Image courtesy of Don Sproule, Climate Fresk, Ottawa
Guest post written by Don Sproule, certified Climate Fresk facilitator.
You can’t fix what you don’t understand.
If you’re interested in attending a fun and informative workshop to learn about the causes and consequences of climate change, read on. This is the event to attend.
Thyme & Again 1255 Wellington St West Tuesday, Jan 30th Time: 1:30 – 4:30
For more info, contact: donald.sproule[at]gmail.com
The workshop follows the Climate Fresk format. Conceived in France, more than 1.4 million people around the world have participated in a workshop and some 60k have gone on to become facilitators.
This 3-hour workshop calls on participants’ collective and creative intelligence, to collaborate and identify the cause-effect relationships between the different components of climate change. As a team, you will be handed out 42 cards, in five sets. The cards are based on the science of the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. When each new set is handed out you are asked to (re)arrange the cards on the table according to cause and consequence. The Fresk is revealed once all cards are on the table. Team cooperation is very important and will get you from one set of cards to the next! A facilitator will guide and support you through the workshop. The last part of the workshop is to table/share and discuss ideas for action from the personal to the community to the globe.
Here are some comments from Fresk participants:
“The Fresk gave us a higher, more comprehensive view of the complex interconnections between the causes and consequences of climate change.”
“I haven’t stopped thinking about the time we spent at the workshop, the power of those cards! It DID NOT feel like 3 hours!! Time flew!”
“In our house, even two weeks after the workshop, we’re still talking about the Fresk!”
Children’s shoes and toys placed around the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill in June 2021, following news of the discovery of potential unmarked graves on the grounds of former residential schools. Photo by D. Deby
If you’ve attended a local event in the past few years, you’ve likely heard a land acknowledgement—a recognition that the event is taking place on unceded Anishinabe Algonquin territory.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what “green living” means in “Ottawa,” i.e. unceded Indigenous territory. What I’ve learned so far is that it requires understanding Canada’s colonial past and present, and that it entails supporting Indigenous-led action for sovereignty and Indigenous resurgence.
[CW: Contains references to the “Indian Residential Schools” that Canada and churches operated from 1831-1996. A list of supports for Survivors, families and communities is available here. Information on general mental health supports for Ottawa residents is available here.]
Several local groups are offering ways to take such learning and action a step further, in conjunction with Orange Shirt Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Both days are designed to raise awareness about the residential schools that Canada established for Indigenous children, the horrors these institutions caused for children, families and descendants, and what Canadians need to do to address their ongoing effects. Residential schools were just one part of Canada’s overall plan to replace Indigenous lands and peoples with a settler colonial country, a plan that forms the foundation for Canada today.
Understanding Canada as a settler colonial state
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society, along with Assembly of Seven Generations and Beechwood Cemetery, are hosting Reconciling History Tours on Saturday, September 30 and Monday, October 2, 2023. The tours enable participants to learn more about Canada’s residential school system, and how to advance the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. The Beechwood event includes an unveiling of a Children’s Sacred Forest. This is an opportunity to understand how Ottawa’s spaces and people were central to creating and perpetuating the genocidal residential school system. You can find out more and register in advance on the Caring Society’s website, or do the tours virtually.
[Added:] Algonquin College and the Asinabka Film and Media Arts Festival are co-hosting a free film screening and discussion of Colonization Road, on Friday, September 29, 2023 from 4:15-6:30 p.m. The film discusses how public streets, infrastructure and art were used to—and continue to—assert and celebrate Canada’s colonization and settlement of Indigenous lands.
Learning and reflecting on harms, and on action needed
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day provide additional activities for learning more about residential schools and support Indigenous healing and redress:
The Ottawa Public Library is inviting people to participate in arts activities, watch films, and access books, a pre-recorded talk by Phyllis Webstad, the founder of Orange Shirt Day, and other resources. The OPL and the National Arts Centre are also co-hosting a play, Bloodline, by Algonquin Elder Albert Dumont and Ottawa writer Phil Jenkins, about how the Indian Act has affected Elder Dumont’s life and family. The performance on Thursday, September 28, 2023 from 7-8:30 p.m. is sold out but will be streamed online—see the event page for details. A second live performance has been added, on Thursday, November 16, 2023 at the Meridian Centrepointe Theatre (thanks to A New Dawn for the information).
[Added:] The co-owners of the Indigenous-run Beandigen Café at Lansdowne Park (106-900 Exhibition Way) are inviting people to hear from a family member who is a residential school survivor, on Saturday, September 30, 2023 at 12 p.m. See details on their FB page.
Adaawe Indigenous Business Hub is holding a memorial walk from their office at 338 Somerset Street to Parliament Hill on Saturday, September 30, 2023 from 12-1 p.m. A memorial event,Remembering the Children, organized by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day and taking place on Parliament Hill on September 30, 2023 at noon (with broadcast on APTN), is the culmination of a week of activities that the NCTR is offering, which include daily learning sessions covering past and ongoing discrimination against Indigenous peoples, debunking myths and pointing towards action.
Engaging in dialogue and supporting Indigenous initiatives
A New Dawn is a local community-based group that has been supporting learning by non-Indigenous people and facilitating collaboration among non-Indigenous and Indigenous people. They’re hosting anevening with Algonquin Elder Albert Dumont on Friday, September 29, 2023 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Kitchissippi United Church, 630 Island Park Drive. A New Dawn is also sellingorange shirts, designed by Elder Dumont, to commemorate Indigenous children who died at residential schools and to promote healing, respect and a new relationship.
A good place to purchase orange shirts locally is Adaawewigamig, a social enterprise store in the Byward Market run by Assembly of Seven Generations, an Indigenous youth-led organization. They have a lot of other great clothing, jewelry and other items; proceeds support Indigenous artists, businesses and causes. Orange shirts are also available through the Mādahòkì Farm or the Orange Shirt Society. If you purchase a shirt for Orange Shirt Day, make sure it supports Indigenous artists and groups, and is endorsed by the Orange Shirt Society.
There is much more to be done. Stay tuned for upcoming posts on ways to support Indigenous peoples, places and actions.
Alt text: “Global Climate Strike 2023: Friday 15 September, 1:00 p.m. Parliament Hill” appears to the right of an icon depicting a globe, the left half covered in orange flames and the right half covered by blue earth and green trees. Below this, four images show (1) smoky skies above Parliament Hill, (2) a burned forest, (3) a house with a broken roof, and (4) an emergency worker walking towards cars on a flooded street. Along the bottom, text reads “Four reasons to be there! FridaysForFutureOttawa.org.” Image courtesy of Fridays for Future Ottawa.
If you’re reading this, you don’t need me to tell you that the climate emergency is here, now. Beyond compelling evidence from successive climate reports, the reality of increasing wildfires, floods, storms, drought and extreme heat around the world is impossible to ignore. Just in Ottawa, over the last few months, we’ve experienced smoke-filled skies, damaging hail and severe thunderstorms, tornadoes and record heat.
Taking action as individuals can feel more difficult than ever, in the face of the scale and magnitude of the emergency, compounded by the failure of many elected leaders, and the companies most responsible for disastrous climate change, to do what’s necessary. It can help to join with others to call for action—that way, we’re not alone, and our collective voices can make a difference.
Here are some upcoming opportunities:
2023 Global Climate Strike
Fridays for Future Ottawa, along with other environmental and Indigenous groups and individuals, are inviting people to gather on Parliament Hill on Friday, September 15, 2023 at 1 p.m. for this year’s Global Climate Strike. We’ll be calling on the federal government and other decision-makers to take climate action: to cap emissions; end fossil fuel extraction, use and subsidies; and support the transition to sustainable and just alternatives. (There’s also a petition to the federal Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland here.) The local event, which includes a range of speakers and musicians, is part of the Global Fight to End Fossil Fuels taking place around the world from September 15-17 this year.
“Fossil fuels—coal, oil and gas—are by far the largest contributor to global climate change, accounting for over 75 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions.”
A number of residents and groups offer opportunities to remind our elected leaders that investing in sustainable, safe and affordable cycling infrastructure is an essential part of climate action and community-building. For example, every month, cyclists get together for a community bike ride—a “self-organizing” Critical Mass ride—that demonstrates the importance of, and celebrates, active transportation. There’s aCritical Mass Ride for Climate on Saturday, September 16, 2023 at 10 a.m. departing from the Canadian War Museum.
Inspired by critical mass events, Kidical Mass is a family-friendly bike movement created to “celebrate the joy of biking while calling for a need to create streets that are safe for kids and therefore safe for everyone.” Bike Ottawa, For Our Kids Ottawa-Gatineau and School Streets Ottawa are co-hosting a Kidical Mass Ottawa bike ride on Sunday, September 24, 2023, starting with bike decorating at 9:30 a.m. at Sylvia Holden Children’s Park, 641 O’Connor Street, followed by a ride along Queen Elizabeth Drive to Confederation Park at 10 a.m., and activities in Confederation Park from 11 a.m.-12 p.m.; see the event page for details.
Rally for Public Transit
There’s no denying that the erosion of Ottawa’s public transit system, along with continuing fare hikes, are not helping residents shift from car-dependent to more sustainable and equitable transportation. Free Transit Ottawa and other groups are holding a rally on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. calling for accessible, affordable and reliable public transit.
Petition for Municipal Climate Action
Ecology Ottawa has made it easier to call on Ottawa’s Mayor to address the climate emergency, by posting a petition demanding that Mayor Sutcliffe to take the lead in reaffirming the City’s commitment to and implementation of climate action. Please sign and share!
Ottawa City Council has officially recognized that Ottawa is in a climate emergency. The City has a climate change plan, active transportation plans, a housing and homelessness plan, and other commitments to sustainability and equity. Beyond such public statements and plans, though, the City’s progress toward these goals depends on how the City allocates public resources—which largely happens at municipal budget time.
Ottawa City Council will vote on the 2023 City Budget, which various City committees have already reviewed, on Wednesday, March 1, 2023 at 10 a.m.
Many community groups have spoken out about problems with the draft budget. It prioritizes unsustainable and inequitable expenditures such as road widening (at the expense of pedestrian and cycling infrastructure) and overpolicing, while it underfunds essential services including public transit (to be cut by $47 million), housing, community services, and greenhouse gas emission reductions. Dubbed an “austerity budget” by some groups, the draft budget sets property tax increases at 2.5 per cent—an arbitrary cap that Mayor Mark Sutcliffe campaigned on—which is well below inflation and will undoubtedly result in real service cuts and increased user fees, and pave the way for ineffective and costly private provision of public services.
Ottawa’s municipal budget process is largely opaque for many residents—and the draft budget tends to be presented more or less as a done deal. Fortunately, the good people of the Ottawa Coalition for a People’s Budget have created a guide to engaging with Budget 2023. Several other groups have offered excellent resources for understanding the draft budget and its implications, and for advocating for a better budget:
[Added:] The People’s Official Plan Coalition is hosting a virtual press conference on the draft budget on Monday, February 27 at 10 a.m. The Coalition’s Priorities for Budget 2023 include climate action; forest, greenspace and wetlands management; food security; affordable housing; and social services.
Horizon Ottawa held a City Budget 101 Training Session with useful analysis of the draft budget and alternatives for the City to raise revenues and reallocate expenditures in more sustainable and socially just ways. The recording is available online, as is an online letter to Council that people can sign calling to stop the cuts to public transit.
Ecology Ottawa is asking people to call on their city councillors to support a motion to defer funding to widen the Airport Parkway—which the new Trillium Line would run parallel to—and allocate the funds to active transportation elements of the project instead.
Acorn Canada is asking people to support a call for a “People’s Budget” in Ottawa that supports all residents, including low-income residents, by adequately funding needed services.
Starts With Home is a coalition of organizations and businesses that has set out a platform and actions, including budget measures, that Ottawa needs to take to ensure everyone has a safe, affordable home.
The Ottawa Mission has posted a budget consultation toolkit as well as an online form to ask City Council to provide much-needed funding for affordable housing.
You can also share your views on the draft budget with your city councillor and on the City’s Engage Ottawa website.
Several organizations are holding a rally against the draft budget on Tuesday, February 28, 2023 at 5:30 p.m. Details will be posted here.
As well, the Ottawa Police Services Board will consider the 2023 police services budget on Monday, February 27, 2023 at 4 p.m. (At the same meeting, they’ll be deciding on proposed changes to limit public input at Board meetings.) According to Defund the Police, what the city spends on policing is roughly the same as it spends on public health, paramedics, public libraries, social housing, parks and recreation and employment services combined, and the police’s share of the municipal budget is increasing. The Coalition Against More Surveillance has compiled resources to help people who want to submit comments to the meeting, and the Ottawa Coalition for a People’s Budget has plenty of ideas for shifting resources from policing to essential services.
The time is now for a municipal budget that shifts us towards a more sustainable, climate change-resistant and equitable city.
“Vote climate” signs on Parliament Hill – D. Deby photo
One of the most important things you can do for a sustainable and just Ottawa is vote in the municipal election on Monday, October 24, 2022.
One mayoral candidate offers a clear, achievable path towards this future: Catherine McKenney has a compelling vision of what Ottawa could be, and has offered feasible, community-based and costed ways of providing sustainable, accessible and equitable services while addressing the climate emergency. They have the commitment, experience, integrity and ability to bring people together to make positive change happen.
Green Living Ottawa was created in the belief that imagining desired futures—creating new stories, or “restorying”—can help people live sustainably. We need municipal leaders with alternative visions to the unsustainable and inequitable status quo, and with the ideas, energy, listening skills and engagement capacities to achieve them.
Your vote for mayor, city councillor, and school board trustee are vitally important.
Green Living Ottawa 