Serving the Glebe community since 1973 www.glebereport.ca ISSN 0702-7796 January 16, 2015 Vol. 43 No. 1 Issue no. 466 FREE N CUMMER O ESY D ESY T UR O PHOTO: C PHOTO: Ice sculpture of a kilted skater. Left to right, Jacob Cummer, Don Cummer (one of the kilt skate organizers) and ice sculptor Suguru Kanbayashi. The sculpture was displayed at the New Year’s Eve Hogmanay celebration at Lansdowne in honour of Sir John A’s Great Canadian Kilt Skate to be held on the canal on the morning of January 31. Wear your tartan and bring your skates! Celebrating Sir John A. with bare knees and ice By Don Cummer ers will take to the Confederation Park stage. The Scottish Society of Ottawa, which hosted Hogmanay at the Aberdeen On the morning of Saturday, January 31, hundreds of skaters will take to the ice Pavilion on New Year’s Eve, has helped other Scottish societies and community in Ottawa and other cities, braving the elements with bare knees as a special way organizations across Canada put together kilt skates to honour Sir John A. – includ- to celebrate the birthday of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. ing events in Montreal, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Calgary. In Ottawa, “Sir John A’s Great Canadian Kilt Skate” will be held in partnership The Ottawa event is expected to be the biggest, however, and not just because with Winterlude. The Scottish Society of Ottawa, which is organizing the event, we have a UNESCO World Heritage Site as the world’s largest skating rink. This will welcome skaters at their tent near the Fifth Avenue entrance to the canal. is a city that recognizes the tremendous achievements of Sir John A. Macdonald, Register for the skate and receive a memento. Register wearing a kilt, and you’ll who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on January 11, 1815 and came to Canada with get a special prize. his parents as a young boy. Mayor Jim Watson will officially launch the skate at 9 a.m. Skaters are encour- Come join us in your kilts. If you don’t have a kilt, sport something tartan or aged to make their way at their own pace from Fifth Avenue to the changing rooms other Scottish wear. And if you don’t have anything Scottish, come join us anyway! at the National Arts Centre end of the canal. Bring your boots along, because you’ll For further information, follow Scottish Society of Ottawa on Facebook, or see want to change and join in on the Scottish birthday celebrations for Sir John A. at www.thescottishsocietyofottawa.com. Confederation Park. There will be cake and hot chocolate and an opportunity to sign the giant birthday card. Don Cummer is one of the organizers of “Sir John A’s Great Canadian Kilt From 10:30 to 11:00 a.m., and again from 1:30 to 2:00 p.m., Scottish entertain- Skate.” He lives in Old Ottawa South. MARK YOUR CALENDARS WHAT’S INSIDE Jan. 4 Jennifer Staszewski art exhibit, GCC Art Gallery Abbotsford ............. 4 GNAG .................11 Jan. 21 “Vivaldi Gloria Redux” concert, Southminster United Church, noon Art . 22–23 Health .............28–29 Jan. 22 Taste in the Glebe, GCC, 5:30–8 p.m. Jan. 25 Atlantic Voices concert “Many Atlantic Voices” Babies .............18–19 History ................24 Centretown United Church, 3 p.m. Books ................5, 8 Letters ................ 7 Jan. 26 Topical Talks: Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, Abbotsford House, 10 a.m. Business............16–17 Memoirs ............26–27 Jan. 27 GCA meeting, GCC, 7 p.m. Councillor’s Report........12 MP’s Report ............14 Jan. 31 Capital Ward Councillor’s Cup hockey game Film ..................25 Music ..............20–21 GCC/St. James Tennis Club Rink, 12:30–3:30 p.m. GACA ................. 9 Profile ...............2–3 Jan. 31 Sir John A.’s Great Canadian Kilt Skate Rideau Canal at Fifth Ave., 9 a.m–1 p.m. GCA ..................10 Schools ......... 13, 31–32 Feb. 10 GNAG registration for summer camps begins online Glebous & Comicus.. ......30 Skating................15 www.gnag.ca, 7 p.m. NEXT ISSUE: Friday, February 13, 2015 Feb. 14 Family Community Skating Party EDITORIAL DEADLINE: Friday, January 23, 2015 GNAG/St. James outdoor rink, 2–4 p.m. ADVERTISING DEADLINE: Wednesday, January 28, 2015 February is Valentine month! Home is where the heart is, How we met… how we fell in love – or almost didn’t. h so they say. Look for a special feature Send us your tales of romance, by January 23, and we’ll on the Glebe real estate scene in the h publish a selection in the February Glebe Report. H March Glebe Report. 2 Glebe Report January 16, 2015 prOfile prOfile Glebe Report January 16, 2015 3 means to be a Jesus-follower and her Glebe grad and author Sean Michaels talks about Ottawa Glebe-St. James deep concern for social justice is not just intellectual. She has worked act- United Church ively on campaigns such as LGBTTQ By Jane Butler rights, Idle No More, aboriginal rights, welcomes women’s rights and the rights of immi- Sean Michaels is a music journalist to Chinatown for a meal. It grants and refugees, to name but a few. and blogger based in Montreal. He felt very human-sized. Grow- Rev. Teresa She is looking forward to exploring recently won the prestigious Scotia- ing up in a big city, I imagine, ways that the church can partner with bank Giller Prize for his debut novel, would be really exciting for Burnett-Cole other groups in the Glebe to work on Us Conductors. A fictionalized tale other reasons but you are just local justice issues. of the life and passions of Leon Ther- this tiny grain of sand in a By Barbara Munro-de Leeuw Burnett-Cole and her partner, Ruth, emin, inventor of the theremin, a much, much more ambivalent, have been together for more than mysterious musical instrument con- larger city. There is an abundance of positive 20 years and were among the early trolled without physical contact by energy working its way around Glebe- couples to have their covenanting ser- the player, Us Conductors is a major JB: Do you visit often? St. James these days! After more than vice in a United Church. After the law accomplishment for the 32-year-old two years of working with interim changed, they were “officially mar- Glebe Collegiate Institute graduate. I SM: Well, my parents still ministers who have led the congre- ried” on their seventh anniversary. spoke with Sean in early December. live in Ottawa so I try to visit gation through an extensive visioning Ruth is a registered massage ther- but I don’t get there often process and a needs assessment study, apist and hopes to join a practice in JB: Sean, your book is wonderful! enough. It is always interest- the Reverend Teresa Burnett-Cole has the Glebe early in the New Year. She You write beautifully, like someone NO ing, when I do come, to see been called to become the new min- also runs a stamping and card-making O with much more experience, yet with ND what changes and what stays ister at Glebe-St. James. Burnett-Cole business in her spare time. Their lit- LO a real freshness. Which is obviously N the same. A week or two ago comes to Ottawa from ministry in the tle family is completed by Okwaho, a why you won the Giller! I took the Greyhound Bus to Toronto Conference of the United young Jack Russell terrier. If you drop Ottawa and it was the same Church of Canada, and brings with by the office or visit after church, you SM: Well, thanks. You are very JOH PHOTO: old Greyhound, pretty much her a wide variety of skills and experi- will often be greeted enthusiastically kind. Sean Michaels, winner of the 2014 Scotiabank Gil- the same old bus station. But ence. by “Oggie the doggie.” ler prize for his debut novel Us Conductors then I went from there to the Originally trained as an artist, his- Becoming a part of the Glebe is and Glebe Collegiate grad JB: I want to talk with you about Governor General’s residence, torian and musician with a major O exciting for Burnett-Cole. She will your connections to Ottawa and the Rideau Hall, for the Governor in percussion, Burnett-Cole holds be a strong leader – not only for the MUNR Glebe. I understand you were a student ers) Skip Riddell and Sheila Meggs. aspire to it but never quite put in the General’s Literary Awards. It master’s degrees in both arts and D people at Glebe-St. James, but also A at Glebe Collegiate Institute. At Glebe I was starting to write short effort! was a mixture of “oh, I am just taking divinities, and is currently complet- R for the whole community. When I stories that I hoped could get printed the bus to my home town,” and “here ing her PhD in intercultural liturgy at asked her what she wanted the Glebe SM: Yes, I didn’t live in the area but in magazines. SM: (Laughing) Well, yes, the big- I am, going off to a black tie dinner at Emmanuel College, Toronto. B PHOTO: community to know, she replied that because of the vagaries of the school gest challenge is the persistence, the the Governor General’s.” So that was Burnett-Cole’s deepest passion is for Reverend Teresa Burnett-Cole, the new minister at Glebe-St.