Former Rams women’s hockey captain works to bring the lightning to the CWHL’s Markham Thunder

Third-year RTA student Ailish Forfar went from captain of the Ryerson Rams to rookie for the Markham Thunder. (Kayla Douglas/Ryersonian)

Ailish Forfar wore her older brother’s hand-me-down hockey equipment the first time she was ever on ice.

She was learning to skate at a tiny arena in Sutton, Ont., waddling from end to end, when she dropped her stick. She bent down to pick it up and found that she couldn’t. Her brother’s gloves were too big. She knew her parents were watching, standing against the glass because there weren’t any stands at the arena and, like many three-year-olds would, she started crying.

Of course, the former Ryerson Rams women’s hockey captain has a much steadier grip today; that moment was 21 years ago and she now has gloves that fit.

“It was awful,” she said with a laugh. “I was out there with a bunch of people who were better than me.”

Today, Forfar skates in much bigger arenas as a member of the Markham Thunder in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL).

For Forfar and her mother, Sophia, their earliest memory of hockey has always served as a reminder of where her journey started. Sophia uses it to ground Forfar if she’s having a tough time at school or on the ice, saying, “I remember when you were little and you couldn’t pick up your stick. Now look at you.”

And Sophia said the same thing to her daughter on the day of the third-year RTA student’s first CWHL game on Oct. 13.

“I called my parents. I was a little nervous, obviously,” Forfar said. “My mom reminded me, ‘Well, you know you used to be that little girl at that arena.’”

For the complete story, head to the Ryersonian, where the article was originally published.

‘The third team on the field’: Carol Anne Chénard supported by fellow soccer refs after cancer diagnosis

It was just two days before Ottawa referee Carol Anne Chénard was set to fly to France for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

She had undergone the required three-and-a-half years of rigorous training and preparation for selected FIFA referees. Everything was settled at her job at Health Canada for her to take the time off. Most of her belongings were packed; just a few smaller items were left to be crammed into her bags.

They never made it into her suitcase.

Chénard, one of Canada’s most experienced female referees, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of May and would be unable to participate in this year’s Women’s World Cup.

“Unfortunately it really was last minute … I didn’t have a lot of time to digest it, I guess, because it was two days away from leaving for the World Cup,” she said with a laugh. “It obviously creates a lot of anxiety … I’m human like everyone else, so I was scared.”

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.

Disgraced coach who preyed on nine-year-old girl gets probation after eight months time served

By Gary Dimmock and Kayla Douglas

There’s a 10-year-old girl somewhere in Ottawa who is too afraid to go to the library.

The last time she went, once-popular Barrhaven hockey coach Michael Hull masturbated in front of her. She was nine years old.

In fact, Hull, 50, followed the girl around at least twice on different days — at the library and at a discount store. He performed indecent acts both times in front of the terrified girl. Those encounters with the predator have altered the young girl’s life in the worst ways.

She’s afraid to be alone.

“I feel disgusted … I’m afraid that this will happen again to me or to someone else. I’m scared to be alone in places, especially public ones because who knows what he could do next,” the girl wrote in a victim-impact statement read in court by Crown Attorney James Cavanagh on Friday after Hull pleaded guilty to committing an indecent act and accessing child porn.

“I think he should be in jail for a long time because I just don’t want to have a fear like that,” the girl wrote.

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen,  where the article was originally published.


“One of those forgotten men”: Former Lord Elgin bell captain, veteran remembered on D-Day

Warrant Officer 1st Class James Henry Munroe was one of the first assistant bell captains at the Lord Elgin Hotel when it opened in July 1941. He worked there for two months until he followed another calling.

Munroe went to 90 O’Connor St., a five-minute walk from the hotel, and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on Sept. 11, 1941, to join the Allies in the Second World War.

Though Munroe didn’t work at the Lord Elgin for long, on Thursday morning, the 75th anniversary of D-Day, his photo was hung in the hotel’s lobby, immortalizing him as one of the most important employees the Lord Elgin may have ever had.

An estimated 4,414 Allies were killed on D-Day, including 359 Canadians.

23-year-old Munroe, an air gunner from Pembroke, was one of them.

On June 6, 1944, at 7:10 p.m., Munroe and five other crew members joined the fight on D-Day, streaming into battle in a Stirling aircraft.

They never returned.

Members on the same operation as Munroe’s crew reported seeing their Stirling plane get struck by enemy fire. It crashed into the French sea and exploded.

The bodies of four of Munroe’s crewmates were retrieved in the following days.

Munroe’s body was never found.

“James is one of those forgotten men,” Michael Robinson, Munroe’s 71-year-old nephew, said. “Only through research have we discovered that (he) even exists.”

In the 1970s, Robinson asked his aunt about his family’s genealogy. She told him they had a family member who died in the Second World War.

He scrawled, “James Munroe died WW2” on a piece of paper and didn’t revisit it until two years ago when he found Munroe’s military records on Ancestry.com. Prior to this discovery, Robinson admits he knew nothing about his uncle.

“(He) was totally forgotten in the family lore because there is no family anymore,” Robinson said.

Though Robinson doesn’t want to make any assumptions about his uncle’s character, the documents provide glimpses into who Munroe might have been.

He liked hockey, football and photography. He worked as a bellboy in Niagara for four years before leaving for what he wrote was a “better position” at the Lord Elgin. He married Dorothy Olga Robinson, Robinson’s aunt, in June 1941. They had a daughter on Oct. 14, one month after Munroe enlisted.

The interviewing officer at the recruiting centre wrote that Munroe was a “clean, bright lad” who was confident and dressed neatly.

Upon enlisting, Munroe received air and ground training in Ontario. On his training reports, officers described him as “quiet and likeable,” a person who “always gives his best,” but could be “inclined to be careless.”

Munroe was transferred to England in April 1943 where he joined the Allies as an air gunner for the RCAF’s 299 squadron.

Over a year later, on May 23, 1944, he was promoted to warrant officer first class. Two weeks after that, he was gone, presumed lost at sea.

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.

Curler Rachel Homan, husband welcome tiny addition to rink

Kanata-born curling hero Rachel Homan and her husband, Shawn Germain, welcomed a baby boy into the world Sunday.

At six pounds two ounces, Ryatt Mitch Germain was born almost two weeks shy of his original due date of June 14. He is about one-sixth the weight of a curling rock.

As a busy skip, 30-year-old Homan didn’t find herself on the sidelines too much during her pregnancy, which seemed to fit perfectly around the curling season.

In February, she and her rink competed in the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where they lost in the finals to Alberta’s rink skipped by Chelsea Carey of Calgary.

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.

Federal government opens 2 of 5 alternative work hubs for public servants

The federal government announced Monday that it would be providing federal public servants with 385 work spaces across five sites in the National Capital Region, a move that Coun. Carol Anne Meehan says is a good start, but isn’t quite enough to entirely combat Ottawa’s growing issues with traffic congestion.

The pilot project, called GCcoworking, is being spearheaded by Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) and seeks to provide federal government employees with flexible workplaces separate from their regular offices or homes.

Free to use, the stations will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. Employees can either reserve them ahead of time online or just drop in.

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.

No stick in the mud: 80-year-old man to participate in nation-wide Mud Hero runs

June has just about arrived, and, fingers crossed, it’s bringing summer with it. Canadians will finally be able to whip out their shorts and do what Canadians do during the warmer months: drink beers on patios, visit their cottages or anxiously watch the Raptors (this is a new one).

One 80-year-old Onoway, Alta., resident will have little time for any of that, though. He’s spending his summer in the mud. Layers and layers of mud.

And there’s not much else Art Noble would rather be doing.

365 Sports Inc.’s nation-wide Mud Hero obstacle runs are kicking off in Ottawa on Saturday. The Mud Runs see participants running in 6K or 10K courses that are jam-packed with obstacles and, you guessed it, tons of mud.

“I just enjoy the Mud Run,” Noble said. “I never thought of doing something like this a couple years ago, but the first time I did it …  I thought, ‘Oh that was fun!’”

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.

McKenna announces $275,000 to protect Ottawa River

The federal government will be providing $275,000 to help monitor and protect the Ottawa River over the next two years, Catherine Mckenna, minister of environment and climate change, announced Wednesday.

“We’re feeling the impacts of climate change. Flooding has impacted residents all along the Ottawa River,” McKenna said. “We have seen floods that are supposed to be one in 100 years happening every few years.”

And McKenna said instances of extreme weather are only going to get worse, as Canada is warming at a rate that’s twice the global average.

“We are all in this together. It has to be the federal government working with other levels of government, working with local organizations, working with Indigenous peoples,” she said. “We’re going to continue doing everything we can to protect the Ottawa River, not just for our generation but for future generations so we can swim, drink and fish in the river.”

The initiative comes in collaboration with Ottawa Riverkeeper, a non-profit organization that seeks to protect the Ottawa River, and its team of volunteer citizen scientists.

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.

Octogenarian set to run his fourth 5K at Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend

Thirty years ago, Denis McKee decided to try to go for a run.

The annual Terry Fox run was coming up in Toronto, his hometown. He didn’t train for it, he just put on a pair of shorts and set out to warm-up on the day of the race by jogging around his block.

He ran 100 metres from his front door, fell and tore up his knee.

“I felt like a damn fool … I limped back. My pride was destroyed, my leg was destroyed,” McKee said with a laugh. “I had absolutely no intention of ever running again in my life. That was it.”

Now 80 years old, McKee will be running the 5K at the Tamarack Ottawa Race Weekend on Saturday at 4 p.m.

“It’s good for you, but it’s hard work … I think there’s a payoff. I’m still here, that’s one thing,” McKee said. “I feel good about it after I’ve done it. I’m tired … but I feel like I’ve accomplished something.”

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.

Carry on, wayward beaver: Our national animal visits Major’s Hill Park

A beaver walks into Major’s Hill Park …

No, this isn’t the start to some lame joke your dad would tell. There was an actual beaver, standing there, back-dropped by Parliament Hill. Canada’s national animal was posing next to one of the most historic buildings in Canada.

Is there anything more majestic? It was a tourist’s dream, this sight that visitors to Major’s Hill Park were treated to Thursday morning.

And this isn’t the first time a wayward beaver has wandered someplace it shouldn’t be in Ottawa. One ended up at a Lone Star restaurant (maybe it wanted some fajitas?).

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.

The hospital food revolution: How CHEO is joining the fight

The Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario: fighting childhood illnesses and injuries since 1974 and, more recently, the general public’s unflattering ideas of hospital food.

When someone says “hospital food,” it’s hard to picture something other than mashed potatoes with gravy (that is suspiciously too light in colour) and Jell-O cups.

While they still serve mashed potatoes, “they’re not crappy,” said Bernice Wolf, CHEO’s Director of Food and Marketed Services. “They’re really good potatoes.”

CHEO is engaging in what Alex Munter, the hospital’s CEO, has aptly called the Hospital Food Revolution. The most recent battle against drab hospital food is the Farmer’s Market. Organized by CHEO’s staff forum, the market launched May 15 and will run at the cafeteria patio from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Wednesday until October. Families of patients and staff will be able to take fresh produce from the market and bring it to their hospital rooms or home.

For the complete story, head to the Ottawa Citizen, where the article was originally published.