Community Associations for Environmental Sustainability

CAFES Caucuses serve to connect, inform and empower residents of Ottawa.

You are invited to join!

Currently CAFES convenes three caucuses:

Trees and Greenspace

-- Climate --

Waste and Circular Economy


Schedule of upcoming caucus meetings:

CAFES Climate Caucus
Friday, November 15, 2024
12 pm - 2 pm (EST)
See the draft agenda and register for your Zoom link here.

Thursday, November 28, 2024
12 pm -2 pm (EST)
See the draft agenda and register for your Zoom link here.

CAFES Trees and Greenspace Caucus
Date: TBD

CAFES Waste and Circular Economy Caucus
Date: TBD


What's a caucus?

The CAFES network currently convenes caucuses on the themes of Climate, Waste & Circular Economy, and Trees & Green Space. A caucus is a meeting of concerned and engaged residents of Ottawa around a shared topic or issue area.

These meetings bring people together to discuss current issues impacting Ottawa. We share knowledge and ideas, and collaborate on possible solutions and plans of action.

Since COVID we have been meeting by zoom. Typically meetings are scheduled around lunch time from noon to 2pm.

What is the Purpose of the Caucuses?

CAFES believes that the environmental and climate challenges cannot be addressed only by individual actions but that local community, neighbourhood and collective actions and advocacy for system changes are required. This means that we need spaces to discuss and deliberate on issues together.

The purpose of the caucuses is to connect, inform and empower Ottawa residents.

Connect: For each caucus meeting, we set aside time for people to introduce themselves and share some information about their latest actions and concerns. Depending on how busy the agenda is, we do a ‘tour-de-table’ or we use the chat. The meetings of the Caucus provide attendees with hope, inspiration and support. Everybody’s voice matters.

Inform: The caucus serves as a conduit for knowledge about topical municipal policy issues. Local leaders and knowledge holders from inside our network and outside guests are invited to make short presentations.

If you have started a local neighbourhood initiative, please share! Similarly, concerns can be discussed, and how to support each other across neighbourhoods. And successes in one neighbourhood can serve to inspire action in others!

The CAFES network keeps a keen eye on the City of Ottawa legislative agenda of environmental and climate decisions, policies, regulations and programs. Whenever possible briefings are provided and discussed. This deliberation then informs CAFES’ policy positions.

Empower: The caucuses give confidence and support for residents to speak up about environment and climate issues, take local action, contact councillors and make public delegations. The CAFES network seeks to foster local leadership and mutual support.

Who can attend a CAFES Caucus?

Everyone is welcome, the more voices the better! The caucuses are attended by CAFES Members, community groups, activists, non-profit representatives, and individuals who are interested in the topic and want to learn more.

Are Meetings recorded?

The meeting may be recorded for note-taking purposes (we will announce at beginning if so). The meeting notes include the names of the attendees. The meeting notes include the information that individuals share during the tour-de-table. The meeting notes do not include any personal attribution of comments during the discussion sections of the caucus. Meeting notes are shared with the attendees of a particular meeting and inside the CAFES network (Forum); they are not shared in a public facing way.

What is the Protocol?

The underlying idea is that the caucus space is a space of like-minded individuals concerned about the public and ecological interest. We agree that human-caused climate change is real. We play nice and serve as sounding boards for each other's ideas for solutions to our shared concerns.

Who sets the Agenda?

The agenda is set by CAFES staff with input from members of the CAFES network. Frequently, the agenda follows the municipal legislative agenda. If you have an issue of concern that you would like to see discussed at a future CAFES Caucus meeting please write to Mitzi MacDonald at info@cafesottawa.ca.

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