Oct 30

November 2024 Newsletter

Happy Hallowe’en from the Community Association! 🎃

CGOWCA Pilot Project – A Community Forum

Starting in November 2024, the Convent Glen Orleans Wood Community Association is launching a new pilot initiative: a community forum. The newly formed Outreach Committee is trying this out for the community and are hoping to keep it as a safe, productive space for residents and anybody who is invested in making our community a great place to live.

Join the Community Forum

Read the announcement post and our community guidelines.

Budget 2025: Active Transportation Priorities

Matthieu Gagnon, Vice-President, CGOWCA Board

Last spring, I did a series on my personal blog about what I consider the top priorities for active transportation in Orléans. I came up with four general objectives and wrote a post about each of them:

  1. Allowing kids to move around the neighbourhood
  2. Getting people to the future LRT stations
  3. Accessing local business and amenities
  4. Enabling commute downtown

Since budget consultations are coming up, I thought it would be good to review any progress on those objectives and determine what would be my top asks for next year’s budget.

Read the rest of the article and drop in to (our ward councillor) Laura Dudas’ budget consultation meetings (and take her budget survey) over the next 6 weeks.

Convent Glen Pumpkin Alley 2024

You’re invited to the first Convent Glen Pumpkin Alley!

The Convent Glen Orléans Woods Community Association is thrilled to host our first pumpkin alley on Friday November 1st, 2024 from 6 – 8 PM. Join us in Voyageur Park (south end) and bring your carved pumpkins with battery powered tea lights (no candles) to light the path for a wonderful post Halloween tradition. If kids (or adults!) want to have a chance to get at least one more use out of their costumes as they grow, this is it!

Check out all the event details.

Life Under the Leaves

Photo credit: Seetal Sunga
Nadia Ouellette, Environment Committee

This time of year, many neighbours are vigilantly raking and disposing of leaves. Last November, our newsletter highlighted the benefits of leaving the leaves. The effort to remove leaves from your property is harmful to pollinators, but well-meaning people may not realize the harm they are inadvertently causing.

Read the article to see which important insects are making cozy homes in your fallen leaves this time of year.

Oct 29

CGOWCA Pilot Project – A Community Forum

Starting in November 2024, the Convent Glen Orleans Wood Community Association will be launching a new pilot initiative: a community forum (minus the Facebook algorithm). I wanted to share some of the reasons we wanted to try this out for the community and what we hope to do to keep it as a safe, productive space for residents and anybody who is invested in making our community a great place to live.

You will be required to use or create an account using the messaging platform called Discord to access the forum.

Join the CGOWCA Forum

What is Discord, and Why Are We Trying This?

Discord is really great to keep communities in contact with each other, and while I’m not going to explain too much about how it works here, this is a pretty solid yet brief 2-minute explanation: What Is Discord?

First and foremost, the reason to create a ‘public forum’ space like this for the community when we already have a large and bustling Facebook group is pretty simple. Once you create an account (or if you have one already), you can open the Discord app or website and navigate directly to a dedicated space where you can see everything the particular community group has to offer. There are no algorithms in anybody’s way, no scrolling long feeds to make sure you didn’t miss anything you care about, and you have a chance to get to know your neighbours who share your interests and passions.

A Sense of Community

We will be experimenting with different ways to verify members who join actually live in the area and assigning those members appropriate roles in the group. We would also like to allow people who want to participate in the group to remain publicly anonymous (or at the very least keep some level of privacy) if they would prefer that, as long as they abide by our community guidelines, of course. There will be no (reasonable) limitations on the kinds of things you can post (like stopping self-promotion or fundraising), but we will try to help ensure users stay on topic within the various channels we have created.

What We Have Planned

We have lots of ideas for the community already, but we are also taking suggestions for ways we can improve or allow new discussions to take place. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of the things we’re planning to have:

  • A list of channels based on loose neighborhood boundaries, so you can post something relevant to a specific part of the community association’s catchment area.
  • An active events calendar for things to do and see in the community.
  • An area for sharing local news, community information, and public notices.
  • An area for promoting yourself or fundraisers, giving things away, or selling things you don’t need.
  • A suggestion ‘box’ where anybody can share their ideas to make the group better.
  • Topics like municipal zoning and city budget, to engage in civil and open discussions about our shared spaces
  • Resident submitted ideas/posts/articles for the website and newsletter
  • More to come!

Above all, we aim to have this space represent the very best of our community, where you can get to know the people who live in your neighbourhood and be exposed to diverse viewpoints. We are looking to get volunteers to help out with moderation (hoping it will not be necessary), and who can also assist with keeping things up to date. You can join now by following the link below:

Join the CGOWCA Forum

Oct 28

Budget 2025: Active Transportation Priorities

Matthieu Gagnon, Vice-President, CGOWCA Board

Last spring, I did a series on my personal blog about what I consider the top priorities for active transportation in Orléans. I came up with four general objectives and wrote a post about each of them:

  1. Allowing kids to move around the neighbourhood
  2. Getting people to the future LRT stations
  3. Accessing local business and amenities
  4. Enabling commute downtown

Since budget consultations are coming up, I thought it would be good to review any progress on those objectives and determine what would be my top asks for next year’s budget.

The most important connection that I identified is an easy way to cross the 174 with Orléans Boulevard being my favoured crossing because of the proximity to a lot of schools. Last year’s budget included money to conduct a study on Orléans Boulevard to include bike lanes which should be out this fall. As a community, I think we should be pushing hard to get this project moving along in the hopes that we can get something in place by the time the LRT comes online so people can include cycling as an option to quickly get to the LRT station and make a habit of using transit. As a community association, we will keep pushing to get this connection and make sure that whatever is implemented is usable for all ages.

A second connection that has risen in my list of priorities that I would like to see progress is Champlain between the river and Place D’Orléans. With the coming of a new senior residence, I think it would be important to give them easy access to the mall and to the river. It would also help the rest of the community to access the mall and by extending the infrastructure to Centrum, it would help access the amenities located there while also supporting the condo buildings already on Centrum which could help reduce traffic on St-Joseph.

I would also like to see further improvements to the multi-use pathway (MUP) network. Last winter, the MUP around North Vineyard was well used to get students to the school and I would see more of it. Looking at a map of Orléans it seems like a better connection to Terry Fox Elementary School is needed with no direct connection to the school currently in place. The paths around Orléans Wood Elementary School were also in a sorry state when I last rode on them last year. I am also not sure how the MUP along the 174 between Sugar Creek and the Park and Ride will look like in its final state so I will reserve judgement until it is open but it could be a very good connection especially if it is winter maintained. THe path south of the 174 between Place D’Orléans and Orléans Boulevard also needs a lot of work post-LRT along with a few connections to the No Frills parking lot.Whatever the case, the community association will try to be more involved in the design so these paths are better conceived than what we got at North Vineyard.

There are a few other areas where I see improvements being needed fairly quickly based on some proposals that are out there. If the project  proposed at 1887 St-Joseph gets approved, it would be important to provide good connections to the rest of Orléans and to the LRT if we don’t want a lot more cars on our roads. I assume that those conversations will happen as the project moves along and may be financed by development charges or be built by the developers. 

Laura Dudas’s budget survey for 2025 is up and I encourage everyone to fill it out. The budget consultations dates for the Orléans and ward specific presentations announced. I sincerely hope that more people show up to Laura Dudas’s sessions than last year where it was just me and Daniel Lamothe (CA treasurer). I really encourage everyone to get involved if you want any chance of seeing the priorities you value included in this or future budgets. It will also be an opportunity to meet the community association board since some of us will be there.

Ward-specific consultation drop-ins (more info):

  • Saturday, November 16 from 1 to 2:30 pm, Bériault Room, Orléans Branch of the Ottawa Public Library, 1705 Orléans Boulevard
  • Saturday, November 23 from 10:30 am to 12 pm, Foyer, Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex, 1490 Youville Drive
  • Thursday, December 5 from 6:30 to 8 pm, Community Room, Lois Kemp Arena, 200 Glen Park Drive

Oct 27

Life Under the Leaves

Photo credit: Seetal Sunga
Nadia Ouellette, Environment Committee

This time of year, many neighbours are vigilantly raking and disposing of leaves. Last November, our newsletter highlighted the benefits of leaving the leaves. The effort to remove leaves from your property is harmful to pollinators, but well-meaning people may not realize the harm they are inadvertently causing. 

Here is an introduction to five highly-valued wildlife species you are inadvertently hurting when you dispose of your leaves.

  1. Fireflies – (Lampyris noctiluca)
    • What a magical feeling to watch fireflies flashing in the dark. Sadly, their numbers are declining and habitat loss is one of the reasons. The larval stage of the firefly survives our winter under the leaves. According to firefly.org, when you rake up leaves and put them at the curb, you are throwing away fireflies. Let’s allow future generations to experience the sight of these amazing creatures. 
  2. Mourning Cloak Butterfly – (Nymphalis antiopa)
    • This beautiful butterfly is considered one of the first sights of spring, sometimes it can be seen before the snow has fully melted. They are unusual, as they spend the winter in their adult stage. During the cold months they are in a hibernating-like state, tucked away under fallen leaves or under the bark of a tree. You risk harming them when you throw away your leaves.
  3. Luna Moth – (Actias luna)
    • These beautiful moths are some of the largest in North America and can be the size of an adult human’s hand. In northern climates, one generation is born every summer. The caterpillar grows into a pupa and the pupa forms a cocoon on the ground amongst the leaves. 
  4. Woolly Bear – (Pyrrharctia isabella)
    • The caterpillar stage of the Isabella Tiger Moth is an important part of our folklore. The length of the rusty brown colour on the caterpillar was used to predict the severity of the upcoming winter. There’s even a festival dedicated to them! They spend the cold winter under the leaves.
  5. Bumblebees – (Bombus)
    • As fall and winter approaches, the matriarch bumblebee queen and the worker bees will begin to die of old age. The younger queen, who has newly mated, will survive the winter. This is the most precarious stage of their life cycle. Scientists still haven’t unlocked all of the bumblebees requirements for the winter and are still learning. This queen will burrow into the earth to survive our winter and a thick layer of leaves will help her to survive the cold. 

Beyond the five species mentioned in this article, there are many other beautiful creatures that depend on you to leave leaves. The next time you’re disposing of leaves, please consider who else you might be disposing of, and how you may be impacting the ecosystem for generations to come.