MEDIA ADVISORY: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ecology Ottawa turns trash into treasure with the Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale
5^th annual event to raise funds for local environmental group and The Ottawa Food Bank

May 9, 2012, Ottawa—The national capital’s leading local environmental group, Ecology Ottawa, will be hosting its most exciting event of the year, the 5^th annual Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale, on Saturday, May 26 at 680 & 690 Bank Street (at Glebe Avenue, in the Rogers Plus and Kunstadt Sports parking lots).

The Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale is expected to be the biggest single sale during the wider community event, powered by the grassroots and volunteer-driven Ecology Ottawa, the city’s largest environmental group. Ecology Ottawa will grow community support in a fun environment as thousands of people across the city descend on the Glebe.

After collecting donations from supporters across the city, the Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale will have mountains of treasures waiting to find new, loving homes. The event offers residents the perfect opportunity to do some spring cleaning, donate un-wanted items, divert potential waste from the landfill, and turn their trash into cash for a good cause. Ninety per cent of the proceeds from the Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale will go to support Ecology Ottawa, and 10% will support The Ottawa Food Bank. Since its inception in 2008, the event has contributed more than $20,000 to these great organizations.

The lively event will also feature music performed by local artists and DJs, a vegetarian BBQ and bake sale, face painting for kids, relaxing massage therapists, and lots of fun for the whole family!

• WHAT: Ecology Ottawa’s 5^th Annual Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale
• WHEN: Saturday, May 26, 2012, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
• WHERE: 680 & 690 Bank Street (at Glebe Avenue, in the Rogers Plus and Kunstadt Sports parking lots)
• INTERVIEW OPS: Josh Snider, event Founder and Co-chair
• PHOTO OPS: Garage sale, live musical performances, DJs, kids face painting, massages, volunteers, BBQ, and bake sale
• PERFORMANCES: The Pelts, The Hornettes, Umbrella Protest, DJ Eric Roberts, and DJ Hobo vs. DJ Sweet Cheeks

Folks across the city can support this fun and important event by donating unwanted items for the sale, volunteering, contributing something yummy for the bake sale, and spreading the word to family, friends, and colleagues. And, of course, everyone is encouraged to take part in the event on May 26 to find a bargain, grab a coffee, have lunch, enjoy the performances, and learn more about Ecology Ottawa. For more information, please contact garagesale@ecologyottawa.ca or visit www.ecologyottawa.ca/garage-sale.

The organizers would like to acknowledge the event’s major partners—Kunstadt Sports, Loblaws on Isabella, PODS, and Rogers Plus in the Glebe—as well as the generous sponsors and community supporters of the event: Bread&Sons Bakery, Bridgehead, Camino, CouchAssassin.com, EnviroCentre, Fadi’s Fabulous Foods, Four Sisters Foods, FROGBOX, Katimavik, Kettleman’s Bagel Co., Life of Pie, Martin Sound & Lighting, Roy Sims Display, Sage Wellness, Smart Toilet Rentals, Subway at Bank and Gladstone, The Natural Step Canada, The Table Vegetarian Restaurant, VRTUCAR, ZaZaZa Pizza, and more to be announced soon.

“We invite everyone to join us at the Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale,” says event Founder and Co-chair Josh Snider. “Come out to find a bargain, enjoy some tasty treats, dance to some great local music, and support the environment in Ottawa.”

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About Ecology Ottawa

Ecology Ottawa is a non-partisan, non-profit, volunteer-driven organization working to promote citizen participation in decisions that shape Ottawa’s environment and to hold city council accountable for its environmental performance. Our mission is to make Ottawa the green capital of Canada. For more information, please visit: www.ecologyottawa.ca.

For media enquiries and event information, please contact:

Josh Snider, Founder & Co-chair, Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale
Work: 613-748-3001 x230
Home: 613-321-3392
garagesale@ecologyottawa.ca

Trevor Haché, Co-chair, Great Glebe GREEN Garage Sale
Work: 613-860-5353
trevor.hache@ecologyottawa.ca

Every year, the City of Ottawa dumps hundreds of millions of litres of untreated sewage directly into the Ottawa River. Now you have an opportunity to help stop this travesty once and for all.

Please click here to sign a petition addressed to all Ottawa area MPs, MPPs urging them to ensure that funding for the Ottawa River Action Plan flows soon.

At a March 30 post-budget breakfast address to the Ottawa business community Ottawa-West Nepean MP John Baird remarked that ongoing spills of raw sewage into the Ottawa River went beyond being an environmental issue, he felt it was a moral issue.

He fell short, however, of pointing to any line item in the recent budget under which the federal government would contribute to the next phase of the city’s Ottawa River Action Plan.

The City of Ottawa had been seeking shared federal and provincial funding for the project since both senior levels of government had in the past been joint funders of various phases of the project.

Instead, John Baird urged the city to spend fifty million dollars from federal money allocated to Ottawa’s light rail project.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson reacted swiftly.  Watson has been pushing for federal contributions to protect our waterways but said that shifting existing transit funding to water protection was impossible and would seriously impact the transit project.

Clearly Watson wants both projects to go ahead.

[Please note: the campaign related to the federal 2012 Budget has now concluded;  we are re-tooling the overall campaign and will re-launch it very soon]

Take Action to Protect our Rivers

Every year, the City of Ottawa dumps hundreds of millions of litres of untreated sewage directly into the Ottawa River. Now you have an opportunity to help stop this travesty once and for all.

Please scroll down to read the letter that more than 1,000 of Ottawa’s citizens sent to all Ottawa area MPs urging them to ensure that funding for the Ottawa River Action Plan is included in the federal 2012 Budget.

Quick Facts and More Information

In 2011, 417-million litres of combined sewage and rainwater into the river (equivalent to 166 Olympic-sized swimming pools). This number is half of what it was 2 years ago due to recent infrastructure upgrades. To complete the Ottawa River Action Plan and prevent any sewage from entering the river, a large storage facility is needed.

• Ottawa River Action Plan, City Of Ottawa overview
• Ottawa Riverkeeper assessment of the Plan
• Climate Ottawa assessment of the Plan
• Responses from local Members of Parliament

Dig Deeper

• Video: Combined Sewer Overflow in Ottawa
• Scientific Paper: Wastewater release and its impacts on Canadian waters

Press coverage so far:

Take Action to protect our rivers: urge local MPs to fund the Ottawa River Action Plan

[Please note: the campaign related to the federal 2012 Budget has now concluded;  we are re-tooling the overall campaign and will re-launch it very soon]

Recipients:

Hon. John Baird, Member of Parliament, Ottawa West—Nepean
Hon. Mauril Bélanger, Member of Parliament, Ottawa—Vanier
Paul Dewar, Member of Parliament, Ottawa Centre
Royal Galipeau, Member of Parliament, Ottawa—Orléans
Pierre Lemieux, Member of Parliament, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell
David McGuinty, Member of Parliament, Ottawa South
Hon. Gordon O’Connor, Member of Parliament, Carleton—Mississippi Mills
Pierre Poilievre, Member of Parliament, Nepean—Carleton

Message:

Dear Members of Parliament,

The City of Ottawa spills millions of litres of sewage into its rivers annually. Indeed, local Member of Parliament (MP) John Baird was correct to say: “It’s no longer an environmental issue. For many residents of the city of Ottawa, including myself, it’s a moral issue.”

Thankfully, the city developed the Ottawa River Action Plan and it is delivering results, cutting discharges by more than half compared to measurements of four years ago. Unfortunately, in 2011 the city still discharged 417-million litres of combined sewage and rainwater into the river.

To pay for the $150 million construction of Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) storage facilities—intended to lower the amount of contaminants released to the river, improve water quality, and reduce the number of beach closures—the city now seeks one-third funding contributions from the federal and provincial governments. The province has indicated it will contribute, but the federal government has not yet done so.

I am trying to gauge the level of support among MPs for funding the plan. Specifically, I am writing to ask if you support $50 million in federal funding for CSO storage facilities?

Please ensure that the federal government, in Budget 2012, commits to its third of the funding. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

Scope of Work:
The Outreach Associate will take the lead on outreach to our existing membership to engage them in our work by organizing member call-outs and implementing a volunteer appreciation strategy. The Associate will also be involved in developing and implementing an outreach strategy to potential allies. The Associate will also play a lead role in managing Ecology Ottawa volunteer leaders who are involved in the Community Network. This role will involve managing 12-15 leaders across the city who are involved in community outreach. The Associate will be the main point of communication with volunteer leaders and will assist in the organizing of training and resource provision to support the work of these leaders. This position will require a significant amount of evening and weekend work with hours shifted accordingly.

Background:

Ecology Ottawa is a not-for-profit organization working to make Ottawa the green capital of Canada. We believe that Ottawa residents are concerned about issues such as pollution, waste, and global warming, and that they want sustainable communities where clean air and water, public transit, renewable energy, recycling, and green space protection take priority. We are working with residents and community organizations to ensure that these concerns are heard at city hall.

Roles and Responsibilities:

• Developing, coordinating and implementing a member outreach strategy, including training volunteers to make call-outs to engage members in our existing work. Will happen during evenings and weekends.
• Developing and implementing an outreach strategy to potential allies.
• Identifying and approaching potential sponsors for annual events including the Garage Sale and Annual Dinner.
• Coordination of Community Network leaders, providing them with direction, resources and support. Meetings with leaders are typically in the evenings.
• Evaluating the Community Network and sharing lessons learned from their outreach campaigns to ensure self-sufficiency so that the leaders can continue working in their communities.
• Carrying out other activities, as necessary

The successful candidate will have a combination of:

• Demonstrated experience in individual outreach
• Excellent phone and in-person presentation manner.
• Passion for environmental issues and community organizing
• Experience and aptitude for managing volunteers and the ability to work with a diversity of partners
• Minimum bachelor’s degree in political science, public policy, environmental studies, or other related field.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and French, bilingualism would be a bonus.
• Ability to work independently, as well as in a small team, and can manage multiple projects and responsibilities simultaneously.
• Demonstrated interest in municipal and environmental issues.
• Ability to work legally in Canada

Necessary Eligibility Requirements:

• between the ages of 15 and 30 (inclusive) at the time of intake/selection;
• post-secondary graduates;
• out of school;
• Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or persons who have been granted refugee status in Canada;
• legally entitled to work according to the relevant provincial/territorial legislation and regulations; and
• not in receipt of Employment Insurance (EI) benefits.

Terms of Position: April 10, 2012 – September 7, 2012, 37.5 hrs/week
Remuneration: $19.75/hr

To apply: Please send a cover letter and CV to graham.saul@ecologyottawa.ca. Only complete applications sent by email will be considered.

Closing date: April 3, 2012

We thank all those who apply, but only short-listed candidates will be contacted. No phone calls or enquiries please. Ecology Ottawa is committed to employment equity, and encourages applications from all qualified candidates.

For further information about Ecology Ottawa, please visit our website at

www.ecologyottawa.ca

By Charles Hodgson, volunteer with Ecology Ottawa

In 2004 the City adopted a climate change plan that’s out of date and failed at its objectives. Concerned Ottawans were told to wait for a new plan coming out of something called Choosing our Future.

On February 22nd 2012 City Council quietly received the Choosing our Future plans. During the same meeting Council heard that the City was abolishing its Sustainability Department; the group who prepared the plans. The Choosing our Future website was quickly taken down. The outcome doesn’t seem to match Council priorities so evidently we have no plan.

The City of Ottawa is acting as if climate change is not a municipal responsibility, a view that is at odds with the assessment of dozens of leaders such as Mayors Michael Bloomberg of New York; Klaus Wowereit of Berlin, Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, and Gregor Robertson of Vancouver.

The Clinton Climate Initiative says that cities “contribute more than two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions.”

Eventually our governments will take meaningful actions to combat climate change so the fact that most greenhouse gas emissions originate in cities means that municipalities will be involved in implementing the solutions. Whether the City of Ottawa leads or follows, we will sooner or later be exploring municipal tools for reducing emissions.

If we lead there are at least three advantages in addition to any greenhouse gas reductions we might achieve.

The first is saving money. Study after study calculate the costs of inaction to outweigh the costs of action; from the 2006 British Government’s report by the London School of Economics’ Nicholas Stern; to Paying the Price, Canada’s 2011 National Roundtable on Environment & Economy report.

Second, if we lead locally we pave the way for earlier action by senior levels of government. The more municipalities that demonstrate what is possible and the fewer likely to kick up objections to federal or provincial initiatives, the easier it will be for senior governments to take those initiatives.

Third, when those initiatives come—and they must—we’ll be “shovel ready.”

We shouldn’t have any particular allegiance to what wasn’t working. It doesn’t matter whether Choosing our Future was the right approach or produced the right plans. What matters is that the City is responsible for being involved in reducing the Ottawa carbon footprint. We do need some plan.

The most important reason for the City to take a role is that the issue is urgent. For decades the world scientific community has studied climate change in depth and now shares robust consensus. Anyone who tells you different is either misinformed or lying. More than 190 world governments including Canada officially accept as unequivocal (that’s the word they use) the evidence that climate change is happening. They accept with 90% to 99% certainty (yes, they calibrate the certainty) that it is mainly caused by human actions.

The long term consequences are so dire that the Nobel Prize Committee described lack of urgent action as a threat to the basis of human life. Yet world greenhouse gas concentrations increase year after year and each time more than the year before.

While Canada’s emissions have increased, European emissions have decreased. It can be done. Others are winning their local climate fights. The way to do it is becoming clearer and the needed technology is getting better.

To take responsibility for our greenhouse gas emissions in Ottawa will require joint action by federal, provincial and municipal governments. The City certainly can’t go it alone. Yet experiences from other cities show that there are areas of municipal jurisdiction where action can be taken independently. If the City doesn’t explore the limits of what it can achieve in this regard, it won’t be able to identify to senior governments where their jurisdictions support or impede municipal action.

On the issue of climate change Council’s reach should exceed its grasp.
(apologies to Robert Browning)

Cross-posted on ClimateOttawa.ca

PRESS RELEASE

Community Associations, Ecology Ottawa ask Ottawa-area MPs to ‘Cut the Crap, Fund the Plan!’
Environmental organization says it is not fair to ask the city to choose between public transit and clean water

March 7, 2012 (Ottawa) – At a press conference this morning at Britannia Beach, Ecology Ottawa and Community Associations called on the federal government to help the nation’s capital clean up its rivers, and asked that it stop calling on the city to choose between public transit and clean water.

“We’re glad the federal government is supportive of making the Ottawa River Action Plan a priority in 2014, but the feds are planning to spend billions of dollars on jets, jails and oil subsidies, so we don’t think they should be asking the people of Ottawa to choose between light rail and clean water,” said Graham Saul, chair of Ecology Ottawa. “Minister Baird has called this a moral issue, so now is the time to act.”

To illustrate the fact that Ottawa dumps hundreds of millions of litres of untreated sewage into the river, a male model sat on a toilet bowl in Britannia Beach, with his pants around his knees during the press conference.

Ecology Ottawa has collected 750 signatures on a letter to all Ottawa-area Members of Parliament (MPs) urging them to fight to ensure funding for the Ottawa River Action Plan is included in the federal 2012 budget. During a press conference this morning at Britannia Beach, Saul said he was dissatisfied with the response to the funding request received from the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

Pierre Poilievre, M.P. Nepean-Carleton, stated that: “The cleanup of the Ottawa River remains the federal government priority now and for 2014. We wished the city shared that priority.”

“The basic argument from the federal government that if the City is serious about the Ottawa River Action Plan it can just use money from federal transit funding is unfair,” Saul said.

Saul was joined at the press conference by representatives from two Community Associations (Riverview Park and Westboro Beach) upset with beach closures and untreated sewage in our waterways. These representatives also expressed dissatisfaction in the response received from the federal government so far.

“We are asking the federal government to do what is right and fund the Ottawa River Action Plan in Budget 2012,” said Mari Wellman, chair of the Westboro Beach Community Association.

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For more information, please contact:

Graham Saul
Chair, Ecology Ottawa
Phone: 613-558-3368 (cell); 613-860-5353 (work)

City Council to decide the fate of “Choosing Our Future”

Feb. 21, 2012 (Ottawa) — The City of Ottawa’s Environment Committee is set to discuss three plans today that fall under the heading of Choosing our Future. These plans are the result of a four-year planning process and, if fully embraced, they would save Ottawa residents billions of dollars a year in energy costs, increase support for local farmers, help protect our parks and rivers, promote high-tech businesses, and build a world class public transportation system, among many other things. However, the staff report to be approved at Committee today does not commit the city to do much more than “receive” the plans.

“Council should be congratulated for coming up with a plan that will save residents money, promote local business, and protect the environment, but it is still not clear if they intend to follow-through with the plans,” said Graham Saul, Chair of Ecology Ottawa, who will be making a public intervention at the Environment Committee meeting today. “The Choosing Our Future reports will be remembered as a bold new vision for a sustainable and healthy Ottawa, or a colossal waste of taxpayer resources, it’s up to Council to decide.”

The plans propose measures that would, among many other things, help: build complete neighbourhoods and communities; retrofit the suburbs; reduce greenhouse gas emissions, promote public transportation and electric vehicles; encourage high performance buildings and renewable energy; protect and restore green and natural systems; protect the quality of our water; attract new businesses at the leading edge of sustainability; help reduce waste and increase recycling; and support local food and agriculture.

The staff report to Environment Committee states that the plans can be used to guide the soon to be initiated refreshes of the Official Plan, Transportation Master Plan, and Infrastructure Plan, among others. The three plans also identify examples of actions and catalyst projects that could be taken but, with a couple exceptions, there is as yet no indication of whether or not the Environment Committee intends to proceed with the implementation of these proposed measures.

“This is an opportunity for Council to move forward with a vision that people across the city can rally around and that will make us proud to call Ottawa home,” said Saul. “The city spent four years and presumably millions of dollars consulting people and coming up with these plans, they need to make it count or it will just feed the cynicism that surrounds these kinds of initiatives. Ecology Ottawa is going into the meeting with two questions: How are you going to move forward, and how can we help?”

Ecology Ottawa is a grassroots environmental organization that is working to promote environmental leadership in the City of Ottawa. We have more than 5,000 supporters across the city and over 400 volunteers.

For more information, contact Graham Saul, Chair of Ecology Ottawa, at 613-558-3368.

Background:

This afternoon, the Environment Committee is set to receive the final results of Choosing our Future, an initiative of the City of Ottawa, in partnership with the City of Gatineau and National Capital Commission, to guide Canada’s Capital Region towards a more liveable and prosperous future. The initiative includes three long-range plans that have been created as the culmination of the initiative. They are as follows: A Plan for Sustainability and Resilience Plan in Canada’s Capital Region, An Energy and Emissions Plan for Canada’s Capital Region, and A Risk Prevention and Mitigation Plan for the City of Ottawa.

These plans are the outcome of a five-step process beginning in 2008 that included: the commission of a series of papers, and public forums; the establishment of advisory groups and preparation of baseline analyses; extensive modelling to explore the implications of some of the strategies; the production of a series of discussion papers and a series of workshops to discuss them; the production of the final plans. Ecology Ottawa does not know what the full cost of this process was but it presumably ran into the millions.

You can view the staff report to Council here:  http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/ec/2012/02-21/03-ACS2012-ICS-CSS-0005%20Feb%202012.htm

Links to the extensive supporting documentation can be found at the bottom of the staff report. The documents include:

•     Energy and Emissions Plan (78 pages – most important document)
•     Sustainability and Resilience Plan (120 pages – parent document)
•     Risk Prevention and Mitigation Plan (50 pages)
•     2011 Sustainability Baseline (31 pages)
•     Agenda item: Choosing Our Future – Long Term Plans (city website – summary)
•     Choosing our Future End-State Goals (1 page graphic)

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From: paul.dewar@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Subject: RE: Please commit to funding the Ottawa River Action Plan

Thank you for your email regarding the Ottawa River Action Plan.

I have repeatedly called on the government to take action to protect the Ottawa River, which is now designated a national heritage river.

Approximately one million people use the Ottawa River as their source of drinking water. However, the watershed is impacted by several sources of pollution including municipal sewage and industrial wastewater.

Our municipalities are facing a growing infrastructure deficit, which means they face significant challenges in keeping contaminants out of the river.

I released an action plan and motion in the House of Commons that calls on the federal government to commit to setting regulations to protect and preserve the integrity and natural environment of the Ottawa River.

This action plan calls for strengthened environmental regulations from the federal government and enforcement of the Federal Fisheries Act, as well as an increase in funding to municipalities to improve their infrastructure. Compliance records should be published and there should be a public right to know when untreated sewage is spilled into the river.

Furthermore, my plan calls for regular monitoring of ecological indicators and more funding for research. As it stands, water quality information for the Ottawa River is not integrated or consistent.

The federal government should establish a watershed management plan for the Ottawa River now, instead of waiting for pollution levels to reach the same catastrophic levels observed in the Great Lakes.

I will support a budget proposal that increases funding to municipalities to help them improve the water quality of the Ottawa River. We can’t wait any longer to protect its ecological and environmental integrity.

Thank you again for writing to me on this important issue.

Sincerely,

Paul Dewar, MP | Député Ottawa Centre
879 Edifice Confederation Building
613.996.5322    www.pauldewarmp.ca
CEP 232

From: david.mcguinty@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Jan 19, 2012
Subject: RE: Please commit to funding the Ottawa River Action Plan

Thank you for your email regarding funding for the Ottawa River Action Plan.

I find it extremely encouraging and heartening to have received over 200 emails from concerned citizens on this critically important matter.

I have spent my career committed to sustainability issues and to the quality of Canadian rivers; I will continue to encourage the government to fund such worthy projects.

The Ottawa River Action Plan is indeed very deserving of support from the Federal Government and I am hopeful it will be included in Budget 2012.

Sincerely,

David McGuinty
Member of Parliament
Ottawa South

From: pierre.poilievre@parl.gc.ca
Sent: Friday, February 24, 2012 11:44:01 AM
Subject: RE: Your correspondence – Please commit to funding the Ottawa River Action Plan

Thank you for your message.

Through the Economic Action Plan, the federal government provided the City of Ottawa with an unprecedented 600 million dollars to spend on its priorities. The City decided it would use the funds for its stated number one priority: transit.

The federal government is open to considering redirecting some of our government’s transit contribution to the Ottawa River Action Plan should the city now be identifying that as its priority.

The cleanup of the Ottawa River remains the federal government priority now and for 2014. We wished the city shared that priority.

Sincerely,

Pierre Poilievre, M.P. Nepean-Carleton
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities

INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY

Position: YMCA Digital Skills, Graphic Design, Social Media Intern

Type: full-time, 20 week paid internship (late-February to mid-July 2012)

Compensation: $16.00/hour, 40 hours/week

Organization: Ecology Ottawa www.ecologyottawa.ca

Location: Ottawa, Ontario

Application deadline: before the end of the day on Sunday, February 12, 2012

Internship Project Description

The successful candidate will work closely with the policy coordinator at Ecology Ottawa. He or she will help with the graphic design needs of Ecology Ottawa including, but not limited to, the creation of YouTube videos, the design of brochures and promotional materials, the design and implementation of social media engagement activities (Facebook, Twitter), website design and updates using WordPress.

The intern’s duties will be divided into four different components. First, the intern will work with the Policy Coordinator (who is also the organization’s webmaster) to help ensure the newly launched Ecology Ottawa WordPress website is dynamic and frequently updated. WordPress is a semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. Since WordPress technology is fairly new to most people at Ecology Ottawa, after he or she becomes proficient in using the technology themselves, the intern will help colleagues and volunteers learn to use the website proficiently. This could include creating User Manuals (designed for volunteers) about the WordPress website, in partnership with the webmaster. Second, the intern will help create YouTube videos that promote promising practices related to renewable energy and energy efficiency. The intern will work with the policy coordinator to film, edit and publish these videos on-line on YouTube and potentially other on-line video websites. Third, the intern will use their imagination to help conceive of and design promotional materials and brochures for Ecology Ottawa, including 2-page Cases For Support documents (that could be used to help with organizational fundraising), as well as design the graphics for a large booth that Ecology Ottawa will frequently have at community events, such as festivals and meetings, etc. Finally, the intern will help increase the use of Social Media as a public engagement tool, by frequently posting relevant information to our Facebook and Twitter accounts and asking for public input on, and participation in, initiatives being run by Ecology Ottawa.

Additionally, the intern will learn important life and professional skills while working for a small but effective not-for-profit organization.

Qualifications

To participate in this Digital Skills Youth Internship Program, individuals must meet all criteria. Are you eligible?

• I am between 15 and 30 years of age (inclusive) at the time of placement;
• I am a post-secondary graduate;
• I am unemployed or underemployed at the time of placement;
• I am out of school;
• I am a Canadian citizen or permanent resident;
• I am legally entitled to work according to the relevant provincial/territorial legislation and regulations; and
• I am not in receipt of employment insurance (EI) benefits;
• If selected and determined to meet the eligibility criteria of the program, I will be offered the position pending a satisfactory result on a Police Record Check. This will be completed through the YMCA’s contracted provider, at no cost to the youth. Once this step is complete, additional hiring documents will be required to complete the process (employment contract, tax forms, and direct deposit forms).
• The intern must be fluent in English and fluency in French would be a definite asset.

Experience with the above mentioned software applications and graphic design software, such as Microsoft Publisher and Adobe Illustrator, would be a definite asset.

A University Degree or College Diploma is also a requirement.

The Digital Skills Youth Internship Program is an equal opportunity employer and encourages applications from equity seeking groups’ including qualified individuals identifying as having a disability, as being a visible minority, aboriginal/First Nations people and francophone.

Ecology Ottawa’s Background, Mandate and Expertise

Ecology Ottawa is a not-for-profit organization working to make Ottawa the green capital of Canada. We believe that Ottawa residents are concerned about issues such as pollution, waste, and global warming, and that they want sustainable communities where public transit, renewable energy, recycling, and green space protection take priority. We help connect Ottawa residents to their natural environment through education on the water, air, land and wildlife in the city’s large land mass. We are helping to build environmental leadership through empowerment of residents interested in environmental issues, and through promotion of policy options based on best practices to city staff and municipal representatives.

Founded in 2006 by a group of passionate volunteers, Ecology Ottawa has grown to become the city’s leading source of information about local environmental issues and events. Our electronic newsletter, sent out twice a month, reaches over 5,000 people. On Twitter, we have more than 2,000 followers, and on Facebook more than 750 individuals ‘like’ us and are kept informed about what we are working on. We have partnered with several other community and environmental groups to organize highly successful public events and produced and distributed thousands of copies of fact sheets, policy papers and other outreach materials to engage Ottawa residents in the protection of their local environment.

We are driven by staff, a dedicated steering committee, and a volunteer base of over 400 people. The steering committee includes people with years of experience in government, the not-for-profit sector and private industry, which has helped in ensuring responsible financial and organizational management. Our many volunteers, the majority of which are youth between the ages of 18 and 30, also boast a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and talents. We currently have a Katimavik program participant volunteering with us full-time.

The YMCA Digital Skills, Graphic Design, Social Media Intern will be supervised by Ecology Ottawa’s staff (specifically Trevor Haché, Policy Coordinator) and will report on their work in weekly meetings, in which they will receive constructive guidance and feedback.

Our Supporters

Ecology Ottawa’s work is supported by more than 400 volunteers and over 5,000 subscribers to our bi-weekly electronic newsletter. In addition to donations made by over 1,000 individuals, we have received financial support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, the Community Foundation of Ottawa, Human Resources and Social Development Canada, Mountain Equipment Co-op, the Ontario Sustainability Fund, Earth Day Canada, The City of Ottawa’s Community Environmental Projects Grants Program. As well, we have received in-kind contributions from YMCA (Youth Eco Internship) and Katimavik.

Past projects with YMCA interns

Ecology Ottawa has benefited greatly by having YMCA Youth Eco Internship in the past. Those interns have had extremely useful experiences here and they have been able to use the skills they have learned to help them find meaningful work.

To apply for this position, or to learn more, please visit the following website:

https://www.dyip.ca/dyip_admin/_dyip_apply/application/index.php?l=en&dyip_interest=y