Summer updates!

It has been great seeing many of our neighbours this summer at local outdoor markets, cultural festivals and more! Thank you to the many hardworking volunteers who have dedicated their time at our well-loved community events. Although summer is winding down, there is still lots to explore: visit OttawaTourism.ca/ Events to find information about upcoming events.

Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of great organizations in Ottawa Centre. I was pleased to visit Tewegan Housing for Aboriginal Youth and meet with the dedicated team to announce a $1.5 million federal investment in three Ottawa-based Indigenous women’s and 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations. Tewegan Housing is an essential transitional home here in Ottawa Centre, providing a safe and culture-oriented environment for young First Nations, Inuit and Métis women. This critical funding will help them and the other organizations to enhance their capacity and work towards eliminating violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people.

I also had the chance to visit House to Home, another incredible community-based, not-for-profit organization

Within Reach Yoga for Wellness

This course is geared to new practitioners to promote physical and mental well being. We explore breath, posture, movement and relaxation. Classes start on a chair and progress to a mat and standing. Participants will also receive a video link to the class postures.

furnishing homes for local refugee families. Their hardworking team of volunteers collect donated furniture and household items for their warehouse and offer newcomers the dignity and comfort of picking out furniture they need to make their new houses feel like homes. If you have second-hand furniture to donate, please visit h2hottawa. com to learn more.

Finally, I would like to share that the federal government has launched a public online consultation to support the development of a Safe Long-Term Care Act. Throughout the pandemic, my team and I spoke with many Ottawa Centre residents about this issue, and I’m glad to see that there is a path forward to solidify standards and ensure that long-term care is safe, reliable and centered on residents’ needs. This is a chance to share your perspective and advice on how federal legislation can help advance the quality and safety of long-term care. You can share your ideas online, by e-mail or by mail. For more information, visit bit.ly/LTC-consultation. If you have any questions, please reach out to our office.

As always, the team in my community office is here to help. You can call us at 613-946-8682 or send an email to Yasir.Naqvi@parl.gc.ca.

Doug Ford and Ottawa’s LRT have a lot in common

Guess who found his way to Ottawa last month? Premier Doug Ford!

He was in town for a health-care announcement at CHEO, just a week away from a provincial by-election in Kanata-Carleton. I’m sure that was just a coincidence.

(In fairness, Marit Stiles, leader of Ontario’s Official Opposition, was also in town for her own health-care announcement at the Queensway Carleton Hospital. Health care is top of mind for everyone in Ontario, that’s for sure).

At his CHEO presser, Ford was asked about Ottawa’s struggling LRT system. Local news articles suggested that large Bluesfest crowds last month or humid weather may have damaged the trains.

LRT trains were regularly used by big crowds to get to Bluesfest concerts, which, come to think of it, is kinda the goal for transit systems. But the outcome of heavy usage, officials suggest, may have compromised train axles and bearings, damaging the trains. On a similar note, the Ottawa Police closed the LRT’s Pimisi Station on Canada Day this year, citing the “station’s design and its inability to handle crowds.” Yikes.

Reacting to this news, Ford said the province may withhold funding for Stage 3 of Ottawa’s LRT (which extends service to Barrhaven and Kanata) until serious problems are rectified. He even suggested that Metrolinx, the entity created in 2006 to coordinate and integrate transit in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, assume control of Ottawa’s LRT to improve outcomes.

Hearing this caused a mess in my own lap as I spat out a mouthful of coffee. Why? Because handing Ottawa’s LRT system to Metrolinx is like handing one’s house keys to a burglar. That’s my takeaway as Ontario’s Transit Critic.

Metrolinx has become a cabal of consultants who design secretive Public-Private Partnership (P3) transit deals that make insiders rich. The Eglinton Crosstown project stands as a case in point. The project is two years delayed (with no timeline to completion) and a billion dollars over budget. This has all happened on Metrolinx’s watch.

And let’s not forget that Brian Guest, a former Metrolinx VP (and key architect in Stage 1 of Ottawa’s LRT) earned millions in LRT contracts for his own firm. He was fired, and the Ford government promised an investigation (which hasn’t happened).

That’s why I think Premier Ford and Ottawa’s LRT have a lot in common. Both are secretive, dysfunctional and havens for insiders making tidy profits. We don’t need Metrolinx making our current LRT problems any worse.

We have serious issues with public transit in Ottawa. Thanks to provincial cutbacks, OC Transpo is facing a $39-million budget shortfall and is poised to lay off cleaners who keep vehicles sanitized for passengers. We have regular service issues with OC Transpo and ParaTranspo buses. We need provincial investments now.

So enough with the knee-jerk announcements. Enough with the flimsy talk about “accountability.”

If you can, write Premier Ford and tell him to stop the cuts, fund public transit and end the profiteering of P3 consultants.

Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth OCDSB Trustee, Zone 9

For many of you, mid-August is that moment when minds drift from summer back to school: A time to restock pencils and notebooks, replace outgrown shoes, backpacks and lunch boxes, prepare classrooms, regroup with social and professional networks.

Before we plunge into the next academic year, I want to pause and take stock of the school year that recently ended and my first term as your Ottawa-Carleton District School Board Trustee.

It was an honour to represent Capital and Alta Vista wards at the OCDSB, and it was delightful to meet some of you, speak with you, and to visit schools.

I’ll be frank though: 2022-23 was a doozy. It was a challenging year for many students, parents, educators and staff, as well as for those of us who advocate for you. We have seen an increase in dysregulation in classrooms, in vandalism and graffiti and in antisemitic, racist, homophobic and transphobic vitriol and hatefueled protests. Boards of education in Ontario, including in Ottawa, have experienced unprecedented disruptions of meetings, a pattern that is deeply concerning across North America. The Ontario Human Rights Commission issued a special statement in June on this pattern:

“The Ontario Human Rights Code (Code) protects everyone from discrimination and harassment based on numerous grounds, including disability, gender identity and expression, race, and religion. In schools, following the Code means that every student has the right to a learning environment free from discrimination, harassment, or other expressions of hatred – an environment where everyone feels safe to learn, thrive, and be themselves . . . The Council of Directors of Education has also noted that in recent months, administrators who have supported the rights and freedoms of 2SLGBTQIA+ people have been targeted during public board meetings. These incidents are deeply concerning and harmful and underscore the systemic issues and gaps within Ontario’s publicly funded education system.”

The OCDSB nevertheless succeeded in getting core work done and passed important motions. We developed and approved the 2023-2027 strategic plan, with a focus on well-being, learning and social as well as environmental responsibility ( pub-ocdsb.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=18208). We also hired a Jewish Equity Coach, passed a motion for a board-wide composting program and stood by our 2021 decision to end the School Resource Officer program and keep police out of schools.

We also passed the OCDSB budget with a commitment to increase the number of Educational Assistants and support for the Summer Learning Program for students with ASD and developmental disabilities. The Rainbow Youth Forum and the Black Youth Forum were wonderful events in the spring. We updated bylaws about who can speak at our meetings, limiting that role to those who live or study in the area and prohibiting any speech that foments hate.

What work is ahead of us? I commit to continue to hold the OCDSB accountable. We need an operational plan to address significant socioeconomic and racial disparities in who thrives and who struggles in our schools. Youth mental health and staff burnout are pressing issues. I will advocate for us to collaborate with community-based providers and mental-health agencies to support our students and employees. Special education is grossly underfunded and under-resourced across the province. OCDSB agreed to write a letter to the Minister of Education to advocate for additional funding for Educational Assistants, as we cannot be forced to choose between special education and other programs. I will also continue to advocate for improved ventilation and monitoring of air quality in classrooms. We can expect another difficult RSV-influenza-COVID triad this fall and winter, and with climate change we need to address the effects of smog next spring and summer.

Finally, in response to increased harassment and intimidation of 2SLGBTQ+ students, families and staff, we need to create safe zones around schools, similar to the federal legislation that was introduced to create safe zones around hospitals and clinics in 2021. I have written an open letter to Canadians, appealing to all levels of government to prevent protests in the vicinity of schools that target or intimidate students and staff on the basis of their gender identity, sexuality, race, religion or other protected categories. (www.change. org/p/safe-zones-for-canadianschools). I have proposed that the OCDSB write a similar letter to the premier to advocate for safe zones.

What can you do to participate constructively in making this a successful year? Speak with your children about their concerns and educational needs. Reach out to teachers, your school principal, superintendent and me as your trustee to discuss specific issues, as well as to your city councillor and MPP to discuss systemic issues. Community members may attend OCDSB meetings and its committee meetings as well as parent council at each school.

Given what is happening around the world today, I strongly encourage you to support grassroots social justice activism and local, national and international organizations that support 2SLGBTQ+ people. None of this work is easy, but all of it is important. Please take care of yourselves and each other.

BY D. MATTHEW MILLER