On the evening of Sept. 29, Hintonburg Park played host to a small crowd bathed in a final gasp of late summer sunshine. It was a select group of former and current community leaders gathered for the Legends of Hintonburg project, a photoshoot looking to capture and honour the neighbourhood’s often unsung heroes.
“It’s been something that we’ve thought about for a long time and to actually see it happening is incredible,” said Sarah Sims, a community member who organized the event along with her husband, Dave Hartell.
Sims and Hartell first approached just a handful of community builders with their idea to figure out who they should include as a legend of Hintonburg. One was Cheryl Parrot, the first director of the Hintonburg Community Association, which formed in 1991.
“When they came up with this idea, I thought it was just thrilling,” Parrot said. “Because there were so many people that were pivotal in changing the community.”
Visiting Hintonburg today, there’s little evidence the neighbourhood was once troubled by the same social issues now present in much of Ottawa’s downtown. But the neighbourhood looked much different in the HCA’s early days.
“Just after we formed, drugs and prostitution moved into the community virtually overnight,” Parrot said. “So all of these people here were involved in some of that transformation.”
According to Kitchissippi Ward councillor Jeff Leiper, who moved into the neighbourhood in 1999, Hintonburg found strength in forging a deep connectivity between its civil society, businesses and residents, since all three became “invested in each other’s success.”
“When the challenges of street prostitution and crack houses first really started to present themselves, there was a synergy between these three groups that has continued to this day,” Leiper said.
“That wouldn’t have happened without a lot of really hard work and a lot of creativity and a lot of generosity on the part of the people who you saw here today.”
The work of Reverend Anthony Bailey, the minister at Parkdale United Church for 25 years, exemplifies this connectivity. His contributions included launching a free weekly meal program alongside the HCA and partnering with the owner of the local Giant Tiger and fellow legend of Hintonburg, John Ferguson, to hand out vouchers so struggling locals could purchase groceries “in dignity.”
“It’s kind of a nexus of care, is what I would call it,” Bailey said. “It is something very, very special here in Hintonburg about how we support each other and how we want to see a vision where everyone belongs and they can find a place of dignity.”
While the photoshoot itself only lasted a few minutes, the legends of Hintonburg stuck around to reconnect in the dimming sunlight. But missing from the group of 21 changemakers was Paulette Dozois, who was battling cancer.
Fortunately, Sims and Hartell arranged a photoshoot in Dozois’ backyard a week in advance to make sure she would be a part of the legends of Hintonburg.
Dozois was a valued community leader who, among other contributions, fought local school closures and was integral in fostering Hintonburg’s art scene, launching ArtsPark. When Hintonburg was struggling to fill its schools decades ago, she led the charge in City Hall to ensure Hintonburg wouldn’t be overlooked in terms of quality schooling.
“Now we’re 20 years later and the schools are bursting at the seams because there’s so many kids that live in the neighbourhood and so many families that want to have their kids in the education system,” Sims said.
Unbeknownst to her fellow Hintonburg community legends at Hintonburg Park, Dozois passed away the same night as the photoshoot in Hintonburg Park.
“Paulette is a shining example of what has made Hintonburg such an amazing community,” Sims said. “People who truly care about their neighbours, who know what’s going on with their neighbours, who are there to help when times are tough.”
“I have no doubt that her legacy will live on for years to come because of the groundwork she laid to build a strong community.”
While there is not yet an exact plan for how or where this community portrait will be displayed, Sims said she was looking forward to commemorating all 21 community leaders as the legends of Hintonburg.
“I’m just excited that they’ll get to be remembered as being such huge community builders,” Sims said. “Because these are not people who are looking for gratitude, but they sure deserve gratitude.”
With Leiper’s planned campaign for mayor of the City of Ottawa in October 2026, the work of these 21 Hintonburg community builders over the past decades has a chance to spread city-wide.
“There is a special sauce in this neighbourhood that I think can be replicated in neighbourhoods right across Ottawa,” Leiper said.
“I worry that the city right now is becoming very focused on the individual, very focused on your backyard and I think people know that it could be more fulfilling to live in Ottawa,” Leiper continued. “I want to talk to them about some of what we’ve done here in Hintonburg that could be applied to the Broader City.”
