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Kitchissippi is the Most Popular Ward to Call about Trees to 311 Ottawa -Draft

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Trees that are too big or unsightly refers to trees that can cause damage in public areas. However, some people request pruning services for aesthetic reasons without realizing how to properly care for a tree. Photo by Katie Jacobs.

Since 2013, Kitchissippi made the most calls on tree related issues, according to an analysis from a 311 dataset.

The most common calls are for too big/unsightly trees. Among the top five wards for this category are River, Capital, Alta Vista and Gloucester – Southgate.

Tracey Schwets, the Program Manager of the Forest Management Branch at 311 Ottawa, explains in an email that these calls usually refer to branches touching a house, or requesting clearance space.

Schwets adds this normally means a caller is asking for a tree to be pruned.

“Pruning a tree doesn’t mean that you’re stunting it’s growth, it just means that maybe your helping shape its growth in a way that works better with …the ecosystem.” says Lauren Latour, the community organizer and campaign coordinator for Ecology Ottawa.

However, some people ask for trees to be pruned for aesthetic reasons, mostly because of the mess from sticky sap or fallen nuts, says David Koshurba, co-owner of Croft Tree Experts.

Koshurba explains pruning is meant to help trees, but since it can also stress them, it is important to avoid touching unhealthy trees and look for signs if one needs to be trimmed, such as damage, disease, or if two limbs are rubbing against each other.

He adds if improperly pruned, a tree could “open the door” for other diseases, fungus and insects.

“In the long run, it’s almost life or death for us. If we don’t have trees, we are not going to be able to survive as a species,” says Koshurba, who loves big oak trees. “Especially in city areas, there’s a lot more pollution, a lot more traffic, so to preserve a city tree is a lot more important.”

Koshurba says even though some people have aesthetic goals, others love their trees and let it grow without realizing that pruning may help. He adds more people are caring about their trees after witnessing the damage after the Tornado earlier this year.

“If you take care of your trees, even in those situations, you’re going to have a better chance of the tree surviving and a less chance of stress,” he explains. “Most of the trees (that came down) were stressed already before the Tornado hit.”

The City of Ottawa owns 330,000 trees, asking citizens to help maintain them by requesting pruning services to control pests and remove safety hazards in case storms.

Schwets adds a tree is never removed for aesthetic reasons, only if a Forest inspector deems it necessary. The city is also required to replace the tree, if possible, through the Trees in Trust program.

Latour, who lives on the border of Rideau-Vanier and Centretown, works in the Tree Ottawa Campaign, which gives away saplings for citizens’ yards.

“Trees are almost always worked into a city scape because people who work in urban planning understand the value of a tree,” explains Latour.

Latour was born in London Ontario, which she says is known as “The Forest City.” She adds when she used to visit her grandmother in Florida, she fell in love with the massive, wild oak trees.

“There’s studies that showed that increased exposure to …nature is extremely beneficial to our mental health and our physical state and well-being,” says Latour.

Latour agrees that some people may have an aesthetic idea or order on what they want their city landscape to look like, and admits her mother’s tree makes a mess by dropping seed pods, which would temporarily stain the concrete.

However, she says trees provide great health benefits to cities, and even solutions to global warming by filtering water and carbon dioxide or preventing soil erosion.”

“The number of benefits that trees offer us, (aesthetics) seems like a minor thing,” says Latour. “I do struggle with why somebody would complain about a tree, maybe cleaning up acorns in front of your house is a pain in the butt.”

Unsuitable Housing Areas Grouped Together in Ottawa According to 2016 Census – DRAFT

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By: Katie Jacobs

Jeanette Tossounian looks at her file filled with notices she collected since she moved into community housing. She sleeps on the massage table (right) instead of the mattress (left). Photo by Katie Jacobs.

According to an analysis of Canada’s 2016 census, Alta Vista is the worst area to find suitable housing in Ottawa.

Among the top five are Kitchissippi, Somerset, Bay, Gloucester – Southgate, and the Rideau areas. These wards are in close proximity to each other.

Jeanette Tossounian, an artist, author and activist, lives in community housing within the Rideau vicinity. Her apartment has a vinyl covered mattress with brown blankets in her living room.

She never sleeps on it.

Instead, Tossounian sleeps on a massage table, with the lights on, so bed bugs can’t reach her.

“It’s really uncomfortable,” says Tossounian.

Each of her walls are decorated with at least three pieces of artwork. She jokes that one painting is probably worth more than her apartment.

“It’s an old building, so there’s always things breaking down,” says Tossounian, who experienced her water being shut off, asbestos notifications, and fire alarm tests at least twice a month. “The elevators are always breaking down. I’ve heard of people being stuck … it missed my floor a couple times.”

Tossounian moved in last April with no possessions after being wrongfully accused and arrested for burning down her own art gallery. Before, she was living in an office space and sleeping on a futon.

Although Tossounian says the apartment itself is fine, she wants to leave.

“I don’t want to be permanently in housing, and there’s a lot of people who, like me, just see it as a temporary thing, but the only other thing that is more temporary is a shelter,” she says.

Larissa Silver, the director of community services at the Youth Services Bureau, says finding stable housing is difficult because of Ottawa’s high demand and competition.

“There are very few vacancies in the city … so landlords can be pickier on who they choose to rent their apartment to,” explains Silver, who works with youth who seek more accessible and reasonable housing. “In a tight market with very limited income, your options are pretty limited.”
Silver says she works with youth to understand their legal rights with landlords. She adds there is some discrimination based on age or stigma towards youth behaviour.

Silver works in two transitional housing shelters that help youth prepare for independent living and long – term housing. She says she works within the Vanier, Kitchissippi, and Bayward areas.

“Some of those areas … have a higher concentration of lower income housing,” explains Silver.

According to Canada Without Poverty, three million Canadian households are unaffordable, below standards, or overcrowded. ( )

Michele Biss is the legal education and outreach coordinator at Canada Without Poverty.

She explains access to services or housing crises is usually the reason why low-income populations are grouped together.

Biss adds people who are disabled, racialized, women, have mental health issues, are single mothers, indigenous, and LGBTQ often experience unsuitable housing. She says many of these individuals don’t have access to legal resources to assert their rights.

Biss mentions Herongate as an example, where an entire block of people was evicted, including a large Somali population, in order to build a higher income condo.

“They have driven people out of their homes. They have harassed people, they have bullied people, the conditions of the housing prior to this change were so horrifyingly terrible,” says Biss.

Herongate is within the Alta Vista district.

Tossounian is working on her second film documentary about her life, as well as others, in community housing.

“I’m happy to have a place of my own, and an address,” says Tossounian. “But the lack of a nice good sleep … I look forward to moving out and buying nice new furniture I know will have no bed bugs in it.”

She adds she is going to apply to the government’s $40 billion plan to see if she qualifies for an affordable housing complex.

“Nobody really wants problems just because they need a place to stay,” she concludes.

Criminal Activity of Cannabis Related Crimes and Youth Decreased by Half

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According to the Incident-Based Crime Statistics Database, cannabis crimes associated with youth decreased by half in the last five years in Ontario.

The majority age associated with cannabis production, trafficking and distribution is between 12 to 21 in Canada. By 2017, the rates of cannabis-related criminal activity committed by youth and adults was almost equal.

In Ontario, the crime rate for youth cannabis crimes dropped to 15.27 in 2017. In 2013, the rate was 37.45.

Despite this decrease, charges were laid on youth three times more than adults. However, these numbers do not include juveniles who were not charged.

In October, people who are nineteen and older will have legal access and possession of cannabis. It will still be illegal to sell cannabis to adolescence.

However, experts and substance and health specialists predict youth will be more open to discuss using cannabis to get the help they need.

Eugene Oscapella, a professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, says drug policy is a human rights and justice issue.

“We are taking people, we’re stigmatizing them, we’re criminalizing them, we’re impairing their ability to earn a living, we’re impairing their ability to travel, we’re intruding their privacy and their private behavior, so there’s all sorts of human rights issues involved,” says Oscapella.

Oscapella says most pot sales are made by juveniles. The common age of first using cannabis is 16 or 17, and the heaviest consumption is between 15 to 24.

He adds there will be a reduction of some parts of crime one cannabis becomes legal, but there will still be a black-market targeting youth. However, he adds they will not likely be accessing cannabis through typical organized crime.

The Wellness Centre has access to a list of resources for counselling for substance abuse and mental health. Fa’Ttima Omran referred to the Amethyst Women’s Addiction Centre and the Distress Centre Ottawa for cannabis addiction. Photo by Katie Jacobs.

“It might be somebody’s older brother going into a store and buying cannabis … and selling it to younger kids and taking a small profit,” says Oscapella.

Oscapella says the most fundamental solution is to understand why people use drugs, why do some use it in a problematic way, and how do we help them.

Health specialists, such as Jessica Brett, a nurse at Ottawa Public Health (OPH) for three years, is working on putting together public education and policy analyses in preparation for legalization.

She says OPH supports legalization, specifically using regulations for the public’s best interest in health.

Brett says that criminalizing cannabis leads people, particularly youth, to experience social harms.

“Legalizing … hopefully will be able to address negative effects associated with cannabis use and hopefully minimize those social harms that we currently see,” says Brett.

Brett adds OPH will be encouraging youth under the age of 25 not to use it since it can change functions of the brain during adolescence, and can lead to mental health problems.

Fa’Ttima Omran, a second-year master’s student in legal studies, says with legalization, there may be more opportunities to have interesting discussions on cannabis addiction.

“There is a climate of change that … is making sure that individuals that are very vulnerable will not get caught up in the criminal justice system just because of their usage,” says Omran.

Omran is the administrative coordinator of the Wellness Centre at Carleton University. She says it’s more important to understand the social, political and mental health aspects behind cannabis use rather than criminalizing the person.

“People do seek counselling for using alcohol, for using all different substances, and it just brings into the conversation what addiction has within our society …and making sure that people that are experiencing that feel they are supported in any way possible in the most non-judgmental ways,” says Omran.

Omran says the Wellness Centre is designed to be a safe, non-judgmental space where information is confidential. The centre also has access to counselling resources outside the University.

Cannabis in Crimes Canada- Working Copy