GASPÉ – The Town of Gaspé will have to comply with Bill 96 in its communications with its citizens, which must be done exclusively in French, except in certain specific cases.
The new version of the Charter of the French Language requires the Town to end its communications in English since the municipality does not have bilingual status and cannot obtain exceptional status.
“Gaspé does not have bilingual status. To obtain it, you had to ask for it and have more than 50% of the population who were English, at the time in question,” notes Mayor Daniel Côté.
In the 1940s and 1950s, half of Gaspé’s citizens were English-speaking. According to the elected official, the proportion of English speakers in Gaspé is now around 13%.
“Out of respect for the three founding peoples: French, English and Mi’gmaq, we have always made the maximum possible communications in both official languages. As of now, we can no longer communicate in English, except for a few aspects,” notes the mayor.
“In our linguistic communication policy, we have made it as broad as possible to respect the English-speaking community that partly built this town. Anything that concerns public safety, we will not leave anyone in danger, regardless of their language,” indicates Mr. Côté.
The Act allows financial and tourist information to be communicated in English as well. There are other elements that have an exceptional status also.
“We will notify the English-speaking population in the coming weeks, who are used to receiving almost all communications in their language. We will inform them that, unfortunately, we can no longer do so under the law. I know that this will create discontent among the English-speaking population, but we will no longer be able to do what we have been doing for years,” concludes the mayor.
The public announcement of these government directives provoked several negative reactions on social networks.
HOPE TOWN – On March 4, 2021, when Emma Burton was only 8 years old she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes leaving the family in shock. Emma’s mother, Pamela Ross says that although she was in shock she was relieved to finally have answers. Prior to her diagnosis Emma was quite sick and had lost a significant amount of weight.
Like many people with diabetes, the treatment Emma has received has evolved since being diagnosed. “I started out having to eat a specific number of carbs (60) at each meal. Then moved to ratios (that were different depending on the time of day). The first year I was MDI (multiple daily injections). After that I was transferred to a diabetic clinic and was able to get my insulin pump. From about month 2, I was able to have a Dexcom (so that I didn’t have to test my finger as much),” explains Emma.
Emma tells SPEC that the first year after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes was rough and adapting to the pump took time. “My specialist doctor is amazing,” adds Emma.
As far as side effects and limitations Emma says that when her numbers are low, she has to sometimes not participate in activities with friends. She also can’t have the same foods and treats as her friends. I always have to think and calculate before having a snack or meal. “I always have to verify my sugar before starting any activity, even as simple as going for a walk,” says Emma. In addiEmma says that although she has diabetes she doesn’t find she’s treated any differently at school or by friends.
When her levels are too high she feels thirsty, hungry and might have mood swings. Emma does a correction “By doing a correction with Insulin, drinking more water, taking a shower, or exercising (if it isn’t too high – as that can make it go higher).
If her levels are too low, she might feel shaky, weak, experience changes in body temperature, headaches and “I think everything is funny,” explains Emma. She treats low blood sugar by “Taking candy (3.5g of carbs) and sitting down to give my sugar time to come back up. If it is not back up in 15 minutes, I take another candy… I continue until my sugar is back up in the safe zone.
Although Emma is quite young she is able to do a pretty good job at keeping an eye on her numbers and doing what is necessary, with the help of her parents. “I am able to manage most tasks on my own but prefer to have help. My parents want me to be able to be a kid and not have to think about it 24/7,” states Emma.
Pamela says it was important to the family to teaching Emma that she can live and thrive with an autoimmune disease and that she can still lead a normal life. It was important down to give my sugar time to come back up. If it is not back up in 15 minutes, I take another candy… I continue until my sugar is back up in the safe zone.
Although Emma is quite young she is able to do a pretty good job at keeping an eye on her numbers and doing what is necessary, with the help of her parents. “I am able to manage most tasks on my own but prefer to have help. My parents want me to be able to be a kid and not have to think about it 24/7,” states Emma.
Pamela says it was important to the family to teaching Emma that she can live and thrive with an autoimmune disease and that she can still lead a normal life. It was important to Emma’s parents to teach her how to manage and calculate her meals and snacks.
In fact the family has done such a great job at managing the condition they were able to get her pump fast tracked. “By showing them we knew what we were doing. When she had her first appointment with the specialist, they said it would be a year before we would be able to get an insulin pump for her. When we went to her second appointment only a few short weeks later we were able to fill out the paperwork and start the pump application process,” says Pamela.
Emma also tells us that she has gotten much faster at carb counting and can estimate a meal, as well as being able to calculate the correct amount of insulin if she’s not on her regular schedule, such as if she’s slept in.
Pamela, says the biggest challenge of being the parent to a child with Type 1 diabetes is “Being alert 24/7 and always having to be ready to jump when her Dexcom or Pump alarms. Always watching her numbers so that we can text her when she isn’t with us to do a correction or have something to eat if she is dropping to fast.” She also says that there aren’t many places Emma can go without a parent going as well. “Most people don’t know what to do and are nervous that something may happen, even though at this point she can mostly take care of herself with us via text messaging,”adds Pamela.
As far as complications go, while Pamela is aware of the possibilities she says the family focuses on the present. “All we can do is focus on today and try our best to keep our numbers in check. Complications come from uncontrolled blood sugars over a long period of time. We just need to focus on keeping our numbers good to reduce or chances of complications in the future,” explains Pamela.
Pamela is a member of a support group on Facebook: Parents of Type 1 Diabetics – Canada. Pamela would like to have more local support and has reached out to several local organizations with little success. “I have messaged a local organization a few times about maybe starting a group for diabetics, however, even though I have messaged a few different people since her diagnosis the most I have heard back is that they would speak to someone else and get back to me, unfortunately nobody has ever gotten back to me,” states Pamela
Emma’s advice to anyone who is newly diagnosed is to “Be patient, it will get easier as time goes on.” While her mother’s advice is “It gets better and easier to manage as time goes on. Take it day by day and don’t stress about what happened yesterday or what could happen tomorrow. Reach out to those around you for help. Join a group.”
Pamela adds that eating in moderation is key. They use MyFitnessPal app to enter receipts “It will tell you the carb count if you enter the number of servings the recipe is for. We also use CalorieKing for when eating out,” explains Pamela.
Pamela tells us that stress does have a major influence on sugar levels, but it is difficult to manage. “It can cause your sugar levels to increase or decrease depending on the person. You need to be careful when correcting sugar levels that care caused by stress. As when the stress goes away so does its impact on your levels. A good example of this is when my daughter has a big test or exam in school,” explains Pamela.
Pamela would like the general public to know “Insulin is not always the answer like they seem to portray on TV. Type 1 can NOT, be prevented and is NOT caused by what the person ate or is eating. If a person is high, they need more insulin. If a person is low, they need sugar. If a person has passed out due to low blood sure they should be given glucagon. Emma carries a baqsimi nasal powder in her kit.”
On a final note Pamela shares this thought: “They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. However, with diabetes doing the same thing over and over and expecting the same results is known as insanity. You can eat the exact same thing every day and have completely different results, because so many other factors can impact one’s sugar levels (food, stress, outside temperatures, etc.).”
HOPE TOWN – November is diabetes awareness month in Canada and Diabetes Canada is asking Canadians to “Commit to making time to understand and support those who live with this condition every single day.”
Diabetes Canada is also making suggestions of ways Canadians can make a difference. It is encouraging those who either have diabetes or care for someone who does, to go on social and “Spill the Diabetea.” You can do this by uploading a video of your experience with diabetes and use the #spillthediabetea and #DiabetesAwarenessMonth hashtags during the month of November.
Did you know that every three minutes, someone in Canada is diagnosed with diabetes and that people living with diabetes are two to three times more likely to live with depression?
There are three main types of diabetes: Type 1, Type 2 and gestational diabetes. During the month of November, The Gaspé Spec will have several articles relating to diabetes, along with interviews with individuals living with diabetes.
The difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes happens when the immune system destroys your pancreas’ beta cells. This causes them to stop producing insulin. According to Health Canada Type 1 diabetes usually develops in childhood or early adulthood, and there is no known way to prevent it. Known risk factors include genetic predisposition and certain environmental factors. About 5 to 10% of people living with diabetes have Type 1.
Type 2 diabetes happens when the body either doesn’t make enough insulin or doesn’t respond well to the insulin it makes. Type 2 diabetes is the most common type. About 90 to 95% of people living with diabetes have type 2. People usually receive a diagnosis after the age of 40, but it’s now becoming more common in younger people too.
Amanda’s Story
Living with diabetes can be quite time-consuming, as individuals are faced with managing a complex and often invisible condition.
Amanada Kennedy, from Hope Town is a Type 1 diabetic. She was diagnosed in 2008, initially with Type 2 diabetes’s but after proper testing it was revealed that she is actually a Type 1 diabetic. “Initially I was shocked with the diagnosis as I had blood work done a month previous and there were never any symptoms or reason to think I was diabetic,” says Amanda. She adds that her family was rather surprised as well. “They are very supportive and helpful when needed,” says Amanda.
When Amanda was first diagnosed with diabetes she started on a pill form of treatment until she became pregnant, then doctors switched her to insulin for the duration of her pregnancy. “Once I gave birth, they took me off insulin and gave me half a pill a day. My glucose levels went haywire and my weight plummeted to 98 lbs, as a heavyset person, I was greatly concerned and asked the doctors if maybe I should be put back on insulin. The doctors tried different pill form doses but after pleading with the doctor for several months about six months late,r I was returned to insulin as a form of treatment. With trial and error and different doses we were finally able to get the proper dose that my system was happy with,” explains Amanda.
At the beginning of her diagnosis she found it very frustrating only seeing a family doctor whom had basic knowledge about the disease. “She worked out of the book that sadly sometimes was not in my benefit. Once I started seeing an endocrinologist in Rimouski who specializes in the diabetic field I was more at ease,” says Amanda.
As far as limitations to her lifestyle she says that generally she doesn’t experience many. However, she explains, “If I happen to have a low glucose drop my whole day is finished. It plays havoc on your system and I just feel defeated and played out for the rest of the day.”
Amanda finds stress, illnesses, even a cold or minor infection can affect her glucose levels. So, she tries to stay healthy and well in order to keep her glucose within range.
As for how often she needs to check her glucose levels, Amanda explains “I use the Dexcom glucose monitoring system, which is a sensor that’s inserted under the skin, and a transmitter. The sensor tracks glucose levels every five minutes and sends the readings to my phone. The system translates the readings into data to help users manage their diabetes.” A typical reading for her is between 5 and 9, anything lower or higher than a 12 and she feels quite unwell.
As for symptoms, when her levels are high she becomes quite thirsty, experiences brain fog, is irritable and tired. To treat high blood sugar, she finds things like drinking lots of water and exercise helps. She says that finding time to exercise daily isn’t easy, but that’s something she’s working on, especially walking more. She also says that when she’s having a rough day, she tries to tell herself to “Breath and get through it!”
Amanda says diabetes has affected her entire life. “It has become a whole new daily life, when first diagnosed picking my finger eight times a day was draining mentally as I was thinking is it always going to be this way? As time passed, it has gotten easier the Dexcom has become very beneficial for me.”
“Personally for me, the hardest part of being a diabetic is the unexplainable lows, sometimes in the middle of the night or randoms times during the day when I have not done anything to explain a low and it just comes on with no justification,” says Amanda.
Amanda is trying to incorporate meals with less carbs and more protein, but adds that when you’re cooking for a family, it takes extra effort to make such meals.
When travelling, she explains, “It is important to stop frequently to walk and stretch your legs to keep the blood flow running. I also make sure to have extra medications, supplies and items to help me in the event I should have a low or high.”
She is aware that if not properly maintained there are many complications that can arise. “You can get diabetes in your eyes, nerve damage, heart attack and stroke, kidney problems. It is very important to try to maintain your levels as best as possible,” states Amanda. She adds that she goes for an annual eye exam to in order to catch such side effects early.
As for support, “Living in a rural community I have not found many support groups,” she’s part of several facebook support groups that have helped her immensely.
She would like non-diabetics to know, “Losing weight will not magically make your diabetes go away. In addition, sugar does not make you a diabetic, the lack of insulin being released from your pancreas does. I hear so many people say to others stop eating that sugar you will become diabetic. Nobody diabetic or not should consume an over abundance of sugar. Everything in moderation.”
Amanda would like anyone who is newly diagnosed to know “You are going to be ok. It may seem like an inconvenience at the beginning. You may think ‘oh my how will I ever pick my finger or inject insulin daily? Maybe it will just go away.’ For a Type 2 diabetic, yes it may go away with the right diet and exercise and lifestyle changes, but for a Type 1, it will not just go away. You are a warrior and you can get through it just as I did and continue to do!”
“It will be tough, you will have trials and errors on what works for you. What may spike my glucose may necessarily not spike yours. Each person is different and although it is a big adjustment for you and your family, with the right mindset and support you will and can lead a long healthy life,” adds Amanda.
In closing Amanda leaves a powerful message, “Do not judge someone by the way they look. Just because a person is overweight or having a dessert, it does not mean that is what caused their diabetes. I was once 98 pounds and my diabetes was at its worse ever! We are all here for a short time. Embace each other and be kind to everyone, even diabetics, they have to deal with enough finger pricks daily.”
PASPEBIAC – On Saturday, November 2, at the Centre Cultural de Paspébiac, the Committee for Anglophone Social Action (CASA) hosted its third annual Homegrown showcase with approximately 160 seats filled and guests joining online.
The event was funded in part by the Secretariat aux relations avec les Quebecois d’expression anglaise and Canadian Heritage. When asked by SPEC how Homegrown started, coordinator Dave Felker explains, “We (CASA) had done cultural showcases of music a few years ago, about 16 of them and we decided that it would be really interesting to bring everyone together for one of them.”
This year’s edition of Homegrown featured 27 performers from across the Gaspé coast. “I went through a list of English-speaking Gaspesians that play music and tried to mix it up a bit from last year by introducing some new artists to the community. I did have quite the mix. Seventy-five percent of my lineup this year had not been on the stage in the past two editions. Which just goes to show that there is a lot of talent on the coast,” explains Mr. Felker.
CASA provides an honorarium for their time and performance, along with accommodations for those travelling from either end of the coast. “We also provide food along the way because we want them to be here, jamming, playing music, supporting each other. We don’t want them wandering off to go find lunch. ‘Here, we’ll bring you lunch. Keep playing.’” Mr. Felker added.
This year, Homegrown 3 was kicked off with a Youth Showcase, featuring six talented performers, ranging from solo acts to bands, who entertained an audience of approximately 50. This was the first year that youth were included. “This time around, as we were approaching the date, I said to my daughter ‘Abby, get a band ready. Let’s add a youth element to Homegrown.’ She already had been playing with a few friends from her school, so I thought it’d be a good experience for them. I contacted Melissa Girvan right away to see if Reed was interested, which, of course, he was. Sadly, we asked schools to send any youth interested in taking part, but there are not any real music programs in any of the schools.” Mr. Felker explains.
Following the Youth Showcase, a workshop about sharing resources brought together members of various organizations. Members went around the table introducing themselves and their organizations. Participants discussed their ideas, needs and resources available. The workshop concluded with collective emphasis on the importance of collaboration.
The Gaspedians kicked off the evening show as the MCs for the night and introduced the first band, Mother of Cups, a duo from Gaspé who brought amazing energy, setting the tone for the night as all the other skilled performers who followed.
The final act of the night was MicMac Drive, which premiered their new song, Chaleur Skies, a tribute to the Pozzolan Dalhousie protest. The band invited the audience to chant “Hey” and raise their fist in solidarity. To close the event, Mr. Felker called all performers back on stage for a group performance of Rockin’ in the Free World.
CASCAPEDIA-SAINT-JULES – On October 22, Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette announced that a public consultation will take place until December 1 on whether or not Quebecers wish to change the time in the spring and fall.
It has been the custom for many decades to change from Eastern Standard Time (EST) to Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the spring and then to revert to EST in the fall. There has been growing controversy about the time change in recent years.
Studies have shown that the number of automobile accidents and strokes actually increase when the time is changed. Université de Montréal professor Roger Godbout, quoted in the Montreal Gazette, said that the time change…“causes negative impacts on the mental health and physical health of Canadians, so we should stop it.”
The Harvard Medical School health website concurs. “Research suggests that changing our clocks twice a year can have various health consequences. Of the two, springing ahead one hour tends to be more disruptive. That hour change can upset our circadian rhythms, the body’s natural 24-hour cycles regulating key functions like appetite, mood, and sleep.”
Professor Godbout has suggested that Quebec should adopt standard time (which we follow in the winter months) throughout the year. The survey the Quebec government has placed on its website allows members of the public to choose which they would rather follow all year long: standard time or daylight saving.
At this time of year, the first Sunday in November, we switch to Eastern Standard Time, which helps to ensure that the sun rises a bit earlier in our day. At the winter solstice (December 21) as measured at the Town of Gaspé, the sun rises at 7:08 a.m. and sets at 3:23 p.m. If we stayed on Daylight Saving time, the sunrise in Gaspé would be at 8:08 a.m., setting at 4:23 p.m.
It’s on the second Sunday in March that clocks are moved forward to Daylight Saving Time. This means that during the summer we can enjoy more sunlight in the evening hours than in the early morning. At the summer solstice (June 21) as measured at the Town of Gaspé, the sun rises at 4:14 a.m. and sets at 8:25 p.m. If we stayed on Eastern Standard Time all year, the sun would rise at 3:14 a.m. and would set at 7:25 p.m.
The government website notes that the Magdalen Islands and the community of Listuguj follow Atlantic Standard Time and Atlantic Daylight Time.
For many years, the entire Gaspé Peninsula was in the Atlantic time zone, but the Quebec government changed it to the Eastern time zone sometime in the 1960s so that the entire province would be following the same clock. When we were in the Atlantic time zone, it meant a good four hours a day out of sync with government offices and businesses in the rest of the province (opening hours, noon, closing hours).
However, many see our inclusion in the Eastern time zone as an aberration, since it puts the Gaspé in the same time zone as cities as far west as Thunder Bay.
changes to salmon fishing for the 2025 season align with requests made by the Gaspé River Management Corporation.
The Quebec government has submitted proposals for consultation, prompted by historically low salmon runs in the summer of 2024 and high probabilities of continued low runs of large salmon in most Québec rivers in 2025.
For large salmon measuring 63 centimetres and over, no retention will be possible this year and for small salmon measuring less than 63 centimetres, a catch-and-release policy will be in effect at the beginning of the season.
The Ministry of Wildlife is also considering reducing the daily catch and release quota from three to two on the salmon rivers in the Gaspésie, a measure that came into force in 2024 and will be renewed next year.
“We pretty much agree with what is being proposed: a cautious approach given the runs in recent years that were catastrophic in some rivers. This was not the case in Gaspé, but it was still low. Given that it was a generalized picture, it was quite worrying. We prefer to rely on caution and save our fish population for future years,” explains the general manager of the management company, Rémi Lesmerises.
On Gaspé rivers, the Saint-Jean recorded 640 large salmon, which is above the average for the last 10 years. “For the York (River), with 700 large salmon, we are below average, but it is not unheard of. We have already seen 500 or 600 salmon, but it remains below average. At the Dartmouth, we are below 300 large salmon and 13 grilse. It is in less good health and that worries us,” notes Mr. Lesmerises.
The number of grilse are also lower in the other two rivers: approximately 80 on the Saint-Jean and about 90 on the York.
“It is not much compared to what we usually see, for example, 200-300-400 grilse. It is not high and it suggests a similar scenario for next year in terms of large salmon or perhaps lower,” says Mr. Lesmerises.
The fishing conditions of the summer of 2024 with the low rainfall and low and warm water are cooling the ardor of fishermen while registrations for the winter draws are down by 30%.
year. We are back to 2018 participation levels. It is not catastrophic,” maintains the director.
“If we had had good weather conditions and cooler temperatures, the fishing would have been relatively good but that is not what we observed. It had an impact on fishing. We did not necessarily want fishermen to come in these conditions which were reflected in our revenues. We will be in deficit this year, but we cannot assess it at the moment,” notes the manager who has a cushion to deal with the shortfall.
The ministry says it is sensitive to the possible consequences of these recommendations and the need to survey the stakeholders concerned. The terms and conditions will be released in the winter of 2025.
No restrictions are currently planned on fishing activities carried out for food, ritual or social purposes.
Salmon disease
A research project is being launched to understand what is happening with saprolegniosis, led by Louise Chevarie, a Gaspé native and researcher based in Sweden.
The research project is being carried out in collaboration with the Micmac and Wolastoqey Aboriginal Fisheries Management Association.
“There are different subjects: the interaction between salmon and striped bass, which will also be studied on the York River, and also saprolegniosis. What is different about the York compared to the Cascapedia and the Sainte-Anne? What is the difference between infected and uninfected fish? Is there a difference in the immune system? A difference in terms of contamination? Are some more susceptible to the disease? The goal is always the same: to find solutions but to find solutions, we need to understand,” says Mr. Lesmerises.
Water tests were taken once again this summer.
Log jam on the Saint-Jean
Work was carried out on the mouth of the Saint-Jean River to clear accumulated wood from the estuary. This spring, numerous trees had become lodged where the channel splits into two branches. The water was flowing well and so were the fish.
“It was apparent that the next trees were going to get stuck and accumulate. We cleaned it up and should let the next dead trees through during the next flood,” notes Mr. Lesmerises, who does not want to relive the 1.5-kilometre log jam dismantled in 2015.
GASPE – On November 5, the Gaspésie Literacy Council (GLC) held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Douglastown Community Centre and online. They were joined by a number of their many local and regional partners, including Literacy Québec, Pouvoir des mots, CAMI, the North Shore Community Association, and the department of Public Health for the Integrated health and social services centres (CISSS.)
Interim Executive Director Angelina Leggo indicated that a “comprehensive needs assessment” was undertaken this year to find out how the GLC is doing in serving its immense territory, which covers the same area as that of the Eastern Shores School Board. The assessment report relied on surveys with 73 members of the public, 18 organizations and 25 individual interviews.
As a result, the GLC has undertaken some restructuring and has enhanced online content, including a complaint box for users. “We are focussing on how to effectively reach the whole territory,” Ms. Leggo explained, “We are not looking to grow our team, although we may have to look at that, but we will also be solidifying our partnerships.”
The annual report outlined several projects and initiatives undertaken this past year, including the Digital Literacy Project in cooperation with the York River Seniors Centre, Vision and CASA. This project includes one-on-one tutoring to help people use online services effectively.
Coordinator Rebecca Simon reported that the “drop-in tables” are very popular. The project has been taken to CASA’s wellness centres in Port Daniel and New Carlisle and will be present at all Vision wellness centres this year. A guide will be printed up, entitled “How to Internet Safely.”
Meanwhile, at Gaspé Polyvalent School, the GLC offered financial literacy sessions to the Secondary 5 students.
The financial report for the past fiscal year was not available at the time of the AGM, but will be available at the end of the month and can be sent out by email to those interested.
As part of the restructuring, the GLC has reduced the number of board members from nine to seven, with the bylaws stipulating that at least one board member must come from the Indigenous community and at least one from the Baie Comeau/Sept Iles area. A nomination policy has also been put in place.
The current board is composed of Mike Vigneault from CAMI, Jody Lessard from the North Shore Community Association, Kayla Gallan, Jessica Synnott, Maureen Cassivi, and Laura Comeau. One seat remains vacant.
You can see the array of programs available from the GLC on their website at https://gaspelit.ca/
(Full disclosure: Cynthia Dow recently organized an event that was partially funded by the GLC.)
GASPÉ – Gespeg has a new chief. The election president swore in Céline Cassivi as chief of the Micmac Nation of Gespeg. Ms. Cassivi finished third in the September election.
In a November 1 message to the Micmac Nation of Gespeg members, the election president mentioned that the details about the process leading to Ms. Cassivi’s appointment would be shared at a later date, which was done on November 6 (see image).
In a note to the members, Ms. Cassivi stated she accepted this appointment “with great pride and humility.”
“I am committed to being a fair leader, listening to your concerns and working tirelessly for the well-being of each of you. Together, we can overcome challenges, celebrate our successes and build a strong future for generations to come,” she wrote in her statement.
“Your ideas, support and participation are essential for us to grow and prosper together,” the new leader concluded in her communication to members.
In addition to the statements from the resigning chief, Yan Tapp, citing an environment of tension within the council as his reason for stepping down, the new council indicated that it “understands that this may raise questions among our members. The situation deserves clarification. To this end, we are committed to providing details as soon as possible to ensure fair and transparent information,” the six councillors affirmed.
“We prefer not to comment on his decision to leave on October 24, 2024. We respect his decision. We recall that Chief Tapp had announced his intention to officially begin his duties on October 11 through his media interviews, which resulted in a very short stint,” they added.
Yan Tapp was elected chief on September 27 after a series of events following the September 8 election. At that time, the result declared Mark Sinnett the winner with 144 votes to Mr. Tapp’s 143, while Céline Cassivi came in third with 122 votes. After three recounts, the results remained tied at 143 votes each. According to the Nation’s Electoral Code, a draw is required in the case of a tie. With no news from Mark Synnett to participate in the draw, Mr. Tapp was appointed to lead.
However, it seems that the start of the mandate was not easy and reflects the difficult relationships among the members of the Nation.
In a message released to announce his departure, he indicated that “Many former members know the routine that accompanies each council mandate for our community: political and personal conflicts, as well as a sometimes toxic work environment.”
“During my short mandate, I have noticed a flagrant lack of respect for the chief of the Nation within the community itself. (He was asked things like) “I have never had a chief before… What does a chief eat in winter? No comment…,” said the outgoing chief.
Mr. Tapp expressed hope for a return to harmony within the Nation. His resignation marks the third leadership change in a relatively short time. Former Chief Terry Shaw resigned on January 26, citing family reasons.
Former Chief Manon Jeannotte left her position in February 2019 for personal and family reasons after three and a half years at the helm of the community. Ms. Jeannotte had also highlighted “an atmosphere of intimidation within the nation,” at the time of her departure.
Dussault would have preferred to use her vacation weeks for something other than finding and attending a dental appointment for herself and her children, 1,000 kilometres from home.
After exhausting local and regional contacts, she had to resort to contacting her previous dentist near Montreal, more precisely in Longueuil, with whom she had fortunately kept in touch, and where her mother still lives.
Charlotte Guay-Dussault, a mother of two girls aged three and a half and five and a half, lives in Cap-d’Espoir, part of Percé. Born in Longueuil, she moved to the Gaspé Peninsula in 2018, where she now lives with her partner. The family’s oral health has always been a priority. There was no question of neglecting it.
Like many, she had to start calling left and right when her regular dentist had to temporarily close his clinic due to an illness in his family, leaving hundreds of patients without dental care.
“We were supposed to have our appointments the week the dentist had to close urgently, last fall. I had heard that it was difficult to find one, but not to this extent,” she says.
The young woman hadn’t expected the task to be so challenging. No other clinic in the region was accepting new patients at that time.
Even on the South Shore of Montreal, appointments don’t fall from the sky. After two weeks of vacation in the metropolitan area, Charlotte Guay-Dussault had to take a third week off to stay with her mother, as the only available time at her dentist’s office was on a Thursday. Her partner left alone with the car for the Gaspé, while the rest of the family booked one-way plane tickets for their return home. However, available flights only took off on Sundays.
Charlotte Guay-Dussault had to use up a full week of her vacation for a dental appointment some 1,000 kilometres from home.
“In any case, in the end, I literally had to take five days of vacation to go to the dentist. Before even paying the bill for simple cleanings, it cost me $1,000. I can’t imagine if cavities and braces get involved, or for those who can’t afford them,” she says, somewhat flabbergasted.
She still considers herself lucky in the circumstances, since she is employed in the public sector, having a little more resources and time than others who are not in the same situation.
Eighteen calls later
The mother is not the only one who has had to juggle schedules and plan all the logistics for dental care. Armed with an address book and a her friends from Chandler called all the dentists in the area for her two teenagers, discovering a host of new area codes as she called a little further west: the Gaspé Peninsula, Lower Saint Lawrence, Chaudière-Appalaches, Centre-du-Québec.
“It was finally the 18th office that agreed to take her on as a new patient… in Quebec City. She doesn’t have any family in town, so she stays in hotels, not to mention the other expenses. She takes a few days off here and there. All that just to go to the dentist, which is basic care, let’s be clear,” stresses Charlotte Guay-Dussault.
A third friend had to go to Carleton-sur-Mer, a three-hour drive away, for an emergency during the holidays.
“I don’t blame dentists, who work like crazy and devote themselves body and soul to taking on as many people as possible. On the contrary, I understand that this is a private matter, but access to a dentist should worry us collectively. We need to talk about it,” says Charlotte Guay-Dussault.
Discreet Public
Health Directorate
How many other patients are deprived of a dentist in the Gaspé Peninsula? Is dental tourism widespread in the region? Is the population at risk? What is the overall picture?
The Gaspé SPEC tried to reach the dental advisor at the Gaspé Peninsula Regional Public Health Directorate to discuss this issue. However, she has not been available in the last month since the initial interview request.
According to 2014 data, only 54% of the region’s population had consulted a dentist, dental hygienist or orthodontist in the past year, compared to 61.6% for the province as a whole.
The Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS), however, is well aware of the problem. Faced with a lack of resources and the departure of the last dentist in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts in 2021, the establishment has taken steps to maintain service continuity.
In November of the same year, Health Minister Christian Dubé announced $846,000 in funding to support a pilot project for a dental clinic run by the CISSS. The community clinic opened its doors the following year, in 2022, in the facility vacated by the retired dentist from Sainte-Anne-des-Monts.
Today, the clinic has a permanent dentist, along with a team of hygienists, assistants and administrative staff. The initial scenario was to add a second permanent dentist.
“Recruitment remains a challenge, particularly for hygienists and dentists. Indeed, we would like to have two permanent dentists rather than just one. However, we applaud the work of the on-site team, which is able to accommodate a large number of users each week,” explained in an email Lou Landry, who was until recently the spokesperson for the CISSS de la Gaspésie. The organization is responsible for staff recruitment and salaries.
The Sainte-Anne-des-Monts community clinic focuses on offering dental care to people below the low-income threshold or living in remote areas.
Due to the shortage of dentists that is affecting almost all parts of the region, residents of Matane—about an hour’s drive from Sainte-Anne-des-Monts—and elsewhere in the Gaspé Peninsula have also been quick to make appointments at the community dental clinic, much to the chagrin of some Haute-Gaspésie residents, who are still left without options. It highlights the ongoing challenges of oral health in the region.
At the very least, on a more positive note, the clinic that treated Charlotte Guay-Dussault and her family has gradually started operating again since September.
CHANDLER – The Quebec Fisheries Fund is investing $830,000 in five companies in Gaspé Peninsula and Lower Saint Lawrence for innovation projects.
Minister Diane Lebouthillier made the announcement on October 18 in Newport, in the absence of a representative from the Quebec government. The fund is financed 70% by the federal government and 30% by the government of Quebec.
The largest amount, $450,000, is awarded to the Regroupement des pêcheurs professionnels du Sud de la Gaspésie, for the installation of a new type of trap support. This will allow approximately a hundred lobster fishermen to place traps one behind the other, enabling them to work more efficiently and more safely during fishing, changing bait and releasing traps.
The federal government is contributing $316,000, while the Quebec government is contributing $135,000 for this $1 million set of projects. Private firms are contributing for the balance.
Aquaculture Gaspésie is receiving $100,000 to install an ozone water treatment system, which will increase productivity by optimizing water quality, a $274,000 project. Raymer Aquaculture is receiving $86,000 for a similar project estimated to cost $99,000.
Two companies in the Lower St. Lawrence are also receiving contributions from the fund.
Organic Oceans Incorporated receives $100,000 for the acquisition and installation of a bottling line for liquid seaweed extract for the Notre-Dame-des-Neiges plant, near Trois-Pistoles. This project, aimed at automating production processes, will increase productivity and address the challenges of labour shortages. The new equipment will also allow the company to bottle smaller formats of seaweed extract, ranging from 0.5 litres to five litres. The project is valued at $128,000.
Lastly, Pêcherie IANC and Ian Chouinard will receive $95,000 for the acquisition and installation of a complete automation system for baiting to hauling in the Atlantic halibut fishery aboard a longliner. This system will improve fish quality by reducing handling and exposure time out of the water. The $105,000 project will also reduce the risk of injury to the crew.
“It is important to support the entrepreneurs who presented the projects and to highlight the important work to prepare our world for today’s fisheries, but also for the future,” explains the Minister of Fisheries and Member of Parliament for the Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands Diane Lebouthillier.
“We still have many projects on the table that are being evaluated and projects that will affect redfish because it is important. When we reopen the redfish fishery, we need funds to help the sector adapt to this new “old fishery,” which was closed for 30 years,” added Ms. Lebouthillier.
On the subject of the redfish fishery, the minister points out that the fishing was announced in January, and discussions with the redfish advisory committee are ongoing.
“We want to avoid food waste. We are moving forward slowly with the market openings. That is why the reopening was done over two years precisely to allow for adaptation. It is still progressing smoothly, and I hope that in the coming years everyone will be able to take advantage of it and have some on the table to consume,” says the Minister.
In Quebec City, the office of the Minister of Fisheries indicated that André Lamontagne and his assistant, the Member of the National Assembly for Gaspé, Stéphane Sainte-Croix, were unavailable for the announcement. Minister Lebouthillier did not explain their absence. “At the federal level, it is important to support entrepreneurs who have submitted projects,” she said.
Newport Slipway
During the press briefing, boater Vincent Moreau questioned the minister about the slipway, which is no longer functional due to its advanced deterioration.
“We are stuck and, now, are we going to be forced to leave our boats in the water this winter? Requests have been made by the Crabbers Association,” stated Mr. Moreau.
“The slipways are a provincial government responsibility. It would have been interesting to have representatives of the provincial government here today. It is a provincial responsibility. They are the ones who can answer. We, at Fisheries and Oceans, are responsible for the wharves,” replied Diane Lebouthillier.
Three sailboats and several fishing boats were unable to be taken out of the water for the winter.
“They’re passing the ball. That’s what we see. I’m not in politics, but we’re experiencing a real problem and when the ball bounces, it doesn’t move the issue forward,” Mr. Moreau emphasizes.
In Quebec City, Minister Lamontagne’s office responded by saying that they are “sensitive to the situation. It’s an important infrastructure for the region’s economic activity. We are already in communication with regional stakeholders and the various ministries. We are currently exploring solutions,” they stated in an email.
Confidence in the Prime Minister’s leadership
Recently, four additional ministers announced their departure at the end of the current mandate, amid a letter circulating among some thirty elected officials calling for the resignation of Liberal leader and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Minister Lebouthillier does not believe this has shaken confidence in her leader. “No, not at all,” she replied immediately, explaining that each of the four ministers had personal reasons for stepping down, Marie-Claude Bibeau, for instance, has expressed interest in running for mayor of Sherbrooke, and Filomena Tassi is stepping down due to her spouse’s illness.
“But that does not call into question the leadership of the Prime Minister, not at all,” the minister assured, reaffirming her support. She also confirmed that she plans to run in the next election.
GASPÉ – The newly elected Chief of the Micmac Nation of Gespeg, Yan Tapp, has resigned. The announcement was made through a brief press release on the Nation’s website on October 26.
This marks the third chief to resign within the last decade, following Terry Shaw in January and Manon Jeannotte in February 2019. “I have made the decision not to continue my path as Chief of our nation. Leaving a professional position is never an easy task and, in my case, stepping down early in my term is a choice that I want to make transparent with all of you,” Mr. Tapp wrote on social media, preferring not to give an interview to explain his decision.
Mr. Tapp was elected as leader on September 27 after a series of events following the September 8 election. Initially, the results showed Mark Sinnett as the winner with 144 votes to Mr. Tapp’s 143, while a third candidate, Céline Cassivi, received 122 votes. After three recounts, a tie occurred, with 143 votes to 143 votes.
According to the Nation’s Electoral Code, a tie is resolved through a draw. Following Mark Synnett’s withdrawal, Mr. Tapp was appointed to lead the Nation. However, it seems the beginning of his mandate was not easy and reflects the difficult relationships within the members of the Nation.
“Without going into details, many former members know the routine that accompanies each council mandate for our community: political and personal conflicts, as well as a sometimes toxic work climate,” recalls the resigning chief.
“Once again, another chief has left Gespeg prematurely. I remember that an elder from another community told me last year, and I quote: “You, the members of Gespeg, are very hard on your chiefs. It would be important for you to learn to better master these values,” mentions Mr. Tapp.
“During my short mandate, I have noticed a flagrant lack of respect for the chief of the Nation within the community itself. (He was asked things like) “I have never had a chief before… What does a chief eat in winter?” No comment…,” says the outgoing chief.
He has a desire to bring harmony to the Nation. “I sincerely hope that a future leader in Gespeg will be able to benefit from clearly defined roles, responsibilities and powers, that he will be able to choose his vice-leader, benefit from an adequate salary, have his own expense account and have a role not subject to the control of elected councillors. This would be beneficial for our nation!” he stated.
He indicates that he discussed with the electoral president on October 24 on the consequences of a contestation of the vote, but nothing would change under the current Electoral Code, “contrary to what is usually stipulated in penal codes,” he noted.
Nevertheless, he does not intend to give up. “I am contesting the electoral process, because the members were not adequately informed. I have always wanted and asked for a fair electoral process for all. In this sense, I refuse to continue with a council elected by acclamation,” said Mr. Tapp, who concluded his message with a union of forces.
“It is essential that we cultivate a climate of respect and kindness, both towards our leaders and among ourselves. It is by joining forces and working hand in hand that we can build a better future for the Micmac Nation of Gespeg. Let us continue to move forward with compassion and openness, ensuring that each voice is heard and valued,” concluded the resigning chief.
On January 26, former chief Terry Shaw resigned, citing family reasons. “This difficult decision is strictly motivated by personal and professional considerations. After much reflection, I have chosen to prioritize my family life above all else and to devote more time to my loved ones,” Mr. Shaw stated in the press release.
Terry Shaw was elected chief in February 2020, promising a “wind of change.” Before Mr. Shaw was elected, there was a crisis of confidence within the Nation over the reform of the Electoral Code. Serving as a councillor during this time in 2019, he had hoped to resolve this issue before holding elections.
Former Chief Manon Jeannotte also left her position early in February 2019 “for personal and family reasons” after three and a half years as the community’s leader. At the time, she denounced “an atmosphere of intimidation within the Nation” and filed a complaint with the Sûreté du Québec in January 2020, alleging “manipulation of the electoral list.”
inspection, the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST) has confirmed that the contractor responsible for demolishing the former Ministère des Transports (MTQ) service centre in downtown Gaspé has implemented the requested safety corrections.
On October 18, the CNESST issued a correction notice requiring the project manager to modify the demolition procedures to address all risks associated with the site’s structures and hazardous materials. The building, constructed in the 1950s, contains lead and asbestos.
Some industry observers close to the construction trades had reported that the fences that are supposed to contain dust during demolition are not high enough. Another site visit was made on October 23.
“The CNESST carried out another intervention to ensure that the project manager had made the requested corrections. This allowed us to see that the work procedure is safe and protects workers from these contaminants. A sign was also put in place to indicate the presence of the contaminant. Two correction notices were also issued to the project manager regarding the specific demolition procedures,” the government agency mentioned by email.
One modified practice now observable since the CNESST visit is that workers from Démolition des rivières de Lévis are systematically wetting demolition elements to prevent dust from dispersing.
The CNESST mentioned that it is monitoring the situation closely and other follow-ups are planned. For its part, the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI), which is responsible for the site, indicates that it is putting “everything in place to ensure safety in the projects under its responsibility.”
“Work in asbestos conditions is standardized and the contractor is required to comply with the measures provided for this purpose. A specialized firm is hired by the SQI for this purpose. It supervises the demolition work and is responsible for ensuring that the decontamination enclosure and the mitigation methods used by the contractor, for dust control, comply with the standards,” maintains the organization, which adds that if corrective measures are recommended by the CNESST, the SQI will ensure that they are carried out as soon as possible.
For its part, the Ministry of the Environment has not received any complaints regarding the demolition of this building. The ministry noted that this activity is not subject to ministerial authorization or adherence to the Clean Air Regulations.
The contract, valued at $876,000, was awarded to Démolition des rivières through a public tender process.
GASPÉ – The Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine Collective Housing Resource Group is testing a new approach to building collective housing projects in an effort to save money. The Quartier du havre of the Habitations de la montagne project aims to construct 84 housing units built near the Quebec Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPAQ) offices, on the montée de Sandy Beach in Gaspé.
The project has already secured funding from both the government of Quebec and the federal government’s Affordable Housing Program.
What sets this project apart is that the contractor has already been chosen before the end of the plans and specifications process. “Traditionally, for the past 30 years, the contractor has been chosen at the end of the process during a traditional call for tenders. In this case, the contractor was chosen much earlier so that he could participate in the planning with the professionals on the project,” explains the director of the resource group, Ambroise Henry.
Marcel Charest et fils, a company from Saint-Pascal in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, was selected from six companies that participated in a call for tenders for services.
“By arriving at the beginning of the planning and construction of the plans and specifications, the contractor can offer its input, bring his expertise, and can ensure that all the professionals find solutions to build a real estate complex where we will save costs instead of being changed after a call for tenders and modifying plans. That can make a big difference, in our opinion,” says Mr. Henry who is enthusiastic about the recommended formula.
The process is expected to be more effective than traditional performance-based estimates.
“Even in terms of performance and criteria, it will be part of the discussions to make decisions on the various elements. It’s a little more advanced than the performance specifications,” notes Mr. Henry.
There were concerns that construction costs per unit could reach as high as $800,000.
“We think that by working this way, we’ll bring it into a slightly more acceptable range in the sense that when we have a contractor who responds to a call for tenders, he has to take into account a lot of risk elements. By having it from the start, we’ll eliminate certain risk areas. We have to do the process to see if it’s effective,” explains Mr. Henry.
The group is aiming for a construction cost of under $500,000 per unit.
“We’re taking all the paths to get there. Experience will tell us,” says the director, who points out that this is the group’s biggest project in 40 years of existence.
Les Habitations de la montagne will be housing for all types of residents. If all goes well, construction should begin in 2025, with an inauguration in 2026.
The Federal and Quebec governments are covering 80% of the project’s cost, with the remainder coming from the municipal level.
The town of Gaspé has provided the land for the project, as well as technical assistance and a tax credit worth approximately $8 million.
With an estimated construction cost of $500,000 per unit, the total value of the project is approximately $42 million.
The organization has about fifteen projects in Gaspésie-Îles-de-la-Madeleine, with funding in all the region’s MRCs.
Environnement vert plus has raised concerns about the credibility of a study conducted by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, which was commissioned by the Regroupement des MRC de la Gaspésie. The study claims that the caribou pilot project could result in significant job losses and an economic downturn of $23 million in Haute-Gaspésie.
Spokesperson for Environnement vert plus, Pascal Bergeron, criticized the report stating, “We find that the report is alarmist and the consequences in terms of job losses are overestimated. The report lacks credibility.”
The environmental group mentions, in particular, a title in the document which states that “Several other projects will be put at risk because of the caribou conservation measures.” Among these are, La source Isabella, the exploitation of critical minerals and Ressources Minières Pélican.
“Regarding Pélican Mineral Resources, we called the promoter and he told us that his project is not on the territory targeted by caribou protection. Of the three projects that were presented and that are at risk, none are actually at risk. For me, statements like that take away a lot of credibility from the report,” says Mr. Bergeron.
“What we feel is that a mandate was given to the firm to find all the possible holes where there could be job losses, make a big addition and produce a figure that would scare people. It succeeded in scaring people, but it has little credibility for the rest,” adds the environmentalist.
Mr. Bergeron is aware that the recreational tourism component could be impacted but blames the Quebec government for its lack of communication following the presentation of the pilot project in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts in April.
“The government did not communicate anything afterward. Benoit Charette, instead of touring Ottawa to prevent the federal government from issuing a decree on a species that he is supposed to protect, should come to Haute-Gaspésie to explain the measures that he wants to implement, to seek out the concerns of people on the ground and to adapt,” suggests Mr. Bergeron.
According to him, Ottawa considers that certain recreational tourism activities are compatible with the protection of caribou.
“Of course, we will not go ski-dooing or four-wheeling on Mount Jacques-Cartier, but for off-trail skiing, there is plenty of room. Areas that have already been devastated by the forestry industry could be used for off-trail skiing. Quebec is doing things halfway,” mentions the spokesperson.
“It would be appropriate to reduce the distribution area, but to increase protection in the immediate perimeter of the Parc de la Gaspésie. We should take the area around the park to restore the habitat rather than having 98% of the telemetric data that imply the same protection measures that do not take into account the uses of the territory,” maintains the environmentalist.
On the forestry aspect, Mr. Bergeron emphasizes that the plan to recover 5,000 hectares of forest damaged by a windfall last December is misleading.
“What science tells us is that it is not in our interest to come and disturb a habitat that has been naturally disturbed. When we read what is said about forest fires, we are going to recover the wood, we are affecting the soil, we are creating entry routes for predators… It is not a good idea. This proposal must be studied more rigorously,” believes Mr. Bergeron.
According to him, the forestry economy is undergoing complete restructuring while there is a major crisis, maintaining that some Quebec sawmills that closed for summer maintenance have not restarted their activities.
“The unions are asking for consolidation because there is too much industrial capacity for the remaining wood. Even if we don’t protect the caribou, would the Gaspésie sawmills stay open? We should stop blaming the caribou for everything and hold a (Quebec-wide) general assembly on the forest,” suggests Mr. Bergeron.
A public consultation regarding the project will conclude on October 31. Mr. Bergeron expressed uncertainty about how much weight Quebec will give to the feedback received. “We understood that there was a strong political game at the Council of Ministers that prevents the work from being done properly. What will be taken into account? The CAQ (Coalition Avenir Québec) will go where the wind blows,” illustrates Mr. Bergeron.
SAINTE-ANNE-DES-MONTS – A study has concluded that approximately 1,000 jobs are at stake and that there could be a loss of economic spinoffs amounting to $23 million in Haute-Gaspésie if the pilot project to protect caribou, mentioned in the spring, was to be implemented in this territory without modifications.
The document, commissioned by the Table des préfets, highlights concerns raised by the prefect of the MRC, Guy Bernatchez. “I want to emphasize regional solidarity even if it only affects Haute-Gaspésie,” the prefect immediately mentions. “It’s major. We have figures that speak for themselves. It’s big. We have been dreading it for a long time, but with the anticipated declines, it is major,” he noted.
In recreational tourism, the anticipated loss could be as high as 89%. “I admit that it is even more than we thought. The predictability related to our businesses is major,” he says.
This observation raises alarms about the potential disappearance of a sector that has been crucial for the MRC’s development over the past ten years. “Businesses will no longer be able to have predictability. We will no longer have it. We could talk about a loss of almost $23 million just for Haute-Gaspésie. It is major,” mentions Mr. Bernatchez.
This study will be used to complete the brief that the MRC plans to submit during the public consultations on the pilot project. “Recreational tourism, forest management: together, that is more than 1,000 jobs, not to mention the wind industry. We want to position ourselves to have new wind farms. We have the best wind deposits in Quebec. We have social acceptability. We have to give ourselves the chance to be able to do it,” says the prefect.
The MRC of Haute-Gaspésie has 550 kilometres of forest roads. “Our access roads to the territory will suffer in the ranges,” adds Mr. Bernatchez.
“What we are describing, is a minimum of forest management could be done in the caribou range. During the night of December 18 to 19, 5,000 hectares of forest fell due to high winds. The moratorium should be lifted to recover this wood, and bring volumes to our plants. These areas could be redeveloped by our forestry companies. In the future, we will have forests that are favourable for caribou,” illustrates the prefect, who is a trained forest manager.
“There is a central line between the economy and ecology to be reached,” says the prefect, who hopes that the Quebec government will listen to the community for the next steps in the brief that will be submitted.
In June, the MRC had already expressed serious concerns after analyzing the documents submitted for public consultation as part of the pilot project targeting the Gaspésie caribou.
The document was broadly presented on April 30 by the Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, during his visit to Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, where he presented the Caribou Protection Plan for the Gaspésie and Charlevoix regions.
This plan, based on the recommendations of the Caribou Commission, was subject to a 90-day public consultation, which was extended until October 31, partly at the request of the MRC of Haute Gaspésie. This plan had received a mixed reception in the MRC, and its analysis confirms the community’s fears.
The MRC had adopted a resolution at the time requesting two key elements from the government: Better communication with the population and a reconsideration of the proposed protection zones.
The project indicated that the habitat zone under restoration represents 5,000 square kilometres, including the zone along the St. Lawrence River and some private woodlots.
The prefect mentioned that this zone was disturbed up to 87% and the objective in the pilot project is to reduce it to 35%.
GASPÉ – Suspended since 2020, the Early Childhood Education course will return to the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles’ Gaspé campus in the fall of 2025.
To attract candidates to the program at a time when there is a significant shortage of educators, the college is introducing paid internships and employment integration measures, including part-time work in Gaspé’s two Centres de la petite enfance (CPE), which have collaborated to upgrade the program.
“We were inspired by CEGEPs which implemented this new paid internship formula. We went a step further and told the CPEs, ‘Could we integrate them right away with a part-time job?’ and they responded positively. So there’s the paid internship and access to employment,” explains Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles Director of Studies Serge Rochon.
“There’s a desperate need (for early childhood workers),” says Mr. Rochon. Students who take this program are trained to work in childcare centres, as well as, school daycare services.
A vast advertising campaign will be launched not only in the region, but also throughout the province and even internationally.
While consulting with students during group meetings, they showed an interest in such a program. “We think there are people who might be interested in studying in Gaspé. For Quebec students, the Parcours bursary, which helps students move from one region to another, can offer a three-year bursary of $22,500 for students located more than 60 kilometres from Gaspé,” points out Mr. Rochon. This could even attract students from the Bay of Chaleur.
Ultimately, with scholarships and paid work and internships, the cost of students in Gaspé could be mostly covered.
There is a possibility that the CEGEP could relocate the training if the need arises. “But the teaching team wanted to keep the program in-house, since it was simpler to organize the courses. Could the program be relocated to other campuses? These are issues that are on our work table,” says Rochon.
“Educational childcare services are in great need of qualified personnel. We’re delighted to partner with the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles to help create a unique program that will stand out and attract young people to the profession,” says Mylène Côté, director of CPE Les Butineurs.
Her counterpart at the CPE Le voyage de mon enfance, Gilles Chapados, adds: “The new formula proposed by the CEGEP will enable future educational childcare providers to quickly put their learning into practice, while being remunerated. It’s a win-win situation.”
To relaunch the program, the CEGEP must receive at least seven registrations by March 1, 2025, the admissions deadline. Classes would begin in the fall of 2025.
KAMOURASKA – After several months of discussions, the Eastern Energy Alliance and Hydro-Québec have entered into a partnership to develop 1,000 megawatts of wind energy in Kamouraska and Témiscouata, in the western Bas-Saint-Laurent region.
The area covered spans 700 square kilometres and is located in the Kamouraska and Témiscouata MRCs. The project is expected to require an estimated investment of $3 billion, as announced in Kamouraska on October 16 alongside Hydro-Québec executives.
“This is excellent news. The Eastern Energy Alliance is pleased with the agreement finally signed this morning in Kamouraska,” says the alliance’s vice-president and mayor of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts.
The alliance has always worked with private partners. However, the operational details with Hydro-Québec are yet to be determined following the signing.
“We have some questions. What was important at the outset was to tie up the strings of the public partners. Now, there will be discussions with the various partners in the community who may want to help us. There will be upcoming discussion tables between Hydro (Quebec) and the alliance. At the moment, we don’t have this information,” says Mr. Deschênes.
Consultations will be held very quickly with the affected communities.
“We must take into account all stakeholders, environmental groups, citizens, land users, First Nations. It was important to make a joint announcement by the public partners. Studies for a series of consultations will be underway by 2026,” says Mr. Deschênes, who is keen to obtain social acceptability.
With the various parks obtained in the latest public calls for tenders, the alliance will coordinate deliveries in the coming years to achieve its objectives. The execution schedule will also be determined.
“But, at the same time, finally, we obtain predictability that our companies did not have before. It is the responsibility of our companies to rehire. I take Marmen as an example, with the reopening of the Matane plant in September. We see that the first player is positioning itself. I think it will be up to the companies to position themselves,” invites the vice-president.
Hydro-Québec announced last summer an initial 3,000 megawatts in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. With the agreement with the Eastern Energy Alliance, the signed total now amounts to 4,000 megawatts.
The public corporation has 10,000 megawatts in its pipeline to order and install by 2035, which means that additional agreements will be needed to cover the remaining 6,000 megawatts.
The alliance is positioning itself for future opportunities.
“There aren’t necessarily any concrete discussions, but we know that Hydro-Québec wants to roll out cable to connect the Gaspé Peninsula. The reason is very simple: we know that there are wind deposits with strong potential in the Eastern Energy Alliance territory. It’s almost obvious that we’re going to have other projects, perhaps through calls for tenders, but at this point, nothing has been decided,” Mr. Deschênes says.
Potential locations have already been identified.
“It is certain that the alliance territory has a strong potential of approximately 8,000 megawatts. There is still room (for growth). That will be seen in the coming months and years,” says the vice-president.
The Eastern Energy Alliance brings together 209 communities, extending from the MRC of Montmagny to the Magdalen Islands, including the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation of the Lower St. Lawrence.
GRANDE-RIVIÈRE – The upgrade of Rocher-Percé Airport in Grande-Rivière is officially completed, with the inauguration of the new terminal on October 16. The building was renovated and expanded at a cost of $2.5 million.
“This is the last step. We have efficient, safe and up-to-date facilities that are adapted for our employees, welcoming passengers with adapted facilities with a reception counter, and a beautiful waiting room. The controller now has a complete view of our runway,” notes Samuel Parisé, Prefect of the Rocher-Percé MRC.
The airport ranks ninth in the province for the number of government planes.
“The plane that lands the most is the ambulance plane. For us, it was a priority. We wanted our population to have access to a fast and efficient service and to leave quickly when they need urgent health services. This is an important aspect,” says the prefect.
When the work to extend the runway was launched, the MRC mentioned the development of cargo and tourist planes.
“What we wanted before sitting down with certain developers was to have efficient and completed facilities. The runway is done, the terminal is done, the equipment has been modernized. We are now ready. When I propose a project, I want it to be complete in order to make the right decision based on what is offered,” says Mr. Parisé.
The airport was originally built in 1986. Diane Lebouthillier, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gaspésie- Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine recalls that, at one point, elected officials considered abandoning the runway. This reflection occurred when she was the MRC prefect from 2010 to 2015.
“We had major discussions about whether we should keep or close the airport. It was part of the discussions at the time, and the decisions made by the council of mayors were to set aside $1 million for an airport development project. I am happy to see the culmination of the work,” notes Ms. Lebouthillier.
The Canadian government is contributing $1.5 million to modernize the terminal.
“The building we had before had holes, and letters were missing on the Rocher-Percé airport (sign). It was sad,” says Ms. Lebouthillier.
The Québec government advanced $407,000 for this part of the project.
In 2020, the airport saw its runway extended, and both the weather station and runway lighting were upgraded at a cost of $10.4 million. At the time, the Québec government provided $8.3 million in assistance for the work.
With the completion of this project at the Rocher-Percé airport, all airports in Gaspésie – Bonaventure, Gaspé and Sainte-Anne-des-Monts – will have been upgraded.
“It’s strategic. It’s an essential component of air positioning in our region. The Québec government has a clear vision, a vision that leverages infrastructure. We have just reached an important milestone in our territory,” says Gaspé MNA Stéphane Sainte-Croix.
Now, the focus is on attracting more planes.
“The big challenge is to make air transportation accessible to our community, to ensure that carriers have an interest. There is incredible potential here in terms of tourism, with the proximity of Percé Rock and the Pointe sector. There are opportunities to work on to restore air transportation to its full potential. We will soon be providing details for our upcoming programs,” says Mr. Sainte-Croix.
“We are working on our support measures that encourage customers to turn more often to air transportation. We should be able to announce all of that soon,” he adds.
Timeline:
1986: The first runway was built at 1,600 feet.
1991: Runway extended to 4,000 feet and asphalted; and construction of the first terminal.
2020: Extension of the runway.
2021: A Boeing 737 lands at the airport for the first time.
GRANDE-RIVIÈRE – The Quebec government has rejected the Blue Economy Innovation Zone after four years of efforts and investments.
Gaspé Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Stéphane Sainte-Croix, first mentioned this during a press briefing on October 15 in Gaspé, before the Blue Zone board of directors confirmed the information shortly after.
“The concept of developing a blue innovation zone would not go forward according to the established criteria,” said the MNA.
“There was essentially a lack of private investment in the project, and the governance issues in recent months weakened the issue. It is a rational decision, not an easy one considering the effort people have put into the project for many years. We are not throwing in the towel, but we are reconsidering an approach that would be more, I also think, up to the level of the region and respond to our challenges,” explains Mr. Sainte-Croix.
The promoters of the Blue Zone mentioned $750 million in investments, including $250 million in the region.
“It is not so much about whether investments were sufficient. It is in terms of carrying out concrete projects. We had difficulty aligning the notion of investment with the notion of project development,” specifies the MNA.
Allegations surrounding project manager Martin Beaulieu regarding the management of organizations in Rimouski have undermined confidence.
“It did not help the cause in terms of a relationship of trust and in terms of results. Budgets were committed, steps were taken, and it did not arrive to the satisfaction of the parties,” mentions the MNA cautiously.
The Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Energy had granted $150,000 for the first steps and mentioned that it would not finance the creation of a more ambitious industrial cluster.
“It’s a big disappointment given that we’ve been working on this project for four years,” says the mayor of Grande-Rivière and Blue Zone administrator, Gino Cyr.
The mayor recalls that on December 9, 2022, the organization was told that it had passed all the administrative steps, and a meeting with former minister Pierre Fitzgibbon was held in November 2023 to ensure a designation.
“At that time, we were still going for a designation. There were elements raised such as promising projects in each of the regions, at the governance level and ensuring private investments during an announcement,” says Mr. Cyr. The mayor recalled that a 2022 study established the value of landings at $329 million and economic spinoffs of $157 million in the Rocher-Percé MRC.
He had letters from companies that were investing $10 to $15 million of the $250 million.
“Except that what was requested was to ensure that there was a promising foreign investment, particularly in aquaculture. We had two companies ready to invest, but when they want to invest in Canada, it is easier in the Maritime provinces than in Quebec. It was a major constraint and we had expressed it. I can tell you that of the $746 million, when we added these private investments, we raised the project to perhaps $1.5 billion,” notes Mr. Cyr.
“It was the politician who made the final decision. We were given to understand the possibility of working on a promising project for Grande-Rivière and Rimouski. We are talking about an innovation centre. We have decided to continue working together to maintain cohesion,” adds the mayor of Grande-Rivière.
“We will have a residual amount to develop a business plan on a promising file that we would like to implement by March 31, 2025,” Mr. Cyr says.
“We know that our application file was of high quality and all government analysts have confirmed to us that we have successfully passed the administrative process requests. The Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie had decided to rally the forces of the two regions around a common project at the request of the government and we are betting on continuing the efforts already undertaken. The stakeholders from all the sectors concerned have built a synergy that allows us to work towards success,” comments his colleague from Rimouski, Guy Caron.
GASPÉ – On October 14, Gaspé Mayor discussed with the Minister Delegate for the Economy, Christopher Skeete, the importance of including Quebec and regional content in Hydro-Québec’s upcoming agreements for 10,000 megawatts of wind energy set to be produced by 2035.
This follows the mayor’s earlier push at the end of September, which led to a debate in the National Assembly. However, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government refused to debate a motion from the Parti Québécois on October 10, closing the door on a formal discussion at that level.
Despite this, Daniel Côté sees a form of openness after the discussion with Christopher Skeete who was accompanied by Gaspé Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Stéphane Sainte-Croix. “There are different possibilities that I perhaps didn’t see at the outset. There are legal mechanisms that allow the government to have a certain form of protectionism. That’s not how it’s written in the law but it gives the government a certain amount of leeway than I had initially estimated,” says the mayor.
“But I still feel the absence of mandatory local, regional or national content. Nothing would prevent Hydro-Québec from buying blades in China. I understand that, politically, they will want to support Quebec’s purchase of Quebec components, and I understand that there is a political orientation. I am partially reassured, but I would also like people in the industry to be reassured. It’s too important to say that I’m throwing in the towel and closing the file,” he says, recalling that Quebec will never be able to compete against China, which could dump manufactured products from Asia. “If our products are good elsewhere, they should be good for Quebec. If they are competitive on the American and global markets, they should be for Quebec,” adds Mr. Côté.
The vice-president of the Eastern Energy Alliance and mayor of Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Simon Deschênes, indicates that the organization has already had these discussions.
“We have not taken a clear position on regional content or Quebec content. Where I have a reservation is that if I take the example of LM Wind Power, 100% of their production was exported outside Canada. By imposing Quebec content, we must ensure that we are not played tricks by other countries that our companies export to and also do good business in these countries. We must find a way through but, yes, I am in favour of Quebec content,” declares the vice-president. “Our basic mission is to promote the development of the wind energy sector in Eastern Quebec and to invest to obtain significant economic benefits for each of the communities of Gaspésie, the Magdalen Islands, Bas-Saint-Laurent and the MRCs of l’Islet and Montmagny,” recalls Mr. Deschênes.
“It is up to Quebec companies to position themselves well with the predictability that we currently have with the development of the wind energy sector,” says Mr. Deschênes.
Participatory budget
Gaspé’s first participatory budget initiative, which allows citizens to submit and vote on local projects, has proven to be a success. Seventeen projects were submitted, with six qualifying and five advancing to a public vote.
“It is a very good turnout. We are in a test year. I will admit: we were very unstructured this year and, despite everything, it is a big turnout with several projects submitted,” comments the mayor.
Projects up for public voting include a local product sales point in Douglastown at a cost of $50,000, the development of a multi-sports field at Sandy Beach estimated at $17,000, a drinking water system at Charlie O’Brien Park via a cistern system in Haldimand that would cost $30,000, new play modules at Saint-Paul School in the Saint-Maurice-de-l’Échouerie sector at $50,000 and a pickleball court in Cap-aux-Os at an expense of $23,000.
The town of Gaspé had budgeted $50,000 for this first edition.
“There are projects under $50,000. It is possible that if two projects under $50,000 are ranked in the first results, we will carry out more than one,” maintains the elected official. Voting will end on November 14.
Without officially announcing the return of the participatory budget in 2025, Daniel Côté clearly wants it to return.
“We haven’t made a final decision at the council but, seeing the enthusiasm, I think the council will have a favourable bias for 2025,” suggests the mayor.
GASPÉ – Environmental protection was the main point of discussion on October 9 between elected officials of the Côte-de-Gaspé MRC and the mining company Osisko, which wants to restart the exploitation of Mines Gaspé in Murdochville at the end of the decade.
The prefect, Daniel Côté, believes that the project is well received by the community. “What we appreciate about the company is that from the start of the exploration work, they put themselves in front of the population to receive questions and give answers. They have an attitude of transparency that is appreciated,” notes the prefect.
Company executives have held three information meetings in Murdochville since the revival of the mining project and met with elected officials from Côte-de-Gaspé on October 9.
They had questions about environmental impacts, social issues, where the workers will eventually come from and how the economic benefits will be distributed to ensure maximum economic benefits.
“The port of Sandy Beach is the largest port nearby. We want to use it. We will have a (repaired) railway when the mine is in operation. We are looking at all the development tools around it,” notes the prefect, recalling that at the time, all the surrounding communities benefited from concrete benefits.
The company indicated in the last citizen information meeting in September that it plans to use the train to transport ore to the Horne smelter in Rouyn-Noranda.
“Environmental concerns, particularly the impact of the dewatering of the pit on the York River. We don’t want economic development at all costs without considering all the other axes. We couldn’t afford to sacrifice the York River and Gaspé Bay for jobs. We’re going to stay on the lookout for all the environmental aspects that will have impacts,” notes Mr. Côté.
The company anticipates approximately 1,000 jobs during construction and between 300 and 500 jobs during operation.
“I expect these jobs to be well-paid, but we will have to seize opportunities around resource extraction and avoid harmful impacts when the mine closes. We experienced it in Murdochville: when the mine and the smelter closed, the town had difficulty recovering,” analyzes the elected official.
The minimal royalties planned for the community will have to be reviewed.
“Quebec pockets nice royalties, but they are low for the community. There will have to be discussions with government authorities so that there are additional royalties for the community to plan for ‘after the mine’, to avoid the economic crash like we experienced in 2000,” Mr. Côté maintains.
The prefect senses a real concern for environmental protection on the part of Osisko
“We feel that there is a real concern. When we ask questions, there are answers. At least, it’s a winner. We saw companies in the oil era that, when we asked questions, we got no answers. This time, we have clear answers,” he says, adding that Quebec environmental standards must be respected.
“I hope that there will be quite pronounced vigilance because this is an industry that could have environmental impacts. For now, transparency is required within the company and we will ensure that the Ministry of the Environment does its job so that we do not escape it,” demands the elected official.
Daniel Côté does not believe that we will see a population of around 5,000 people again, like in the town’s golden age.
“Unless we are able to build an economic fabric around the revenue generated by the mine. With 300 to 500 employees, we will not be able to house them in Murdochville or even in the surrounding area,” the elected official pointed out, noting that the vacancy rate is 1% in Gaspé.
“These are probably workers who will be there until 2050 or 2060. So, there is a prospect of profitability in housing construction. This is where we will have to convince real estate investors to redeploy housing in Murdochville, Gaspé, Grande-Vallée, Cloridorme and elsewhere and ensure that these workers live in the territory to avoid fly-in, fly-out,” said the prefect who hopes to maximize the economic benefits in the region.
GASPÉ – The Eastern Shores School Board and the Chic Chocs School Service Centre will be the third in Quebec to offer the Construction Equipment Operator course at the start of the 2025 school year.
The two organizations have obtained approval from the Quebec government to offer this training, which has been available since 2019 in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts through the Chic-Chocs, in partnership with the Navigateurs School Service Centre in Lévis, and since 2021 by Eastern Shores in New Carlisle, in collaboration with the Littoral School Service Centre on the North Shore. “It’s a very attractive program for our youth, and it’s a program that’s in high demand given the shortage of personnel in the construction sector,” says the interim director of the Chic-Chocs, Josée Synnott.
“It’s excellent news for our school board because it’s a permanent card. It’s a very appealing card. The demand is there to graduate many young people, who won’t have to leave the region to take the training. Companies are also asking us to train young people,” says Denise Simoneau, Director of Eastern Shores.
Previously, the training was only offered in Quebec City or the South Shore of Montreal. At Eastern Shores, about sixty young people have been waiting to access the training.
“It could go to about twenty young people per cohort,” says Ms. Simoneau.
The training is offered at the Anchor in New Carlisle.
“We’re not limited.” With a permanent card, we can offer training on the North Shore because we have a very large territory,” says the director of Eastern Shores.
This is a project that has been in the Chic-Chocs’ plans for about fifteen years for Sainte-Anne-des-Monts.
“This is a project that everyone in Haute-Gaspésie has dreamed of. The partnership with the Centre de services scolaire des Navigateurs allowed the Centre de services scolaire des Chic-Chocs to develop expertise. The same goes for Eastern Shores, which had provided training with provisional authorization to develop expertise with this program,” says Ms. Synnott.
Infrastructure such as a school construction site is already in place but machinery will have to be purchased from the Chic-Chocs.
“We have a team of competent teachers. There will be purchases to be made in terms of machinery. Having the infrastructure will reduce the cost of implementation,” notes Ms. Synnott, who could not yet quantify the investments required.
“We still have a lot of things to tie up. We just got the information that we have the program,” added the interim director.
This first partnership between the two entities could lead to other collaborations.
“We hope to work on other programs. We will sit down together. We realize that by joining forces, it is a win-win situation. With the expertise of both organizations, it helps us offer more programs and see how we can work together,” said Ms. Simoneau.
“We are not there yet. This is a first. We could start with our current programs and see what could be done,” noted Ms. Synnott.
“I am very happy for the young people in the region, whether Francophone, Anglophone or Indigenous, who are interested in a career in construction. The collaboration between the parties deserves to be highlighted,” said Gaspé Member of the National Assembly (MNA) Stéphane Sainte-Croix.
Guy Bernatchez, the prefect of Haute-Gaspésie, is also pleased with the continuation of the course in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts. He notes that the course had been requested for several years. However, the challenge of housing for future students remains.
The MRC supports the Centre de services scolaire des Chic-Chocs in finding solutions. “They must continue to put pressure on their (Education) ministry. We must renovate the old residences in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts that are abandoned. This could create housing for future students,” notes the prefect.
GASPÉ – Users of the Côte-de-Gaspé local health network are concerned about the quality of services at the future blood testing and vaccination centre that will soon be operating at a shopping centre in Gaspé.
Patients feel that the chosen location, the Place Jacques-Cartier shopping centre, “is not very healthy” and that parking there is already very difficult.
It is also noted that the escalators providing access to the upper floors are often out of service. Others mentioned that the elevator would not allow paramedics to evacuate patients from this location. Hemodialysis care activist Jean Lapointe had already expressed reservations about the development of the centre in a commercial complex, questioning the quality of the services that will be offered there due to these issues.
At the Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS), spokesperson Lou Landry wrote by email that “the owner of Place Jacques-Cartier has added parking spaces for people with disabilities, and the elevator is accessible. The Gaspé Peninsula CISSS places great importance on the accessibility of the location it uses and will continue to evaluate all possible options to improve this situation, according to the needs of the population,” states the email.
The CISSS explains that the transfer from the hospital centre to the new site is necessary because the spaces currently used will be required to provide patient care. The e dubbed a “multi-service centre” by Quebec last spring aims to create a service hub in a single location. In addition to Gaspé, the CISSS is targeting similar sites in Paspebiac, Grande-Rivière, Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, Pointe-à-la-Croix and New Richmond.
In the Quebec government plan, these sites will offer vaccinations, blood tests and screening services. The Quebec government believes that the establishment of these centres will improve access to preventive health services.
Paying to get care
A patient who requested anonymity for the moment deplores being forced to pay for travel expenses between the Bay of Chaleur and Gaspé to receive care specific to his condition. The individual must travel 372 kilometres round trip to obtain recurring treatment. However, the travel does not fit into the pilot project launched in the spring to support people who travel more than 200 kilometres to receive a series of treatments for the same care on a three-month basis.
The patient mentioned that the treatment was recurrent, but administered as needed. He received treatment in May and again in August, exceeding the three-month limit.
The person appealed to the Gaspé Peninsula CISSS Complaints Commissioner to try to draw attention to his situation.
The CISSS responded that the formula was more generous than elsewhere in Quebec and that an analysis would be conducted at the end of the project, on March 31, adding that no further developments were planned.
GASPÉ – Even though the Gaspé Peninsula receives an average of 10 to 15 family doctors each year as part of the Medical Staffing Plan for the Regions, the Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centres (CISSS) is struggling to make net gains. This year, Québec will be deploying nearly 500 doctors to the different regions of the province.
“We regularly manage to fill these positions. However, the allocation of positions does not guarantee an increase in staff, because it also includes replacements for departures either because of retirement or going to other regions,” explains the assistant director of the professional services department, Jean-François Sénéchal.
Over the past five years, more doctors have been trained. “But the end result is that we don’t see that things are much better than before. We manage to fill the departures. We remain stable,” notes Mr. Sénéchal.
Haute-Gaspésie has a significant need. Retirements in Rocher-Percé, Bay of Chaleur and Haute-Gaspésie are leading the CISSS to assign more doctors to these local health networks.
The situation for medical specialists remains stable. “Things are going very well in internal medicine, general surgery and anesthesia. The very good news is that we filled our positions in geriatrics during the year. We will have two geriatricians to cover the region’s needs starting this fall, something we have never experienced historically,” he states. The region has been requesting geriatricians for a long time, notably from the former Member of the National Assembly for Bonaventure, Sylvain Roy.
Orthopedics, ophthalmology and psychiatry are the three sectors where the CISSS wants to recruit in the short term. Chandler Hospital has struggled to fill radiologist positions. “Things have improved a lot. We have a radiologist who started in September, and we are also expecting a second radiologist in Rocher-Percé in the next two years,” says Mr. Sénéchal.
The Gaspé Peninsula CISSS has participated in several events organized by various medical associations to recruit medical students. “That’s where we make our most serious sales presentations to pique the curiosity of medical resident candidates who we will invite to visit us and who we will perhaps hook and recruit in the months that follow,” he explains.
The area’s natural beauty and lifestyle are highlighted to attract potential recruits. “Our environment, our living environment, is a very important selling point. These are often people who love the outdoors and their facility would allow them to flourish.” When we meet people, we praise our living environment and our surroundings and we see right away if they are interested. We will push these aspects of having family activities and starting a family in a healthy environment,” comments Mr. Sénéchal.
The versatility of practicing medicine in the Gaspé Peninsula also serves as an argument to attract them. Approximately 234 doctors currently work at the Gaspé Peninsula CISSS.
GASPÉ – The Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) is facing a significant budget cut, reducing its funding for infrastructure maintenance and improvements from $24 million to $15 million this year. This follows similar reductions at the Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles and the school service centres.
“For the past five or six years, we’ve had our foot on the accelerator and we have done a lot of renovations and upgrades because the budgets were available. We have a good team in the technical department and we were able to take advantage of room for maneuvering that was not used in other establishments,” says President and Chief Executive Officer Martin Pelletier.
The Gaspé Peninsula CISSS carried out several transformations because its team was very efficient, which was recognized by the Ministry of Health, according to Mr. Pelletier. This was an advantage that the regional network had over others across Quebec.
However, the room for maneuvering is no longer available. “We have to slow down and restrict ourselves to our annual plan without being able to get ahead of anything else. We have work started in 2023 that should last two years. In 2024-2025, we had a program and now we have to balance the budget with provisions that have disappeared. There are projects in the program that will have to be delayed,” notes Mr. Pelletier.
All institutions within the health network are affected. “Here, we will go with the most urgent,” he says.
This reduction in funding comes amid similar cuts announced in other government sectors. For example, the region’s school service centres are seeing a $7.7 million cut from their capital budgets for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
The René-Lévesque School Service Centre is the most affected with a $6 million cut, seeing the envelope go from $16.6 million to approximately $10 million this year.
Like the CISSS, the school service centre must not only review the work planned for the coming year, but also for the next five years, prioritizing projects that have an impact on health and safety and the sustainability of buildings.
At the Chic-Chocs School Service Centre, the reduction is $1.7 million.
The Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles also faces significant cuts. Initially expecting $7.8 million for 2024-2025, it was surprised to find its funding capped at $2.2 million until March 31, 2025. When factoring in specific project funds, a total of $4.6 million is now authorized.
The Cegep director, Yolaine Arseneau, was worried because the spending cap meant that the institution had no room to maneuver if an event occurred that was not anticipated, such as a leaking roof or a furnace that failed.
CARLETON-SUR-MER – Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for Bonaventure, Catherine Blouin, has announced her intention to run for a second term in the October 2026 general election.
In an interview, marking the halfway point of her term, the MNA was asked to comment on the announcement of Liberal MNA Marwah Rizqy’s departure at the end of her current term, citing the difficulty of balancing family life with young children and her role as MNA.
Catherine Blouin, who has two children slightly older than her colleague, acknowledges the challenge. “I’m not going to hide the fact that it is a challenge. It requires a lot of organization and I understand Marwah’s situation and I would have made the same decision if my children were the same age as hers. My daughters are a little older, and I consider the situation to be a little different,” says Ms. Blouin.
Pausing for a few seconds in her response, she adds: “I’m not the only one who has a logistical challenge with my family. I think of nurses or a single parent every other week, or the fly-in-fly-outs. I don’t want to complain: it means I’m away from my children three nights a week, several weeks a year,” she continues.
However, it is a privilege for her daughters to see the workings of Parliament and the MNA feels an awakening for political life. “I’m lucky. It’s going very well,” she says.
“If things continue in this direction, it (my decision) will be in ‘yes’ column. I’ll be a candidate in 2026,” she clearly states.
On the balance sheet, the cellular coverage for which consultations are being conducted by Telus for the installation of towers and the electoral map saga are the two major elements that Catherine Blouin brings up in the midterm assessment.
“When I think of all the work done on this file and the safeguarding of the two ridings in the Gaspésie, the protection of the political weight of the Gaspésie, it is a great source of pride,” emphasizes the elected official.
Several everyday issues impacting citizens have been resolved. Ms. Blouin notes that 95% of her work moves in that direction. “This is what motivates me the most to continue to advance files. It makes a real difference. That’s why we want to get into politics. In any case, in my case, it was to help people concretely and help my region. When we get calls from happy citizens, it feels good. We tell ourselves that we are in the right place,” mentions Ms. Blouin.
With two years left in the current mandate, housing and daycare spaces remain among her top priorities. “There are several spaces that have been delivered, several housing units that have been built. There are still several sites under construction. We will have to work hard to deliver all the expected daycare spaces and support the many developers who are raising their hands,” says the MNA, who wants to seize all the opportunities.
On railway issues, unlike her colleague from Gaspé, Stéphane Sainte-Croix, who says he doubts that a train will arrive in Gaspé in December 2026, Catherine Blouin understands that the deadline is tight. “When I ask questions, I am told that it is possible,” she says, while the estimate from the Ministry of Transport states that the construction period is 28 months. The contract for the last of the four major calls for tenders has still not been awarded.
The MNA remains cautious about the start of construction work on the new emergency and intensive care unit at Maria Hospital. The Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) is in discussions with engineering firms to choose one of them to assess the building’s capacity to take on more infrastructure.
Although she isn’t ready to commit to saying the first nail will be driven before the end of her term, she is optimistic. “It is certainly desirable. We had done what was necessary to speed up the process. The last news was that the contract had not yet been awarded. We are continuing to monitor it very closely. Every week, I look at where we are. My wish is really to advance the project considerably,” explains the Bonaventure MNA.
Regarding gasoline prices, which vary significantly within her riding, seeing very low prices in the west of the county and very high prices in the east, she acknowledges the issue.
“I am very sensitive to the issues surrounding the price of gasoline because it is an essential daily expense,” mentions the elected official, mentioning the tabling of the report that was submitted and that a parliamentary committee is looking into the matter.
“We are currently evaluating what we can do to ensure that Quebecers pay a fair price,” she adds.
Her colleague from Gaspé, Stéphane Sainte-Croix, has indicated he will not conduct a midterm review but will focus on the current parliamentary session, which ends in December.
GASPÉ – The Gaspé riding Member of the National Assembly (MNA), Stéphane Sainte-Croix, makes no secret of the fact that the first train may not arrive at the Gaspé station in December 2026, as previously announced in June 2023.
The last of the four major calls for tenders for the railway refurbishment between Port Daniel-Gascons and Gaspé, which were launched in March, opened on September 18. The announcement for that stretch was first made in November 2023, by Premier François Legault during his visit to the Gaspé Peninsula.
However, according to the Quebec government’s electronic tendering site the contract has not yet been awarded,
The estimate indicates that the expected duration of the contract without options is 28 months, which means the deadline is February 2027.
“Following the opening, we are faced with the possibility that we will push back the agreed schedule. We will see with the selected bidders the state of play along the way but, indeed, we may have a challenge in terms of the schedule for the rest of things,” says Stéphane Sainte-Croix. “It is hasty to agree on the schedule, considering the discussions that will take place with the selected company, but it (a delay) is a possibility,” he adds.
The commitment to refurbish the railroad to Gaspé remains strong. “Our objective has not changed: ensuring the complete connection of the Gaspé Peninsula railway to Gaspé remains a priority for all elected officials in the region and for mobilizing the government. That has not changed,” assures the MNA.
His colleague from Bonaventure is a little more optimistic. “When I ask questions (to the Ministry of Transport), they tell me it’s possible,” affirms Catherine Blouin.
After nine deadlines for the opening of bids for the call for tenders launched on March 21, the envelopes for two proposals received by the Ministry of Transport were opened on September 18. Pomerleau is requesting $258 million, while Partenariat Ferroviaire Gaspésie is proposing $286 million to carry out the projects in the plans and specifications.
The work involves repairing two bridges in Gascons, the long bridge between Gascons and Newport, and another such structure in Newport, as well as the one in Douglastown at the mouth of the Saint-Jean River. Additionally, one of the two bridges between Grande-Rivière and Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé must be replaced and a retaining wall in Pabos Mills is part of the bid.
Quebec announced $872 million to rehabilitate the rail between Matapedia and Gaspé on June 27, 2023. The section between Caplan and Port-Daniel-Gascons must be fun tional at the end of the current year.
Exploramer’s expansion still assessed by the Quebec government
Meanwhile, despite comments on social media to the effect that the additional aid requested to build the shark pool at the Exploramer museum in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts had been rejected, the MNA for Gaspé says that is not the case.
“The file remains at the same level. We are still waiting for the update of the reviewed and corrected project in terms of the business plan and new financial assistance to be received,” mentions Mr. Sainte-Croix.
According to him, communications are still happening, and the documents are pending.
The MNA hopes that this matter will be resolved quickly in order to not compromise the 2025 tourist season.
“Haute-Gaspésie cannot afford to lose its economic assets. This is an important one for the tourism industry. We hope to reach an agreement soon on the revision or maintenance of the assistance already granted. That is our wish,” he adds.
Quebec had already granted $11 million of the initial $18 million for the renovation and construction of a pavilion dedicated to the museum’s St. Lawrence sharks.
In March, after a meeting with stakeholders from Haute-Gaspésie, Stéphane Sainte-Croix mentioned that the project had changed significantly, as the aquarium expanded substantially without having previously notified the ministerial authorities, increasing the cost of the aquarium from $2.7 million to $12.7 million, “an increase of 370%, this is not normal,” adds the MNA.
In this context, the MNA added that the Quebec government could not assume the new project alone.
Exploramer is facing cost overruns of around $6.8 million. The museum has indicated it is prepared to make an additional effort by borrowing an extra $1 million.
cancer remains one of the most common cancers affecting Canadians, but early detection can make a significant difference in outcomes for both women and men. Understanding the importance of early detection and regular screening can create successful treatments and better survival rates.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society website, in 2024, an estimated 30,500 Canadian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and about 5,500 will die from the disease. This makes breast cancer the second leading cause of cancer death among women in the country.
Emphasis on early detection of breast cancer can dramatically improve the chances of successful treatment. When breast cancer is detected early, in the localized stage, the 5-year survival rate is 99%. This statistic shows the importance of regular screenings and self-examinations.
For women, mammograms are the most effective tool for detecting breast cancer early. The Canadian Cancer Society recommends that women aged 50 to 74 have a mammogram every two to three years. For women with a higher risk of breast cancer, such as those with a family history of the disease, screenings may start earlier or be conducted more often.
Judy Mann Fitzgerald speaks from experience. She found her breast cancer through self-examination. “I felt a bump that I never noticed before when getting dressed.” Early detection played a critical role in her treatment plan as she embarked on a journey of chemotherapy and surgery.
Judy also shared the emotional side of her diagnosis. “At first, I was scared,” she admits, “I hoped that I had found it fast enough. I was scared that I wouldn’t be around to be with my husband, kids, or have a chance to watch my grandchildren grow.” Like many, the fear of the unknown and the uncertainties of treatment weighed heavily on her mind.
Despite these challenges, Judy remained focused on survival, even as she faced difficult physical changes. “I had to do chemotherapy. Losing my hair was hard, but I was so determined to survive to be with my family that a bit of hair didn’t mean anything. I kept telling myself that it would grow back.”
Judy emphasizes that support from family and friends can be vital during the cancer journey. “With big events like cancer, you learn quickly who your friends are,” she reflects, “They are the ones who are always there to listen, call to check on you, offer to take you to appointments, or even just sit in silence.” For those who may not have the support they need, community organizations and support groups can offer additional help. While Judy wishes she had known more about these resources, she credits her husband and family for being her rock throughout the experience.
Breast cancer is a serious health issue in Canada, affecting thousands of women and men each year. Judy Mann Fitzgerald’s story highlights the importance of early detection, emotional resilience, and the support of loved ones in overcoming the disease. Her advice to others? “Think about your family and loved ones and only have positive vibes. Never give up hope. You can get through the most difficult times.”
While most people associate breast cancer with women, men are also at risk, though at much lower rates.
For men, breast cancer is much rarer but still poses a risk. Approximately 290 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024, with about 60 deaths resulting from the disease. While these numbers are significantly lower than those for women, they highlight the importance of awareness and early detection among men as well.
Men, on the other hand, are less likely to be aware of their risk for breast cancer. Because breast cancer is so rare in men, there is no general screening program. However, men with a family history of breast cancer or certain genetic mutations, such as BRCA1 or BRCA2, should talk to their doctor about screening. Like women, men should also be aware of any changes in their breast tissue, such as lumps, and go to see a healthcare provider if they notice anything unusual.
Both men and women should remain vigilant about changes in their breast tissue, discuss any concerns with a healthcare provider, and remember that early detection can indeed save lives.
NEW CARLISLE: – Living with cancer is one of life’s most difficult challenges, but for residents of the Gaspé Coast, several organizations provide vital support. Among these, the Organisme gaspésien pour les personnes atteintes de cancer (OGPAC), the Gaspé Cancer Foundation, and the Linda LeMore Brown Foundation (LLB) play crucial roles in helping cancer patients and their families navigate this difficult journey.
OGPAC: Since its founding in 1984, OGPAC has worked tirelessly to support those affected by cancer. Offering a range of free and confidential services, the organization helps patients and caregivers navigate the physical, emotional, and practical challenges that come with a cancer diagnosis. From the Peer Mentors Program, which connects patients with others who have faced similar struggles, to providing hair and breast prostheses (temporary or permanent), headpieces (hats and scarves, with or without fringes) and post-operative bras. OGPAC addresses the needs of patients with a comprehensive approach. “We are here for people with cancer and their caregivers,” says Manon Lebrun OGPAC interim director. “Our support and accompaniment service is offered free of charge and in complete confidentiality at our offices in Maria or at our service points.” she adds.
OGPAC has centres, located in Maria and Sainte-Anne-des-Monts, which provide patients and families with books, guides, and multimedia resources on topics like cancer treatment, relaxation techniques, nutrition, and spirituality. Additionally, their popular “Cafés-Rencontres” offers an open and welcoming space for individuals to recharge, reflect, and share experiences with others, all while listening to expert talks from oncology professionals.
Over the years, the OGPAC has experienced significant growth. The territory served has expanded: it now extends from Shigawake to L’Ascension-de-Patapédia (MRC Avignon and Bonaventure). states Ms. Lebrun.
OGPAC’s primary goal for the coming years is to raise awareness about its services. Many residents of the Gaspé region remain unaware of the resources available to them, and the organization is working hard to increase its visibility through outreach and partnerships with local media.
Gaspé Cancer Foundation: Another key player in cancer care on the Gaspé Coast is the Gaspé Cancer Foundation. The Gaspé Cancer Foundation was founded in 2003 and was an initiative of Noreen Hackett. The mission of the Foundation is to provide nondiscriminatory and confidential travel assistance to cancer patients of the Gaspé MRC from Grande-Vallée to Corner of the Beach including Murdochville, who have to travel to Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Rivière du Loup, Rimouski and Chandler for treatment.
The Foundation has made a tremendous contribution in these communities by dispersing over $500,000 over the last 21 years. In order to be able to carry out its duties, the Gaspé Cancer Foundation relies on the sale of membership cards, donations, Memoriam cards and fundraisers. “The generosity of many in the communities has been outstanding, with fundraisers such as spaghetti suppers, bingos, and tickets for drawings of many valuable prizes donated by businesses and individuals. Those donating $10 or more receive a tax receipt,” says Gaspé Cancer Foundation Secretary Debbie Sams.
To be eligible for travel assistance from the Gaspé Cancer Foundation, you must have a membership card, in good standing for at least one month. The cost of an annual membership is $15 for one adult or $25 for a couple. Children under 18 are free, if the parent has a membership. “Once diagnosed with cancer, the oncology department in Gaspé will provide you with a form that has to be signed by the attending physician at the hospital you have to be treated at, or you can print off a form on the Gaspé Cancer Foundation website at www.fcg-gcf.com. To clarify though, when having to go for radiation in Rimouski, for example, for a set amount of treatments, you will not be paid to travel back and forth home on weekends before the treatments are finished. Follow-up trips will be covered when sent by your physician. If you need help in Quebec City, we partner with “Liaison/Translator” or English patients going there for treatments,” explains Ms. Sams.
When asked what the biggest challenge the organization faces, Ms. Sams noted that getting known in the French community is one of their biggest challenges. She also says it’s important to make the distinction that “The Gaspé Cancer Foundation is not part of the Canadian Cancer Society, that it was formed to give financial aid to those living in our designated area so the funds raised are put back in the communities. The Foundation functions on an entirely volunteer basis and no one receives a salary.”
Gaspé Cancer Foundation, since the beginning in 2003, we have heard so many wonderful and appreciative stories from cancer patients who have taken advantage of our travel assistance program. Being helped financially for travel has taken away part of their struggle. So, for just $15 a year, why not help out a neighbour or friend because there aren’t many families that haven’t been afflicted by this dreaded disease,” says Ms. Sams.
If you are interested in purchasing a membership or memoriam card, it can be done on the organization’s website.
Linda LeMore-Brown Foundation (LLB): The Linda Lemore Brown Foundation was formed in 2002 with the goal of providing non-discriminatory financial aid to cancer patients living in the MRC of Bonaventure, who must travel outside the area for treatment.
Anyone can become a member of LLB by purchasing an annual membership which costs $20. New members have a waiting period of three months before being eligible for aid from LLB. The organization pays members needing to travel to Rimouski $150 per trip, Quebec $200, and Montreal $250. The support is capped at $1,500 per year for each eligible member.
In the case of a child who is diagnosed with cancer, the three-month waiting period is waived. One of the parents is required to purchase a membership, but the family can receive assistance immediately.
The LLB relies solely on money raised through memberships, donations and memoriam cards, and fundraising. The organization’s main fundraisers are the LLB Curling Bonspiel and the Tim Horton’s Smiley cookies.
LLB President, June Main says one of the biggest challenges the organization faces is that “Getting volunteers involved is increasingly difficult”. If you are interested in getting involved with the LLB organization, Ms. Main says “Volunteering at the foundation 4 hours per week every other week would be a great help.”
Last year the LLB helped over 100 people, providing monetary support surpassing $50,000. The members who receive assistance “Really appreciate the help that they get from the Linda Lemore-Brown Foundation. I get many messages thanking us,” says Ms. Main.
When asked if there’s a message she’d like to share with Spec readers, Ms. Main says “I think everyone should buy a membership, as we all know or are aware of someone who has cancer and someday it could be us.”
How can you get involved?
Organizations rely heavily on community support, and there are many ways to get involved. Volunteering, donating, and spreading awareness are all essential to the continued success of these organizations. By rallying the community, OGPAC, the Gaspé Cancer Foundation, and LLB hope to secure the funding needed to expand their services and continue providing vital support to cancer patients and their families
of Gespeg has a new chief: Yan Tapp has been appointed after a deadlock following the vote on September 8.
Initially, Mark Sinnett won with 144 votes to Mr. Tapp’s 143. A third candidate, Céline Cassivi, received 122 votes. After three recounts, it was determained that the two leading candidates tied at 143 votes each.
The Nation’s Electoral Code stipulates that in the event of a tie, a draw would determine the winner. However, both candidates contested this procedure, arguing that it was undemocratic and would only create divisions. They wanted a new election.
“The process was complicated and I can’t wait for it to be over so that the community can move forward. Who expected it to be an equal result between Mark and me? It’s been a long time coming,” says Mr. Tapp as the electoral process continues to be contested.
Despite being elected after his opponent withdrew, Mr. Tapp believes that he has all the legitimacy to lead the Nation.
“In my opinion, ‘yes’. A lot of people voted and I think I have some support from Mark as well. I’m hoping that the members who voted for him will join me,” he says.
“With everything I’ve done in my community over the last few years, I’ve worked in a number of departments. It was time to be chief,” says the elected candidate.
“We have to move forward to amend the Electoral Code. The code, when amended during the last mandate, had not been reviewed for a long time. There has always been the aspect of contestation in each mandate. This year, it will have to be reviewed as it should be,” says Mr. Tapp.
“I have an idea to clarify a lot of things, such as the means of contesting and, when there is a contest, to define the consequences,” says the new chief.
The principle of a draw, recognized by other levels of government, also needs to be reviewed. “Is it still relevant? From what I understand from a community lawyer, it’s still customary. We’ll have to see if it’s still current,” adds the chief.
The two tied candidates said that the draw “was a strange process”, but Mr. Sinnett made his choice by not contacting the returning officer to confirm his participation in the draw. Mark Sinnettr has kept a low profile since withdrawing from the process leading to Yan Tapp’s victory.
people marched through the streets of downtown Gaspé on September 30 as part of Truth and Reconciliation Day, aimed at honouring the survivors of Canada’s residential school system and the children who never returned home.
This was the fourth such march in Gaspé, which has become a tradition. “Since the first announcement of the 215 little tombstones, (found near a residential school) we’ve done it every year,” says Jessica Jean-Morin, Cultural Officer for the Micmac Nation of Gespeg.
Ms. Jean-Morin is referring to the discovery on May 27, 2021, of 215 unmarked children’s graves in the orchard of the former residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia, run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
“This day is to honour and support the children who never returned to their families or those who returned with traumas from this genocide. We support the communities,” says Ms. Jean-Morin.
“We don’t want people to forget. The last school closed in 1997. It hasn’t been that long,” notes Ms. Jean-Morin.
Yan Tapp, the new chief of the Micmac Nation of Gespeg, made his first public appearance at the event. “I’m very proud to be here with the members of the community, and it gives me a chance to share my vision with the people of the Gaspé community,” says Mr. Tapp.
He notes that more and more people are taking part in the day.
I see this reconciliation in the community. You can see it in the steps we take. We see new people joining in every year. It’s very interesting,” says the chief.
The mayor and several Gaspé municipal councillors were also keen to take part in the event.
“For us, harmony between peoples is a priority. It’s important to work towards reconciliation,” notes the mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté. The mayor intends to make contact with the new chief of Gespeg. They met for the first time on Monday morning at the march. “Our hand is outstretched. If we can lend a hand, we’ll always be happy to do so,” says Mr. Côté, whopoints out that the two communities have been working well together for a long time.
Since 2017, the two councils had held a joint meeting to take this collaboration further, citing partnerships with Berceau du Canada in a video or Rivière-au-Renard, Capitale des pêches.
“We were perhaps less aware of this reality. When you see the number of people who turned out for this walk for truth and reconciliation, it bodes well for the future,” says the mayor.
In addition to members of the Gespeg Nation and the non-Aboriginal population, students from English-language schools in the Gaspé region took part in the march.
The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is an opportunity to pay tribute to the children who were never able to return home, to the survivors of residential schools and to their families and communities.
Orange Shirt Day is a day of commemoration organised by Aboriginal communities to raise awareness of the intergenerational impact of residential schools on individuals, families and communities, and to promote the concept of Every Child Matters.
The shirt is a symbol of the loss of culture, freedom and self-esteem that Aboriginal children suffered for generations.
An estimated 6,000 children died while attending these residential schools.
GASPÉ – Accès Sage-femmes Baie-des-Chaleurs highlights the progress made in developing the midwifery service, which was established five years ago.
“There was a citizen mobilization 10 years before the service took shape. A first midwife was hired to develop the service, which was set up in 2019 to provide pregnancy follow-ups,” recalls the organization’s spokesperson, Caroline Hamelin.
The service has caught-on, with around thirty follow-ups each year, representing approximately 10% of births in the Bay of Chaleur area, quite high compared to the Quebec average of 4%. “The service is very popular. The objective in Quebec was 10% while it is at 4%,” notes Ms. Hamelin.
“People are very satisfied with the service. Sometimes, there is a waiting list because the demand is high,” illustrates the spokesperson.
According to the organization, a stabilization phase is necessary to maintain the service.“There’s a certain amount of turnover due to hiring conditions, which is also the case across Quebec, and there’s also the distance from major centres. There’s also a minimum number of midwives needed to avoid a break in service so that people can choose where they want to give birth. Two midwives are required to have a home birth. On-call midwives are needed for that,” says Ms. Hamelin.
There’s a strong possibility of offering a place to give birth outside of a hospital centre, but the volume of births in the Gaspésie does not allow the creation of a Birthing Centre. “It’s the number one choice for families where it’s available as a place to give birth. In the Gaspésie, 70% of families say it would be their first choice if there was a place outside of a hospital,” says the spokesperson.
Accès Sage-femmes is monitoring the development of a birthing room in Gaspé with interest. “There are different regions that are working on developing a birthing room outside of a hospital. It has to be a model that takes into account the regional reality. We’re looking at what’s happening elsewhere to try to find a model that could work in our situation,” says Ms. Hamelin.
Currently, the service has two midwives and a midwife who coordinates the service. At one point, there were four midwives in the Bay of Chaleur area. “The goal is to have enough midwives to be able to offer the service (to everyone who wants it),” concludes the spokesperson.
Québec Municipalities (UMQ) is asking the Government of Canada to substantially increase its contribution to the Gas Tax and Quebec Contribution Program (TECQ).
The UMQ is drawing attention to the nearly 30% per region in the federal envelope compared to the previous period.
“We have the Quebec government, which has increased its contribution in contrast to the old program. Unfortunately, what we’re denouncing today is that the federal government’s contribution has been reduced by $338 million. We’re calling on the federal government to accede to and respect its commitments to increase its contributions in a context of adaptation to climate change, which is the challenge of the hour,” noted UMQ President Martin Damphousse, following the organization’s Board of Directors meeting in Gaspé on September 20, a first in its 103-year history.
The total contribution from provincial and federal governments is $3.2 billion.
“It is the most appreciated program in the municipal sector because it affects underground infrastructure and, in the context of climate change, it is the most important and necessary program,” adds the UMQ President.
For the Gaspé Peninsula, the reduction will have an impact of $4.9 million, with $2.5 million for the Town of Gaspé alone, according to the UMQ.
The federal government’s view differs. Recently, Member of Parliament (MP) Diane Lebouthillier sent a communication to the media confirming that for the five-year cycle that started in 2024, the federal government is transferring $2.81 billion to Quebec.
“This is an increase of almost 10% compared to the previous cycle ($2.57 billion),” she wrote.
“On the one hand, it seems that the difference of $600 million (between the $2.8 billion I am talking about and the $2.2 billion announced by the Quebec government) is intended for a program for public transit infrastructure, as was the case in the previous cycle. In terms of percentage, the federal government’s contribution ($2.2 billion: 70%) remains at the same level compared to that of the Quebec government ($1 billion: 30%),” says Ms. Lebouthillier.
“What is fascinating is that we see that the MPs are trying to convince us that they are right.” But the reality is that we have a report that clearly states the amount we will receive individually: the Quebec portion and the federal portion. And each time, everyone unanimously says that we are in deficit compared to the old program. I am certain that the UMQ’s data is correct,” replies Mr. Damphousse.
The MP for the Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands adds that to address the challenges associated with the pandemic, the federal government transferred additional funds to municipalities, namely $504 million in 2019-20 and $495 million in 2020-21, for a total of nearly one billion dollars.
“Although the TECQ administrative vehicle was used to facilitate the transfer from Ottawa to the municipalities, it was not a recurring increase in the program envelope,” the minister explained.
“The federal government added amounts, but we are not talking about these amounts. There is no reference to these amounts. These are amounts that were granted in a specific context. They are not considered when comparing the two former programs. They are removed. Despite everything, by removing them, we arrive at a deficit of $338 million,” explains Mr. Damphousse.
In 2023, the deficit for water infrastructure reached $45 billion, compared to $38 billion in 2022, according to the municipal union.
The battle is being waged at all levels in hopes that the federal government will listen to reason.
GASPÉ – The striped bass is not considered one of the main threats to salmon in the Gaspé Peninsula according to the Department of the Environment, Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks.
While some anglers cite striped bass as a reason for the declining salmon runs, the department explains that the fear expressed by some stakeholders associated with the salmon fishing industry is linked to a scientific article published in 2018. This study assessed, using telemetry data, the consumption of smolts by striped bass in the Miramichi system in New Brunswick.
“However, the main conclusion of this study is that predation rates by bass vary considerably from one year to the next and that the spatial and temporal overlap of the two species is a determining factor in this annual variation,” explains the department by email.
“In addition, the situation is very different in Quebec, because the level of interaction between smolts and striped bass is much lower than that of the Miramichi. Indeed, studies show that the majority of smolts have already left the rivers when striped bass arrive at their mouths in the spring in the Gaspésie,” adds the ministry.
Striped bass are opportunistic predators that feed on a wide variety of prey. Between 2014 and 2019, the ministry carried out several projects examining the diet of striped bass in Quebec.
As observed across its range, the diet of striped bass consists of a wide variety of forage fish and crustaceans, as well as worms, insects and other invertebrates.
A 2022 report confirms that striped bass in freshwater can consume a certain number of juvenile salmon in freshwater. “However, the presence of striped bass in the freshwater portion of the salmon rivers of the Gaspé is relatively limited and highly variable from year to year, thus minimizing the impact on salmon populations,” maintains the ministry, which adds that another study carried out in the Miramichi system and on the diet of striped bass, published in 2020, concludes that the narrow window of spatio-temporal overlap of the two species means that juvenile salmon represent an insignificant contribution to the striped bass diet.
The report includes findings from a project carried out in 2016 and specifically focused on the diet of striped bass in areas conducive to the presence of juvenile American lobsters.
This species was observed in the stomach contents of 16% of striped bass that had consumed prey. It represented 1.2% of the number of prey ingested and 13% of the total volume. However, the relevance of these findings is limited since the sampling targeted areas identified as “nurseries” for lobster, and lobsters were not found in the stomachs of striped bass caught elsewhere in the Gaspé Peninsula.
As for crab, some were found in the stomach contents of striped bass analyzed as part of the department’s projects.
However, they could not be identified as the species. Given their marine habitat preferences, it is unlikely that they are snow crabs, as they prefer deep and cold waters, while striped bass are more commonly found in coastal waters.
“With regard to the low salmon runs observed in 2023 and 2024 in Quebec rivers, predation by striped bass is not one of the potential causes. The impact of significant predation, if any, would likely be felt locally on one or a few rivers concerned and not in a generalized manner throughout the species’ distribution area, as has been observed for two summers in Quebec,” explains the ministry.
The striped bass observed in the Gaspé Peninsula mainly belongs to the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence population, whose main spawning ground is located in the Northwest Miramichi River.
Their migration has been monitored via telemetrically since 2013, which allowed for an updated knowledge about the distribution of the two striped bass populations in Quebec as of 2018, leading to updates in recreational fishing areas.
Monitoring of the abundance of adult striped bass is conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Gulf Region, particularly in the Miramichi River. Additionally, the ministry has implemented a monitoring program in recent years to assess the presence and relative abundance of this population in Quebec. Other projects are also underway, including the annual monitoring of recreational fishing in Quebec through a survey of fishermen.
These projects provide information on the distribution of striped bass in the Gaspé Peninsula as well as their frequentation of the territory.
The ministry emphasizes its commitment to maintaining favourable conditions for the stock of striped bass that visit the Gaspé Peninsula, which supports the recreational fishery valued by fishermen in the region and elsewhere.
On this subject, the annual fishing survey shows that about 80% of the recreational fishermen surveyed come from other sectors of Gaspésie, contributing significant economic spinoffs to the region, according to the ministry.
deadlines for the opening of bids for the last of four major calls for tenders launched on March 21 for the refurbishment of the railway between Port-Daniel-Gascons and Gaspé, the two proposals received by the Ministry of Transport were opened on September 18.
Pomerleau is asking for $258 million and Partenariat Ferroviaire Gaspésie is suggesting $286 million to carry out the work in the call for bids.
The work consists of repairing two bridges in Gascons, a third one between Gascons and Newport, another in Newport and one between Douglastown and Haldimand over the Saint John River. In addition, one of the two bridges between Grande-Rivière and Sainte-Thérèse-de-Gaspé must be replaced. A retaining wall at Pabos Mills is also part of the bid.
The section between Caplan and Port-Daniel-Gascons is supposed to be functional by the end of 2024, with the section between Port-Daniel-Gascons and Gaspé ready for use in 2026.
The contract duration is estimated at 28 months, according to the call for tenders, which suggests that the time frame to reach Gaspé by the end of 2026 is extremely tight.
In June, the ministry indicated that questions submitted by contractors explained the postponements. Analysis is underway to validate the bids and award the contract if necessary.
Another call for tender
result remains unknown
Meanwhile, the contract for the other revised call for tenders to repair various railway structures has still not been awarded.
The public call for bids initially provided for the repair or construction of nine infrastructures, but the request for quotes now only covers bridges.
The sites targeted are a small bridge in Pabos Mills, the Grand Pabos River bridge, the Pabos River bridge, the Barachois bridge, and bridge on Highway 132 in Barachois.
The Ministry of Transport has removed the four retaining walls at Anse-à-Beaufils and Sandy Beach from the project.
The ministry indicates that the revised contract is estimated at more than $50 million.
Pomerleau submitted the lowest proposal of $79 million on August 28. Hamel Construction, the only other bidder, is asking for $83.8 million instead.
For the first contract involving nine structures, only Pomerleau had submitted a bid of $104 million.
The ministry had indicated in early June that it was analyzing several possibilities, while only one bidder submitted a proposal.
The option of splitting the contract was ultimately retained, as indicated by our sources. Two of the four major contracts in the calls for tenders promised by Premier François Legault in November 2023 have been awarded so far.
The first was with the Séma group from Sainte-Flavie for the rehabilitation of the bridges over Grande-Rivière and Anse-à-Brillant, and those over the Émile-Couture stream in Grande-Rivière and the beach in Gaspé will be rebuilt for $74.9 million.
Stellaire Construction from Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures was awarded a $37 million contract for six bridges to be repaired in Pabos Mills, Pabos and Anse-à-Beaufils. Quebec announced $872 million to rehabilitate the rail line between Matapedia and Gaspé
GASPÉ – The Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) is adjusting its COVID-19 interventions according to the situation at each of its facilities.
This is what the regional health network is reporting as cases persist at the Maria hospital and the CHSLD Mgr Ross in Gaspé, at a time when some people are calling for the widespread introduction of masks in health facilities.
“The reintroduction of masks is being carried out in relation to the epidemiological situation in a territory. We are making this decision to protect the population, clients and residents. We base this decision on indicators related to community circulation,” explains the CISSS’s director of nursing, Maxime Bernatchez.
Among other indicators are hospitalizations and the increase in cases in residences.
“If we do it in a given environment and we don’t do it in another, it’s because we are a large institution and in the Gaspé territory currently, there are areas where there are no outbreaks and community circulation is lower,” notes Mr. Bernatchez.
This is particularly the case in the Rocher-Percé MRC where the virus is not prevalent.
The surgery department at Maria hospital and the CHSLD Mgr Ross have outbreaks, as well as in some seniors’ residences.
As of September 25, there were six infections in Maria, and three units were affected at Mgr Ross.
“At Mgr Ross, we are talking about a large majority of residents affected in Unit 300 and the prosthetic unit,” emphasizes the director.
An outbreak in a seniors’ residence is managed differently than in a hospital centre.
“We are in a living environment. We avoid isolating residents in their rooms. It is our health care workers who wear personal protective equipment,” explains Mr. Bernatchez.
The infection prevention and control team provides recommendations based on the epidemiological situation in each facility.
The Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands region experienced a spike in COVID-19 related hospitalizations during the week of September 15.
According to the National Institute of Public Health (INSPQ), twenty-one people were hospitalized on September 21, a peak not seen since February.
On September 24, 16 patients remained hospitalized due to the virus.
INSPQ reports 14 new hospitalizations during the week of September 15, with no deaths recorded.
GASPÉ – Thirteen members of the group representing the expropriated people of Forillon and their decendants, along with the group’s founding president, Marie-Laure Rochefort, received quite an honour: an Award of Excellence from the Director General of Parks Canada.
Four members of the Forillon Park team also received this distinction. The group of expropriated people distinguished itself in the “Spirit of Collaboration” category, when three of its members received the award of excellence from Parks Canada President and CEO Ron Hallman on June 7 in Gatineau.
Parks Canada wanted to highlight this fact during a meeting held at the Cap-des-Rosiers Discovery Centre on September 19.
“I am absolutely overwhelmed. I think it’s a lot,” said Ms. Rochefort, who was the initiator on June 14, 2009, in Grande-Grave of what would become the Regroupment of expropriated people of Forillon and their descendants, whose mandate is to represent the expropriated persons in all consultative bodies of Forillon National Park and to inscribe the history of expropriation in the history of Gaspésie, Quebec and Canada.
“I never imagined it would happen this way. We were a team of girls and we had our guy. We worked together and we had very specific goals. We developed the testimonies of the expropriated persons. I imagine that the people who were there had the same opinion and what was ultimately done is huge,” says Ms. Rochefort, who follows the work of the group.
“I want to see the new things they are proposing so that the memory lives on. It’s important. It was difficult for my parents who had to live it and endure it,” says Ms. Rochefort with emotion.
During the ceremony, tears ran down the cheeks of the 40 or so people on site on several occasions.
Since 2010, the group has been an essential partner for Parks Canada. “Today’s event was intended to recognize the relationship with the group of expropriated persons. It was also Marie-Laure Rochefort’s recognition for all her commitment from the very beginning to have sparked the relationship with Parks Canada and especially to have given us the opportunity to enter into her vision and, today, let’s hope that we do better than we did at the time,” explains Hugues Michaud, Executive Director for Quebec and Nunavut for Parks Canada.
In June 1970, Forillon became the first national park in Quebec within the Canadian network in order to ensure the protection of a territory of 244.8 square kilometres, including a marine strip more than 150 metres wide.
To proceed with its creation, some 225 families had to leave their properties and nearly 1,200 owners lost their woodlots and parts of their cultivated land. This expropriation caused major upheavals in the family, economic and social lives of these residents and the community.
“The relationship in the Gaspésie is a model and is probably the most advanced in the country,” notes Mr. Michaud.
“The park is full of extraordinary natural resources, but this park is first and foremost a human story. The history of occupation by different generations and by different nations including the Micmac people and the grouping of expropriated people and their descendants. It is a priority and is moving towards greater emphasis. It is certainly not the flavour of the month,” says Mr. Michaud.
The group is consulted at various strategic moments and sits on the park’s advisory committee. In recognition of this exceptional contribution. Parks Canada has granted $25,000 to the group to support the completion of projects aimed at commemorating the expropriated people so that their history can be documented, told and recorded in the collective memory.
“In order to be able to recognize your commitment and to be able to continue this important collaborative project for several years, I have the honour of announcing that Parks Canada will give the grouping of expropriated people $25,000 in grants to continue the work of remembrance,” said Mr. Michaud during the ceremony. “This is just the first of many gestures we’ve made, but we must continue to believe in the future and say that the best is yet to come,” believes Mr. Michaud.
“It has often been a problem to find funds to move forward with our projects. This $25,000 will certainly help us realize projects that have been on the back burner for a long time. I also want to say that during all these years what has helped us a lot is the fact that the door to Forillon Park has always been open and increasingly open. We have always been welcomed with a lot of respect and collaboration,” said the current president of the group, Hermeline Smith, who hinted that something would be announced next year, which would coincide with the park’s 55th anniversary.
“It’s a great mark of respect for all these people, from Ms. Rochefort and her group, who campaigned for the recognition of the rights of the people of Forillon, so that they would have respect commented Gaspé Mayor Daniel Côté. The group has led to significant connections and mutually beneficial achievements, including the Park Pass Program to provide access to six generations of expropriated persons, the creation of commemorative panels for families who occupied different areas of the park territory and, more recently, the Grande-Grave Heritage Accommodation Project.
The 13 members of expropriated families who received the award are: Marie-Laure Rochefort, Amanda Roberts, Andrée Bouchard, Claudine Noël, Debbie Phillips, Eileen Perry, Elizabeth Tuzo McGregor, Hermeline Smith, Kathleen Langlais, Lynn-Ann Smith, Pierre O’Connor, Pierrette Perry and Sarah-Émilie Fournier.
The four Parks Canada employees are: Michel Queenton, Émilie Devoe, Élisabeth Lacoursière and Stéphane Marchand. They were chosen to highlight the “Creation of a lasting relationship between the expropriated persons of Forillon and Parks Canada.”
GASPÉ – The Town of Gaspé plans to further electrify its fleet of municipal vehicles by incorporating certain public works trucks.
All of the Town’s small vehicles are already electric. “For pickups, it’s more complicated. Why? Because they cover 1,500 square kilometres of territory. These vehicles often go into the backcountry or travel long distances in the territory,” says the mayor, questioning the autonomy of these vehicles in these conditions.
The pickups are mainly used in emergency situations. “For example, a main water break where the vehicle can be immobilized for up to 24 hours at location ‘X’. Go fill up, it takes five minutes. Recharging a vehicle with a large battery can take an hour or two hours,” explains the mayor.
The town council purchased a fuel-powered vehicle Monday night for the drinking water and wastewater technician, a truck used for everything and for long-term emergencies.
“We’re going to look at the option of trying out an electric pick-up to see if it could work with our territory’s reality, with our reality of the emergencies we have to deal with, just to see if it’s good or not? If it’s made for us, maybe there’ll be a second one, or a third? If it’s not made for us, we won’t have bought 50 at once,” elaborates Mr. Côté.
The next acquisition could be an electric vehicle, especially since competition in this type of vehicle is increasing. “A competitive game could work for us. But the main issue for a town of our size is battery life,” says the mayor.
The Ministry of Transportation and other towns have acquired this type of van. “But we don’t always have the same emergencies and we don’t have a large fleet compared to the Ministry of Transportation and one vehicle can replace another. We have less flexibility to change one vehicle for another during an intervention. That’s why we have to do an analysis,” says the elected official, recalling that some cities that have acquired such vehicles have an area of 20 square kilometres, compared to 1,500 square kilometres. For example, the mayor says “We wouldn’t want a battery to die in Pointe-à-la-Renommée.”
In addition, the Town is submitting a request for financial assistance to the Zero Emission Vehicle Infrastructure Program to add 20 charging stations at nine sites from Petit-Cap to Douglastown. Gaspé hopes to acquire $100,000 in subsidies, or 50% of the estimated costs of $205,392.
“We are prioritizing level 2 terminals. Fast terminals cost a lot more. We wanted to extend the network across the territory rather than having one or two at a higher cost. We made a commitment to install as many as possible. We are one of the towns that offers the greatest possibility of electric charging from one end to the other,” says the mayor.
comments from the public, municipalities or Indigenous communities following the publication of a project notice submitted to the Ministry of the Environment by the Ministry of Transport on the interventions required by 2030 to secure six segments of the Gaspé Peninsula railway on Section 3 between Port-Daniel-Gascons and Gaspé.
In a letter from the Ministry of the Environment, Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, to the General Directorate of Rail Transport, the ministry instructed the Ministry of Transport to continue its efforts to inform and consult with the public.
A vast $872 million project aims to safely restore rail traffic in 2026 on the entire section between Matapedia and Gaspé. However, additional funds will have to be invested to ensure sustainability over 75 years for section three, the most sensitive to coastal erosion and submersion.
The document notes that coastal protection work will be carried out on approximately 11 linear kilometres, spread across six separate and non-contiguous sites of the railway right-of-way.
In these six sites, the cumulative intervention distance within the two-year flood recurrence limit is greater than 500 metres or approximately 3.2 linear kilometres, and due to the variants studied, it is estimated that a cumulative area equal to or greater than 5,000m² will possibly also be exceeded.
The sites targeted are in Pabos Mills West, over a length of 225 metres; Pabos Mills, over a length of 1,210 metres; Chandler, over a length of 1,190 metres; the Banc de Pabos, over a length of 1,340 metres, Barachois, over a distance of 5,700 metres; and Douglastown, over a length of 1,480 metres.
In the document filed, the Ministry of Transport specifies “that the project includes coastal hazard protection work. It is planned that this work will be carried out following the rehabilitation of the Gaspésie railway between Port-Daniel-Gascons and Gaspé.
Several solutions are being analyzed to correct the six sites: moving the railway track outside the constraint zone associated with coastal hazards; local setback of the railway track; and raising the railway track. The solutions and variants will be analyzed based on four main aspects: the technical aspect, the transport and railway safety aspect, the environmental aspect, and the socio-economic aspect.
Considering that work is underway to put the railway back into service and that work to protect the railway infrastructure against climatic hazards will be carried out subsequently, the working methods will be adapted to avoid compromising, as far as possible, the maintenance of the railway service.
The ministry emphasizes that although some variants under study propose moving the current track, it will still be recommended, as part of the project, that the work be carried out within the current right-of-way as much as possible.
This approach will reduce the potential impacts on the neighboring human and biophysical environments present in the sector.
One of the central principles that will be put forward as part of the design will be to minimize permanent and temporary encroachments in sensitive environments, including coastal water and wetlands as a priority.
According to the preliminary schedule submitted by the Ministry of Transport to the Ministry of the Environment, the environmental impact study and the preliminary draft would be filed in December. The admissibility notice is expected in March 2025 and a recommendation from the minister in September 2026.
In the meantime, the final preliminary project is to be submitted in December 2025, the preliminary and final plans and specifications in December 2026 and the construction between 2027 and 2030.
The preliminary estimate for the completion of the project isn’t mentioned in the document.
GASPÉ – Starting in January, the Town of Gaspé will take over the administrative management of waste collection for commercial, institutional and industrial sectors.
Twelve years ago, the Town transferred this collection to the private sector with the contractor reaching an agreement with the customers regarding billing.
However, circumstances have changed. “Everything was going relatively well until a year or two ago when the prices for waste collection skyrocketed,” says Mayor Daniel Côté. The Municipal Hall then started receiving complaints. “After seeing examples where bills were double, triple or even more, we said to ourselves ‘why not take it over’? We had it analyzed and, in the end, for businesses, industries and institutions, it would ultimately be cheaper for them to have these collections on their tax bill instead of dealing with the private sector,” explains the mayor.
On September 16, the municipal council adopted a 90 day notice effective January 2025. A clause in the contract allowed the Town to do this.
“It will still be Matrec that will do the collection, but instead of the business paying a bill to Matrec, they will pay it on their tax bill. In the end, it will end up being much cheaper for them in all the specific cases studied. The Town has fixed and global rates with Matrec, which allows for cost advantage savings,” calculates Mr. Côté.
Residential pickup
The general collection contract for residents will expire in a little over a year.
Complaints have been decreasing, which indicates that the situation has been resolved after the contractor experienced many difficulties in carrying out the collection, including many delays.
Given the surge in waste collection costs, the idea of municipalizing the collection will be analyzed again.
“It was looked at last time and we arrived at similar costs, but entrusting it to the private sector removes a lot of management. The situation has changed. Probably before returning to the call for tenders, we will probably have an option to do it internally,” says the mayor.
The Intermunicipal Waste Management Board would have to buy trucks and hire staff to collect and maintain the vehicles.
“It has to be calculated in advance, but with what we’re seeing, with the number of complaints we’ve had for some time with the contractor in the last year and a half, with what’s happening in the industry and the trade with billing that has more than doubled, and with costs that have skyrocketed in the latest calls for tenders, the time has come to review once again and look at the best option,” says Mr. Côté.
The options will include either managing it internally, having a call for tenders, or a combination of both scenarios.
Bureau believes that there is no collusion in the Gaspé Peninsula regarding gas price-fixing.
The federal agency is responding to a September 11 online article by CHNC, which reported that Gaspé won the gold medal for highest gasoline prices in Quebec. The topic was also covered in the September 18 issue of The Gaspé Spec.
The mayor of Gaspé, Daniel Côté, stated that he “would like us to have a little attention from the Competition Bureau of Canada. It’s their job to clean up and investigate this. It’s not true that you can investigate from an office in Ottawa.”
In an email, the Competition Bureau states that “fighting anticompetitive behaviour in the gasoline sector is a priority for the Bureau. That is why our investigators have visited several regions of Quebec to better understand how gasoline prices are determined. These visits took place in Eastern Quebec, including the Gaspésie, on July 18.”
“To date, the information obtained has not allowed us to demonstrate the presence of anticompetitive activities in the retail gasoline sector,” continues the email from the organization, which noted that its role is to investigate price-fixing and other anticompetitive behaviour.
As an enforcement agency, the Bureau does not have the authority to regulate gasoline prices. This responsibility lies with the provincial government, which abolished the floor price, but the resigning Minister of Energy had always refused to impose a ceiling price.
“We continue to monitor the retail gasoline market closely and we will take action against illegal practices if we find credible evidence that an offence has been committed under the Competition Act,” the office concludes.
The mayor of Gaspé doesn’t think the Bureau conducted much of an in-depth investigation. “We have to admit that they are not doing their job beyond giving us vague answers, which we have been receiving for the past four or five years. Besides that, I do not see a real investigation process taking place, when they have already been able to conduct in-depth investigations in certain regions of Quebec, to dismantle cartels that existed elsewhere. As long as there is no in-depth work that is done, I will not be satisfied with these answers,” replies Daniel Côté.
This email was sent at a time when the oil companies profit margins were approaching unreasonable levels on September 11 in the Gaspé Peninsula. According to the Energy Regulation Board, margins reached 31.2 cents in Gaspé and 29.8 cents in Chandler, while the average over the last year was 16.5 cents in Gaspé and 15 cents in Chandler. The average acquisition cost for retailers in the Gaspé Peninsula was $1.35, according to the board.
PERCÉ – The Percé Geoparc has succeeded in getting its UNESCO accreditation renewed. During the 9th Session of the UNESCO Global Geoparks Council, held on September 8 and 9 in Non Nuoc Cao Bang, Vietnam, it was recommended that the Percé Geoparc receive a green flag, a symbol of excellence in the sustainable management of its territory.
In 2022, UNESCO granted a two year renewal extension to the Percé Geoparc following the discovery of several issues that have since been addressed.
“We’ve worked tirelessly since December 2023 on this, up to the visit of the two evaluators from France and Ireland last July,” says Geoparc president Daniel Leboeuf. The recommendations will be submitted to the UNESCO Executive Board for final approval in March 2025.
“We have passed the evaluation phase. Unless we have a fire or a drastic event, we can be confident of having this title for the next four years,” he emphasizes.
In 2022, the Geoparks Council had issued a yellow rating for the Percé Geoparc. This yellow rating, which acts as a warning, indicated that improvements were necessary.
Signage to guide people to the geoparc, signs at the entrances to Percé, a redesign of the geoparc’s map with trails and geosites needed clarification. A display to showcase Canadian and international geoparks was also needed.
“We had to demonstrate that we have a very good collaboration with other stakeholders in the community: the national park, tourism providers, and Tourisme Gaspésie. We had them meet with many stakeholders between Barachois and Anse-à-Beaufils and they saw that the geoparc was a real cooperative. It’s a relief everyone’s efforts didn’t fall through,” says Mr. Leboeuf.
The financial problems over the last few years represented an additional challenge, but 2024 numbers show that is now behind them.
“The figures are available up until the end of August, and they show that we are on the right track. So far, it has been a very nice season with the sun. The recovery efforts started last year and this nice season will give us a good cushion,” he says.
The next four years will allow for further refinement of the site. “So far in our immediate plans, we have to make improvements to our parking lots, develop a food service at the glass platform that visitors have asked us for and we have the permit from MAPAQ (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food) to do so. We are exploring parts of the geoparc that are not yet exploited to open other geosites. If we can add one or two more before the four years is up, that would be much appreciated,” says the president. The zipline has been set aside due to its low profitability.
UNESCO Global Geoparks are geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed according to a global concept of protection, education and sustainable development while involving communities.
GASPÉ – The Gaspé Peninsula Integrated Health and Social Services Centre (CISSS) is heading towards a large deficit of $55 million to $57 million for the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2025. This deficit is much higher than the $33 million projected in June.
“The province has a deficit of $11 billion, of that, $1 billion is allocated to the health network. We’re expecting that funding we’ve had in the past will not be renewed, which will have a major impact,” says Martin Pelletier, President and Chief Executive Operator (CEO).
“There is $22 million that we were expecting from funding that will not come. This is an added pressure for us. We have a smaller budget than in previous years. We will have to deal with it,” he says.
Santé Québec, the new agency that will oversee all activities related to the public healthcare system, including providing services and facilitating access, will begin its mandate on December 1. That agency will manage a single consolidated budget.
“We will see how we, as a network, will face the challenge of a billion dollars,” says Mr. Pelletier.
The CISSS submitted a $35 million balanced budget plan, a legacy of the last fiscal year, but has yet to receive a response from the Quebec government.
According to the CISSS, there are no planned cuts to services. “We’re maintaining services. Honestly, my concern is to maintain services based on human resources. It’s not a financial issue. As long as we can call on the independent workforce that accounts for $30 million of the deficit to maintain services, we’ll do it,” assures the CEO.
The President and CEO of Santé-Québec, Geneviève Biron, recently visited the Gaspé Peninsula CISSS, where the CEO emphasized the unique characteristics of the regional health network.
“We were able to explain the realities of our region in relation to the size of the territory and the dispersion of users. We don’t have a concentration that allows us to optimize services that much. I think that was well understood,” notes Mr. Pelletier.
The Gaspé Peninsula is different from other regions such as the North Shore or Abitibi-Témiscamingue, which have major hubs such as Baie-Comeau, Sept-Îles, Rouyn-Noranda and Val-d’Or.
“There is a volume that is possible there, that is not possible here,” justifies Mr. Pelletier, even if Maria (hospital) serves a significant population base.
The fact that patients from Avignon-Ouest are assigned to the hospital in Campbellton is another unique aspect of the Gaspesian network.
Martin Pelletier explained that these patients wanted to maintain their connection with the hospital in New Brunswick. However, there are also new challenges that need to be addressed.
“For the past two years, there has been no obstetrics, and there has been a shift of births to the Maria (hospital) side. There’s also a loss of confidence that I don’t want to explain, and people are bypassing Campbellton to come to Maria. There’s $2 million that is explained by an increase in the volume of activity in Maria, in response to the citizen’s wishes,” explains the CEO.
GASPÉ: – Two candidates who finished neck and neck in the September 8 election for Chief of the Micmac Nation of Gespeg are contesting the results.
Initially, Mark Sinnett received 144 votes, Yan Tapp received 143, and Céline Cassivi received 122 votes.
After three recounts, the result was established at 143 votes for each of the top two candidates.
As outlined in the Electoral Code, a random draw will determine who will be elected Chief of the Micmac Nation of Gespeg, however, both candidates described that method as nonsense, during an interview on September 18.
“We don’t want to participate in a draw to become the chief to represent our community. I don’t think that’s being well received, I don’t think it’s credible for our community. We want to unite our community and not divide it,” explains Mark Sinnett.
According to the two candidates, the members didn’t all receive the pertinent information regarding the election. “There was a serious failure, and the turnout shows that people weren’t even aware that there was an election in Gespeg,” adds Mr. Sinnett.
“In all transparency, we discussed the election and the process and, at one point, we decided that enough was enough and that we had to contest the election as a whole. We believe that all members should have been informed at the outset of the election process to have an election that reflects the community,” adds Yan Tapp.
Distrust had been circulating around the election since June when members of the Nation questioned a proposed amendment to the Electoral Code suggesting that, in addition to the chief, seven of the eight councillors remain in Gaspé.
Confidence was shaken as several members had questioned a lack of transparency on the part of the Council in the last few months, and maybe even years.
“We lost our chief about eight or nine months ago. It’s not a lack of intention on the part of the council, but when there is no leader, there are a lot of questions from our members about the leadership of the council at the moment,” explains Mr. Sinnett, referring to Terry Shaw’s resignation for personal and professional reasons in January.
The Electoral Code provides that, in the event of a dispute, a committee of three individuals must make the decision.
“We’d like to start over. We know it won’t necessarily unfold the same way. We know there will be a lot of contestation. Yan and I didn’t make this decision lightly. We talked to each other and decided it was the best decision for the community’s future,” continues Mr. Sinnett.
Mr. Tapp also says it’s “for the good of the community. We are two people who are not there for our personal gain, but for the benefit of the community.”
The returning officer will need to notify Gespeg’s administrator regarding the next step concerning the election. “We’re going to do what we must do to have a new, complete election,” says Mr. Sinnett.
Out of the approximately 2,200 members of the Micmac Nation of Gespeg, only about 420 participated in the election.
SPEC attempted to reach the president of the election but was unsuccessful.
enthusiastic crowd gathered on Thursday, September 19, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Vision Gaspé-Percé Now at Destination Gaspé. “Twenty years is a long time to survive for a community organization,” President Tony Conoley told the crowd, “The support from the government has grown, the network of partners has grown, and the number of programs we offer has grown as well.”
“And I don’t want to quote Donald Trump, but the number of clients is beautiful, beautiful!” exclaimed Mr. Conoley, garnering a laugh from the attendees.
The President went on to express his appreciation for the group’s partners, board members, staff and volunteers. “This past year we continued to work hard to offer a large diversity of services and programs. We are building a youth program. We have increased our mental wellness activities and we are studying the feasibility of buying our building our own place.”
A representative from the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages was the guest speaker for the evening. Alexandre Renaud presented the results of a recent study which indicated how myths and misperceptions about anglophone and francophone Quebecers are still a common occurrence. SPEC will have an in-depth look at that report in our next issue.
Every year Vision invites nominations for Volunteer of The Year. Executive Director Jessica Synnott indicated that there were eleven nominations this year. “Volunteers are very much at the heart of any community organization.” The winner was Rhonda Stewart, who has worked diligently with Camp Fort Haldimand.
In the absence of the auditor, board member Connie Jacques presented the annual financial report. “The auditor found no problems with the report. We have a $4,000 surplus, much like last year,” Ms. Jacques explained. The AGM approved the reappointment of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton as auditors for next year.
Vision’s communications officer, Emma McGinnis, then took the attendees through a game of Kahoot with a series of questions to emphasize the impact of the organization. Participants discovered there were almost 100 sessions for the training and retention of healthcare workers with Dialogue McGill, and three recipients of the McGill Bursary: Amy Briand-Fournier, Madison Dorion, and Gabrielle Labbé.
Vision has added a fifth Senior’s Wellness Centre: Douglastown now joins Gaspé, Murdochville, Maison Quartier, and Barachois as a location for these activities to support seniors’ physical, cognitive and mental health.
The Bright Beginnings program held 29 activities for children, and 10 prenatal sessions were held. Vue d’Ensemble is a two-year project to bring French and English youth together for activities such as a drama club and lunch hour games. Eight activities were held.
More than 13,000 frozen meals were delivered to seniors last year, up an astounding 33% from 2022-23. The number of seniors also increased by 31% to 929.
At the end of the meeting, two new board members joined the group, bringing the total to ten with one seat remaining vacant. This year’s board will include newcomers Shauna Simpson and Linda Jean, with Tony Conoley, Connie Jacques, Deborah Adams, Larry English, Jonathan Côté, Diane Kennedy, Nancy Briand, and Jonathan Jean repeating.
NEW CARLISLE: September 23 marks the International Day of Sign Languages, a global initiative established by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness about the importance of sign language for the deaf community.
The day was established with a resolution in 2017 following a proposal by the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD). The United Nations resolution acknowledges that “Early access to sign language and services in sign language, including quality education available in sign language, is vital to the growth and development of the deaf individual and critical to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals.”
That WFD is made up of 135 national associations of deaf people, representing approximately 70 million deaf people’s human rights worldwide. The proposed date of September 23 was in recognition of the WFD’s founding on that date in 1951. It also coincides with the International Week of Deaf People which takes place September 23 to 29.
This year’s observance emphasizes the unity of sign languages worldwide, urging communities and governments to support and recognize these vital linguistic tools.
Shining a blue light on Sign Languages
To promote and recognize sign languages, communities and governments around the world are encouraged to display blue lights.
Sign language around the world
There are over 70 million deaf individuals globally, with more than 80% residing in developing countries. These individuals use over 300 different sign languages, each with its own unique grammar and syntax. In Canada, American Sign Language (ASL) and Quebec Sign Language (Langue des signes québécoise, LSQ) are most common, with additional Indigenous and Maritime Sign Languages also used.
Statistics Canada reported that in 2021, 8,415 people identified ASL as their mother tongue, while 1,860 reported LSQ.
Furthermore, 37,620 Canadians could converse in ASL, and 6,193 in LSQ. Though estimates vary, the Canadian Association of the Deaf suggests there are approximately 357,000 deaf Canadians and 3.21 million hard of hearing individuals.
Challenges in the Gaspé Peninsula
There are significant gaps in services for the deaf community, particularly in remote regions like the Gaspé Peninsula. Peter Mann, 34, who currently lives in Port Daniel, shared his personal experiences with SPEC as he navigates life with deafness in a region with limited resources.
Diagnosed at birth, Mr. Mann was raised in Port Daniel, first attending Shigawake Port Daniel School, and then New Carlisle High School and Bonaventure Polyvalent before moving to Montreal for work.
Despite returning to the region for a new job in Chandler, he faced considerable challenges due to the lack of sign language services in the area.
“I was diagnosed at birth and have family members who are also deaf,” Mr. Mann told SPEC. “When I started school I learned some ASL. I learned more ASL online because there were no sign language services in the Gaspé Peninsula.
In addition, there have been times in Mr. Mann’s life when he needed an interpreter for lawyers, court appearances and healthcare. “I had to travel to Montreal for an interpreter, which cost a lot,” explains Mr. Mann.
Despite his efforts, finding employment locally was tough. “I looked for ten years for a job, I eventually got a job at RITMRG in May 2023.” However, the language barrier between ASL and LSQ poses additional difficulties. “At work, I use my smartphone to communicate with my boss and coworkers,” adding that he later uses Google Translate to bridge the language gap between English and French.
The lack of local support extends to home adaptations as well. “I have no special adaptations at home, like for smoke detectors or doorbells,” says Mr. Mann. “I have not been able to get those services covered and, if they’re not covered, they are very expensive,” he adds.
His advice to newly diagnosed deaf individuals is to use online tools and resources, as they can be crucial when local services are unavailable “Use online tools to learn ASL. When you can’t get services, you have to do it yourself,” says Mr. Mann. He recommends using internet sites such as lifeprint.com.
Silver Gallan was diagnosed with a hearing impairment in both ears since birth. Now seven years old and in grade two, Silver has undergone numerous tests at several hospitals to determine the extent of her hearing impairment. She has learned that her condition could further decrease over time, with the possibility that she may eventually lose her hearing entirely Tabitha Flowers, Silver’s grandmother, is eager to learn sign language to ensure that Silver is fluent and is able to communicate with her friends and family in sign language. “It is very important for Silver, her family and friends to learn sign language due to the fact that she could be fully hearing impaired one day,” explains Ms. Flowers
“Unfortunately with the lack of resources in our region, it is more difficult to learn sign language considering there are no classes, workshops, etc. that are available. We have reached out to multiple organizations to try and get more resources in our region for the hearing impaired but, unfortunately, in our small communities, there is not enough need for it,” says Ms. Flowers.
Silver would like to learn sign language and become fluent: “I’m discouraged to not know more, but I’m learning online one word at a time,” she says. The family has purchased an online program so that they can learn sign language together.
In addition to the challenges of learning sign language, Silver faces other difficulties in her daily life. “A few of the biggest challenges for Silver is being in a large group of people (due to echoing voices), swimming (being underwater creates pressure in the ears), and riding a bike (since hearing impairments can affect balance),” says Ms. Flowers, noting that Silver is athletic and loves sports.
Silver has also struggled with receiving adequate speech therapy resources, currently, she is receiving the service online rather than in person. Moreover, the family has waited over two years to receive a hearing test at the hospital and, consequently, has resorted to paying out of pocket for an annual test to ensure timely evaluations.
The family does not currently have hearing impairment devices in their home but is prepared to install devices such as special phones, along with alarms and doorbells that trigger lights and vibrations.
Silver says, “It’s important for people to know that hearing aids are not a magic fix and if you talk to a person who is hearing impaired, look at them, speak clearly, and not too fast.” Her grandmother adds, “Silver has experienced some bullying but that doesn’t stop her from enjoying all the things she loves, such as hunting, fishing, karate, dancing and singing. She does all these activities with pride because she knows truly how amazing she is in her own way.”
GASPÉ – Oil companies continue to exploit drivers in Gaspé by charging the highest price per litre gas prices in Quebec, except for James Bay.
According to data from the Energy Board, Gaspé’s price is $1.74 per litre for regular gasoline as of September 5. James Bay shows a price of $1.89, based on published reports. In other outlying regions, the North Shore advertised an average price of $1.69 and Abitibi-Témiscamingue $1.66. The average price in the Lower Saint Lawrence region is $1.62. In the region, the average price in the Bay of Chaleur is $1.66 and $1.73 in Rocher-Percé.
This means that for each litre sold on September 5, retailers are pocketing 24.8 cents in Gaspé, 24.3 cents in Rocher-Percé and 20.2 cents in the Bay of Chaleur. The respective averages over the last year are 16.2 cents, 14.3 cents and 13.0 cents. Taking into account the price at the pump and the average over the past year, the pump price should be $1.59 in Bay of Chaleur, $1.61 in Rocher-Percé and $1.64 in Gaspé.
The mayor of Gaspé has been denouncing the situation since 2019. “I would like us to get a little attention from the Competition Bureau of Canada. It’s their job to clean up and investigate this. It’s not true that He points out that investigators went to the Lower Saint Lawrence and Côte-Nord regions in the past year.
“Why are they able to go to those regions and not to us?” questions the mayor. “They’re not doing their job. That’s the heart of the problem. I’m not saying there are anti-competitive practices, but the numbers speak for themselves. When gasoline is more expensive in Gaspé than in the Magdalen Islands, when prices are at the same level as those in isolated communities in the Far North of Quebec, there is reason to scratch your head. It is impossible that this is just a game of supply and demand,” analyzes the mayor.
In the Magdalen Islands, the posted price was $1.69 on September 5.
Signed Collective Agreement
The workers affiliated with you can investigate from an office in Ottawa,” notes Daniel Côté. the CSN and the Town of Gaspé signed the new five-year collective agreement Tuesday evening after 12 rounds of complex and arduous negotiations.
The mayor did not participate in the discussions but notes that the parties came close to the breaking point, but the council unanimously accepted the agreement and the union members by 87% in June. “For us, it was important to offer working conditions that are at least equivalent to what prevails in the market. We rebalanced certain positions in terms of salary, in particular, because we were losing a lot of employees,” says the mayor.
The agreement, retroactive to January 1, provides for a catch-up of up to $3.75 per hour for certain trades in the first year. In subsequent years, salary increases will range from 2.45% to 2.75% depending on the CPI (Consumer price index) and will be cappe
SAINTE-ANNE-DES-MONTS – The Quebec government is investing more than $6 million to train up to 500 workers in the fisheries and marine product processing sectors in Eastern Quebec.
This assistance was granted at the request of the Comité sectoriel de la main-d’oeuvre des pêches maritimes, a large group of employers, who felt that there were needs to be met in terms of ongoing training. The assistance announced on September 6 will meet the needs of approximately twenty companies in the Gaspé Peninsula and Magdalen Islands, Lower Saint Lawrence and North Shore regions.
“This is a need that has been expressed. We know that there are technological changes currently, but we are also facing environmental changes that are forcing the entire industry to review its practices. We are responding to this with customized training for each company,” says Employment Minister Kateri Champagne Jourdain, who made the announcement in Sainte-Anne-des-Monts.
“Do we need to increase digital literacy? Do we need to train the workforce on new methods of doing things? It will be based on the needs of the company. Ultimately, we want people to be more versatile and to adapt to technological changes more quickly, or to changes in production lines. We want to better equip the workforce,” explains the minister. According to her, around fifteen companies have already shown interest in the program set up in collaboration with the Chic-Chocs, Îles, René-Lévesque, Moyenne-Côte-Nord and Litoral School Service Centres, as well as the Eastern Shores School Board. She hopes that others will join the initiative.
This 315-hour paid classroom training promotes learning related to real-life work situations.
“The fishing industry is going through a period of uncertainty, and its companies are facing multiple challenges. This assistance aims to provide additional tools to workers in the fishing sector, while the industry must focus on innovation to continue to stand out,” notes Stéphane Sainte-Croix, Member of the National Assembly (MNA) for Gaspé and Government Assistant for Fisheries.
“It has been proven that improving basic skills makes workers better equipped to deal with unexpected and new developments. As climate and technological changes rapidly change the world of fisheries, this training will be very useful for staff and, consequently, for their employers. It will also undoubtedly help develop other skills such as adaptability, inclusion and problem solving,” says the executive director of the sector committee, Marjorie Chrétien.
Workers will have the opportunity to accumulate insurable hours towards employment insurance benefits.
GASPÉ – Gaspé’s Maison de la famille Parenfant will be the first facility of its type to have a birthing room. Since the number of births in the Gaspé Peninsula does not justify the creation of a birthing centre, the Maison de la famille has come up with a solution to offer the service itself.
“It is indeed a version adapted to the Gaspésie and Côte-de-Gaspé region,” says Parenfant coordinator Marie-Andrée Nadeau.
The current Maison de la famille will be expanded, essentially doubling its space to include a birthing room, labour room and a new large multipurpose room. This project will enhance services already offered for the past three years and is the second phase in developing midwifery services in the Côte-de-Gaspé.
“It consolidates other activities. For three years, we have offered the social perinatal service including pregnancy monitoring with a medical team at the Maison de la famille. Now we are adding services to offer births in the birthing room and a labour room in which couples living further away in the Côte-de-Gaspé can come and spend the first stages of childbirth before going to the hospital,” explains Ms. Nadeau.
“That’s what we want in the Côte-de-Gaspé MRC to have a team as large as in the Bay of Chaleur, to offer complete midwifery services including births in a birthing room,” she says.
A job posting for a midwife is listed on the Gaspé Peninsula CISSS (Integrated Health and Social Services Centre) website. The project is innovative as it does not exist elsewhere in Quebec.
“We hope it will set a precedent for remote regions like ours,” says the coordinator. This offers families the chance to give birth with midwives in a neutral place, outside of a hospital environment.
“Since the arrival of the social perinatal service, the CISSS has always supported it and discussions are going very well for the expansion,” says Ms. Nadeau.
The services continue to be appreciated by the population and the addition of services will meet a need.
“That’s what we saw in the two surveys that we conducted a birthing room, a service that does not exist at all; and a labour room, for families further from the Côte-de-Gaspé; and a large room will meet many of the demands because we will finally be able to offer collective cooking activities and we will be able to increase the number of people participating per group with the expansion,” the coordinator asserts.
The $1.2 million project is funded by partners, and a public fundraising campaign will be launched in October. Plans are advanced, and construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2025 with an opening projected for the winter of 2026.
CHANDLER – The ongoing legal saga involving the Town of Chandler’s claim against former mayor Louisette Langlois is dragging on as the case is not expected to be heard before the spring of 2025.
A hearing scheduled for September 3 was postponed because the judge required that the parties be present, which had not been initially requested. This forced a new postponement of the case.
The judge will then resolve the remaining legal rules and will hear the case on the merits at the same time. In the best-case scenario, a decision is not expected before the summer of 2025.
Suspended in January 2021 for 180 days, the resolution adopted at that time stated that the accusations against Louisette Langlois were the result of serious or intentional misconduct, by giving precedence to her personal interest, by having committed actions intentionally and, premeditatedly, all to achieve her ends.
In January 2022, the Town filed a motion claiming $230,411 in legal fees to defend the former mayor before In addition, the motion accused her of having multiplied the procedures thereafter.
The Town hasn’t ruled out readjusting its claim to request all the costs incurred by the case. The total cost of this saga now exceeds $375,000.
$2.7 million in asphalt
Lately, there has been much criticism of the condition of certain municipal roads. However, the town of Chandler has recently announced it will invest a little over $2.7 million in street paving.
Several streets, including some high traffic areas, will be repaved. “Our streets need love, for example, Polyvalente Street and Hôtel-de-ville Street. They need to be redone because they are in an advanced state of deterioration,” notes Mayor Gilles Daraiche.
The resolution includes work on Bellevue, Baie-Bleue, Lapierre, Mgr Ross, Hôtel-de-ville, Daignault, Plage, Cormier, McGrath, Détente, Arcelles, Anse-aux-Canards, Germain and Lantin Streets.
The mayor mentions that four small sections of asphalt were done this year at a cost of $70,000.
The loan settlement process is underway and the mayor hopes for a quick response from the Quebec government in order to do the asphalt work this fall.
In 2021, $2.3 million was invested in asphalt work in the Town of Chandler.
Newport water treatment project
The water treatment project in the Newport district is not progressing very quickly, making development in this sector difficult.
The mayor explains that the water treatment project is complicated. “The system can’t take any more. There are people who want to add services, register other land, and build houses. This is a file that is dragging on and we will work hard so that at least there is work at the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026,” says Mr. Daraiche.
government assistance with a request for a minimum of 90% funding. The project has been included in the Town’s Three-Year Capital Plan for several years at a cost of $12 million. With inflation, the project could reach $20 million, while an amount of $15 million had been mentioned in 2022.
“Unfair” competition?
The Town is upset with the programming offered by Chandler’s Camp Bellefeuille. Some activities proposed by the camp duplicate those offered by the Town, despite a promise.
The mayor does not want to make a war out of it but says he’s disappointed. “I spoke to the director who told me that each activity at Camp Bellefeuille would complement the Town’s activities. Unfortunately, that is not the case. We do yoga, they do yoga. We do fitness, they do that too. It’s the same thing as us. That’s not what was said,” complains Mr. Daraîche.
The mayor maintains that registrations for the Town’s activities, both at the sports complex and the arena, are full.
