(Photo by Shubham Sharan on Unsplash)

Various orders of government and community organizations have been responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. The resources and supports that have resulted can be difficult to keep track of, so we have compiled a list here that we will update regularly. Residents can also dial 2-1-1 Help Line, which offers referrals to local community, social, government and health services.

Municipal Supports 

Most up to date info here

The City of Ottawa’s Human Needs Task Force

A Human Needs Task Force has been implemented as part of the City’s Emergency Management Plan and emergency response to COVID-19 to ensure that we are responsive to the emerging needs of the community. Check out their page for support and assistance. The task force is currently focused on service coordination for immediate, medium and long-term response associated with five emerging needs: 

• Outreach to isolated seniors 
• Food security 
• Transportation 
• Volunteer coordination 
• Housing and homeless needs 

Human Needs Task Force contact information: 

English: [email protected]  

French: [email protected] 

Phone number: 613-580-2424 ext. 26753 

Employment and Social Services

Financial assistance may be available to help people meet their basic living expenses. Where no other financial resources are available, emergency financial assistance may be provided during a crisis. It is generally for health-related items, such as: 

• Medicine 
• Personal care items 
• Diabetic, surgical, incontinence and ostomy supplies 
• Mobility devices 
• Transportation 
• Housing-related arrears 

For Emergency financial assistance call 3-1-1 and press 4 for social services. Individuals are asked to not visit any Employment and Social Service centre location in person. All requests are to be completed over the phone. Staff will assess which programs residents are eligible for. Existing clients can also call or email their case workers. In addition, Ontario Works has a service available to clients called MyBenefits. It is an online tool that allows clients to report changes or get information about their Ontario Works case. Individuals who have applied for Employment Insurance but are waiting for their first payment can apply for Ontario Works Assistance. 

Food Security

Several community partners – including the Ottawa Food Bank, Meals on Wheels, Montfort Renaissance and the Champlain Community Support Network of more than 20 local non-profit agencies – are working to deliver food hampers, hot meals and groceries to seniors and other at-risk residents across Ottawa, including in rural areas. By working with community partners to reach out to rural communities, the City is ensuring all residents have access to food. Anyone who needs food can contact any of these agencies through 2-1-1 or contact these services directly:

• Ottawa Food Bank: 613-745-7001 and www.ottawafoodbank.ca 
• Good Companions (Meals on Wheels): 613-236-0428 and www.thegoodcompanions.ca. Also contactable for urgent transportation to appointments 

Hydro Ottawa

Offering flexible payment plans in order to provide customers with more time to pay outstanding balances on their account if needed. Customers seeking financial assistance programs, including emergency relief, can find information on the Hydro Ottawa website. 

Ottawa Community Housing

 Concerned about a neighbour in your OCH building? OCH is providing wellness checks. Phone contact: 613-731-1182. Ottawa Community Housing’s full response to COVID-19 can be monitored here. 

Online Resources

• Updates on Ottawa Public Health’s response to COVID-19 can be found here.
• Full listing of City supports here.
• The City of Ottawa’s Human Needs Task Force and Ottawa Public Health have prepared this document with information on Financial Resources, Community Resources, Mental Health Resources, and Online Educational Supports. 
• The City has compiled a list of services and facilities impacted by COVID-19 here.

Provincial Supports

Most up to date info here

Federal Supports

Most up to date info here

Community Supports

Various non-governmental organizations and community groups are responding to the COVID-19 crisis by providing various new or enhanced resources and services. Here is a short list: 

Resources for Seniors:  

• Seniors Centre Without Walls (SCWW): Through the use of multi-person phone calls, SCWW provides the opportunity for participants to join in on health and wellness seminars, educational lectures, brain-stimulating activities, listen to live musical entertainment, join in on general conversations, and make new and meaningful friendships – all from the comfort of home!  Call 613-236-0428. 

• Chatting to Wellness is hosting free Chatting Sessions for seniors to combat loneliness and isolation. Local university students are available by phone every weekday evening between 6pm – 9pm EST to chat with seniors for 45 minutes at a time. Sign up by visiting www.chattingtowellness.ca/phonechats. 

Resources for Mental Health:  

• Mental Health Crisis Line: If you are experiencing a mental health crisis yourself, or you know someone who is, please phone the 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Line: 613-722-6914. Visit https://crisisline.ca/ for more information. 
• Youth Services Bureau 24/7 Crisis Line: 613-260-2360 (or chat online). 
• The Canadian Association for Mental Health also offers some great tips on coping with stress and anxiety about COVID-19. Their fact sheet on talking to children about COVID-19 is a great resource for families. 
• The Walk-in Counselling Clinic offers single-session counselling free of charge, only by trained mental health professionals (Social Workers, Registered Psychotherapist, Psychologists). There are no waiting lists, and no referrals are necessary. Counselling sessions are offered in English, French, Arabic, Mandarin, Spanish and Somali. Call 613-755-2277 or find more information at www.walkincounselling.com. 

Legal Resources 

• Community Legal Services of Ottawa has been operating full-time during the pandemic.  Our offices are closed for in-person visits but our legal clinic staff members continue to work remotely. Residents of Ottawa can call any of our offices for assistance: Downtown Office: 613-241-7008; West Office: 613-596-1641; South Office: 613-733-0140. For more information about our legal clinic’s services, click here. For legal information factsheets about the Canada Emergency Response Benefit and other government benefits, click here to visit the Connecting Ottawa website. 

• Steps to Justice, updated daily, gives answers to more than 80 legal questions, including questions about emergency benefits assistance, Employment Insurance, being evicted for non-payment of rent, and what to do about urgent family law problems with the courts. 

  You can find the legal information you need at https://stepstojustice.ca/covid-19. 

• Pro Bono Ontario is still providing free legal assistance to low-income Ontarians for their everyday legal problems. They have pivoted all operations to the Free Legal Advice Hotline and have started developing specialized resources to help answer legal questions related to COVID-19 shut-downs. The Hotline is a safe, convenient way for Ontarians to get help with: 
  • Employment issues  
  • Housing issues 
  • Consumer debt and protection problems 
  • Corporate law for small businesses and non-profits 
  • Powers of Attorney & 
  • Civil litigation* 

Dial 1-855-255-7256. Hours of operation are Monday – Friday from 9:30 am – 11:30 am and 1:00 – 3:30 pm. *PBO does not assist with criminal, family, immigration or estate administration issues. 

Resources for Workers 

• The Workers Rights Action Project in Ottawa has launched a new Ottawa Workers Hotline: A hotline for Ottawa workers looking for information and support.  Problems at work? Questions about your rights? Are you worried about health and safety or income support because of COVID-19? Call them at 613-981-3606. The hotline is open Mondays and Thursdays 6-9pm. Text or WhatsApp or leave a voicemail, they will respond to you during these hours. All calls are free and confidential. E-mail: [email protected]. They are offering support in English, French, Spanish, Punjabi, Somali and Tagalog. 
• Ottawa Public Health has published a letter that employees can offer to employers in lieu of a sick note. 

Resources for Tenants:   

• Ottawa, Keep Your Rent, a coalition of tenants, are, amongst other things, currently offering organizing resources to tenants who want to organize in their building to collectively withhold rent payments. Contact them at [email protected] or at 343-883-5608. 
• Ottawa ACORN, a community union of low-income tenants, has established the ACORN Support Network in response to COVID-19 which: 
  • Engages with people on a regular basis  
  • Gives up to date info on unfolding crisis   
  • Connects people with services available in their community   
  • Gets folks active in ACORN COVID-19 Campaigns 
  • Hosts digital literacy workshops so they can be connected to family and friends 

Get in touch with ACORN through email: [email protected], or by phone: 613-746-5999 

Our office has also compiled a list of local organizations that could use support or are advocating for a more robust response from governments, which can be found here. We are also tracking interest in volunteering here. 

If your needs at this time are not adequately met by any of the resources below, let us know here, and we will try to connect you with local volunteers or other supports that may be able to help you. 

With the spread of COVID-19 in Ottawa, many residents are looking for accurate, up-to-date information on what they should be doing and how the city is responding. With new information coming out multiple times a day, it can be difficult to keep up. We have created this web page to give you the essential key messages during this pandemic, and direct you to where you need to go to get further information.

You can stay up-to-date the novel coronavirus and how Ottawa is handling it by visiting Ottawa Public Health’s website.

Vaccine Updates for City of Ottawa can be found here

Mental health services and counselling resources can be found here

What Should You Do?

If you have respiratory symptoms (such as fever, cough), please follow these directives:

• You must self-isolate for 14 days from when your symptoms started, or until 24 hours after symptoms have FULLY resolved, whichever is longer.
• You must not leave your home if you have respiratory symptoms. Call your doctor or TeleHealth at 1-866-797-0000 if you have questions.
• If your symptoms are worsening to a point where you cannot manage at home, please visit your nearest emergency department. 
• If you think you have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has it, a self assessment tool is available to help determine how to seek further care.

For individuals who are returning from travel, by federal law, you must immediately self-isolate for 14 days.  

• The federal Minister of Health announced an Emergency Order requiring any person entering Canada by air, sea or land to self-isolate for 14 days whether or not they have symptoms of COVID-19.
• This also means not stopping at the grocery store or the pharmacy on the way home from the airport or the border.
• If you need groceries or other essential items, have a family member, friend or neighbour do the shopping for you and leave items at the door.
• If you have respiratory symptoms, follow the guidance in the section above.

For all residents (except those listed above)

• Practice physical (social) distancing—avoid all non-essential trips in the community.
• Household contacts (people you live with) do not need to distance from each other unless they are sick, or have returned from travel within the past 14 days.
• Ensure that you're wearing a mask whenever physical distancing is not possible and when going on essential trips. 
• Cancel all group gatherings, including group/team play on sports fields.
• Connect via phone, video chat, or social media instead of in-person.
• Talk to your employer about working from home (if possible).
• Avoid visiting elderly friends or relatives unless the visit is essential.
• Keep windows down for essential community trips via taxi or rideshares.

And some special reminders for parents with children, as well as all of us as we practice physical (social) distancing:  

You can go outside. It’s healthy. You can still take a walk, play with your dog outside, or kick a ball with members of your household who are already close contacts.

When outside, maintain a two-metre distance. Avoid crowds and maintain a distance of two metres (six feet) from those around you. Make an effort to step-aside, mask up, or pass others quickly and courteously on sidewalks. 

Need Financial Support?

We have compiled a list of financial resources and support services offered by all three levels of government. You can access it here.

Looking to Volunteer?

If you would like to find ways to help out in your community, we are compiling a list of volunteers, which we will then share with the organizations in the city looking for help. You can sign up here.

• The City has prepared a support resource page on Ottawa.ca to provide information to businesses and workers on all supports, from various levels of government available to them.  For a full list of government-offered relief options, please visit COVID-19 Support for Businesses and Workers.
• Our office has set up a Buy Local resource page, directing residents to websites and information that can help them to continue supporting our local small businesses. Our office is also highlighting individual local businesses in the Ward in all of our e-mail bulletins moving forward, to bolster support for them during this difficult time.
• The city is encouraging all Ottawa businesses and organizations to ensure they are prepared to go back to work safely. Members of the Ottawa business community can access the Business Reopening Toolkit online. It provides guidance on preparing your workplace, employees and operations to resume while ensuring physical distancing, and also provides links to official resources such as public health signage, sector-specific guidelines and government financial assistance programs.
• Updates on provincial supports for business.
• Updates on federal supports for business.

The COVID-19 crisis has had a detrimental impact on small local businesses, while many of their large corporate competitors have seen an increase in sales (e.g. Amazon and other corporations that offer well-known delivery services). Making an effort to buy local during this pandemic, then, not only protects many beloved small businesses in Ottawa, it also helps stem growing economic inequality that results when consumption increasingly favours large corporations over local small businesses.

In an effort to support local businesses, Ottawa has initiated a buy local campaign that encourages residents to support their favourite small businesses by taking immediate and concrete steps now:  

• Buy from local businesses online. 
• Purchase gift cards from local businesses to use later. 
• Order delivery or takeout from area restaurants. 
• Send local businesses messages of support on social media. 

These actions will help local shops, restaurants and services by providing them with critical income during this challenging period. The campaign website is ottawa.ca/buylocal. There, residents will find links to sites listing businesses serving customers virtually or providing takeout and meal delivery. 

If you want to help support our business community in the ward click on the following lists to find businesses that are doing delivery orders or selling gift certificates. For a city-wide list go here or here

Ottawa Farmers’ Market Association

Unfortunately, we can't enjoy our local farmers' markets the way we did before the pandemic. The Ottawa Farmers' Market Association, however, has published a list of vendors that residents can still order from!:

Adam Bakes

• adambakes.com | Online Store

All About the Soup

• allaboutthesoup.com | Online store

Almanac Grain

• Almanacgrain.ca | Online store

Backyard Edibles

• backyardedibles.ca | In stores, online coming soon

Burrell Farm- Beans and hot sauce

• [email protected] | $50 minimum orders

Farmgate Cider

• farmgatecider.ca | Online store

Haico's Hot Sauce

• Haicoshotsauce.com | Online store

Kelly's Gourmet Mushrooms

• thefungiconnection.com | Kingston only

Merrifield Farms

• merrifieldfarms.ca | Website

Needhams Market Garden (wine only for now)

• www.needhamsmarketgarden.com | Online store

Pascales Ice Cream

• pascalesicecream.com | Online store

Poppa Bean

• poppabean.ca | Online store, local delivery

The Great British Pastry and Pie co. 

• 613-222-5121 | $75 minimum orders

Vox Kombucha 

• [email protected] | Local delivery