Blackburn Community Association

February 2025 News

BCA Annual General Meeting (AGM)

BCA 2025 AGM The BCA AGM will be held in-person at the Community Hall (190 Glen Park Drive) on Thursday, March 20, 2025 at 7:30 pm. Participation is open to all residents of Blackburn Hamlet, however, only residents who have renewed their BCA membership at least seven (7) days prior to the meeting are eligible to vote.

The main areas of discussion at the AGM will be:

Vote to approve the 2024 AGM Minutes
Presentation of our 2024 financial statements and 2025 budget
Review of our 2024 activities
Election of the board (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, 11 Directors)

You will find all documents for this AGM on our website

We look forward to your active participation in this year’s AGM!

Blackburn Community Association

Community Hall

The BCA is happy to announce that Tammy Bedard has taken over management of the Community Hall bookings. You can reach her at hall@blackburnhamlet.ca.

In addition, the BCA is working on improving the amenities in the hall, beginning by replacing 16 tables and reorganizing the kitchen and closet. Additional improvements will be made once we receive clear guidance from the City. If you have any suggestions, please contact secretary@blackburnhamlet.ca.

Seniors Breakfast Get-together - Halibut House

When: Wednesday, February 5, 2025 at 9:00 AM

Where: Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road

Blackburn Seniors, please join us for a great breakfast, lively conversation and lots of laughs.

Ample parking is available. Guests are welcome.

To help our friends at Halibut House prepare, please RSVP to Shirley at 613-841-7691 by Monday, February 3.

Hope to see you there!

sARTurday morning Art Session

Looking for something to do during the cold winter months? Why not try your hand at painting?

We are pleased to announce that Heather Vos, who ran art sessions at the Blackburn Hamlet Community Church prior to the pandemic, will be back in the Hamlet to lead two art sessions over the next few months. Heather is a retired teacher specializing in the arts. She has facilitated several art activities for children and adults and creates all kinds of art in her spare time. Her favourite kind of people are those who think they have no artistic skills whatsoever.

The first session will be held on Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 9:00 AM at the Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive. Heather will guide budding artists in painting a lovely winter scene.

The second session will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2025 at 9:00 AM, also at the Community Hall.

Fee is $20 per person per session and can be paid directly to Heather on the day of the event.

Refreshments will be served.

To help ensure Heather has ample supplies for participants, please register your attendance by email at barbara@blackburnhamlet.ca.

sArturday morning art workshop

Blackburn Winter Carnival

Winter Carnival

The Blackburn Hamlet Community Association (BCA) will hold the first Blackburn Hamlet Winter Carnival (BHWC) on the Family Day long weekend. There will be gifts, prizes food & refreshments available at no charge.

Saturday, February 15 @ 7pm to 9:30pm
Blackburn Community Hall 190 Glen Park Drive

Carnival Kickoff Party

Sunday February 16 @ 11am to 3pm
Blackburn Community Hall 190 Glen Park Drive

Indoor Hall Games
Scavenger Hunt
Nintendo Video
Tug of War in Snow
Snow Sculptures
Obstacle Run in Snow
Meet CHEO's Mascot Bear

Sunday February 16 @ 11am to 3pm
Norman Johnston Rink 2401 Cléroux Crescent

Hockey Drills
Hockey Skills
Obstacle Skating
Puddle Rink Skating

Participants are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item for the Food Bank and/or Donate to the CHEO Coin Box at Community Centre.

If you would like to volunteer and help with these events please contact safety@blackburnhamlet.ca.

BCA Virtual Board Meeting

Virtual BCA Board Meeting The February 20 BCA Board meetings will be held using Zoom. If you would like to join the call, please send an email to secretary@blackburnhamlet.ca.

Thank you.

Sewing Club - Youth & Teen Drop-in

BCA Sewing Club

No sewing experience? No problem. Come try out this useful skill and see how fun it can be to learn how to make your own knot bag, zippered pouch, and clothes! You can also bring your own project and the instructor Sophie will be your guide to help you complete it. These sessions are free and no materials are required.

Sophie is a bilingual sewing instructor, Mom of four, volunteer Scouts animator and PTA-Mom. For more information or to reach Sophie, email seyseysophie@gmail.com.

Please register for one or all of the upcoming sessions listed below by using this Google form.

*Note: Registration is not required but encouraged. Drop-ins welcome.

Ages 8 – 17

Location: Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive

Dates:

Sunday February 23rd, 3pm – 5pm
Sunday March 23rd, 3pm – 5pm
Sunday April 13th, 3pm -5pm
Sunday May 25th, 3pm – 5pm

February Discovery Café

Discovery Cafe BCA

When: Thursday, February 27, 2025 at 7:00 PM

Where: Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive

Topic: Future of Wireless Communications Networks: A Foresight towards 2050

Speaker: Halim Yanikomeroglu – Chancellor`s Professor, Systems and Computer Engineering, and Director of the Carleton-NTN (Non-terrestrial Networks) Lab, Carleton University

Mobile communications and the Internet are among the two revolutionary technological achievements of the 20th century, with transformative impacts on our lives and society. With one-quarter of the 21st century behind us, the two paradigms with separate origins have become tightly intertwined. Most people access the Internet through their mobile devices most of the time. Today, Internet access implicitly means mobile Internet, making connectivity essential everywhere. The immersed connectivity of humans, robots, and all sorts of devices is expected to become part of our natural lives; as such, ubiquitous connectivity is required.

The humanity will demonstrate its full potential in every dimension (economic prosperity, wellbeing, equal opportunity, environmental, and more), when the communities get access to ultra-high-speed connectivity in a sustainable, reliable, resilient, intelligent, green/clean/eco-friendly, secure, ubiquitous, and affordable manner.

Towards that end, in this seminar, we will explore how wireless networks are expected to evolve towards 2050 with terrestrial and non-terrestrial (space and near-space/stratosphere) segments.

Biography: Dr. Halim Yanikomeroglu Halim Yanikomeroglu is a Chancellor’s Professor at Carleton University, Canada, and the Founding Director of Carleton-NTN (Non-Terrestrial Networks) Lab. His research covers many aspects of communications technologies with emphasis on wireless networks. He is a Fellow of several scholarly societies, including IEEE, the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC), the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE), and the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA); he served as a Distinguished Speaker for the IEEE Communications Society and the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society. He has co-authored 650+ peer-reviewed research papers including 325 papers in 32 different IEEE journals; these publications have received 28,000 citations. He gives around 25 invited seminars, keynotes, panel talks, and tutorials every year. He has had extensive collaboration with industry which resulted in 41 granted patents and technology transfer. He supervised or hosted in his lab 165+ postgraduate highly qualified personnel. He served as the General Chair, Technical Program Chair, and Steering Committee Chair/Member of several major international IEEE conferences as well as in the editorial boards of several IEEE periodicals. He is currently serving in various leadership roles in the IEEE. Dr. Yanikomeroglu received several awards for his research, teaching, and service.

Admission is free, refreshments will be served and people of all ages are invited to attend.

Questions & Suggestions? Please email barbara@blackburnhamlet.ca.

First Aid Training in the Hamlet

First Aid

On March 22, 2025, the Blackburn Hamlet Community Association is planning to hold a First Aid Training Course. The course will be held at the Theatre Room at the Bearbrook Retirement Residence on Innes. The course is a CPR Level C & AED (Adult, Child & Infant), 6hr course. Graduates will receive a Red Cross certification valid for 3 years. The cost is $65.00 per person + HST. There will be a written exam with a passing grade of 75%.

The subjects covered will include:

Responding to Emergencies
Check, Call, Care
Airway Emergencies
Breathing & Circulation Emergencies
CPR, Cardiac Arrest & AED
Written exam (min. passing grade: 75%

To sign up for the course please contact safety@blackburnhamlet.ca.

Contact North: Free Courses & Programs

“Get the training you need, to get the job that you want!”

Contact North is a bilingual, provincially funded non-profit organization that offers residents of Ontario, access to education and job training through online courses and programs from colleges and universities as well as many other vetted organizations, funded by various levels of government.

Our services are entirely free and used by anyone – businesses, corporations or individuals - interested in upgrading their skills, training their employees, completing professional development or changing careers altogether, as we have access to over 50,000 programs and courses, hundreds of which are free!

Whether you need to complete your high school diploma, upgrade your Microsoft skills, get a university degree or simply train your staff in the hospitality industry including for Smart Serve and Food Handler certifications, we can help you find the best avenue to learn - because meaningful employment starts with meaningful training.

Join us at the Blackburn Hamlet branch of the Ottawa Public Library (199 Glen Park Drive) for our next information session on February 20, 2025 at 6pm.