Catherine (centre) surrounded by past DCA presidents.

As the 2026 Annual General Meeting approaches, we prepare for 2027 knowing that this is the last term for our beloved Catherine Boucher as DCA President. Last year, Catherine announced that she wouldn’t run for the position again.

At 76 years old and retired after a lengthy and impressive career, including more than 30 years with the Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation, Catherine says she currently spends about three hours per day on DCA work. She acknowledges this may not be realistic for her successor, given the volunteer nature of the role.

She warns: “Being the president of a community association is a political job. You’re the public face. You’re the one the city councillor’s office calls, you’re the one who goes to make presentations to committees at city hall or answers when the Ottawa Citizen calls.”

Save Plouffe Park

A happy look back on her legacy as President with the DCA would highlight the recent campaign to Save Plouffe Park. The proposed development, known as 1010 Somerset W, would involve a new school, new housing, and green space.

However, per Catherine. “The first iteration of the city’s plan was to put a school on Plouffe Park. Because there’s nothing there, that’s easy. But we know that the extension of the park is gonna be the last thing done, so we’d be looking at ten to twelve years without any play park. That’s a whole generation of kids that doesn’t have a play park. So we had signs, we had a campaign, we raised funds, we talked to politicians, and finally, with the help of our city councillor, the mayor told the staff to go back to the drawing board. So that took a lot of time and energy but we couldn’t not fight that fight.

The DCA was clear that we wanted the school on 1010, just not on Plouffe Park. So, we will have a school, which is also a crucial part of building a complete neighbourhood. And the students will be able to use Plouffe Park, so it’s a win-win situation.”

Density and a healthy community

Catherine explained the DCA’s current approach when it comes to neighbourhood planning and development. “We’re essentially at the intersection of two LRT lines, so we are at the highest possible density that the city will encourage. That’s why we have 45-storey and 55-storey buildings going up, where the zoning used to be 4 or 6 storeys. As you build a vertical city, in an area that doesn’t have a lot of amenity space around, then where are those people going to sit under a tree or walk their dog or have their kids kick a soccer ball? All of those things are what we’re fighting for all the time. Every inch of green space we can extract is precious.”

“We try to reflect the needs of the community, so what does [a development] look like from the street, will there be some new trees, will there be places for people to park their bike, will there be a coffee shop, will there be some family units, larger units where people could have kids, because a healthy community is one that has all ages, all levels of income, and levels of ability.”

A place that welcomes everybody

Catherine is proud of the DCA stance on safe supply and consumption during her tenure. She asked, “How do we make our community a place that welcomes everybody regardless of where they’re at? We supported the needle exchange program when it came out – that was contentious, we lost members over that – and we supported the safe consumption site when it came out and there were people who were very upset that the community association did that.”

“We have a document that we crafted in the last year on our position on safer supply, and again it says ‘we support safer supply that works, not that shit that’s New Dawn.’ We have said we think there’s a need for better safer supply models, and we’ll keep saying that, I hope.”

As she moves on from the presidency, Catherine is remaining on the DCA Board of Directors. “I always thought of the DCA as the good guys who would fight for people who have less and need more, and I’m hoping we keep doing that.”

Thanks for your tireless volunteer work with the DCA, Catherine! See you around the neighbourhood!