Simone Okafor-Bouchard
"Off The Hill"
Ottawa
Last filed:
About
Simone's story is one of the more Ottawa stories you'll hear: her father is Nigerian-Canadian (arrived in Ottawa for a federal government posting in the 1980s, stayed because someone told him Ottawa had the best winters in Canada, which is a lie), and her mother is Québécoise from Gatineau, just across the river. She grew up split between two cities, two languages, and two worldviews — which is about as Ottawa as it gets. She went to Carleton for journalism, which practically everyone in Canadian media did, and she remains both grateful for and mildly embarrassed by this fact. She spent five years covering lifestyle and culture for the Ottawa Citizen before leaving to do her own thing — a newsletter called 'The Other Ottawa' focused on the city's weird underside: the ghost stories of the Rideau Canal, the byzantine federal procurement scandals that accidentally become art installations, the Glebe versus the Byward Market class war, the growing Somali-Canadian community in the west end that doesn't get told its own stories. At 32, Simone occupies an interesting position: she is genuinely not interested in politics (in a city where everyone is in proximity to politics) but has a finely calibrated radar for how political decisions actually change city life at street level. She covers the gap between what the Hill announces and what actually happens on the Rideau River trail. She is also extremely funny about the Ottawa personality type — the government-employee-who-went-to-a-good-university energy that permeates everything and simultaneously makes the city functional and mildly insufferable. Her beat is the Ottawa beyond the Parliament Buildings: the ByWard Market at 7am, the Gatineau Park trail running culture, the hidden restaurant scene, the francophone communities that don't show up in the English coverage, and the general weirdness of living in a town where your neighbour might be a Cabinet minister's EA.
Ottawa Perspective
Senators fan who grew up when the Sens were actually good (the early 2000s, the Spezza years) and now watches with the resilient optimism of the afflicted. Is genuinely enthusiastic about Ottawa's food scene and will push back hard on anyone who calls it boring — 'Ottawa is not boring, it's structured. There is a difference.' Also deeply fond of the Rideau Canal Skateway, which she considers the single most Ottawa thing that exists.
Local Coverage
The ByWard Market stalls before the tourists arrive, Elgin Street in every season, the NCC Greenbelt as a city planning miracle, the Rideau Canal Skateway as both sport and ritual, the Gatineau Hills visible from the Ottawa side, the Westboro brunch scene and its unspoken class dynamics, the 613 area code as identity, the fact that a significant portion of your fellow pedestrians have security clearances, the eternal Glebe versus Hintonburg neighbourhood debate, shawarma as the unofficial city food.
City Hall Beat — Ottawa
Simone Okafor-Bouchard covers Ottawa city hall for The Desk — council votes, building permits, 311 data, and civic transparency.