END OF THE INTERNET: DOCUMENTARY EXPLORING THE DECENTRALIZATION OF THE INTERNET

On May 25, 2026, Princess Cinema hosted an interactive screening of The End of the Internet, a documentary exploring the global fight over digital sovereignty and information control.  

Directed by Kitchener-Waterloo native Dylan Reibling, the investigative feature traces internet decentralization from the Cold War to corporate control. Reibling attended the screening to engage with the […]

https://www.communityedition.ca/end-of-the-internet-documentary-exploring-the-decentralization-of-the-internet/

DTK’S SQUARE PEG RETURNS WITH MICRO-MARKET

excerpt https://www.communityedition.ca/dtks-square-peg-returns-with-micro-market/

MIDNIGHT EVENTS KICKS OFF JUNE WITH PRIDEFIRE FEST

On May 29 and 30, Midnight Events KW transformed the indoor and outdoor spaces at 44 Gaukel St. into a vibrant, creative hub, hosting Pridefire Fest, a two-day queer-focused artist market in the heart of downtown Kitchener. 

Midnight Events KW is a Kitchener-Waterloo-based grassroots organization that has been around for a while under different names, Witch + Wellness as well as Midnight […]

https://www.communityedition.ca/midnight-events-kicks-off-june-with-pridefire-fest/

EMILY HUANG TO REPRESENT CANADA at ISEF IN ARIZONA

Emily Huang, a grade 12 Laurel Heights Secondary School student, was selected as one of eight students to represent Canada at the upcoming Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), taking place in Phoenix, Arizona, from May 9 to 15, 2026. 

On Mar. 23, 2026, Youth Science Canada (YSC), a national organization dedicated to supporting young Canadians in STEM, announced […]

https://www.communityedition.ca/emily-huang-to-represent-canada-at-isef-in-arizona/

A HORSE NAMED FRIDAY LAUNCH ANTICIPATED DEBUT ALBUM

On Apr. 14, 2026, the Kitchener-based chamber-folk band A Horse Named Friday released their debut album, The Marriage of Loneliness and Continental Bliss, marking a milestone for a project that was years in the making.  

The band kicked off their supporting tour this month at Kitchener’s Queen St. Commons Cafe, bringing a sound shaped by diverse instrumentation and a strong sense of […]

https://www.communityedition.ca/a-horse-named-friday-launch-anticipated-debut-album/

STUDENTS PROTEST OSAP CHANGES

Ontario students across the province are protesting about the recent changes made to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). The Ontario government has announced that, starting this fall, OSAP grants will decrease from a maximum of 85 per cent to 25 per cent.  

On Mar. 4, 2026, hundreds of students and community members from across Ontario gathered at Queen’s Park to protest the cuts. Similar protests broke out in different cities, including Waterloo and Ottawa. The OSAP changes are not only affecting post-secondary students but also secondary schools.  

At the University of Waterloo, the reaction has been described as historic. Remington Aginskaya-Zhi, Vice President of the Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA), noted that the campus is seeing a level of mobilization not seen in decades.  

“This is the most engaged we’ve seen students probably ever,” Aginskaya-Zhi said. “The rally that we held was one of the biggest gatherings or protests on campus in probably our entire history.”  

The movement is gaining even more traction in the Greater Toronto Area, where students are framing the cuts as a systemic attack on public institutions. Trudi Kiropatwa, a third-year student at Toronto Metropolitan University and a member of the Student Mobilization Committee (SMC), says the impact in Toronto is extreme.  

“We’re essentially on a sinking ship,” Kiropatwa said. “This government and their corporate cronies see us as customers and our education as an industry that is ready to be exploited.”  

The urgency stems from a lack of clarity on how these cuts will affect individual bank accounts. According to WUSA, the provincial OSAP estimator for the upcoming year has yet to be released, leaving students in a state of financial limbo.  

Kiropatwa noted that for many, the breaking point is graduating into a job market with record-high youth unemployment while saddled with massive debt.  

“Me, personally, I’m going to be graduating with tens of thousands of dollars of student debt already without these changes,” she said. “These changes are making the issue ten times worse.”  

“Students definitely are very worried,” Aginskaya-Zhi said. “We are hearing stories from students telling us they’re uncertain whether they can come back to school next year, or whether they can pursue graduate studies.”  

This uncertainty is already forcing students to make difficult lifestyle changes. Aginskaya reported that some students are opting for longer commutes rather than living in Waterloo to save on costs, while others are seeing their younger siblings reconsider university altogether.  

Beyond the provincial level, the University of Waterloo is also grappling with internal budget crisis pressures. Aginskaya-Zhi highlighted that financial support units on campus are currently understaffed, which could complicate the processing of student aid.  

“The university right now is understaffed and has lots of challenges to hire new staff…but funding should not come at the cost of giving more debt to students,” she said.  

In response, organizations like WUSA and the SMC carried out a massive convergence at Queen’s Park on Mar. 24, 2026. Despite the government maintaining its argument that the 25 per cent grant limit is sustainable, the mobilizations saw hundreds of activists reiterating demands for a full reversal.  

“We’re not here to demand a return to normal…which is a Band-Aid solution,” Kiropatwa said. “We’re here fighting for free, democratic, and accessible education.”  

“Right now, I think students are angry, and what we are focusing on is giving students an avenue to let out their anger,” Aginskaya-Zhi said.   

She emphasized that the momentum will not fade as the semester ends.   

“Just because winter term is ending and it’s summer now doesn’t mean that students have forgotten this betrayal from the government.”  

As Parliament returns to session, WUSA intends to keep the pressure on local MPPs to ensure the student voice is heard.  

“We hear your anger, we hear your frustration,”  Aginskaya-Zhi concluded as a message to the student body. “We are going to work to make sure that you can share that with us.”  

#Government #greaterTorontoArea #GTA #impact #OSAP #percent #Protest #queensPark #RemingtonAginskayaZhi #sangjun #SangjunHan #smc #Toronto #TrudiKiropatwa #UniversityOfToronto #universityOfWaterloo #UofT #UW #wusa

REGION INVESTS $15.1 MILLION TOWARD WATER CAPACITY ISSUE

The Region of Waterloo is hurrying to install a $15.1 million temporary plug into a water capacity crisis that effectively hung a “Closed for Business” sign over one of Canada’s fastest-growing tech hubs.  

The Region of Waterloo council has approved using more than $15 million in capital funding to pay for a project that could offer a short-term solution to the ongoing water capacity issues. The project involves H2O Innovation Inc., a water and wastewater treatment company based in Oakville, installing three temporary ultrafiltration containers, each with an estimated flow rate of 50 litres per second, at the Mannheim Water Treatment Plant.   

The Region of Waterloo relies heavily on groundwater for its municipal drinking water supply and regularly monitors for contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) such as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). These “forever chemicals” have been detected in water systems across Canada and are subject to Health Canada drinking water guidelines.

As regulatory standards evolve and monitoring continues, the Region evaluates treatment options to ensure drinking water remains safe and meets provincial and federal requirements. Granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration is a recognized method for reducing PFAS concentrations and is one of the technologies commonly considered by water utilities when addressing these compounds.  

The urgency of the situation was discussed during a recent community meeting. Kevin Thomason, vice-chair of the Grand River Environmental Network, warned that the system is running on a razor-thin margin.  

“If there’s a water main break or something that may take out five per cent or ten per cent of our supply…that suddenly means taps are going dry and  people aren’t getting service or a hospital isn’t getting water or a fire hydrant isn’t getting water,” Thomason said.  

“So, we certainly don’t want to be running so close to our capacity,” he said. 

The Waterloo Region staff members explain that any delays in approval could result in significant subsequent delays to project completion, which looks to regain lost capacity at that plant. They are seeking approvals before a detailed design gets completed.  

The project costs will be included in the 2026 capital budget and funded through the Water Capital Reserve Fund.  

The current-year costs of this project are significantly higher in the report presented to regional council at the Special Regional Council Meeting held on Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, compared to the projections detailed in a report from late January 2026. At that time, when the council was presented with a variety of potential options, the current-year impact on the capital budget was $2 million.  

Projections for the total project cost remained around $16 million. The $2 million price for engineering services and $2.5 million for electrical work are preliminary estimates.  

Beyond the immediate infrastructure bottleneck, a sedimentation capacity constraint at the Mannheim plant has choked the water supply by 300 litres per second, which revealed deeper concerns regarding the Waterloo Moraine.  

Regional Councillor Joe Nowak plans to introduce a blue belt motion to provide permanent provincial protection for the Moraine’s high volume recharge areas (HVRAs). These specific, porous sections of land are the primary sponges that refill the region’s aquifers and the motion aims to shield them from urban sprawl to prevent long-term water depletion.   

“We really need to look at this in conjunction with solving the capacity issue,” Nowak said. “Advocacy doesn’t have to be negative…we have this issue, we’re probably not going to be the only groundwater source community that has this issue.”  

As the region pivots to this emergency implementation, Kenneth Brothers officially joined the Region on Feb. 23, 2026, as the Interim Commissioner of Water Services and Wastewater Operations. An internationally recognized professional engineer and a Fellow of the International Water Association, Brothers is tasked with overseeing the immediate repairs and fast-tracking the infrastructure upgrades needed to restore development capacity.   

“Yes, we had a plan… but as with a lot of things, I think what we’re all seeing is there’s no holistic infrastructure plan that accompanies all of these things,” Brothers said.  

During a Grand River Watershed community meeting on Feb. 6, 2026 regarding the impacts of Bill 23, experts discussed whether the region could simply tap into deep bedrock aquifers, which are water-bearing rock layers found deeply buried below the surface, to solve the water capacity issue.  

Hydrogeologist Michael Friend and aquatic ecologist Jack Imhoff cautioned that this water is fundamentally different from the fresh, rain-fed “sponge” of the Waterloo Moraine.  

Because this deep water resides in the Salina Formation, a prehistoric underground rock layer composed of ancient sea salt and gypsum, it absorbed extreme levels of salt over millennia. While technically fixable through desalination, the process is prohibitively expensive and produces a massive amount of toxic brine waste that the Region has no safe way to dispose of without damaging the watershed the meeting sought to protect.   

“I look forward to joining the Region of Waterloo as we navigate through this pivotal moment,” Brothers said, emphasizing his commitment to “long-term water sustainability” for a population projected to reach one million by 2051.  

#closedForBusiness #grandRiverWatershed #kennethBrothers #michaelFriend #PFAS #PFOA #PFOS #RegionOfWaterloo #SangjunHan #temporary #urgency #waterCapitalResearveFund #waterlooRegion

UPDATES MADE TO URBAN DESIGN PLAN

On Feb. 9, 2026 during the public city council meeting, officials approved major updates to urban policy. These include mandatory inclusionary zoning for new developments within Major Transit Station Areas (MTSAs) along the ION light rail line.  

Beginning July 1, 2027, developers will be required to set aside a portion of their units for affordable housing, a mandate that impacts project profitability and may prompt a rush of application filings before the deadline to bypass the new requirement.   

Once the mandate begins, two per cent of units in qualifying developments within MTSAs will be required to be affordable. That requirement will gradually increase to five per cent by 2031—the current provincial maximum permitted under Ontario regulations. The decision marks the end of nearly a decade of deliberation over how to require affordable housing in high-growth areas.  

“Communicating certainty is actually a beneficial condition in all of this,” Julie Wright, ward 7 councillor for the City of Waterloo, said during the Feb. 9, 2026 public council meeting.   

Wright was referring to the city’s decision to set a firm implementation date for inclusionary zoning rather than tying it to fluctuating market triggers.  

By providing a fixed timeline, the city aims to provide a predictable environment for land budgeting and project planning, preventing the wait-and-see approach that often stalls affordable housing construction.  

With roughly a year and a half until implementation, Adam Lauder, the city’s manager of community planning, said staff do not anticipate a significant surge, noting that approximately 25,000 residential units are already in the planning pipeline.   

“I don’t expect that there’s going to be a large rush of developments…in order to get in front, or become exempt,” Lauder said. “I do think that the industry will use the next year and a half, as they acquire land, to factor inclusionary zoning into their pro forma.”  

The certainty of the 2027 start date was met with bittersweet reflections from some leaders.   

“The preferred time…for the development community on this is never…and for me the preferred time for this was 10 years ago when we first started talking about it,” Royce Bodaly, ward 2 councillor for the City of Waterloo, said during the Feb. 9, 2026 Waterloo public council meeting.   

While implementation had originally been targeted for March 2025, a consultant report warned that current economic conditions could slow the housing market. In response, the council adjusted the timeline and coordinated with the cities of Kitchener and Cambridge to ensure transit-oriented development sites remain viable for builders.  

Typically, inclusionary zoning units are set to market averages to provide moderate affordability, rather than being tied to rent-geared-to-income (RGI) programs, which cap rent at 30 per cent of gross income.   

“While you’re walking the hallways, you’re not really going to know which door is affordable,” Lauder said. “Inclusionary zoning is not intended to deliver deeply affordable units, but rather moderately affordable units.”  

To help the industry manage added costs, the city is offering density exemptions so that affordable units do not count toward maximum density limits. The move aligns with Waterloo’s strategy of growing inward and upward; data shows roughly 80 per cent of recent residential growth has occurred through infill development.   

“Inward growth is generally better for the tax base and the taxpayer,” Lauder said.  

Council also approved $260,000 for a dedicated by-law dispatch arrangement. Beginning July 1, 2026, after-hours noise and nuisance calls will be routed through Waterloo Regional Police Service dispatch. Referring to a $440,000 transfer from social service funding back into the police budget, Jen Vasic, Ward 5 Councillor for the City of Waterloo expressed her frustration.   

“The police budget is huge, and now we’re giving the police more money from an upstream organization… I can’t figure out some better way forward,” Vasic said during the Feb. 9, 2026  Waterloo public council meeting.  

The meeting concluded with a presentation on the Urban Design Manual refresh.   

“Beauty should be a part of life for everyone and not only the affluent… aesthetics is a social good,” Vasic said during the Feb. 9, 2026 Wasterloo public council meeting.   

Diane Freeman, ward 4 councillor for the City of Waterloo added that the creation of happiness actually does bring value when giving consideration to urban design. Ultimately, the policy updates are intended to ensure the city remains accessible.   

“Inclusionary zoning helps to ensure that there’s a place in the city of Waterloo for everyone,” Lauder said.  

#adamLauder #CityOfWaterloo #councillorJenVasic #dianeFreeman #douglasStewart #ionLightRailLine #JulieWright #kitchener #MajorTransitStationAreas #mtsas #policeBudget #ProForma #publicCityCouncilMeeting #rgi #SangjunHan #urbanDesignManual #WaterlooRegionalPoliceService

ENTERING THE NEXT CHAPTER : HAMLEY’S SECONDHAND BOOKSTORE OPENS IN CAMBRIDGE

In Nov. 2025, Jamie Hamley and his wife Sheri opened Hamley’s Second Chapter at 132 Main St. in Cambridge.  

Jamie, a resident of Waterloo, spent 15 years of his life overseeing operations at Petro Canada gas stations within the city. But his love for literature started early. Growing up in Owen Sound, Jamie spent his after-school hours immersed in local used bookstores, hunting for western novels by Louis L’Amour.   

His passion for reading and books inspired his goal of opening a second-hand bookstore, especially when he discovered there were none in Galt.  

“My employment at Petro-Canada moved to 3 days a week, so I was looking for an add-on opportunity,” Jamie said. “I have always been a used bookstore customer and an avid reader, so the choice was easy for me.”  

The couple collected books for their inventory at a four-day used book sale in Guelph that had 80,000 books available; out of these, they purchased 4,000.  

They continued their efforts by purchasing more books through online platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and Kijiji, as well as from individual residents.  

“We have an open concept in the store,” Sheri said. “We don’t want to be overstocked and cramped. We like to offer open space for the customers to look around.”  

To further support the neighbourhood, the couple has dedicated a table at the front of the shop to showcase local authors.  

Aside from books, the store also offers second-hand puzzles, Funko Pops and DVDs. Jamie said they plan to sell games in the future, but since his stock has grown so quickly, he decided to stop buying merchandise for his store in January, to focus on organization.  

“It’s important to recycle products to a second or even tenth user,” Jamie said. “Everybody is a reader—some people just haven’t found the right book yet. Maybe they can find it here.”  

“We are just starting to see what the community wants,” Sheri said. “We have expanded our non-fiction section to try to meet our customers’ needs.”  

Although having space for their store was a big dream come true, Sheri explained that finding a rental space that suited their needs was a challenge.   

“I have always wanted a physical store,” said Jamie. “Customers want to have the book in their hands, and you never know what you will find when you search the shelves.”  

With a three-year lease in place, the couple hopes that the store will become their full-time focus. Jamie sees it as the perfect “second chapter” and a meaningful project for him and Sheri to share throughout their retirement. 

#Books #bookstore #Cambridge #dvds #facebookMarketplace #funkoPops #Galt #Guelph #hamelyS #jamieHamley #localBookstore #localBusiness #petroCanada #Reading #SangjunHan #secondhand #Thrift #Thrifting #vintage

WATER CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS FORCE TEMPORARY HALT ON NEW DEVELOPMENTS

As of January 2026, the Region of Waterloo reached a critical bottleneck. Severe water capacity constraints within the Mannheim Service Area, which encompasses Kitchener, Waterloo and parts of Cambridge, forced a temporary halt on all new development approvals. 

Although existing water supplies are safe, the water supply system lacks the necessary buffers for repairs, prompting the need for emergency plans regarding new infrastructure and enhanced water supplies. 

While the Region of Waterloo struggles with population growth and land development, Peter Huck, distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo, notes that the Mannheim district relies on a complex Integrated Urban System. 

“The Region of Waterloo is using two types of water,” Huck said. “One is groundwater from about 100 scattered wells, and the other is surface water from the Grand River treated at the Mannheim Treatment Plant.” 

The Mannheim Plant began it’s operations in 1994.  

This creates a technical bottleneck where the wells are at their full capacity and increasing river draw is limited by the need to protect downstream ecosystems. 

The Region initially identified the issue in November 2025 and announced the findings in December 2025, citing that rapid population growth and aging infrastructure led to demand exceeding available capacity.  

The issue has been further discussed and detailed in a Jan. 13, 2026, meeting of the Region of Waterloo’s Sustainability, Infrastructure, and Development committee, where staff confirmed the need for a revised water supply strategy and infrastructure investment. 

During the Jan.13 committee meeting, Sam Nabi, Director of Hold the Line WR, challenged the Region’s ‘surprise’ at the crisis, noting that the 2015 Master Plan had already identified the infrastructure and pumping stations necessary to bolster the Integrated Urban System.  

Nabi questioned why these long-planned interconnections failed to prevent the current bottleneck and challenged the lack of groundwater context in regional planning. He argued against Provincial oversight, calling instead for a collaborative solution led by the local municipalities directly affected by the freeze. 

Huck said that the current 60 per cent operating capacity may be due to equipment that requires more upgrading or replacing it to restore it to its full design potential. 

While Nabi focused on historical planning, Joseph Puopolo, co-CEO of Polocorp Inc., laid out a stark economic forecast for the Region. Puopolo warned that halting development approvals would trigger a “dry-up of municipal development charges, rendering capital budgets irrelevant and driving skilled trades and private investment out of the Region toward more stable municipalities. 

Additionally, he said that investments will be directed elsewhere, citing a further erosion of public trust and inevitable tax hikes if the construction industry remains stalled. 

To prevent what he claims is an economic exodus, Puopolo presented a detailed action plan to the committee, urging Council to decouple planning approvals from water allocation immediately.  

The proposed strategy includes a 30-day sprint to define a capital plan for the immediate refurbishment of the Mannheim system, bridge the gap by initiating a link between the Middleton and Mannheim water systems, and audit high-capacity users by meeting with the Region’s 50 largest water consumers to incentivize rapid reduction in usage before the August peak. 

However, the solution for the water capacity issue isn’t as simple as building more pipes and infrastructure. Alex Latta, associate professor in the Department of Global Studies and the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, said that while ceasing development entirely is not the answer, the Region must re-evaluate its population targets.  

“We need to re-evaluate the scope of population growth that we have said we can accommodate in our region’s Official Plan,” they said. Huck also highlighted the “social” side of the capacity equation: conservation. While the Region has implemented odd-even lawn watering and low-flush toilet incentives, Huck said that further measures might begin impacting residents’ daily lives, raising the question of whether residents would support the further restrictions necessary to measurably increase the buffer between supply and demand. 

While a Great Lakes pipeline is often discussed as a solution for capacity issues, both Latta and Huck remain cautious. Latta said it would be a “last resort” due to extreme costs, urging the Region instead to adopt aggressive conservation measures and stricter regulation of commercial water permits. 

“One of Canadians’ deeply held myths is that we have boundless supplies of fresh water,” said Latta. “Starting to value and respect water is the first step to living in tune with the hydrological realities of our region.” 

Sam Nabi is WLUSP’s Web Manager. 

This article was cross published with The Cord.

#alexLatta #canadians #grandRiver #greatLakes #integratedUrbanSystem #mannheimTreatmentPlant #RegionOfWaterloo #RegionOfWaterlooCouncil #SangjunHan #serviceArea #universityOfWaterloo #water #waterConstraints #waterlooRegion #Wilmot #wilmotLandAssembly