Kids Yoga
2026-01-03 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Toronto) | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Ages 6 – 12 Saturday, January 3rd from 11am to noon at the Blackburn Community Hall.
Ready to feel refreshed before the end of the holidays? Start the New Year off right and participate in kids yoga at the Hall. Enjoy a fruit juice or smoothie when the yoga ends before heading home. *Please arrive on time. Bring your own yoga mat or towel. Ages 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Blackburn Seniors Breakfast Get-together
2026-01-07 09:00 - 11:00 | Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 4Z5, Canada
When: Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Where: Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road in Blackburn Hamlet
Blackburn Seniors (55+) are invited to gather for a great meal, wonderful conversation and lots of laughs. As usual, we will collect at the breakfast non-perishable goods or cash donations for the Life Centre Food Bank.
Please email seniors@blackburnhamlet.ca if you wish to attend by January 5th as this has become a popular event and space is limited.

BCA Virtual Board Meeting
2026-01-15 19:30 - 22:00, 2026-02-19 19:30 - 22:00 | Online
This Zoom meeting is open to residents of Blackburn Hamlet in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Email secretary@blackburnhamlet.ca for meeting details.

Hockey Day in the Hamlet 2026
2026-01-17 11:00 - 15:00 | Norman Johnston Rink, 2401 Cleroux Crescent, Gloucester, Ontario, K1W 1A1, Canada
This year’s Hockey Day in the Hamlet will be held on January 17 at the Norman Johnson outdoor rink. This is a change of dates from previous years. The new date allows for more choice of Ottawa 67 hockey games. 10 Pairs of Free tickets will be handed out to participants. Efforts are underway to also have free tickets to the Ottawa Charge of the PWHL.
Activities will start at 11:00 AM and continue until 3:00 PM. There will be a hockey skills and demonstrations on the main rink while an assortment of different activities will be held for on the Puddle Rink beside the main rink. Of course, there will be hot dogs & hamburgers, with toys, such as miniature hockey sticks.
If you would like to volunteer to help with the on-ice activities please contact Don Kelly at safety@blackburnhamlet.ca.

Discovery Café (Free event)
2026-01-22 19:00 - 20:30 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Eggs with a side of PFAS: the unseen legacy of forever chemicals in our Great Lakes’ aquatic life cycles ̶ Geneviève Haché
When: Thursday, January 22, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Where: Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are man-made chemicals present all around us. They make our pans nonstick, our clothes and makeup waterproof and our containers greaseproof. After decades of use, PFAS have now contaminated every corner of our planet. Their tough chemical bonds and resilience have earned them the name “forever chemicals”, but what does this nickname imply?
In the Great Lakes, PFAS contamination runs so deep that female fish unknowingly transfer some of their PFAS body load to their eggs through a process called “maternal transfer”. In other words, PFAS are present in fish eggs before they start to develop. As luck would have it, PFAS happen to be toxic to cells. If we know that PFAS are toxic, then how does their presence affect the development of fish embryos?
Come join us as we discuss PFAS contamination of our Great Lakes and our fish, how we got here in the first place, what this means for the future of our environment and how we can stay safe as consumers.
Geneviève Haché is a first-year PhD student in Chemical and Environmental Toxicology at Carleton University. She studies the effects of toxic pollutants on the environment, human health and animal health. Outside the lab, Geneviève is a big nerd for language learning, especially for Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, and loves fantasy tabletop games like Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons. Geneviève can also be found jamming out with the National Capital Concert band, hanging out with her cats and coaching gymnastics to kids and adults at Kazam Gymnastics.
Admission is free, people of all ages are welcome, and refreshments will be served.
Hope to see you there!
Questions & Suggestions? Please email barbara@blackburnhamlet.ca.

Blackburn Seniors Breakfast Get-together
2026-02-04 09:00 - 11:00 | Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 4Z5, Canada
When: Wednesday, February 4, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Where: Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road in Blackburn Hamlet
Blackburn Seniors (55+) are invited to gather for a great meal, wonderful conversation and lots of laughs. As usual, we will collect at the breakfast non-perishable goods or cash donations for the Life Centre Food Bank.
If you wish to attend, please call Shirley at 613-841-7691 by February 2nd. This has become a popular event and space is limited.

Discovery Café (Free event)
2026-02-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
The Future of Wireless Communications Networks: A Foresight towards 2050 – Dr. Halim Yanikomeroglu
When: Thursday, February 26, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Where: Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive
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.
Dr. 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 coauthored 700+ peer-reviewed research papers including ~350 papers in 33 different IEEE journals; these publications have received 31,000+ citations. He gives around 25 invited seminars, keynotes, panel talks, and tutorials every year. He has had extensive collaboration with industry which resulted in 42 granted patents and successful technology transfer. He supervised or hosted in his lab 180 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. He holds a PhD degree in electrical and computer engineering from University of Toronto.
Admission is free, refreshments will be served and people of all ages are invited to attend.
Questions & Suggestions? Please email barbara@blackburnhamlet.ca.

Seniors Lunch at Portugalos
2026-02-27 12:00 - 14:00 | Portugalos Restaurant, 2A-110 Bearbrook Road, Gloucester, Ontario, K1B 5R2, Canada
If you wish to attend, please call Shirley at 613-841-7691.

Games and Goodies
2026-02-28 11:30 - 13:30 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Kids, Youth, and their Families
Saturday February 28th 11:30am – 1:30pm
Blackburn Community Hall
Kids, youth and their parents are invited to join us at the hall where there will be a variety of board games available to play, as well as a few video games! Refreshments will be provided.

Blackburn Seniors Breakfast Get-together
2026-03-04 09:00 - 11:00 | Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 4Z5, Canada
When: Wednesday, March 4, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Where: Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road in Blackburn Hamlet
Blackburn Seniors (55+) are invited to gather for a great meal, wonderful conversation and lots of laughs. As usual, we will collect at the breakfast non-perishable goods or cash donations for the Life Centre Food Bank.
If you wish to attend, please call Shirley at 613-841-7691 by March 2nd. This has become a popular event and space is limited.

BCA Annual General Meeting
2026-03-12 19:00 - 22:00 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
The BCA AGM will be held in-person at the Community Hall (190 Glen Park Drive) on Thursday, March 12, 2026. Doors open at 7:00 PM for refreshments and voter registration. Meeting starts 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 (https://blackburnhamlet.ca/about/bca-membership/).
The main areas of discussion at the AGM will be:

Vote to approve the 2025 AGM Minutes
Presentation of our 2025 financial statements and 2026 budget
Vote to appoint Kelly Huibers McNeely Chartered Professional Accountants as Accountants for the 2026 financial year
Vote to approve changes to our updated not for profit purpose statement
Review of our 2025 activities
Election of the board (President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, 11 Directors)

Documents for this AGM will be posted in early March.
Agenda
https://blackburnhamlet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/BCA_agenda_2026-03-12.pdf
Draft Minutes from the March 20, 2025 Annual General Meeting
https://blackburnhamlet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/BCA_minutes_2025-03-20-AGM.pdf
2025 Financial Report
2026 Budget
Updated BCA not-for-profit purpose statement
https://blackburnhamlet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/BCA-Purpose-2026-revision.pdf
2025 Summary Video
https://youtu.be/w_zyUi1_iuk?si=KJwFDLiWtw_sNzDy
BCA Board Roles
https://blackburnhamlet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/BCA-Roles-2021.pdf
BCA By-law
https://blackburnhamlet.ca/about/bca-by-law/

Board Elections

Voting Members must be present at the Members’ meeting
Members must have paid for membership at least 7 days prior to the AGM
Voting is restricted to two adults (18 years or older) per household
Associate Members are not entitled to vote on the election of the Directors
Candidates must be BCA Members or Associate members and nominated and seconded by BCA Members
If there is only one candidate for President, Vice-President, Treasurer or Secretary, the candidate will be elected without a vote unless there is an objection raised
If there are 11 or fewer candidates for Director, the candidates will be elected without a vote unless there is an objection raised
If a written vote is required, the President shall appoint a Member of the BCA to conduct the voting
Portfolio Chairs / Co-Chairs will be determined at a board meeting after the AGM.

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

Kids and Youth Karaoke
2026-03-14 12:30 - 15:00 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Saturday March 14th 12:30pm – 3pm
Blackburn Community Hall
Grab the mic and shine! This karaoke event is for kids and youth of all ages. No experience needed— whether singing solo or with friends, it’s all about fun! Kids 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Kids and Youth Zumba class
2026-03-16 14:00 - 15:00, 2026-03-18 16:30 - 17:30 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Blackburn Community Hall
Monday March 16th 2pm – 2:45pm
Wednesday March 18th 4:30pm – 5:15pm
Kids Zumba (Ages 7+) is a high-energy dance party full of fun music that combines aerobic exercises with fun and easy-to-follow moves! Parents are welcome to join in with their kids. Children 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult. Come dance, laugh, and move together!

Seniors Lunch and Trivia at Blackburn Arms
2026-03-20 13:00 - 16:00 | Blackburn Arms Pub, 2586 Innes Rd, Gloucester, Ontario, K1B 4Z6, Canada
Hey Seniors, come and join us for an afternoon of food, laughter and skill-testing, head-scratching questions!
Blackburn Arms trivia master Conrad will be leading us in the question rounds, so gather your friends, put together a team of four or six, and join the fun.
No team? No problem! Just come to the pub and we will find a team for you.
Please RSVP to Shirley at 613-841-7691 by Wednesday, March 18, 2026.

Blackburn Seniors Walk & Talk
2026-03-25 13:00 - 14:00 | Isaiah Scharfe Park, 41 Bearbrook Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 3H4, Canada
Join your local community for a stroll in the neighbourhood (2km and 3km circuits)
When: Wednesday March 25, 2026 @ 1:00 PM
Where: Meet at the Bearbrook entrance to Isaiah Scarfe Park
What to expect: Meet new people, enjoy the outdoors and support mental wellbeing together. Everyone welcome, including pets, kids and families.

Discovery Café (Free event)
2026-03-26 19:00 - 20:30 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Sleep Update 2026 – Dr. Christopher Skinner
When: Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Where: Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive
By popular demand, Dr. Christopher Skinner will be returning to Discovery Café, this time to tackle the vitally important topic of sleep. During the session, Dr. Skinner will:

review the different types of sleep disorders and how these affect daily life;
review strategies to recognize and diagnose various sleep disorders;
review treatments—both pharmacological and non-pharmacological—to treat sleep disorders; and
discuss what can be done to improve your sleep and that of your bed partner.

Dr. Skinner received his B.Eng (Electrical) from the Royal Military College in 1970. He worked as a CELE
officer in Moosonee and then at NDHQ between 1970 to 1975. He received his medical degree from Queen’s in 1979 and then served as a Flight Surgeon at CFB North Bay and then as the Base Surgeon at CFB Ottawa. He received his specialist certification in General Internal Medicine in 1986 in Neurology in 1987 and qualified as a Diplomat of the American Board of Sleep Medicine in 2005.
In 2011, Dr. Skinner completed a three-month sabbatical with the Institute of Medical and Biological
Problems of the Russian Space Agency in Moscow studying the neurological and sleep related
complications of long duration space flight.
He has co-authored two editions of a textbook of neurology entitled “The Integrated Nervous System” with Dr Walter Hendelman and Dr. Peter Humphreys which includes an interactive web site
“integratednervoussystem.com”.
He is currently a member of the Aviation Medical Review Board at Transport Canada and is a consultant
for the Department of National Defence in Aerospace Medicine.
He has taught clinical neurology, aviation medicine, and sleep medicine at all levels including medical
students, residents, physician assistants and military Flight Surgeons, and continues to teach Neurology,
Psychiatry and Neuropathology to medical students and residents at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of
Medicine.
Admission is free, refreshments will be served and people of all ages are invited to attend.
Questions & Suggestions? Please email barbara@blackburnhamlet.ca.

Blackburn Seniors Breakfast Get-together
2026-04-01 09:00 - 11:00 | Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 4Z5, Canada
When: Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Where: Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road in Blackburn Hamlet
Blackburn Seniors (55+) are invited to gather for a great meal, wonderful conversation and lots of laughs. As usual, we will collect at the breakfast non-perishable goods or cash donations for the Life Centre Food Bank.
If you wish to attend, please call Shirley at 613-841-7691 by March 30th. This has become a popular event and space is limited.

Kids Bingo
2026-04-03 18:30 - 20:00 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Ages 7 – 17, Friday, April 3rd from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at the Blackburn Community Hall.
Bring your kids to the Community Hall for Kids bingo! There will be prizes for winners. Kids 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Community Closet - Adults
2026-04-11 09:00 - 16:30 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Is your closet bringing you joy? Ready for a wardrobe refresh while supporting sustainable fashion?
Join us for the Spring Community Closet Event, hosted by the Blackburn Community Association’s Environment Committee!
📅 Date: April 11, 2026 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM
📍 Location: Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Dr, Gloucester, ON K1B 5A3
Discover a variety of free, pre-loved clothing just waiting for a new home—yours! Bring your friends, family, and neighbours for a day of community, sustainability, and style.
Let’s come together to refresh our closets and reduce waste—one swap at a time! See you there!
For more information or to volunteer contact enviro@blackburnhamlet.ca.

BCA Board Meeting
2026-04-16 19:30 - 22:00 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
This in person meeting is open to residents of Blackburn Hamlet in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Email secretary@blackburnhamlet.ca for more information.

Seniors "Hi" Tea and Bingo
2026-04-19 12:00 - 14:00 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Seniors to bring sandwiches/sweets and their favourite tea cup or mug. There will be various prizes for the best hat and for Bingo.

Blackburn Seniors Walk & Talk
2026-04-22 13:00 - 14:00 | Isaiah Scharfe Park, 41 Bearbrook Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 3H4, Canada
Join your local community for a stroll in the neighbourhood (2km and 3km circuits)
When: Wednesday April 22, 2026 @ 1:00 PM
Where: Meet at the Bearbrook entrance to Isaiah Scarfe Park
What to expect: We will be doing a 2km and a 3 km circuit. Come and join us for one of the circuits, or both! Meet new people, enjoy the outdoors and support mental wellbeing together. Everyone welcome, including pets, kids and families.

Discovery Café (Free event)
2026-04-23 19:00 - 20:30 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Discovery Café Lecture Series — Healing Crystals: Fact or Myth? Inside the World of Dynamic Materials — Dr. Katherine Marczenko
When: Thursday, April 23, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Where: Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive
When most people hear the term “healing crystals,” they think of folklore or wellness trends. But in modern chemistry labs, scientists are discovering real crystals that can bend, move, crack, and even repair themselves when exposed to light. This talk explores the science behind dynamic, self-healing materials and shows how crystals can be designed to respond to their environment. We’ll look at how something we usually think of as rigid and unchanging can actually be surprisingly active, and what these discoveries might mean for the future of technology.
Dr. Kate Marczenko is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Carleton University. She received her M.Sc. from McMaster University, where she studied unusual and highly reactive compounds made from noble gases such as xenon. She then completed her Ph.D. at Dalhousie University, focusing on new types of chemical bonding involving heavy elements.
During her graduate studies, she received several major awards, including the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship. More recently, she was awarded the John Charles Polanyi Prize in Chemistry, which recognizes outstanding early-career researchers in Ontario.
She worked at the University of Guelph as both a crystallographer and course instructor, combining her interests in research and teaching, before joining Carleton University in 2023.
Dr. Marczenko’s research explores how crystals and solid materials respond to light, including materials that can bend, move, or even repair themselves. Her work aims to better understand how the structure of materials controls their properties, which could help inspire future technologies in areas such as smart materials and energy applications.
Admission to Discovery Café is free, people of all ages are welcome, and refreshments will be served.
Hope to see you there!
Questions & Suggestions? Please email barbara@blackburnhamlet.ca.

Youth Pyjama Party
2026-04-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Youth ages 10 to 17.
Come flex your onesie and fluffy slippers, enjoy some treats and have some fun! This event will have an art station, board games, Nintendo switch games on the projector and hilarious minute to win it games. Bring your ipad or device if you’d like… our Community Hall now has wifi!

Blackburn Hamlet Annual Spring Clean-up
2026-04-25 09:30 - 13:00 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Join us at the Community Hall at 9:30 AM, where each volunteer will be assigned a small area of Blackburn for litter pick-up, and provided with garbage bags and latex gloves.
The Clean-Up will wrap up around 11:30 AM, and volunteers are invited to stay for a celebratory BBQ (including vegetarian & halal options) in thanks for all your ‘dirty’ work. Be sure to bring your family and friends — the more, the merrier!
If you have any questions or would like to help with the event, contact cleanup@blackburnhamlet.ca.
When: Saturday April 25th 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM
Location: Community Hall 190 Glen Park Drive

Kids Bingo
2026-05-01 18:30 - 20:00 | Blackburn Community Hall, 190 Glen Park Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 5A3, Canada
Ages 7 – 17, Friday, May 1st from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at the Blackburn Community Hall.
Bring your kids to the Community Hall for Kids bingo! There will be prizes for winners. Kids 10 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

Community Garage Sale
2026-05-02 08:00 - 14:00 | Blackburn Hamlet, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Were you inspired to declutter your home this winter, but have yet to have a chance to get rid of everything due to all the snow? Now is your chance to pass these items along, hoping they may ‘spark joy’ in someone else, and make some extra cash in the meantime! Or maybe you’ve been searching for a great deal on something that will make you smile and help keep our landfills, well, not full. Join the fun with our annual community garage sale Saturday, May 2 from 8am to 2pm, rain or shine.
Hamlet residents do not need to register or sign up – simply put out a table and join in! As we have done in past years, we will be assembling an unofficial map of participating houses. If you would like your house to be included, please let us know at garagesale@blackburnhamlet.ca.
Please keep visiting the BCA website Garage Sale Page for more up-to-date information as it becomes available.

Think green! Help minimize what goes in the trash.

Blackburn Seniors Breakfast Get-together
2026-05-06 09:00 - 11:00 | Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road, Ottawa, Ontario, K1B 4Z5, Canada
When: Wednesday, May 6, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Where: Halibut House, 2672 Innes Road in Blackburn Hamlet
Blackburn Seniors (55+) are invited to gather for a great meal, wonderful conversation and lots of laughs. As usual, we will collect at the breakfast non-perishable goods or cash donations for the Life Centre Food Bank.
If you wish to attend, please call Shirley at 613-841-7691 by May 4th. This has become a popular event and space is limited.
