www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/top-stories-2017-ottawa-1.4433394
It has been a busy year in the world of Ottawa news, with everything from maggot-infested rental units to a free farm being offered on Kijiji.
We've rounded up the most popular stories of the year.
Here's a look back at some of the highlights of 2017.
1. 'You can't do this to us': Fuming passengers stuck on planes for hours call 911
The National
Passengers call 911 after being stuck for hours at Ottawa airport
00:00 02:12
Passengers call 911 after being stuck for hours at Ottawa airport2:12
Passengers on two Air Transat flights were stuck on planes at the Ottawa airport for hours on Aug.1, after being diverted due to stormy weather. At least two of the passengers called 911 during the six hours the planes were sitting on the tarmac.
The incident launched a national inquiry, which recently culminated in the airline paying inconvenience fees to all passengers.
Read more.
2. The fresh, young face of Ottawa's opioid tragedy
The opioid crisis claiming lives across the country took a particularly sinister turn in the nation's capital when Grade 9 student Chloe Kotval, 14, died from an overdose on Valentine's Day.
Ottawa paramedics have responded to hundreds of overdoses in the last two years.
Many Ottawans met shortly after Kotval's death to discuss how to fight opioid addiction in teenagers.
Read more.
3. Rental unit overrun by maggots, mould and feces after city program fails landlord
‘Those are dried maggots’: CBC reporter visits trashed apartment (The Investigators with Diana Swain)
00:00 05:00
‘Those are dried maggots’: CBC reporter visits trashed apartment (The Investigators with Diana Swain)5:00
An Ottawa man agreed to join a city-funded program that matches private landlords with homeless people who need a permanent place to live.
Seven months later, his unit was trashed and crawling with maggots. When you walk in the door, you were hit with the stench of rotting food and feces. The unit was buzzing with dozens of flies, covered in half-eaten perishables and littered in piles of knee-deep garbage.
Following the publication of this story, CBC News learned the city had been warned of gaps in the program.
Read more.
4. Ottawa teacher sent home after cutting hair of 7-year-old boy with autism
Miriam Brandon shows where her son Dominic's hair was cut by his teacher. (Miriam Brandon)
An Ottawa teacher was sent home after he was accused of cutting the hair of a seven-year-old student with autism at school without permission from the boy's mother.
The teacher at Regina Public School in Ottawa's west end wanted Miriam Brandon to cut her son's hair, which was down to his shoulders.
The teacher complained that Dominic, who has autism, was chewing on his hair and that it covered his face.
The Ottawa Carleton District School Board later offered an apology.
Read more.
5. Love animals and hard work? You could take over this Smiths Falls, Ont., farm — for free
Stephen Overbury was offering his farm to use for free to a 'tried-and-true' animal lover. (CBC)
Back in April, Stephen Overbury was looking for someone to take over his farm near Smiths Falls, Ont., as he prepared to return to Japan, where he had lived for about 15 years.
But instead of selling it or renting it out, the 62-year-old was offering it up to the right person, in perpetuity — and it wouldn't cost a dime to take it over.
Read more.
6. 'My heart was in my stomach': Homeowner learns too late she bought a former grow-op
Claudette Charron bought a fixer-upper bungalow as an investment, but it turned out to be a former grow-op that's cost her $30,000 in remediation costs. (Claudette Charron)
Claudette Charron thought she bought her perfect house — a fixer-upper in need of a little TLC, at a good price in a small community — until she discovered there used to be a marijuana grow-op in the basement and the house needed tens of thousands of dollars of work to make it safe to live in.
Charron, her boyfriend and her 16-year-old son moved into their new home in Limoges, Ont., at the end of June 2016, one year after there had been a drug bust at the house.
Read more.
7. Artist defends eyeball tattoo that left Ottawa woman with partial vision loss
Catt Gallinger, who had a botched ink injection in her eyeball, shows the amount of swelling in her eye, at home in Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
The artist who left an Ottawa woman with vision loss in one eye after a tattoo injection went wrong was defending his actions, saying he didn't make any mistakes during the procedure.
Eric Brown tattooed the white of Catt Gallinger's right eye purple in an Arnprior, Ont., studio after-hours on the night of Sept. 5.
Within hours of the procedure, Gallinger said she was in pain as the ink leaked from her eye. The next morning, it was swollen shut.
Months later, she still can't see properly and is waiting to find out if she'll lose her eye.
Read more.
8. 'An absolute fiasco': Disorganized Canada Day security lines cause backlog
People take shelter from the rain as they wait in line during Canada 150 celebrations in Ottawa on Saturday, July 1, 2017. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Canada 150's crowning event was one to remember, but maybe not for all the best reasons. Parliament Hill was the focal point of Canada Day, but many people say it was the very thing that ruined the festivities.
Long security lines to get onto the Hill left many people huddled together for several hours. The crowd reached 25,000 by noon Saturday, and ebbed and flowed as the day progressed.
Once the designated stanchions had filled, the line spilled into the streets causing chaos. One woman waited in line for three hours before a police officer told her she wasn't standing in an official line.
Read more.
9. Why an Ontario woman is fighting for her right to swim topless
A woman is fighting to be allowed to swim topless at pools across eastern Ontario. (Brian Rodgers/CBC)
A woman who has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario wants to "normalize" the act of swimming topless, her lawyer told CBC News in July.
The human rights complaint began when the still-unnamed woman was searching for a hotel for the occasion of her husband's birthday.
She asked several hotels if she would be allowed to swim without a top, as is her preference.
But several hotels said that she would not be allowed to swim topless, but was not given any reason or explanation.
Read more.
10. 2 dead, 1 injured after shootout in ByWard Market
2 dead, 1 injured in ByWard Market shootings
00:00 00:33
2 dead, 1 injured in ByWard Market shootings0:33
A suspect exchanged gunfire with an Ottawa police officer in the early morning of June 3. It ended with two dead and one injured.
Friends mourned the loss of 43-year-old Terrence Phillips, while others prayed for the speedy recovery of another man caught in the crossfire in what morphed into a deadly weekend in Ottawa's ByWard Market.
It has been a busy year in the world of Ottawa news, with everything from maggot-infested rental units to a free farm being offered on Kijiji.
We've rounded up the most popular stories of the year.
Here's a look back at some of the highlights of 2017.
1. 'You can't do this to us': Fuming passengers stuck on planes for hours call 911
The National
Passengers call 911 after being stuck for hours at Ottawa airport
00:00 02:12
Passengers call 911 after being stuck for hours at Ottawa airport2:12
Passengers on two Air Transat flights were stuck on planes at the Ottawa airport for hours on Aug.1, after being diverted due to stormy weather. At least two of the passengers called 911 during the six hours the planes were sitting on the tarmac.
The incident launched a national inquiry, which recently culminated in the airline paying inconvenience fees to all passengers.
Read more.
2. The fresh, young face of Ottawa's opioid tragedy
The opioid crisis claiming lives across the country took a particularly sinister turn in the nation's capital when Grade 9 student Chloe Kotval, 14, died from an overdose on Valentine's Day.
Ottawa paramedics have responded to hundreds of overdoses in the last two years.
Many Ottawans met shortly after Kotval's death to discuss how to fight opioid addiction in teenagers.
Read more.
3. Rental unit overrun by maggots, mould and feces after city program fails landlord
‘Those are dried maggots’: CBC reporter visits trashed apartment (The Investigators with Diana Swain)
00:00 05:00
‘Those are dried maggots’: CBC reporter visits trashed apartment (The Investigators with Diana Swain)5:00
An Ottawa man agreed to join a city-funded program that matches private landlords with homeless people who need a permanent place to live.
Seven months later, his unit was trashed and crawling with maggots. When you walk in the door, you were hit with the stench of rotting food and feces. The unit was buzzing with dozens of flies, covered in half-eaten perishables and littered in piles of knee-deep garbage.
Following the publication of this story, CBC News learned the city had been warned of gaps in the program.
Read more.
4. Ottawa teacher sent home after cutting hair of 7-year-old boy with autism
Miriam Brandon shows where her son Dominic's hair was cut by his teacher. (Miriam Brandon)
An Ottawa teacher was sent home after he was accused of cutting the hair of a seven-year-old student with autism at school without permission from the boy's mother.
The teacher at Regina Public School in Ottawa's west end wanted Miriam Brandon to cut her son's hair, which was down to his shoulders.
The teacher complained that Dominic, who has autism, was chewing on his hair and that it covered his face.
The Ottawa Carleton District School Board later offered an apology.
Read more.
5. Love animals and hard work? You could take over this Smiths Falls, Ont., farm — for free
Stephen Overbury was offering his farm to use for free to a 'tried-and-true' animal lover. (CBC)
Back in April, Stephen Overbury was looking for someone to take over his farm near Smiths Falls, Ont., as he prepared to return to Japan, where he had lived for about 15 years.
But instead of selling it or renting it out, the 62-year-old was offering it up to the right person, in perpetuity — and it wouldn't cost a dime to take it over.
Read more.
6. 'My heart was in my stomach': Homeowner learns too late she bought a former grow-op
Claudette Charron bought a fixer-upper bungalow as an investment, but it turned out to be a former grow-op that's cost her $30,000 in remediation costs. (Claudette Charron)
Claudette Charron thought she bought her perfect house — a fixer-upper in need of a little TLC, at a good price in a small community — until she discovered there used to be a marijuana grow-op in the basement and the house needed tens of thousands of dollars of work to make it safe to live in.
Charron, her boyfriend and her 16-year-old son moved into their new home in Limoges, Ont., at the end of June 2016, one year after there had been a drug bust at the house.
Read more.
7. Artist defends eyeball tattoo that left Ottawa woman with partial vision loss
Catt Gallinger, who had a botched ink injection in her eyeball, shows the amount of swelling in her eye, at home in Ottawa on Friday, Sept. 29, 2017. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)
The artist who left an Ottawa woman with vision loss in one eye after a tattoo injection went wrong was defending his actions, saying he didn't make any mistakes during the procedure.
Eric Brown tattooed the white of Catt Gallinger's right eye purple in an Arnprior, Ont., studio after-hours on the night of Sept. 5.
Within hours of the procedure, Gallinger said she was in pain as the ink leaked from her eye. The next morning, it was swollen shut.
Months later, she still can't see properly and is waiting to find out if she'll lose her eye.
Read more.
8. 'An absolute fiasco': Disorganized Canada Day security lines cause backlog
People take shelter from the rain as they wait in line during Canada 150 celebrations in Ottawa on Saturday, July 1, 2017. (Sean Kilpatrick/THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Canada 150's crowning event was one to remember, but maybe not for all the best reasons. Parliament Hill was the focal point of Canada Day, but many people say it was the very thing that ruined the festivities.
Long security lines to get onto the Hill left many people huddled together for several hours. The crowd reached 25,000 by noon Saturday, and ebbed and flowed as the day progressed.
Once the designated stanchions had filled, the line spilled into the streets causing chaos. One woman waited in line for three hours before a police officer told her she wasn't standing in an official line.
Read more.
9. Why an Ontario woman is fighting for her right to swim topless
A woman is fighting to be allowed to swim topless at pools across eastern Ontario. (Brian Rodgers/CBC)
A woman who has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario wants to "normalize" the act of swimming topless, her lawyer told CBC News in July.
The human rights complaint began when the still-unnamed woman was searching for a hotel for the occasion of her husband's birthday.
She asked several hotels if she would be allowed to swim without a top, as is her preference.
But several hotels said that she would not be allowed to swim topless, but was not given any reason or explanation.
Read more.
10. 2 dead, 1 injured after shootout in ByWard Market
2 dead, 1 injured in ByWard Market shootings
00:00 00:33
2 dead, 1 injured in ByWard Market shootings0:33
A suspect exchanged gunfire with an Ottawa police officer in the early morning of June 3. It ended with two dead and one injured.
Friends mourned the loss of 43-year-old Terrence Phillips, while others prayed for the speedy recovery of another man caught in the crossfire in what morphed into a deadly weekend in Ottawa's ByWard Market.
