! Board of Directors (volunteer) Ottawa Community Doula Access
2025-02-17 - 2025-03-19
Applications open until March 14, 2025! Join our team!
Ottawa Community Doula Access is a charitable organization providing free postpartum doula care to low income and marginalized families in Ottawa. We are seeking a candidate with experience in non-profit or charitable law to become a member of our board of directors and support the functioning of our board and organization as a whole. You will be joining a vibrant team of volunteers and doulas committed to reproductive justice and fair pay for equal work.
To learn more and apply, click here: https://charityvillage.com/jobs/member-of-the-board-of-directors-legal-advisor-ottawa-community-doula-access-remote-in-ottawa-ontario-ca/

Rideau - Vanier Public Transit Forum
2025-02-22 14:30 - 16:30 | 270 Marier Ave., 270 Marier Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Fares too high? Buses always late? Nowhere to sit? Come join us to discuss how we can fix these problems together!
We’re done waiting — for OC Transpo, City Hall, or anyone else to fix public transit. That’s up to all of us, the people who use transit every day, the ones who know best what makes it work.So let’s share our transit experiences, identify problems, and organize for solutions. Together!
270 Marier Ave – Community Room, 1st floor – off Montreal Road, on Route 12

Briarpatch Skate-a-thon
2025-02-23 13:00 - 15:00 | Jack Purcell Community Centre, 320 Jack Purcell Lane, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P1M4, Canada
Briarpatch Magazine is hosting its first-ever Ottawa Skate-a-thon! ⛸️
Join us Sunday, February 23 at 1 PM at Jack Purcell Community Centre’s outdoor rink. We’ll have hot chocolate, Briarpatch swag, and a raffle basket full of Ottawa goodies. ❄️
We can only accommodate a total of 48 adult skaters and 20 child skaters, so sign up ASAP! Every little skater requires an adult/parent to accompany them on the ice.
If you would like to be a skater to raise money for Briarpatch, sign up here: https://forms.gle/sVVqhCTvBgPik4ZE8
If you would like to support a skater you know by pledging, sign up here: https://forms.gle/ru9w1GMjS86md7gY9
Please join us in raising money for our favourite independent lefty print media to make sure Briarpatch can keep delivering critical analysis, stories, commentary, and representation that matters!
Read more about Briarpatch here: https://briarpatchmagazine.com/about

Unite Against Displacement! Ottawa Tenants March
2025-02-23 13:00 - 16:00 | Village Green – Rockcliffe Park, 270 Springfield Rd., Ottawa, Ontario, K1M0K8, Canada
Tenants of Ottawa! Join us alongside the @bankblocktenants and @tenants_of_sandy_hill on Sunday, February 23rd at 1pm as we march in Rockliffe Park, tenants united against mass eviction and our exploitation by landlords.
Smart Living Properties’ CEO Tamer Abaza and COO Rakan Abushaar have refused to acknowledge the demands of the Bank Block Tenants, who are fighting against a mass eviction. The only time they have directly communicated with BBT was to serve criminal proceedings for the crime of delivering a letter to Tamer’s doorstep.
As tenants, we are stronger united! Reach out to us at OttawaNOC@gmail.com if you need help getting to Rockliffe Park.

Tenants' March!
2025-02-23 13:00 - 16:00 | Village Green Rockliffe Park
