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CBC
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Why new generations are continuing to visit a secluded century-old grotto in Vanier
Social Sharing CBC Ottawa's Creator Network is a place where young digital storytellers from diverse backgrounds can produce original video content to air on CBC and tell stories through their own lens. It's a 24-hour venue, located in the heart of Ottawa's busy Vanier neighbourhood, but this outdoor site is a space for peaceful prayer and contemplation, drawing thousands of pilgrims from different religious backgrounds each year, particularly in mid-August for the Feast of the Assumption. Abdul Farooq, 25, says he discovered the century-old Grotte Notre Dame de Lourdes when he moved to the neighbourhood in 2022, after studying French literature and translation at the University of Ottawa. He says he felt attracted by the feeling of calm he discovered there. "It struck me as something very exceptional, especially since I didn't grow up with spaces like that in the suburbs in the GTA," said Farooq, referring to the Greater Toronto Area. Though not Catholic himself, Farooq — who grew up in a religious Muslim family — says he immediately felt at home at the grotto. "Certain aspects of the grotto felt very familiar ... that focus on quiet contemplation," said Farooq, who has noticed other young people gravitating toward the peaceful space. Farooq teamed up with co-creator Gavin Lanteigne and multimedia storyteller Kevin Acquah to learn more about this sanctuary and the people who worship there for a video for CBC Ottawa's Creator network. "It felt like a way of getting back in touch with that aspect of my upbringing, but in different terms," he explained. WATCH | Experience the calm of Vanier's grotto in this Creator Network piece: This historic sanctuary draws visitors 24 hours a day, and not all are Catholic 4 minutes ago Nestled in busy Vanier, the leafy Grotte Notre Dame de Lourdes caught the attention of 25-year-old storyteller Abdul Farooq, who teamed up with Gavin Lanteigne and Kevin Acquah to tell the story of the century-old outdoor religious site and its enduring appeal in this CBC Ottawa Creator Network piece. Familiar outdoor worship Visiting the grotto has been a way for Marita El-Kadi to connect with her family's Lebanese roots. "A lot of Lebanese people before immigrating to Canada would go pray outdoors," El-Kadi said in the film, explaining that her parents brought her to the space as she was growing up in Ottawa. Now 25, El-Kadi says the grotto is a place for her to feel close to her late mother Claudia El-Kadi. "My Mom had a steadfast kind of faith," said El-Kadi. "No matter at what stage of her diagnosis, she still believed," adding "it was still able to bring her comfort at the end of the day." In her mom's final days, El-Kadi said her mother's friends visited the grotto as a means of caring for her. "They would pray for her there specifically because it is a place of healing," said El-Kadi. When Claudia died in 2021, El-Kadi said she lost some of that connection with the space. But lately, she's felt a renewed desire to stop by for a sense of peace, solace and community which can be hard to find for young people in the city. "People are still looking for this connection with others," she explained. A century of solace The grotto's history in Vanier dates back to 1908, when a group of Montfortain seminarian students recreated a celebrated grotto in Lourdes, France, where it is said the Virgin Mary appeared a number of times to a young girl named Bernadette. There are other such spaces around the world and Canada, usually built in rock, and featuring a statue of the Virgin Mary as well as an altar area and outdoor seating for masses. In Vanier, before today's stone structures were built, the cave and altar were created out of snow. "As kids we built snow castles, so we took that idea and looked at photos from France and they built something like that," recalled president of the Grotto Volunteers Committee Jean Laporte, who has been a parishioner there since he was born. "When I was young — seven, eight, nine years old — we'd go there and have picnics on Sunday afternoons with my family," he said, recalling an era when the Catholic Church played a central role in the lives of French Canadians families like his. "It was a different time," said Laporte. "The church was the heart of the community, and the grotto was a place where people came together to pray, to celebrate, and to find comfort." In particular, he said it was a place for sick people to come and pray, where the healed would leave their crutches behind. He remembers tour busses of worshippers arriving from across North America decades back. Although attendance has dwindled since it first opened, he said the site remains busy, with 10,000 people visiting annually for organized events, and an estimated 10,000 more who stop by at other times. It's especially packed in mid-August for the Feast of Assumption, with its torchlight procession and other events, including the mass with blessing for the sick. "It's not just for Catholics, we have people from across religions who come to sit and meditate, maybe to get away from the noise of the city," explained Laporte. After a fire at the church in 1973, Laporte said the grotto site was sold to the parish and now the outdoor space is entirely volunteer-run. Laporte's father was a longtime volunteer and two years ago Laporte junior took over as caretaker. "We see different generations of people volunteering to help keep it going," said Laporte, adding that today many of the volunteers who help clear snow, organize candle sales, and plan events are new to Canada. He's met people from Portuguese, Haitian, African and Lebanese backgrounds who tell him the grotto reminds them of similar spaces back home. But for Laporte, what sets this place apart is that it welcomes people year-round, 24 hours a day. "It's always been open. We've never had a fence or a gate. So people can just come," he said. "I've been there all times of day — even in the middle of the night people come." A new grotto in Ottawa's south Vanier is no longer Ottawa's only Catholic grotto, thanks to the opening of a new Catholic sanctuary this June in the city's south end, said Barry Devine, director of the newly formed Stewards of the Grotto at St. Patrick's Parish in Fallowfield. Dreamed up by longtime parishioner Charles Tierney as a means of honouring his late wife Bernadette, Devine said the Grotto of Our Lady of the Fields, which is located in the church's cemetery, took two years to build and they are still awaiting the altar and sound system to host outdoor masses. In the context of waning number of Catholic faithful, Devine said he knows it's unusual to hear of a new sanctuary. But he said his parish is thriving as the church undergoes restoration, as well as a cemetery expansion and he's been happy to hear the positive feedback over the new outdoor sanctuary, which welcomes all. "It's new, it's open, and it's for people to come and and use as a place of refuge and prayer and inspiration and [they are] encouraged to do so... I think that that's just the bottom line," said Devine. Open to all For Farooq, that sense of quiet welcome is also what makes Vanier's space special. "You're outside, you're among people, and it doesn't feel closed off," he said, adding that he decided to make a film about it because he feels it's important to share lesser-known parts of the city with a wider audience. "When people say the word 'Ottawa', they're just talking about a couple of buildings: Parliament, Senate, courts, and so on," said Farooq. "But this is an aspect of the city's history that is important to a lot of people."
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
For, against, undecided: Three GPs give their views on assisted dying
If you ask these three doctors about being GPs, their answers are remarkably similar. "It can be the best job in the world," one tells me. It's "a privilege" another says. They all talk about how they love getting to know their patients and their families. But all three have different views on assisted dying. Right now, the law here is clear: medics cannot help patients to take their own lives. But that could change. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is being debated in Parliament. And if it goes through, it will give some terminally ill patients in England and Wales the option of an assisted death. Here, three doctors - Abdul Farooq, Susi Caesar and Gurpreet Khaira, who all have a different view on assisted dying - tell us how they feel about the proposals. Dr Abdul Farooq is 28 and relatively new to his career as a GP. We meet at his home in east London. He gives his baby daughter a bottle of milk before heading around the corner to pray in his local mosque. His religion is absolutely key to his views on assisted dying. "I believe in the sanctity of life. As a Muslim, I believe that life is a gift from God, and that no one has the right to take that away," he says. Dr Farooq feels taking your own life is wrong, and so, he says, it would be "sinful" for him to be involved in that process - even indirectly. If this law passed - and a patient came to him asking for help to die - he would refer them to another doctor. He says anything beyond that would be "a red line I would never cross". Dr Farooq's objections are also informed by his professional experience, particularly his time working in a hospital. He describes seeing "undignified deaths" - people passing away on busy wards - and says the health system is not getting the basics right in end-of-life care. "There is so much we can do to make patients comfortable, if we have the right resources available," he tells me. "We have a whole field of medicine called palliative medicine that is there to help people towards the end of their life. So why are we not throwing all our resources and money into that and actually making the process of death less scary?" He's also concerned about specific parts of the proposed law. Doctors would have to assess if terminally ill patients are expected to die within six months before they are approved for an assisted death. Dr Farooq sees this as problematic. The final day or so is easy to predict, he says, but adds that some patients he's expected to die within six months can still be alive a year later. Is there anything that could change his mind on assisted dying? "No," Dr Farooq says without hesitation. "I'm strongly against it. Personally and professionally, I think it's the wrong thing to do for patients." What is assisted dying and how could the law change? California man invites BBC to witness his death as MPs debate assisted dying 'I could live 30 years but plan to die': How assisted dying law is dividing Canadians Dr Susi Caesar has been a GP for 30 years and thinks she probably wouldn't have previously been so vocal in her support of assisted dying. Now, she says she is ready to "stick her head above the parapet". Recently she lost her beloved dad, Henning. We meet at a lake near Cirencester because being near water reminds her of him. "My father was the most amazing person and this is so evocative of everything he loved," she says. "The outdoors, walks, sailing, boats, kayaking, swimming." She thinks Henning would be proud of her for talking to us about her views because he was a long-term believer in assisted dying. When he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, Dr Caesar says he became "terribly scared about the manner of his dying". "My father was a very proud man, and the thing that was unbearable to him was the idea that he would lose control at the end of his life - of his bodily functions, of his mind, of his ability to be the person that he was." By the end, Dr Caesar says her father's "medication never quite kept up with his symptoms." For her, the argument over assisted dying comes down to patient choice. "Everybody is going to die. Every individual deserves the comfort of choice about how they die. I would want it for myself," she tells me. She acknowledges that many of her colleagues have "very, very reasonable concerns" about assisted dying. But she says "we have the wisdom to set up systems that will work and get over some of these hurdles." I ask if Dr Caesar's support for assisted dying would translate into her working in this area. "I will be at the front of the queue to help people to have the death that they wanted," she says. "I think that's the core joy of my job - being with people to the very end of their health journey." Dr Gurpreet Khaira doesn't have any of the certainty of Dr Farooq and Dr Caesar. She describes herself as "pretty conflicted about the whole subject" of assisted dying. Dr Khaira is a GP in Birmingham but also has first-hand experience as a patient. In 2017, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She found chemotherapy gruelling and says if the cancer ever came back, she wouldn't want to go through it again. "I remember feeling very passionate that I should have the choice of whether I go through this kind of treatment, or to say 'that's enough now'," she says. She says it felt very important for her to have a choice about the end of her life. Now, she's a picture of health, striding along a hillside with ease. As a GP with decades of experience, she worries that vulnerable patients might opt for assisted dying rather than be a burden to their loved ones. Or that some families might coerce vulnerable patients into it. "That is one of my biggest areas of personal conflict. I know that there are lots of plans to put safeguards in. "You can be the best doctor or advocate in the world, but you may not pick up where someone is being controlled or manipulated." For her, there's a fundamental conflict between her personal and professional experiences. But, she adds: "As a doctor, I'd be very reluctant to be handing over a syringe for a patient to make that choice." Balancing up these two sides leaves her "in a very guilty place", she says, but adds that it's not a weakness to be open minded. For her, making this decision is an "evolving process". It's striking when talking to Dr Farooq, Dr Caesar and Dr Khaira, how much their views on assisted dying reflect their core belief systems. In that respect, GPs are possibly much like the rest of us. If this bill does pass into law, doctors will have to consider whether they are willing to work in the area of assisted dying, or not. They could be asked to be involved in the process - whether that's holding preliminary discussions with patients who want to die, to prescribing a substance for someone to end their own life. If they don't want to, no-one will force them. They will have time to think about it. If MPs do vote in favour of this next month, it could still take years to come into effect. Government concerns over assisted dying timeline Life or death decisions as politicians weigh up assisted dying vote We disagree on assisted dying bill - MND patients
BBC News
14-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
For, against, undecided: Three GPs give their views on assisted dying
If you ask these three doctors about being GPs, their answers are remarkably similar."It can be the best job in the world," one tells me. It's "a privilege" another says. They all talk about how they love getting to know their patients and their all three have different views on assisted now, the law here is clear: medics cannot help patients to take their own lives. But that could Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is being debated in Parliament. And if it goes through, it will give some terminally ill patients in England and Wales the option of an assisted three doctors - Abdul Farooq, Susi Caesar and Gurpreet Khaira, who all have a different view on assisted dying - tell us how they feel about the proposals. 'A red line I would never cross' Dr Abdul Farooq is 28 and relatively new to his career as a meet at his home in east London. He gives his baby daughter a bottle of milk before heading around the corner to pray in his local religion is absolutely key to his views on assisted dying."I believe in the sanctity of life. As a Muslim, I believe that life is a gift from God, and that no one has the right to take that away," he says. Dr Farooq feels taking your own life is wrong, and so, he says, it would be "sinful" for him to be involved in that process - even this law passed - and a patient came to him asking for help to die - he would refer them to another says anything beyond that would be "a red line I would never cross".Dr Farooq's objections are also informed by his professional experience, particularly his time working in a describes seeing "undignified deaths" - people passing away on busy wards - and says the health system is not getting the basics right in end-of-life care."There is so much we can do to make patients comfortable, if we have the right resources available," he tells me."We have a whole field of medicine called palliative medicine that is there to help people towards the end of their life. So why are we not throwing all our resources and money into that and actually making the process of death less scary?"He's also concerned about specific parts of the proposed law. Doctors would have to assess if terminally ill patients are expected to die within six months before they are approved for an assisted Farooq sees this as problematic. The final day or so is easy to predict, he says, but adds that some patients he's expected to die within six months can still be alive a year there anything that could change his mind on assisted dying?"No," Dr Farooq says without hesitation. "I'm strongly against it. Personally and professionally, I think it's the wrong thing to do for patients." 'I'll be at the front of the queue to help' Dr Susi Caesar has been a GP for 30 years and thinks she probably wouldn't have previously been so vocal in her support of assisted she says she is ready to "stick her head above the parapet".Recently she lost her beloved dad, Henning. We meet at a lake near Cirencester because being near water reminds her of him."My father was the most amazing person and this is so evocative of everything he loved," she says. "The outdoors, walks, sailing, boats, kayaking, swimming." She thinks Henning would be proud of her for talking to us about her views because he was a long-term believer in assisted he was diagnosed with a terminal illness, Dr Caesar says he became "terribly scared about the manner of his dying"."My father was a very proud man, and the thing that was unbearable to him was the idea that he would lose control at the end of his life - of his bodily functions, of his mind, of his ability to be the person that he was."By the end, Dr Caesar says her father's "medication never quite kept up with his symptoms." For her, the argument over assisted dying comes down to patient choice."Everybody is going to die. Every individual deserves the comfort of choice about how they die. I would want it for myself," she tells acknowledges that many of her colleagues have "very, very reasonable concerns" about assisted dying. But she says "we have the wisdom to set up systems that will work and get over some of these hurdles."I ask if Dr Caesar's support for assisted dying would translate into her working in this area."I will be at the front of the queue to help people to have the death that they wanted," she says. "I think that's the core joy of my job - being with people to the very end of their health journey." 'A very guilty place' Dr Gurpreet Khaira doesn't have any of the certainty of Dr Farooq and Dr describes herself as "pretty conflicted about the whole subject" of assisted Khaira is a GP in Birmingham but also has first-hand experience as a 2017, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She found chemotherapy gruelling and says if the cancer ever came back, she wouldn't want to go through it again. "I remember feeling very passionate that I should have the choice of whether I go through this kind of treatment, or to say 'that's enough now'," she says it felt very important for her to have a choice about the end of her she's a picture of health, striding along a hillside with a GP with decades of experience, she worries that vulnerable patients might opt for assisted dying rather than be a burden to their loved ones. Or that some families might coerce vulnerable patients into it."That is one of my biggest areas of personal conflict. I know that there are lots of plans to put safeguards in."You can be the best doctor or advocate in the world, but you may not pick up where someone is being controlled or manipulated."For her, there's a fundamental conflict between her personal and professional she adds: "As a doctor, I'd be very reluctant to be handing over a syringe for a patient to make that choice."Balancing up these two sides leaves her "in a very guilty place", she says, but adds that it's not a weakness to be open minded. For her, making this decision is an "evolving process". Personal experience shaping opinions It's striking when talking to Dr Farooq, Dr Caesar and Dr Khaira, how much their views on assisted dying reflect their core belief that respect, GPs are possibly much like the rest of this bill does pass into law, doctors will have to consider whether they are willing to work in the area of assisted dying, or not. They could be asked to be involved in the process - whether that's holding preliminary discussions with patients who want to die, to prescribing a substance for someone to end their own they don't want to, no-one will force will have time to think about it. If MPs do vote in favour of this next month, it could still take years to come into effect.
