What's the winter plan to ensure no one dies in the cold? Rally and petition
2025-11-19 16:00 - 17:30 (America/Toronto) | 110 Laurier Avenue W, 110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON, K1P 1J1, Canada
This past year, the City of Ottawa closed the emergency overnight shelters held at Bernard Grand Maître Arena, Dempsey Community Centre, Heron Road Community Centre, and the Graham Spry Building under the premise of having created capacity within Ottawa’s existing shelter system.
Ottawa’s shelters have approximately 950 beds and Ottawa’s homeless population is nearing 3,000. There are drop-in facilities, including HART Hubs, Belong Ottawa, and Centre 507 but they do not offer places to sleep. Their hours and capacity are also limited and can be inconsistent.
The City’s 10 Year Housing and Homelessness Plan set out to have “no one unsheltered” by the end of 2024. Kale Brown, Ottawa’s Manager of Homelessness Programs and Shelters, insists there is a warm bed for everyone. However, front-line workers and unhoused neighbors know that most of the resources celebrated by the City are simply not enough. In addition, as of October 2025, Ottawa Public Health irresponsibly lists outdated overflow shelters that have been permanently closed. There are currently no clear, dignified solutions to ensure that nobody suffers or dies in the cold.
Local politicians think they will solve homelessness in Ottawa by quoting the City’s false promises instead of listening to the realities of unhoused folks, their loved ones, and front-line workers on the ground. We urgently need multiple warming centres that:
– Remain open from the 20th of December 2025 to the 20th of March of 2026 (staffed by experienced and trauma-informed workers, operated 24 hours 7 days a week)
– Have sleep capacity in the form of beds, cots, or mats (making people sleep on chairs is inhumane)
– Apply the City’s own shelter standards of equity and inclusion to these facilities
Have several accessible locations (with transport available for service users)
Leave no one behind (which means no one turned away)
This winter, without proper emergency solutions in place, our unhoused community members and loved ones will continue to suffer serious injuries or die.
No more unloading of a governmental responsibility onto non-profit and precariously funded organizations. No more empty talk. No more excuses. We need concrete actions and a guaranteed winter plan by November 26th 2025 so we can trust a plan will be operational in time as the weather gets colder.
Join us on Wednesday, November 19 at 4 pm to demand an immediate winter plan and a commitment to opening warming centres from the City of Ottawa. We will meet at 110 Laurier Avenue West, by the Dorothy O’Connell Monument to Anti-Poverty Activism located in the south lawn of Ottawa City Hall.
Enter your information into the Action Network tool to send a petition email to Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, General Manager of Community and Social Services Clara Freire, Manager of Housing and Homelessness Kale Brown, and City Councillors. The tool will ask you for an address. If you don’t have one, or don’t want to share your address, please list the address of a nearby community health centre or library.
https://actionnetwork.org/letters/ottawa-whats-the-winter-plan

Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil
2025-11-20 19:00 - 21:00 | ON
Hi everyone, late as always, but maybe it’s queer time. We’re organizing a TDOR vigil on Thursday November 20th at 7pm at the human rights monument. We will be reading the names of the many transgender people who have been killed through violence this past year, and holding space for our community to grieve. Please come and remember them with us.
The night is often very cold, so bring warm clothes and mittens and maybe some hand warmers. We will have tea lights and wax cups for them but we encourage you to bring your own candles if you have them.
If you’re interested in speaking about a loved one you lost or another relevant subject you can use the QR or scan the link in our bio to sign up.
Hope to see you there!

Rally: Tenants Fight Back!
2025-11-22 11:00 - 12:00 | Confederation Park, Elgin and Laurier, Ottawa
Join the tenant unions and Off The Defensive to show the politicians that Ottawa won’t accept Bill 60 or any other threat to our dignity. Rally against:
X Bill 60
X For-profit Evictions
X Attacks on Tenants
Organized by Off the Defensive Ottawa, Tenants of Sandy Hill, Centretown Tenant Power, and the Lowertown Tenant Union

Harmony Circle for Palestine with Albert Dumont
2025-11-22 12:00 - 13:30 | ON
For this Harmony Circle, Albert will be in conversation with Maysa Hawwash, a Palestinian leader and a founding member of the Doctors Against Genocide leadership team. We are holding this Harmony Circle at an earlier time in the day as Maysa will be joining us from Palestine (and we needed to account for the seven hour time difference).I met Maysa at the Aug 30th Vigil for Palestinian children. You can watch her powerful speech at that Vigil here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1338332717809100I hope you can join us.

Organizing Against Above Guideline rent Increases
2025-11-22 14:00 - 17:00 | Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Ave, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
AGIs (above guideline rent increases) are an exploitative practice that extracts even more rent from tenants. Tenants across Ottawa are organizing to fight their AGIs!
On Saturday, November 22nd 2025 from 2pm-5pm, at the Bronson Center (Nepean Room), come learn about how to fight AGIs, a legal form of expropriation that contributes to housing insecurity by artificially inflating rental prices across the city!
The event will have 3 sections:
Demystifying the LTB process and why organizing within the LTB is not fruitful.
Organizers and tenants who have successfully fought against AGIs will share their experiences resisting AGIs outside the LTB.
Tenants in Ottawa will exchange strategic experiences, ideas, and questions around fighting AGIs outside the limited arena of the LTB process.
Please use this link to confirm attendance: https://tinyurl.com/tenantsfightAGIs
This event has been organized by the Neighbourhood Organizing Center (NOC) together with tenants unions Centertown Tenant Power, Lowertown Tenants Union, and Tenants of Sandy Hill.

International Migrants Alliance: Open Orientation
2025-11-22 16:00 - 19:00 | SEIU Local 2 Office, 303 Waverly St, Ottawa
What is the International Migrants Alliance? We are a global Alliance of grassroots migrant organizations, unions, and advocates fighting for the rights and dignity of migrants, refugees, and displaced peoples. We work to build international solidarity among communities resisting exploitation, imperialism, and systemic oppression from Canada to the Global South.
Join us at the SEIU Local 2 office (303 Waverley St.) on Saturday, November 22 for our open orientation!
This orientation is open to anyone interested in learning more about IMA – our principles, our global work, and how to get involved with local and international movements. It’s a great opportunity for potential migrants and refugee member organizations and allied associate member organizations, or anyone curious about migrant struggles to connect and learn.

Queer SWANA Stories
2025-11-23 18:30 - 21:30 | Club SAW, 67 Nicholas St, Ottawa, K1N 7B9
A live storytelling showcase in Ottawa–Gatineau, by and for queer SWANA artists.
Step into a night of powerful, moving, and unapologetic stories from the queer SWANA community. This is a space where oral histories, personal journeys, and cultural truths come alive—told in our voices, on our terms.
Queer SWANA Stories isn’t just an event—it’s a celebration of resilience, creativity, and self-expression, highlighting the rich, diverse narratives that often go unheard. Join us for an evening that honors our identities, our experiences, and our communities.
Because our stories shouldn’t be written about us without us. 🖤

Module 2 - Science as Proletarianizing and Proletarianized
2025-11-24 08:00 - 21:30 | Online
This is module 2 of a reading group series. Follow Register link for more details!
This reading group continues SftP’s tradition of running a reading group alongside our local organising, and the goal of this series is to better link our collective education with collective action, bringing together members to deepen our shared understanding of science, power, and liberation.
Developed and maintained by the Science for the People – New Haven Chapter, this curriculum investigates how Marxism, science, and capitalism intersect — and how these forces shape both knowledge and the material conditions of our world. Through discussion and reflection, we’ll consider what it means to reclaim science as a tool for social transformation.
Science for the People ‘Canada’ has grown, both in number of chapters and membership, and now is a crucial moment to clarify our strategic goals and direction. This series is one way we can do that together.
All members, new and old, are warmly invited. Each module will include two readings; participants are encouraged to complete both, and facilitators will provide summaries to guide discussion. Note:
To help foster an atmosphere of comradely curiosity:
Please come prepared with:
– One open-ended question about the readings to share with the group
– One response or connection to organizing you have done or would like to do locally
Module meetings will occur monthly on Monday evenings at 8pm EST.

OPS Budget Protest
2025-11-24 16:00 - 17:00 | Human Rights Monument, 220 Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
The Ottawa Police Service is set to receive an increase of $26.1 million in 2026 bringing their total net operating budget to an astounding $414.9 million. Meanwhile, social services and community supports that are necessary for building safe and equitable communities are left detrimentally underfunded in this city.

For example, the Ottawa City Budget 2026 allocates increases of:
•     $2.2 million for essential health and social supports;
•     $2 million for social housing;
•     $1.4 million (inflationary increase) for the Ottawa Community Housing Safer Communities, Homelessness Prevention Program, emergency shelters and facility costs.

This is mere pennies compared to the nearly half billion dollars we will funnel into the OPS next year.

In response, we are holding a protest at the Human Rights Monument on November 24th at 4pm to demand that the city of Ottawa reconsider the 2026 OPS Budget and begin to build real community safety through the reallocation of the $26 million increase proposed for police into stable housing, accessible care, community support, and meaningful investment in people.

Please see the attached poster for event details and feel free to share within your networks. Also, please check out our Instagram post.

We hope to see you on November 24th to demand that the OPS and city of Ottawa start funding our community, not cops!

Arms Embargo Now Volunteer Meeting & Strategy Session
2025-11-24 18:30 - 20:00 | ON
Join us on Monday, November 24, at 6:30PM for a volunteer meeting and strategy session to discuss the next steps towards a full arms embargo.

Although a ceasefire is in place, the people of Gaza and across Palestine are still being injured, displaced, and murdered as a result of the Zionist occupation. Despite countless examples that prove a genocide is being committed, the latest Arms Embargo Now report proves that Canada is using loopholes to continue profiting off the blood of our people. This government thinks they can distance themselves from their crimes but we know the truth and together, we have the power to put an end to it.

RSVP for location

Contre-culture et mouvement de la jeunesse au coeur de l'antifascisme
2025-11-24 19:00 - 20:30 | Atelier of the Mauril-Bélanger Social Innovation Workshop, at Saint Paul University, 65 Clegg Street, Ottawa, K1S 1C4
Cette conférence sera donnée par la militante Jacynthe LaFlèche qui racontera l’histoire du collectif Anti-fasciste Action Ottawa.
Bio: Bébé d’Hull, Vanier grrl, Jacynthe est franco-descendante ayant grandi majoritairement près de la Kichi-sibi, le territoire Algonquin de la rivière Ottawa. Fin 1980/début 1990, c’est par le biais des concerts all-ages de la scène musicale punk d’Ottawa qu’elle découvre des ressources antifascistes dans certains ‘zines, participant et démarrant des collectifs avec des camarades. Ayant passé une saison à Minneapolis, berceau du 1er A.R.A (Anti-Racist Action), elle s’investit dans l’organisation communautaire autonome. Elle a été membre du comité éditorial du journal du réseau nord américain Love&Rage/Amor y Rabia et plus tard du collectif EXILE Infoshop. Elle est aussi bénévole pour Families of Sisters in Spirit (familles des femmes autochtones disparues) et le réseau des survivants de la rafle des années 60, Sixties Scoop Network car pour elle l’antifascisme se doit d’avoir une lentille anticoloniale. Elle s’intéresse aux archives communautaires et la mémoire collective de mouvements autonomes et anarchistes.

Film Screening of 'peace love (unicorns) & communism' by Adeola Egbeyemi
2025-11-26 12:00 - 14:30 | University of Ottawa, 75 Laurier Ave East, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N6N5, Canada
The film follows a student activist at McMaster University.
Join us for the screening of ‘peace love (unicorns) & communism’ by Adeola Egbeyemi.
The film follows a student activist at McMaster University as they cover topics such as the women’s resource centre, divestment, policing, and more. The film is being screened to bring attention to the importance of student activism within and outside of the university institutions.
We will be joined by the filmmaker and two cast crews for the Q&A.
Register at the external eventbrite link available here.
The event is only offered in English.

Community advance screening of Palestine 36!
2025-11-28 19:30 - 21:00 | Ben Franklin Place, 101 CentrePoint Drive, Ottawa
NE NIGHT ONLY – ADVANCED FILM SCREENING

Join us on Friday, Nov 28 at 7:30 pm at Ben Franklin Place (101 Centrepointe Dr) for a special community advance screening of Palestine 36!

Watermelon Pictures has made the film available on an exceptional basis in recognition of the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.

Palestine 36 follows Yusuf in 1936 as he journeys between Jerusalem and his rural home amid rising unrest and a pivotal moment for the British Empire – set against the backdrop of the Palestinian revolt against British colonial rule.

Be among the first to experience this epic film and support a work that brings a powerful, yet long untold, chapter of Palestinian history to Western audiences.

Date: Friday, Nov 28
Doors open: 7:30 pm
Screening: 7:45 pm
Location: Ben Franklin place (101 CentrePoint Drive)

Buy your ticket here: https://www.zeffy.com/en-CA/ticketing/palestine-36-advance-film-screening

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
2025-11-29 14:00 - 17:00 | Human Rights Monument, 220 Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
OTTAWA PROTEST – All out for the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Join us at the Human Rights Monument on November 29th at 2PM as we take to the streets. From wherever we are, we will demand an arms embargo now. We will continue confronting Zionism and holding those in power to account for as long as it takes.
The people of the world have stood with Palestine for over two years, and we’re not stopping. Since the ceasefire announcement, Israel has massacred hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza, attacked the West Bank, and continued its abuse, torture and killing of Palestinian prisoners. Now, the UN has approved an American occupation of Gaza, putting the US at the helm of Gaza’s governance.
A two-way arms embargo is our movement’s unchanged demand, the only guarantee of ending Israel’s mass murder of Palestinians and systematic theft of our land. So long as weapons and aid flow to Israel, the Zionist occupation will carry on with its genocidal, expansionist project in the region.
DATE: Saturday, November 29
TIME: 2PM
PLACE: Human Rights Monument

Workplace organizing workshop - Fight to win series
2025-11-30 14:00 - 16:00 | 135 Eddy street, Gatineau, 135 Eddy street, Gatineau, J8X 2W7
Are you injuring yourself at work? Is your boss harassing you? Are you never sure your salary will be enough to make ends meet?
This is the reality for many people in Quebec, Ontario and elsewhere. And the best chance we have to get out of this situation is to organize ourselves together.
The speakers are members of active and militant unions and will talk about their struggles and how they are fighting them. We should then have a better idea of how to organize and where it could lead us.
– The 135 Eddy street is accessible to wheelchairs
– Food will be offered
– French-English translation will be available
Register through the following link : https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/C8RFIsb7siqq9Yav2J4FC+oFBqx47umqzp3rRcuG-Fs/

Examining Anti-Palestinian Racism in Healthcare
2025-11-30 14:00 - 16:00 | Bronson Centre – 211 Bronson Ave, Bronson Centre (Room 098B - Basement)211 Bronson Ave, Ottawa, K1R 5H6, Ottawa, K1R 5H6
Ottawa health workers and learners join us for a live-streamed presentation and panel discussion. November 30th 2025. For registration and event details see link in our LinkTree.
Ottawa health workers and learners join us for a live streamed expert panel.
Bronson Centre, Room 110

Rally Against Carleton's Gag Order
2025-12-02 14:30 | Richcraft Hall, Carleton University
Join us on Tuesday, December 2 at 2:30PM in front of Richcraft Hall (besides the Gandhi Statue), where the University community will be protesting against the proposed Institutional Impartiality Policy. President Wisdom Tettey and the Governance Committee of the Board of Governors have refused to withdraw or significantly amend the policy, and it will be coming to the Board for approval during the December 2nd meeting.
DATE: Tuesday, December 2, 2025
WHEN: 2:30PM
WHERE: Outside Richcraft Hall, where the Board will be meeting
Media and photographers will be present. If you do not wish to be photographed, please mask up.
The proposed Institutional Impartiality Policy prevents all academic units, including the administration, faculties, departments, institutes, and centres of the University, from issuing any stance on public, political, or academic issues. The matters of debate that will be under the scope of this policy will be decided case by case, but can be assumed to include discussions of Equity, Divestment, and Inclusion; matters related to Israel’s conduct in Gaza and the West Bank; Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; investments in fossil fuels and the climate crisis; and provincial or federal infringement on student and faculty rights, among others.

Breaking Free of Neoliberalism: A conversation with Alex Himelfarb
2025-12-02 19:00 - 20:00 | Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, 290 Lisgar Street, Ottawa
Join us for a vital discussion with Alex Himelfarb about his book Breaking Free of Neoliberalism: Canada’s Challenge. Alex will be joined in conversation by Kevin Skerrett from the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University.
For forty years, neoliberalism has dominated political thinking in Canada. But as inequality grows, the climate emergency worsens, and global power shifts, it’s clear that neoliberalism’s basic tenets – privatization, public service cuts, tax breaks for big business, and corporate deregulation – have failed to meet today’s challenges.
In Breaking Free of Neoliberalism, Alex Himelfarb traces how these ideas became entrenched in Canadian governance and explores how we can chart a new course. Drawing on his experience as a public servant and policy thinker, Himelfarb calls for a renewed understanding of the public good and the crucial role government must play in shaping a just and sustainable future.
Co-sponsored by the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University and the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Alex Himelfarb joined the federal public service in 1981 after a decade teaching at the University of New Brunswick. He was appointed Clerk of the Privy Council in 2002 and served three Canadian Prime Ministers until his appointment as Ambassador to Italy. After his retirement from public service in 2009, he led the School of Public and International Affairs at York University’s Glendon College until 2014. Alex has served on and chaired numerous NGO boards and advisory committees, including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Coalition to End Homelessness, the Atkinson Foundation, and WWF Canada.
This event is free and open to all. Please RSVP to help us know how many guests to expect. Doors open at 6:30pm.

Sudan: A Crisis Ignored
2025-12-03 12:00 | Online
The war in Sudan began in 2023. Half and million Sudanese civilians have been killed and 12 million more made refugees. Human-engineered famine is rampant, and warring parties use sexual violence, executions and kidnappings as weapons of war. The wholesale devastation of infrastructure leaves civilians with collapsing services and little protection.
Where is the international community? Where, specifically, is Canada?
Join us for a live conversation with Amani Khalfan, Inter Pares program manager for Sudan, to hear about the deteriorating situation in the country, what Canada could be (but isn’t) doing to help and how our local partner organizations are managing through it all.
Plus, we’ll talk about what actions you can take to help.
November 26, 2025 12 p.m. EST Facebook livestream

Teach In: The Shaky Gaza Ceasefire Deal
2025-12-03 18:00 | SAW Gallery, 67 Nicholas Street, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N7B9, Canada
Join us at SAW gallery on Wednesday, December 3, at 6PM for a teach-in and exhibit about the history of prisoner exchanges and their important role in the ceasefire deal.

As we watch this supposed ceasefire in effect, we must understand the role our prisoners play. For two years, we have seen the importance of prisoner exchanges in ceasefire negotiations, but many of us may not understand why. Together, we will learn about these prisoners and why it is important to keep showing up until they are all free.

Register here: https://www.simpletix.com/e/teach-in-the-shaky-gaza-ceasefire-deal-tickets-246475

Collaborative zine making night at the OTL
2025-12-06 14:00 - 17:00 | Ottawa Trans Library, 1104 Somerset St. West, Ottawa, Ontario, K1Y 3C8, Canada
Come work on zines with us as we work on the next issue of The Dragon Flyer, the Ottawa Trans Library’s community zine. Write, draw, scan, cut, and paste with us on our community zine or your own project, or just come hang out with us. We are collecting stories, jokes, poems, art, and more from the trans and non-binary community in Ottawa and our friends and families.
The zine workshop is a collaborative event to discuss, share, and work on zines together.
Come tell your story.We will provide paper, templates, and whatever art supplies we have. No experience necessary. All ages welcome, children under age 13 must be accompanied by an adult.
Masking the day of the event is encouraged. Accessibility note: There are two stairs at the door entrance. We have a ramp we can bring out for the door on request. There’s a washroom but it’s not large enough for many mobility devices.

Book Launch with David McNally - Slavery and Capitalism: A New Marxist History
2025-12-06 19:00 - 20:00 | Atelier of the Mauril-Bélanger Social Innovation Workshop, at Saint Paul University, 65 Clegg Street, Ottawa, K1S 1C4
On Saturday, December 6th, David McNally will be in Ottawa to discuss his latest book, Slavery and Capitalism: A New Marxist History. He will be in conversation with Adrian Harewood, Professor of Journalism at Carleton.
Time: 7-8 PM (Doors open at 6:30 PM)
Location: The Atelier of the Mauril-Bélanger Social Innovation Workshop, at Saint Paul University. The Atelier is accessible from 95 Clegg Street, the street adjacent to the University.
Organized by Octopus Books (Copies of the book will be available for purchase at $47.99.) RSVP: https://octopusbooks.ca/events/3862520251206
Co-sponsored by the Atelier of the Mauril- Bélanger Social Innovation Workshop and the institute of Political Economy at Carleton University
About the Book
Slavery and Capitalism provides the first systematic Marxist account of the capitalist character of Atlantic slavery.
Karl Marx’s writings on enslavement and labor have fallen out of favor among historians, but David McNally injects new life into them. Slavery and Capitalism gives the first systematic Marxist account of the capitalist character of Atlantic slavery—using colonial travel literature, planter records and diaries, and slave narratives—to support the provocative claim for enslaved labor in the plantation system as capitalist commodity production.
Weaving together history, political economy, and radical abolitionism, McNally demonstrates that plantation slaves formed a modern working class. Unlike those scholars who insist that enslaved people were too sensible to set their sights on liberty, he highlights the self-activity of enslaved people fighting for their freedom and reframes their resistance as labor struggles over production and reproduction, with significant implications for US and Atlantic history and for understanding the roots of racial capitalism.
About the Author
David McNally is Cullen Distinguished Professor of History and Business at the University of Houston, where he directs the Project on Race and Capitalism. He is the author of seven previous books and more than sixty scholarly articles. David is also the founding editor of Spectre, a journal of Marxist theory, strategy and analysis.
Reviews
“With rich and well-chosen evidence, McNally establishes the ways in which the history of enslavement is best understood within Marxist categories. He writes of unspeakable exploitation and human drama in a frame that never loses track of constant resistance.”—David Roediger, author of An Ordinary White: My Antiracist Education
“David McNally’s deft application of Marx’s theory and method not only unearths the hidden dynamics of slavery’s political economy but radically broadens our understanding of modern capitalism and its class struggles. The result: a new history of slavery that centers the enslaved—the chattel proletariat—not as ‘constant capital’ or fungible cogs in the machine but as its gravediggers.”—Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class
“Slavery and Capitalism powerfully employs Marxist categories to provide new insights into the capitalist nature of New World slavery, the lives and labor of the enslaved, and, fundamentally, their resistance.”—Pepijn Brandon, Professor of Global Economic and Social History, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and lead investigator of Amsterdam’s historic connections to slavery
“What a remarkable book. Grown from the theoretical soil of C.L.R. James, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Sylvia Wynter, Slavery and Capitalism nourishes readers with example after thrilling example of how to think dialectically. McNally’s archival evidence tells stories he uses to make a compelling, cumulative argument about class composition centered on the chattel proletariat. Suggesting critical elements of internationalism, the book invites methodological extension and substantive debate to connect his cases to the vast South Atlantic world where most enslaved people lived, worked, and fought. Fresh historical understanding of past social reality can refocus contemporary political analysis of racial capitalism. McNally sharpens dynamic awareness of highly differentiated sectors and regions of value production and social reproduction—the overlapping and interlocking realities where people self-consciously make freedom by remaking place.”—Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Abolition Geography
“This is that rare object—writing that is scholarly and gripping, crammed with insight and the engaging detail of the best history writing. Reframing the non-debate about race and class to return to questions of agency, McNally reminds us that the question is how to become free.”—Gargi Bhattacharyya, author of Rethinking Racial Capitalism: Questions of Reproduction and Survival

Protest and Sit-in at CBC
2025-12-08 12:00 - 14:00 | CBC Ottawa, 181 Queen St, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
We’re holding a protest and sit-in outside the CBC Ottawa building (181 Queen St), on Monday December 8, 12PM-2PM, to hold our national public broadcaster accountable and demand they cover the latest Arms Embargo Report — Exposing the U.S. Loophole: how Canadian F-35 parts and Explosives Reach Israel.
Why we’re taking action:
The report, released on November 18, exposes a pipeline of ongoing shipments of explosives and military aircraft parts from Canada to the US and then on to lsrael.
The government hasn’t been able to refute the claims. In conjunction, Parliament is currently debating Bill C-233. If passed, it would take real steps toward ending Canada’s export of military goods and technology to Israel via the U.S.. but the public has barely heard about it. When a national public broadcaster ignores a report with clear, irrefutable evidence of Canada’s war crimes, people must step in to make the issue visible.
Closing loopholes that allow Canadian military exports to keep flowing to Israel requires public pressure, and public pressure requires public information.
That’s why we’re gathering where the media can’t ignore us, outside the CBC headquarters in Ottawa. When you and your comrades show up in numbers, we shift what is possible.
CBC! Tell the Story! Canada Arms Human Rights Violators
What you can do:
Bring people with you — community members, coworkers, neighbours, friends. Share this call on your social channels. Come ready to chant, hold signs, and take up space!
Learn more and take action to close the loophole enabling military exports to flow from Canada to Israel via the U.S. at: armsembargonow.ca/nomoreloopholes

Alex Neve: Renewing human rights in a fractured world
2025-12-10 16:30 - 18:30 | FSS Building, Room 4007, University of Ottawa, 120 University Private, Ottawa, Canada
Join CBC’s 2025 Massey Lecturer Alex Neve for a discussion of his book Universal, hosted by Ottawa University’s Human Rights Research and Education Centre in partnership with the Centre for International Policy Studies.
Free registration required
At a time of a deepening climate crisis, genocide and mass atrocities, and the rapid rise of hate and divisiveness around the world, his five lectures explored what we need to collectively do to renew and strengthen the vital promise of universal human rights. Marking International Human Rights Day, Alex’s talk will offer an overview of the lectures, including the fractured state of our world and a hopeful way forward. He will be joined by four other members of the uOttawa community, reflecting on what universality means in their human rights work and studies:

Mayyu Ali – Rohingya refugee, poet and human rights defender
Anne Levesque – Holder of the Gordon F. Henderson Chair in Human Rights & Associate Professor, French Common Law Program, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section, University of Ottawa
Valeria Navarette – Master’s degree candidate, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA), University of Ottawa

Alex Neve is a visiting and adjunct professor in international human rights law at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University, and a Senior Fellow with the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. He served as Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada from 2000 – 2020. He is a lawyer, with a Master’s Degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. Alex is an Officer of the Order of Canada. He has honorary doctorate of law degrees from the University of New Brunswick, the University of Waterloo and St. Thomas University.

Pique - Winter Edition '25
2025-12-13 18:00 - 2025-12-14 02:00 | Arts Court, 2 Daly Ave, Ottawa, ON K1N 6E2, Canada
Not your average holiday-season party, Pique winter edition returns to Arts Court on December 13, 2025 with a unique and eclectic program celebrating underground music, forward-thinking art and bold performance. Designed for discovery, community connection and radical self-expression, Pique brings together some of the boldest ground-breaking artists from across Canada to experiment and engage with the local artistic community.
This season, Pique features emergent innovators in the fields of pop-avant garde, ambient-electronic, contemporary installation, afro-rap, and more. They include genre-fluid electronic producer Korea Town Acid, ethereal club angel Monsieurmadam, electrifying R&B/noise artist Quinton Barnes, Afrobeats scene stealer Banggz, global south sound selector TRINIDADDY, fractal ambient brainfeeder 16:9 ratio, cyborgian new media artist Ajeebsir, anti-disciplinary installation collaborative Sabrina Ferrari & Evalyn Shields, and eclectic songwriter Sandour.
Plus, back by popular demand, Pique will host the Queertopia kiki ball presented by Legendary Mother Maldita and Yéila Siriano, welcoming legends and leaders from ballroom scenes across Canada to not only host a ball, but also mentor emerging ballroom artists through skill-building workshops presented by MAX Ottawa. Community members can sign up to walk the ball here. More information about workshops coming soon.
Tickets to Pique are pay-what-you-can (PWYC), with sliding-scale and subsidized options available. Our PWYC ticket keeps the festival open to everyone while inviting those who can pay more to help cover the cost for others. Every contribution above the minimum goes directly toward fair artist pay, inclusive programming, and supporting independent culture in Ottawa.
Featuring performances, exhibitions and interactive presentations by 20 participating artists, Pique winter edition is not to be missed!

Book Launch: The Sound My Heart Makes
2025-12-14 14:00 - 16:00 | Christ Church Cathedral, 414 Sparks Street
Join Albert Dumont for the launch of his latest book The Sound My Heart Makes.

Demand Warming Centres!
2025-12-14 17:00 | Minto Park, 315 Elgin Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Warming centres are an absolute need. If the city won’t act, we will.

Join us at Minto Park (Elgin St./Lewis St.) on Sunday, December 14th at 5 pm to make our demands loud and clear.

Shelters are at maximum capacity. The City insists that there is room for everyone, and that no one who calls 311 for a place to stay warm will be turned away.

People are being turned away. Even people with a shelter bed are left to wait in the cold for hours – because our city does not have 24 hour warming centres.

It is the city’s responsibility to ensure that nobody dies from homelessness. While they delay and insist existing shelters are enough, we have no choice but to do what we can.

We need your help! We need:
VISIBILITY: Share this and spread the word.
SUPPORT: Show up in numbers on December 14th and/or make a cash donation
WARMING SUPPLIES: Bring donated blankets, tarps, and sleeping bags to give to people who need them.

People are suffering in the freezing cold right now.

We don’t have the luxury of time. A cold weather plan that actually meets the needs of unhoused people in Ottawa must be activated immediately to prevent cold-related deaths and injuries. We cannot stand by while people suffer.

To learn more, visit linkt.ree/wtwp.ottawa. If you want to get involved organizing with us, email wtwp-ottawa@proton.me

Module 3 - What is Science? P1
2025-12-15 20:00 - 21:30 | Online
This is module 3 of a reading group series. Follow Register link for more details!
This reading group continues SftP’s tradition of running a reading group alongside our local organising, and the goal of this series is to better link our collective education with collective action, bringing together members to deepen our shared understanding of science, power, and liberation.
Developed and maintained by the Science for the People – New Haven Chapter, this curriculum investigates how Marxism, science, and capitalism intersect — and how these forces shape both knowledge and the material conditions of our world. Through discussion and reflection, we’ll consider what it means to reclaim science as a tool for social transformation.
Science for the People ‘Canada’ has grown, both in number of chapters and membership, and now is a crucial moment to clarify our strategic goals and direction. This series is one way we can do that together.
All members, new and old, are warmly invited. Each module will include two readings; participants are encouraged to complete both, and facilitators will provide summaries to guide discussion. Note:
To help foster an atmosphere of comradely curiosity:
Please come prepared with:
– One open-ended question about the readings to share with the group
– One response or connection to organizing you have done or would like to do locally
Module meetings will occur monthly on Monday evenings at 8pm EST.

Psychic Death and Transitions
2025-12-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Badly Licked Bear loves death. As a transsexual person, as an Indigenous person, as an adoption survivor, as someone who works with the knowledge of the body and of bodies, death is a constant companion in her work.
Participants will be held in exploring psychic deaths, what it means to be “once dead and twice born,” and how our sexuality often skirts, confronts, plays with, or outright embraces death.
What does it mean to bring death and the process of death consciously into one’s daily life and practices?
Queer Death Salon is a community space for all 2SLGBTQIA+ people to come together to discuss death, dying and grief. It is a facilitated drop-in discussion space, with the purpose of building connection, skill, and resources for 2SLGBTQIA+ people navigating end of life in our personal lives and in our communities.
Participants are encouraged to bring their own questions, stories, and complexities to share.

Demand Warming Centres Phone Zap
2025-12-22 18:00 - 19:00 | Online
With the cold weather hitting Ottawa early this year, concerned residents are raising the alarm about the City’s abandonment of unhoused residents. The city has responded to the freezing temperatures by pointing to their existing policies and claiming it is enough. But these same policies left unhoused neighbours to die in the cold earlier this year. And with renovictions, and austere social policies, we see unhoused neighbours freezing in the streets.
Join Horizon, the Disability Justice Network of Ontario, and the What’s the Winter Plan team for a virtual phone zap session where we will get together online, go over the details of what our city is lacking, and then spend some time calling the offices of City Councillors to make sure they hear our concerns.
