Time to put some air in the tires!

Bike season in Ottawa starts on Sunday May 19. Many roads in the national capital area will be temporarily closed to vehicular traffic on Sundays until Labour Day in September, so that bikers as well as walkers, runners & skateboarders can enjoy the parkways without having to worry about car and bus traffic. For more information click here.

Sheep shearing festival this weekend in Ottawa

The Canada Agriculture and Food Museum in Ottawa is having its annual sheep shearing festival May 18 – 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Visitors can visit the barns and watch sheep getting rid of their winter coats. There will also be sheepdog herding demonstrations and a sheepdog agility test.

For more information, visit the museum's website.

Ross Creighton shearing a sheep with electric clippers. It takes him approximately three minutes to do this. Mr. Creighton shears between 4,000 – 5,000 sheep per year.

Spring haircut!

Mr. Creighton holding up the wool coat which weighs about 1.4 kilograms.

The Ottawa Valley Border Collie Club brought several dogs to the museum and demonstrated how agile they are. Here, one of the dogs zig-zags in between the poles. These dogs are also excellent herders.

A dog from the Ottawa Valley Border Collie Club exits a tunnel that is used in the agility demonstration.

Getting ready for this year's Ride For Dad

The Ottawa chapter of the Motorcycle Ride For Dad held a press conference at Big Rig Brewery today to announce that this year's ride through the streets of the nation's capital will be held on Saturday June 1.
The goal this year is to attract 2,500 riders and raise $500,000 for prostate cancer research.
Big Rig Brewery is getting in on the action as well. The Iris Street restaurant/brewpub has come up with a special brew for the Ride For Dad called Iron Arse Ale and proceeds from the sale of the ale will go towards prostate cancer research.
A spokesperson for the Ride for Dad announced there will be a free Prostate-Specific Antigen test (PSA) clinic on Saturday May 4 at the Ottawa Hospital General Campus between 9 – 11 a.m.
For more information click here.

National Capital BIXI starts 3rd season today

Ottawa and Gatineau's bike-sharing service – BIXI – officially starts its third season in the national capital area today with 23 stations up and running.

Two more stations in Ottawa will soon be on board. A total of 250 bikes will be available for rent.

To learn more about the service, maps of where the rental stations are located and bike rental costs, please click here.

In 2012, 44,335 trips were taken on BIXI bikes in the national capital region.

Lend your leg for mine awareness

Today is International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action and civil society groups around the world are calling on states to stop using both landmines and cluster munitions.
This special day and the Lend Your Leg campaign is also a reminder of the many challenges victims of landmines and cluster munitions face as they try to rebuild their lives, while the campaign encourages others to roll up their pant legs in solidarity.
To date, there are 161 state parties to the Mine Ban Treaty and 80 state parties to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Unfortunately, many countries have not signed either treaty and these weapons are still being used around the world – most recently in Syria.
"The use of both these banned weapons recently by Syrian government forces, causing large numbers of civilian casualties, clearly demonstrates why these weapons are being consigned to the ash heap of history," said Sylvie Brigot-Vilain, executive director of the International Campaign to ban Landmines (ICBL) and the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC). "The remaining hold-out countries should join the two treaties comprehensively banning these weapons now," said Ms. Brigot-Vilain.
While both treaties have proven highly successful, many challenges remain. On average, 12 people per day are either killed or maimed by these weapons, according to the ICBL–CMC. In addition, 60 countries are still affected by landmine and cluster munition contamination. This means farmers cannot access land and children cannot travel to school easily.
The future success of the Mine Ban Treaty and the Convention on Cluster Munitions is dependent on consistent and reliable funding from donors around the world. In a press release, Mines Action Canada said it is concerned that Canada may be retreating from the Mine Ban Treaty and abandoning landmine and cluster munition affected communities. 2011 saw Canadian funding for mine action drop from around $30 million to just $17 million or less than 50 cents per Canadian per year.  In the past, Paul Hannon, executive director of Mines Action Canada has called for Canada to provide one dollar per Canadian per year to mine action. 
To find out if your country has joined the Mine Ban Treaty, click here. For the Convention on Cluster Munitions, click here.

Westfest 2013

Westfest founder Elaina Martin showing off the Westfest guitar.

The summer festival season in Ottawa starts with a bang on June 6 with the 10th anniversary of Westfest in Westboro Village.

This year the event will be four days (instead of three) and all performances will take place on the Domicile Main Stage, which will be located behind the Real Canadian Superstore. This means music lovers won't have to run from stage to stage to try and catch their favourite acts.

Speaking of acts – this year's headliners include: Jane Siberry, Elliot Brood, Skydiggers and Fiftymen.

The best part is Westfest is free!

For more information go to www.westfest.ca and follow the festival on Twitter @WESTFESTinfo.

World Water Day 2013

Today is World Water Day. This year's theme is water cooperation. World Water Day has been celebrated every March 22 since 1993 as a way to focus the world's attention on the importance of safe, clean drinking water and proper sanitation for everyone.

We take water for granted and we should not. Every 20 seconds a child dies from a water-related illness, according to water.org.

To find out what is happening in your community (in Canada) please click here.

One of dozens of bags of garbage that were collected by volunteers during a clean up of Brewery Creek in Gatineau, Québec in May 2012.

Helping landmine survivors in Colombia

© Gaël Turine / VU, Colombie 2008

The Government of Canada has announced that it will provide $2.93 million (all figures in Canadian dollars) to support landmine survivors in Colombia.

Handicap International Canada will implement the project. The NGO was involved in the initial project back in 2007-08 (with funding from the Canadian Landmine Fund) to analyze and understand the legal framework on victim assistance in Colombia and to identify gaps in delivery of assistance.

This new funding will allow Handicap International Canada to expand that to reach the 10 departments in Colombia that have the highest number of landmine survivors.

"It's a project mainly aimed at institutional reinforcement," said Christian Champigny, a funding manager with Handicap International Canada, in a telephone interview.

The new project will make existing assistance programs available to a broader number of victims. Newly identified landmine survivors will be registered in the system and referred to the appropriate service provider for assistance. They may also be eligible for some financial support, according to Mr. Champigny.

"If (a landmine survivor) needs to cover extra costs to move from their community to the department (where the service provider is located), there may be some support in terms of accommodation and transport," he said.

In terms of overall international funding for mine action, the money that was announced is not very much, however, Mr. Champigny feels it is enough to make a significant contribution.

"When you do direct assistance – with three million dollars – you can do so much within a certain period of time," said Mr. Champigny. "But when you work on institutional reinforcement, enhancing capacity and mobilizing actors in those key departments, you create a momentum that will eventually touch more people than the number of people you could have touched with the same amount of money doing direct assistance."

Belgium and Colombia will also be contributing resources to this project, although the majority of funding will come from Canada.

Mr. Champigny has travelled to Colombia and has met with many landmine survivors. Overcoming the physical injury is the initial hurdle for these survivors. Social acceptance, skills training, education and employment are other challenges that must be overcome.

There were at least 7,623 mine / explosive remnants of war (ERW) survivors in Colombia as of the end of 2011, according to the latest Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor.

Canadian funding for mine action has dropped significantly in recent years. In 2007 Canada contributed more than $49 million; however, in 2011, that figure dropped to less than $17 million.

Cold weather helps Winterlude

Winterlude, the annual winter celebration that takes place in Ottawa, wrapped up today after a successful three-week run in Canada's capital.

“The 35th edition of Winterlude demonstrated the sustainability of our new business model, building on existing partnerships, and forging new ones,” said Guy Laflamme, of the National Capital Commission (NCC). “The iconic Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s largest outdoor skating rink, was open in its entirety during Winterlude and offered visitors a spectacular skating experience in the heart of Canada’s Capital Region.”

Winterlude attracts approximately 600,000 people, 30 per cent of whom live outside the region.

The 36th edition of Winterlude will take place from January 31 to February 17, 2014.