Celebrating Progress and Community Impact

As 2025 draws to a close, the Ottawa Senior Pride Network (OSPN) is proud to reflect on a year filled with remarkable accomplishments and milestones that have strengthened our community and advanced the well-being of LGBTQ2+ seniors across Ottawa.

This year marked a pivotal step for OSPN with the creation of our new Strategic Plan for 2024–2027, shaped by thoughtful discussions with our members and made possible through a WAGE grant. We also made a significant governance decision, resulting in OSPN’s official incorporation on April 1, 2025—a major milestone that will support our growth and sustainability for years to come.

Our commitment to community engagement remained strong, hosting two well-attended community meetings and a World Café focused on strategies for ageing at home. We also brought our supporters together in November for an important update and celebration of our shared progress.

We were delighted to welcome Sarah Rea as the new OSPN/The Good Companions LGBTQ+ Program Coordinator, whose leadership has already brought fresh energy and ideas to our programming. Saturday Programming at The Good Companions (TGC) expanded to include new activities, and the Pride BBQ at TGC was a highlight of the summer.

Although the Pride Parade was cancelled, we were still represented at the Pride Street Fair with a booth on both Saturday and Sunday.

Our Vintage Queers team’s victory in the Pride Cup was a moment of celebration, and we fostered intergenerational connections by inviting the Youth Service Bureau to form a second dragon boat, DRAGon Boat, alongside us.

Behind the scenes, OSPN continued to play a vital role in advocacy and policy. Our Health and LTC member served on the City of Ottawa’s LTC Person Centered Care Committee. We contributed to the development of the City’s Older Adult Plan, ensuring LGBTQ2+ seniors’ voices are included in decisions that shape our future. We also worked with other groups and organizations like MAX Ottawa, Perley Health, Council on Ageing, and Centretown Community Health Centre (CCHC) on projects and activities.

OSPN is now offering a trans, non-binary and gender diverse support and social group.

Older & Bolder for senior queer women created opportunities for new activities – the O&B facilitated drop-in discussion group each month remains the anchor. In addition to Wednesday gatherings, the monthly book club and Monday Zooms, a Francophone group met for the first time in the fall and winter and were exceedingly popular. The connections and friendships within the variety of activities are the real highlights of O&B’s volunteer leadership, vitality and fun!

Looking to the future the video archiving project “Queer Elders Talking” is now underway and will debut in the new year.

We hosted two successful Drag-n-Bowl fundraisers thanks to Daddy Therapy, building both community spirit and essential financial support for our ongoing work.

Each of these achievements—both visible and behind-the-scenes—represents the dedication, resilience, and passion of our volunteers, supporters, and partners. Together, we are making real strides to improve the lives of LGBTQ2+ seniors in Ottawa.

OSPN is a member-driven organization. To deliver valuable programming and support to our community, we rely on your input—whether that means sharing information, helping with funding, or volunteering your time. We cannot do it without you. OSPN thrives when you get involved.

We encourage you to participate by attending Saturday programming, joining an action team, or considering a role on the board.

Thank you for being a part of our journey in 2025. We look forward to even greater accomplishments in the year ahead.

With gratitude and pride,
The Ottawa Senior Pride Network Board