Bank Block is haunted.

At least, that’s what dozens of evicted residents, tenant activists and supporters gathered in downtown Ottawa on Sept. 26 to declare. In a public hexing that blended ancient pagan ritual with political protest, they called on spirits and deities to curse their former landlord and the stretch of buildings at the centre of one of the most contentious mass evictions in Ottawa’s history. 

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The conflict began in 2023, when the landlord issued N13 eviction notices to tenants, many of whom had lived there for years. Dozens of people became suddenly at risk of homelessness. What followed was a battle between one of Ottawa’s most notorious landlords and an increasingly organized tenant movement. Tenants and their supporters were physically stopped, and the dispute worked its way through City Hall and the Landlord-Tenant Board. 

Today, the buildings stand empty. The tenants may have lost the immediate battle to remain in their homes, but from that moment emerged a tenant movement that is reshaping Ottawa.

On the Harvest Moon, Sept 26, some of those former tenants and Centretown Tenant Power organized a ‘People’s Hexing of Bank Block,’ a gathering somewhere........

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