Over 100 CAFES members came out on December 8th to enjoy another wonderful seasonal Members' Event at the Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre!
This year's event was a great opportunity for us all to connect and discuss the future ahead together. Given that next year is a municipal election year, we discussed and heard what issues the CAFES network members want to see on the agenda.
The event featured an inspiring talk by Chair of the Board Jennifer Gautreau, an engaging presentation by Executive Director Angela Keller-Herzog, and three excellent presentations highlighting some of the incredible work accomplished by CAFES members this year - Jennifer Humphries (Glebe Community Association), Marianne Ariganello (OSEAN), and Carleton professor Sarah Gelbard with two students from this year's Carleton Community Engagement project on invasive species.
We enjoyed a delicious plant-based dinner catered by Caldwell Family Centre social enterprise, and leftover food was taken to a women's shelter. There were awesome raffle prizes, not to mention the beautiful Winter Quilt holiday cards for sale, hand-designed by our own CAFES volunteer Magdalene Carson! A special thank you to Andrea Balfour for being such an incredible MC for the evening, and to Jake Morrison for being our photographer. We also wanted to thank the amazing volunteers who came early to set up, stayed late to take down, and helped this evening run so smoothly.
We thoroughly loved celebrating all the work we have accomplished as a community network in 2025, thanks to the support of dedicated members like you.
If you have any feedback or ideas about how to further improve future CAFES Member Events, please email your thoughts to Mitzi MacDonald at info@cafesottawa.ca
Warm wishes to everyone this holiday season!
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From September to December 2025 CAFES once again partnered with Carleton University on the fifth annual Community Engagement Project with a 2nd year sociology/anthropology undergraduate course. This year, the theme was on Invasive Plant Species. Thank you to Kanata Beaverbrook, Hintonburg, Overbrook, Old Ottawa South, Bel Air, Hunt Club and Riverside Community Associations for participating in this year's project!
The intent for the project was for students to partner with representatives from Community Associations (CA) across Ottawa - who are part of the CAFES network - to gain real-life community engagement experience and create projects/deliverables on the chosen topic.
For the CA leaders, this project was an opportunity to learn and connect with university students and have their neighbourhoods benefit from the deliverables the students are able to create. CA leaders had the opportunity to share expertise on invasive species management in Ottawa and how we can increase public awareness on this important issue. For the students, they were able to analyze insights and experiences gained as they brought their conceptual learning from the course together with their experience working towards real-world objectives in their chosen communities.
Students did an excellent job this year creating videos, posters, artwork, educational brochures, lesson plans, door to door campaigning, event planning, social media posts - all about invasive plant species management and awareness! Stay tuned for a full project post on the CAFES website that will show off the students' amazing projects.
Check out the photos below of some of the students engaging with their community association leaders throughout the course and delivering their final presentations in class on Thursday, November 27th!
By: Magdalene Carson
The CAFES network is delighted to welcome one our very latest new organizational members, the Wild Arts Collective (WAC). As we continue to grow our network in exciting new directions, this partnership with WAC is a way to strengthen environmental communication in Ottawa and to learn from the experience of others working in the arts and culture sector toward a sustainable future.
The WAC was formed in 2023 with a shared goal: to use art as a clear, accessible way to spark conversations about the environment. The eight Ottawa-based artists work in different mediums, united by the belief that creativity can move people toward practical, local environmental action.
Grounded in the idea of “think global, act local,” WAC focuses on issues that shape life in our city - for example, the protection of trees and green spaces, the risks of waste-to-energy incineration, and the shift toward renewable energy. WAC engages with broader concerns as well such as single-use plastics, consumption habits, and the everyday choices that either harm or help the planet.
Most of WAC’s current pieces take the form of 2×3-foot posters, inspired by Bill McKibben’s insight that "the poster is where art meets organizing most powerfully". WAC's work aims to meet people where they are — in cafés, markets, and community spaces — and hopes to open a moment of curiosity and reflection.
Since then, WAC has shared their work in several venues and community events, including gallery cafés and neighbourhood gatherings. Their current exhibit is on display at Happy Goat Coffee Co. in Sandy Hill and runs until the end of December 2025. Several additional exhibits across Ottawa are planned for the coming months, including a new series focused on reducing plastic use. WAC also includes musicians, and they plan to explore sound-based environmental work in upcoming projects.
Learn more about WAC by visiting their website.
PS. If you are curious about who all are organizational members of the growing CAFES network, Mitzi regularly updates the list at this obscure but public-facing spot on the website: https://chrisl335.sg-host.com/about/organizational-members/
On Saturday, October 18th, the Mechanicsville Community Association in partnership with CAFES volunteers planted over 70 new native tree saplings at our Mother's Day Woods site at Tunney's Pasture! It was a glorious fall day. We were thrilled to share this exciting day with over 30 volunteers. Thank you so much for everyone who came out to help increase Ottawa's urban tree canopy!
This event is part of CAFES' annual tree programming to increase tree canopy in Ottawa neighbourhoods that need it most. Read all about the Give-Away we organized earlier this year on Mother's Day to encourage kids and families to plant trees in backyards.
Thank you to TD Friends of the Environment for your generosity in making this event possible. Thank you to MP Yasir Naqvi for your continued annual partnership with CAFES on tree planting in Ottawa, and to MPP Catherine McKenney for your support towards this event. Thank you to the City of Ottawa CEPGP.
Interested in becoming a tree steward? We are still looking for a few volunteers to return to the Tunney's Pasture planting site periodically to help water the new trees in the spring, summer and fall of 2026 using our on-site water tote. These trees will need weekly waterings next year to ensure their health and survival. If interested, please contact Erica at eshardlow@cafesottawa.ca. A huge thank you to those who have signed up so far.
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From October 17-19th, CAFES hosted violin-piano duo, DoSi, in Ottawa as part of their "Wanting to Start Again" tour in Glebe, Carp, and Manotick.
Each concert was incredibly powerful and we are so grateful to Tong and Maitreyi for partnering with us and bringing their music to three different areas. We're equally grateful to everyone who showed up to these concerts and shared their "recipes" for finding hope. We hope that everyone left feeling as inspired as we did!
If you weren't able to make the concert or want to relive the experience, we've posted a recap video on Youtube, which includes a special message from the musicians!
Look out for DoSi's future concerts on their Instagram (@dosiduo) and website (https://dosiduo.com/).
Thank you to our host venues - Glebe St. James United Church, St. Paul's United Church, and Manotick United Church - for making these events possible!
CAFES' Executive Director Angela Keller-Herzog was pleased to meet again with Mayor Mark Sutcliffe on Wednesday, October 15th, 2025, as part of the third instalment of the Roundtable on Environment. In attendance was also Larissa Holman from the Ottawa Riverkeeper, and William Van Geest from Ecology Ottawa. We look forward to continuing our important discussions with the Mayor's Office to make Ottawa a greener, more resilient city for all.
This month, Angela's 'Climate CAFES' segment on CKCU FM 93.1 focused on the Draw the Line March, which took place in Ottawa on Saturday, September 20th, 2025.
CAFES was involved in the organization of the Draw the Line March as part of a broad coalition of groups from different movements. In this episode, Angela spoke to Aidan Kallioinen, Carleton University Student Association's VP for Student Issues, about the process of bringing all these organizations together under a "big tent."
Don't miss next month's episode on Monday, October 13th, where Angela will be talking about electric buses!
CKCU FM 93.1 is a campus-based community radio station at Carleton University dedicated to diversity, alternative content and independent voices in the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
CAFES was proud to support our member Ottawa-South Eco Action Network (OSEAN) in organizing a free swap event for fall and winter items on September 13th, 2025! The swap, a pilot collaboration between OSEAN and the City of Ottawa, had an amazing turnout: approximately 400 people showed up!
Roughly 750 items were swapped by individuals, and the remaining items were donated to Caldwell Family Center. The City estimates that at least 1 metric ton of items were rescued!
We hope that the City of Ottawa will continue to devote resources to promoting a circular economy, especially in collaboration with community organizations.
Shout out to OSEAN's Marianne Ariganello for her work to make this event possible!
CAFES had a fantastic time tabling at the annual Carp Fair from September 25th to 28th!
The Carp Fair is a wonderful agricultural fair celebrating community, family, local artisans, farmers, businesses, and agricultural learning and education. This year's theme was "Celebrating Our Best", which was all about what can be created when we come together as a community.
CAFES enjoyed speaking with folks at the fair all about our climate and environmental advocacy work. We were partnered up with and right next to the Electric Vehi cle Council of Ottawa (EVCO), who had an EV Ford 150 Truck on display and answered all sorts of questions about electrical vehicles in Ottawa.
We had lots of fun handing out free snacks, and asking kids and families exciting environmental trivia questions with our spinning wheel. We even had solar powered popcorn, and coffee and tea powered by EVCO's electric truck!
CAFES has recently been expanding our membership network and community outreach/engagement into Ottawa's rural neighbourhoods, and the Carp Fair is always a wonderful opportunity to chat with our rural residents about transitioning to renewable energies and other climate-friendly actions.
We also want to give a huge thank you to the wonderful CAFES volunteers who helped out at this event!
Did you remember that CAFES has a monthly radio show? Tune into CKCU 93.1 FM every second Monday of the month for Angela's take on local climate issues.
This month, Angela and CAFES' summer interns Emma and James discussed David Suzuki's recent comment that "it's too late" to fight climate change. Emma and James provided a youth activist perspective, describing how many young people feel betrayed by governments and the neoliberal economic system in the face of the climate crisis, austerity, the rise of the far right, and Western complicity in human rights abuses, particularly Israel's genocide in Palestine. They emphasize that it's important to draw inspiration from historical social justice movements and take action instead of falling into despair.
Listen to the August 11 2025 episode and past editions of the show on the CKCU website!
