Summertime, summertime, sweet, sweet summertime. We’re all about celebrating the short but sweet Ottawa summer. In this issue, Ottawa Magazine creates five awesome summer to-do lists tailored to your individual personality type — grab the magazine for 77 ways to fill your summer days. We’ve also got true crime, going on the record with the city’s top cops and an investigative reporter. And, as always, lots of food and drink trends — from cool gin cocktails to hot Prince Edward County cheeses. It’s all in the Summer 2010 issue.
See the editor’s letter and full table of contents below.
Letter from the Editor
History, like our memories, can be selective.
Writer Lisa Gregoire slams home this point in a poignant feature this month about a virtually forgotten murder. Ask anyone over 40 or anyone with a basic knowledge of modern Canadian history, and they can probably tell you a couple of things about the FLQ. More than likely, they correctly link the radical nationalist group to the 1970 kidnapping of British Trade Commissioner James Cross or Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte. They might remember or have heard about the FLQ’s extensive bombing campaign. If they are students of politics, they will likely tell you that these events led then prime minister Pierre Trudeau to invoke the War Measures Act, with Canadian forces taking to the streets in Quebec and Ottawa.
But what only a select few know is that on June 24, 1970, one particular FLQ bomb rocked the very heart of Ottawa and killed an innocent woman named Jeanne St. Germain. Reading Gregoire’s piece is like stepping back in time as she reconstructs the events of that terrible day before pulling us back into the present to talk with St. Germain’s surviving daughters. The question no one has a proper answer to: why has the murder of Jean St. Germain never been solved?
Just as the magazine went to press, the annual National Magazine Awards nominations were announced. Congratulations to photographer Christian Lalonde of Photolux Studio, who has been nominated for an award in the still-life photography category for the exquisite food portraits he and food stylist Noah Witenoff created for last September’s “101 Tastes to Try Before You Die” cover story. Well deserved — we will all have our fingers crossed on June 4 when the awards take place.
It’s not something I usually do in the editor’s letter, but there are a couple of housekeeping items I would like to mention quickly. First up, the polybag. Magazines quite often use a plastic wrapper known as a polybag to hold advertising inserts that have been sold into the publication but do not appear within its pages. The polybag has become a controversial piece of packaging as both magazine publishers and consumers become more conscious of the environmental concerns about plastics. I’m pleased to report that the wrapper surrounding this issue can be recycled with regular plastics but also breaks down in landfill within 18 to 24 months. We continue to research our polybag options. Secondly, I would like to invite readers to visit at our website. We recently launched an ambitious plan to upgrade the Ottawa Magazine site. I hope you like the new look and find the information we’ve added useful. Please keep checking back: over the months ahead, we will be adding more content, including restaurant and wine reviews, as well as blogs and event-related information.
– Sarah Brown, editor
feedbackottawa@stjosephmedia.com
Table of Contents
Features
True Crime
From first arrest to first drug bust, five cops go on the record to describe major milestones on the job
Best of Summer
We’ve planned it all so that you don’t have to. Ottawa Magazine creates five awesome to-do lists tailored to individual personality types. Thrill-seekers, outdoorsy types, kids, hedonists, and intellectuals — read on for 77 fantastic ways to fill your days
Living on the Edge
It’s Ottawa Magazine’s guide to everything outside — from our 10 favourite eastern Ontario lakes to the definitive summer road trip calendar
Columns
Murder, He Wrote
Investigative reporter Gary Dimmock on criminals, victims, and what it takes to nail an exclusive
The Forgotten Murder of Jeanne St. Germain
From 1963 to 1970, the Quebec nationalist group known as the FLQ detonated over 95 bombs. One of those blasts rocked the very heart of Ottawa, taking the life of an innocent communications clerk. Lisa Gregoire reconstructs the events of that terrible day and questions why — 40 years on — the murder remains unsolved
This City
Jamie Pistilli’s ultimate fish story • Fantasy guest list • X-rated art • Telling Tales of babies and breakups • The view from on high • Eating for
a good cause
City Select
The List
Ten things Ottawa Folk Festival head honcho Ana Muira can’t live without
Super Shopper
Celebrating cottage culture and Father’s Day in style
Tasting Notes
A wine-and-cheese tour of Prince Edward County
Drink
Gin drinks are firmly back on the cocktail circuit
Restaurants
Turning over a new loaf • The buzz on local honey • Plus our star-rated reviews
This summer
City Chase storms through town • JAZZ FEST celebrates a milestone • ERIC TARDIFF flying high • Plus our arts and entertainment listings