COVID-19 is clouding the future of available affordable housing
Statistics Canada released numbers saying spending on residential construction building projects has dropped drastically. What impact is this having on affordable housing?
Part of Bank Street closes to vehicles to boost business, ensure social distancing
A section of Bank Street will join the growing list of Ottawa streets opting to close to motor vehicles to ensure safer social distancing this summer.
In the summer of COVID-19, Canadians are embracing local travel — and giving hope to the tourism industry
WINNIPEG — For many Canadians, summertime is travel time. This year, though — in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic — many people are choosing to stay closer to home. “This year, I’m essentially travelling locally,” said Lauren Brown, a world traveller and Toronto-based blogger who runs DIY Vacation, an online resource with tourism tips for destinations all over the...
ACORN campaign pushes for free internet for low-income Canadians during pandemic
ACORN has been campaigning for free internet for low income Canadians during the pandemic. Who is being impacted and what are some challenges to making this happen?
Listen: How we got the story – Episode 3
In this episode of Capital Current: Behind the Story, we hear about the need for improved vehicle collision data and Ottawa's 2020 Pride celebrations.
Pandemic lessons: Ottawa management expert looks into the future of remote work
One Ottawa executive broke down tips she learned about working remotely as well as, her predictions for how this experience will permanently affect the workforce.
Remote rituals: The Jewish community is sustaining faith, upholding sacred traditions during the pandemic
In a pre-pandemic world, eight-day-old Theo Rapkin would have had his bris ceremony in a Montreal synagogue, surrounded by friends and family, his parents and a rabbi. There would have been prayers and a brunch. The bris — formally known as the brit malah, or the “covenant of circumcision” — is a ceremony performed on the eighth day of a...
Ottawa’s queer community moves online for Pride 2020 festival
Due to COVID-19, Ottawa's Pride celebrations will mostly take place online in 2020.
Four Ottawa-area public health units issue mandatory-mask directive for enclosed public spaces
Ottawa Public Health has shifted its approach to reducing the spread of COVID-19, and is now officially requiring that city residents wear face masks in indoor public spaces. In a statement issued jointly on Monday by four regional public health units in Eastern Ontario, including Ottawa Public Health, the agencies stated that they were “invoking a directive under the province’s...
Keep cats inside to reduce toll on birds, small mammals and other urban wildlife: conservation experts
Wildlife experts list cats as one of the greatest threats to urban wildlife caused by ordinary people.
Pets, vets, vaccines and the pandemic: Animal and human health entwined more than ever in COVID times
With COVID-19 forcing people to practise physical distancing, a pet can make a big difference in terms of emotional support. Fortunately, while the novel coronavirus is believed to be a zoonotic disease – which means it was transmitted from animals, presumably bats, to humans – research shows it’s very unlikely people can get it from their pets. And despite some...
Liberal MP Francis Drouin open to renaming federal riding that honours 19th-century slave owner Peter Russell
Liberal MP Francis Drouin, who represents the Ottawa-area constituency of Glengarry-Prescott-Russell, says he’s open to renaming his riding to erase its association with 19th-century slave owner Peter Russell. Russell, a top-level administrator in Upper Canada in the late 1700s and early 1800s, fought for special exemptions for slave owners, including himself, when the British colony passed the Anti-Slavery Act in...