Author name: The Low Down

ACRE wants to build ‘central park’ in Chelsea

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By Trevor Greenway

ACRE wants to build a “central park” in Old Chelsea. 

But to do so, it needs to raise nearly $1 million by September so it can purchase a servitude on 71 acres of greenspace behind the St. Stephen’s Parish – and they’re targeting deep-pocket donors to make it happen. 

“We’re not asking for 100 bucks,” said ACRE (Action Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment) President Stephen Woodley. “We’re asking for $2,000, $5,000, $10,000 or $25,000 bucks if we’re gonna be successful. Because you only have to do the math: You can’t get to a million with a $100 donation.”

Woodley said that his organization, which has been purchasing land across the Hills to protect in perpetuity, has been working with the church for several years on the project, but he was clear that it wasn’t ACRE who approached the church –  rather the other way around. 

“I think that the community should realize that this is really a congregation-led effort,” noted Woodley. “They’re the ones who want to put it in conservation. They can sell it for development. It’s zoned residential. They [could] get 70 houses in there before you can say ‘Jack Robinson,’ but they don’t want to, so we’re partnering with them. And really, it’s a win-win situation for us and them.”

According to ACRE, the St. Stephen’s Forest is an “intact hardwood forest” that is home to a number of species at risk, rich flora and boasts a number of hiking trails throughout. Woodley told the Low Down that the trails would be maintained and the land would eventually connect to the Larrimac ecological corridor. 

ACRE and the St. Stephen’s Parish have agreed on a $1.5 million price tag for the land, and ACRE has already raised $900,000 to date. However ACRE also has to raise a stewardship fund and pay legal fees for the sale. They have secured close to $1 million in grants and said they are hoping another $341,000 grant comes in. If it doesn’t, the organization will need just over a million dollars by September. If the grant is successful, ACRE’s fundraising goal will be around $662,000. 

“We see this as the central park for Chelsea,” said Woodley. “You see how fast Chelsea is developing? It’s a bit daunting how fast the place is developing. But ACRE is not an anti-development organization. I will repeat: We are for smart development. And smart development means you keep appropriate green space to make sure that Chelsea is an environmentally friendly community.”

Woodley said ACRE has “sector captains” who will be canvassing the Hills for donations to help purchase the land. 

Donate to ACRE’s St. Stephen’s Forest project at acre@videotron.ca or visit https://acrechelsea.qc.ca.

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‘Just like us, trees deserve to live’

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By Madeline Kerr

Students at Wakefield Elementary are learning how to save lives – the lives of trees, that is. 

On May 20, local certified arborist, Paul Hetzler, visited a handful of Grade 5 and 6 students who make up part of the Green Project, a student group that meets weekly to discuss ways to advocate for the environment, to give them expert tips on caring for some of the trees that surround the Wakefield school. 

Many of these trees are growing well, Hetzler noted, but at least one tree – a young, frail sugar maple on the edge of the school’s playground – is struggling to stay alive. 

The members of the Green Project have been concerned with the maple’s well-being for some time now. A few months ago, several of them noticed that other students were breaking off its branches and gouging its bark, leading to lasting damage. A few weeks earlier, they worked together to create a large handpainted wooden sign, encouraging others to treat the tree with respect, and hung it on a nearby fence. The sign reminds students that “Trees breathe too!” and implores them: “Please do not stomp, rip, or break me!!”  

“Well, it’s definitely in rough shape,” Hetzler confirmed, when the Green Project members led him to the maple, adding, “This is a real shame.”  

Besides sustaining damage to its exterior, Hetzler speculated the tree might not be getting enough nutrients from the soil. He showed the students how to test the pH of the soil, using a kit that he brought with him. 

“You know how the back of a cereal box tells you how much iron or riboflavin you’re getting in your breakfast? Well, trees need nutrients too. But soil with a high pH means that nutrients aren’t available to the tree,” Hetzler explained to the students. 

He continued to say that a high pH means the soil is alkaline, and it’s indicated by a blue or purple colour upon testing. 

“What colour is that?” he asked the students, holding up the results. “Purple!” they answered in unison. 

To counteract the soil’s high pH, Hetzler recommended adding a teaspoon of sulfur to the ground near the base of the tree. 

Despite the soil’s quality, after examining the maple’s spindly trunk and the stumps where its branches used to be, Hetzler told the students he saw enough regrowth to declare: “Although I can’t guarantee anything, I think this tree might make it.”

The students cheered.

Hetzler commended the Green Project for their effort to protect the young maple. He noted that by focussing on saving one tree, the students were in fact protecting surrounding trees, too. 

“It’s like the broken window theory,” he said, referring to the notion that signs of disorder, like a single broken window, can lead to the deterioration of a whole neighbourhood. “If kids see that this tree is busted, they will think that trees must be for busting.” 

He also praised the students for their advocacy on behalf of other trees growing around the school. This includes a microforest that the Green Project members helped protect by getting the school board to agree to turn off outdoor floodlights that were shining on the trees all night, which can damage their growth over time. 

“So many people look around and want to do things to improve our world, but they feel like they won’t have an impact … you’ve shown that it’s possible,” he told the students. 

Ilse Turnsen, who helps lead the Green Project along with her friend, Noelle Walsh, agreed. 

“Thorough, focussed advocacy can get results,” she said. She added that the Green Project “is all about learning, seeking help from the community, so that we may know more and do better.”

The Green Project members told the Low Down they want to be an example of how defending the environment starts with treating the plants and animals in our own backyards with the utmost respect. 

When asked what they would say to anyone who questioned why they were putting so much effort into protecting one tree, Grade 5 student Rosemary Millar-Bunch quickly replied, “You would never ask ‘Why are you trying to save the life of just one person?’ would you?” 

Grade 6 student Alyssa Carle nodded emphatically in agreement, adding, “Just like us, trees deserve to live.”

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CLSC in Low saved

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By Trevor Greenway

The Low CLSC has been spared. It will not close, and it will not be reduced to one day a week, according to the CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO). 

The CLSC in Low was, at one point this spring, on the chopping block to either close or reduce its hours to just one day a week. However CISSSO has confirmed to the Low Down that “there is no change to the CLSC’s service offer” in Low. 

“Local services are important to the population, especially those on the outskirts of urban areas. We are working to maintain them,” Santé Québec spokesperson Marianne Paquette told the Low Down.

This welcome but surprising decision to keep the Low CLSC open comes as part of a wider announcement by Santé Québec that that the initial $90 million that CISSSO was mandated to cut from its budget has been slashed in half – down to $45 million. With CISSSO having already cut $60 million from its budget in January, no more funding cuts are coming to the Outaouais. 

“The CISSS de l’Outaouais has a budget optimization target of $45 million. Given that we have already implemented measures to meet the objectives of the last financial period, no further measures will be implemented in terms of job cuts or major reorganizations,” Santé Québec spokesperson Qeren Boua told the Low Down in an email. “As our efforts in the last period amounted to almost 60 million, the remaining dollars will be used to absorb, among other things, the cost of inflation.”

In mid-March, CISSSO cut $60 million from its budget in an effort to help Santé Québec to slash $1.5 billion from its healthcare network. Those cuts came in the form of 800 health positions being abolished – a majority of them vacant jobs. The actual job cuts were around 100 staff, mostly in administrative positions. Santé Québec’s latest budget will see it cut $1 billion from its health network instead of $1.5 billion.

Paquette said that the province’s centralized health department is using three criteria to finalize and “optimize” budgets across regions, with tightening spending at the forefront. 

Paquette said her agency will have a “complete and more accurate picture of the situation” once its audited financial statements for Santé Québec are approved by its board of directors in June. 

MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau Prefect Chantal Lamarche told the Low Down in April that she would “refuse” to see the Low CLSC close. After hearing about Santé Québec’s budget revisions this week, she was much happier.

“This is excellent news for our community, and I would like to highlight the work done in collaboration with the CISSSO to get to this point,” wrote Lamarche in an email. “I remain committed to defending the accessibility and quality of health services in our region.” 

Despite slashing the amount of what needed to be cut in half, advocates say they worry about the current state of healthcare in the region, as a cut of $45 million still puts the Outaouais far below funding compared to other regions of Quebec. 

“Reducing from $90 million to $45 million is not a victory; it is proof that the initial approach lacked nuance and would have unfairly impacted an already vulnerable region,” said SOS Outaouais spokesperson Jean Pigeon in a statement last week. 

He noted that the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. 

“It is imperative that the government finally take our regional realities into account,” he said.

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Closed OR rooms…so he has to leave

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By Trevor Greenway

An anesthesiologist from Chelsea is being forced to find work elsewhere in the province because there aren’t enough functional operating rooms in the Outaouais. 

Staffing levels are so low at the CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) that just seven out of the region’s 19 operating rooms will be functional this summer, sending medical specialists like Dr. Trevor Hennessey hundreds of kilometres across Quebec and Ontario just to find work. 

“Our CISSS is dying,” said Dr. Hennessey. “Surgeons can’t operate in a hallway, and anesthetists can’t operate without the operating room team. The surgeons and anesthetists in the Outaouais are ready, willing and want to work. We’ve entered into the profession to help and care for the population, and the lack of access to the operating rooms is really a big impact.”

Hennessey, the head of anesthesiology at CISSSO, said that his department has absorbed 17 full weeks of “essentially forced time off” because there was not enough staff to open operating rooms in Hull or Gatineau. This week, Hennessey is doing replacement work at the Roberval Hospital in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region. 

He also had to travel as far as Estrie near Sherbrooke and also had to get certification in Ontario to work at the Montfort Hospital for six weeks last year in order to give some of his local immigrant colleagues the local work.

“We brought them from overseas. We brought them with their family. They’ve moved their entire lives here, and then we tell them to sit at home and don’t work and you can’t make any money? I don’t want to lose these colleagues. I don’t want them going back home either.”

He said he’s flexible and doesn’t have kids, so he has agreed to take remote jobs so his recruited workers can stay and work locally.

The problem, according to Hennessey and healthcare advocates in the region, comes down to money – specifically salaries for nurses in Quebec, when compared to Ontario. 

According to the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec, nurses in Quebec with a bachelor’s degree have the lowest starting salary in the country, at $53,000 a year. It’s a significant difference in Ontario, where starting salaries for nurses are $74,000 – a staggering 40 per cent more than their Quebec counterparts. This is sending nursing staff to Ontario in droves. And the lack of nurses in operating rooms in the Outaouais means more medical technicians are leaving, including the region’s only vascular surgeon, says Hennessey. 

“We’ve lost four out of six plastic surgeons. We’ve lost a general surgeon. We’ve lost gynecologists with operating room time and lack of equipment,” said Hennessey. “We’ve lost urologists, and – most recently and the big one – we’ll be losing our last and only vascular surgeon for the entire region.”

He continued: “That is a major, major impact for the care of the population. Very sick patients will have to go to Montreal, and emergency cases will have to be transferred further to Ottawa. But when you’ve got a rupture [abdominal aortic aneurysm], every single minute counts. People with major surgeries, such as brain cancers, are going to need to wait significant periods of time.”

Hennessey noted that CISSSO nurses are “phenomenal, but boy, they’re getting tired.”

Doctors facing ‘moral distress’

Hennessey wanted to be clear that surgeons are not leaving the area solely to find work and make money, but many have left the region over what he calls “moral distress,” as doctors feel they can’t follow their duty of care in the Outaouais. 

“They feel like they can’t provide the care to the patients that they need and this is causing such distress that they need to actually leave our area to go elsewhere,” he said. “Some people feel the surgeons are leaving because they want to make money. That’s not the sole reason. They are unable to provide care and are getting phone calls week after week from patients desperate for care and they can’t provide it to them.”

He said that occupancy levels in the region in 2014 and 2017 were at 93 per cent and 90 per cent, respectively. Within 10 years, those levels dropped below 50 per cent “due to a shortage of nurses and other staff.”

A consequence of chronic underfunding

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon said the latest news about reduced operating rooms is just a consequence of the region’s chronic underfunding over the last 10 years. 

According to the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais, it has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million compared to other regions in Quebec. 

Pigeon has the same argument as many doctors and health advocates: The situation won’t improve until there is an alignment of nurse and medical technicians’ pay with those of their Ontario counterparts. 

“This is just going to slowly hurt our region more and more because nothing’s being done about it, right?” he said. “We’re the region in Quebec that has the fewest nurses per capita because … most of them are tempted to go and work elsewhere, especially in Ottawa.” Staff retention has been a constant struggle in the Outaouais region. In 2022, the Outaouais had the lowest number of nurses per resident in the province, with less than five nurses caring for every 1,000 people.

Gatineau MNA Robert Bussière did not respond to the Low Down’s call for comment. 

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SPCA based in Kazabazua coming soon

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By Kendall Knowlton

Kazabazua is getting an SPCA facility in the municipality. 

The facility is being organized by and for the MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau (MRCVG) to serve all of its municipalities.

Low Mayor Carole Robert announced the news during the May 5 council meeting, saying, “There’s going to be an agent working there, and we’re going to have it locally for calls to the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) instead of each municipality.” 

The SPCA facility won’t be a burden on taxpayers, according to Low Coun. Maurren McEvoy, who explained that it’s being funded through a Regions and Rurality fund from the province.

“I believe most municipalities have some kind of arrangement to deal with animal protection, stray dogs etc.,” wrote McEvoy in an email to the Low Down. 

“Low will be saving these direct costs with this new regional solution; also with the service based in Kaz, we may find that response times will be even more effective,” she added.

The new SPCA in Kazabazua will replace the individual arrangements that Low had with the SPCA based in Gatineau. 

Robert told the Low Down that waiting for an SPCA agent to “come from downtown” takes too long and the new facility will give residents a closer, more reliable option for residents dropping off feral animals or injured pets.

The MRC will host a press conference in June to discuss the new service. 

About four people attended the meeting. During question period, resident Marc Coutoure asked why there is no development in Low. 

According to Robert after the meeting, she said that the municipality recently bought three lots to develop. 

“There is development coming. It doesn’t happen overnight,” she said, explaining that the municipality wants to develop the municipal dock to access the Gatineau River. She did not provide a timeline. 

Another resident, Jacques Dusseault, requested that the municipality fix potholes near Chemin Burrough, indicating to Robert that he had asked about this last May. Dusseault said he was worried about safety in the meeting, and council said they would take a look at the issue. 

In other business, council:

  • paid two outstanding invoices for $175,115 and $152,504;
  • authorized an inspector to train someone to be an aqueduct inspector for $1,379;
  • earmarked $12,000 in funding for Canada Day celebrations on July 1. However, taxpayer costs will amount to just $6,000, as the municipality secured $4,000 in donations from the Chase the Ace fundraiser through the CHGA radio station in Maniwaki and $2,000 from the Wesley M. Nicol Foundation, an organization that supports Canadian-based charities. 

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Hamilton Gardens’ to break ground ‘shortly’

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By Trevor Greenway

It’s been nearly 15 years since developers laid out plans for a waterfront development along Wakefield’s iconic riverfront. Now, the 40-unit townhouse project known as Hamilton Gardens will finally break ground this spring. 

The municipality of La Pêche just approved a couple of minor variances to the project, which will see the buildings increase in size slightly. Developers are also switching up a colour scheme so that the homes blend “seamlessly” into the neighbouring environment. 

“When you look at the area there of Hamilton Gardens, it’s going to have the feeling it has always been there,” Devcore VP of development Daniel Landry told the Low Down in mid-May. “It’s not going to look like an anachronism to the existing urban fabric of the Wakefield sector,” he added.

The development will be built next to Cafe Earle on Wakefield’s main drag, overlooking the Gatineau River. 

In terms of changes, the minor variances approved by the municipality were indeed minor, as the surface area of the buildings in the development is increasing from 20 per cent to 23 per cent of the lot. Landry said there were issues with the design, as there wasn’t enough space for garbage trucks or emergency vehicles to turn around, and there would have been two dead ends in the development, which he said wouldn’t be efficient. So, they increased the size of buildings by three per cent globally and reduced the number of units from 45 to 40 to accommodate more space for vehicles to maneuver. Other changes included removing storm shutters on the windows and reducing setback requirements for three-family semi-detached buildings to 6.29 metres from the standard eight metres.

The homes’ cladding will consist of a mix of red brick, wood and high-density wood fibre like Maibec or other composite materials. They will have tin roofs, and every unit will be unique in colour: earth-tone reds, greens, yellows and greys. However, because the existing Cafe Earle – which is adjacent to the development – is already yellow, developers didn’t want clusters and “repeating colours,” so they changed the colour scheme’s order. 

“Especially for the ones in the front, because we don’t want two yellow houses and two red or two red and one yellow,” said Landry. “Cafe Earle is yellow, and so we wanted to have not the same colours repeating. So that’s why we’ve put one red beside Cafe Earle, one grayish-blueish building in the middle and one yellow going towards the church,” he said referring to the Good Shepherd Anglican church, which is near to the development. 

Landry boasted that the project exceeds La Pêche’s mandatory 25 per cent of greenspace, as Hamilton’s will feature closer to 45 per cent. The homes will be built in a colonial style with peaked roofs, large windows and oversized covered porches where residents can sit and interact with village life passing by. “Everything around it is going to look like part of the project because of the architecture,” added Landry. 

La Pêche Mayor Guillaume Lamoureux told the Low Down that the zoning for Hamilton Gardens was approved in 2013. However the changes are still subject to approval from the municipality’s Public Works department, its Environment department and the MRC’s Public Security sector. 

Landry said Devcore hopes to begin construction shortly. 

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Health group worried about aging seniors in Hills

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

A health watchdog group in the Hills is concerned about the region’s aging population, as the MRC des Collines is already short 139 long-term care beds, saying the problem is only going to get worse. 

Vigi Santé spokesperson Marcel Chartrand told the Low Down that the province, nor the region, has a comprehensive plan to house seniors. With nearly 25 per cent of the region’s population over the age of 65, he said the need for a senior’s housing plan is long overdue. 

“How to adequately respond to seniors who wish to stay in their homes, rather than be forced to move to a long-term care facility?” Chartrand questioned. “First, do municipalities know how many of their seniors need home care? Do they know who they are, where they live? No. We need a comprehensive survey to identify them and their needs.”

According to Statistics Canada’s latest census profile, there are just over 50,000 residents in the MRC des Collines region. Of that population, nearly 15 per cent of residents are over the age of 65, while an additional 10 per cent are over 70. And with just 181 beds available, that leaves over 12,000 seniors with no option to grow old in the places they call home. 

“Les Collines’ population is aging fast,” said Chartrand.  

According to The Institut du Québec, projections show that in the next 20 years, the population growth of those aged 25–54 years will only be 128,000 people, while those 70-plus, which are larger users of the health system, will grow by 553,000 people. 

Quebec’s new health department, Santé Québec, has been slashing health budgets across the province in an effort to cut $1.5 billion from its budget. 

“Meanwhile, our hospitals in Wakefield and Gatineau are housing seniors waiting for long-term care beds,” said Chartrand. He added that long-term care patients are using at least 90 beds at the Gatineau Hospital and eight beds at the Wakefield Hospital.

“What facilities are in place to stimulate them, provide social activities?” said Chartrand. “Seniors from Les Collines, in long-term facilities, are displaced in CHSLDs in Gatineau mostly away from their families.”

Chartrand said that in 2024, 25 per cent of all emergency room visits were from residents aged 70 and up, and the cases are becoming “more complex, requiring more time and diagnostic equipment not available in Wakefield.”

“The need for home-care workers keeps growing, putting pressure on family members who are not trained to take care of parents, who require physical, psychological, mental, medical and basic home improvements,” he said. 

Santé Quebec responded to the Low Down after press time. 

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Villa des Brises gets near failing grade on inspection

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By Trevor Greenway

An inspection by Quebec’s investigation department has found that Villa des Brises long-term care home, where Masham resident Aline Maisonneuve was found unconscious in her room and died two days later in April 2024, failed nearly half of its operational measures mandated by the province, including having a faulty call-for-help system for patients. 

According to the January 2024 inspection report by the Direction des Inspections et des Enquêtes, the Villa des Brises care home facility in Gatineau was non-compliant in 18 out of 37 categories. The report was obtained through an access-to-information request. 

Among the biggest infractions cited by the report were a faulty call-for-help system, which was connected to care staff’s cellphones rather than a central line in the home. Several patients of Villa des Brises the Low Down spoke with reported pulling the alarm systems for help, only for their pleas to go unanswered. 

Maisonneuve, a Masham senior, was a patient at the home in 2024. She died in the Hull Hospital on April 14, 2024, after fellow patients reported that her screams for help went unanswered throughout the night two days earlier at Villa des Brises. Doctors found bedsores on her back and torso and a coroner is now investigating her death. 

According to the inspection report, the home also got a failing grade for its fire safety plan, as its resident list was not up to date. The home also failed under the “risk of wandering” category, as it does not feature an alarm system to alert staff if patients wander out of the building. 

The inspection also revealed that staff regularly left hazardous products around the home unattended.

“Presence of a bottle of odoriferating solution concentrated in the fifth floor residents’ bedroom. Cart containing several household products left unattended,” the report stated. At the time of the report, the home also had issues with its liability insurance and had no collaboration or cooperation agreements with intensive care units or prescription drug providers. 

A second inspection in June 2024 revealed the home was still non compliant in six categories, including the faulty call-for-help system, the home’s fire safety plan, as well as a risk of wandering. 

Maisonneuve’s son, Guy, and her daughter-in-law, Shelley Langlois, have been trying to get justice for their loved one for over a year and say the inspection shows just how bad things were at Villa des Brises while Maisonneuve stayed there.

“It puts into perspective just how bad things were at the Villa des Brises/CISSS de l’Outaouais residence,” said Langlois. “Many of the serious problems were documented as far back as January 2024 and yet patients kept being placed there.”

A coroner’s report into Maisonneuve’s death is expected to be released sometime this June. 

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New initiative saving turtles across Quebec

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By Kendall Knowlton

Screech! You just ran over a turtle or found one injured – now what? 

Don’t just leave it there. Call the Taxi Carapace. 

The Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) re-announced May 20 a program that helps injured turtles. It is encouraging the public to call when they find an injured turtle and/or become a volunteer.

The Taxi Carapace is a volunteer-based transportation service for turtles in Quebec that safely and quickly transports them to the Centre de réhabilitation des tortues du Québec (CRTQ), an organization that helps turtle conservation and has been around since 2018. It is located at the Centre d’exploration du Parc de la Rivière-des-Mille-Îles in Laval. 

Those who run over or find injured turtles are encouraged to call Taxi Carapace and stay with the creature until help arrives, according to Francisco Retamal Diaz, project manager at the NCC. Otherwise, the turtle might try to wander off or be taken by a predator. After providing Carapace with details, the program will send a volunteer to the location of the injured turtle and transport it to the rehabilitation centre.

He also said that there is a vet clinic closer to Gatineau that can stabilize turtles but is limited in its capacity.

The Taxi Carapace initiative began last June, and more than 50 volunteers have since signed up to transport the critters to the rehabilitation centre near Montreal. Without volunteers, it would not work as well, according to Retamal Diaz, adding that public involvement is essential to help the turtles recover. 

Retamal Diaz said that 93 turtles were helped and released last year. 

“Most of the time, the turtles that are found on the road are nesting females, so they have eggs in them. So even if the turtle is dead, they can still harvest the eggs and hatch them and then release the babies where they were found,” he explained. 

So, if you run over one of these creatures or find one lying injured on the side of the road, call: 450-622-1020 x286.

Retamal Diaz said that they are always looking for more volunteers. You can fill out the form to become one at natureconservancy.ca.

 The NCC runs the initiative, which complements Éco-Nature’s turtle conservation initiatives, according to the press release. 

New initiative saving turtles across Quebec Read More »

Masham senior was ‘victim of abuse’ at Gatineau care home

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By Trevor Greenway

Aline Maisonneuve wasn’t given a bath for over two weeks while under the care of nurses at the Villa des Brises long-term care home in Gatineau, a report by Quebec’s complaint commission suggests. 

Quebec’s Commissioner for Complaints and Quality of Services found that the Masham senior, who died April 14, 2024, two days after being found unresponsive in her long-term care room in Gatineau, was the victim of “physical and organizational abuse through negligence” by staff at the care home and the CISSS de l’Outaouais home support (SAD) clinical team. 

Before she was taken to the Hull Hospital, witnesses reported hearing her scream throughout the night – screams that went unanswered. She was then found unconscious and taken to hospital, where she later died two days later. Doctors at the Hull Hospital found bed sores on her back and torso. A coroner is now investigating the circumstances of her death. 

While the details around how her mother-in-law was treated at the home are devastating to read, Shelley Langlois told the Low Down that after waiting for answers for over a year, she and her husband, Guy, feel that someone is finally listening to their heartbreaking story. 

“We feel validated,” said Langlois, flipping through the commissioner’s report. “Validated that our concerns were warranted. None of this felt right from the beginning.”

In his report, Commissioner John Benoit noted that on the day Maisonneuve was found unconscious, paramedics discovered a “clean bandage” on her arm, indicating that she had recent bloodwork done. But medical records showed that she had only received bloodwork on March 27, 2024 – 16 days before she was found unresponsive in her care home room. 

“They asked the staff about this, and they had no record of [Aline] having had bloodwork. We can only deduce that the bandage is from bloodwork that would have been taken during a hospitalization at Hull Hospital on March 27, 16 days ago,” Benoit wrote in his report. “As the bandage was clean, it indicates that [Aline] had not likely been bathed in over two weeks. 

The report referred to Maisonneuve’s treatment plan at the care home between Feb. 27 and March 31, 2024, and noted that, while she received personal hygiene assistance almost every day, “she never received a full bath in the bathtub/shower over the same period” according to her treatment plan. 

“I therefore find that there were shortcomings, not only in terms of assistance with hygiene care by VDB [Villa des Brises] staff, but also in terms of the clinical follow-up provided by the nurses of the home support clinical team working at VDB.”

The report went on to note that Aline was also “fully dressed” upon her arrival at the Hull Hospital, which Benoit wrote, “suggested to us that either she had slept in her clothing or someone dressed an unconscious woman prior to sending her by ambulance. Either scenario is deeply upsetting.” Benoit also noted that he has “doubts about the assistance offered” to Maisonneuve between April 1 and 12, 2024, as the care home has yet to submit her treatment plan for that timeframe, “despite several attempts to obtain it.” 

Staff failed to follow ‘rule of care’

Nurses at the care home noted in their file on April 9, 2024, a few days before Maisonneuve was transferred to hospital, that no pressure ulcers were found on her body, according to the report. However, the report referenced a “lack of detailed notes” on Maisonneuve’s file, especially in the days leading up to her admission to the hospital. Benoit wrote in his report that the discrepancies make it impossible to explain the bedsores found by doctors at the Hull Hospital. 

The report stated that notes from a triage nurse at the emergency room at the Hull Hospital did not indicate wounds found on Maisonneuve when she arrived on April 12, 2024. However, a complete physical examination was not performed in the emergency room. It wasn’t until 9:30 p.m. that night when a doctor and a charge nurse discovered bruises and a pressure sore on her tailbone and back. 

“I am concerned about the health condition observed by the nursing and medical team at the Hull Hospital when your mother was admitted on April 12,” wrote Benoit. “The incomplete record-keeping, the absence of the treatment plan for the period from April 1 to 12, the inadequate use of various documentation and follow-up tools, such as the assessment of the risk of falling and the risk of developing pressure ulcers, and the lack of follow-up on care protocols (e.g. post-falls) demonstrate major shortcomings in the care provided to your mother during her stay at the Résidence Villa des Brises.” The report also described four separate instances when Maisonneuve fell at the care home, and each time staff failed to follow the “rule of care,” which involves post-fall assessments and documentation. According to the report, these post-fall assessments were either “absent or incomplete” and documentation was “very limited.”

The report came with a lengthy list of recommendations and an action plan for Villa des Brises to follow. These include implementing assessment and follow-ups for users who have fallen, ensuring nursing staff are trained in delirium detection, ensuring that nurses include prevention-related clinical guidelines when the risk of pressure sores is identified and several other measures. According to the report, many of these recommendations have been implemented since last summer. 

‘We read it and were just bawling’

Langlois told the Low Down that she and her husband had felt abandoned by the system: nurses and staff at Villa des Brises; executives within the CISSS de l’Outaouais; and their own MNA, Robert Bussière, who has yet to contact the family personally. 

They said they’ve waited more than a year for any movement on their file. 

But now that their complaints have been validated, they said they feel confident that justice for their grandmama, mother and mother-in-law will eventually be served. 

Langlois said when she and Guy read in the report that Maisonneuve was “the victim of physical and organizational abuse through negligence on the part of the VDB and SAD care staff during her stay,” they began to weep.

“I highlighted it. We read it and were just bawling,” said Langlois. “What we were looking for was someone to say, ‘You’re not crazy. This place was a shithole.’ And then to follow up with the action plan.”

Langlois praised Quebec’s complaint commission and said that she hopes her and Guy’s story will give others the confidence to push for justice when they feel they or their family have been wronged. 

Guy said he still struggles with the fact that he couldn’t save his mother from neglect at the care home. 

“We knew something was wrong with that place, but we couldn’t do anything about it,” he said, fighting back tears. “We couldn’t save her.” 

MNA Bussière refused to comment on the case, citing that it was a confidential matter. 

A coroner’s report into Maisonneuve’s death is expected to be finalized in June.

Masham senior was ‘victim of abuse’ at Gatineau care home Read More »

Don’t ‘pave paradise’ for Wakefield parking lot

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Stanley Britton is hoping that La Pêche doesn’t “pave paradise” to put up a parking lot. 

The municipality has plans to expand the parking at the popular Gatineau River beach near the Wakefield General Store, but Wakefield resident Britton, a member of Wakefield’s Rail Heritage Advocacy Group, has a much more ambitious plan to revitalize the rail network throughout the village while protecting its rich history by revamping the old train turntable.  

“When we’re talking about rail heritage and turntable park, we’re not just talking about the park,” Britton told the Low Down during a sit-down interview at Cafe Earle in late February. “We’re talking about the entire riverfront.”

Britton’s plan, which should really be called “Stan’s Plan,” features an expanded riverside boardwalk stretching the entire Wakefield village, an artists stage at Roquebrune Park – known locally as Turntable Park – and a new steam train replica, serving as a playground for local kids. His vision also calls for a replica of the old Rockhurst Junction, which would serve as a waiting shelter for trail users. 

The municipality has been considering what to do with the park ever since the Wakefield Steam Train stopped chugging through the village  in 2011. 

A major storm washed away part of the rail bed in Chelsea, and the multi-million dollar fix was too much to absorb. The rail bed became overgrown with weeds, the rail cars were sold off in pieces and the locomotive was sold to the Dalton Ecological Park in Gatineau. 

Chelsea ripped up the rails on its portion of the rail line and built the Voie Verte for pedestrians and cyclists. Britton said he’s hoping La Pêche doesn’t make the same mistake. 

“There’s a whole argument with this push to connect the trail to Chelsea, flatten it and pave it,” said Britton, referring to the Wakefield Rails to Trails group, which, in the past has argued in favour of ripping up the rails and connecting Wakefield to the Voie Verte in Chelsea. “But you’re paving over our history, really.” In Stan’s plan, paving stones would be installed between the rails, like it is in Wakefield’s centre-village.

La Pêche has since solicited proposals from consultants to revitalize the park, but in those plans, much of the history of Wakefield’s waterfront would disappear. 

“The only thing remaining would have been the water tower, and much of the green space between the turntable and the Wakefield General Store, which already accommodates a lot of parking, would essentially be all parking,” said Britton about the previous proposals submitted to the municipality. 

Britton said it would be a shame if the train turntable was removed, as the rail heritage group believes it is one of the last remaining working turntables in the country. The former Canadian Northern Railway turntable in Dauphin, one of the last ones in Manitoba, will be dismantled this summer. 

“The key to a turntable park – and indeed to all of the rail heritage – is the turntable, because it really is a major structure,” added Britton. 

Britton has sourced out the cost for replacing the deck boards at turntable park as well as at the green bridge in Wakefield at $18,000. The replica steam train playground, however, will be closer to $300,000, but Britton said he’s confident in Wakefielders’ fundraising abilities. 

La Pêche Mayor Guillaume Lamoureux confirmed that there is a plan to improve parking at the village beach near the general store, update the public washrooms located nearby and “improve access to the river,” but he added that the municipality’s public infrastructure, park and greenspaces department will be hosting public consultations this summer to get the public’s input on how to improve and develop turntable park. He said that parking would be expanded, but wouldn’t encroach on the beach area. 

“I am really looking forward to sitting down with the community and seeing what people have in mind,” said Lamoureux. “The goal is to come up with a plan for investing in that park. Clearly, there are additional needs to completely redo the bathrooms, improve parking and improve access to the river.”

A date for the municipality’s public consultation has not been set. 

Don’t ‘pave paradise’ for Wakefield parking lot Read More »

Local Canada Day goes green

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By Kendall Knowlton

Wakefield will be super green for Canada Day this year. 

No fireworks. No drones lighting up the sky. No water bottles, no balloons, streamers or plastics, and every single dish, utensil and cup that revellers use will be fully compostable. 

“We’ve just been taking steps to be greener every year,” said Carly Woods, who organizes Canada Day every year at the Wakefield Recreation Association (WRA).

“We’ve shied away from the fireworks for environmental reasons,” said Woods. She said that removing the fireworks was partially due to complaints about people’s pets being afraid of them. There were no fireworks last year either, and Woods said the increased costs of drone shows has made it difficult for organizers to fit the aerial light show into their annual budget.

WRA’s budget changes from year to year but is estimated to be about $20,000 this year, according to Woods. 

Fireworks are wrapped with metal such as lithium and copper, and they can contain chemicals that contaminate the earth, according to Gwen O’Sullivan, an assistant professor of Environmental Science at Mount Royal University. He told CBC News in 2019 that the metals and chemicals are released when the fireworks explode to make colours like blue and red, and they can be toxic to animals and humans.

Wakefield has followed other regions, like Canmore, B.C., in banning firework shows for environmental reasons.

For those who do want to enjoy fireworks, both Chelsea and Low will be having displays. 

Woods also noted that all of the decorations will be environmentally friendly this year. 

“We are making our decorations and reusing them every year,” she said, explaining that the summer camp run by the Wakefield Activities for Youth (WAY) will have kids make decorations out of recycled materials for Canada Day. 

Dishes provided for the festivities will all be compostable, and there will be compost bins throughout the area. A group of people will be collecting all of the cans the day after. There will be no water bottles for sale – guests are asked to bring their own to refill.

“We’ve always been green, or as much as we can,” said Woods, “We are Wakefielders.”

As for the day of celebration, this year’s theme is Canada Strong.

The parade will leave from Centre Vorlage between 11:30 a.m. and 12 p.m. Festivities will take place throughout the rest of the day at the Wakefield community centre, where there will be kid-friendly activities, like bouncy castles, face painting and dunk tanks. 

And music. Local bands, such as The Jakes, will be playing at the community centre. A full lineup is coming soon.

Local Canada Day goes green Read More »

Call for action beyond ballot box

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , ,

By Kendall Knowlton

For Gilbert Whiteduck, a recent NDP candidate who ran for the Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi riding on April 28, the recent federal election was about more than just winning – it was about the community.

Despite not winning the riding, there are many issues he said he wants to continue advocating for, such as preserving the environment. 

“I will stand with people who stand for the truth, who stand for the protection of the environment, who stand with honesty and goodness in their heart,” he said, adding that there are many pressing issues that need to be addressed.

One of those issues was the voter turnout in Kitigan Zibi, a First Nations reserve of the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, near Maniwaki, which has a population of roughly 2,000. It was a higher than normal turnout, although it was still low. 

Speaking about the low turnout – 68 people in total – he said the issue with the U.S. “took priority” and pushed aside environmental and Indigenous issues.

Language is also a topic that he said is on his mind. He mentioned Canada’s history and said that “our language has grown dormant because of colonization and the implications of that,” referring to Indigenous languages. 

For historical reasons, he explained that English is the main language picked up by most Indigenous communities. Whiteduck said that receiving services in English in Quebec can be difficult. Providers will often not speak English, which makes it hard to receive proper healthcare alongside other services, according to Whiteduck. 

“Our answer to that was, ‘Okay, yeah, but you’re on Algonquin land. If you want to play that game, you should be speaking Algonquin,’” he said, referring to service providers unwilling to speak English to Indigenous Peoples in the province. 

When it comes to language and discussions around it, Whiteduck said he also believes that his own party, the NDP, needs less dialogue and more action. 

“Dialogue is important, but you can’t just have dialogue,” said Whiteduck. “There’s gotta be action. There’s gotta be movement” – something that may be harder to do for a party that has since lost official party status.  

He also spoke about partnership with Indigenous communities, such as working with the elected Liberal government to advocate for Indigenous issues. 

Yet he has come across his own challenges as a candidate who is Indigenous. 

“I encountered some people – not many – in the riding, saying, ‘I would not vote for you. Why would I want to vote for an Indigenous person?’” he told the Low Down about his experience campaigning for the recent election. 

He said he thinks that good dialogue can lead to change, though, saying that people just have to listen and be prepared to do things differently. 

Whiteduck, who ran for the first time as a political candidate, came in fourth in the federal election. Prior to that, he was the former chief in Kitigan-Zibi. He’s presently a knowledge holder at the University of Ottawa, a therapist-counsellor and sits on multiple committees, including the Ottawa River Keeper and other environmental groups. He is also currently president of the Gatineau Valley Historical Society.

Call for action beyond ballot box Read More »

Senior Wellness Initiative aids English-speaking seniors

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By Kendall Knowlton

Who knew aging in the Gatineau Hills could include dancing, health education and virtual stretching?

The English-Speaking Seniors’ Wellness Initiative has made these activities and many more a possibility for aging residents in the Gatineau Hills. 

According to Erica Botner, program manager for seniors at the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN), the initiative started about 20 years ago.

The CHSSN is an organization that supports English-speaking communities. They are funded by Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Secrétariat à la jeunesse du Québec, the Secrétariat aux relations avec les Québécois d’expression anglaise, and Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation. 

There are 34 organizations doing activities such as cognitive workshops and other types of education at 125 locations across Quebec, according to Botner. She said that seniors often have trouble accessing health and social services in the province, because of Bill 96, the province’s overhaul of the Charter of the French Language, which restricts certain demographics from receiving services in their first language. 

“They have a harder time accessing health and social services as a language minority, so we do have these centres all across the province,” said Botner, referring to seniors. Connexions also has a satellite office in Wakefield. 

CHSSN’s statistics show that English-speaking seniors aged 55+ take up 28.2 per cent of Quebec’s English-speaking population. Census Canada reports that there were 83,130 seniors in the Outaouais region as of 2021 and 353,085 in Quebec.

Locally, the stats are similar. According to data from La Table de Dévelopment des Collines-de-L’Outaouais (TDSCO) in 2021, there were just 162 private and social housing units for seniors in the region and close to 6,400 residents over the age of 65. There are now 174 units after Farm Point’s Résidence du Petit Bois opened earlier this year with 12 additional units. 

The initiative includes many educational programs that assist seniors as they age like financial abuse workshops. There are activities every week. 

The Know Your Rights and Filing Complaints within the Health and Social Services System workshop will happen in Shawville on May 15.

There is Yoga for Healthy Living in Chelsea on May 21. There is Spectrum Club, which offers games and activities for kids on the spectrum and their families in Wakefield  on May 18 and multiple june events throughout the region. 

“It is giving information in English to seniors about anything health related that is necessary to help them age in place, like stuff about strokes, diabetes, healthy nutrition, physical activity, safe driving, like anything fraud prevention, all of that,” said Botner to the Low Down about what the initiative can do. 

Among the 120 activities for seniors aged 55+ each year, some new ones are popping up. 

The seniors silver lounge, a meeting for seniors, will begin on May 20. It will be at the main Connexions office in Aylmer, according to Diane Wheatley, Seniors Program Regional Coordinator at Connexions Resource Centre. 

“It’s a get together for English-speaking seniors so they can get information,” said Wheatley. It will help English-speaking seniors understand things happening in their community as well as give them the chance to ask questions. 

Having access to the information in a language that seniors can understand matters for reasons such as reading their medications, navigating systems and even figuring out when their next doctor appointment is, according to Botner. 

Wheatley also spoke about a decluttering activity where seniors get some help with going through their belongings and cleaning their spaces. She said the change from winter to spring can be hard for seniors because of the clean up. They might need help clearing things inside and outside, and the initiative can help them with cleaning their homes.

Other activities give seniors a chance to get out of the house and learn more about themselves. 

These include health education presentations, physical activities like gentle stretching for balance and mobility, dancing, yoga, octoband, walk and talks, creative workshops like arts and crafts, gardening, cooking, sewing, social activities including intergenerational activities and outreach strategies (like phone check ins, and providing information and referrals) to reduce barriers to participation and finding the most vulnerable seniors, according to Botner. 

Botner said the point of this initiative and its activities is to help seniors foster connection, stay healthy, give them a sense of meaning, age in their communities, and reduce social isolation. 

About 12 to 35 seniors attend each activity. 

Wheatley added that there are first aid education sessions for seniors, where they learn CPR and how to treat things such as choking. These sessions are taught by McGill University medical students. 

“Sometimes as a senior they feel like they aren’t listened to, those activities are just to help them break the isolation and be heard,” said Wheatley to the Low Down. “It is extremely rich in regards to that population, and it makes a difference in so many peoples lives.”

The initiative is designed to run until 2027. Botner said that they do not know what will happen after that. 
You can find Connexions’ schedule at https://centreconnexions.org/events-activities/.

Senior Wellness Initiative aids English-speaking seniors Read More »

Relay for Life nets $60K for Cancer research

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Teachers at Philemon Wright High School and Hadley Junior High had to deal with hundreds of “exhausted” students on Monday, May 12, who had been up all night on Friday, May 9.

But they weren’t partying. And they weren’t studying either. 

Instead, more than 280 students from both the high school and junior high walked all night at the school with their friends to raise money for cancer research, more than $59,000 worth of fundraising. 

Hadley and Philemon’s Relay for Life is an all-night cancer fundraiser, where students raise money, do endless laps around the school’s track, play games, eat snacks and stay up all night, from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m. Parents have to deal with tired teenagers Saturday morning – an exhaustion that persists with the students even to Monday morning, according to teachers. But for close to $60,000 in cancer funding, it’s all worth it. 

“It was incredible to see so many students come out this year,” said Hadley phys-ed teacher Katie Campbell, who has volunteered at the Relay for Life since it launched six years ago. “We started this event back in 2019 and had under 200 participants that year. So this has been the most participants we’ve ever had by far, which was a lot to take on. But it ended up being a really great event.” 

Campbell told the Low Down that when the Relay for Life committee was organizing this year’s event, they had an ambitious goal of raising $50,000 for cancer research, which would have been the most money the event had raised to date. She admitted that it was an ambitious goal, but by Monday, money was still being tallied, and the total was already over $55,000. 

“It’s absolutely insane,” said Campbell. “And I was like, ‘All right, that’s a lot of money, I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to do that.’ And then we hit $50,000 before our event even started on Friday night.”

“I was exhausted, I slept for 14 hours when I got home,” said Grade 9 student Belle Harrison, who was part of the Mall Walkers team – a gaggle of teenage girls who donned 90s-style tracksuits, ankle weights and “old lady glasses” for the event. The Edelweiss teen has done the relay every year since she arrived at Hadley in Grade 7 and said she has family who experienced cancer in the past and wants to do her part to help more people fight the disease. 

“I do it because I have family that has either survived cancer or died from cancer,” said Harrison. “It’s meaningful, and also fun, staying up all night, raising money.”

Grade 9 student Capri Dolan said that the Relay committee did a good job with building in fun activities, like the giant inflatable obstacle course that kept kids running up and down, literally all night and into the wee hours of the morning. The La Pêche teen said she was the unofficial obstacle course champ. 

“My great grandma had cancer,” said Dolan, answering why she takes part in Relay for Life every year. “And also for the people who will get cancer and who are going through it now – I want to fundraise money for them.”

Campbell said school spirit was especially strong this year, with many teams dressing up in their own theme – everything from gorilla costumes to princesses, including a pig. She said the event blends both schools together seamlessly and creates a shared experience for older senior students as well as freshmen. 

“I think it’s just really incredible to see our students come together as a community because it really connects them from Grade 7 all the way through to Grade 11,” said Campbell. “So you get to see these students interacting with the older students and the younger ones, all coming together for a bigger cause. Cancer affects everyone here in our building in one way or another, with one in two Canadians being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.”

Since its inception in 2019, Relay for Life at Philemon and Hadley has raised more than $170,000 for cancer research. 

Relay for Life nets $60K for Cancer research Read More »

Ottawa measles outbreak may have spread to Gatineau

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By Trevor Greenway

The region’s health authority is warning residents to be vigilant about measles, as an outbreak that started in Ottawa may have spread to Gatineau two weekends ago. 

Although transmission of the virus is low in outdoor settings, CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO), is warning residents who were at the Éco des champs farm, located at 482 Earley Rd. in Gatineau on the morning of April 20, to monitor for symptoms and to ensure they are protected from the virus.

“Since the start of the measles outbreak in Quebec and Ontario, no cases of measles have been confirmed in the Outaouais region,” wrote CISSSO in a recent press release. “We remind the public that, although the outbreak is over in Quebec, measles cases can occur, and it is important to ensure that you are protected.”

CISSSO said that the majority of people who were at the Gatineau eco farm have already been contacted, however for those who have not, the health agency is recommending they confirm vaccination records for their children and themselves. 

You are considered protected against measles if:

  • you have received two doses of the measles vaccine (first dose after one year of age and second dose at 18 months, or with four weeks between doses);
  • you were born before 1970.

If you are not protected against measles or are unsure:

  • make an appointment via clicsante.ca or by calling 819-776-2920 to verify your vaccination status or to receive the vaccine free of charge.

Whether you are vaccinated or not, watch for symptoms of measles until May 11: 

  • fever of at least 101 F (38.3 C) and a cough/runny nose or conjunctivitis (red, light-sensitive eyes) and a red rash that starts on the face and spreads to the entire body.

 If you develop the symptoms described above: 

  • stay home;
  • avoid contact with babies under 12 months of age, pregnant women and people with immune system disorders.

Last week, Ottawa Public Health reported that an adult and a child from Ottawa are believed to have contracted measles while travelling abroad. Their diagnosis is the first confirmed measles case in Ottawa, as an outbreak spreads across Ontario, with more than 1,200 people affected. For more information about measles or to consult a nurse, dial 811.

Ottawa measles outbreak may have spread to Gatineau Read More »

Tornado-like storm wreaks havoc on Hills homes

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Paul Kodish said he heard what sounded like “an explosion” when a violent windstorm hit his Edelweiss home and sent a tree through his ceiling on the evening of April 29. 

“It was like a rocket,” said Kodish, pointing to a hole in his cedar ceiling.

Kodish was teaching a drum lesson on the evening of April 29 around 6 p.m., when he said “everything just went dark” and a violent windstorm hit without warning. Immediately, trees around his property began falling down – but not just falling – he said the trees were shooting toward the ground “like missiles.” 

One pierced his roof, another jammed more than four feet into the ground and damaged his retaining wall. His vehicle was slightly damaged, but more than that, he and his wife Natalia Kantor, who are new to the Hills, were left shaken. 

“Now, I’m doing okay,” said Kantor, a day after the violent storm, admitting that the day before she was rattled and scared as the storm rattled windows, sent debris into her home and brough instant darkness to their typically bright and sunny Edelweiss home. “I think we had a mini tornado because the tree tops went flying into our roof like bullets. We ran downstairs.”

Environment Canada is now investigating whether a tornado touched down in the area. Winds may have reached speeds of over 100 km/h during the storm’s peak, according to meteorologist Eric Tomlinson. 

Over in Masham, neighbours were also hit hard by the storm. Several residents lost portions of their roofs, others had severe damage to their car shelters and sheds. Trees were uprooted, powerlines were downed and hundreds were left without power for several days. 

Even this reporter’s home wasn’t spared, as evidenced by the solid wood picnic table in the backyard that was tossed eight feet into the air before landing in an above-ground pool. Deck stairs were cracked when a wheelbarrow was thrown into them. Emergency crews in La Pêche were dispatched to clear downed trees in multiple areas, and despite such a violent storm coming so quickly without warning, no injuries were reported. 

Tomlinson told the Low Down that, while it’s too early to tell whether or not a tornado touched down, Environment Canada believes it was a “straight line wind event,” or a “microburst,” which is a downdraft of air that has nowhere to go during a thunderstorm. Tomlinson said Environment Canada confirmed that a severe thunderstorm producing strong winds and hail moved through the area around 6:45 p.m.

“We did get some damage reports from that general area that do suggest some stronger gusts, the possibility of gusts up to 100 kilometres per hour with those thunderstorms was present,” said Tomlinson. He added that Western University’s The Northern Tornadoes Project is investigating the possible presence of a tornado. He said the area was under a tornado warning. “We’re talking more of a microburst for that particular storm,” he said. “With microbursts, you can get winds that resemble a weak tornado that could produce similar levels of damage. So, you could imagine just a lot of rain falling, a lot of air descending very rapidly and then having nowhere to go once it reaches the surface. And so that’s why you can actually get those stronger wind gusts. It won’t be quite as widespread, similar to a tornado in that sense, but definitely enough to cause significant damage for sure.”

Tomlinson advised residents to heed severe thunderstorm warnings and plan accordingly to prepare for extreme weather events. With climate change producing more frequent and more intense storms, he said residents should always have a plan. 

“Having a good idea of where you’re going to be in the evening and the afternoon, just to have a plan in mind as to where you can take shelter, that would be the first advice I would give,” said Tomlinson.  “Obviously, indoors is best. You want to get into an interior area of the building. Stay away from windows, specifically, if the risk that day is for thunderstorms and strong gusts of wind and get to a basement, if possible.” He said if you’re trapped outside, you can take shelter in your car if it’s nearby. If you’re out hiking in the woods, Tomlinson suggests lying down on the ground or finding a “small tree” to take shelter under, as larger trees are more likely to be hit by lightning. 

Tornado-like storm wreaks havoc on Hills homes Read More »

La Pêche town hall wins eco-design award

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By Trevor Greenway


The municipality of La Pêche has won a design excellence award for its Passivhaus town hall, which is officially the first institutional building in Quebec to have the German eco-building status. 

The award was given out earlier this month by the Centre of Expertise on Commercial Wood Construction (Cecobois), whose mission is to facilitate the increased use of wood buildings in multi-family and non-residential construction across the province. La Pêche won first place in the Sustainable Development category. 

According to the jury panel, La Pêche’s new town hall, which spans an impressive 1,426 square metres just off Hwy 366 in Masham, “Comprehensively considers its environmental footprint.” The town hall officially opened in November 2024. 

“Minimizing the construction’s intrinsic carbon footprint and reducing consumption through a Passivhaus design demonstrates demanding and advanced work,” the panel wrote.  “A pioneering building, it paves the way for low-carbon institutional buildings in Quebec.”

Passivhaus is a German building concept in which a building or home must adhere to a specific design standard and use 90 per cent less energy than conventional buildings. Passivhaus buildings have no active heating system and boast ultra-low energy costs. 

The new town hall cost La Pêche $11.5 million, however half of that was covered in provincial grants. 

La Pêche Mayor Guillaume Lamoureux was in Quebec City in early April to accept the award. 

La Pêche town hall wins eco-design award Read More »

Liberal’s Chatel cruises to victory

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By Trevor Greenway

Liberal incumbent Sophie Chatel was all smiles at Chelsea Pub, as she won a second term in the Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi riding and as her party formed a fourth consecutive government during Monday’s federal election on April 28. 

“I’m truly touched by the trust that you’ve given me to represent such a beautiful community,” said Chatel during her victory speech around 11 p.m. to a raucous crowd. “But this victory belongs to every one of you – everyone who believes in the power of community, the power of hope and hard work.”

And by the numbers, it was a breeze for Chatel in the riding. According to Elections Canada, with 97 per cent of the polls counted in this riding, Chatel took 52 per cent of the vote, with Conservative Brian Nolan taking just 30 per cent. The Bloc’s Suzanne Proulx took third place, while the NDP’s Gilbert Whiteduck fell to fourth on a night when his party lost official party status in the House of Commons with their projected seven seats. 

But it was a night of red and white at the Chelsea Pub, as Chatel cruised through the doors to the theme song from ‘Rocky’. There were close to 40 or so supporters cheering and waving mini Canadian flags. 

The cautious optimism that Liberals carried with them throughout the night quickly gave way to pure celebration, as the Liberals took an early lead and maintained it. And when Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s riding came on screen to show that he was losing by a large margin, the room erupted in cheers. 

Chatel told the Low Down that she felt the most significant shift in the campaign came when former Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau stepped down, paving the way for Mark Carney to become the new face of the Liberal party, and offering the best chance at facing the tariff threats from the U.S. President Donald Trump. She called the move a “game changer.”

“Mark Carney is an amazing individual, but he has the experience, the vision, the plan, to face perhaps the biggest economic crisis that Canada has ever lived through since the Great Depression,” said Chatel. “And to face Donald Trump and also the AI revolution and the transition to a clean economy.”

Locally, Chatel spoke of the “opportunity” in the riding to remove interprovincial trade barriers, increase support for farmers and small business owners, and to support affordable housing in the region. On that note, she said the Liberals would support axing GST for new home purchases. 

Chatel also spoke about the schism that Canada had seen over the past few years with the pandemic, language and politics, but she said that she is done feeding into “divisive Canada.”

“There’s no time for division,” she said. “It’s time to unite. No matter who you voted for this election, it’s time to unite and build. It’s time to speak with one voice.”

Chatel also said she would stand up for English rights in Quebec and stated her support for a Liberal intervention at the Supreme Court of Canada over Bill 96 should Quebec’s controversial language law make it to Canada’s highest court. 

But Chatel voted for C-13, an Act to amend the Official Languages Act, and defended her stance, arguing that C-13 actually strengthens French outside of Quebec while supporting anglophones in Quebec. 

“C-13 to me is legislation to protect the French minority outside of Quebec, which is really at risk,” said Chatel. “It’s good legislation because it brought investment for our minority groups so that they have equal opportunities, especially for employment.”

As for her first order of business, Chatel said she is immediately dusting off her Gatineau Park protection bill and will work with Senator Rosa Galvez to push it through. 

“It’s a natural jewel,” said Chatel of Gatineau Park, which attracts more than two million visitors each year to the region. “It is an economic attraction. And when we talk about unlocking economic potential, there is a lot of eco tourism there, so we need to protect it.”

By press time, polls were still being counted, and it’s unclear if the Liberals will form a majority or minority government. 

Conservatives ‘proud’ of gains in riding

Brian Nolan’s Conservative campaign won a level of support for the Tories not seen in the riding in more than a decade. 

Though final counts are not quite complete, by press time Nolan had placed in second, with about 28 per cent of the vote in Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi – an eight-point increase from the 2021 election. 

After conceding the race just before midnight on April 28, Nolan told the Low Down he was proud of the campaign he ran and appreciative of the volunteers and supporters. 

“I was really present, and I tried to connect with people,” Nolan said in an interview after the results came out. He added that he thinks that’s why his campaign resonated with over 15,000 Hills voters.

At 9 p.m., Nolan saw a pathway to victory locally and nationally for the Conservatives. He predicted strong support for his campaign in the north and west portions of the riding. Standing outside his campaign office on Old Chelsea Road, waiting for results to come in, Nolan told the Low Down that he had been throughout the riding to polling stations on April 28, thanking supporters who were out casting their vote. He said he was happy with the campaign he ran, accumulating 9,000 kilometres on his truck and speaking with about 4,000 constituents in the month-long campaign.

At 9:30 p.m., when polls closed, the chatter and energy in the office increased as 18 people, including Nolan and his family, watched the TV for results. 

When Nolan’s name came on screen, there was a cheer and proclamation of, “We’re tied right now,” as the broadcast showed a 0-0 tie for all the candidates in the riding. 

Thirty-five minutes after Quebec polls closed, however, the broadcast called the election in favour of the Liberals, and the room sat motionless. Someone made a fake retching noise when Carney’s picture came on screen. 

Discussion of Pierre Poilievre in the room grew as the Liberals opened a wide lead, but criticisms of the party leader subsided, as results changed and it became clear that the Conservatives had made gains across the country but not enough to form government. 

Liberal candidate Sophie Chatel maintained a narrow lead over Nolan for a couple of hours, with Nolan keeping a close eye on the number of votes still to come. Just before midnight, however, Chatel’s lead had begun to widen, and Nolan conceded the election.

“It’s been a long day,” Nolan said at midnight. “Discouraged a little bit and disappointed.” 

Nolan told the Low Down that he had had a good feeling he had a chance, but said the residents had made their choice. 

“I think we did everything right,” he said, adding that he felt he “had the pulse” of the riding’s rural population in the north and west, but he said much of the riding was attracted to the message of Mark Carney. 

“I don’t think [voters] were supporting Sophie much because she hasn’t done much [for] the riding,” he said, criticizing her for focusing on the tourism industry. “People wanted to vote for Mr. Carney … Sophie was never selling herself, she was mostly selling Carney,” he added. 

Nolan wished the best for Chatel, and said he’ll be back at it again when the next election comes. He said he hopes the minority government will fall in two years so he can run again.

Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi NDP candidate falls to Liberals

NDP candidate Gilbert Whiteduck may have lost in Monday’s federal election, but the former Kitigan-Zibi chief and Algonquin from the Anishinabeg First Nation says he will continue to stand up for what he believes in.

“Tomorrow’s another day. Many of the issues in the riding are still going to be there. I’ll work on those that I have time to work on,” said Whiteduck to the Low Down. He said he will continue to advocate for environmental issues, the Gatineau River and many other issues in the riding.

Nationally and locally, the NDP came in 4th in the election, after the Bloc Quebecois. With so few seats, the NDP lost its official party status.

Whiteduck’s campaign team sat in campaign manager Toby Sanger’s house Monday night, in Wakefield, watching the election results coming in around 11 p.m. 

He got just five per cent of the vote – 2,921 by press time. 

Shortly after Whiteduck and his wife, Patricia, arrived closer to 10:45 p.m., the room erupted in applause, and he said a few words, including thanking his wife and the people gathered around the television. 

“I don’t think I could have done it without all of you,” he said to the group. It was Whiteduck’s first time running in an election. 

A couple of the people in the room mentioned to the Low Down that Whiteduck was the reason they wanted to be involved in the first place. 

“He has the integrity I long for in a politician,” said Ilse Turnsen, a member of his campaign team. She said she’s happy to vote for someone she believes in.  

Whiteduck ran a unique campaign throughout the Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi riding, with no political pamphlets being handed out to residents. Instead, Whiteduck said he created dialogue “circles”  where people gathered and spoke.

As a message to all voters, he thanked them for considering him, and said that “the importance of working together and working on common issues is really important.” 

Despite falling to fourth place, the room remained positive throughout the night. 

Whiteduck said he may run again, but he mentioned that a lot can happen in four years, so he is unsure if he will run again at this time. 

By press time, the riding counted 97 per cent of the vote. 

Liberal’s Chatel cruises to victory Read More »

Grace United worshippers’ emotional final service

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By Trevor Greenway

It was difficult for Rev. Eric Hébert-Daly to get through his final service at Grace United Church in Rupert without shedding a few tears. 

“Rupert holds a very special place in my heart,” Hébert-Daly said to a congregation of close to 60 people who had gathered April 13 for the final deconsecration service of the church – a service intended to dedicate the building to other purposes. “It’s a space that has offered me opportunities to grow, to witness what community ministry looks like. It’s been a refuge from the craziness of the world. It’s a place where I presided over my first wedding. It was the church that I was able to ride my bike to in the summer – and I was still welcome, even though there were no showers,” he said to peals of laughter. 

To say that the final service at Grace United in Rupert was emotional would be an understatement. Among the rows of pews were worshippers in tears as they prayed and crooned the final hymns chosen by worship leader Marie Silvenie Chéry. 

Longtime worshipper Winnifred Wood told the Low Down following the service that, while it’s just the building that is changing hands, and the faith remains intact, it’s still difficult to say goodbye to decades of memories. 

“Oh, it’s sad, it’s emotional,” she said, wiping away tears. 

“I wish my husband was here to share this, but he’s been gone five years now.” 

Wood has been attending the Rupert Church for as long as she can remember. She said she will still be gathering at the St. Mary Magdalene Church in Chelsea, where Grace United services are moving, but she worries about older folks who can’t make the trip every Sunday. 

“Well, there are some of us that go down, but it’s going to be tough for a lot of these folks,” she said. “They won’t really have a place to gather anymore.”

As the final service came to a close, Hébert-Daly told the crowd that while the building is being deconsecrated, the spirituality inside the walls, contained within the stunning stained glass windows and flowing throughout the rows of pews, will remain. 

“The moments we’ve shared here have created a sacred space that has been woven into the fabric of the wood beams, of the bricks that were carefully brought from Ottawa, of the painted pews and of the windows the spirit winds that have blown through this place since 1882 for 143 years have infused this space with holiness,” he said. 

“When we deconsecrate a building, as we are doing today, it does not suddenly stop being holy ground. We are not desacralizing the space. The work of the spirit isn’t undone because we dedicate this building to other purposes. History isn’t rewritten. And beyond saying farewell to this building, we’re making a decision to be attentive to the work of the Spirit in other places.”

Emotional goodbye for longtime worshippers

It was hard to find a dry eye among those gathered in the pews – the congregation’s tears fuelled by the recounting of memories – nearly 150 years worth – during the final service.

Wood spoke about the history of the building during the service, noting that Grace United Church was built in 1882 after the nearby Presbyterian Church had become overcrowded. It was constructed on land donated by James Nesbitt. 

She told the crowd that contractor Samuel Hutton’s fee to build the church was $2,500 – a fair amount in those days. Hutton had bricks made in Ottawa and hauled them up “by horse and wagon over unpaved roads” to what was known as “Leslie’s Corner,” where the building stands now. 

Rev. George Baynes was the first minister of this new Presbyterian Church. Years later, On June 10, 1925, under the guidance of Rev. Arthur Shorten, the United Church of Canada came into being – nearly 100 years ago when The Methodist Church of Canada, the Congregational Union of Canada, and 70 per cent of the Presbyterian Church in Canada entered into a union together to become the United Church.

Grace United also hit some major milestones during this time, including a 75th, 100th and 125th anniversary, the latter with Minister Rev. Gisele Gilfillan, who presided over a special service that turned into a day-long celebration. 

“A huge banner declaring 125 years was strung outside between two windows,” said Wood. “Lunch was at the community centre with indoor plumbing.” The church maintained stable numbers for decades before the United Church’s numbers began to decline in Canada. It started happening during Quebec’s Quiet Revolution in the 1960s, according to Hébert-Daly, when “80 per cent of people stopped going to church.”

In 2016, five congregations in the region – St. Andrew’s Cantley, Chelsea United Church, St. Andrew’s Gatineau, Rupert United Church and St. Andrew’s in Wakefield – merged to form one church called Grace United. 

Many of the original church buildings – such as the Rupert building – have since been sold, as it has become increasingly difficult for smaller churches to keep up with building maintenance and renovations. 

United Churches in Canada are the fastest-shrinking denomination. The latest cen­sus paints a grim picture of the church’s future, as it lost a staggering 40 per cent of its affiliates between 2011 and 2021, falling to 1.2 million people from roughly two million.

Hébert-Daly said there is a “lost generation” in Quebec who are looking for something to believe in. 

“Now, we have a younger generation that is actually spiritually hungry, looking for ways to sort of be connected with something bigger than themselves and with a community,” he said. 

“But the ways we do church on a Sunday morning don’t appeal to them.” He added that the church is now looking at various ways of connecting with this “lost generation.”

Grace United worshippers’ emotional final service Read More »

 QUAIL hosting dinner to help displaced residents

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Seven QUAIL House residents displaced by a house fire in mid-March still haven’t been able to return to their home in Chelsea. 

An electrical fire consumed the garage March 18, causing $100,000 in damages as it charred appliances, tools, supplies and the QUAIL van, which is used to take its residents – adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities – to doctors’ appointments and field trips. 

“We have not yet been able to return to the house, but all of our residents and staff are staying together at a temporary location in Wakefield,” said QUAIL volunteer Celine Nadreau. “It has been a big transition, especially for some of our residents, but the team has done an incredible job maintaining routines and a sense of stability.”

Nadreau said that QUAIL has been moved by the “outpouring of support” from the community, as many have donated meals and transportation to help support the local charity. QUAIL House is an independent living facility for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities. 

 “We feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such generosity,” said Nadreau.

To help raise more money and expedite a return to the building, QUAIL is hosting a memorial dinner for QUAIL founding member, the late Audrey Jessup, at Les Fougères in Chelsea on May 14 at 6 p.m.

Chefs at Les Fougères are preparing a three-course meal for the event, which will cost attendees $125 per plate, which includes a $60 tax receipt. Tickets are available here: https://square.link/u/bumV1pwR. 

Visit www.maisonquailhouse.org for more information or to donate to the charity.

 QUAIL hosting dinner to help displaced residents Read More »

Election Q&A: The environment how will parties save our planet

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Environmental protection is a big topic among local voters these days. With increased mining claims being staked in our region, continued development near Gatineau Park and the Gatineau River and threatened species in the Gatineau Hills, what will your party to do conserve more green space, protect wetlands, and save threatened flora and fauna in our region?

Gilbert Whiteduck, New Democratic Party 

The rivers, land and all species should be sacred to everyone. To protect our environment, the Gatineau River needs legal protection and personhood, which is why I co-founded the Tenàgàdino Alliance: to achieve legal rights for the Gatineau River. I’m not opposed to development, but it must be responsible. Building a nuclear waste dump beside the Ottawa River is not responsible: Conservative and Liberal governments should never have allowed it to proceed. I’m also concerned about the recent explosion of mining claims in our region, which could lead to a destructive legacy.  The NDP was the first party – 20 years ago – to introduce a bill to protect Gatineau Park as an actual national park and prevent it from shrinking further, but the Liberals defeated it. As traditional guardians of this land, the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg community should become stewards of the park. This needs to be a collaborative effort. 

Todd Hoffman, People’s Party of Canada

My response might be surprising to some. On the environment, while the PPC is strongly opposed to the globalist approach to climate change, when it comes to local concerns we weigh towards the will of the community. Our principals have always been based on fairness, respect and responsibility. As to the questions raised, civic responsibility and respect for nature are areas we hold in high regard. The PPC belief is that citizens and municipal and regional governments are the best to work on finding the right fit to find the balance between those that are concerned and those who wish to develop. In human agency, just as in nature, a balance can be found for everything. We believe in the will of the people. If the people on the ground want it, good. If they do not, forget it. But never, no outside lobbyist to influence the outcome.

Sophie Chatel, Liberal party (Incumbent)

Protecting the natural heritage of Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi is a top priority for me. I led a conservation project with Kitigan Zibi that made our region the first in Canada with a roadmap to meet our international nature protection goals. This is the Kidjimaninan initiative, which brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities to protect our region’s biodiversity. I co-led a bill to give Gatineau Park the legal protections it deserves, and I am committed to reintroducing it in the next session. This is part of my vision for a green and prosperous Outaouais, where conservation and economic opportunity go hand in hand. Under Mark Carney’s leadership, a Liberal government will go further by creating 10 new national parks, expanding Indigenous-led conservation, investing $100 million in freshwater protection and funding nature-based climate solutions that preserve wetlands, biodiversity and critical habitats. This is how we build a greener future for Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi.

Claude Bertrand, Green party

Protecting the environment has been the GPC’s raison d’être for the past 41 years. It has a very substantial popular support amongst Canadians of all stripes, but thanks to Canada’s dramatically flawed first-past-the-post electoral system, the GPC currently only has two MPs in the House of Commons.  Mining activities carried out within or even near populated areas severely undermine the citizen’s quality of life and the environment. In the same way, housing developments within park boundaries are very enticing for those who can afford them but are detrimental to the enjoyment of users who seek a connection with nature. Quebec may be the most environmentally responsible province, and many volunteer organizations struggle to protect the local environment. The GPC carries out targeted actions by fostering a network of like-minded organizations and citizens who aim to shape local environmental laws and programming by province and municipalities.

Brian Nolan, Conservative party

Environmental protection is a priority for the Conservative Party of Canada, especially in regions like ours, where natural beauty and biodiversity are at risk. We recognize the importance of preserving green space, protecting wetlands and conserving threatened species in the Gatineau Hills, Gatineau Park and along the Gatineau River. Our approach is practical and science-based. We will work collaboratively with local communities, First Nations and provincial governments to protect ecologically sensitive areas, while supporting responsible development. We are committed to strengthening environmental assessments, promoting habitat restoration and empowering community-led conservation initiatives. Our goal is to ensure future generations can enjoy the same natural treasures we value today. Conservatives believe environmental protection and economic growth can go hand-in-hand through smart, sustainable decision-making. By respecting nature and empowering those closest to it, we can build a greener, more prosperous future for Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi and all Canadians.

Election Q&A: The environment how will parties save our planet Read More »

Quebec’s fantastic plastic overhaul

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway


Plastic is everywhere. 

From water and pop bottles to coffee lids and milk containers, Canadians – and Hills’ families – can’t seem to get away from single-use plastics. 

Despite a federal ban on single-use plastic bags, straws and cutlery in 2020, plastic continues to pollute the country – and plastic bottles are one of biggest contributors. According to Statistics Canada, of the 43,140 tonnes of plastic leaked permanently into the environment in 2019, over three-fifths (62.7 per cent) were used in packaging, with plastic bottles accounting for more than 5,595 tonnes. 

Stats Canada also found that only nine per cent of all plastic in Canada is recycled, with the majority ending up in landfills while the rest litters parks, beaches and neighbourhoods. 

Quebec is trying to change that. The province has been overhauling its recycling system since 2020 and is implementing a phased-in approach to expand its list of recyclable items. 

This is great news for families like the Merrills in Masham. With four on-the-go children, it’s safe to say the family goes through a lot of pop and water bottles throughout the year. 

Heather Merrill, the Low Down’s general manager, said that Quebec’s new Consignaction refund system, with its increased payouts, makes the headache of returning bottles finally worth it. 

“When the kids were little, we used to save the cans for them to bring in for candy money, but it wasn’t worth the trouble,” said Merrill. “The bags would sit outside for months until filled, which was super annoying: we’d have to separate the tall cans from the shorties, and in the summer, the wasps were all over the bags – all for about $12. No thanks. Into the blue bin with them.”

But with the amount received doubling – $24 bucks a bag – it’s more than “worthwhile,” according to Merrill, especially now that she has teens and goes through even more cans. Merrill said she is also excited about Consignactions’ new plastic bottle return program.

“Adding the plastic bottles to the return system was a great idea. Water bottles, coffee cream bottles, Black Fly bottles … all now go in a bag that can be returned for $18. We plan to find some outdoor bins to store them in until full [in order] to discourage the wasps, and so I won’t be annoyed by looking at the bags,” she added.

Consignaction launched in 2023, with the amount collected for aluminum cans doubling –  from five to 10 cents – and with the addition of the plastic bottle return program in March 2025. All glass, including wine bottles, will be phased in by 2027. 

How much can I get back?

All aluminum beverage containers from 100 ml to 2 L = 10 cents

  • beer, pop cans
  • ready-to-drink beverages: fruit juices, sparkling waters, flavoured waters, cocktails or small vegetable juices

All plastic ready-to-drink beverage containers from 100 ml to 2 L = 10 cents

  • bottles of water, sparkling water, juice 
  • any other beverage containers, such as flavoured water, spirits

Glass – certain 500 ml to 2 L glass bottles = 25 cents

  • Presently, most Quebec-based craft brewery bottles, but check full returns list: www.consignaction.ca
  • by 2027, all glass to be phased in 

Where can I return my bottles?

La Peche:

  • Marché Masham – 245 Hwy 366 
  • Beausoleil Luc Épicerie et Quincaillerie – 292 Ch. Pontbriand
  • Le P’tit Magasin Général – 952 Ch. Cléo-Fournier

Chelsea

  • Charles Family IGA – 1703 Hwy 105
  • Marché Chelsea – 528-A Hwy 105

Cantley

  • Charles Family IGA – 455 Montée de la Source

Gracefield:

  • Marché Kelly Gracefield inc. (Metro) – 27 Rue Principale

By the numbers

  • 43,140 tonnes of plastic leaked permanently into environment in 2019 in Canada
  • 62.7% of leaked plastic from packaging
  • 5,595 tonnes of plastic bottles in landfills
  • 1.5 billion plastic beverage containers now returnable under Consignaction
  • 5 billion items recycled annually is program’s goal
  • 90% recovery rate is project’s aim
  • 9% of all plastic recycled in Canada

Quebec’s fantastic plastic overhaul Read More »

Arborist found not guilty

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Tommy Townsend has an ear-to-ear smile as he sits on the back of his work truck outside of the MRC des Collines courthouse in Chelsea. 

He’s smiling because a judge just threw out his case in which he was accused of wandering around the village of Wakefield with a knife two summers ago. 

“It feels good,” says Townsend, minutes after Justice Joanne Cousineau found him not guilty of a bylaw infraction April 10. “I’m glad someone had some common sense. I don’t feel the police had any common sense on that day, personally, and I don’t think the prosecutor had too much either, but the judge did…I was not wandering around. I was in my vehicle, as she stated. It’s good to get some closure.”

Townsend was arrested at gunpoint in front of his two children by MRC des Collines officers on Aug. 18, 2023, after a witness called police and reported that a man wielding a knife was wandering around the village. 

During the trial, the Wakefield single dad told the judge that he had just returned from a quick job as an arborist and had his two daughters in the car, as they were going to buy shoes at Giant Tiger. He was suddenly pulled over by police, who drew their guns and ordered Townsend onto the ground in front of Kaffe 1870. 

He was later released and was not charged criminally. Weeks later, police fined him for a bylaw infraction for carrying a knife without a reasonable excuse. 

That was the crux of the trial, as Cousineau needed to determine whether or not Townsend had a reasonable excuse to carry a knife. In her decision, she said that the police, and Crown prosecutor Olivier Gosselin failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Townsend was “wandering around.”

In August 2023 Townsend told the Low Down that he was in Wakefield searching for a missing Low man, Simeon Wapachee, and was dressed in a safety vest as he showed passersby Wapachee’s photo. He had several knives sheathed to his belt. This was not mentioned in court. 

“When I have two contradictory versions, I don’t need to see who spoke the truth. I wasn’t there,” said Cousineau. “[The Crown] has a burden of proving every element of the infraction beyond reasonable doubt.”

She continued: “Nobody in that file came and testified saying that they saw you wandering around with a knife. You were in your vehicle. That’s not public property,” she said to Townsend during her decision. “It’s maybe not the best move to be driving around with a knife on you when you’re with your daughters, but who am I to judge on that? You were arrested, and the police say they saw you in your vehicle. Now, do I believe your version? Not so much, but the long and the short of it is, the police did not see you wandering around, and that is the infraction in this bylaw.”

Townsend submitted photos of his work truck to prove he was an arborist. 

“If you’re an arborist, you have an excuse,” she said. “The part of you having [a knife] on you is a little disturbing. The long and short of it is that you were in your vehicle; you were not wandering around on the street. If the people saw you, they should have come and testified, which they did not.”

Townsend said he is happy to get “closure,” but he hesitated when asked if he felt justice was served. 

“I feel this whole thing was unjustified to begin with,” he said, adding that the traumatic event still affects his daughters. At the time of the arrest, his daughters were six and 11.

He said his youngest has nightmares about gun violence, and his oldest is now afraid of police officers.

“The most tragic part of this unnecessary event is that two small children have no faith or trust in police officers anymore.”

Arborist found not guilty Read More »

Prefect says she will fight for Low CLSC

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Chantal Lamarche says that she will do everything in her power to save the Low CLSC from closure. 

The MRC Vallée-de-la-Gatineau prefect said that she has been told by the CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) that the up-the-line clinic is on the chopping block and could be closed for good, as the regional health authority looks to cut another $30 million from its budget. 

“As [prefect], I refuse to see the disappearance of this local service, which is essential to our community,” wrote Lamarche in an email to the Low Down. “The building also houses home-care nurses, making it a critical point for our citizens. The chronic underfunding of the Outaouais for over 40 years must end. We demand that decisions take into account the reality of our territories.”

The Low CLSC has already been slashed down to one day a week, which has impacted Low residents, many of whom are elderly and immobile and can’t travel to Wakefield or Maniwaki to see a doctor. Lamarche said she is pressuring the CAQ government to “review these cuts and take into account the specific needs of the region.”

“It is imperative that alternative solutions be considered to ensure adequate funding and effective management of resources, thereby ensuring access to quality healthcare for all Outaouais residents,” she said.

CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau refused to comment on the potential closure and directed the Low Down to Santé Quebec for comment. Representatives of Quebec’s new non-partisan health department would not grant an interview and instead sent a statement saying that no decisions have been made on the closure of CLSCs in the province. 

“No changes are currently planned for the services offered at the various CLSCs,” wrote Santé Quebec’s media relations department. “Local services are important to the population, particularly those on the outskirts of urban areas. We are working to maintain them, despite the current difficult budgetary context.”

That “difficult budgetary context” is Santé Quebec’s austerity measures, in which it is looking to slash $1.5 billion from the province’s health budget by spring. The CISSSO already cut 800 health positions in the region earlier this spring. Another $30 million still needs to be cut from the CISSSO budget, which is why CLSCs in places like Low could be on the chopping block. 

SOS Outaouais’ Jean Pigeon told the Low Down that because CISSSO already cut services back to one day a week at the Low CLSC, patient numbers will naturally be down. The president of the regional health advocacy group said he worries CISSSO will use this data to show that the clinic isn’t getting used and therefore should be closed. 

“They test it, and then they say, ‘Well, nobody’s going to this point anymore.’ Of course! You’ve closed four days out of five days which you were open,” said Pigeon. “If there’s fewer services to offer, of course there’ll be less people that can use them. And then you shut it down, claiming that there’s no demand. It’s nonsense.”

Low seniors worry about home care 

With the potential closure of the CLSC in Low, seniors are beginning to worry if they will still be able to rely on home-care nurses who are based out of the clinic. Interim director-general of the Paugan Falls Seniors’ Residence Colette Canavan told the Low Down that she worries that it won’t be feasible for some seniors to grow old in Low. With an aging population, she doesn’t know where many of them will go. 

“What’s going to happen now with the cutbacks in home care, which they’ve cut a lot?” said Canavan.  “We’re going to see residents – seniors who are autonomous, but who need help – we’re going to see a possibility of having to say, ‘Sorry, you have to leave.’ So this is far more serious than what first appeared.”

Low council passed a resolution in late March decrying the cuts and demanding a meeting with local officials, including the region’s MNA, Robert Bussière. The motion touches on the potential closure, as well as language barriers for local residents. 

“[Low] stands united with its citizens in protesting these cuts and commits to advocating to the future well-being of all residents, ensuring transparency and proper communication regarding any proposed changes to local services,” the motion read. It was passed at Low’s council meeting on March 25 . 

Gatineau MNA Bussière did not respond to the Low Down’s questions. It’s unclear if he responded to Low council. 

Prefect says she will fight for Low CLSC Read More »

Federal election Q&A: Bill 96 where parties stand on language

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By Trevor Greenway

The Quebec government passed Bill 96, which restricts the use of English in businesses and public services, using the notwithstanding clause. This allowed the government to bypass the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Bill 96 negatively impacts minority language constituents in their day-to-day lives, such as by restricting access to services. How would your party address this bill and/or improve the situation for the minority language population of this riding?

Claude Bertrand, Green party

Because of its language, culture and unique history within the Canadian federation, Quebec has a special status within Canada. On Nov. 22, 2006, a “Québécois nation” motion was tabled in Parliament by Stephen Harper, then prime minister of Canada. Five days later, on Nov. 27, the motion was approved, 265–16, with support from every party in the House of Commons. Living in a predominantly French-speaking “island” in an otherwise predominantly English-speaking North America (excluding Mexico), Quebecers have managed to this day to preserve their distinct character, language and culture. Like the Green party, Quebecers value inclusion, diversity and social democracy. The Green Party of Canada fully recognizes Quebec’s status as a distinct nation within Canada. We thus recognize the right of Quebecers to decide together their political and constitutional future, including the decision, manifested through their democratically-elected national assembly, to make French the only official language in Quebec.

Brian Nolan, Conservative party

The Conservative Party of Canada is deeply concerned about the use of the notwithstanding clause to override Charter rights. Bill 96 has created real challenges for English-speaking Quebecers, especially in regions like Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi, where bilingualism is a way of life. A Conservative government would work constructively with Quebec to ensure that essential services such as healthcare, education and justice remain accessible in both official languages. We believe in protecting minority rights, supporting language duality and ensuring no one is left behind because of the language they speak. As your local Conservative candidate, I will be a strong voice for all residents of the Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi riding. I will always defend the rights of English-speaking communities and work to ensure they are treated with fairness, respect and equality, because language should never be a barrier to accessing services or opportunities.

Todd Hoffman, People’s Party of Canada (PPC)

The PPC is the best federal party to tackle the question of English minority rights within Quebec. We are the party of freedom of expression, protecting Canadians from censorship and discrimination. The PPC would repeal bad legislation on the federal level. For Bill 96 and the notwithstanding clause, we would review Bill C-13 “Act to amend the Official Languages Act” that our MP, Ms. [Sophie] Chatel, voted in favour of in 2023. This amendment tied a federal act to a discriminatory provincial act, bypassing the Canadian Charter of Rights. A very disappointing vote on her part. My record in advocating language rights is well documented. Like many other local businesses, I have in the past been served with papers from the Office québécois de la langue française (OLF) for a perceived social media violation. My resistance to being put on notice by the OLF was featured in a National Post article in 2024. 

Sophie Chatel, Liberal party (Incumbent)

Bill 96 has created challenges for anglophones in Quebec, including in Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi. The Quebec government pre-emptively invoked the notwithstanding clause to shield the law from Charter challenges, raising significant concerns about its impact on fundamental rights. This use of the clause prevents courts from reviewing whether the law respects the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Liberal party believes in protecting both of Canada’s official languages and supports efforts to promote French in Quebec. But that must never come at the expense of people’s rights. No government should be able to bypass the Charter without accountability. A Liberal government will intervene in any Supreme Court challenge of a government’s pre-emptive use of the notwithstanding clause, as such use would effectively make the Charter of Rights optional. Defending the Charter is how we protect the rights of minority language communities, including in Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi, and ensure their voices are heard.

Gilbert Whiteduck, New Democratic Party (NDP)

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has recently stated that, if elected government, the NDP would not intervene if a challenge to Bill 96 reached the Supreme Court. I completely sympathize with those, including francophones and anglophones, who feel their native language is under threat. Through colonization, the Algonquin Anishininabeg language, Anishinaabwemowin, was negatively impacted. We collectively continue to work hard to preserve it, but it is still less well-known among some of our members than English or French. I deeply object to those who opportunistically use language politics to divide us. I believe the preservation and growth of our rich and diverse cultural heritages makes us stronger.  Knowledge and appreciation of different languages and cultures enriches us and shouldn’t come at the expense of our native languages. I support all minority language rights and would do whatever I can to protect and support them through federal legislation and financial support.

Federal election Q&A: Bill 96 where parties stand on language Read More »

School boards gearing up for Bill 94 fight

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By Trevor Greenway

While English school boards across the province are celebrating a key victory with Bill 40, another fight is brewing over Bill 94, the province’s extension of Bill 21 that restricts public servants from wearing religious symbols on the job. Bill 94 will extend the law to include all staff and volunteers – including janitors, after-care staffers, volunteers and librarians – from wearing religious symbols at work. 

Bill 21 had a significant impact locally in 2021 after a Chelsea teacher, Fatemeh Anvari, was banned from her Grade 3 classroom for wearing a hijab. The case reignited the debate around Bill 21, and the controversial law is now headed to the Supreme Court of Canada for a constitutional challenge. 

Labadie told the Low Down that the WQSB is hesitant to agree to the bill, as it contains language that could later be used against the school board when Bill 21 heads to the Supreme Court. 

“There’s a lot of language in that bill that if we adopted it as a code of ethics for staff and teachers, it would show that we supported Bill 21, and that we agreed with the policies,” said Labadie. She added that the WQSB lawyers are now parsing through the bill before the board signs off. 

“The last thing we wanted to do was to have this language that was embedded in these blanket laws that we were supposed to adopt as a board to then be used against us.”

Singfield said the extension of Bill 21 is an attack on the school board’s policy on inclusion, equity and diversity. 

“We speak about the importance of honouring the integrity of our diverse population,” Singfield told the Low Down. “We speak about inclusion, we speak about equity and not as things that we check off on boxes on a list, but rather things that we want to cultivate as pillars of our community.”

The legislation would also prohibit Muslim girls from wearing a full-face veil. The bill states that students will be obliged to “have their face uncovered when they are on the premises placed at the disposal of a school, a vocational training centre or adult education centre or a private educational institution.” The bill would also restrict parents from wearing face coverings when picking up their kids from school. 

School boards gearing up for Bill 94 fight Read More »

English school boards celebrate ‘historic’ victory

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

The head of the Western Quebec School Board (WQSB) is praising Quebec’s highest court after it found that sections of Bill 40, which would have abolished English school boards, were unconstitutional. 

In a unanimous decision handed down on April 3, three judges from the Quebec Court of Appeal largely upheld a 2023 Superior Court ruling that declared several parts of the bill violated rights guaranteed under section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Executive director of the WQSB George Singfield says the result – which keeps English school boards intact with elected commissioners – is a huge victory, not only for English education in Quebec, but English rights as a whole.  

“I think at the root of everything is the infringement that has been brought forward by the Quebec English School Board on the rights of the anglophone community,” said Singfield, referring to the QESBA, the Montreal English School that first brought the court challenge against Bill 40.  “And so that, I believe, is probably the biggest gain in the decision that was made yesterday – the recognition of those fundamental rights.”

The Legault government introduced Bill 40 to abolish all school boards across the province and turn them into service centres with appointed commissioners. The bill was passed in 2020, but English school boards fought – and won – to keep control of its schools. French school boards were abolished and are now called service centres. 

“It really does reinforce our English-speaking communities in the province, to manage and control our schools and centres, our institutions – that’s the underlying piece,” said Singfield. 

He explained that under Bill 40, English school boards would’ve been abolished and converted into school service centres. The WQSB’s elected council of commissioners would’ve been abolished, and the government would’ve appointed commissioners. This was among the major fears of English school boards across the province, as local representatives – current, former and prospective parents and residents – would be barred from running in elections, and a commissioner would’ve been appointed. 

“At stake was losing the ability to govern our own schools,” said WQSB Commissioner chair Joanne Labadie. “Pre Bill 40, it is the Council of Commissioners that chooses the director general, and the director general reports directly to them, and so this would have given the government the opportunity to appoint whoever they wanted in that – it could have been a friend, someone with different political ideology or cultural leanings, and they would have been able to impose it.”

The 90-page ruling also stated that funding must be the responsibility of minority language representatives and can’t be controlled by the provincial government. 

The ruling also struck down a Quebec provision that argued that only parents with children presently enrolled in English schools are rights holders under section 23 of the Canadian Charter. 

No real path to Supreme Court

“This came quick,” said Labadie about the court’s decision, comparing this trial to the original QESBA challenge, which took a judge 28 months to render a decision.  “And the decision was pretty clear, and we’re all just so thrilled to have our rights recognized once again with this decision and just hope that the government will not appeal it to the Supreme Court. If they do, we’re ready for it.”

The Quebec government has not announced whether or not it will seek to appeal the decision. However QESBA president Joe Ortona told the Montreal Gazette that he doesn’t see a path for the government to appeal the new ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada. 

“This is now, on Bill 40, the fourth sweeping victory that we got … so the government has lost on every single point, in every single argument, in every single instance of the Quebec courts, over and over and over again,” he said.

The English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA), a coalition of parents’ committees of Quebec English school boards, said it was “thrilled” with the announcement. 

“This is a historic victory,” said EPCA president Katherine Korakakis. “Not just for parents, but for every member of our community who believes in shaping our children’s future. The court’s decision is a powerful reminder that our voices matter, and our right to govern our schools is non-negotiable.”

English school boards celebrate ‘historic’ victory Read More »

Conservative candidate said he didn’t approve ‘best-looking candidate’ post

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Reporter

Conservative candidate for the Pontiac—Kitigan Zibi riding Brian Nolan says he did not approve a fake news post claiming that he was “Pontiac’s best-looking candidate.”

Nolan’s communications team posted a photo of The Equity’s front page from last week, but photoshopped it to read, “The Pontiac’s best looking candidate: Brian Nolan” with a heart penciled over Nolan’s photo. 

In an interview with the Low Down March 31, two days after the post went up on social media, Nolan said he did not approve the post, nor was he aware it was even made. 

“No, it’s not me, it’s the person that’s in charge of my social media,” said Nolan. “I was not aware of it.”

Nolan said he has had a busy week knocking on doors in the riding and “didn’t have a chance to check all my social media.” He said that after speaking with The Equity about the post, he asked if they wanted him to remove it. 

“I said, ‘Do you have a problem with it?’ I said I could remove it, I have no issue,” Nolan said he told The Equity. “I don’t know why it was there and who put it there, so I did my investigation and found that it’s the person that’s in charge of my social media. They put it there, and I never approved it, and I removed it since.”

Nolan confirmed that the post has since been removed. 

Canadians head to the polls on April 28.

Conservative candidate said he didn’t approve ‘best-looking candidate’ post Read More »

QUAIL fire displaces seven residents at independent living home

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Seven residents at the independent living home QUAIL House in Chelsea were displaced after a fire tore through the home’s garage on March 18. 

According to Chelsea Fire Chief Charles Éthier, staff at QUAIL House called 911 just after 2 p.m., after they noticed smoke and flames coming from the garage. 

“The fire started in the garage, and it was contained to the garage area by the quick response of the fire department,” Éthier told the Low Down. He added that, while a cause hasn’t been determined, it was likely an electrical fire.

It took 17 firefighters about 45 minutes to extinguish the blaze, however Éthier said it could have been much worse. 

“Time is always essential in fighting fires,” added Éthier. “Every minute a fire can double in size – there’s a reason to call 911 before trying to extinguish a fire.”

Chelsea resident Dennis Walker was picking up his wife, who works at QUAIL, when the fire started and said that firefighters were on the scene within minutes. He said the fire spread quickly and could’ve ignited the rest of the house if the firefighters weren’t so quick. 

“Five more minutes and the house would have been gone,” said Walker. “The fire department was amazing. Thank god it didn’t happen at night, with the residents sleeping.”

There was only one resident and two staff members home at the time of the fire, as the others were out on a field trip. 

“Luckily, the fire happened during the daytime, and staff acted quickly to make sure that everyone was safely out of the house,” said QUAIL volunteer Lissa Heringer. She explained that the most challenging part of the incident is aiding residents, many of whom have intellectual disabilities, in adapting to new, temporary housing in the fire’s aftermath. 

“The most difficult thing for residents since the fire has been adjusting to unfamiliar homes and a big change to their daily routine. Our staff and volunteers have rallied to help residents settle in and adjust to the unfamiliar. They’ve really gone above and beyond the call,” added Heringer. “Our key concern throughout has been to keep our QUAIL family together under one roof.”

Heringer said the residents were initially housed at Motel Chelsea for the first few days before moving to Chelsea Vélo Nordic B&B. QUAIL has found a longer-term rental in Wakefield, where the residents can all stay together until they are permitted to go back into the home. Éthier said the home needs to be inspected by an electrician before the residents can return. QUAIL has no timeline for a return to the house. 

QUAIL lost everything in their garage, including a fridge, the residence van, equipment and more than 1,400 jars of jam that were ready for sale.  

“There has been a tremendous outpouring of support from the community from day one,” added Heringer. “We’ve had offers of meal prep, laundry services and temporary housing and accommodation. The QUAIL family is fortunate to be surrounded by such a caring and generous community.”

Éthier estimated the damage at $100,000.

Visit QUAIL online at www.quailhouse.org to donate.

QUAIL fire displaces seven residents at independent living home Read More »

ACRE secures 11 more to expand Larrimac eco corridor

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Reporter

ACRE has saved another 11 acres of undeveloped forest in Larrimac, which is full of old-growth trees, birds, coyotes, bears and a natural wetland. 

Action Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment (ACRE) announced the deal in December of last year and said the Brink Forest is an important property that will link up with the Larrimac ecological corridor, which is home to more than 190 species of flora and fauna, the latter travelling to and from Gatineau Park. 

“This was one of the larger properties that had potential,” said ACRE president Stephen Woodley, explaining that his non-profit organization had been eyeing the Brink Forest for a decade, but only started talking seriously with the owners about four years ago. He said ACRE saw the opportunity to expand the Larrimac ecological corridor and link this property up with other land in the area that it has already protected. 

The Larrimac ecological corridor is a federally-recognized protected area for wildlife to move between Gatineau Park and the Gatineau River. 

“We’ve gotten the golf course property. We’ve got the Dionne-Wilson Forest and we got the Jolicoeur-McMartin Forest,” said Woodley, referring to past land acquisitions. “They all come together to make a large block. We’re interested in other properties up there as well to really make a large protected area for Chelsea.”

ACRE preserved 77 acres of land in the Jolicoeur-McMartin Forest in 2022 after 144 donors in Chelsea came up with close to half a million dollars in funding. That same year ACRE also secured 44-acres of the nearby Dionne-Wilson Forest after landowners, Maryse Dionne and Mark Wilson, donated the land for ACRE to protect in perpetuity. 

Woodley praised the generosity of Hills residents – notably Dionne and Wilson, the 144 donors on the Jolicoeur-McMartin deal and Lars and Satya Brink, who donated the recent 11 acres of the Brink Forest to ACRE. 

“People love nature here,” said Woodley. “There’s also kind of a unique cultural thing happening in the Hills … but you know, culture and nature are intertwined, and protecting nature and loving nature is part of who we are in the Gatineau Hills. We [ACRE] are a tool, which is really implementing the community’s desire to conserve and protect nature.”

Woodley clearly noted that ACRE is “not anti-development,” but an organization that wants to monitor smart growth and work with developers to protect key areas while municipalities grow. 

“We’re for smart development, and smart development means that there’s areas which are important to protect as we build out,” added Woodley. “And we’ve always said we will be remembered for what we protect more than what we develop.”

Woodley said he was especially happy about protecting the Brink Forest, as it is rich in old-growth trees, including sugar maples, hemlock-white pine and other mature growth. But the forest is also an important nesting site for interior bird species, including the ovenbird, hermit thrush, American redstart and red-eyed vireo. ACRE cameras installed along the trails of the property have captured black bears, eastern coyotes and fishers moving through the corridor. 

Woodley also said that the forest contains many trails throughout, which link up with various other trails in the Larrimac area. Woodley confirmed that those trails would be maintained for community use. 

This latest acquisition marks the 11th property that ACRE has acquired, totalling an impressive 365 acres of greenspace worth $5.6 million, which will never be developed.

ACRES land acquisition by the numbers

365 acres

11 properties

$1.6M cash donations

$1.6M land donations

$3.3M total donations

$5.6M raised for land acquisitions

ACRE secures 11 more to expand Larrimac eco corridor Read More »

Election Q&As: Hills housing crisis

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , , , ,

by Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Reporter

The federal election is upon us – and it’s coming fast. With just three or so weeks left until Canadians head to the polls to pick their next MP and ruling party on April 28, the intensity will ramp up fast. 

National headlines will give you the latest on Canada vs. Trump and how the respective leaders stack up against the U.S. president, but here in the Hills, we will be grilling our candidates on the local economy, the environment, Quebec politics and local journalism as we inch towards election day. With just three publications left until the vote, we are focussing our coverage on a series of Q&As focused on local issues. 

Issue number one is the housing crisis in the Gatineau Hills. We asked all five candidates to answer the following question and gave them a 150-word limit on their answers, which have been edited for grammar, length and style. 

Q: The Table de développement social des Collines-de-l’Outaouais (TDSCO) found that more than 3,000 residents in the region are living in homes they can’t afford. This is based upon the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) affordable housing threshold of 30 per cent of a household income being put towards housing. What will your party do to ease the housing crunch in the region?

Sophie Chatel, Liberal party

Families across Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi are struggling to afford a place to live. 

The housing crisis is real, and it’s hitting our region. Under Mark Carney’s leadership, the Liberal party is ready to act with an ambitious housing plan. 

We’ll double the pace of construction to 500,000 homes a year, launch Build Canada Homes to get the federal government back into building, eliminate the GST for first-time homebuyers, unlock private capital, cut red tape and lower building costs. 

No single solution exists, but we’ll be an active partner in getting more homes built. Programs like the Rapid Housing Initiative and Housing Accelerator Fund have delivered over 1,000 homes in the Outaouais, with a new phase supporting water infrastructure, so municipalities can build more housing. 

[Pierre] Poilievre says he’ll cut these programs. I’m committed to working with all levels of government and local partners to ensure everyone has an affordable home.

Claude Bertrand, Green party

Shelter, like food, water and clothing, is fundamental to survival. The Green party recognizes that for many Canadians the high cost of housing is making it difficult to meet other basic needs. 

Canada needs to rapidly double its stock of social housing. 

The Green party wants publicly-funded housing to be truly affordable. It makes no sense to continue basing payments for a social housing unit on prices in today’s inflated housing market. 

Real affordability means that an individual or family in social housing should be able to pay their rent or mortgage with 30 per cent of their regular income. 

And there should be covenants to ensure that public housing cannot at some future time be purchased by profit-driven corporations. Given our 150-word limit, there is no room to cover other Green party ideas for responding to the crisis in private and public housing. 

I look forward to further opportunities to communicate with voters on this critical topic.

Gilbert Whiteduck, NDP

Under Conservative and Liberal governments, the federal government severely cut support for affordable housing over recent decades. Billions in federal funding since has gone to private developers, who have hiked rents and house prices. This resulted in the affordable housing crisis we are in. To help solve this crisis, the NDP would:

  • Make federal Crown land available to build 100,000 rent-controlled homes and speed up approvals, while respecting the treaty and inherent rights of Indigenous communities;
  • Invest $1 billion to purchase more federal land to build more rent-controlled homes;
  • Create a Community Housing Bank to provide low-cost financing to co-ops, non-profits and Indigenous communities;
  • Help non-profits buy affordable apartments;
  • Ban corporations from buying existing affordable rental buildings and hiking rents;
  • Provide low-interest publicly-backed loans to families buying their first home, saving families thousands annually.

Todd Hoffman, People’s Party of Canada

nada is a concern for many. 

The People’s Party of Canada (PPC) has a plan to help ease this problem which in essence is the shrinking of individual savings. Here are three, of several, consideration points. Firstly, the PPC would privatize or dismantle the CMHC, a government agency that fuels the housing crisis instead of cooling it down. All it has done is encourage Canadians to buy houses they cannot afford. 

Secondly, The Bank of Canada inflation targets need to be modified, from two per cent to zero per cent. This would cool down inflation in all sectors, including housing. 

Thirdly, the PPC would work to end supply management by the food cartel. This would lower the next biggest household expense, which is groceries, thereby putting more disposable income in people’s pockets. 

The PPC will have people living in homes without financial stress.

Brian Nolan, Conservative party

A Conservative government will take concrete action to address this crisis by increasing housing supply, making home ownership more affordable and supporting rental and affordable housing projects.

  • Increasing housing supply

We will work with municipalities to cut red tape and fast-track housing approvals, ensuring that new homes can be built faster and more efficiently. By incentivizing local governments to meet housing targets, we can increase the number of homes available and reduce upward pressure on prices. Additionally, we will promote the development of multi-unit housing and rental projects to create more affordable living options for residents.

  • Making home ownership more affordable

The rising cost of home ownership is pushing families out of the market. A Conservative government will focus on lowering inflation and stabilizing interest rates through responsible fiscal management, making it easier for families to afford mortgages. We have announced that we will remove the GST on homes below $1.3 million for everyone, which will provide significant relief, particularly in our riding. 

Election Q&As: Hills housing crisis Read More »

Hills hopefuls hit the campaign trail

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , ,

Trevor Greenway

The campaign is underway to find Canada’s next prime minister – and the Hills’ next MP.

On March 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney went to Rideau Hall and requested that Governor General Mary Simon dissolve Parliament, which triggered a spring election, with Canadians heading to the polls on April 28. 

The snap election call doesn’t leave a lot of time for candidates to pitch their platforms to constituents, and it will be a mad dash for Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi hopefuls to convince local voters that their plan is the best moving forward. 

It will be the shortest possible campaign allowed by Canadian law – just six weeks – with advance polls opening over the Easter weekend. 

Here in the Hills, The Low Down will bring you the low down on all your local candidates, information on how and where to vote, how to ensure you’re on the registered list of voters and other useful election information. 

2025 Federal Election – Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi riding

Election date: April 28, 2025

Advance Polls: Friday, April 18 – Monday, April 21

Where to vote: visit www.elections.ca on April 1 for polling station locations.

How to register: visit www.elections.ca and click on “check or update your registration.” Follow through the required steps and register online.

Voter requirements: 

  • One piece of government-issued ID (driver’s licence or other government ID with photo and current address);

OR

  • two pieces of ID that have your name; at least one must have your current address. (e.g. voter eligibility card and utility bill with current address);

OR

  • If you do not have an ID, you must declare your identity and address in writing and have someone who knows you and who is assigned to your polling station vouch for you. The voucher must be able to prove their identity and address. A person can vouch for only one person (except in long-term care facilities).

Keep picking up the Low Down in the coming weeks for more election coverage, where we hope to dig into party platforms with Q&As, reader questions, local initiatives and issues that affect us in the Hills. There will be plenty of issues to dig into with a housing shortage, a health crisis and a federal fight over religious symbols that is winding its way to the Supreme Court. The Low Down is your source for everything local this election. 

Meet your candidates:

Liberal Party of Canada – Sophie Chatel (incumbent)

  • Gatineau resident
  • Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Rural Development
  • Chair, rural caucus

Conservative Party of Canada – Brian Nolan

  • Chelsea resident
  • Technology consultant
  • Business leader for cannabis startups

NDP – Gilbert Whiteduck

  • Kitigan Zibi resident
  • Former chief, Kitigan Zibi
  • Indigenous leader
  • Executive-director, Gatineau Valley Historical Society
  • Former teacher, guidance counsellor, school principal

Green Party of Canada – Claude Bertrand

  • Masham resident
  • Engineer
  • Former RCAF pilot

People’s Party of Canada – Todd Hoffman

  • Campbell’s Bay resident
  • Former RCAF member
  • Business owner
  • High school teacher

*The Bloc Quebecois party has yet to announce a candidate for the Pontiac–Kitigan Zibi riding.

Hills hopefuls hit the campaign trail Read More »

Job losses ‘unavoidable’ in round two of health cuts

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

After slashing 800 health positions across the Outaouais, the head of CISSSO says that he still needs to cut an additional $30 million from its budget, money that will “certainly” result in more job losses. 

The CISSSO was mandated by the province’s new health department, Santé Québec, to slash $90 million from its budget in an overall effort to cut $1.5 billion from the province’s health sector by April 1. Last week, CISSSO announced it was cutting 800 health jobs as part of the cuts. However, CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau told the Low Down on March 20 that those cuts only represented two-thirds – $60 million of budget cuts – with an additional $30 million coming down the pike. 

“I think it’s unavoidable,” said Bilodeau when asked if the next round of cuts will result in job losses.  “Because 70 per cent of my expenditures are related to human resources, so expecting to cut without impacting positions is almost impossible.”  

While many of the 800 positions cut last week were vacant, with 104 personnel losing their jobs, Bilodeau says the next round of budget cuts will be especially difficult. He said the first round of cuts was focused on the “easy stuff,” like abolishing vacant positions. He admitted that there would be an impact on residents. He added that not all of the impacts of the cuts would be bad. 

“There would be some impact, but impact doesn’t mean, necessarily, negative impact,” said Bilodeau. “So it could have an impact on how the care is delivered but not necessarily on the amount of care being delivered.”

Dr. Bilodeau used the example of adapting patients with “very common mental health problems” into group therapy settings rather than one-on-one sessions: “I can have 10 patients in the same room with one healthcare provider, and I can do, basically, 10 times more than what I would do with a one-on-one intervention.” He added that managing hours, morale and work-life balance for front-line staffers will be key to moving forward successfully. 

Bilodeau said about two-thirds of the 104 health jobs cut in the region are front-line staff positions, but he added that many have been offered other positions “in more critical areas of our healthcare system.” 

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon told the Low Down that, while the 800 job losses aren’t as dire as recent headlines suggest, the fact that over 600 vacant positions won’t be renewed kills any chance of recruiting more doctors, nurses or medical technicians to an already underfunded health region. According to the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais, it has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. 

“We need to point our fingers at the government here,” said Pigeon. “They are the ones who are making these decisions. And clearly this is not Mr. Bilodeau’s fault. It’s just going to create an overwhelming burden again in the workplace environment. Can we really let go of people that we need in a network that is underfunded and understaffed? No, it’s just chaotic.”

Three full-time positions abolished in Des Collines

According to health watchdog group Vigi Santé, the cuts will be felt locally, as three full-time positions in the Des Collines are being abolished: one at the CHSLD in Masham and two admin positions related to proximity services. 

“Two of them are actual job losses; the third one is a reassignment,” said Vigi Santé spokesperson Marcel Chartrand. 

Chartrand also noted that a 0.5 nursing position is being moved from the Masham CLSC to Cantley. Chartrand added that the cuts are also suspending key projects in the region, including a new seniors’ home in Masham and a multi-purpose, permanent vaccination centre in the Des Collines region.  “We are told time and again that services are not and will not be affected,” said Chartrand. “Hard to believe, as with fewer resources, there will be delays in providing services, and waiting times will be extended.”

No decision on CLSC in Low, yet

Dr. Bilodeau told the Low Down that, while there isn’t yet an official decision to cut services at the CLSC in Low to one day a week, he did say that “measures are on the table.”

“Obviously, some of those places like Low could be affected,” said Bilodeau. “I’m not saying they will be because it’s still being analyzed now, and we haven’t made a decision as to where it’s going to be with the last $30 million that we need to cut.” Gatineau MNA Robert Bussière did not return the Low Down’s calls for comments.

Job losses ‘unavoidable’ in round two of health cuts Read More »

Brennan’s Hill Beer Bust

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Claude Cousineau says he did nothing wrong when he purchased beer and wine from  Marché Gravelle and sold it to customers at his Brennan’s Hill depanneur. 

But when Sûreté du Québec (SQ) cops busted into his shop Feb. 25 and seized over 5,000 litres of beer and nearly 60 litres of wine – effectively clearing out the beer fridges at Epicerie Brennan’s Hill – he surmised that something was wrong. 

“It was four cops who showed up here, armed to the teeth, and they threw everybody out of the store, and they turned off the cameras, which you’re not supposed to do. And they made me open the safe, which has nothing to do with anything,” said Cousineau, owner of the depanneur. “So then they blocked the driveways to make a big scene, took all the beer and all the wine – it took them all day.”

Store manager Jeri Guertin was working the front cash that day and said the scene was intense when police arrived. 

“They kicked everyone out of the store, they kept telling Claude to keep his hands out of his pockets,” said Guertin. 

Cousineau has not been charged or fined, was not detained, nor has he been told if he needs to hire a lawyer, fight the infractions in court or whether or not he will get his booze back. He said he isn’t counting on it. 

“We have big plans, and now I’m stuck because now my money is fu**ed for sure, right?” Cousineau told the Low Down, standing next to two, large beer coolers that are empty. Not a single case of beer can be found among the refrigerators. “That’s 25 grand worth of beer. Maybe more,” added Cousineau. The dep wine racks are also vacant. 

According to SQ spokesperson Sgt. Marc Tessier, the file is not criminal, and Cousineau can’t be criminally charged with a crime – he can only be fined. The province’s Act respecting the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ) states that any person in Quebec wishing to sell beer and wine from their grocery stores or depanneurs must first have a permit to do so – and must purchase all of their alcohol – with the exception of light cider, beer bottled in Quebec or imported beer – through the SAQ. 

“The person at the store bought some beer from another store without the proper authority or channel to buy his liquor,” said Tessier. “Police will conclude their investigation and will proceed to submit that to the Crown, and they will determine if there will be penal action or not.”

When asked how police knew that Cousineau was selling alcohol not purchased through the SAQ, Tessier confirmed that it was through information from the public as well as the SQ’s “investigative techniques.”

Cousineau told the Low Down that his troubles began the day he took over ownership of the store, back in July 2024, when he was having issues with some of the beer and wine reps who were “leaving beer all over the place,” crowding his aisles and packing his leaky fridges. He was in the middle of planning renovations to hold more stock but said the reps – both alcohol and soda representatives – just kept showing up with more beer and pop. 

“It was beer galore,” added Cousineau. “There was beer all over the place. I had to take three shelves of food down just for all the beer.” He said some of the stock – mostly flavoured coolers – in his fridge were nearly two years old and close to expiration, and he didn’t want to waste prime real estate for unpopular products. So he began telling the reps what he wanted – and what he didn’t want – to sell in his store. 

Cousineau said that he was told by one of the beer reps that if he wanted specific types of beer and a custom lineup of spirits, he would have to source all of his own alcohol, purchase it himself, pick it up, drive it back to the store, stock it and then sell it. He said the rep told him to buy from Marché Gravelle, a food and beverage distribution centre in Gatineau.

Trusting this advice, he said he did just that and began buying his beer and wine from Marché Gravelle and said he’s been doing so since last summer. 

“I still feel like I did nothing wrong,” said Cousineau. “We checked, and we’re allowed to buy from a distributor as long as I am licenced, so what am I doing wrong? There’s so many people making money off your dollar, and we’re making quarters before the government comes in and takes more.”

Cousineau said that police were over-aggressive and treated him as a threat in his own store. He said it was “like watching an old cowboy movie.”

“I honestly thought they were here fundraising,” said Cousineau. “So I had my hands in my pockets and I said, ‘What’s up?’ and they started yelling to me to take my hands out of my pockets. I said, ‘I don’t know you. You come in here, you have armour, you have a billy bat, you have a gun, you have a taser and pepper spray, and you’re acting like I’m dangerous.’” Cousineau’s beer cooler and wine racks are still empty, and he said he’s been left in the dark on what will happen next. He’s still allowed to sell beer, but with all of his money tied up in the seized alcohol, he’s not sure how long it will take him to rebuild his stock. 

Tessier said Cousineau could face a fine, but added that police are still investigating the file. 

Brennan’s Hill Beer Bust Read More »

Low seniors worried about health cuts

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Kent Canavan’s mouth was filling with blood and he needed emergency help. 

He had just had his wisdom teeth out and was bleeding profusely at his home in Low. 

He rushed over to the CLSC to get some more bandages and have his wound looked at, but when he arrived, the doors were locked. It was lunchtime, and nobody came to help him, so he rushed back home to try to stop the bleeding.

“The door [to the CLSC] was locked, and I ended up going back to my apartment, and I ended up on the floor – I passed out,” said Canavan to the mayor, councillors and those gathered on March 14 during an emergency CLSC meeting in Low. 

The meeting was called after residents were told that the town’s only medical clinic – the CLSC – would be reducing its hours to just one day a week, by appointment only. Close to a dozen seniors were present at the meeting, telling their personal stories and the fears they have about the potential cuts. 

“The blood was coming out so bad at the time that, when I did come to, I grabbed a facecloth and rammed it into the crevices to slow down the bleeding,” added Canavan about his incident last year, before the impending reduction to one day a week. Now, he is worried that things will get even worse for patients in Low. 

Fellow Low resident Debbie Cameron was in tears as she spoke about the constant support she needs from a home care nurse to look after her severely disabled son, who is a quadriplegic and suffers from dysphagia, spina bifida, diabetes and hydrocephalus. She said with the looming health cuts, in which $1.5 billion is being cut from healthcare in Quebec and $90 million in the Outaouais – home care services could be cut by 50 per cent, and she doesn’t know what she will do. 

“He can’t even scratch his own nose, he can’t feed himself, he has difficulty speaking,” she said through sobs, as she described her son’s daily struggles. “I need support badly.” 

Cameron said that her son’s home care nurse is “wonderful,” but she knows just how overworked she is. When Cameron’s 42-year-old son had an operation in Montreal last year, his home care nurse had to come every single day to drain the wound, and she said she worries how the cuts will affect her son’s quality of life.  “They bend over backwards, but the time constraints – they are given too many people to look after, so they can’t do their jobs properly,” said Cameron.

Low Coun. Lee Angus was present at the meeting and said that councillors feel helpless in the fight for healthcare up the line, as residents have been faced with diminishing services for close to a decade. He said cutting services to just one day a week at the CLSC will have a detrimental effect on the region’s aging population.

“And you have to make an appointment when you want to go?” asked Angus. “So, you gotta plan when you’re going to be sick. It’s pretty pathetic to have a building there and nobody to man it and no services. I have been sick before and had to drive to Gracefield to get service, and that’s fine for me – I have a vehicle, I can do that – but there are lots of people who live around the village who don’t have vehicles and can’t get there.”

Low Mayor Carol Robert echoed some of Angus’ statements at the meeting, saying that her council feels a bit powerless in the fight for healthcare. She said that her council can put forth resolutions to try to pressure the province to make certain decisions, but ultimately Low doesn’t “have the power to change the health system.”

“The only thing we can do is put forth a really strong resolution, pinpointing all the points that were made here today and not only send it to all the other levels of the ministry but also the MRC, so that all the mayors support our resolution,” she said. “We’re not the only ones that are being hit – up north it’s the same thing, so they will support our resolution.”

Resident Colette Canavan, who has been an advocate for healthcare up the line, said at the meeting that the CLSC in Low will officially be reduced to one day a week, by appointment only, as of April 1. This has not been confirmed by CISSSO. 

The cuts are part of the province’s austerity measures that will see $1.5 billion cut from the health sector by March 1. 

Low seniors worried about health cuts Read More »

‘We’ve been abandoned’

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Hills healthcare advocates say the provincial government has made the Outaouais health crisis worse by cutting a staggering 800 healthcare jobs from the region.  

The cuts were announced March 14 as part of the province’s austerity measures, which will see $1.5 billion slashed from Quebec’s healthcare network – $90 million of that coming out of the CISSS de l’Outaouais’s (CISSSO) budget. 

While a majority of the positions cut are currently vacant, SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon said the impact will be felt tenfold across the region. 

“There’s basically no amelioration for the healthcare network,” Pigeon told the Low Down. “It’s basically longer waiting times, fewer access and limited access to the healthcare system, and if you look at just recent numbers, most of our emergency wards are at 250 per cent of their capacity,” he added, referring to emergency departments at the Gatineau and Hull hospitals. 

Pigeon said his organization is concerned that two-thirds of the $90 million cut from the Outaouais will come in the form of job losses. While many of them were already vacant (about 100 actual jobs are being cut, according to CISSSO), he said he feels that not filling vacant positions in departments like medical scans and imagery, which are already operating at just 40 per cent capacity, will have a domino effect on healthcare in the Outaouais, where there are currently 78,000 residents in the Outaouais without a family doctor and nearly 7,500 in the des Collines region. 

“We’re in the biggest crisis that we’ve ever had for healthcare, and nobody seems to care about our region. We’ve been abandoned,” said Pigeon. He added that the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais has estimated that the Outaouais region faces a funding shortfall of $180 million when compared to other regions in Quebec. “I just think it’s going to get worse and worse because we should be fully in the mode of recruiting and keeping our staff. Now we’re telling staff to move away.”

Patient waited 230 hours

Pigeon referred to a patient in the Gatineau Hospital, who, during the March 1 weekend, spent “more than 230 hours in the emergency room,” while being treated for a mental health episode, according to CISSSO. The patient spent nearly 10 days on a hospital stretcher before he got a bed. 

“Before he actually got services and someone took him into care, he waited for 230 hours,” said Pigeon. “It’s unbelievable.”

Dr. Peter Bonneville, the president of the Conseil des médecins, dentistes et pharmaciens (CMDP) of the CISSSO and an ER doctor at the Gatineau Hospital told the Low Down he feels that CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau has done a “fantastic job,” given that his first mandate from Santé Québec was to slash $90 million from a health budget that has been bleeding for over a decade. 

What he doesn’t agree with, however, is how CISSSO was forced to cut $90 million out of its budget but the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean, which is comparable to the Outaouais, only had to cut close to $40 million. 

“That’s a region that has just a bit less population than us, but has, right now, way better access to healthcare,” said Bonneville. “They have more active operating rooms right now, more specialists for the region.” 

It’s important to note that while the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region is comparable in population to the Outaouais, it’s an isolated northern area where there are not many options for health care. While Outaouais patients can travel to Montreal or Ottawa for emergencies, patients in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region don’t have the same options. 

“I will keep on hammering the fact that we are under budgeted by, apparently, about $180 million a year,” Bonneville continued, “So basically, Santé Québec is putting a gun to the head of CISSSO, and they’re saying, ‘You need to do it.’”

Working conditions not ideal, but necessary

Dr. Bonneville told the Low Down that although he is the most senior member of staff at the Gatineau Hospital, he doesn’t expect seniority perks like weekends off or preferred shifts. As a doctor who has taken the Hippocratic Oath, he said he’s aware of the region’s crisis and will do anything he needs to do to help. 

“I still do weekends. I still do holidays. I worked all of New Year’s week, evening shifts,” Bonneville told the Low Down. He said that during the budgeting exercise, CISSSO realized that it was overstaffing day shifts and more staffers will now be moved out of their “cozy day shift” and into an evening or night shift. While it may not be ideal for some, he said it’s the reality of the current landscape.

“I mean, if I am still doing it, I think everybody needs to contribute,” he said. “And you know, it’s nice to have a cozy job where you’re working day shifts, but that’s not the reality of healthcare.”

CISSSO CEO Marc Bilodeau did not respond to the Low Down’s request for comment by press time nor did the region’s MNA, Robert  Bussière. 

‘We’ve been abandoned’ Read More »

 Rest easy, trees

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By Madeline Kerr

Local Journalism Initiative

Students at Wakefield Elementary are on a mission to save the planet, and recently, they’ve scored a major win for the environment.   

On Jan. 27, school principal Julie Greig shared some exciting news with members of The Green Project, a group of students in Grades 4, 5, and 6 who meet weekly to discuss ways to help the environment: The Green Project’s efforts to get one of the school’s outdoor lights turned off at night had been successful. The Low Down was on hand during the announcement and heard the loud roar of the students’ cheers as they heard the news. 

The group’s campaign to get an outdoor light turned off at the school started last year after students were studying the growth of the micro-forest of young, indigenous treesthey had planted next to the building in 2019. Rosemary Millar-Bunch was a Grade 1 student at the time and took part in planting some of the trees with the rest of her class. A few years later, Rosie, as she’s known to her friends, became worried about those trees after she realized that a bright flood light was always shining directly on them at night, meaning that the trees never got to experience darkness. She had learned from her grandmother, Noelle Walsh, that trees need darkness at night the same way humans do: it helps regulate their growth cycles by allowing them to regenerate a key compound known as phytochrome. According to the Astronomical Society of Canada, without darkness, a tree can fail to thrive.  

Rosie decided to do something about it. Last year, when she was in Grade 4, she wrote to her principal explaining her concern and requesting that the light be turned off at night. She was initially told that, for security reasons, it wouldn’t be possible. But Rosie remained determined. This fall, Rosie approached the other members of The Green Project about her concerns and showed them another letter she had drafted, this time citing research she had done online. The rest of the group helped her refine the letter, and everyone signed it. The letter was delivered to principal Greig, adorned with a total of 13 student signatures.

Principal Greig took the letter to the Western Quebec School Board, which agreed that the light could either be redirected away from the trees or turned off entirely. 

In a unanimous vote, the students decided the light should be turned off entirely at night to protect the trees. 

“I am so very proud of the initiative of this group of students,” Greig told the Low Down. “They saw a problem with constant light over the micro-forest, did their research, [and] wrote a professional letter…They have learned how to be advocates for the environment.”

“This is a sign that we can act and do something,” Rosie told the Low Down. “It’s possible that we, young people, can make a real change.” 

The Green Project members now have their sights set on more advocacy work. They want to educate other students about caring for trees on the school property and they also want to put out a wider call to the community to “step up,” as one student put it. 

“Wakefield is a small community, and we are all good friends,” Grade 6 student Alyssa Carle told the Low Down. 

“We have all got to figure out how to work together to make it a better place. The Green Project gives me hope.” The students are also working with Wakefield artist cj fleury to decorate a chair that will be installed in the La Pêche municipal chambers to represent the youth voice on issues relating to the environment. 

La Pêche mayor Guillaume Lamoureux, who visited The Green Project during their weekly meeting on Feb. 3, proposed the idea of the chair based on a similar installation known as the “Chair of the Generations” inside Gatineau City Hall. 

 Rest easy, trees Read More »

La Pêche responds to tariffs with local biz push

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By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

The municipality of La Pêche is responding to the threat of tariffs from the U.S. 

During its latest council meeting on March 3, councillors made a commitment as a municipality to “strengthen the autonomy” of La Pêche by choosing to purchase goods and services from local, regional and Quebec-based businesses. 

When asked if the motion was a direct response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs on Canada, La Pêche Mayor Guillaume Lamoureux said, “Yes.”

“This is a reminder that La Pêche has such a policy, to reiterate our desire to promote local business and regional businesses, and to focus on favouring our purchases from Quebec businesses,” Lamoureux told the Low Down. 

Trump has dangled the threat of tariffs on Canadian goods since he took office on Jan. 20, but has since clawed back twice. According to the Trump administration, the tariffs on Canadian goods are paused until April 2. 

But the pause hasn’t eased Canadians’ level of fear and concern, as provinces and municipalities are gearing up for an intense trade war that has already begun. Ontario has slapped 25 per cent tariffs on electricity that is being supplied to northern border states, including New York, Michigan and Minnesota. 

The La Pêche motion details how the municipality will avoid purchasing from big box stores. 

“The municipality will ensure that its operational needs are met by local markets and will strive to favour the purchase of Quebec goods and services, as well as suppliers, insurers and contractors established in Quebec,” the motion reads. “The municipality is committed to avoiding, as much as possible, purchases through online commerce giants such as Amazon, and will favor purchases from local and regional businesses.”

La Pêche has also built an online business directory where residents can search categories like grocers, auto repair services, artist directories, self-care businesses, construction and renovation companies, and youth programs. Consult the business directory online at: https://surl.li/fiefpj. 

In other business, council:

  • approved Phase 1 of the Esplanade Wakefield development, which will see the creation of 13 new homes in a neighbourhood north of the Wakefield village off Chemin Maclaren; 
  • revoked the existing lease between Wakefield-La Pêche Community Centre Cooperative and the municipality. This important step paves the way for the municipality to take over ownership of the community centre building, while giving the cooperative management powers at the centre. The official takeover will happen sometime this spring or summer; 
  • granted Maison de l’Étincelle $20,000 to support the launch of its first-ever summer camp. The support is especially important this year, as Maison des jeunes Mashado, a youth organization, has confirmed it will not run a summer camp this year.

La Pêche responds to tariffs with local biz push Read More »

SOS Outaouais lottery rakes in dough for healthcare

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By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

SOS Outaouais’ Queen of Hearts lottery, which launched just two months ago, has already raised an impressive $588,090 for healthcare in the region. 

SOS Outaouais president Jean Pigeon told the Low Down that he was blown away with the campaign’s early success in the past two months. 

“It’s quite amazing what we have going,” said Pigeon, explaining that the draw is similar to the Chase the Ace contest that went viral across the Hills last summer and allowed several organizations to benefit greatly. This included the Low arena, which got $500,000 in cash from the fundraiser. “So, hopefully we can maintain that momentum,” he added. 

The contest works by residents buying raffle tickets. If their name is called, they have a chance to win the full pot if they draw the Queen of Hearts. If not, they win the smaller weekly prize and the pot continues to grow until someone draws the Queen. The progressive pot now exceeds $190,000 as of publication date.

Pigeon said that, after dispersing the winnings, his organization will take home over $300,000 to use on multiple projects over the year. 

“We have close to 200 projects in our nine different sectors,” said Pigeon. “We have a sector of cancer treatment, overall hospital network, youth services, mental health, readaptation, elderly homes, research and supporting the recruitment of human resources for CISSSO.”

SOS Outaouais has a goal of raising $50,000 with the fundraiser in an attempt to address the $200 million shortfall that the region sees in healthcare funding. 

For more information on SOS Outaouais or to buy lottery tickets, visit: https://fondationsanteoutaouais.ca/lotos-loteries/. 

SOS Outaouais lottery rakes in dough for healthcare Read More »

Wakefield community centre: not-for-profit or co-op?

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

There could be a move afoot to disband the Centre Wakefield-La Pêche (CWLP) cooperative and merge it into a not-for-profit organization. 

But before that happens, the centre needs to finalize its agreement with the municipality to take over ownership of the building. That agreement should be finalized by the summer. 

But in the meantime, Wakefielders Bob Gibson and Karen Bays of the Membership Involvement Group (MING) at the CWLP have been tasked with studying the cooperative model and have recommended to the Wakefield community centre board that it moves forward with disbanding the current model.

Their argument is that the Wakefield community centre should not be managed under a cooperative model, as it doesn’t properly serve the community in which it operates. 

“It may be the only [community centre] in Canada, if not North America, that uses a coop model,” Bays recently told the Low Down, referring to the Wakefield community centre. Bays has since stepped away from MING and the centre to allow them to focus on the building transfer, but she still believes that once the transfer is complete, the board should consider moving away from the cooperative model. 

“You have to be a member to participate,” said Bays. “Basically, you’re supposed to give as much as you get in a coop. But we have a centre where people want to come to events, but they don’t want to run the centre.”

Bays and Gibson presented their findings during the Wakefield Recreation Association last November, however they aren’t sure where things are at because of the building transfer. 

“We’re not here to promote anything or to argue about co-ops at all at this point,” said Gibson during the November meeting.  “Based on research reported, we recommend that the centre’s board begin the process of moving out of the co-op model and into one of a non-profit or not-for-profit organization.”

A non-profit’s purpose is to serve the public good, while a not-for-profit’s purpose is to serve its members and their interests. The two models also have differences related to tax and profits. 

Gibson’s comments fueled immediate tension in the meeting, which is unsurprising given that members have been at odds over how the CWLP has been run and managed since the end of the pandemic. The centre has been embroiled in controversy ever since, with public firings, unstable governance and infighting between past and current board members. 

This tension has also centred around the CWLP membership’s vote this year to begin negotiating a building transfer to the municipality of La Pêche after it became clear that maintaining the physical building was too much for the cooperative to manage. That deal, which is currently being negotiated, will see the municipality own the building, with the CWLP using the centre rent-free to manage programs, staffing, and other internal matters. The municipality will essentially be the landlord of the building and will take care of repairs, snow removal and maintenance, while the board will continue to run the centre and its programming. 

It’s unclear how things would change under a non-profit or not-for-profit model, but former CWLP board member Carly Woods was adamant at the November meeting that the idea is only that – an idea. 

“I think around the table, we can all agree, probably – that the co-op model doesn’t necessarily work for the centre,” said Woods. “The seed has only been planted, and it’s not going anywhere yet, and we’re not watering it the slightest.”

Former CWLP president Irene Richardson told the crowd there’s no reason to disband the co-op because the centre already operates under a not-for-profit model. The CWLP partnered with Outaouais Philanthropy to provide tax receipts to donors. However, the CWLP isn’t its own registered charity. 

“We are not-for-profit. That means we get all the tax breaks that are out there,” said Richardson. “I think it’s a great model; we report to our members. Does it work? Well, we have to make it work, and it wouldn’t matter what we called it; it’s the people that have to make it work,” said Richardson.

She said another changeup at the centre would be costly and time-consuming and wouldn’t change anything operationally. 

Wakefield community centre: not-for-profit or co-op? Read More »

No replacements yet for four Wakefield docs

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by Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

Wakefield is set to lose its fourth doctor in the last two years when Dr. Jacques Ménard takes his well-deserved retirement this summer. 

And with no replacements found yet for Dr. Satenstein, Dr. Amani Ben Moussa, Dr. Folkerson and now Ménard, Hills medical advocacy groups are concerned that the region’s doctor shortage is about to get even worse. 

“It’s very concerning, and there’s a lot of doctors and specialists that have left the region, and we have to look at why they’re leaving,” said SOS Outaouais executive-director Jean Pigeon. “And, unfortunately, it’s due to exactly what we’ve been addressing: the fact that there’s a lack of funding, and there’s a lack of human resources that is putting tremendous pressure on a very difficult workplace.”

Regional healthcare advocacy group SOS Outaouais has been banging the same drum for over a year now – that the Outaouais region is grossly underfunded when compared to other regions in Quebec. According to the Observatoire de développement de l’Outaouais, the region is underfunded by an estimated $200 million per year. 

Pigeon admitted that doctor salaries in Quebec are on par with those of Ontario, and added that the region isn’t losing doctors because of low salaries but more because of working environments: long overtime shifts, a lack of medical technicians and a lack of medical technology that help doctors properly diagnose patients. 

“It comes down to: Do they have the right environment to work in?” said Pigeon. “Do they have enough staff to support them? Because doctors don’t work alone. They work in teams, so they need those teams to be available. If you just look at the region’s hospitals, there are so many positions that are still not filled, and doctors can’t diagnose blindly – they need to have medical imagery.”

Pigeon said his organization is also concerned about how the new Santé Québec health department has rolled out, as 31 per cent of Quebecers said they feel their health services have diminished under the new department, according to a recent public opinion poll. 

Santé Québec CEO Genevieve Biron also just fired her Number Two, Frédéric Abergel, after he reportedly advocated for giving local establishments more autonomy. Pigeon said his organization has been trying to meet with Biron for over a month but have yet to hear a response. 

“Ms. Biron wants to ‘measure public perception’? We offer her a clear statement: the Outaouais population has no confidence in Santé Québec,” wrote Pigeon in a news release last week. 

Biron declined an interview with the Low Down, as did CISSS de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) CEO Marc Bilodeau. Bilodeau is currently trying to cut $90 million from the region’s health budget, as Biron is slashing $150 billion from the province’s health ministry. 

CISSSO told the Low Down that those cuts would be made public in a couple of weeks. 

Lack of technology hampering recruitment 

If you ask local health watchdog group Vigi Santé why it’s so difficult to recruit doctors to Wakefield, he won’t bring up salary or vacation time or bonuses, but he will talk about a lack of technology at both Wakefield medical clinics and the village hospital that he feels is swaying young doctors from setting up their practices here. 

“The hospital is not favourable to a young doctor wanting to practise there because we have no technology,” said Vigi Sante spokesperson Marcel Chartrand. “And young doctors coming out of school, they get trained with new technology, and then they’re going to come here, and they’ll do maybe a week at the Wakefield Hospital and then say, ‘What is happening here? There’s nothing. There’s no diagnostic equipment that I could call innovative that I could use to properly assess my patients other than radiology.’ So they’re saying, ‘Well, not very interesting.’ So they look elsewhere.”

Chartrand said it “happens every day” when a doctor at the Wakefield Hospital has to send a patient to Hull or Gatineau to get a specialized diagnostic scan to properly assess them. 

There are currently 78,000 residents in the Outaouais without a family doctor and nearly 7,500 in the des Collines region. 

No replacements yet for four Wakefield docs Read More »

Low arborist arrested at gunpoint awaits court verdict

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By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

Tommy Townsend will have to wait a couple more months to find out if a judge will throw out his fines for carrying a knife in public. 

The arborist from Low was arrested at gunpoint in front of his two children by MRC des Collines officers on Aug. 18, 2023, after a witness called police and reported that a man wielding a knife was wandering around the village. 

“I am an arborist, I work in the bush, and it was a pruning blade, not a machete,” Townsend told a judge at trial on Feb. 19 in Chelsea. “I was not wandering around – I was in my truck when the police pulled me out at gunpoint with my children in the truck watching.”

Townsend submitted a copy of the Aug. 23, 2023, Low Down newspaper as an exhibit, which shows a photo of two police officers drawing their guns while Townsend is on the ground behind his truck. 

In August 2023, Townsend told the Low Down that he was in Wakefield searching for missing Low man Simeon Wapachee and was dressed in a safety vest as he showed passersby Wapachee’s photo. He had several knives that were sheathed on his belt. This was not mentioned in court. 

Police told the Low Down in 2023 that they got a call from a concerned citizen reporting that a suspicious man wielding a knife was wandering the village. Police later apprehended Townsend while he was in his work truck. 

In court, Townsend told Judge Joanne Cousineau that he was in Wakefield on the morning of Aug. 18 with his daughters to get them new shoes at Giant Tiger. Townsend testified he had just finished pruning an apple tree near Chemin Mahon and was going shopping when he was pulled over. 

Crown prosecutor Olivier Gosselin questioned why Townsend had his kids with him and if he was working on the day of Aug. 18. “Explain to me, if you said you were working, how come you were working when your children are in your car?” asked Gosselin. 

“It’s my own private business,” Townsend responded. “A lot of my clients are friends or people that I know, and they don’t have a problem with it. I also knew that it was an hour job, and then we were going to Giant Tiger to buy the shoes.”

Gosselin pressed Townsend further, asking him for the specific address of the job and whether Townsend’s client was okay with his children being present. The single dad said he often brings his kids to small jobs, and it’s not been a problem.

When Townsend was pulled over, he explained that he had several knives on his belt, which he uses in his arborist work, but added that they were all sheathed in protective covers when cops detained him. When asked why the knives were still on his belt, he told the prosecutor that he leaves them in the belt while driving but puts them away in a locked compartment when he leaves his truck. He said he had planned to do the same when he got to Giant Tiger but was pulled over after police received reports of a suspicious man wandering the village with a knife. 

“The equipment is with me only for relative work,” he said. “As mentioned, I take it all out before I get out of the vehicle. I hadn’t at that time, so here we are today.”

In his closing arguments, Gosselin told the judge that he has “doubt that Mr. Townsend was really working on that day.”

“My problem is more in regards to why we are pruning apple trees in August,” said Gosselin. “We all love apples; you collect them in the fall, not August. Then, from his own testimony, the defendant said it’s not the best time of the year to do so, but for some reason, he did.”

Townsend agreed that spring is the best time to prune fruit trees but added that the client wanted it done then, and he wouldn’t say no to a job. Gosselin asserted that Townsend should have removed and stored the knives properly before getting into his truck. “Anything could have happened. He could have went to buy something else, and if he did, he has his knife on him.”

Justice Cousineau quoted the La Pêche bylaw that bans residents from carrying weapons in public “without a reasonable excuse.”

“That is the question I need to answer,” she said. “Did he have a reasonable excuse? He had it in his possession, he’s admitted to it, and he explains his reasonable excuse. The wandering around part, I need to look into that.”

Cousineau told the court that she needed to take the case “under advisory,” meaning that she needed more time to study the law and look at potential precedent cases before deciding on Townsend’s case. 

“I will tell you that many, many files regarding knives, it was basically kids who have no business having a knife,” she said.

Cousineau will render her decision on April 10. 

Low arborist arrested at gunpoint awaits court verdict Read More »

Teens identified in string of car thefts

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway
Local Journalism Initiative

MRC des Collines Police say they have identified four suspects in connection with a string of 30 car break-ins and stolen vehicles in Cantley and Val-des-Monts over the last month. 

According to MRC des Collines Spokesperson Martin Fournel, three male teenagers, aged 17 and one adult male, 18, are the main suspects in at least 30 reported break-ins and car thefts. Fournel said that two of the 17-year-old suspects are Cantley residents. 

Police seized a vehicle in Gatineau on March 2, believed to be in connection with this string of thefts.  

Fournel is urging motorists to lock their doors and to report thefts after his precinct fielded more than 30 complaints regarding vehicle break-ins and car thefts. 

“These are opportunity thefts,” said Fournel, explaining that these vehicle thefts are not linked to the rise in car thefts across Canada, in which thieves are using the Flipper Zero gadget that can reprogram key fobs. “Unlocked doors, leaving valuables in the vehicle, and in some cases, the keys were left in the car.”

Fournel said that a lot of Gatineau Hills residents feel that, because they live in a rural setting, they don’t need to lock their car doors while at home or while they are in local villages shopping. However, with thefts on the rise, police are urging motorists to take precautions. 

Thieves have become more brazen these days, with locals reporting daytime thefts at their country homes. Masham resident Jean Bernard Bertrand had his 16-foot trailer stolen out of his driveway in October of last year. 

Low resident Maggie Early left the Low arena after volunteering only to find that a thief had smashed her rear passenger window and stolen her wallet with “a good sum of cash in it,” along with her credit cards and driver’s driver’s license. 

“You try and give back to the community, and this is the thanks I get,” Early, a longtime arena and community volunteer, posted on Facebook Feb. 12. She said her truck was locked, as it “always is.”

Fournel told the Low Down that police have recovered some evidence from the Cantley thefts, including surveillance footage of the suspects, but he is urging more residents to come forward with complaints. 

He said that police suspect there could be more culprits and more incidents and he urges anyone who has been a victim of theft to report it to police immediately.

“So if they don’t report it, we cannot investigate it, and maybe in some cases, we could have found some footprints, or, you know, fingerprints,” said Fournel.

Teens identified in string of car thefts Read More »

Hills residents fight for affordable housing

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

It was made very clear last week that La Pêche residents care about affordable housing and low-income families. 

When one resident suggested at a Feb. 20 zoning meeting that low-income families should be pushed outside the village cores in both Wakefield and Masham, residents stood up to argue the opposite – asserting how artists, families, elders and single people make the area diverse, rich and unique. 

“What’s the scope of this? What’s the trigger of this? Who is asking to have affordable houses here?” asked a resident during the second pre-consultation on the municipality’s urban plan (PU). “In Lac-des-Loups, compared to the village, the further you go, it’s going to be a bit cheaper because the lots are cheaper, so what is the scope to have affordable housing in a limited space, as Wakefield, where you are struggling with parking, but now you are thinking about bringing almost blocks. Why not elsewhere, outside the city,” asked the resident, referring to block housing, like container villages. 

“Well, because there is none,” added Wakefield resident and business owner John Batten, sitting a few seats over.

La Pêche urbanism director Jalloul Salah, who hosted the meeting, said he has heard from residents that Wakefield is becoming more expensive, making it harder for younger couples, single families, artists, service workers and elders to stay in the village. 

“People say that Wakefield is getting a bit expensive, and they want to continue living here,” he told the crowd. “So, what you are saying is gentrification, so let’s push people out.”

The resident, who did not share his name, said that people move to Wakefield for “its status” and suggested that village cores remain that way. 

But La Pêche residents Rink de Lange and his partner, Leanne Olson, disagreed. 

“I think it’s a surprise that you are even asking the question,” said de Lange. “If you don’t have housing for people with low income, then nobody will be able to live in Wakefield anymore, and we will lose our quaint village of Wakefield. It should be in every municipality’s goal to supply housing for people who are not that rich.”

Olson further described how Wakefield has become a “gig economy” full of artists, musicians and struggling families working multiple jobs to make ends meet. 

“People have four different jobs, they work all over the place; and they are the artists, they are the musicians, they are the people that add life to this village; and if we don’t support them, then a lot of wealthier people move in, and they all move out, and we’ve lost the heart of the village,” she said. “And if we don’t sustain that and encourage that and make sure they can stay because they can have affordable housing, then we lose a large part of the community.”

Wakefield councillor Claude Giroux praised the municipality’s partnership with Cohabitat Wakefield. This local non-profit housing cooperative just secured 2.5 acres of land through a donation from La Pêche for its 41-unit cooperative housing complex that will be built just off Maclaren street at the north end of the village. 

The cost of housing has become a big issue in the Des Collines, with the region’s social development roundtable Table de développement social des Collines-de-l’Outaouais (TDSCO) stating that in 2021, close to 3,000 residents in the MRC des Collines were spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. The 30 per cent income-to-housing ratio is the threshold the Canadian Housing and Mortgage Company (CMHC) uses to consider a home as “affordable.” 

Some residents suggested that the old Wakefield Elementary School on Caves Road should be converted into affordable housing units. However, the property is privately owned by Toronto resident Eric Mah. Mah once tried to turn the building into a language school but lacked the funds. The building has become an eyesore and a dangerous hangout for local teens, who consistently break into it to host parties, explore and start fires. 

Coun. Giroux told the crowd that the municipality is now considering expropriating the property. However, that process has not officially begun yet.  

Other items discussed at the pre-consultation included: La Pêche’s plan to preserve and maintain heritage buildings throughout Wakefield, plans to preserve the village’s rail heritage at Turntable Park and the addition of segregated bike lanes that could take riders from Masham to Wakefield along Hwy 366. 

The latter seemed to spark some chatter among the dozen or so attendees, with de Lange questioning why La Pêche didn’t integrate bike lanes two summers ago when it redid the paving along Hwy 366. 

La Pêche staffers told the crowd that the municipality is developing a trail network that will connect riders along the highway to Masham. However, it wasn’t clear when those paths would be completed. 

The purpose of the meeting was to gather input from the community that will be integrated into the PU before it is adopted. This was the fourth PU meeting after staffers held similar meetings in Masham and Lac-des-Loups earlier this year. The PU is being renewed to align with the MRC des Collines’ master plan adopted last year. If you missed the meeting but want to have your voice heard, email opinion@villelapeche.qc.ca. The next round of consultations have not yet been announced.

Hills residents fight for affordable housing Read More »

No timeline for Black Sheep Inn return

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

There is no imminent opening date set for the Black Sheep Inn, according to current co-owner Paul Symes. 

Symes told the Low Down Feb. 24 that, while he wants nothing more than to see the Wakefield music venue back up and running, the deal to transfer ownership of the building and the business is highly complicated and will take some time. 

“It felt that we were closer in November than we are now,” said Symes. “But it might right itself, and it might get going again, but it’s not like anything is imminent either. I don’t want to pretend that.”

Symes explained that the deal includes two aspects: the business sale, which involves the selling of shares, and a mortgage of the building. Symes said “both are incredibly complicated and still need a lot of work.”

The Low Down published a front-page article in December of last year that the Sheep was returning with a late January opening date. However, the deal between Symes and Jennifer Nesbitt, who owns the other half of the business and the building, is still being finalized. 

Extensive renovations have taken place since August, and the space is all but ready to host events. Once an agreement has been signed, the venue is expected to reopen.

Prior to the pandemic, The Black Sheep Inn had been a premier destination for local, national and international performers. It was shuttered during the pandemic and has so far remained closed. 

No timeline for Black Sheep Inn return Read More »

WQSB schools combatting verbal aggression in class

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , ,

by Zenith Wolfe

Local Journalism Initiative

As Canadian school teachers and staff continue to grapple with verbal aggression in classrooms, several Outaouais school boards are taking action with anti-violence weeks and regional committees against classroom incivility.

In 2024, the Fédération du personnel de soutien scolaire (FPSS-CSQ) surveyed over 5,000 Quebec school staff to determine how often they were abused during the 2023-2024 school year. A third of respondents reported at least one instance of physical abuse, while around 40 per cent were subject to verbal or other non-physical abuse, such as shouting, offensive comments or intimidation. Ninety per cent of staff who reported abuse that year said students are the main instigators, the survey says.

George Singfield is director-general of the Western Quebec School Board (WQSB), which oversees 31 schools, adult education centres and vocational training centres across the province. He hesitates to speak about an increase in verbal aggression at his schools, but says he’s witnessed an increase in verbal aggression from all Canadians over his 38-year education career.

“In 1985 when I started as a teacher, did I see students who were verbally aggressive? Absolutely,” he says. “Where I see the difference is that it’s become more of a thing in our society.”

“Schools are a microcosm of society,” he continues. “The message we don’t want to give is that it’s okay to be verbally aggressive.” 

According to a 2024 Brock University study that compared student behaviours from fall 2019 and 2022, school children are also becoming less civil in classrooms. Forty-two per cent of surveyed teachers said they witnessed students interrupting each other, texting during class, arriving late or packing up early. This is up from six per cent before the pandemic. 

The WQSB director general says their schools are taking proactive measures to prevent aggression, such as ongoing anti-bullying campaigns. Singfield also met with Quebec Ministry of Education representatives in mid-February to discuss their upcoming anti-violence week, taking place from March 17 to 21. Singfield could not provide specifics on the event because it’s still under discussion.

WQSB chairwoman Joanne Labadie says these kinds of events help remind parents about their schools’ strict anti-violence policies.

“I think that if you look at our data, our schools are very safe and there are very few incidents. But it’s always something we should keep on our radar to address when they come up,” Labadie says.

Employee assistance and counselling resources are also available to all WQSB staff members who are verbally abused, Singfield says.

“It’s part of their job to deal with all kinds of situations, but staff shouldn’t deal with it alone. The last thing we want to do is leave a staff member feeling isolated,” he says.

The Centre de services scolaire des Draveurs (CSSD) founded a regional committee in fall 2024 to combat uncivil classroom behaviour. Though the WQSB is not a part of this committee, Singfield says he’s informally discussed it with CSSD representatives.

WQSB schools combatting verbal aggression in class Read More »

A group is pulled on a horse drawn sleigh

A day of fun between two storms

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

It was the calm before the second storm on Saturday, Feb. 15, as the Rupert Winter Carnival snuck in a day of winter fun that was bookended by two major storms that dumped close to 75 centimetres of snow over parts of the region. 

But it was a day of winter bliss during the winter carnival Saturday; a balmy -10 C, which was perfect for a classic ice hockey game, the traditional egg toss, a three-legged race and hours of tobogganing fun on Rupert’s epic hill. 

The day started off with the first-annual Rupert Winter Classic: a friendly but competitive hockey game between two iconic squads, which featured the likes of Liam Hale, Brad Stewart, Dylan Rollo, Nick Steers and a handful of other well-known Hills hockey players. 

It was a special moment for the players as well as the spectators, who were wrapped around Rupert’s outdoor rink, as it was the first time in several years that a hockey game had been played during the winter carnival. The pandemic and past weather issues have plagued the traditional tournament for years, so it was a poignant ceremonial faceoff. And, instead of a full tournament, organizers went with just one classic game and then opened the rink up to kids, who took over with shinny, ice games and an evening dance party to the tunes of DJ Matt Tamblyn. 

A day of fun between two storms Read More »

Marc CarriereMarc Carrière

We can’t ‘bury our heads’ on climate change: MRC prefect 

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , , , , ,

By Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

The head of the MRC des Collines regional government says that local municipalities in the Hills can’t “bury our heads in the sand” when looking at the threats of natural disasters in the wake of climate change. 

MRC des Collines Prefect Marc Carrière told the Low Down that his government, as well as municipalities in Gatineau, La Pêche, Pontiac, Cantley, L’Ange Guardian and others, are working together to map out five local rivers in terms of their floodplains. 

He said there is also concern for those who live near bodies of water – especially since Quebec’s Ministry of the Environment recently told the Low Down that it expects the “the surface area of floodplains would increase by approximately 40 per cent in the next-generation maps.” 

“We have had two major floods in 2017 and 2019, and you never know when this will happen again,” said Carrière. He noted that there was another massive storm in the Hills last summer, which flooded properties, damaged homes and washed out several roads in Hollow Glen in Chelsea. “With all this climate change, we have to be prepared. So, of course the MRC and the municipalities are worried, especially for the residents that will live in the next flooding zone.”

According to Craig Stewart, part-time Chelsea resident and the vice-president of Climate Change and Federal Issues with the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC), about 10 per cent of homes in Canada are “uninsurable” for flooding, as they are built in the 100-year floodplain. Insurers won’t cover them because it is nearly a guarantee that they will flood within 20 years, he said.

Carrière said his government will need federal and provincial help. 

“People will have to adapt, but we can’t bury our heads in the sand and think it will never happen again,” added Carrière. “It will happen again.”

The federal government is working on a national partnership program with insurance companies to offer coverage for these “high-risk” homes. The problem is that the program is taking time to iron out, and with the new flood maps expected later this year, homeowners could find themselves in an expensive bind if they want certain flood coverage added as a premium. 

Despite the alarming assertion by one government source that flood zones would increase by 40 per cent in Quebec, local Carleton University researcher Gary Martin, who studies climate change adaptation and flood risk management, said that while flood risk is clearly increasing across Quebec, it remains to be seen how the province’s maps will differ from existing municipal flood maps. He said that municipalities and the MRCs know where the risky areas are, and have worked for decades to keep housing out of those risky areas.

“Whose climate modeling and flood mapping are they using? What’s their level of certainty? How far in the future are they planning? The feds are working on new, publicly accessible flood zone maps across Canada too. Whose map will you use?” Questioned Martin.  “That 40% figure concerns me. Will it cause people to panic?”

“This is all up in the air, and I don’t think people need to freak out just yet,” Martin continued.  “The feds and the provinces and municipalities understand the problem, and are all working through this to ensure that people don’t lose the equity in their homes.”Carrière said that the local MRCs are mapping out five rivers in the area: Gatineau, Quyon, Outaouais, Du Lièvre in Masson-Angers and Blanche in Perkins. He said the maps should be completed by the end of the year.

We can’t ‘bury our heads’ on climate change: MRC prefect  Read More »

Black and white photo of person standing in front of a window with their back to the camera

‘Is there anything we can do?’

Local Journalism Initiative / / / , ,

by Trevor Greenway

Local Journalism Initiative

Content warning: This article discusses suicide. If you’re struggling, help is available. You are not alone. Please reach out to a trusted friend, family member, or a professional. In Canada, you can call or text 988 for free, confidential support 24/7.

Declan Thomas was a friend, a brother and a chef. Patrick Thompson was a talented artist, an adoring uncle and an inspiration to young artists in the north. Jay Dubois was a village contractor and a loving father. 

These three young men – and many others who we didn’t mention out of respect for their families, were all part of the fabric that made the Gatineau Hills so special. They had loving mothers and fathers, friends, siblings, nieces and nephews, wives, kids and proud grandparents who loved them. They were young souls with futures ahead of them.

But for these three young men – and thousands more across Quebec – those dreams were never realized, those plans were never fulfilled and their family members were left devastated by the news that their loved ones had taken their own lives. All of these men died by suicide in the last five years. 

“With Declan, it was just out of the blue,” said Declan Thomas’ brother, Owain, speaking about the loss of his brother close to two years after his death in 2022. “He was quite secretive, and he didn’t share much. 

Nobody really knew the whole story of anything. If you knew Declan, you knew there’s a lot going on underneath.”

Owain has spent the last 24 months recovering and rebuilding his life from insurmountable grief that he said is impossible to describe. Just two months after his brother died by suicide, Owain’s wife Elyse Cragg took her own life. The father of a three-year-old not only mourned the death of his brother but also his wife – the mother of his only child.

“It was two suicides in two and a half months,” Owain told the Low Down. He’s stoic and collected after spending months in therapy and counselling. He said he wants to talk about suicide rates and the mental toll it takes on families left to pick up the pieces. “I was with my little boy, who was three and potty training, and I was alone in a town [in Brossard, QC] where I didn’t know anybody, and I had no family or friends around. It was rough. I tried to help Declan, and I tried to help her, too.” 

That “help” not only came in the form of counselling and therapy but also listening and trying to understand the issues Owain’s brother and wife were struggling with. Owain said what was hard to bear was his brother’s unwillingness to speak about his problems; that Declan did not feel strong enough to confront his struggles with drugs and alcohol, his loneliness or his growing self-shame. Owain said he did everything he could to help and still lost two loved ones to suicide. 

“I knew that Declan needed help and I tried to help him, but it just didn’t get addressed,” explained Owain. “A lot of people tried. And a lot of his girlfriends – most of his girlfriends – reached out to me and said, ‘Is there anything we can do?’”

Owain has since moved to Pincourt, QC, where he is “rebuilding” his life with his new partner Tiffany and her three young daughters. 

Men three times more likely to take their own lives 

A new suicide report by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ) states that men are three times more likely to take their own lives than women.

According to the report, these three local young men – Thomas, Thompson, and Dubois – are among the 4,924 Quebecers who have taken their own lives since 2017 and are among the 345 Outaouais residents who ended their own lives in that same period. The report also shows that suicides in Quebec have remained fairly consistent over the past several years, with 1,051 suicides recorded in 2020; 1,031 in 2021 and 1,102 in 2022. 

When looking at gender, the report shows that men are three times more likely to take their own lives than their female counterparts, with the adjusted suicide rate for women at 5.5 per 100,000 people compared to 18.6 per 100,000 for men. 

In the Outaouais, the suicide rate is above the provincial average. According to the report, the suicide rate in Quebec hovers at around 10 people per 100,000, while the Outaouais is around 13.9 per 100,000. 

The highest suicide rates in the province are in Nunavik, where a staggering 173 people per 100,000 residents take their own lives. 

While the stats are clear, the reasons behind why so many young men are taking their own lives are more complicated. The Low Down reached out to more than a dozen local, Quebec-based and Canadian psychologists and psychiatrists – none of them were willing to comment on the report or the growing crisis. 

However, research shows that “men account for almost three out of four ‘deaths of despair,’ from overdose or suicide,” according to American writer and social scientist Richard Reeves, who explores this in his 2022 book, ‘Of Boys and Men’. Reeves’ research has found the likelihood of men taking their own lives significantly higher than that of their female counterparts. 

“Opioid deaths are at about 70 per cent plus male; men are about four times more likely to commit suicide than women are,” Reeves told New York Times journalist Ezra Klein in 2023. “It’s risen by about 25 per cent as well over the last 10 years or so.” In his book, Reeves argues that the U.S. education system is placing boys at a disadvantage and explores why boys raised in poverty are less likely to escape than girls and why so many young men are seeking controversial figures like self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson, a well-known, Canadian psychologist who was forced to undergo social media sensitivity training after posting transphobic, racist and misogynistic tweets. Reeves said on Klein’s podcast that more and more young men are wondering where they fit in the world: “I think that sense of being needed is hugely important,” he said. 

A recent study by research fellow and suicide prevention expert Fiona Shand published in the British Medical Journal looked at the words that men used to describe themselves before suicide. The two words they most commonly used were “useless” and “worthless.”

An Angus Reid survey in 2021 found that 63 per cent of 18- to 34-year-old Canadian men experienced considerable loneliness and isolation, compared to 53 per cent of their female counterparts. These results are similar to a recent U.S. study, in which one in three young men said they always or often felt lonely, and more than a quarter said they had no close friends; again, higher than rates among young women.

These stats are not surprising to Wakefield resident Alexandre Bon-Miller, a men’s life coach, mentor and executive director at Boys to Men Canada, which helps young men “navigate towards self-awareness, growth and masculinity,” according to its website. His organizations hosts retreats for men aged 13-35 who are in “crisis or transition.” 

He was clear that he is not a psychologist but has been working with young men for over two decades. He said that while most suicide cases are unique and come with a “collection of influences and variables and aspects,” a lot of young men are feeling lost these days.

“I think one main thing is a lack of purpose, a lack of sense of direction and purpose and meaning,” Bon-Miller told the Low Down. “More than ever, young people are coming into a zeitgeist where they don’t trust authority; they don’t trust our institutions. So, there’s a cynicism and a mistrust and a nihilism that is only exacerbated through the culture war. This is where you get these young men looking around on the internet, [and] they find guys like Andrew Tate, and they follow down those paths.” 

A struggle to help those struggling

Part of the struggle for Bon Miller – and others – has been engaging young men to address their issues. It was a similar problem for Owain in getting his brother Declan to seek help, and it seems to be a constant struggle for families who may be aware of a loved one’s struggles but have no idea how to help them. This struggle is well documented, with the Angus Reid study showing that women are almost three times more likely to seek help through social services.

It’s a problem Danielle Lanyi said she is all too familiar with. The executive director at Connexions Resource Centre in Wakefield said that there are plenty of resources available to help those in crisis, but most people don’t know about them. Another huge barrier is that most of the help is through institutions, and they often come with long wait times for crisis intervention.  But she praised the CISSS’s Aire Ouvert program, which translates to “open space,” and that’s what it is. The service connects youth and parents with a network of specialists: psychologists, therapists, sexologists, nurses and social workers, who will meet either virtually or in-person to discuss anything from mental health and sexuality to drug addiction – and everything in between. The service is by appointment only and is available in both French and English. 

“I think they have done a good job so far,” said Lanyi. “They have numerous committees and focus groups with youth and parents, and they are also working with community organizations.” 

Lanyi referenced a long list of resources for those struggling with their mental health but added that Quebec is lacking in follow-up treatment after a patient goes through a crisis. 

“I find that the aftermath is when things start to really sink in,” said Lanyi, referring to either someone who has attempted suicide, someone struggling with a crisis or a family member dealing with the grief of losing a loved one to suicide. “People start processing and, you know, start to ask, ‘What are the next steps?’ And they’re just kind of left on their own.” 

Lanyi urges residents to use the Santé Québec 811 hotline if they are in a crisis, as the service isn’t solely a telephone support system. Lanyi said Quebec has social workers and nurses on the ground in the region. 

“If it’s a crisis, and if it’s a suicide crisis especially, I know that 811 also responds,” she said about the bilingual service. 

Maison le Ricochet in Masham is another local organization that helps transition those going through a mental crisis back into society. The organization has 21 beds throughout the municipality and offers everything from counselling and mental health support to rehabilitation programs that allow patients to work in the wood shop or their electronic recycling plant. The home has been in operation since 1990.

People like Owain, the Dubois family and the Thompsons know nothing will ever bring their brothers and sons back, nor will the pain of losing a loved one to suicide ever go away, but they are all candid about talking about suicide and mental health in the hopes that it could save someone going down that path. 

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. See our list of mental health resources to the right. And if you need immediate help, dial 911. 

If you need help…

Mental Health Resources:

  • Suicide.ca – Bilingual
    •  Prevention line: 1-866-APPELLE (277-3553)
  • Canada Suicide Prevention Service – Bilingual
    •  24-Hour Crisis Line: call/text: 988
  • Info-santé – Bilingual
    • 24-Hour Crisis Line: 811, press option #2 to speak with a social worker
  • Distress Centre of Ottawa and Region – Bilingual
    •  24/7 Crisis Line: 613-238-3311
  • Tel-Aide Outaouais – French Only
    • 24 hour helpline:: 819-775-3223 or toll-free: at 1-800-567-9699
  • L’Apogée
    • Centre for family and friends of a person living with a mental health disorder: 819-771-6488
    • www.lapogee.ca
  • Aire ouverte
  • Maison le Ricochet
    • Rehabilitation and social and professional reintegration services to individuals dealing with mental health issues of varying intensity. The organization offers accommodation services, workshops, and work programs with support and supervision 24/7. 
    • Phone: 819-456-4230
    • Email: maisonlericochet@qc.aira.com. 
    • Website: www.maisonlericochet.com, 
    • 9 Ch. de la Beurrerie, Masham.

Grieving Resources: 

  • Bereaved Families Ottawa: bfo-ottawa.org (English)
  • ROCSMO (Regroupement des organismes communautaires en santé mentale): santementaleoutaouais.ca (Bilingual)
  • Maison Alonzo-Wright: www.maisonalonzowright.com/nos-services 
  • Écoute Agricole: www.ecouteagricole.com/en
  • Ami-Québec: amiquebec.org
  • Entraide-Deuil-Outaouais: 819-770-4814 (French only)
  • Intersection (Deuil post-suicide): 819-568-4555 (French only)

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