Ottawa luxury boutique targeted by thieves
A luxury boutique on Sparks Street was broken into twice in less than two weeks, losing $100,000 in merchandise. CTV's Katelyn Wilson reports.
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CTV News
31 minutes ago
- CTV News
Family of woman allegedly murdered by her partner raising funds for domestic violence victims
Devon Watt is honouring their sister Kelsey by creating hockey helmet stickers featuring 'K29' and a white ribbon, commemorating the age she was when she died, and raising funds for domestic violence victims. (Kelly Greig/CTV) Devon Watt says the reminders of their sister Kelsey are everywhere. 'We grew up in this community (Hemmingford, Que.) so it's inescapable. It's the constant thought that I don't have her anymore,' they told CTV. Kelsey Watt, 29, went missing in September 2024. After a days-long search her body was found in a wooded area near her home. 'During the search I think I slept maybe 10 hours at most,' recalls Watt. 'I trekked through ditches and waterways to walk the whole property to try to find her.' Kelsey's fiancée, Nicolas Gravel, was charged with murder and is currently awaiting trial. Now, Watt is honouring their sister by creating hockey helmet stickers featuring 'K29' and a white ribbon. The number commemorates the age Kelsey was when she died. Funds from the sales will go towards SOS Violence Conjugale, a non-profit that helps victims of domestic abuse. 'Anything that we can do to speak up and speak out is a good thing,' says Watt's mother Debbie Beattie. 'We can't live behind closed doors anymore.' Kelsey Watt Kelsey Watt's body was found in a wooded area near her home in September 2024. Watt got the idea from similar commemorative stickers used in professional hockey leagues. They have been playing since they were young and Kelsey was usually cheering them on in the stands, 'defending me even if I was wrong.' In just the first 24 hours, $2,500 came in. Watt felt the stickers was an appropriate way to combat a feeling of helplessness after Kelsey's death. 'I felt incredibly powerless through all of it,' they told CTV. 'So doing something like this is a way to bring my power back a little bit.' Hemmingford's ball hockey tournament will be renamed the Kelsey Cup in her honour and her family says they are trying to keep Kelsey's spirit of trying to help others alive. Beattie recalled, 'after all this happened Chris (Beattie's husband) and I said to ourselves, 'we're going to tear down Kelsey's house' because we couldn't stand to look at it, but we were contacted by two people that needed help and a place to stay. I said 'this is the right thing to do. This is what Kelsey would want us to do to help these people.'' Watt says in addition to raising funds, they want spread awareness of signs of domestic violence. They could include a person withdrawing from friends and family, refusing to speak about their relationship or feeling the need to constantly seek permission from a partner. More information can be found here: Intimate partner violence, conjugal violence, domestic violence... what are we talking about ? — SOS violence conjugale 'I didn't know how to recognize the specific signs,' said Watt, 'educating myself after all this happened and looking back now they're so obvious. I hate that I didn't notice more and I don't want anybody else to suffer. I don't want family members to feel like I do now, that I should have seen more things or recognized more.' 'Don't live in fear,' added Beattie, 'there are places to go and there are frontline workers that want to help you.' SUPPORT NETWORK Victims of domestic violence can contact SOS violence conjugale at 1-800-363-9010. Other resources:
Globe and Mail
41 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
How Michael Sabia can make Ottawa move fast and build things
Michael Sabia is being asked to reverse, in a matter of months, an inertia that has taken hold in the nation's capital over decades. Since Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the erstwhile chief executive officer of Hydro-Québec will serve as Clerk of the Privy Council – the country's top bureaucrat – Ottawa has been rife with speculation about how Mr. Sabia will try to light a fire under a federal public service accustomed to moving more slowly and cautiously than is demanded by the current moment. But while much of the chatter following Mr. Sabia's June 11 appointment has been about personnel changes to the bureaucracy's highest ranks – through an expansive shuffle of deputy ministers, the most senior civil servants in each ministry, expected this summer – that only scratches the surface of what's needed to get things rolling. Hanging in the balance is an agenda, put forward by Mr. Carney to assert Canada's economic sovereignty, that's at odds with the government's implementation capacity to date. It includes fast-tracking energy and infrastructure projects, scaling homegrown technologies, diversifying exports, building housing, reorienting immigration, developing self-reliant supply chains and leveraging industrial gains from increased defence spending. Opinion: Michael Sabia faces an uphill climb in reforming Canada's civil service The scale of the challenge – and what sorts of structural, cultural and personnel changes could be required – were conveyed to The Globe and Mail in recent interviews with two dozen people closely familiar with the bureaucracy's workings, including current and former deputy ministers and senior political officials. Although there was recognition that some departments have functioned better than others (and some have stepped up in other times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic and 2008 global financial meltdown), they highlighted an array of overarching barriers that have taken root since the 1990s, if not earlier. Among them are a depletion of talent despite the bureaucracy's total ranks growing; particular lack of implementation expertise in some economic areas and policy mechanisms Mr. Carney is prioritizing; disconnect between the public and private sectors; a lack of clear lines of accountability; failure to make use of modern technologies; and severe aversion to taking risks. Mr. Sabia's suitability to tackling all of that, if anyone can, is a subject of considerable debate. Over a late-career run that has included heading pension giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, serving as deputy finance minister and then leading Hydro-Québec, he's earned a reputation as a creative policy maker and architect of big, ambitious projects. Among them are the Canada Infrastructure Bank, the Canada Growth Fund and a new hydroelectricity relationship between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. He is also, like Mr. Carney, a rare Canadian executive who has moved fluidly between government and the private sector, giving him an unusual combination of institutional knowledge and outside perspective. At the same time, with his federal experience limited mostly to the Finance department, he may have less knowledge of government-wide dynamics than previous clerks who were career bureaucrats. Sharing some of Mr. Carney's suffer-no-fools reputation, it's an open question how he'll fare at bringing others along. And with a recent pattern of staying in jobs long enough to set big plans in motion and then moving on, it's not clear how much emphasis he'll place on long-term systemic reforms. But If ever there were a time for impatience to be a virtue, this might be it. While there are widespread calls around Ottawa for a formal, government-wide program review to comprehensively reallocate resources and modernize rules and processes – the sort of effort last seriously undertaken by Jean Chrétien's government in the '90s – that push could take most of Mr. Carney's mandate to complete. By then, the opportunity to seize on Canada's elbows-up moment with a transformative economic agenda, in response to U.S. President Donald Trump, might have passed. The hope among some reform-minded government veterans is that Mr. Carney and Mr. Sabia land on a two-track approach – in which they set in motion long-term structural overhaul, to leave the government in better shape than they found it, but more immediately send whatever signals and create whatever workarounds are needed to get stuff done now. That may not be a viable pathway to overcoming every obstacle. There may, for instance, be few quick fixes for Ottawa's reliance on outdated technologies and information systems. But three of the biggest potential obstacles to implementing Mr. Carney's agenda are instructive, in terms of how it could work. A common perception in Ottawa is that high-level bureaucratic talent has diminished over the past couple of decades. More specifically, there are widely acknowledged expertise gaps. In a government that has traditionally done most spending through grants and transfer payments, that includes lack of comfort with more complex financial tools that Mr. Carney may be looking to deploy in industrial strategies. And lack of employment mobility, between the public and private sectors, has contributed to a perceived disconnect between career bureaucrats in Ottawa and policies' real-world impacts. There are many fundamental ways to address those shortcoming – new strategies around recruitment and career advancement, changing pay structures, using technology to expedite glacial hiring processes. Most contentiously, but increasingly whispered about, Ottawa could loosen bilingualism requirements to broaden its pool. Canada has 'ambition deficit' and regulations that are scaring away investment, Sabia says In the near term, the most obvious lever is the anticipated deputy-minister shuffle, following a small shuffle that took place this month. It could see Mr. Sabia bringing in some new faces, and perhaps more so trying to elevate younger talent already in the bureaucracy, even if they have not worked their way up as gradually as has been customary. But many people interviewed for this story also suggested Ottawa may have to get more creative about bringing in people from industry – and possibly provincial governments – to work on policy priorities of Mr. Carney's for which they have specific expertise. That could potentially be done under Interchange Canada, an underutilized federal program enabling exchanges between the public and private sectors. It could also see people seconded from outside government, forming hybrid teams with bureaucrats to advance key files. Navigating conflict-of-interest considerations would be a challenge – but not, by most accounts, an insurmountable one. And Mr. Sabia's unusual history straddling the public and private sectors could help convince others to do so. A near-universal lament is that civil servants feel incentivized to keep their heads down and avoid risks – in putting forward new ideas, or taking ownership of moving policies forward. That's partly because of additional rules and guidelines layered on after any sort of spending or ethics controversy. Paring those down, to maintain but simplify accountability, is seen as a long-term play. But it's also because of a common perception that politicians are prepared to throw bureaucrats under the bus – or shove them in front of parliamentary committees – at the first sign of trouble, rather than taking heat themselves. And that's where there may be an opportunity to quickly pursue culture change. Mr. Sabia could help by sending a signal across the bureaucracy that people who take initiative and move quickly will be valued. Much will come down to Mr. Carney. His tone, early on, has suggested that expedience and ambition are the priority. But bureaucrats tend to say that the real message about risk tolerance will come from how tolerant he and his ministers prove when moving fast causes something to go wrong. Another oft-cited reason for slowness and lack of individual initiative is that there are too many cooks in the kitchen. While recent growth of the total federal workforce (well above 300,000 people) is likely to be targeted by Mr. Carney for cost savings, ballooning upper ranks – assistant deputy ministers, associate deputy ministers, directors-general, etc. – have particularly bogged down decision-making by creating hierarchical confusion. So too, bureaucrats counter, has an excess of political staff – numbering around 800, by the end of former prime minister Justin Trudeau's tenure, far more than in other Westminster democracies – dipping in and out of files. Not to mention decisions notoriously getting log-jammed in the Prime Minister's Office. That crowdedness is crying out for a review aimed at paring back and simplifying lines of authority. But some of that could be done informally, for now. While a small number of top priorities will inevitably have heavy involvement from the PMO – and the Privy Council Office, the (also enlarged) bureaucratic department that supports it – the rest could be delegated to ministries with minimal central interference. And deputies there could be pushed to identify a small number of their top performers to push things through, bruised egos be damned. As with other possible quick fixes, it could be inelegant. But Mr. Carney has been elected, and Mr. Sabia appointed, with promised focus on results. Those results may include a dramatically restructured federal government. But they may not have time to wait for it, if they want to get everything else done.
CTV News
44 minutes ago
- CTV News
Saskatchewan historic hotel with history of murder and mystery now being restored
When you walk throughout the Town of Shaunavon, many will notice a handful of historic buildings. Many date back to the early 1900's. Of them all, there's one that stands out. Not just for its age but for its notorious history of murders and tragic string of events. The Grand Hotel, located on 37 Third Avenue East. 'Neglected building, not an abused building' The Grand Hotel once served as a stop over spot for travellers coming to the town. It has sat vacant and untouched for over 40-years. Though it has stood silent for years, one man from B.C. is aiming not only preserve a piece of the past, but to bring more purpose to his own life. Kent Karemaker, originally from Vancouver, said he had been struggling with mental health issues and depression, which intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic. 'In a capital city during the pandemic, working remotely from home, I really struggled with depression. A lot of it was finding purpose in life, like reasons to get up every morning and something to light a fire under me,' he explained. Expand Autoplay 1 of 31 The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, later experiencing a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929 and experienced a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Gareth Dillistone / CTV News) Shaunavon, Sask. Shaunavon, Sask. is a town in southwest Saskatchewan. (Gareth Dillistone / CTV News) Shaunavon, Sask. Shaunavon, Sask. is a town in southwest Saskatchewan. (Gareth Dillistone / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929 and experienced a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Gareth Dillistone / CTV News) The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929 and experienced a fire, dynamite explosion, and three murders throughout the years. (Gareth Dillistone / CTV News) Karemaker said he has always had a passion for restoring furniture. He even restored two homes in the town. 'I was kind of hooked once I did two houses in front here and then I wanted to set my sights bigger,' he said. He reached out to people in the town to see if they knew of old, abandoned or worn-out heritage homes he could tackle as his next project. 'Through a post on Facebook, a friend of mine contacted me and she said, 'Hey, what about a hotel?'' Karemaker got in touched with the hotel's previous owner, Brad Bakken, and took over ownership a little over two years ago. 'I paid $20,000 for this building, which is probably around 15,000 square feet, so it's a big one,' Karemaker said. Kent Karemaker Kent Karemaker, originally from Vancouver, B.C., is working to preserve a piece of the past at Shaunavon's Grand Hotel. (Gareth Dillistone / CTV News) 'Last hurrah of the 20's' The Grand Hotel was built and opened to the public on November 28, 1929, with Fred Mah and Mah Hop as the owners. The opening would have been during the end of the Roaring 20's and the beginning of the Great Depression in Canada. The total cost to build the hotel was $35,000. The Grand Hotel The Grand Hotel in Shaunavon, Sask. first opened to the public in 1929, during the end of the Roaring Twenties and the beginning of the Great Depression in Canada. (Photo source: Grand Coteau Heritage & Cultural Centre) 'It opened, I believe one month before the stock market crash in 1929, which is probably about the worst time to open a hotel because that's basically when Saskatchewan started shrinking,' Karemaker explained. When it opened, hot and cold water was available in all 38 rooms, with steam heat and all new furnishings. The Grand Hotel When the Grand Hotel first opened in 1929, all 38 rooms had hot and cold water, as well as steam heat and all new furnishings. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) Rooms would have been available for guests to rent for $1.25 a day. Bathrooms were shared among guests with only one bathtub on each floor and two toilets, one for ladies and one for men. Kathleen East, Shaunavon's local historian, explained that many bizarre events took place in the hotel over the years, including a fire in 1932, dynamite explosion in 1933, and three murders in the hotel in 1940. 'It was run as a hotel by the Chinese family until 1940 when two of them were actually murdered in the front of the hotel,' she said. Just two months prior, RCMP Sgt. Arthur Julian Barker was shot and killed in the same spot. 'That particular person got off on insanity, but they were connected within two months of each other,' East said. Barker's photo hangs in the front of the hotel where the murder happened. RCMP Sgt. Arthur Julian Barker RCMP Sgt. Arthur Julian Barker was shot and killed in front of the Grand Hotel in 1940. Two more people were murdered just two months later. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) Apartment block Eventually, the hotel was converted into an apartment block by George A. Baird of Moose Jaw. The building would later be known as the Beverly Court in 1943. A furnished single room would run for $35 a month with the resident paying the electricity. East said there would be many young women who would come to town for work and would stay at the apartment building. 'There were usually a lot of single people living there. Then the other one that was quite common was elderly people that needed a place to live,' East explained. One of the last two residents who rented a suite before the building closed down was Jamie Mercer. Mercer had come to Shaunavon for work and was 17-years-old at the time. Jamie Mercer Jamie Mercer was one of the last two residents who rented a suite before the building closed down. She was 17-years-old when she came to Shaunavon for work. (Gareth Dillistone / CTV News) 'Looking back at it, I think how did I ever stay here by myself? Seventeen-year-olds are kind of fearless, I guess,' Mercer said. 'You come in, you close the door, this is your spot. It didn't bother me that it was empty.' Mercer rented a room for about four months and despite the building's history, she managed to make the small space her own. 'I believe I had a small table right there. Bed. Pretty much that was it. A bed. There was a closet,' she said, standing in her old room. The boiler system in the basement of the building had stopped working at the time and was not going to be replaced, forcing Mercer and the other tenant to vacate. The Beverly Court was listed for sale in January of 1997, with the Bakkens taking over ownership then. 'Revitalize every element' Karemaker has already begun work on the restoration process of the hotel. He's poured $60,000 into just replacing the roof alone. 'The roof has been replaced. The bulk of the electrical, including all the switches and boxes and everything. All of the main lines coming through have been done. I have replaced over 40 broken panes of glass. Resealed and repainted all of the lower-level exterior windows.' When the apartment building shut down, the building sat empty for years, giving Karemaker much of the original finishings and most of the existing furniture to work with. 'I have some of the original bed frames and that sort of thing. I have restored a lot of furniture. The basement houses a lot of the original sort of back-end things. So, all the original laundry equipment is down there. The 1920's boiler system is still intact,' he said. The Grand Hotel The original boiler system, as well as the original laundry equipment, are still in tact and housed in the hotel's basement. (Angela Stewart / CTV News) 'I have everything original to work with. The plan is to revitalize every element of the building and put it back into use.' Karemaker has been documenting his work on the hotel through social media, under the Facebook page, Grand Hotel Shaunavon. With a clear vision for the restoration, Karemaker plans to bring back the hotel's original 1929 charm for those wishing to stay the night. 'I want this place again to be a bit of a retreat,' he explained. 'Bathrooms will be shared with a couple exceptions; suites have private baths and then there will be modern bathrooms. That's the only modern concession I'll make, other than Wi-Fi.' He said there will be no TVs in any of the rooms. 'I also want it to feel authentically 1920's and I think nothing would kill that vibe more than walking into your room and seeing a flat screen. I don't want there to be any sign of electronics that didn't exist in the 1920's,' he said. Those who work at the hotel will also play the part, including Karemaker himself. 'Black and white maid outfits. I'll be in a three-piece suit with a pocket watch.' With the original boiler system out of commission, there is no running heat in the building, so work on the restoration is limited to the warmer months. Karemaker expects the renovations to be wrapped up in about four years time, with an opening date to fall on the hotel's 100th anniversary. Those who are interested in checking out Karemaker's progress so far can attend an open house on July 20 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.
