Your Senators are playing in Boston this weekend
Alright, so you know how sometimes you hear a story and you think, *c'est tellement Ottawa*? This week, there's a new park in Vanier, Mary Papatsie Park, officially unveiled. And yes, it's a lovely gesture, honouring an Inuk woman who went missing and was later found. But the *real* story is never on the Hill – it's always just off it. The story here isn't just about a park name; it's about what it says about how we see our city, and who gets to be remembered.
Now, let's be clear about what happened: * **The Dedication:** The city officially named a new park in Vanier "Mary Papatsie Park." * **Mary Papatsie:** She was an Inuk woman who disappeared in 2017. Her remains were later found at a construction site. * **The Significance:** This park name is meant to honour her and bring attention to the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
It's a beautiful thing, to give a name like that to a public space. Vanier, especially, has such a rich, complicated history, with its working-class roots and its unique Francophone character that sometimes feels a world away from the stately Rideau Canal or the Westboro brunch crowd. And for years, people have been saying Ottawa is "boring" – which, *non*, it's structured, there's a difference! But sometimes, we, as a city, need to look beyond the monuments and the NCC Greenbelt to the stories that are truly shaping our communities. This isn't just a park; it's a conversation. It's the kind of thing that makes you pause on your way to grab a shawarma and think, "Okay, this is important."
And if you want to know more about what’s happening in the city, the gang on the Morning Wire breaks it all down every day. You can catch them live at mornings.live.