Ottawa Citizen

In the Bay of Fundy, halfway between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 50 spectators aboard a sailboat peer silently into the distance. The noises of nature reverberate: the flap of eagle wings and the splash of porpoises cutting through the…

OTTAWA – A day after his 67th birthday, and eight days before he died, Peter Jennings found out he would be awarded the Order of Canada, the nation’s highest honour. The nomination process began long before Mr. Jennings’ dramatic on-air…

OTTAWA _ He was one of the world’s most accomplished journalists; a name, and face, recognized the world over. But at heart, Peter Jennings always remained an Ottawa boy. Born in Toronto, but raised in Ottawa, the famous anchor of…

OTTAWA – When Ghazal Omid first heard about the public hanging of two gay teenagers in Iran, she instinctively started to cry. “I was devastated. When I saw those pictures it was like someone putting a hand to my heart…

When Israeli troops start pulling out of the Gaza Strip on Aug. 15, they will leave behind 38 years of painful memories. Most non-settler Israelis who have been to Gaza were there as soldiers. To them, Gaza meant danger, often…

Ottawa’s diplomatic scene has witnessed its share of squabbles and small rivalries, but it’s hard to recall the last time an actual fistfight broke out at an embassy, as reportedly happened at the Israeli mission on O’Connor Street. What’s more,…

Norman Levine, one of Canada’s top fiction writers and perhaps the greatest to come out of Ottawa, died on Tuesday in northern England, lonely and destitute like so many of the wonderful characters he created. For years, he had been…

CAMP ZIOUANI, Golan Heights – From inside a creaky, rusty United Nations observation tower, a majestic view of the Holy Land unfolds. To the north, the snow-capped peaks of Mount Hermon. To the east, the plains of Syria. To the…

Ottawa’s Shaunna Burke reached the summit of Mount Everest late last night, becoming the second Canadian woman in history to reach the top of the mountain. “It took quite awhile,” said Ms. Burke’s former climbing partner, Ben Webster. “Shaunna was…

TEL AVIV_ In Ottawa, she captivated Canadians with her optimistic outlook and her pursuit of peace. Upon returning home to Israel, though, Michelle Divon was slapped in the face with some harsh Middle East reality. “I could change more overseas…

Sean Egan is dead. Ben Webster is lying in his bed in Kanata with a severely broken leg. Shaunna Burke and Peggy Foster are battling illness, exhaustion and a stubborn mountain that won’t let them climb it. And then there…

WINNIPEG – Sitting in the Crystal Ballroom of the Fort Garry Hotel, I could hardly believe the words I was hearing. Here I was at the conclusion of the Canadian Association of Journalists’ national conference, a weekend in which we…

OTTAWA _ As Sean Egan’s children prepare to head to Nepal tomorrow morning to reclaim their father’s body, a fellow Ottawa mountaineer has decided to end his own quest of reaching the top of Mount Everest. Larry Legault, an orthopedic…

With a wide grin and a warm chuckle, Sean Egan welcomed me into his modest office at the University of Ottawa. His mumbling Irish-accented voice instantly put me at ease. From that first meeting in early February to our last…

OTTAWA – The desire to seek vengeance was the initial, primal reaction to the public execution, three years ago in Pakistan, of his son, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. But instead of violence, Judea Pearl sought peace. “In caveman…