Businesses in Ottawa's Chinatown neighbourhood are expressing concerns over a planned Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment centre, also known as a HART hub, that is slated to open in the area. Some business owners say they have been dealing with consistent issues relating to homelessness in the area and are not sure the addition of the hub, which will replace the safe consumption site in the Somerset West Community Health Centre, will help solve that. The hub is set to open inside the centre at 55 Eccles St. off Booth Street. The proposed HART hub will offer a mix of health and social services for addiction care, which could include withdrawal support, walk-in healthcare and counselling, other addiction management and housing supports. The site will not offer safe consumption services or a needle exchange. Wahid "Alessandro" Mirzadeh, owner of Ciao Italia on Somerset Street West, says he has seen his share of issues in the area. He says would-be thieves once tried to brazenly take an expensive bottle of vodka from his shelves and says he had to wrestle the bottle away before the group of three left. He says he's seen issues of vandalism and drug use in the area related to the homelessness and wants people and his customers to feel safe. "It's bad sometimes," he said. "I'm not saying it's happening everyday – but it's happening." Further down the street, owner of Lim Bangkok Grocery says he is seeing similar problems. He says he's seen a 30 per cent decline in his customer base in the last decade. "It's been very difficult, plus we haven't counted the loss of shoplifters," he said. The centre is set to close its safe consumption site under a provincial mandate to close sites near schools and childcare centres by March 2025. The health centre says the hub will support those with the largest needs. "Everyone wants to feel safe and secure in their community. We share that same desire," said executive director for the Somerset West Community Health Centre Suzanne Obiorah. She says the new hub will provide more funding for services the hub already offers. The services would include extended hours for the Eccles Street location. The hub will not be a treatment or detox centre but will help connect people with those services. Obiorah says providing support where people need it most is vital. "It's going to deepen our reach and it's going to increase access for all members in our community," she said. The Chinatown BIA says a recent vote showed 86 per cent of its members oppose the hub. Businesses and owners like Mirzadeh say it's not about the services but the location itself. "They are finishing with something," he says of the closing of the safe consumption site. "But they (are) starting with something new that is not really solving any problems for this area." The Somerset West Health Centre was one of 10 sites identified by the province that would be required to close its supervised consumption site because it is within 200 metres of a school or childcare centre. The Pinecrest Queensway Community Health Centre in Ottawa's west end also applied with the province in October to become a HART hub. Ontario intends to launch 19 new HART hubs across the province plus 375 highly supportive housing units at a cost of $378 million. Shopping Trends The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at CTV News. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us. 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Kelowna, B.C., to host the Memorial Cup in the spring of 2026 The Western Hockey League's Kelowna Rockets will host the Memorial Cup in the spring of 2026, the Canadian Hockey League said Wednesday. 545 vehicles impounded in 332 days: BC Highway Patrol pleads for drivers to slow down Mounties with the BC Highway Patrol in Kelowna say they've impounded more than 545 vehicles for excessive speed and aggressive driving so far this year. That works out to more than 1.6 per day. Stay Connected
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WATCH the moment Israeli strikes on Syrian airbases continue to light up the country's night sky following the fall of Assad's brutal regime. An airbase belonging to the dictator, thought to have stored Iranian missiles, was pounded on Monday night. 7 Israeli strikes reportedly hit a north eastern Syrian base Credit: Sky News 7 The Qamishli airbase burned on Monday night Credit: Sky News 7 Rebels seize Syrian capital Damascus at the weekend Credit: Reuters 7 Bashar Al-Assad's 24-year terror reign fell apart on Sunday Credit: AP The spectacular collapse of terrorist Assad's regime on Sunday has sparked concerns over a power vacuum forming in the wartorn nation. Several international players have carried out strikes across Syria, mostly targeting arms plants and bases, out of concern for whose hands abandoned weapons could end up in. Footage on Monday night showed a spectacular string of hits on the Qamishli airbase in the northeast of the country, per Sky News . The ammunition dump was hit by Israel, sources told Reuters. Read more on syria CRUSHED TO DUST Moment largest Assad statue is toppled as rebels fire AK-47s into the air ROSE & THORNS How Assad's Brit-born 'Rose of the Desert' wife became ‘First Lady of Hell’ The blitz raged for at least 30 minutes as the sound of shells and arms blowing up rang across the area. This military base was reportedly also thought to have stored missiles for Assad's ally Iran, per Sky News. Israel has conducted several airstrikes throughout Syria today, destroying dozens of abandoned helicopters and planes. Huge fires were also spotted at another ammunition dump neighbouring the Qamishli airbase. Most read in The Sun BULLY HORROR First pic of mum mauled to death by 'XL Bully' as family pays tribute VILE PREDATOR Female paedo, 23, had sex with boy, 14, at Scots flat as they watched a film 'SUSPICIOUS' DEATH Murder cops launch probe into death of man 'attacked' in Scots street SHUT UP SHOP Top rated Scots restaurant to close its doors forever It was initially unclear who could have been behind these explosions, due to the fraught politics of this region. The Qamishli airbase was situated in a Kurdish controlled part of Syria, neighbouring the border with Turkey. Syrian rebels' leader enters Damascus after Assad lightning takedown Turkey has fought Kurdish separatists for decades and views these groups fighting on it's border as a threat. Despite this, Israel has claimed responsibility for some of the explosions reported across the country today. Israel has reportedly also been behind strikes at Aqrba airport, southwest of Damascus, and Shinshar base, on the outskirts of Homs. The country has conducted more than 100 airstrikes in Syria on Monday including a hit on Latakia Port, where Syrian navy vessels were docked. WARNING SHOTS The dramatic end of Assad's 24-year brutal reign on Sunday marked the start of foreign airstrikes across Syria. America quickly deployed more than 75 "precision airstikes" in the country, The Sun previously reported. President Joe Biden warned that ISIS would exploit the regime change in Syria and attempt to reestablish itself. He said: "We will not let that happen." 7 Smoke rises following airstrikes in Damascus on Monday Credit: Alamy 7 Smoke billows following an Israeli airstrike on the outskirts of Damascus on Sunday Credit: AFP 7 Biden praised the downfall of Assad but also warned it was a "moment of risk and uncertainty" for the Middle East. ISIS had created a caliphate across large parts of Syria after the civil war broke out 13 years ago, and at one point controlled a third of the country. It has since lost most of it's influence in the area but US officials have said they would work to route out any potential comeback. FLEEING TYRANT Assad reportedly fled to Russia with his family where they have been granted asylum, Russian state media reported on Sunday. Read more on the Scottish Sun WHITE XMAS Scots to wake up to 60cm of snow on Christmas as blizzard to blanket country 'vicious circle' I live in Scotland's benefits hotspot -I've only worked 4 years of my life Remarkable footage has allegedly shown the inside of the Assad family's secret underground tunnel network . It was reportedly filmed after rebels stormed mansions owned by the family. Bashar Al-Assad's downfall THE end of Assad’s reign came abruptly this month as rebel forces launched a lightning offensive, exploiting weakened Syrian defences. THE end of Assad’s reign came abruptly this month as rebel forces launched a lightning offensive, exploiting weakened Syrian defences. Rebels captured Damascus in a lightning campaign, declaring the capital “free” and marking the end of years of brutal authoritarian rule. With Russia mired in Ukraine and Iran preoccupied with regional conflicts, Assad’s regime was left vulnerable. Rebels stormed Aleppo, marking a symbolic victory, and Assad fled Damascus. Assad left aboard a military plane amid rumours of its crash before resurfacing in Moscow, where Vladimir Putin granted him asylum. It comes as an apparent Russian conspiracy to distribute false news about an al-Assad 'aircraft accident' has been exposed. The Ukrainian Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security claimed on X that Russia "hid their trail" in assisting al-Assad's escape by circulating fake claims that he died in a crash. Meanwhile, opposition forces took control of key cities, toppled Assad’s statues, and announced plans for a transitional government. The fall of Assad deals a blow to allies Russia and Iran, with both withdrawing assets from Syria. Challenges remain as Syrians celebrate, but hopes rise for a democratic future after years of war. His fall not only signals the collapse of a dynastic dictatorship but also underscores the cost of clinging to power through terror. Bashar al-Assad has left behind a shattered nation. He decimated Syria’s infrastructure, fractured its society, and plunged millions into despair. Syria became synonymous with human suffering, and Assad’s name will forever be tied to some of the worst war crimes of the modern era. The man once seen as a modernising reformer will be remembered instead as a symbol of unchecked brutality, his legacy written in the blood of his own people.Thanksgiving is my favorite American holiday. Let me count some of the ways I love Thanksgiving: Because it isn’t very commercialized. Because it doesn’t leave out the lovelorn and the lonely. Because it has an intrinsic honesty: It’s about being grateful. Because it’s about as much extended family as most of us can take: just one day of them. Because the political class generally shuts up. It doesn’t feel necessary to make long atavistic speeches with dubious grandiloquence that no one believes, least of all the speakers. Because you don’t have to receive presents and lie to your close friends and family, “I always wanted a toy pig that burps,” or “Thank you for the lovely necktie. I’m sure they will come back into fashion in a few decades.” Because no flags or bunting appear, and most houses aren’t turned into glaring neon performance art, nor are skeletons hanging from swing sets. Because you don’t have to wear a funny hat and red or green or any other color that signals that you are in the spirit of the event. Because when I worked on the newspapers, I could volunteer and get paid double or better in overtime for a shift on Thanksgiving Day. From my arrival at New York’s Idlewild Airport in 1963, I have been able to luxuriate in America’s bounty and give thanks. It wasn’t always easy being an immigrant, even one of favored language and provenance (British), and it didn’t spare me and my English wife, Doreen, from hard times. We had those. But America remained the mansion on the high ground where, if we were lucky, we could be let in to enjoy the riches of acceptance. My first experience of the United States — and I give thanks for it — was the taxi driver who, when he learned I had hardly any money, gave me a free guided tour of Manhattan, Bronx and Brooklyn. Finally, he deposited me at an uncompromising address on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, where I was to stay while I found work and before I sent for Doreen, my cherished first wife. It was a walk-up with no air conditioning. My hosts were an English couple in their 70s: Doreen’s aunt and her husband. She helped with newborns in wealthier people’s homes well into her old age. He had worked rather unsuccessfully as an industrial jeweler. They were palpably short of money and hadn’t enjoyed an easy life since arriving in America in 1918. Their story had a fairytale, extraordinary last volume. Out on Long Island, their grandson and granddaughter were growing up with a single mother, also in straitened circumstances. She worked with seedlings in a plant nursery. The grandson was to climb to the apex of achievement, to stun his family and, in time, the world with his talent. This young man and I would swim in Long Island Sound, where we would head for anchored yachts with people partying on board. A decade older than my companion, I always believed that when they looked down on the swimmers, the partiers would invite us aboard for food and drink. It never happened, but we enjoyed our aquatic adventures and social failure. If they had only known! As I said, that young man was destined to win all that his mother and grandparents didn’t have. His name is Billy Joel, the “Piano Man.” He is someone for all in America to be thankful for — proof that in the United States, the last can be first. King is the executive producer and host of “White House Chronicle” on PBS. He wrote this for . Get local news delivered to your inbox!