Ottawa Sun

`SANCTITY OF LIFE'

The federal labour board has found that the Canada Revenue Agency discriminated against a Christian public servant when it refused his COVID-19 vaccine exemption request. In 2021, Steven Porter had sought an exemption from the the federal government's...

ROAD TRIP

Without so much as an official final game at TD Place Arena to mark their departure, the Ottawa Charge have packed their bags after three seasons at Lansdowne Park and are headed to a new-to-them home in Kanata. They'll be leaving some fans behind,...

KISS OF DEATH?

With damaging new U.S. tariffs set to be imposed on a wide range of Canadian goods within days, trade talks between the once chummy allies have heated up again. President Donald Trump announced last month the U.S. would slap a 50% levy on $28 billion...

COLD COMFORT

Andrew Barnett has a routine. Every morning, after waking up at a shelter in downtown Ottawa, he takes a short walk to Centre 454 in Sandy Hill for breakfast. After breakfast, he might use the centre's laundry service or the clothing vouchers it has...

HARD AT WORK

It has been a calendar year since the Ottawa Senators and the National Capital Commission entered into an agreement for the National Hockey League franchise to purchase 11 acres at Lebreton Flats to build a new home for the club. Though the news cycle...

FLEEING THE FLAMES

CALGARY — A Calgary man who was just starting his vacation in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley was among thousands of people forced to flee parts of the region over the weekend as raging wildfires threatened communities across the...

›› PAGES 8-9 POSTER WAR

Long-standing businesses in Ottawa's Byward Market Building received notice letters from their landlord after they put up posters that the Byward Market District Authority claimed were in breach of their tenancy agreements. The posters were put up...

`IT'S CLOSURE'

Eight years after he went missing, Robert Lambert's remains have been located on the property he owned outside of Smiths Falls, according to a statement released by Ontario Provincial Police. Last seen in July 2018, when he was 75 years old, Lambert...

`MORE BUSES'

Mayoral candidate Jeff Leiper is promising to reverse recent cuts to Ottawa's bus service and to make routes more reliable and frequent if elected this fall. Leiper unveiled a five-part transit plan outside Tunney's Pasture station on Aug. 4, arguing...

TITANS OF SUMMER

Ottawa's minor-league baseball team likely never predicted how the city's biggest offseason hockey headline would turn into one of the club's most unique promotions at the ballpark. Yet, for the Ottawa Titans, that was exactly what happened. As the...

BLINDSIDED

Travis Green didn't see it coming. Speaking publicly for the first time since the Senators traded their captain Brady Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in June, Ottawa's head coach told the 100% Hockey podcast with Daren Millard and John Shannon last...

SOLD

The winning bid for the iconic Fairmont Château Montebello was awarded to Westmont Hospitality, the Mississauga-based company that owns, manages and advises hundreds of hotels across the globe. Westmont was one of five binding offers that were...

NOT PLAYING

Dedicated film lovers are taking pilgrimages to one of the 41 theatres around the world where they can watch director Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey in its intended Imax 70-mm format. In Canada, only nine theatres have that capability. But the...

TWO THUMBS UP

Andrew Lumsden was 42 years old when he first decided to take his son, Gavin, hitchhiking from Ottawa to Vancouver — and back. His son was an 11-year-old at the time. Now, 50 years later, Gavin was the one initiating another trip, this time across the...

FOOD FRENZY

Over the past decade, Teegavarapu Sarath Mohan has been at the helm of restaurant kitchens in a Kanata strip mall, an east-end business park and on Little Italy's main drag. For his latest project, an upscale, globally inspired fried chicken eatery,...

KEEPING PRIDE SAFE

Capital Pride executive director Callie Metler said Ottawa police would decide whether additional security measures were needed following the deadly attack at a Pride event in Berlin and that the force would cover the cost of any extra public safety...

TOUGH LOSS

Paul Rushforth spent Saturday mornings at the CFRA studio in Ottawa for 19 years, cracking jokes with co-host Frank Napolitano before their Open House show went to air. The warmth audiences heard on the broadcasts matched the man friends describe away...

`ISLAMIST CIRCLES'

BERLIN — The suspect in the deadly Berlin Pride car-ramming attack that left one woman dead and at least 29 others injured was shot and killed by police during a confrontation on Sunday in a suburb of the city, authorities said. Abdul Ballout, a...

SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

The University of Ottawa is without an on-campus daycare for the first time in decades after the Bernadette Child Care Centre closed this spring, leaving dozens of families searching for new childcare arrangements. The daycare was forced to close in...

LET'S EAT

You could smell the beef skewers from the parking lot before the smoky and savoury scent eventually engulfed your senses when you walked into the market. I went with a good friend to the Kanata Night Market, though calling it a night market would be...

GOING GREEN

As calls for better storm infrastructure ripple through the city following the July 1 storm, researchers say upgrading the stormwater pipes is not the only way to make Ottawa more resilient to flooding. A research lab at Carleton University is looking...

GRIM DETAILS

A father killed his two young sons in southeast Ottawa on June 29 before then setting fire to his dental practice in Iroquois and dying by suicide in a parking lot outside Kemptville, Ottawa police said in a news release detailing the homicide...

STICK AROUND

OFF TRACK?

Flooding from the city's Canada Day storm damaged parts of the under-construction west O-train extension, forcing repairs and raising new uncertainty about whether the project's scheduled summer 2027 opening can still be met. Transit Services general...

SPAIN REIGNS

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Ferran Torres scored an extra-time winner as Spain defeated holders Argentina 1-0 to win the World Cup on Sunday and shatter Lionel Messi's dreams of a triumphant farewell to football's greatest stage. Barcelona striker Torres...

DOT-TAWA

Country's current queen, Ella Langley, attracted the biggest crowd of this year's Bluesfest on July 17, with an estimated 40,000 people filling every corner of the site at Lebreton Flats Park. It was one of the rare occasions a Bluesfest show has sold...

SPIN CITY

The DJS are spinning tucked away at Bluesfest along the river somewhere between the RBC Main Stage and the River stage in a self-described “Big Chill” zone, but the vibes through the night could get anything but chill. The Big Chill is an area that is...

PACK YOUR BAGPIPES

For thousands of people leaving Bluesfest over the past decade and a half, the last performance of the night wasn't on the mainstage. It echoed outside the gates. As Hardy fans streamed out of Lebreton Flats on Saturday night, many slowed along Booth...

SENS MOVE ON

We're beginning to hear from Brady Tkachuk's former Ottawa Senators teammates following the captain's June departure. Centre Shane Pinto, speaking with local media on Tuesday for the first time since locker clean out day, shared his initial reaction...

COLOUR PARTY

Bluesfest is filled with passionate, sweaty and oftentimes intoxicated music lovers. It's also filled with many colourful shirt-wearing volunteers. How many does it take for the festival to run smoothly? BLUE SHIRTS Hundreds, estimates Roxanne...

`IT IS NOT SAFE'

No hydro, no water and no food — that was the reality for Olivia Allan after the Canada Day rainstorm flooded thousands of basements and roads across Ottawa. Allan was among the hardest hit, as a resident of Park West at 30 Mcewen Ave. The 24-storey...

FLYING SOUTH

As Mark Carney continues to claim that no deal is better than a bad deal, an increasing number of Canadian firms are looking to move manufacturing production south. Carney was elected on a promise to secure a trade deal with Donald Trump, yet 16...

CROWD CONTROL

The chaotic energy of Limp Bizkit was building to a peak on Friday when the raprock legends surprised the crowd by inviting an old friend to join them on the RBC Main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest. The lanky figure in overalls and a scruffy beard was none...

Police move forward with AI technology

The Ottawa police want to use artificial intelligence facial recognition technology to generate investigative leads. On June 22, in a meeting, the Ottawa Police Service Board approved the force's motion to move forward with the first phase of its...

HOME ICE

Well, it's official. After months of deliberations, closed-door conversations and speculation, the Ottawa Charge will officially be moving to the Canadian Tire Centre full-time starting next season. Charge general manager Mike Hirshfeld announced the...

SOUND CHECK

Ottawa Bluesfest is the biggest summer music festival in Ottawa. The nineday, multi-stage extravaganza takes place on the grounds of (and inside) the Canadian War Museum at Lebreton Flats Park, within sight of the Ottawa River and Parliament...

SAD TO SEE ALFIE LEAF

Say it ain't so, Alfie! Former Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson is leaving his post as an assistant coach on Travis Green's to join the arch-rival Toronto Maple Leafs as an associate coach on Jim Hiller's staff, which can only be described as...

LADY SINGS THE BLUES

An Ottawa country singer was crushed to find out that her first appearance at Bluesfest, a dream gig opening for Sheryl Crow and Ella Langley, was moved up an hour and cut short to make way for Quebec rock sensations Angine de Poitrine on the main...

MR. SUB

Prime Minister Mark Carney will stop in Halifax on Monday for an announcement about making Canada “more secure, resilient, and prosperous.” He will visit Canadian Forces Base Halifax, home to the Royal Canadian Navy, alongside Viceadmiral Dan...

ALL OVER

They began as a host nation among the largest World Cup ever, a tournament bursting with 48 countries, and resolutely determined to make an impact on their sport like never before. The magical run for Canada was brought to a halt on Saturday afternoon...

LET'S DO THIS

The game ended shortly after dusk in Toronto, but the night was just getting started for Portugal legend Cristiano Ronaldo and his legion of fans storming the city in rapturous celebration. One of the all-time greats was having his moment in a city...

FINAL FLIGHT

For generations of Canadians, Canada Day in Ottawa has included a familiar ritual: looking skyward for red-and-white jets. With Wednesday's 1 p.m. flypast — heavy rains forced the cancellation of their 4 p.m. demonstration — the Snowbirds' iconic...

`IT WAS HOMICIDE'

Ottawa police are investigating a murder-suicide after two boys were found dead inside a home in Findlay Creek, and their father was found dead, roughly 45 kilometres away in Kemptville. Police said officers were called to a home on Mandevilla...

DATA DRIVEN

The City of Ottawa's homelessness outreach program will include a standardized reporting system for encampments designed to improve supports and to collect data while maintaining the privacy of the city's unsheltered homeless population. A motion from...

SWEET 16

They came here to Southern California, booted out of their own country despite being a World Cup host, but still driven to make a statement in the most important moment of their careers. They came ultimately to add to the history they've already made...

WHEELER DEALER

Steve Staios has a plan. As the Ottawa Senators wrapped up Day 2 of the National Hockey League draft, the club's president of hockey operations and general manager was confident in the changes he's made to the roster in the last week and he noted on...

MORE SUPPORT

When Grace Kamanda was on her way to the job, she was afraid. Kamanda is a crisis support worker with ANCHOR, a 24/7 mental health crisis support service that provides central and east Ottawa residents in distress with someone to talk to other than...

QUEST FOR THE RING

I want to tell you about an eightyear-old girl and her pet dog, Scooby. But first I want to tell you about one recent Friday. It was the day before the last of Ontario's supervised consumption sites were closed by government fiat, when people with...

HOME TEAM HEARTBREAK

If Jesse Marsch has to play the villain, the U.s.-born coach of Canada's most accomplished men's national soccer team is fine with it. Through all the theatrics and memes and mocking from other countries, Marsch and Canada are going on to the Round of...

`THE NEXTPAGES CHAPTER'

Brady Tkachuk bid a fond farewell to the fans of the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. “I just want to say thank you to everyone in the city,” Tkachuk said. “Everybody welcomed me from Day 1, treated me like I was from there. Treated me like family. I'll...

TKAPUT

Brady Tkachuk wanted out. A month ago, Steve Staios, the Ottawa Senators' president of hockey operations and general manager, called the possibility of trading the club's captain “nonsense”, but after a meeting last month at Tkachuk's home in New...

TKA-BOOM!

The Ottawa Senators are bidding farewell to captain Brady Tkachuk. After denying they'd deal Tkachuk, the Senators sent him to Florida Panthers in a deal on Sunday afternoon that we will see the club get three first-round picks and a second-round...

BLUE IT

Ottawa Redblacks head coach Ryan Dinwiddie was reminded on Saturday afternoon of what he must miss most about living in Toronto. He was reminded of how good it can be to have Chad Kelly as his quarterback. Facing his former team for the first time,...

POOL'S OUT

A limp hand sticks out through the bars of a metal fence, where a man is lying unconscious on the hot pavement. It's the afternoon of June 12, the final day of operation for Ottawa's two remaining supervised consumption sites. Out in front of the...

THREE CHEERS!

For all the promises, the avowals of support and the cheerleading from coach Jesse Marsch that frankly was starting to feel a little forced, Canada needed more. They needed a first-ever win in World Cup play. They needed goals in bunches (and...

WILL HE OR WON'T HE?

VANCOUVER — There's a special class of Canadian athlete; one whose health becomes a national discussion. We're thinking Wayne Gretzky's back at the 1991 Canada Cup, or Sidney Crosby's head, or Marie-philip Poulin's leg during the 2026 Winter...

TUNED OUT

This is the perfect time to start over again. To find the next Ron Maclean. To find the next panel that rocks. To become, under a new name every Saturday night, what Hockey Night In Canada used to be. The program that set the standard for hockey on...

IS HE JOR-DONE?

Is Jordan Spence one-and-done with the Ottawa Senators? That possibility is on the table. With less than two weeks until the National Hockey League draft is held, with the top prospects gathered at the Keybank Center in Buffalo for Round 1 on June...

A DON DEAL?

An agreement to end fighting between the United States and Iran is “now complete,” according to Donald Trump, with an Iranian diplomat and key mediator Pakistan backing those assertions. Trump announced what he said was the completion of the deal on...

HOLE TRUTH

Paul Charette had just finished a locksmithing job at the Rideau Centre and was returning to the van he'd parked outside when he first encountered the sinkhole. It had opened up, a giant, yawning maw, between him and the company car, a dark blue Dodge...

FAST ON THE DRAW

How close was Canada to a full-blown World Cup crisis? About 10 minutes, plus stoppage time. Knocked back by a goal from Bosniaherzegovina midway through the first half of the first men's World Cup game ever to be played on Canadian soil, and missing...

STADIUM COVER UP

MARKED MEN

The two biggest questions Jesse Marsch wants nothing to do with almost certainly will decide Canada's version of success in the World Cup. Question 1: What about the injuries and especially the massive, mysterious hamstring of captain Alphonso...

TURBO CHARGED

Just like that, two of the most recognizable jerseys in the Charge fan base have become relics of a bygone era. After captain Brianne Jenner and alternate captain Emily Clark announced their departures to sign with the new Hamilton franchise, the...

WITH BATED BREATH

As Doug Ford heads to Washington for two days of meetings Monday, there are a few nervous people in Ottawa. Officials in Ottawa from the Prime Minister's Office on down are crossing their fingers and holding their breath that Ford doesn't do anything...

THE BUZZ

As warmer summer temperatures are finally expected to settle in after a cool spring in Ottawa, outdoor patios and swimming pools won't be the only things coming to life. The warm weather is also great news for mosquitoes and other biting insects, many...

LIFE SAVERS

When Jonathan Blakey saw Mark Cloutier flat on the ice, he had no idea the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) refresher course from a week prior would help save the 72-year-old's life. It was while warming up for a Wednesday afternoon beer league...

`MAYHEM' IN OVERBROOK

At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, all that remained behind the Ottawa police's yellow crime scene tape were bloodied gauzes, white Nike Air sneakers and a bullet casing. Just hours before, officers were at the 300 block of Prince Albert St. in the Overbrook...

PEDDLING BIKE SHARE

When Debbie Staples was told she might have to leave the apartment she has lived in for nearly 20 years, she tried to imagine what might come next. “Is the postman going to deliver the mail to my car?” she recalls thinking. “Because that's where I'd...

ON THE RUN

Ottawa police say no arrests have been made after stabbings at Mooney's Bay Park over the weekend left an adult man in critical condition and sent a teenage girl to hospital. Officers said they were called to the park at about 8:53 p.m. on Saturday,...

TRUE PATRIOT LOVE

The Canadian military believes patriotism, along with distinct uniforms and other benefits, could prompt members of the public to volunteer for a new 300,000-strong reserve force to be used in national emergencies. Chief of the Defence Staff Gen....

ERRBORNE

The Canadian Forces Snowbirds have been many things to many people over the years. One of the best teams in the world for precision demonstrations and a regular sight at major events from Grey Cups to Olympic Games, the Snowbirds have inspired...