For one regular visitor to the Youth Services Bureau's downtown Ottawa drop-in centre, it started off as a small problem -- more an annoyance than a real concern. Her mouth piercing had become infected, but alongside the other challenges that came with being homeless -- finding food and shelter, simply surviving-it didn't seem to warrant too much attention. In time, though, that small problem blossomed into a full-scale crisis. A trip to the emergency room led to a long-term hospital stay. The infection had spread and, even after treatment, she still lives with its effects.

Andrea Poncia, an HIV/AIDS educator who works at the bureau, thinks things would have turned out differently if the YSB had an integrated health service in place at the time.

Forty years ago, the book ordering service provided by Octopus, a New Left tabloid paper of the day in the Ottawa area, became too much for Steve Harris, the paper’s publisher, chief writer, distributor, bottle washer, whatever.

A small group of us, primarily graduate students, concocted -- with Steve’s help -- the audacious plan to spin Octopus Books off from the paper.  (Little did we know that we were pioneering in Ottawa the entrepreneurial model soon to be followed by Northern Telecom with SHL Systemhouse, Corel and dozens of others that have come and gone.)  We badgered friends and professors for enough start-up cash to order a few books, rent some dingy space and build a few bookshelves.