The Community Edition: July 2021

TCE’S

The Community Edition is an alternative monthly intended to engage and inform the community.

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The Community Edition will keep faith with its readers by presenting news and expressions of opinions comprehensively, accurately and fairly. The Community Edition believes in a balanced and impartial presentation of all relevant facts in a news report, and of all substantial opinions in a

COVER BY BRIT KOVACS

matter of controversy. The staff of the Community Edition shall uphold all commonly held ethical conventions of journalism. When an error of omission or of commission has occurred, that error shall be acknowledged promptly. When statements are made that are critical of an individual, or an organization, we shall give those affected the opportunity to reply at the earliest time possible. Ethical journalism requires impartiality, and consequently conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflicts of interest will be avoided by all staff. The only limits of any newspaper are those of the world around it, and so the Community Edition will attempt to cover its world with a special focus on the community of Waterloo Region. Ultimately, the Community Edition will be bound by neither philosophy nor geography in its mandate.

The Community Edition has an obligation to foster freedom of the press and freedom of speech. This obligation is best fulfilled when debate and dissent are encouraged, both in the internal workings of the paper, and through the Community Edition’s contact with the community. The Community Edition will always attempt to do what is right, with fear of neither repercussions, nor retaliation. The purpose of community press is to act as an agent of social awareness, and so shall conduct the

NEWS IN BRIEF

NEW HOME FOR A BETTER TENT CITY

Residents of A Better Tent City have settled into a new location on Battler Rd. in Kitchener. The site, which is normally a snow storage facility will be available as a temporary solution to house the community until the end of October 2021. TCE’s Nathalie Bouchard covers this story indepth on pg. 10.

SACRED FIRE TO REMAIN LIT

Donna Dubie, executive director of the Indigenous services organization said the sacred fire in front of The Healing of the Seven Generations office on Frederick St. in Kitchener will remain lit until all residential schools and sanatoriums sites have been searched. The sacred fire has been burning since Jun. 25.

KITCHENER TALENT AT THE 2021 JUNOS

Kitchener artist JJ Wilde took home the Juno award for Best Rock Album of the Year. Wilde (who used to work at Maxwell’s) was the first woman to win the award since Alanis Morissette released “Jagged Little Pill” 25 years ago. The Juno’s also paid tribute to local radio broadcaster Jennifer Campbell of Country 106.7.

VICTORIA PARK STATUE DOUSED

On Jul. 1, Waterloo Regional Police were called to Victoria Park in Kitchener after a statue of Queen Victoria was doused in red paint. There were mixed reactions from community members. Some were upset by the situation, while others offered applause. It’s estimated that the cleanup will cost $2,000.

MASSIVE BLAZE DESTROYS HOMES

Over $1 million in damages are estimated following a massive fire that broke out at a construction site on Beckview Dr. near Huron and FisherHallman in Kitchener on Jun. 22. No injuries were reported but a dozen homes were destroyed and others in the area, damaged.

DRIVE-THRU VACCINE CENTRE

Over 1,000 people received first or second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine at the Bingemans drivethru vaccination centre on Jul. 4. The centre booked appointments for those looking to receive their second dose, while those receiving their first vaccine were able to come without booking ahead.

DESTRUCTIVE STORM HITS DTK

A thunderstorm and strong winds blew through the region on Jun. 29 leaving roughly 15,000 Kitchener residents without power. Emergency crews and residents took to the streets immediately following the storm to clear away downed trees and debris from the storm’s destructive path.

TCE STATEMENT ON FINDING UNMARKED GRAVES AT RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SITES ACROSS CANADA

They found more children, dead and buried, unnamed. No one is surprised.

Canada is a country built by grinding the bones of immigrants and leeching the blood of Indigenous people. It is a country whose foundation is genocide, rotted from the time it was constructed.

There are many examples of this genocide: from the amalgamation of a myriad of Indigenous nations into one to the confinement of

Indigenous people and their movement to the indifference for their suffering. And, indeed, the residential schools.

We did not learn much about the residential schools in our own education. Of course, it is difficult to study history as you are living it.

The discovery of 215 unmarked graves of children whose families were likely unaware of their fates launched Kamloops, B.C. into national news last month.

Following that discovery, more residential school sites were excavated and over a 1000 more graves have been unearthed.

At TCE, we decided we knew enough facts about the story. The question now is: what can we do about it?

In the coming months, we will be relaunching TCE Radio and, later this summer, we will do a series on residential schools.

Although this series will include information on the history of

residential schools to an extent, the focus will be toward what we can do as settlers to help rebuild Canada’s foundation.

Indigenous people have talked about these stories for decades.

They have been telling us what we should do, how we can stop hurting and start creating a new relationship with Indigenous communities whose lands we occupy. TCE will listen.

If you are Indigenous or work with Indigenous communities

Waterloo City Councillor Tenille Bonoguore posted an apology to social media (even though she didn’t need to) after she flipped an illegal gathering of anti-lockdown protestors the bird on Jun. 6. Bonoguore said that at the time she was “acting as a frustrated private citizen” and not in her capacity as a city councillor.

CITY COUNCILLOR FLIPS THE BIRD CHARGES LAID IN ROAD SAFETY BLITZ

A one-day road safety initiative conducted by police in Centre Wellington Township led almost 60 charges being laid. Police say the blitz was meant to raise awareness for four common driving offenses: distracted driving, impaired driving, speeding/agressive driving and improper seatbelt use.

and would like to weigh in, if you would like to let us know your thoughts or experiences, if you would like to talk to us, let us know. Please email Harleen, the editor, at harleen@ communityedition.ca.

We are learning to be better allies so mistakes are inevitable; we are trying to create a platform for an ongoing conversation and we invite the community to engage in this work with us.

Leaves open up towards the sun on a summer day near the new home for Queen Street Yoga, now the Branches DAVE KLASSEN PHOTO

SUPPORTING SURVIVORS AND ABUSERS

each person’s responsibility within their communities.

Women’s responsibility of leading us back comes with empowerment.

“I think that’s where we get mixed up sometimes… we focus so much on rights, but we forget about responsibilities,” Hill said.

“Like, water is a woman’s responsibility; healing is a woman’s responsibility, and we need to start coming back to that—what is my role in [the] community and what are my responsibilities?” she said.

After working many years in the violence against women sector, Stephanie Hill made a significant career change. She went from supporting survivors of gender-based violence to working with the abusers themselves.

“At first, I balked at the idea [of working with abusers]...But as I thought about it and about that idea of responsibility and accountability and the way that accountability and empowerment are so intertwined, [I realized that] we can’t really be empowered until we have accountability,” she said.

It’s the relationship between accountability and empowerment that is key for Hill. However, she still ensures that the safety of the person being abused is prioritized.

“None of the consideration we give to men precludes women’s safety. But I think we’ve stopped short of holding men accountable and asking them to hold each other accountable,” Hill said.

The important part is what holding abusers accountable actually looks like. Historically, if abusers are held accountable at all, it’s often

through punitive measures—charges, ostracism, blacklisting, etc. History shows how ineffective punishment is—abusers will abuse for many reasons. One reason is that we haven’t addressed the root causes of the behaviour; we haven’t invited the abuser to self-examine and to heal.

That healing is important, not only for the abuser, but for the people around them, too. This is especially important considering how many people often still have love for their abuser. So, what safety looks like is different for each individual, and sometimes, simply exiting the relationship isn’t the answer.

“We’ve known for so long that [some] women go back to those relationships and a lot of times [when] they do go back, they go without support,” Hill said.

They lack support because family and friends of a woman in an abusive

relationship often just want her to leave, and if she chooses to return, that’s on her. This approach doesn’t honour a person’s feelings or right to choose and can feel more like punishment than support. It can also alienate the person being abused, cutting them off from their support systems and putting them in even greater danger.

Instead of vilifying the abuser and blaming the survivor for jumping back into the abusive relationship, Hill proposes supporting all parties.

“What if they went back with support? What if she was supported and he was supported?” Hill said. “What we forget is that she loves him deeply. And that there is no person in the world who is all good and all bad.”

Violence, especially gender-based violence, is intrinsically linked to patriarchy. And as much as patriarchy benefits men, it harms them too.

“We strip [men] of their humanity and their feelings and then ask, ‘why are they so violent?’,” Hill said. “If we’re not looking at patriarchy, at systems, if we’re not looking at what are men experiencing right now, what are the kids experiencing, if we’re not looking at land, if we’re not looking at all of those pieces, then we’re not seeing the full picture because all of those things are very intertwined.”

For many Indigenous communities, women are held as leaders, people that will rise up and return the community to where they should be, Hill said.

This leading back is important. Homophobia, classism, racism, patriarchy and misogyny all came here with the colonizers and they have wreaked havoc here as they have across the globe in countries that have been colonized. Leading back is a return to Indigenous understandings of community and

The program Hill works in is courtmandated, following charges laid. But healing can and should happen before the harm is done, she argues. If we practised looking at the full picture of existing as a part of the broader community, then we could build stronger, more self-aware, more confident humans who don’t harm each other.

Hill’s whole picture approach to ending gender-based violence is about finding healing through community and also teaching people from a young age about consent, bodily autonomy and self acceptance, building that foundation that will produce compassionate and empathetic people who don’t do harm, or, when they do, know how to be accountable and hold each other accountable. It’s a tall order, but Hill is optimistic.

“I believe in prophecy...I believe it’s our time—our time as women, as Indigenous people, that we’re going to rise up and things are going to be different.”

This analysis was heavily heteronormative. If you work in the realm of GBV and specifically within the LGBTQ2S+ realm, please reach out to us and we would love to do a followup piece.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING PLAN

populations affected most by this housing crisis include Indigenous peoples, immigrants to Canada, singleparent households, elderly persons, and those experiencing mental health challenges and/or addictions.

KAITLYN SEVERIN STAFF WRITER

The cost of owning and renting property in the Waterloo Region has drastically increased over the past decade and has outpaced the growth of most incomes, which has resulted in affordability challenges for many Waterloo households and residents. Reduced affordability has also impacted the rise in regional homelessness, and the housing waitlist for many residents is growing longer and longer.

According to Statistics Canada in 2016, almost one in four households in Waterloo live in unaffordable housing. Those groups and

To address the situation, the City of Waterloo is developing an Affordable Housing Strategy, which they announced in early 2021. The strategy aims to identify any actions that can be taken by the City of Waterloo to protect existing affordable housing stock and increase the amount of new and affordable housing. These approaches will also address any challenges for those in low to moderate income households, as well as options to ensure a viable supply of housing types, sizes and tenures.

“The strategy is intended to be a broad policy document that’s going to identify actions that the City can take to either increase the amount

of affordable housing or retain existing affordable housing protected from loss,” Michelle Lee, the City of Waterloo’s senior policy planner of growth management, said.

The strategy contains five phases: In phase one, the City of Waterloo will collect feedback from various groups about the type and quantity of housing that is needed.

In March, the City hosted a discussion forum on Research and Innovation in Affordable Housing in the Region, which was moderated by Lee. Researchers from the UW were invited to share their take on what municipalities can do to address problems in affordable housing.

“The academic world, I think, provides a really good starting point to help us understand what the underlying causes are that are really driving this problem, and what some of our leveled approaches could be to

address those problems,” Lee said.

In addition to the Affordable Housing Strategy, the City of Waterloo is also developing an Affordable Housing Grant Program, which was created for not-for-profit corporations to provide new affordable housing units in the city.

The program will help guide the allocation of available funding and provide financial support to developments, which will provide affordable housing. The City of Waterloo is looking for community engagement feedback to help determine the parameters of the Affordable Housing Grant Program for not-for-profit corporations.

“Right now we’re undertaking community and stakeholder engagement to help us create the parameters and eligibility requirements for that program, and to understand what [the] preferences

are,” Tanja Curic, senior policy planner in the Growth Management Division at the City of Waterloo, said.

Waterloo residents are invited to provide feedback on the preliminary findings of the research in phase one in Winter/Spring 2021. Residents can also now leave comments, ideas and feedback about affordable housing on the City of Waterloo website.

“The City of Waterloo council [is] very enthusiastic about the development of more affordable housing in the city, and they’ve indicated to staff that they want us to be bold,” Lee said. “We are really looking at opportunities and solutions across the board from financial opportunities or incentives, to planning incentives, to all sorts of tools that will hopefully help improve the affordable housing situation.”

ROSALIND GUNN COLUMNIST JENNIFER GORDON COLUMNIST

After working in the violence against women sector, Stephanie Hill believes in accountability and empowerment. CREATIVE COMMONS

BUJOLD WINS HISTORIC FIGHT

ALEX KINSELLA STAFF WRITER

Even with the progress made over the last decade for rights to parental leave, making tradeoffs between career and starting or expanding their families continues to be an issue for many people across Ontario. While more and more workplaces accept their male employees’ rights to parental leave, women still face subtle and not-so-subtle obstacles balancing their work and family aspirations.

Among such parents is local boxer and mother of one, Mandy Bujold, who fought and won for her right to represent Canada at the Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan.

Last year, Bujold took her case to arbitration with the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland to allow her competitions from before her maternity leave to be used to qualify her for a spot on the 2021 Canadian Olympic boxing team.

The COVID-19 pandemic did more than force the Olympic Games to be postponed for a year. Rolling shutdowns due to the pandemic resulted in many qualifying events being cancelled, including the regional qualifiers for boxing that Bujold has been training for over the last four years.

With the qualifying events cancelled, the organizing committee created a new set of qualifying criteria based on scores from events before the pandemic. For Bujold, these were

events that she missed while she was pregnant with her daughter.

“That’s where my issue is. Those events in the past were not meant to be qualifying events. Had I known that at the time, then that’s on me to make that decision on if I was going to have a child at that time,” she said.

Both the men’s and women’s qualifying events were cancelled due to the pandemic, but the criteria for qualifying based on past events were different for the genders. For female boxers, points were awarded for events from an 11 month period, while men’s events from 2017 to 2019 were used

for qualifying. Bujold fought in 2017, and so she could have been considered had the rules been the same for men and women or even for different continents.

“In Paris they’re having the European qualifier,” Bujold said.

“We’re the only continent that doesn’t have the opportunity to actually step in the ring...It’s the same organization, the same people making these decisions. But they’re saying okay, it’s safe for them to box but it wasn’t safe for us to box.”

She has received support from across Canada and the world. Locally,

she has Kitchener mayor, Berry Vrbanovic, in her corner.

“It was unfathomable that in today’s day and age, the Olympic Games that tries to pride itself on equity and diversity is creating an environment that is penalizing an elite athlete because she gave birth to a child,” Vrbanovic said.

“Those are choices that they shouldn’t have to make. You should be able to be an elite athlete and be a new parent.”

Vrbanovic is no stranger to fighting policies that cause challenges for working parents. For example, in 2013,

Vrbanovic worked with councillor Kelly Galloway-Sealock and Kitchener Centre MPP Daiene Vernile to update the province’s Municipal Act to clarify how paternity and maternity leave applied to elected officials.

Without the changes, an elected official of a municipal government could potentially be removed from office if they were on leave or even if they were ordered to go on bed rest.

“The council could actually remove her from office if she were absent for more than three months...We got the legislation changed to prevent that from happening and to give new parents the ability to take parental leave,” Vrbanovic said.

Bujold filed a challenge to the qualification changes and on June 30, 2021, the court ruled in Bujold’s favour that the criteria must include accommodation for women who were pregnant or postpartum during the qualification period.

“Hopefully, we can continue the conversation with governing bodies and try to make that change because this is [about] more than just boxing.

There’s always been that stigma for female athletes of choosing to have a career and then your family.”

Bujold said those attitudes are starting to shift across the sports world. With more women athletes having children during their careers, she hopes that inspires young girls to know they can pursue their athletic dreams.

“I think it’s always been a conversation because your body is your tool. So you always have to think about how long [recovery is] and am I going to be able to come back to the same point that I was at before,” Bujold said.

Mandy Bujold fought for her right to fight in the ring for Canada and won. NICK STANLEY PHOTO

VACCINATED AND VERY PREGNANT

so confusing...And [it’s] not always really clear about what the actual recommendation is,” TK Pritchard, executive director of SHORE Centre said.

When I logged on to book an appointment through the Region of Waterloo, I was immediately prompted to speak with my health-care provider about the risks of the vaccine. I have a great relationship with my family doctor and an exceptional OBGYN who both provided as much information about the vaccine as they had available. But not everyone has that privilege.

Pritchard said that for those who don’t have access to healthcare, consulting a doctor can be challenging. Additionally, healthcare providers themselves have a wide variety of thoughts, feelings and opinions on the vaccines.

Seeking clarity on the issue can be a maze of confusion.

Pritchard said.

It was a recommendation that was made quite literally overnight.

“And it suddenly was urgent, right? And so that’s really difficult. Again, at a time when...you’re also trying to navigate a lot of other pieces around pregnancy,” they said.

My impossible decision now seemed obvious. I decided to opt for the vaccine. My son needs his mother and frankly, at just 34-yearsold, I didn’t want to die.

My decision to get vaccinated was met with objection and opinion from those with conflicting views in my own community. I have been deemed a “bad mom” for injecting “poison” into my pregnant body.

“Something that people do a lot in conversations around pregnancy, is totally disregard the health of the pregnant person,” Pritchard said.

hold complicated opinions around vaccinations and about COVID-19.

And at the end of the day, it is a person who’s pregnant’s choice in terms of how they navigate their pregnancy and their body.”

The controversy surrounding the vaccination is just one way the pandemic has exasperated existing pressures on pregnant people.

In addition to the increased health risk posed by COVID-19, Pritchard said pregnant people and new parents did not expect to be navigating this experience on their own. The social distancing measures have meant there is a lack of in-person support from family and friends. Valuable resources like prenatal classes are only being held in a virtual setting. Support partners are often being turned away from ultrasounds and appointments.

risk complications throughout the time I carried my son, pregnancy had already become an anxiety inducing experience for me. Toss in a global pandemic and misinformation surrounding the vaccine and well, let’s just say I know my way around Google.

Not having access to the everchanging information around COVID-19 and the vaccine provides an additional barrier.

“It’s also really difficult if English is not your primary language,” Pritchard said.

“The resources are not being translated, in many cases.”

“People are, are not actually focusing on the health of the pregnant person, which also is ... a symptom of a much broader conversation around how pregnant people do lose autonomy, and people only see the pregnancy and not them as a person.”

Navigating the system has become increasingly difficult.

“We don’t generally prioritize the needs of women and trans people, which also then includes pregnancy,” Pritchard said. “Then, when we find ourselves in a pandemic situation, that is only made worse.”

On Apr. 28, I received my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

It was a milestone that I had been eagerly anticipating for months — with any luck, the first step towards a return to normal life, whatever that may look like. Admittedly, it was also met with a lot of uncertainty and anxiety because I was also 19 weeks pregnant.

After suffering a miscarriage my first pregnancy, then enduring high-

There was very little, if any resources available regarding the long-term effects on pregnancy or the fetus. Pregnant people were not included in the initial trials, which is not at all uncommon. But we are living this in real-time.

The information was simply not available because the data did not exist yet.

“Ultimately, what we want is for people to make informed choices, and do what works best for them, right? But the information has been

I am lucky enough to have access to an abundance of information, a solid support network and compassionate health-care providers. Still, it felt like I was being faced with an impossible choice. There were real risks associated with injecting the vaccine but as I “did my own research” more and more pregnant people were ending up in the ICU.

“Pregnant people had almost no guidance, no information. And then suddenly... [pregnancy] was just listed in the highest risk category.”

As if carrying a child during a pandemic wasn’t scary enough, my own community, other parents that I have known throughout my life, were making the experience harder. And I knew, I wasn’t alone.

Pregnant people are subjected to a daily sea of posts on the internet filled with fearmongering and misinformation, around the vaccine and COVID-19.

“Even without a pandemic, pregnant people are faced with ... a lot of misinformation about pregnancy and difficulty in accessing that information,” Pritchard said.

“There are a lot of folks who

I am now fully vaccinated. The experience was smooth and uneventful for me. I am confident I made the best decision for myself and my body—a personal choice that Pritchard feels all pregnant people are entitled to.

“Extend more kindness to one another and recognize that a pregnant person is ... doing their best with the information that they have.”

LOCAL MAMAS SHINE DURING THE PANDEMIC

of the isolation brought on by the pandemic.

“[With quarantine] I lost my social support, I lost all of my contacts… and help with the kids, and I was no longer coping,” she said.

SARAH BESTER CONTRIBUTOR

I started the Shine Mama! podcast a few months before the pandemic hit. My goal was to interview amazing local mamas in the region about balancing parenthood, work and dream-chasing—including the truth behind the struggle.

What I didn’t anticipate was how big the struggle would become.

Immediately after the pandemic hit, I did a series of six interviews focusing on the effect of the pandemic on mothers. When the series was over, the pandemic was not. And so, the virus has become an important part of every conversation I’ve had.

And the virus hit mamas hard.

One example is the prevalence of mental health struggles, particularly during the early days. I went through my own period of anxiety and depression, as did many other moms and it was important to me to shine a light on this so other moms felt less alone.

Dr. Melissa Bingeman, a local naturopathic doctor, suffered from postpartum depression because

Along with stories of mental health challenges, I spoke with mothers dealing with job loss, keeping businesses alive, the stress of working on the front lines, and balancing work and home life. Every single mom, regardless of their circumstance, had struggled in some way over the past year and a half.

Yet despite the struggles, the local mothers I’ve interviewed have shown strength, resilience and creativity in dealing with everything life has thrown at them during this pandemic. They’ve had to learn to set boundaries and prioritize their well-being more than ever before. They’ve been inspired to make changes in their own lives and to help change the lives of others.

For one, they have learned to let go of control. Something that has been difficult but necessary for moms.

Kitchener Centre MP Laura-Mae Lindo says that we must let go of perfection—for example, eating fruit roll ups for breakfast is perfectly valid when you’re juggling back to back meetings and homeschooling three kids.

“I keep reminding people, it’s a global pandemic…none of us are thriving. These will be write-off

years at some point, so just try to keep it easy.”

The truth is, when we let go of things that don’t matter, we create room for the things that do. Loosening the reins on perfectionism has allowed moms to carve out a bit of space for themselves at a time where self-care is harder than ever.

In fact, the topic of boundaries came up again and again in the interviews, with many moms learning to set them for the first time in their lives.

The pandemic also helped moms learn to be more present, more grateful and more socially aware. Slowing down and taking a break from over-scheduled lives has given many of the mothers I interviewed the opportunity to recognize how stressed and disconnected they really were. And they’re making permanent changes to their lives because of it.

Kate McCrea Bristol, dean of students at Wilfrid Laurier University, admits that life before COVID-19 was jam-packed with social obligations, but that she plans to carve out more space in her postpandemic life.

“I really cherish the time with the kids that allows me to have those moments where it feels like time is standing still a little bit. And I find that those really happen at home,” she said.

For Martha Linkletter, a doctor and front-line worker, the pandemic made her more aware of her privilege.

“I’m not that worried about my own kids…I feel very strongly that I need to be advocating for those without a significant voice...the marginalized people and the racialized people who have been most affected by this virus,” she said.

So how has this pandemic, and its challenges, changed motherhood

forever? Not only are the mothers I spoke to making their way successfully to the other side, but they’re emerging with a little more grit and a lesson or two in tow.

And if there’s one thing that stood out over the past two seasons of the podcast, it’s that mothers in the region have realized we are much stronger than we thought.

And that’s something that will outlast this virus.

For pregnant people, getting vaccinated has been a maze of confusion. HILARY GAULD PHOTO

OPINION CARE LUCAS PUBLISHER

The challenges posed by the pandemic have tested the resiliency of mothers.

MARIANA BILBAO PHOTO

GRIEVING FREELY ON THE GRAND RIVER

HARLEEN KAUR DHILLON EDITOR IN CHIEF

When a friend lost his child to a car accident, Prakash Venkatramanan was one of the few family friends enlisted to help with funeral arrangements.

As the funeral progressed, he found another obstacle causing grief: they had nowhere to scatter the ashes for the boy’s final rites.

“[The issue is] people are doing it quietly...You don’t need to have any guilt or fear when you do the rituals,”

Venkatramanan said. “[The] initiative is to make sure [it] is allowed so nobody needs to have that fear and [can] do the rituals peacefully.”

Since then, Venkatramanan has advocated for the establishment of a designated area for scattering ashes on the Grand River. He took his request to the Grand River Conservation Authority and was told their jurisdiction was monitoring the flow of the water and he had better take his request to the municipalities.

Then, he presented it to all 38 municipalities along the river.

“So basically, all levels of government washed their hands [of responsibility and are] saying, ‘it is not our jurisdiction’. So I was thinking, you know, if that is the case, I’m going to put a stake [in it],” Venkatramanan said.

While people are allowed to scatter ashes Crown lands and waters in

Ontario, none of the explicitly permitted bodies of water coincide within Waterloo Region. As immigrant populations grow, the need for such a space grows as well. Even now, many South Asian people were unable to complete their traditions surrounding funerals without significant feelings of guilt, as if they were committing a crime.

“I got like hundreds of calls since this initiative has taken [off], thanking and appreciating and saying...’you’re right, because for the last 20 years or 40 years whatever death happened in our family or in the community, this is what we do. [We] just want to make sure nobody sees us, you know, nobody [is] going to call us out’,” he said.

“It’s not a crime, for crying out loud! This is a ritual we are doing so we should not feel the fear, we should not have any guilt or whatsoever, we need to do that from the heart. That’s what the deceased person deserved.”

Ajmer Mandur, secretary at the Golden Triangle Sikh Association and Waterloo Region resident since the 1980s, has watched the South Asian community grow from the 100s to the 1000s in the region.

While many people would save the ashes of their loved ones for long periods until they could go back to the homeland to scatter them in rivers, this was not a feasible option for all.

Travel is not cheap and a family’s financial situation could delay their trip. However, it also does not make sense for people that are a part of this community, who have built their lives in the region, to be forced to have their remains transported to a foreign place. This is their home as well.

Jaspal Bal, a volunteer with the Ontario Khalsa Darbar committee, also shared the memory of his sister’s funeral in Mississauga. Bal played a role in helping set up a memorial place called Kiratpur Park where the Etobicoke Creek flows through the Ontario Khalsa Darbar grounds. They worked with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the space will be open to people of all faith backgrounds. Although it is not yet built, the site has seen the final rites of hundreds of people in the last few months.

“All those memories come back [when I’m there]. Even though we’re living in this rat race, materialistic world...we know [that space] is where our sister’s resting place is. So it means a lot,” he said.

“If that service was not available... my sister’s ashes would have gone to India, or as a family we would have sneaked in middle of the night to Credit River or [stood] on some bridge and quickly looked around, ‘oh nobody’s there okay let’s just throw’. Now, there we took our time or we sat down, we laughed, we cried...It was our private moment. It was our place, our Gurudwara,” Bal said.

While Sikh funerals are minimalist, other faiths have more rituals and different traditions. Hindu traditions, for example, include many more artefacts being immersed in the water, such as flowers.

There has been some resistance from the community to scattering ashes in the Grand River, including some concern on the environmental impact they may have. Kamal Bhardwaj, managing funeral director and partner of the Kitchener Funeral Home and

Crematorium, said ashes are among the least harmful substances to enter the water. They are simply the carbon left after a body is cremated and pose little environmental risk and crematoriums are also regulated by the Ministry of Environment.

“That’s what that is: our actual bones going back to the environment. The question that you have is: do you consider that pollution? Remember the Ministry of Environment has already approved these kinds of things,” Bhardwaj said. “I’m more concerned with garbage like the boxes they can carry or the containers they bring in that’s left around, it’s not the ash.”

In Pickering, the city and the mourners worked together to keep the river clean as there were also concerns about erosion unrelated to the ashes.

Bhardwaj donated $20,000 to help clean the river. He says the donation allowed the city to clean up. They are currently working to establish land where the spreading of ashes can take place.

”Once you designate an area and people understand that, then there’s going to be a responsibility to make sure that you put the garbage where it needs to go,” Bhardwaj said.

Mandur, however, is largely unconcerned about the resistance. He said there will always be people resistant to change, but change will happen nonetheless.

“You will see some resistance but [to] the overall average person who lives here, it won’t make any any difference...when these things happen, there’s always going to be opposition, and I think the relationship overall will not change much. But you will see

some people will make a comment one way or the other,” he said.

Venkatramanan has received a little success from his advocacy.

Last month, Cambridge City Council approved a portion of Parklawn Cemetery for scattering ashes.

“That’s good, but ... the tradition is the scattering of ashes [needs] to happen in a water body, it is not in the land, it is in the water body. So even though they are recommending something in a cemetery. Yes, that’s a great initiative, but not everybody [is] going to use that. So, whether they allocate it or not, it will continue in [the] Grand River.” Venkatramanan said.

“The City of Cambridge is not the owner of the Grand River and it does not have the authority or jurisdiction to permit or prohibit the request to scatter cremated remains in the Grand River,” Michael Hausser, director of operations at the City of Cambridge, stated in the Agenda for the Apr. 13, 2021 city council meeting.

Having faced disappointment from the municipalities along the river, Venkatramanan has now approached the Six Nations of the Grand River.

“This is their land, and anything we do, we need to have the blessings to make sure [that] it is inclusive, and that they are respected, and given the deal. You know consideration in anything and everything like we do... It is a no brainer. This is an initiative because birth and death happens in every living being,” Venkatramanan said.

The councillors from the Six Nations were unable to comment and Chief Mark Hill was unavailable for an interview.

The Grand River apparently falls under no one’s jurisdiction and neither the municipalities nor the GRCA have the authority to permit or prohibit the scattering of ashes into its waters.

NICK STANLEY PHOTO

cambridge resident faces bureaucracy as he advocates for a designated place along the grand river for scattering ashes

TCE’S ROAD TO SOLIDARITY AND ALLYSHIP

JUNE IS A BIG MONTH FOR PERFORMATIVE ALLYSHIP.

1. ARE YOU WORKING FROM A PLACE OF PITY, DISCOMFORT, GUILT OR SHAME?

Nobody wants any of that. There is privilege in your pity, your guilt and your shame. When you need to move something that's too heavy for you to move on your own, do you want people to feel bad for you because you'll never move it on your own or do you want someone to help you move it?

Recognize that your feelings take up much needed space. Are you challenging your comfort zone when it comes to confronting injustice, or are you upholding the status quo by defining yourself as a 'safe person' without doing anything to make your society safer. Are you expecting to be taught? To have your hand held? For there to be space for your tears?

EVERY YEAR WE SEE COMPANIES DISPLAYING PRIDE FLAGS IN THEIR LOGOS, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SUPPORT

THE COMMUNITY ALL YEAR LONG. SO, WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU ASKED YOURSELF IF YOUR ALLYSHIP IS CAUSING MORE HARM THAN GOOD?

IF YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH COMMUNITIES WORKING FOR JUSTICE IS WORTH ANYTHING TO ANYONE, THEN IT SHOULD BE CONSTANTLY CHECKED AND REFLECTED UPON TO FLESH OUT AREAS IN NEED OF CHANGE.

BELOW ARE SOME POINTS TO REFLECT UPON WHEN DOING A SOLIDARITY CHECK ON YOUR ALLYSHIP PRACTICES.

WORDS BY TANYA O’CONNELL

3. ARE YOU CENTERING THE WORK AND THE COMMUNITY?

If you are here because you want social gratification and something to post, then you are doing allyship wrong and you're probably hurting the cause you claim to care about. Ask yourself, who am trying to make feel good with what I'm doing? Who am I empowering? Are these acts for me? For my pride? You can identify performative allyship by asking yourself if you would be doing the same thing if nobody were to see or hear about what you're doing. You can flesh out whether you are centering the work by examining whether you are leveraging resources or being selective with who you pull in. Centering the community means what you're doing isn't creating dependency on your support or "professionalizing" activism. Creating dependency is harmful and occurs when you're offering a service that makes you the gatekeeper of the service instead of the community. Professionalizing activism occurs when you reinforce or promote the idea that paternalistic knowledge is needed to help people. Deeply reflect on how much of your work is motivated by funding and ask yourself whether you have compromised radical work because it may affect funding elsewhere. Finally, ask yourself if you are willing to betray your organization to further struggles for justice. But if you are, are you aware of the immense privilege you have to not be completely financially dependent on your job?

2. ARE YOU LISTENING TO THE COMMUNITY?

Are you listening to folks with lived experience? To the folks that identify themselves as being part of a marginalized community? Or are you listening to the 'experts' of these topics? If you can't understand why it would be necessary to listen to folks with lived experience, ask yourself why we still have racial discrimination occurring in places of employment when we have known it to be an issue for more than 50 years. It's certainly not because we're unaware that unconscious bias exists. These injustices are still occurring because in most organizations the folks coming up with the policies and procedures for dealing with racial discrimination have no lived experience and don't identify as racialized. If the people at the top of your organization are asked to identify policies and procedures that exclude people, ask yourself: how they are supposed to do that if they've never been excluded? You can have an awareness about how the health-care system excludes Indigenous folks from care but if you don't work in the field and have lived experience, the likelihood of you being able to identify the policies and procedures that are resulting in exclusions is going to be very low. You'd be guessing. work for an organization that provides emergency shelter to folks experiencing homelesness and yet I see an organization staffed with people who have absolutely no understanding of what it means to be poor or experience being excluded because they are poor. The fact that nobody at my place of employment identified a policy that prohibits folks from working at another shelter, while only being assigned a few shifts per month, as being exclusive may be because those creating policy have never needed to make career decisions based on a lack of economic privilege.

A fundamental part of meaningful allyship is shelving your ego and making the focal point the communities' perception of the work. Only the community can make strategy for change, define someone as an ally, decide whom they wish to align with, and who they trust. Performative allyship is putting on display some sort of symbol or marker that makes claims about your allyship that aren't supported by your actions.

4. ARE YOU CHECKING YOUR PRIVILEGE AND ACKNOWLEDGING YOUR POSITIONALITY?

The vulnerability that comes with confronting privilege is incredibly uncomfortable. Are you actively rejecting the benefits that come with your privilege? If you come to the work or the community as an expert, are you acknowledging the fact that your awareness comes from a paternalistic institution and is therefore rooted in eurocentric knowledge? If you're not attacking colonial structures, systems, perceptions and ideas then you are upholding systems of oppression.

ILLUSTRATION BY ELFIE KALFAKIS

WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR?

board of directors or any structure to it,” Willmer said.

NATHALIE BOUCHARD CONTRIBUTOR

A Better Tent City (ABTC) was originally created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support the unsheltered population during unprecedented times. Ron Doyle, former owner of LOT42, left a legacy of community service by providing the space for unsheltered populations in KW who were not able to use the shelter system.

Due to provincial restrictions, LOT42 was no longer operational as an event space, so Doyle and his friend Jeff Willmer collaborated to create a new use for the space— the pilot program, ABTC.

ABTC is a concept with an antioppressive, post-structuralist framework based in empowerment and strengths-based philosophy.

It is a community of people who are not traditionally housed but use their own means of creating a personal space within the facility with the ability to use the resources at their disposal and most importantly at their own discretion.

They have access to communal washrooms, laundry facilities, electricity, internet and health-care practitioners.

ABTC is more than an organization—it is a philosophy that breaks down the traditional structures of a typical organization, a peer-led leadership initiative rather than a body of administrators governing specific ideologies and policies.

“It was really a small team of people that got this together and it has matured a bit, but we still don’t call it an organization, we don’t have a

“The leadership group... [is] a collective; there’s sort of members from different organizations that provide leadership but I think ... we’ve resisted forming an organization so far,” he said.

Willmer said that since the original launch in April 2021, 50 people now have more stability in their lives. The residents have been able to address other aspects of their lives when they have a stable place to call home.

“There are specific outcomes that are really quite heartwarming. We have got people who are on a methadone drug treatment program and their addictions are being managed,” Willmer said.

“We’ve had three people completely overcome their addiction and now we have residents who say this is the longest that they stayed out of the emergency ward,” he said.

“We have residents that are reconnecting with family.”

Even with the positive aspects of ABTC and the growth of their community, the original home at LOT42 has been sold, therefore, ABTC will have to relocate to another location.

“Our founder, Ron Doyle, died earlier this year, and he was arranging to get his affairs in order when he realized that the end might be coming soon,” Willmer said.

“He had the property in the process of being sold, and the new owner is not interested in being the landlord for ABTC.”

Although many of the residents have experienced significant personal growth, Willmer spoke about the obstacles that ABTC has faced. He said that both the setbacks and the progress have helped ABTC reclaim their founding mission and continue to shape the lives of unsheltered individuals.

“For the most part, [ABTC]

was embraced by the broader community—city council, [the] downtown community and other shelter providers realized that we were helping people who were hard to help, and that they couldn’t help.

We didn’t need to work hard to overcome the stigma,” he said.

ABTC has now moved to a temporary space provided by the city on Battler Rd. in Kitchener. Willmer says relocating has reignited the challenges facing them. The move has been met with mixed feelings from local residents.

“This is a project that everybody likes but nobody wants to own or have... as their neighbour. We still have some hurdles to overcome in terms of community acceptance,” Willmer said.

“I think there [is] a need to revamp [ABTC]. If we could have stayed at LOT42, we would have stayed,” Willmer said.

Besides the relocation of ABTC, the collective not only wants to improve on a structural level but also improve the lives of the residents. Willmer explains that ABTC seeks to provide a foundation for the residents for self-growth and discovery with the help of the staff and volunteers.

“I think our hopes are that they realize that other people care for them, that they are valuable and that we aren’t giving up on them—the fact we do have hopes for them,” Willmer said.

“I think that is a message that starts to get through to the residents. Only after time when they spend more time with the volunteers and start to realize that, while many people in their lives may have given up on them,” he said.

With files from Beth Bowles.

LUULUUDESIGNS’ UPCYCLING AND INCLUSIVE MASKS

Like many businesses in 2020, LuuLuuDesigns was born from a need to pivot. Ann and Sam Luu closed their dry cleaning business in Toronto and moved closer to their daughters, Cindy and Shirley, in Kitchener with hopes of building an alterations business before COVID-19 hit. With in-person alterations temporarily impossible, seamstress Ann began to sew satin scrunchies and face masks for sale.

Ann also upcycled fabric from customers to provide them with a sustainable and often sentimental way to turn what they already had into something new and unique. She’s transformed a father’s dress shirt into masks for his children, and designer purse storage bags into ‘designer’ masks. LuuLuuDesigns also donated their scraps to someone who makes dollhouse curtains with the material so nothing goes to waste.

This ability to customize their products has also resulted in the development of items more inclusive of different types of mask wearers. Their wrap-around strap design is now a favourite among customers who wear hijabs or other head coverings, as well as those who have sensitive ears.

Shirley said while they considered charging the custom mask price for that first wrap-around design, they realized that they needed to take a more inclusive approach.

“For somebody who wears a head covering, they don’t really have a choice [but to choose a custom design] and I don’t think they should be penalized for that. So we talked about it and we were like, no, we should just

charge regular pricing for this. And we should actually add this as part of our standard offerings,” she said.

This style is not just popular with local customers, but have found their way to the UK, Ireland, and Australia, proving that there’s a global market for locally-made inclusive products.

Parents Ann and Sam have their own global story. Both arrived in Canada as refugees from Vietnam in the 1970s and embraced living in a country in which they did not speak the language.

Navigating between two languages, they learned dry cleaning from scratch and launched a successful business.

Shirley and Cindy have embraced this cultural heritage with LuuLuDesigns, celebrating Lunar New Year and Asian Heritage Month through Instagram.

“We lean into it because it’s true to us. This is a family business so we’re going to talk about our family...people appreciate it too. [They] feel connected to you,” Shirley said.

At its core, LuuLuuDesigns truly is a family effort. Shirley and Cindy help with marketing and quality control while their parents work on the product side. Sam renovated the family’s basement to provide Ann a place to sew and always completes the prep work for alterations.

Shirley appreciates seeing this different side of her parents as they work closely together. The business has not only allowed them to create unique products to customers but helped them grow closer as a family as well.

“It’s family time, but with a purpose. For a while before we started this, [it was] like, there’s nothing to talk about. Life had gotten kind of boring. And so, this was something that was really exciting [because] we had a topic to talk about, we could brainstorm ideas, we could talk about customers...it’s been a really neat way for our family to bond,” she said.

Ann Luu’s passion for alterations and upcycling resulted in LuuLuuDesigns. LUULUUDESIGNS CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

JUANITA METZGER COLUMNIST

I can’t resist a good ‘series mission’ when I travel—that is the attempt to visit or experience a collection of similar or related sites or events, either all in one trip or over time.

I love the experience of well curated travel, so I was thrilled to find that Explore Waterloo Region has just launched the Art Fesco Table Trail, the ultimate hyperlocal travel mission, perfectly coordinated with the patio season. Since it’s our second summer of close-to-home travel, you have time to dive in.

Art Fresco paired 38 artists with 50 restaurants across the region. The artists painted 50 tables in 2020 and had their debut the same summer.

This year, Explore Waterloo Region expanded the initiative to become the Art Fresco Table Trail. You can sign up for a Trail Passport, scout out the locations of all 50 tables, then get to eating!

The Passport app will let you check in to participating restaurants, some of which are offering special discounts

or value-added features for passport holders.

“Once you check in, you’re entered into a weekly draw to win a gift card to restaurants that are on that trail,” Emily Lake, sales manager for Explore Waterloo Region, said.

Clever incentive to keep me exploring all the options.

At the end of patio season, Explore Waterloo Region will draw a grand prize winner: a staycation package valued at $1,000.

While we’re on this series mission to support local restaurants and cafés that have been hardest hit during the pandemic, we’re also introduced to 38 incredible artists. Each table has a QR code that gives you the artist’s name, their inspiration for the table, their original drawings with their table vision, their social media handles and website, and links for the restaurants.

Some of the participating restaurants are along the Iron Horse and Spurline Trails so you can bike or walk to your destination.

I’m looking forward to going on another series mission this summer and supporting local and exploring local, all while filling my belly.

I’m also looking forward to trying out restaurants I’ve never been to before and learning more about the incredible artists that make our towns and cities more beautiful every day.

Find all participating restaurants on the Explore Waterloo Region website.

AND ART

FILL

The other day, my mom asked me if I had ever listened to JJ Wilde.

Considering that she just brought a Juno back home to KW and I only learned about her after the fact, I think it’s safe to say her ascent has been nothing short of meteoric.

According to Wikipedia, the last woman to win Rock Album of the year was Alanis Morrissette in 1996. So yeah, I’m postulating, but it’s definitely not weird to see the names Alanis Morrissette and JJ Wilde in the same sentence.

Her music consists of a pretty refreshing take on the age-old, bluesy, classic rock formula. This shines

through brightly on her newest EP Wilde, via standout tracks like “Mercy”, which is currently a hit on local radio.

In addition to making a splash here in town, JJ Wilde has also made an impact nationally. Last May, her breakout single, “The Rush”, topped the charts in Canada for Modern Rock, Active Rock and Mainstream Rock simultaneously.

JJ, if you are reading this, my mom is a fan, and I’m so stoked to see an up-and-coming artist putting KW on the map! I can’t wait to see the homecoming show at a packed-out Centre In The Square.

The Art Fresco Trail features

picnic tables painted by 38 local artists across 50 local restaurants. EXPLORE WATERLOO CONTRIBUTED PHOTO.

ONLINE VIGIL HELD FOR AFZAAL FAMILY IN

enforcement agencies are vigilant, and they’re safe.”

To add insult to injury, the vigil was zoombombed, which is when a group of people intrude into a Zoom meeting with the purpose of disrupting it.

HARLEEN KAUR DHILLON EDITOR IN CHIEF

While she was in a meeting near the beginning of June, Fauzia Mazhar’s phone was flooded with messages expressing shock and condolences.

She and the other attendees slowly learned of the murder of the Afzaal family in London, Ontario.

Amid the shock and horror, Mazhar, the executive director of the Coalition of Muslim Women of KW, and her teammates put together a vigil for the family on Tuesday, Jun. 8 which was attended by over 800 people including government leaders, community and faith leaders, and members of the police. The vigil took place on Zoom and, although it was originally planned for one hour, it spanned over three.

“The most important thing, at the time, was making sure that there [was] a space for people to come together and share their grief, and just be able to be in a space for each other and be able to just share,” she said.

“It was important for us that they also hear words of assurance. The assurance from system leaders, some closure activities like prayers and things like that…[and that] the law

There have been many cases of people entering Zoom meetings uninvited to add hateful comments and images over the last year. It was an infringement on the privacy and healing of the vigil attendees. Although Mazhar was praised for her grace in handling the trespassing, she was livid at the time.

“I was so angry in the moment. And my only my emotion, my primary [thought] was, we’re not gonna let them win. We have to continue, have to continue...I wasn’t graceful in my heart…[but I thought], we cannot be driven out from this space that we have created,” she said.

“I was also worried about how would people feel...if [they were] driven out in such a way from the space that they were just creating together?,” Mazhar said.

The hateful actions of the zoombombers and of Nathaniel Veltman, who committed the murders, are not senseless. For people that live with less fatal encounters with racism and hatred, this was neither surprising nor unexpected. Mazhar told stories of other Muslim people who were harassed by a truck following them, the driver mocking their terror.

“People have been calling it a senseless act and all of us are kind of

KW ARTS GALLERY CURATOR LEAVES KW

pretending that we are shocked...But for people like us, it makes complete sense when we see ourselves, our spaces, our qualities, violated on a daily basis,” she said.

“Those three women who were walking on that street thinking that that street is safe, somebody’s filming them and talking to them about possibly [making them] targets for a fatal killing. ...It’s not easy to live that life. And in that manner, nothing is shocking. Nothing.”

Mazhar does not have all the answers. She does not know how to end racism completely or make people believe that it is still a major issue in Canada. Still, her organization has been working to educate others and create positive change for many years.

“I don’t know what needs to be done...We have been doing this work for almost 11 years. And believe me, for most of that time people didn’t believe [us and] we had to produce evidence we had to really like, do a lot of things to come to the point where at least there’s some acknowledgement that state level harassment is happening,” she said.

Islamophobia impacts more than just the Muslim community—it impacts anyone who may be perceived as the other. This includes Brown people in general and people of other faiths like Sikhs. Mazhar remembers how, in the aftermath of 9/11, there were many attacks on other Brown people of different faiths—especially Sikhs and Hindus. With attacks like the one on

the Afzaal family, it is not only Muslim people that are affected, but all Black and Brown people—their actual and perceived safety are both threatened.

Mazhar has lived with hateful or ignorant comments from people that do not understand the nuances of her identity for a long time. Now, she refuses to entertain ignorant questions, focusing instead on educating people.

“You do not need any education

about Islam and Muslims...You just need to remember your responsibilities,” she said.

“You do not need to know about Islam and Muslim to be the kind of person that you need to be everyday, and just accept the other person’s humanity...it’s not about the ideology itself that people need to know to be able to respect. Forget about respect, it’s like at least let them live.”

RACHAEL MACINTOSH CONTRIBUTOR

The Kitchener-Waterloo Arts Gallery (KWAG) has been based at Centre In The Square since 1968. The gallery aims to inspire a love of visual art in citizens of Waterloo Region and focuses on bringing contemporary art into its space.

Crystal Mowry, senior curator for KWAG, will leave the gallery this month after 15 years. Mowry will work with the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan, where she will become the director of programs.

“As senior curator, I spend a lot of my time working closely with artists and my role is largely to develop our exhibition program, to guide our collecting efforts, and to oversee our publishing [and ensure it is] in line with our exhibition efforts,” Mowry said.

Mowry started working with KWAG in the Fall of 2005 as a curatorial assistant. During her tenure, she supported and displayed the works of diverse artists such as the works of racialized people, Indigenous people and women.

“I don’t think of myself as an aca demic, I’m not an art historian in the traditional sense, but I do see myself as a co-conspirator and a collaborator, and I suppose that is why I’m inclined to champion artists on the creation of new works and find ways to leverage institutional support, to create some thing meaningful with artists,” Mowry said.

With Mowry’s oversight, KWAG recently purchased a work from Black, Montreal-based artist Deanna Brown. The gallery featured Brown’s work Black Drones in the Hive which focus es on the relationship of colonialism to Black, Iindigenous, and white histo ry in this region.

Mowry is an important part of KWAG and the region’s art community. Shir ley Hill, executive director of KWAG, recognized the impact Mowry has had on the gallery and the community.

“Crystal’s departure is a loss to the Gallery and community and it saddens us to see her go...The impact she has made in KWAG’s exhibition pro gramming has been nothing short of remarkable,” Hill said.

“However, this is a terrific opportuni ty for her. The MacKenzie Art Gallery is a great gallery and I know that she will do extraordinary work there in this important position,” she said.

Mowry said that, although she is looking forward to her new position, she will miss working with KWAG.

“I absolutely love KWAG’s gallery spaces. When you’ve worked in an en vironment for this long, you can kind of walk the halls in your sleep, with your eyes closed. You can imagine how a show may take shape within those walls with very little effort. And a part of what I think I’m avoiding is imagin ing…or realizing that I’m going to have to learn a new space,” she said.

“There is kind of an entrepreneurial spirit in ... Waterloo Region. I meet so many people who have ambition to create things that they feel don’t exist here... It’s a sensibility that I have yet to find matched elsewhere in Canada, and that’s something I really appre ciate about this place and I know I’ll really miss that.”.

fauzia mazhar speaks to the crime, the vigil, zoombombing, and more after hodting a vigil for the muslim family murdered in london, ontario

Fauzia Mazhar helped lead the KW vigil for the Afzaal family in June. CREATIVE COMMONS

EVENT

LISTINGS

THURSDAY, JULY 8

TINY HOMES ZONING & BYLAW VIRTUAL

Do setback and minimum width requirements excite you? Perhaps you have been feeling the need to abandon your three-story townhouse for 860 sq. ft. This session is brought to you by the City of Kitchener and will give a run through the new bylaws surrounding tiny homes.

Community• Free • 11:00am-12:00am

THURSDAY, JULY 8

YOGA FLOW BREITHAUPT PARK

Join Attic Yoga in an all-level vinyasa flow practice in Breithaupt Park!

Grab eight of your closest, socially distanced friends and reserve your session ahead of time through their website. These practices are ongoing throughout the summer, so make sure to stretch out of downward dog and watch for their full schedule.

Community • $10 • 10:00am-11:00am

SATURDAY, JULY 10

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY MARKETPLACE

KITCHENER FARMERS MARKET

The Healing of The Seven Generations will be hosting six vendors in the piazza of Kitchener Market, located in downtown Kitchener, in celebration of local Indigenous talent. For more information you can contact Andrea Hundt by email at ahundt@ healingofthesevengenerations.ca. Market • Free • 7:00am-2:00pm

MONDAY, JULY 12

SURVIVOR PANEL ON MISSING CHILDREN FACEBOOK LIVE

Hosted by National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, they will be discussing perspectives from intergenerational survivors and families regarding missing children, unmarked burials and cemeteries.

Panelists include Madeleine Basile, Dorene Bernard, and Joyce Hunter. It will be moderated by Leo Dufault.

Panel • Free • 6:00pm

TUESDAY, JULY 13

BUTTERFLY CONSERVATORY VISIT VIRTUAL

If you want to take a close-up peak at stick insects from the safety of your living room couch, register for this event hosted by Kitchener Public Library. Your heart will flutter as the butterflies dance around your screen and they take you for a stroll through the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory.

Community • Free • 1:00pm-2:00pm

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14

TRASH TALK VIRTUAL

Have you been sitting at home during the pandemic and wondering whether black plastic can be recycled? Or whether you really have to rinse containers before tossing them into your blue bin?

Then this virtual event is for you. It’s interactive, it’s trashy and the host promises not to ‘waste your time’.

Waste • Free • 2:00pm-3:00pm

WEDNESDAY, JULY 14

BETH BOWLES’ BIRTHDAY GLOBAL EVENT

If you want to know about staging craft beer in a way that convinces you to spend buckets of cash or if you’re having trouble remembering that one Red Hot Chili Peppers’ lyric then Beth is your gal. The former Editor-in-Chief of TCE and an all around brilliant human, we are happy to celebrate her today.

• All Day

SATURDAY, JULY 17

PARK-ING LOT MOVIES

A WATERLOO PARKING LOT

Ditch your memories of watching films in the park, have you ever enjoyed one while in a parking lot?

An exciting twist. Push your seat back, pre-order your concession items from Princess Cinemas and sing along to the yellow brick road while watching the Wizard of Oz.

We all enjoy Glenda the Good Witch.

Movies • Free • 9:00pm

SATURDAY, JULY 17

RUSTY NAIL COMEDY

THE CRAZY CANUCK

Double-fisting pizza and craft beer while cackling at the comedic genius of Ron Josol, Rob Pue and many more almost sounds like a fever dream at this point in the pandemic. You can bring cash to the door or add it to your bill, either way they have guaranteed you’ll be laughing your rear off. That’s it - I’m sold!

Comedy • $20 • 7:00pm-9:00pm

THURSDAY, JULY 22

BLOOM AND LOOM WATERLOO REGION MUSEUM

This event is enough to make any green thumb throb as the Waterloo Region Museum’s Horticultural Specialist, Bob Wildfong, walks you through over 200 species of heritage plants. You’ll be given a small weaving craft and a few seeds to take home following the tour. Face masks required at all times.

THURSDAY, JULY 22

STAR TREK TRIVIA VIRTUAL

Hosted by Meghan, a selfproclaimed muggle-born witch, you’ll be able to test how knowledgeable you really are when it comes to darthest details of the franchise. Here’s a pun to tie you over until the event: If Vader competed in the winter Olympics, he’d be Darth Skater. Good luck.

Trivia • Free/Donations • 7:30pm-9:00pm

SATURDAY, JULY 24

ARTIST WALKING TOUR AMBROSIA CORNER BAKERY

Post-Part is an outdoor interactive exhibition using illustration, collage and audio to invite folks to experience a glimpse of the experience of Postpartum Mood Disorders. This guided walks, Catherine Mellinger, speaks to the piece’s inspiration alongside QR code connected web content.

Community • $22.23 • 1:00-3:00pm

SATURDAY, JULY 24-25

FORGED CANDLEHOLDERS TWO SMITHS

Take all the pennies you’ve saved over the pandemic and learn how to form a candlestick using simple hand tools. Nothing like forging steel with your gloved hands alongside a fire to really have you enjoying the summer heat waves. You’ll be able to discover all sorts of design possibilities and to leave with a stick for candles.

Workshop • $473.24 • 9:00am-5:00pm

WEDNESDAY, JULY 28

VIRTUAL STEEL RAILS SESSIONS VIRTUAL

Even though we still can’t watch burlesque dancers in red pop balloons as they walk around LOT42, we’re here to offer you a second round of Virtual Steel Rails Sessions. Partnered up with our pals at Good Company Productions, we guarantee 90-minutes packed with art, interaction and mystery.

Art • Free/Donations • 7:00pm-9:00pm

FRIDAY, JULY 30

ART MARKET

HERITAGE AND VISITOR CENTRE

If you’ve been refreshing your event listings page for an in-person market, here it is! Artists, crafters and makers from Waterloo and surrounding area are coming together to dazzle you with their locally made pieces. If anything, this pandemic has made supporting community art and makers critical.

SATURDAY, JULY 31-AUGUST 2

FORGING A CHEF’S KNIFE TWO SMITHS

Empty out your savings account because this three-day knife making course will make it worth your while. Creating the blade from a raw piece of high carbon steel, heat treating and tempering it in the fire and making a wooden handle from scratch with an oil seal are all skills you’ll pick up during the workshop.

Workshop • $600+HST • 9:00am-5:00pm

SATURDAY, JULY 31

TWO SPIRIT SOCIAL & GATHERING LAUREL CREEK CONSERVATION

Join O:se Kenhionhata:tie for an afternoon of singing, dancing and spoken-work at the conservation. They’ve announced big drum will be invited and they will be giving priority to Two Spirit, IndigiQueer, Black, Indigenous and racialized performers and vendors. More details to be announced soon.

Community

Free

12PM

MONDAY, AUGUST 2

SLOWRIDE RIVER PADDLE 3734 KING ST E

Combine your next dispensary visit with a paddling down one of the local rivers! They encourage their guests to cast a line as you go or soak up the surrounding with the full body relaxation of the guides artisan hashish or personal stash. Groups of three or more can contact them for custom pricing.

A NEW HOME & NAME FOR QUEEN STREET YOGA

Queen St. space started.

“That was in April 2020 and I wasn’t ready to go there yet. But by the end of summer and into the fall, that’s when we started to really think about it,” added Cressman.

ALEX KINSELLA STAFF WRITER

Longtime downtown Kitchener yoga studio Queen Street Yoga has made a new home and a new name. Operating as The Branches at 9 Samuel St. near Frederick St., the studio’s owners are getting ready to reopen after months of pandemic-related lockdowns.

“I feel like everything has aligned in a pretty positive way. It was the right time to make a bunch of changes at once,” said Leena Miller Cressman, one of the co-owners at The Branches.

Cressman had been looking into developing the online offerings to reach new audiences before COVID-19. The pandemic and its rolling lockdowns were the sparks Cressman needed to get started.

“I was one of those people that thought this was going to be over in three weeks. I wasn’t ready to contemplate too many big changes,” Cressman said.

By the summer of 2020, some of her co-workers were starting to recognize that the return to normal would be delayed. That’s when discussions of getting out of their lease for the

At first, Cressman and her partners were looking to end their lease and focus on an online business model until the pandemic ended. But fate struck, and they were presented with a property that matched the direction their studio was heading.

With a new space, the owners also chose a new name—The Branches—to represent their efforts to use yoga as a form of community care that can help tackle issues such as climate change and racism.

“It really felt like a huge opportunity, but also very daunting, because we have 16 years of name recognition in Kitchener-Waterloo,” said Cressman.

“ ”

IT HAS AN OUTDOOR SPACE, IT’S RIGHT IN THE HEART OF A NEIGHBOUR HOOD, -LEENA MILLER CRESSMAN, CO-OWNER, THE BRANCHES

“When we set foot in the house, we were just in love with the possibility of it. It has outdoor space, it’s right in the heart of a neighbourhood, and we can run a commercial business there. It was a pretty neat opportunity to build a home for ourselves,” she said.

“We felt ready to say more clearly who we are and what our values are and we feel like ‘The Branches’ captures that more and can signify our ethics and our tone and our intention to our community that we want to be this welcoming place that reaches out and brings more people in.”

While the move to their new home is expanding their options for current members, their move online has reconnected them with members from the long history of Queen Street Yoga.

“We’ve been around for so long and there’s a lot of people who’ve been part of our community who have moved away and now they’ve reconnected with us. That’s been really special and also new folks joining us through word of mouth and through different things we’ve been doing online,” Cressman said.

You can find The Branches at their new home at 9 Samuel St. in Kitchener, or visit them online at thebranchesyoga.com.

THE ART OF THRIFTING WITH CARNATION HALL

nostalgic stories they’ve uncovered along the way.

“There is so much history in this area, it’s incredible. We find so much beauty in the items of the past. They don’t manufacture items like they used to. These items were truly made to last and to be durable and functional,” Spiegl said.

“We spend a lot of time restoring [items] to be as presentable as possible because we believe in old fashioned sentimentality and work ethic. I won’t ever feel comfortable giving something away or selling a product unless it’s absolutely worth the customer’s diamond,” Rees said.

After their first sale and a great deal of reflection, the couple decided to turn this passion project into their livelihood.

storefront someday and to turn Carnation Hall into an umbrella company for a number of things we want to provide this community.

We are a strong supporter of local businesses and this incredible area that we find ourselves in,” Spiegl said.

Some of their hopes for the future of the business include a community gathering centre and a publishing house for poetry, literature and art. They would also like it to become a space for creating and sharing music. They’re building something of a safe haven for old souls.

Carnation Hall got its name when two people enriched by the art of romanticization saw opportunity in the petals of a symbolic gesture. The carnation is Julia Spiegl’s birthday flower, but it meant something more when Andrew Rees showed up with a bundle of them for their second date. Since then, the two visual artists have worked together to build a platform for their work. Through @carnationhallco, they now offer local thrifted products—and that’s only one layer of the couple’s overall

vision.

“The name Carnation Hall kept on floating around in our heads, so we came up with an idea board and spent a lot of time mapping out what we thought it could be,” Spiegl said.

“We went on a drive with no destination in mind and ended up at the Listowel Florist shop … the couple who own it invited us upstairs to see their workspace and sift through some of their favourite items,” she said.

They simply wanted to create something they cared about, together. The decision to start with a thrift store started to take shape inside the charming attic of a local florist. Their fascination for the loveliness of that space inspired them to create something like it for themselves. That space became Carnation Hall.

“Once we had the idea to open our

own thrift store, we started walking around our place and picking out pieces we thought we could sell. We’re both avid thrifters and we believe in not giving a lot of power to material things. We approached each item thinking, ‘Yes, this is a beautiful object, but we don’t need to have it in our house. Who else could enjoy it?’,” Spiegl said. “We find joy in sharing the beautiful things we find with those in our community.”

However, when it comes to the objects Rees and Spiegl collect, it’s never solely about beauty. The two invest time, research and energy into every find—including a chair manufactured by local landmark, Krug’s Furniture Company, for example. Their digging revealed that it had originally been manufactured for a charitable event in the early 2000s and that it’s actually the only one around. That’s just one of many

“I want to emphasize that this wasn’t a situation where we had a bunch of money saved up and just decided to jump into this thing. It was that I realized I wasn’t happy at work and there was something else I could do that I would love,” Spiegl said. “I’ve learned to go with my gut and now every day is so much fun.”

“For me—and I don’t mean this in a pessimistic way—I’ve been alive 30 years and have been working hard day in and day out for someone else. This year I thought, ‘If I’m going to be fortunate enough to live a long life, how else can I spend that time?’,”

Rees said.

Carnation Hall has only been around for a month, so Spiegl and Rees are still finding the balance between putting time into their business and caring for themselves. They’re taking it slow and are always eager to receive feedback from customers and embrace the learning phase. Yet, brimming with passion, talent and the kindest intentions, the couple is already working toward a whole host of goals for the business.

“The vision is to own a physical

“We want Carnation Hall to become a refuge for artists of all different sorts. We imagine a quaint shop with cases full of books and couches where people can unwind while pursuing our collection of items and listening to vinyl spin,” Spiegl said.

“All will be welcome—anyone who is kind, that is,” Rees said.

For now however, you can visit their shop on Instagram as well as their personal profiles, @ juliaseagullco and @byawgr, to learn more about their art. They will also be popping up at local markets as they return to the city, starting with Stanley Park Community Centre market on Jul. 1.

“Our advice for anyone on a similar journey to us is that it feels so good to start doing something for yourself, to fill your own pockets,” Spiegl said.

“Nothing is certain in life, especially in the world we’re in right now...we refuse to give it any more power than it already has. We would rather spread happiness and kindness and focus on the good things in life rather than the fearful and negative. Carnation Hall came to be out of love and a mindset of abundance,” she said.

Julia Spiegl and Andrew Rees offer thrifted products at Carnation Hall. RYAN ANTOOA PHOTO

THE SIDE HUSTLE

JENNA AQUINO COLUMNIST

The former Queen Street Yoga has found a new home and a new name. DAVE KLASSEN PHOTO

THE STARS AND YOUR MOON

COSMIC RELIEF

ELFIE KALFAKIS COLUMNIST

You probably know your sun sign, or perhaps that if you were born in December you’re either a Sagittarius or Capricorn. But did you know that’s only the tip of the iceberg of your cosmic makeup? In my opinion, the most fascinating part of astrology is its multidimensionality.

There are twelve archetypes in the zodiac wheel. Our natal chart is a diagram that shows the exact position of the constellations and planets at the moment and geographic location of your birth. Each sign highlights different aspects of your personality, suggesting we are all multidimension al beings with complex relationships to cosmic energies in the sky. At a glance, you may be intimidated by the diagram and, in truth, the complexity of astrology is endless.

Your sun sign speaks to the position of the sun in the zodiac wheel on your birthday. Astrolgically, it relates to the active, ego-centred, aggressive aspects of your personality which are traditionally referred to as the ‘divine masculine’. Your moon sign refers to your passive, subconsciously-cen tred and intuitive qualities. These are traditionally referred to as the ‘divine feminine’.

There are a lot of parallels between astrology and psychology. Your sun

sign refers to your ego and your moon sign your subconscious. The fact that most of us are widely familiar with our sun signs and less aware of our moon signs may speak to a collective relationship with the subconscious world, or the ’divine femininity’—a world that perhaps favours extrovert ed advancements. Yet our internal and intuitive processes are just as complex and important. Understanding your moon sign can help you understand how your inner world works. If you’re curious to calculate your moon sign there are many sites online to do so.

As we settle into Cancer season this month, a sign ruled by the moon, we can indulge in exploring our inner world. This month, give yourself a break from the hustle and surren der to the emotional, intuitive and subconscious. After all, developing a strong relationship with both the inner and outer world is one of the ob jectives of astrology. To help you nav igate all the feelings you’ll likely have this month, here are some suggestions based on your moon sign, on how to connect with your divine feminine and nurture yourself and another cosmic playlist to put a spell on July.

To help you navigate all the feels you’ll likely have this month, here are some suggestions, based on your moon sign, on how to connect with your divine feminine and nurture yourself.

CANCER MOON

Take a long hot bath with your drink of choice while watching a sentimental drama.

LEO MOON

Dress up in your favourite costume or outfit and have a socially-distanced

dance party with your friends.

VIRGO MOON

Sit in quiet contemplation for hours then journal or create something expressive with your findings.

LIBRA MOON

Decorate your home with things you find beautiful and have a heart-toheart chat with your closest friend.

SCORPIO MOON

Get out some tarot cards, wine, and candles and ruminate in the darkness for a few hours.

SAGITTARIUS MOON

Take a long hike with a friend then come home and watch an interesting documentary or learn a new skill.

CAPRICORN MOON

Organize your workspace, make some goals for the weeks to come and look over your finances.

AQUARIUS MOON

Have some nice chats and brain storm sessions with friends on a patio and take some time to research interesting ideas online.

PISCES MOON

Meditate with some good music and indulge in something creative while having a good cry.

ARIES MOON

Play outdoors while doing something active and end the day off with a huge bonfire.

TAURUS MOON

Indulge in a luxurious self-care body treatment, make a delicious meal and connect with your sensual side.

GEMINI MOON

Share some good stories with friends over drinks, go for an explorative walk or drive then journal all about it.

7 BEST LOCAL BEACHES IN WR

MARIANA BILBAO CONTRIBUTOR

As summer sets in and restrictions start to lift, it’s time for you to visit some of the best beaches within a less than a two-hour drive from down town Kitchener. Whether you go for a swim on Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Conestogo Lake or the Grand River, we’ve got you covered.

conestogo lake conservation area (44 min/54.5 km)

Surrounded by Mennonite farms and managed by the Grand River Conservation Authority, this area is home to a huge concrete flood control dam. The park is used for many activities including camping, power boating, hunting, sailing, water skiing, canoeing and fishing. The beach area has a playground for the little ones and parking close to the beach.

valens lake conservation area (32 min/37.2 km): This man-made reservoir, located in the northwestern corner of Hamilton, was created around 1970 to control flooding and is a bass sanctuary. It in cludes a natural sandy beach, 10 km of trails, 300-metre wetland boardwalk and an observation tower.

shade’s mills conservation area (26 min/25.9 km):

Part of the Grand River Conservation Authority, Shade’s Mills has one of our favourite beaches! It is a little oasis

in the middle of Cambridge, which makes it perfect if you need amenities close by. The sandy beach is surround ed by two kilometres of trails and a wide green space with picnic tables. It’s ready for your outdoor adventures like swimming, fishing, hiking and canoeing.

port burwell provincial park (1 h 24 min/119 km):

Port Burwell has one of the most beautiful beaches on the northern shore of Lake Erie. It has a 2.5km stretch of sandy beach with an area designated for dogs, so if you have a fur baby, definitely check this one out!

port dover (1 h 17 min/95.3 km):

Well known for its palm trees and sandy beach, Port Dover is located in Norfolk County and is also on the

northern shore of Lake Erie. It doesn’t have resort-like feels and can get very crowded but it’s definitely worth a visit. There is a parking lot directly off the beach and a charming small com munity with boutiques, restaurants, cafes and ice cream shops.

grand bend (1 h 29 min/121 km):

Grand Bend is the ultimate beach destination in Ontario! It’s known for the little town on Lake Huron and the sandy beaches that allow you to relax during the day and party at night.

Summer definitely looks different around here with the new restrictions in place, but it still gets quite crowded during the warmer months

guelph lake conservation area (40 min/30.6 km):

There are two beaches in Guelph

Lake Conservation Area that you can enjoy— a paradise just a few kilome tres away from Waterloo Region. I highly recommend driving or biking around because this park seems endless with 1600 acres around a reserve created with the Guelph dam in 1974. The park also has picnic areas and during the two days I spent there, I saw people riding bikes, going for hikes, walking, fishing, canoeing, kay aking, paddling, sailing, windsurfing and much more!

bonus!—kiwanis park and pool (right in kitchener!):

Kiwanis is a concrete beach—a lakelike pool located right in Kitchener and one of our favourite summer destinations. It reopened this year with limited capacity so you’ll need to purchase tickets online with three time slots available. That will definitely

keep the park less busy. Dogs are welcome but not allowed in the water and there is an off-leash designated area close by.

Summer goes by fast and this year we’ve been given the opportunity to explore our own backyard and the beautiful golden sanded fresh water beaches there are in and around KW. Make sure you visit the official websites before you go to check on restrictions, entry fees, capacity limits and tips to help keep nature clean and safe.

Remember that all Ontario Provin cial Parks remain free for day use, from Monday to Thursday until Sept. 2, 2021.

If you are looking for more fun things to do in the region, make sure you check my instagram account where I share fun things to do daily @ luso.canadiana.

Exploring local beaches is a great way to escape the heat in the summer months. Photos listed from left to right, Port Burwell and Guelph Lake.

MARIANA BILBAO PHOTO