Camilla Faragalli

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Connexions Resource Centre hosted the final of five community focus groups at the St-Joseph Family and Seniors Centre on Allumettes Island last Tuesday afternoon, to gather information from residents about the needs, challenges, strengths and opportunities defining their community.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Upper Pontiac residents highlighted barriers created by the province’s language laws as some of the greatest challenges to accessing basic services and opportunities in their communities.
The focus group drew the largest attendance of any of the five meetings held during the series, and was notably the only session to be attended exclusively by women.
“The suppression of English-speaking Quebecers is just glaringly obvious,” Nancy McGuire, a resident of St-Joseph’s who attended the session, told THE EQUITY.
“Canada is noted to have two official languages – English and French. That’s not the case in Quebec right now,” she said.
It is a challenge that Connexions, an organization working to connect English-speaking communities of the Outaouais with a variety of health and social services, is particularly concerned with.
Darlene Pashak, a now-retired resident of Allumettes Island, said she was able to find “lots of workarounds” with the local municipalities without fluent French, but found language requirements limited where she was able to find employment.
“I’m very well-educated, I’ve got lots of experience, and at one time I would have loved to work in my field in the Pontiac,” Pachak said, explaining she holds master’s degrees in both social work and public administration.
“It’s just not possible without having French.”
The meeting’s ardent attendees also discussed how these language barriers make the region’s seniors more vulnerable when trying to access healthcare and government services in French.

Pashak, who is a volunteer driver for TransporAction, said that she hears a lot of her passengers’ concerns during their drives.
“People are fearful. When you see tiny little things happening, maybe not with your healthcare provider but with the cafeteria assistant who refuses to speak English, there’s that nervousness going into the hospital of, ‘am I going to be able to navigate or not’,” she said.
Other issues identified at the meeting included the lack of cellphone reception in the Upper Pontiac area, lack of both childcare options and retirement residences, and the area’s relative isolation from the rest of the region.
“I think this area has become pretty independent. It’s like, if we’re going to have something, we’re going to be doing it ourselves. So there’s a lot of resilience,” Pachak told THE EQUITY.
“Some of the other areas probably haven’t had to fight for that in the same way, especially if they’re more French, or more central, or have more services around,” she added.
“It’s a strength of the area, but it’s also a reaction to what we don’t have.”
Regional takeaways
Shelley Heaphy, Connexions community outreach coordinator for the MRC Pontiac region, said the information gathered during the sessions will be used to update a series of “community portraits” first created in 2018.
These updated portraits will help the organization target its services according to the information gathered, as well as advocate to community partners and apply for relevant funding.
Heaphy told THE EQUITY that the issue of access to services in English was a common theme across all five Connexions-organized focus groups.
Other recurring issues included access to healthcare, particularly a lack of family doctors and long wait times to see specialists, lack of communication about local events and services to residents and newcomers both at the municipal and inter-municipal level, and a lack of public transportation.
“Everyone is so grateful for TransporAction, but are also looking for a way to get around the Pontiac for other [non healthcare-related] reasons,” Heaphy said.
“To support local, to be able to attend events and programs and activities within the community, that’s definitely something that’s come out in all of the focus groups.”
Heaphy also said the issue of dwindling numbers of volunteers had come up consistently throughout the various sessions.
“All of our small communities rely heavily on our volunteer organizations [and] non-profit organizations,” she said.
“Every community has felt lucky to have what they have, but the underlying issue is that most volunteers are an ageing population, and that’s a concern.”
Pontiac’s waning youth population was also identified as a concern for residents across the region, specifically the phenomenon of “brain drain” – educated or specialized people leaving the area and not returning.
“The population is bleeding away,” said Paul Brown, Connexions community outreach coordinator for the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais who assisted Heaphy in running all five MRC Pontiac focus groups.
“The older population is staying and the younger population is going away to school and they’re never returning,” he explained.
Despite evident issues prevalent across the region, Heaphy and Brown said they remain optimistic.
“People are so passionate about the Pontiac. [They] feel like we are all very lucky to have this area and live here,” Heaphy said.
“There are areas in which we hopefully will be able to help, [by] bringing awareness to these common worries and issues.”
“In terms of filling gaps, specifically, I don’t know if we [Connexions] can do that necessarily on our own, but we can work with the communities to help them,” Brown said.
Heaphy said a presentation of the updated community portraits can be expected in the coming months.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Connexions Resource Centre hosted the final of five community focus groups at the St-Joseph Family and Seniors Centre on Allumettes Island last Tuesday afternoon, to gather information from residents about the needs, challenges, strengths and opportunities defining their community.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Upper Pontiac residents highlighted barriers created by the province’s language laws as some of the greatest challenges to accessing basic services and opportunities in their communities.
The focus group drew the largest attendance of any of the five meetings held during the series, and was notably the only session to be attended exclusively by women.
“The suppression of English-speaking Quebecers is just glaringly obvious,” Nancy McGuire, a resident of St-Joseph’s who attended the session, told THE EQUITY.
“Canada is noted to have two official languages – English and French. That’s not the case in Quebec right now,” she said.
It is a challenge that Connexions, an organization working to connect English-speaking communities of the Outaouais with a variety of health and social services, is particularly concerned with.
Darlene Pashak, a now-retired resident of Allumettes Island, said she was able to find “lots of workarounds” with the local municipalities without fluent French, but found language requirements limited where she was able to find employment.
“I’m very well-educated, I’ve got lots of experience, and at one time I would have loved to work in my field in the Pontiac,” Pachak said, explaining she holds master’s degrees in both social work and public administration.
“It’s just not possible without having French.”
The meeting’s ardent attendees also discussed how these language barriers make the region’s seniors more vulnerable when trying to access healthcare and government services in French.

Pashak, who is a volunteer driver for TransporAction, said that she hears a lot of her passengers’ concerns during their drives.
“People are fearful. When you see tiny little things happening, maybe not with your healthcare provider but with the cafeteria assistant who refuses to speak English, there’s that nervousness going into the hospital of, ‘am I going to be able to navigate or not’,” she said.
Other issues identified at the meeting included the lack of cellphone reception in the Upper Pontiac area, lack of both childcare options and retirement residences, and the area’s relative isolation from the rest of the region.
“I think this area has become pretty independent. It’s like, if we’re going to have something, we’re going to be doing it ourselves. So there’s a lot of resilience,” Pachak told THE EQUITY.
“Some of the other areas probably haven’t had to fight for that in the same way, especially if they’re more French, or more central, or have more services around,” she added.
“It’s a strength of the area, but it’s also a reaction to what we don’t have.”
Regional takeaways
Shelley Heaphy, Connexions community outreach coordinator for the MRC Pontiac region, said the information gathered during the sessions will be used to update a series of “community portraits” first created in 2018.
These updated portraits will help the organization target its services according to the information gathered, as well as advocate to community partners and apply for relevant funding.
Heaphy told THE EQUITY that the issue of access to services in English was a common theme across all five Connexions-organized focus groups.
Other recurring issues included access to healthcare, particularly a lack of family doctors and long wait times to see specialists, lack of communication about local events and services to residents and newcomers both at the municipal and inter-municipal level, and a lack of public transportation.
“Everyone is so grateful for TransporAction, but are also looking for a way to get around the Pontiac for other [non healthcare-related] reasons,” Heaphy said.
“To support local, to be able to attend events and programs and activities within the community, that’s definitely something that’s come out in all of the focus groups.”
Heaphy also said the issue of dwindling numbers of volunteers had come up consistently throughout the various sessions.
“All of our small communities rely heavily on our volunteer organizations [and] non-profit organizations,” she said.
“Every community has felt lucky to have what they have, but the underlying issue is that most volunteers are an ageing population, and that’s a concern.”
Pontiac’s waning youth population was also identified as a concern for residents across the region, specifically the phenomenon of “brain drain” – educated or specialized people leaving the area and not returning.
“The population is bleeding away,” said Paul Brown, Connexions community outreach coordinator for the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais who assisted Heaphy in running all five MRC Pontiac focus groups.
“The older population is staying and the younger population is going away to school and they’re never returning,” he explained.
Despite evident issues prevalent across the region, Heaphy and Brown said they remain optimistic.
“People are so passionate about the Pontiac. [They] feel like we are all very lucky to have this area and live here,” Heaphy said.
“There are areas in which we hopefully will be able to help, [by] bringing awareness to these common worries and issues.”
“In terms of filling gaps, specifically, I don’t know if we [Connexions] can do that necessarily on our own, but we can work with the communities to help them,” Brown said.
Heaphy said a presentation of the updated community portraits can be expected in the coming months.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

As many residents in several of the municipalities that make up the Western Pontiac will attest, there is little to no cellphone service in much of the region.
Last month, mayors from two Western Pontiac municipalities made another push in a long line of efforts to change this.
At the Jan. 24 MRC Pontiac Council of Mayors meeting, Allumettes Island mayor Corey Spence and Waltham mayor Odette Godin tabled a motion demanding the western portion of Highway 148 in the MRC Pontiac, encompassing the municipalities of Mansfield and Pontefract, Waltham, and Allumettes Island “be granted immediate priority for the deployment of urgently needed Wireless Connectivity Services.”
According to the motion, the lack of cell reception in the area impacts residents, emergency services, the local economy, social health and the region’s overall connectivity.
The motion, passed by the council, also referenced documented emergencies in Waltham which have revealed the “life threatening consequences of unreliable cellular connectivity.”
This is a reality Waltham cottage owner Catherine Morin knows better than most.
Last October she was driving through Waltham when she was flagged down by a TransporAction driver.
The TransporAction driver was picking up a Waltham resident to accompany her to a medical appointment when she collapsed outside her home and became unresponsive. The driver did not have the cell reception needed to call 9-1-1, so stopped Morin for help.
“I tried to call 9-1-1, I got disconnected. I tried to call the police, I got disconnected, I kept calling both of them back,” said Morin, who then drove to the home of the municipality’s fire chief, about a kilometre and a half away, to get help.
But help did not come soon enough, and the resident passed away that day.
“The frustration was so overwhelming,” Morin said of her desperate attempt to reach emergency response services.
“They could have helped me help her, but instead we were too busy finding cellular [service].”
It is exactly this kind of tragedy Spence and Godin are hoping their motion will prevent in the future.
While motions to improve the region’s connectivity in the past, this one, according to Spence, is different.
“It highlights everything,” he told THE EQUITY, explaining it raises safety concerns, the government’s own promises for action, and even points to existing infrastructure that could be used to help address the problem.
“This has been a long-standing issue [here] since cell phones came out,” Spence said, “as the local representatives, what we can do about it is we can go to the higher echelons [of government], and make sure they’re aware.”
The resolution will be forwarded to François Legault, Premier of Quebec and André Fortin, MNA for Pontiac, among other provincial government officials.
Fibre Optic complicates connectivity
Evelyn Lowe Culleton and her husband are part-time residents of Allumettes Island who own and run a farm there.
According to Culleton, they were forced by Bell to remove the land-line they had had in place for 40 years, and replace it with a Fibre Optic connection, which was supposed to offer “improved connectivity.”
“We were very happy to have Fibre Optic finally on the island, but when they [Bell] brought it in, they didn’t do their due diligence,” Culleton told
THE EQUITY, explaining the company did not do a thorough study of the variables that exist on Allumettes Island, such as the lack of cell reception in the area.
“Why would Bell remove our land lines before they ensured cell coverage was available?” she asked.
In October of last year, Culleton and her husband woke one morning with no means of communicating with the outside world. Their Fibre Optic was down which, combined with the usual lack of cell phone reception and no more landline, left them completely isolated.
While this was a significant inconvenience for Culleton, who was unable to make the phone calls necessary to run her business, her bigger concern was for people like her disabled sister-in-law.
“It’s pretty scary for her not to have any connection,” Culleton said. “This has become a major, major safety issue. If the power goes out, you’re stranded. You have nothing.”
Allumettes Island has been particularly vulnerable to power outages in recent years. In 2019, the municipality experienced 75 power outages by Oct. 31, a record which was only set once before, in 2016. Last year a severe winter storm left Allumettes Island residents without power for three days.
Spence says these power outages leave residents, especially seniors and low-income families, in a very vulnerable position in times of emergency.
Keeping promises
Spence said both provincial and federal governments have made promises to ensure more reliable cellular networks are available in communities currently lacking them.
He cited the CAQ’s promise in 2022 of full cell coverage in Quebec’s regions by 2030, as well as a $57 million project announced in November of 2023 to see cellular service rolled out across many Quebec highways and Cree community access roads that are still without it.
Spence also pointed to the federal government’s promise to provide reliable cellular service to 98 per cent of Canadians by 2026, which the MRC resolution made specific mention of.
But Spence said he is not confident governments will fulfil their promises within proposed timelines.
“There’s been deaths and accidents in our stretch and yet nothing has been done,” he said.
“We’re looking now at 2024 and we don’t see any movement yet from the government, which means that they’re probably going to miss their deadline.”
Spence said while he understands there may not be a strong business case for big telecommunication companies to install a brand new cell phone tower in Western Pontiac, given the low population density of the area and the fact that most people make due by using Wifi at home and cellular service when they are off the island, less costly solutions are possible.
According to the motion put forward at the Jan. 24 MRC meeting, two government-owned towers in the region, one in Chapeau and one in Sheenboro, could be leveraged for immediate solutions.
“It’s just a matter of having the Bells or the Rogers stick their equipment on it . . . But why would they invest in that infrastructure unless the governments forced them to,” Spence said.
According to Spence, that timeline for getting cellular service to the area will be at least two years long.
“There’s municipal approvals, there’s provincial approvals, there’s studies on where the best places to put these towers are, and local people need to get involved, because they might not want a cellphone tower right in their backyard.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Residents of Portage du Fort gathered at the town’s municipal hall on Tuesday evening to discuss an array of economic and social challenges faced by the community and brainstorm potential solutions.
The meeting, put on by the Connexions Resource Centre, was the fourth in a series of five the organization is hosting in communities across the Pontiac to gather information about the needs, challenges, strengths and opportunities defining each.
Portage du Fort was the smallest municipality of those selected for a focus group, but last Tuesday it boasted the largest turnout of any session so far.
Attendees identified issues including access to healthcare, transportation, and loss of local economic opportunity due to cross-border shopping in Ontario as some of the main challenges for the community.
Particular concern was also voiced over a lack of local community programming, despite the need and desire for it from individual community members.
“[There is] not a lot of organization or knowledge of how to do that, or a sense of empowerment around how to get things started,” Caitlin Brubacher, owner of art and framing business Elephant in the Attic told THE EQUITY. Brubacher moved to Portage from Toronto three years ago.
“There really needs to be some enthusiasm that is a bit contagious for people to feel empowered to bring their own skills to the table, to create more community engagement in whatever way, whether it be in physical activities, artistic endeavours, for all levels of the population.”

Connexions hosts focus group in Portage du Fort

Nicole Thompson attended the session with her husband Edward. The couple have raised 10 children in Portage du Fort, own and run the Maison Mont-Blanc retirement residence, and owned the town’s general store, Dépanneur Thompson, for 13 years before selling it to their daughter.
“We [residents] don’t have much access to what goes on at the municipal hall, so people would end up coming to the store to find out what was going on,” Thompson later told THE EQUITY, explaining that residents would often show up to find the hall empty, and its voice-mailbox full.
“People stopped going to the [town hall] meetings because they didn’t feel welcome there,” she added.
“Any questions that were asked were viewed defensively. The general sense was that there was no use going.”
Thompson said she hoped the Connexions focus group session would help to identify and reduce barriers of access and communication between Portage residents and the municipality.
Lynne Cameron, mayor of Portage, was also in attendance at the meeting. She told THE EQUITY she was very happy to see the community coming together to discuss its wants and needs.
She too acknowledged a lull in participation in community events, especially since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think the word gets out, but it’s encouraging participation [that is needed]. It’s a small town, there’s a lot of new people, maybe they don’t want to come because they don’t know anybody,” she said.
Cameron was optimistic that renovations currently underway at the town hall would provide a space for group functions and different activities, further enhancing participation in community events.
“We’re going to have computer courses for seniors,” she said. “In doing that it brings people together. I’m very excited.”
She was also optimistic that the increasing presence of children in Portage would further enhance community engagement.
“Usually when it’s to do with kids, there’s big turnout,” she said. “[There were] a few years where there were hardly any kids. Now we have enough for a baseball team.”
Brubacher said she thinks there is great potential in bringing together two of the largest factions of the Portage population, children and the elderly.
“There is a great need for the young people of our communities and the elderly of our communities to share space, to support each other through intergenerational aid,” she said.
“They both have similar needs for engagement and for community care, and so there’s a wonderful opportunity there [for them] to come together in some way.”
Connexions is a non-profit organization that aims to link the English-speaking community of the Outaouais with a variety of health and social services.
Shelley Heaphy, its community outreach coordinator for the MRC Pontiac region, said the information gathered during the sessions will be used to update a series of “community portraits” first created in 2018.
These updated portraits will help the organization target its services according to the information gathered, as well as advocate to community partners and apply for relevant funding.
The final Connexions focus group will be hosted Feb. 6 in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Shawville Curling Club’s 48th annual community bonspiel kicked off on Thursday, with 48 teams competing for the glory of the first place toilet seat trophy.
“We’ve increased the number of teams from last year, and are just enjoying seeing faces we haven’t seen around here for five or six years,” said club vice president Gerry Ireland.
The curling tournament saw 14 more teams register to compete this year than it did last.
“I think it’s people coming back from after covid. It’s taken a while but it’s good to see some new people, and some old people coming back,” Ireland said.
“I think it’s been great. We had a good signup, we’ve had people staying around [after the games], there was a good band last night,” said club president Joey Hannaberry, one of the event’s main organizers.
The band, Reg & Shag, was made up of local musicians Reg Carkner, Shane Presley and Mark Latreille.
“It’s a good bonspiel, it’s a lot of fun and it’s great for the community,” said Brad Peck, skip on the Municipality of Shawville team. “It’s competitive in your own calibre.”
The tournament also includes a nightly 50/50 draw, so far taken home by lucky winners Teri Smart, Joey Hannaberry, Brandi Hahn and Jordan Palmer.
The bonspiel will conclude next weekend.
“Everyone will finish playing, we’ll do the final tallies of all the divisions, and whoever has the most points wins,” Hannaberry said.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

An assortment of brightly coloured jackets and ski-doos dotted the frozen white surface of Lac de la Ferme in Otter Lake on Saturday; contestants at the 3rd annual ice-fishing derby hosted by the municipality’s RA.
“It’s very successful so far,” said Shane Presley, president of the Otter Lake RA and a key organizer of the event. He explained that 184 fishermen had registered and more were on their way.
Presley said the day had begun before breakfast for many of the contestants present.
“We were out drilling holes [in the ice] at 5:30 [a.m.].”
Presley explained that the derby would be won by the fisherman who caught the longest fish.
“They have to bring them in alive,” he said, adding that $500 in prize money would be split between the top three contenders. He said that while some fishermen would keep their catch, most just threw them back in the lake after having them measured.
Devon Lafleur and his friends were taking the competition seriously, with playing cards fastened onto stationary lines set up in several places on the frozen lake.
“Instead of always going to jig it [the line], it [the card] makes it look like the minnows are alive and swimming,” Lafleur explained.
“The wind catches on the line so it moves the minnow. That’s how come nobody else has any fish and we have five.”
Yan Leduc and Carl Vincent said they were participating in the derby as part of a family tradition, and were waiting on more family members to show up.
“I grew up fishing around this area, my father has an outfitter around here,” Leduc explained. “I think it’s just seeing friends, being outside, we’ve got nice conditions today. I’m super happy to be here.”
Rachelle Villeneuve, who attended with her mother and children, had a similar story.
“It’s my hometown. We’ve come every year that it’s been organized since I was little,” she said, explaining that while the derby was in its third official year, ice-fishing tournaments have been held annually in Otter Lake for decades.
For Annick Lance, who was fishing with a large group of family members, the event was all about supporting the community.
“We like to encourage Otter Lake. We’re from here,” she said.
The all-day event on Saturday also included a poker tournament, breakfast, lunch and dinner options, 40-plus prizes to be won by derby contestants and a dance in the evening featuring DJ Fletcher of Shawville.
“It was too cold the last couple years but this year was fantastic,” said Presley, “This was our third year and this was the best overall.”

Camilla Faragalli, Reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

A sea of plaid filled the Pontiac Conference Centre at the Spruceholme Inn in Fort Coulonge on Friday evening for the annual “Night of Memories” Lumberjack Dinner, a gathering dedicated to remembering and celebrating the forestry industry that for so long was at the heart of Pontiac life.
“They say you have to know where you’ve come from to know where you’re going,” Pontiac Warden and host of the event Jane Toller told the crowd.
Over 100 guests dined, mingled and reminisced as video footage displayed both historic and modern scenes from the logging industry on a loop behind the stage.
“They [forestry workers] didn’t wear lifejackets, they didn’t wear helmets. And yet they had that thrill of being out on the water, running across the logs with their cork boots,” Toller said.
“And that is what built the Pontiac.” Toller, also mentioned her own great-great grandfather, George Bryson, a key figure in the development of Pontiac’s forestry industry in the 1800s.
Quyon’s Gail Gavan provided musical entertainment for the evening, joined onstage by renowned fiddler Louis Schryer, Gillan Rutz on guitar, Erin Leahy on keys, and Marie-Jeanne Brousseau on accordion.
The group performed an array of music highlighting the various cultures of the Valley, including Irish logging songs (to the stomping feet of the attendees), and some Scottish tunes as a nod to Robbie Burns Day, which had fallen a day earlier.
Schryer’s daughters, Chelsey and Kaitlyn also performed, showing off the Ottawa Valley style of step-dancing, which originated in lumber camps.
“When I meet these gentlemen that risked their lives to get on the Ottawa River, to make log drive happen, I get pretty emotional,” Gavan said as she took the stage. She invited a round of applause from the audience for “every single log driver, lumberjack and woodsman that ever worked in the Pontiac,” before explaining that her own father, as well as a number of other men in her family, worked on the log drive.
“My dad taught me all these old songs when I was a kid and I didn’t know what they meant and I couldn’t have cared less about them,” she later told THE EQUITY. “Now I realize the value of them.”
“In Pontiac here, we’ve got to keep staying proud of our heritage, because it’s pretty special. And if we don’t do nights like this, we forget, and the next generation won’t even know about it,” she said.
Lumberjacks new and old
Retired bushman Frank Doyle worked as a “timber cruiser” – collecting data on trees on a given piece of land, including size, quality and species, to determine the value of the timber before it is harvested.
“I also did the Schyan River drive,” Doyle said, recalling his time on the river northwest of Sheenboro.
“I was in a pointer boat and I got quickly thrown out of it,” he said with a laugh, crediting his dismissal to his inability to follow the pointer’s instructions.
Doyle said he attended the event with his wife, as well as his “chum” Roger Rivet.
“I was glad to bring Roger here tonight,” said Doyle, explaining that Rivet, 91, first started on the log drive at the age of 14.
“He lived, worked and raised a family in the bush all his life. There was no solar power then. You had to heat your home with wood and go out and get your own food,” said Doyle of Rivet’s experience.
“I appreciate this night, I appreciate people coming from all over the place, Ontario, Quebec and maybe other provinces as well,” he said. “It’s our history.”
Melanie McCann Lang recently moved back to the Pontiac after a number of years away and decided to attend the event with her husband to reconnect with the community, and to celebrate their family’s history.
“My father-in-law worked at the pulp and paper mill for many years and retired there as well,” she explained.
Sarah Christick, a student in urban forestry at Algonquin College, was perhaps one of the youngest ‘lumberjacks’ at the event.
“I thought it would be cool to meet some people in the industry, and just check it out, learn some things,” she said. “I’m glad I came.”
Also in attendance were three MRC Pontiac mayors, Sandra Armstrong of Mansfield-et-Pontefract, Christine Francoeur of Fort Coulonge, and Lynne Cameron of Portage du Fort.
A silent auction boasting a vast array of work by local artists lined the back of the conference hall, the proceeds of which would be donated to the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS).
“With this event, we remember the past but we look forward to the future,” said Toller, who promised more details in the coming months of “major investment” being made to the local forestry industry.
“Forestry is going to move further ahead in 2024. For certain,” she said.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Access to healthcare emerged as a major area of concern at the Campbell’s Bay community focus group organized by the Connexions Resource Centre at AutonHomme Pontiac on Tuesday evening.
“We don’t have enough doctors around here, we need better healthcare,” said Paulette Lamothe, one of the session’s attendees.
Connexions is a non-profit organization that aims to link the English-speaking community of the Outaouais with a variety of health and social services.
Its focus group on Tuesday was the third in a series being held across five different Pontiac communities to gather information about the needs, challenges, strengths and opportunities defining each.
“My wife has been diagnosed with pulmonary thrombosis and she doesn’t have continuity of care,” said Earl Greer, who moved to Campbell’s Bay with his wife two years ago and has been on a waitlist for a family doctor ever since.
“Without a [family] doctor, nobody’s looking after you. Nobody is responsible,” Greer said, explaining that his wife now depends on doctors in walk-in clinics.
“You see them once, he [the doctor] does what he thinks is the right thing in the moment, and the next time you go there’s no follow-up. And if you die, it’s nobody’s fault, because you didn’t have a [family] doctor. It’s horrible,” Greer said.
Manon Cronier retired to Campbell’s Bay in 2021 after 35 years as a registered nurse, 25 of which were spent working at various locations around the Pontiac.
She believes access to healthcare in the area will only become more problematic once the province’s recently passed healthcare reform legislation, Bill 15, comes into effect. Sshe fears the bill will further centralize care and limit local access to essential services.
“How bad is it going to get?” Cronier asked. “You can’t even have your baby in Pontiac anymore . . . There’s been so many cut-offs [to services].”
“We need to do something, especially for the elderly,” Cronier said. “They’re at home with no care.”
Another key issue that arose during the focus-group session was the need for easily-accessible information for residents, particularly pertaining to community programming and social events.
As put by attendee Richard Gratton, “The most important thing is to find a way to let people know exactly what’s going on.”
Shelley Heaphy, Connexions community outreach coordinator for the MRC Pontiac region, said the information gathered during the sessions will be used to update a series of “community portraits” first created in 2018.
These updated portraits will help the organization target its services according to the information gathered, as well as advocate to community partners and apply for relevant funding.
Connexions’ final two community focus groups will be hosted Jan. 30 in Portage du Fort and Feb. 6 in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Pontiac Hospital is now equipped with a new “long bed” for taller patients, thanks to donations made in memory of local farmer David Rusenstrom.
Rusenstrom, who passed away last January, was a patient of the Pontiac Hospital for an extended period of time. At 6 ft. 4 in., he found the existing hospital beds to be short and uncomfortable.
“I had seen the problems he had had with short beds over the years,” said Rusenstrom’s wife, Joan, explaining that her husband had been hospitalized on several occasions.
Joan explained that the hospital tried as best it could to accommodate, but that a series of health conditions caused sores to develop on her husband’s feet from repeatedly trying to push himself up in a bed that was too short for him.
“I knew there was something, somewhere that was available,” Joan said. “Kids aren’t getting any smaller these days!”
When Rusenstrom passed away, his family requested any donations be made to the Pontiac Hospital Foundation to collect funds to purchase an extra-long bed for tall patients, valued at $8,000.
On Jan. 5, the eve of the anniversary of Rusenstrom’s passing, a brand new long bed arrived at the hospital.
Allan Dean, board member of the Pontiac Hospital Foundation, said when the Rusenstrom family approached the hospital about the possibility of ordering a long bed, the foundation got involved.
“We were able to secure some extra funding from the Lions Club,” Dean said. “But it had originally started with the donations that were made when Mr. Rusenstrom passed away, just from the community.”
Going forward, the existing beds at the Pontiac Hospital will be replaced by adjustable beds, which can extend as necessary.
To date, 15 adjustable beds have been installed to ensure greater comfort for patients.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Bill Smith has been tickling the ivories for about 65 years. Thanks to a generous donation from the Shawville Lions Club, he will be able to continue doing so for the enjoyment of residents at Les Ami(e)s du Manoir St-Joseph, a private senior’s residence in Campbell’s Bay.
“They really enjoy it, I think, and so do I,” Smith said.
Smith’s mother, Marjorie Webb Smith, lived in the residence for about two years, prior to her passing in 2018. During his mother’s time there, Smith and his wife June picked up the habit of striking up a tune on the manor’s old piano and singing along.
“The residents love it, it’s kind of a singalong that goes on, and everybody participates,” said Colleen Larivière, Director General of the home since 2012 and mayor of Litchfield.
Even after his mother’s passing, Smith and his wife, who live in Bristol, continued their singalong tradition on a monthly basis.
“He never stopped coming, which is kind of extraordinary,” said Larivière.
“I wouldn’t call myself a performer, I don’t crave a big audience, but I do enjoy playing,” Smith said. ”In the case of St-Joseph’s it’s about 19 people near my piano, singing with me and my wife, and I really enjoy that.”
Smith said the only issue was that the residence’s old piano had sticking keys, and would frequently need to be tuned.
“I’m a bit fussy about tuning in pianos. If they’re really out of tune I really don’t want to play them.”
Smith said he was speaking casually with his brother Eric at a family event about the possibility of purchasing a digital piano when Eric, a member of the Shawville Lions Club, suggested approaching the club to source the funds for the purchase.
The club, which often funds community events and causes, agreed, and Smith went to Ottawa to test a couple different instruments. The piano, a Kawai digital, was purchased, and set up by the two brothers at St-Joseph’s Manor last week.
According to Eric, there was plenty of excitement when the piano arrived.
“The residents there were very pleased. They have a very keen interest in music,” he said.
Larivière said she was in her office and could suddenly hear music and singing.
“I came out to see, and the residents were all gathered around. One of the ladies was playing the piano, it was very nice to see,” she said.
“It’s a beautiful piece of equipment,” she added. “You couldn’t ask for a nicer gesture. It’s very much appreciated.”
Smith said it is his own love of music that inspires him to keep visiting the residence.
“Just to hear people enjoy singing, and they really do,” he said.
“The group that’s there now sings surprisingly well,” he added. “We’ll start and next thing you know, after about three seconds, somebody’s singing it, and they’re singing it in tune!”
He said he and his wife even made up a book of lyrics with about 75 songs ranging from Broadway show tunes to popular music from the 40s, 50s and 60s, as well as some newer pop songs.
“I think that for people that are in seniors homes, a variety of activities is great,” Smith said. “And I think music is really one of the best.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Tuesday marked the second in a series of focus groups being held in five different communities across the Pontiac to gather information about the needs, challenges and opportunities in each community.
The event, held at the Shawville Community Lodge, was organized by the Connexions Resource Centre, a non-profit organization that aims to link the English-speaking community of the Outaouais with a variety of health and social services.
Shelley Heaphy, Connexions community outreach coordinator for the MRC Pontiac region, said the information gathered in these sessions will be used by Connexions to create “community portraits”, to help the organization target its services according to the information it gathers, as well as represent community needs to community partners and government.
Heaphy focused the group discussion around three major areas of interest; health and wellbeing; social life and education; and economic conditions and environment. She asked participants about the assets and challenges associated with each, along with changes they wished to see implimented.
Clarendon farmer Chris Judd said the issue he is most concerned about is access to mental health supports for community members, especially farmers.
“It’s a real problem, and we’ve got to get in there right away,” he said, citing the high suicide rate amongst farmers and explaining that he believes more preventative measures can and should be taken to support them.
Rick Valin, a retired schoolteacher, said he thought the most pressing issue discussed at the Town Hall was that of retaining youth in local communities.
“[Students] leave to go to [post-secondary] school, and when they look back here there’s no jobs to come back to, so they’re settling in big cities,” he said.
Valin said his own children were perfect examples. His daughter lives in Victoria, one of his sons is in Montreal and the other in Gatineau.
“They’d love to come back but there’s no work for them. They’re all professionals,” he explained.
Connexions community outreach coordinator for the MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais, Paul Brown, called the government-sponsored project “really important.”
“This community portrait will give us statistics or information that we can then use to apply for funding, that we can tie directly back to the community,” he said.
“The more information we have about what people are looking for within the community, the better we’re able to represent [it].”
Connexions will be holding three more focus groups over the coming weeks; Jan. 23 in Campbell’s Bay, Jan. 30 in Portage du Fort and Feb. 6 in L’Isle-aux-Allumettes.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Young skaters found their groove at the Shawville Skate Club’s beginner lesson on Wednesday, ending the evening with a “dance”, the weekly tradition of skating around the rink to music.
The lesson was part of the club’s CanSkate program, a learn-to-skate program for people of any age wishing to get comfortable with blades under their feet.
The club runs the program twice each year, and its winter session kicked off Jan. 8.
Program coach Marissa Lang, 16, said helping new skaters find their way on the ice was her “favourite thing.”
Lang said showing less experienced skaters why she loves the sport so much and making the rink a safe and welcoming place for everyone were among the best parts of coaching for her, adding that her students range from the ages of two to 20.
“I feel like this is my safe place too. I know what I’m doing when I walk on the ice and it’s just my favourite place in the world.”
Lang has been skating since the age of seven, and obtained her CanSkate teaching certification last December.
“I wasn’t the type to like competition, and I loved helping out with the students as PA [Program Assistant], so I wanted to go that route instead of competition,” she said, explaining why she chose to coach.
Nicholas Lacont, father of Iris (4) and Felix (6) enrolled his two children in the program after hearing about it from another parent.
“I wanted them [his children] to learn to skate. I’m not a very good skater, so I needed some help,” he said with a chuckle, adding that his goal is to go skating on ice trails through the woods.
“I thought it would be nice for them to learn, so we could do it as a family,” he said.
Natacha Corriveau, who participated in the CanSkate program herself as a child, has four children she has enrolled in the program over the years.
“Having a consistent place to come and skate is great,” she said, noting that there are far fewer outdoor rinks available to her children than there were when she was growing up.
With about 100 skaters currently in the Shawville Skating Club, demand for the program is high.
Registration begins in August and according to Bonnie Fraser, vice-president of the club, there is a wait-list for the program each year.
“We are the only arena that has a learn-to-skate program currently in the Pontiac, so we draw from all municipalities,” said Shelley Heaphy, club president.
The season will end with a performance in mid-March.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Cartwheels and back-handsprings abounded Wednesday evening at the multi-sport and nutrition night hosted by Les maisons des jeunes du Pontiac at the St. John’s Elementary School in Campbell’s Bay.
The session launched the winter season of the weekly program which had, until this fall, been on hiatus since 2020 due to pandemic-related restrictions.
Les maisons des jeunes is a not-for-profit that offers activity programming and other supports for youth across the Pontiac.
This winter season’s multi-sport night provides kids ages 7-17 with after-school sports activities that change each week.
“We kind of decide as we go, depending on who shows up,” said Allyssa Boughner, an animator for Les maisons des jeunes who was running the session.
Boughner said that while a majority of each two-hour session is sports-oriented, the final half hour is spent doing “some kind of snack or nutrition activity,” like assembling fruit cups with yogurt.
“They’re learning how they can also make a healthy snack at home as well with whatever they have in their fridge,” Boughner said.
“Most of our activities are [based] around needs, whether it be food security, or an experience for youth to learn about themselves,” said Desiree Tremblay, a program coordinator for the organization.
The program has a registration fee of five dollars. It is what Boughner described to be “a little bit on the cheaper side, so that people can afford to do activities no matter who they are.”
Boughner, who has been with the organization for over three years, said she loves the kids she gets to work with through the program.
“There’s all kinds of kids from different backgrounds and it’s cool to get to see them grow up,” she said, explaining that she’s worked with some of them for more than three consecutive years.
“I’m watching them grow into little teenagers.”
Boughner described the fall season of the multi-sport and nutrition program, the first official return of the program since the pandemic, as having been very successful with over 22 participants.
“I would say it’s a very good number of participation that we have,” Tremblay said.
“It’s a very accepting place,” said Keira Lewis, 11, who’s been participating in the program for three years.
Kenna Bertrand, 7, one of the multi-sport participants, said her favourite part of the night is getting to play with her friends, while Avery Tubman, 9, said for her, it’s the snacks.
The winter program will run for the next five weeks, and is still open for registration. A series of nutrition and mental health workshops run by Les maisons des jeunes is coming up in February.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Pontiac Lions’ U18A team was one of 16 that played in this year’s Pontiac Provincial Tournament, which took place at the Shawville arena over the past two weekends.
The first weekend of the tournament (Jan. 5-7) featured the U11 and U13 divisions, while the second weekend’s tournament (Jan. 12-14) saw the U15 and U18 divisions take the ice.
Ed Rusenstrom is head coach of the Lions U18A team, and sits on the tournament’s board of directors. He said that this was the first year since before covid-19 that the tournament has been played over two weekends.
“Last weekend was a lot of fun to see the younger age groups back. It’s kind of the grassroots part of hockey where everyone is pretty innocent, just loves the game,” he said.
In last weekend’s tournament, Gaulois St-Lin-Laurentides won the U11 A-division, while the U11 B-division was won by the Lakeshore Jaguars. The Maniwaki Mustangs were champions of the U13 A-division while the U13 B-division was won by the Fort Coulonge Comets.
Ben Richardson won the Jimmy Russell Award for top Pontiac Lion PeeWee (U13) player of the tournament.
“You get into this [second] weekend where there’s a little more to it, kids are older and a little more intense,” Rusenstrom said. “But all in all it’s awful fun to see hockey back, and everywhere busy.”
This past weekend, the U15 A-division was won by Nepean – Dave’s Dusters and the U15 B-division by the Cassleman Vikings. The St-Constant Cougars won the U18 B-division, and U18 A-division was won by the Nepean – Beasts of Barrhaven.
U18 Shawville beats Coulonge
While the Shawville U18 team were not champions of their division, players celebrated a close second.
“I can’t be disappointed in this weekend, we still made it to the finals,” said Lucas Barre, Captain of the U18 Lions A-division team, which lost 2-0 in the final to the Nepean – Beasts of Barrhaven in a game coach Rusenstrom described as “really well-played on both sides.”
“We got to this point, and I’m just happy with that,” echoed fellow player Liam Dowe. “We made it to the finals. We’re the only Shawville team that did, and we beat Coulonge, so that’s a bonus,” he added with a grin.
The win over long-time rivals Fort Coulonge Comets U18 A-team on Saturday was the highlight of the weekend for many of the Lions players.
“We came into the [Coulonge] game underdogs, we went and tried our best, worked as hard as we could and came out on top, so that was very special to me, something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” said Lions player Brodee Campbell.
“We had that circled on our calendar for a while. We know a lot of the guys on that team, we’re close and it’s been a rivalry forever,” explained Lions player Cade Kuehl. “It [the win] brought us together as a team.”
“It’s the best hockey we’ve played so far this season,” said Rusenstrom. “And there’s nothing better than getting a chance to play in front of your hometown.”
For several U18 Lions players, 2024 will be their final year playing minor hockey and their last experience in the Pontiac Provincials Tournament.
“It was nice to be out here one last time with people I‘ve played with since I was four years old,” Campbell said. “These guys are pretty much family now.”“We’ve played hockey since as long as I can remember and it’s been a great experience,” echoed Colton Mohr. “We’ve had many memories over the years so it’s just getting to play in it [the tournament] one more time.”
An overall success
Nepean – Beasts of Barrhaven head coach John Mason said the tournament had been “a great experience all around.”
“Each game was like a video game, like they [players] were levelling up and able to succeed,” he said.
“Both teams played really well [in the final], it could have gone either way. Fortunately for us we were able to hang on and weather their pressure and come out on top. I’m very proud of them.” Tournament committee member Angie Ireland said that overall, the tournament had gone extremely well.
“There was lots of excitement, we had praise from both local and away teams, and lots of help from dozens and dozens of volunteers,” she said. “We couldn’t do it without them.”
A 50/50 draw and raffle was held upstairs at the arena during the first weekend of the tournament, and the second weekend of the tournament featured a market, with more than 10 local vendors selling their merchandise.
“Getting to talk to some of the kids from our local teams, how they’ve enjoyed the experiences of the last two weekends, they just love playing in their home tournament, and that’s what we love to hear,” said tournament president Jeff Ireland.
“That’s what these tournaments are all about. It’s all about the kids and the community.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

A new law banning cellphones from the province’s public elementary and secondary school classrooms came into effect last week, as students returned to school following their winter break.
Quebec Education Minister Bernard Drainville first introduced the ban last August, following the publishing of a report from the United Nations in July which found that cellphones in classrooms can have negative effects on students.
Local education leaders are in favour of the ban.
“I very much do feel the ban-policy is necessary,” said Pontiac High School (PHS) Principal Dr. Terry Burns, explaining that with no policy in place, students would have their phones out constantly.
“We have to make sure that that instruction comes first,” he said.
Quebec is Canada’s second province to implement such a ban, following Ontario which passed a similar policy in 2019.
Why it was necessary
The UNESCO report found that cellphones had a negative effect on student focus, socialization and mental health.
“The digital revolution holds immeasurable potential but, just as warnings have been voiced for how it should be regulated in society, similar attention must be paid to the way it is used in education,” said UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay in a statement at the time the report was released.
Lindsay Woodman teaches French at PHS. She said she has witnessed firsthand how distracting phones can be to her students, and how negatively they can affect their social and emotional well-being.
“A number of students are very much addicted to their screen. “Being able to limit that [screentime] is helping to reintroduce the idea of actual interactions, face to face, among students and the staff as well,” Woodman said.
“We want to make sure that they [students] are safe, and that they’re able to succeed academically as well as socially, emotionally.”
Some students also recognize the need to limit screentime in the classroom.
Holly Smith is in grade 11 at PHS, and the student council Vice Chair.
“If I’m trying to work on something and I’m being texted by other people, I can’t focus at all. I have to do a shutdown,” Smith said, adding that she has witnessed classmates use their phones for entire periods, posting on social media. “It’s not necessary for us to have our cellphones in class. It’s a time for learning,” she said.
Amy-Lynn Moffitt, another PHS student and student council chairperson, agreed that the protocol is necessary.
“We’re kind of unanimous about that at student council, especially with the increasing usage of Chat GPT and AI, which can really help you with your assignments,” she said, “It [the ban] prevents cheating.”
Woodman pointed out that the ban will also greatly limit the opportunities for bullying and cyberbullying during school hours.
“It’s high school, and as we all know, it [bullying] occurs. Sometimes it happens, and people don’t even know,” she said, giving the example of students taking photos of unsuspecting classmates, adding captions or turning them into memes, and sharing them with others via social media like Snapchat or TikTok.
“That affects the mental well being of the students,” Woodman said.
“Students are [now] able to focus on learning, on taking care of themselves, as opposed to worrying about whatever peer pressure is happening.”
“I fully endorse this policy,” she added.
Implementation
While Quebec’s new law means students are not able to access their phones for personal reasons during class time, it is up to individual schools to determine specific protocols and implementation of the ban, as well as exceptions.
According to Woodman, the school’s existing cellphone policy prior to the ban meant there was little change for students with its implementation this semester.
“I have been at PHS for seven years, and we’ve had a policy like this in place for almost all of those years. It’s just an everyday routine for us,” she said.
PHS’s policy allows teachers to permit cellphone use in class if for instructional purposes, including calculation, translation, research and online quizzes.
Woodman explained that every classroom at PHS is equipped with “pocket holders” capable of storing 35 phones, situated either behind or near the teacher’s desk.
When students enter the classroom, they simply put their phone in its assigned slot of the pocket holder for the duration of the class.
“It’s nice for organizational purposes, it also makes it nice for safety reasons. We know that the phone is right there, and if somebody took somebody else’s phone by mistake,” Woodman said.
“The government gave us a lot of latitude to really restrict cellphone usage,” Dr. Burns said.
“We actually feel that we have given them [students] a very balanced approach to cellphone use. We actually are probably on the more liberal side of what could have happened.”
According to Dr. Burns, some students who “really love their cellphones” have challenged the policy. “Just like their adult-community friends … they want to grab their phones and connect to information and people,” he said.
But he said that most students have complied with the new rules, and he feels parents have supported the policy.
“The students understand that some of their friends would not have an easy time without some sort of policy. They understand the need for it.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Campbell’s Bay/Litchfield Fire Department is now equipped with a complete new Jaws of Life set, partially thanks to local resident Charleen Moore, who raised funds to purchase the last remaining component to the set in December. Hurst’s Jaws of Life is a set of hydraulic rescue tools used by emergency responders to extract victims from car accidents. The $65,000, four-component set that the Campbell’s Bay/Litchfield Fire Department has been acquiring over the past six years was short one piece, the “Ram,” which Moore’s online auction fundraiser in November allowed the department to purchase. “I really believe in having this fire department, and we need these volunteers, so I really like helping out as much as I can,” Moore said. Firefighter Lincoln Smith, brother-in-law to Moore, said the tools are very valuable – and not just monetarily. “It’s very, very important to have a good set of tools when people are trapped, because you don’t have much time before people need to be at the hospital,” he said. His sentiments were echoed by the fire department’s chief Kevin Kluke. “They [the tools] are worth every cent when you’re caught in an accident and need to get out,” Kluke said. “The sooner you can get them [the victim] out, the more of a chance they have of survival.” He added that the department receives about 25 accident calls a year. According to Kluke, the tools previously in use by the department were about 37 years old. “It was time for an update,” he said. Smith’s wife Wendy Moore (Charleen’s sister) also helped to organize the fundraiser. “Because this is such an important tool, we knew the community would get involved,” she said. “We had great donations from individuals, businesses, and not just from Campbell’s Bay/Litchfield. People donated from the entire Pontiac,” she said. “It was very, very successful.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Twelve teams of Pontiac locals took over the Shawville Curling Club on Saturday for the 42nd annual Farmers Bonspiel.
The winning team included Ian Mackechnie, Tammy Davis, and Jerry Barber, who play together in the club’s competitive Thursday-night league. Their fourth regular team member Keri Beck was absent from the tournament.
“We were tied going into the last end, and it came down to the last shot,” said Ryan Powell, member of the runner-up team. “But everybody had a lot of fun.”
Eric Smith has been organizing the fundraising event for the club for about 10 years.
“It’s not the most competitive curling bonspiel. We have kids as young as 12 playing and we have guys old like me playing,” he said with a grin.
“It brings everyone together, we have fun, and somebody wins the Plow Point [trophy].”
Winning team member Jerry Barber said the Farmers Bonspiel is important to him both in its capacity to bring people together, and because it offers an opportunity to make sure that “the things that you have in your community stay financially sound and keep going.”
“The curling club’s been here for 102 years,” he explained. “It’s the only curling club in the Pontiac . . . a lot of curling clubs in Canada have closed in the last three or four years, and in small towns like this, it’s a really important part of the community.”
The Bonspiel also included a 50/50 draw, with a prize of $142.50 that was won by Jacques Gagné.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Mansfield and Pontefract public library officially reopened its doors on Wednesday, after moving from the George Bryson Heritage House to the Dagenais House just metres away.
While the library never officially closed, its books have been packed since the summer months to make way for the Bryson House Museum. Books remained available upon request for the duration of the move.
“We had to cut back service a bit, but people understood, they were very patient,” said Sandra Armstrong, mayor of the municipality of Mansfield and Pontefract.
“Now it’s back to life, and it’s beautiful.”
Built in the 1800s by George Bryson on the same land as his family home, the Dagenais House was initially intended as an administration office.
The ground floor is now dedicated to adult books, while the upstairs space is home to the library’s children’s collection and boasts a large conference table as well as comfortable reading chairs.
“The way it’s set up now there’s more room than at the Bryson House,” Armstrong said.
“I feel the library should have been at the Dagenais House from the start, it’s just a beautiful, calm place – a nice place for a library.”
Martine Marion has worked as a librarian at the Bryson House library for 28 years.
“I’m very happy to be at the Maison Dagenais,” she said. “There’s something special when you enter the building, it’s a good feeling you get there.”
Marion added that she believes the public will enjoy the look and feel of the library’s new home, too.
“It’s just like if the library was from the old times, like the 1920s. I feel like I’m in the time of our great-grandparents,” she said.
Given the larger upstairs space available, Marion said there is now the possibility of hosting regular activities for the community.
“We were thinking about having soirées (evenings) for readings and crafts for children,” she said.
“We’re trying to have a nice space also for adults,” she added. “We want to give them a space to read and have peace and quiet for an hour.”
The library’s winter hours are 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Marie-Josée Corriveau of Litchfield and her dance partner Jason Morel made it to the final round of the eighteenth season of the televised dance competition, France Has Incredible Talent (translated), which aired live on Dec. 22.
“It was a great experience, it was challenging, and it was a lot of fun,” Corriveau told The EQUITY of her time competing in Paris.
The show recruited the pair following their win on Canadian dance competition show, Révolution, in 2022.
“We were really excited. It felt like a nice recognition to get noticed by recruiters all the way in France,” Corriveau said.
The 30-year-old Montreal-based dancer grew up in Litchfield, where she began dancing at the age of four.
“We had to go to dance, we’re a dance family,” she said, explaining that her family owns and runs Pontiac’s Corriveau School of Dance.
Corriveau said she and Morel were asked to audition for France Has Incredible Talent with a piece they had performed during the Révolution competition.
The challenging number, choreographed by Corriveau herself, tells a story of domestic violence, in which Corriveau dances with her eyes closed.
“We didn’t know if this culture would relate to it [the piece], or if they’re going to like it, or if they’re going to understand it, but luckily enough our song is by an artist from France,“ she said.
The pair received the “golden buzzer,” for their performance at the audition, meaning they went straight to the semi-finals.
“Just to get the golden buzzer, have all the confetti fall down, everyone in the crowd after our dance chanting to give it [golden buzzer] to us … it was just surreal.”
Corriveau added that the golden-buzzer moment might be the high-point of the whole competition for her, which lasted from August to December of 2023, and involved three separate trips to Paris.
“It was really, really cool,” she said.
Corriveau said she dreams of one day choreographing for larger companies.
“We do these shows to get more work, to get more people to see who we are and what we can do, [and] create more opportunities for ourselves as a duo, but also individually.”
Corriveau’s dance partner Morel was born in France and has lived in Montreal since the age of 12. The duo have danced together since auditioning for Révolution in 2022.
“I think we share a lot of the same values when it comes to what we like in dance, style-wise, but also in our work ethic,” Corriveau said. “He’s always willing to put in the work, which I was able to see from our first few practices together.”
The pair is currently training to tour with Révolution in February, and will be performing in Gatineau March 21 – 24.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The demand for food from local food bank Bouffe Pontiac is up this year, while monetary donations to the organization are down from previous years.

“Every year, the need is greatest in November and December,” said Kim Laroche, who has been director of the organization since 2018.
“But this year, I’m finding that it’s greater than it has been in all the other years,” she said, citing rising grocery prices due to inflation as the primary reason for the increase in demand.
“Fruits and vegetables are just unaffordable, and meat? Forget it,” she said.
While it is too soon to tabulate the organization’s data for the whole year, Laroche said the team at Bouffe

Pontiac prepared 280 Christmas food baskets this year, up from the 230 they normally make.
Laroche said that more than ever, people working minimum-wage jobs frequently come “knocking at the door.”
“They actually match our criteria,” she said, explaining that the food bank’s services are reserved for clients earning below a certain income threshold.
Laroche said she and her coworkers have also noticed a recent uptick in younger clients.
“A lot of students have been coming in lately,” she said, noting people as young as 16 are often requesting the food bank’s assistance.

‘Less to spare’

In addition to providing monthly or bi-monthly food baskets to registered clients, Bouffe Pontiac offers collective kitchens, collective gardens during the summer months and a free thrift-shop that is entirely volunteer-run.
The organization, which began in 2006, also organizes an annual holiday food drive to provide Christmas baskets to families in need.

While Laroche said the outcome of this year’s holiday drive was impressive, it fell short of the amount raised last year.
Monetary donations for 2023 amounted to just over $10,000, while in 2022 the same drive raised around $12,700.
“We have an increase in demand, but everybody else in the community is also struggling more,” she said.
“It’s not that people are less generous [this year], they just have less to spare.”

Laroche said Bouffe Pontiac spends the majority of the monetary donations it receives on purchasing food. As of the end of November, the organization had spent around $60,000 on purchasing groceries in the past year alone.
“We’re trying to find new ways to get different donors”, she said, noting that Bouffe Pontiac now has an Amazon wishlist.
Laroche was keen on stressing the importance of the food bank’s mission.
“In life, if you don’t eat, if your need to be fed isn’t responded to, all the rest doesn’t go well,” she said.
“You can’t function well at work if you don’t eat properly, kids can’t learn properly . . . Food is the foundation.”

More than food

Sandrine Paquette of Campbell’s Bay has been a client at Bouffe Pontiac since it first opened in 2006.
Paquette said she has always been impressed by how friendly the organization’s employees are. “I felt really comfortable with them, and I think it’s very generous, what they’re doing,” she said.

Paquette, who recently began working as an employee of Bouffe Pontiac herself, said she was struck to learn how many people needed the food bank services.
“I didn’t know there were that many families that needed the same thing that I did,” she said.
“I was in need, they are in need and I know how they feel,” she added. “It’s a good thing that Bouffe Pontiac is here to support.”

Paquette said that with the additional income from her new position, she has been able to better support her family of four, and has had to rely less on the food services provided by her employer.

“I‘m happy that now I’m working here and I can do what they did for me, for someone else,” she said.
According to Laroche, many clients feel ashamed when they first open a file with the organization.
“They often feel like they are the only ones,” she said. “When they realize they’re not alone in their situation, they’re shocked.”

“A lot of people think that as a food bank, we just provide food, but it goes way beyond that.”
Laroche said that for many clients, the food bank also provided a place to socialize.
“A lot of our clients are isolated. For many of them it’s a place to come see somebody that month. The fact that we can sit with them for five minutes just to talk, it makes a difference,” she said.

“And I like making a difference.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Liberal MNA for Pontiac André Fortin hosted the annual MNA holiday breakfast at the Mickey Creek Golf Club on Saturday morning.

“It’s been a busy session, for me it’s been a busy year,” Fortin said, addressing the packed dining room in a brief introductory speech.

“But it’s nice to be back here and connect with you guys, and see what your priorities are.”
Fortin said he believes that the current public-sector strike is among the most pressing of issues on people’s minds locally.

“There are kids who haven’t been to school in weeks, it’s affecting their school success,” he said, adding that his own seven-year-old daughter, Élodie, is among them.

“To me it’s the government being somewhat irresponsible. They’ve had a year to deal with this, they knew this was coming, the unions gave them a lot of notice that it was going to happen, and there doesn’t seem to be any urgency within government to resolve these patterns and to settle these working conditions.”
Following Fortin’s speech, his wife Marlene Floyd took the floor with a special announcement: Fortin has been voted Parliamentarian of the Year in the National Assembly.

Her words were met by a standing ovation.
John Brennan, owner of Brennan’s Recreational Farms in Sheenboro, knows Fortin personally.

“He’s always been a great lad,” Brennan said. “The award just goes to show the kind of a representative that we have.”

Sophie Chatel, Pontiac Member of Parliament and a colleague of Fortin, was also present at the breakfast.

“I think Fortin is a really good MNA,” she said. “He’s doing excellent work in our community.”

“It’s a nice pat on the back from across the aisle,” Fortin told THE EQUITY of his award, which was determined in a vote open to all 125 parliamentarians.

“It’s always a balance for opposition members. You have to be vocal, you have to be able to call the government out on their failings – and there are numerous on healthcare, especially,” he said.

“But you also have to do it in a way that you’re able to talk to ministers and advance your local files, so it’s a delicate balance. My colleagues seem to think I do it in a very efficient and productive way.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

At the Beck Family Farm, free-stall cows eat, drink and move about at will. Soon, the 145 inhabitants of the large dairy farm will have a level of freedom unprecedented by local bovine; a choice over when they are to be milked.

The Clarendon farm is installing a voluntary milking system, often referred to as a “robotic” milking system, in the spring of 2024.

Kristine Amyotte, who co-owns the farm along with her husband Robbie Beck, said the couple is excited to implement the new system.
“Like any business, we look at what our goals are going to be for the future management, we look at the replacement cost, we look at the changes that need to be made overall,” she said, “and currently we’re in a position where we have to do some sort of infrastructural update.”

She explained that the capital cost of implementing the robots is less than updating the entire parlour system, which would involve expanding the footprint of the building.
“It’s going to be a retrofit. We don’t need to build a new barn or new animal housing,” she said.
Amyotte said that in addition, while the farm’s maintenance costs will be higher with the implementation of the new system, there will be fewer people looking after the same amount of cows, which are currently milked twice daily in a process that takes two hours each time.
“When we put all those components together, for us it made sense to go with a robotic system,” she said, “We think at the end of the day it’ll be a gain for us.”

How a voluntary milking
system works

The robot that will be taking over milking duties at the Beck Family Farm is officially named the Lely Astronaut A5.
Amyotte and Beck are already in possession of three of them, and are planning on starting the renovations to accommodate their implementation in January.
“If everything rolls exactly the way we are hoping, by the end of February, early March, the technicians will come and put the robots together,” Amyotte said.
“Then there’s a training process for the cows,” she added.

The new system will involve installing three milking stations. Each will allow one cow at a time to enter, when she is ready to be milked. A transmitter on each cow’s collar identifies her and tracks many aspects of her health. If the identified cow is deemed “eligible”, the robot aligns itself to her udder and dispenses a ration of her food.
“They are very interested in eating,” Amyotte said, adding that the ration is individualized to the cow, based on her lactation phase.
Incentivized by the food, the cow will allow the robot to clean her udder with a brush. The robot then uses lasers to sense and monitor her precise location, and milk her. Once the process is complete, she is released back to the herd.

Once the Lely robots are installed, they will be available for use at all hours of the day, seven days a week, except for when they are being washed or sanitized.
Amyotte said that for approximately three weeks after installation she and the rest of the staff will take rotating shifts so that there is someone on site at all times to help guide the cows to the robots, “until they make the connection that that’s what they need to do.”

According to Amyotte, 95 per cent of cows in a given herd successfully adapt to the system.
She said that though the technology has existed for some time, she believes her and her husband’s farm will be the first in the region to implement it.
“It’s going to be great, because we’re going to be able to really individualize the care for each animal,” she said.
She added that she believes the robots will become more mainstream as farmers update ageing infrastructure.
“It [robotic system] is becoming more cost-feasible,” she said. “In our case it would have cost more to stay with a conventional system.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s the answer for everybody,” she added. “You have different herd management styles and goals and aspirations that would drive you to choose different infrastructure – that’s very individual per farm – but this was right for us.”

Amyotte said that a big part of the draw is flexibility in terms of her and her family’s schedule, explaining that with the current system, there is no flexibility on the timing of the cows’ daily milking.
“[It’s] 365 days a year, so birthdays, Christmas, Easter, it doesn’t matter what’s going on, that’s what has to happen,” she said.
“We love to work with the animals, it’s work that we choose to do, but it’s nice on the flipside to be able to build a little bit of flexibility into your life.”

The benefits of
individualized care

Amyotte said her cows are already monitored with sensors that give stats on things like their daily level of movement, how much they eat, ruminate, lie down, and when they’re going into heat.
“I’m kind of a data junky so I’m pretty excited about being able to get the information off the cows,” she said.
The data collected in the collar of each animal with the new system will be sent in a report to Amyotte’s phone, along with an alert, if the system detects something unusual.
“When you’re dealing with a herd of production cattle, you need to consider them almost like athletes,” she said. “You need to provide them the nutrition and the comfort that they need to do their thing.”
“Cow comfort is very important,” she added.

The average cow produces around 30 litres of milk a day, and Amyotte said a high performing cow with good genetic make-up can produce up to 50 litres a day during peak lactation.
Amyotte said she expects her cows’ overall production levels to increase with the implementation of the new system.
“A cow could visit three to four times a day if she’d like, and that will automatically stimulate her to produce more,” Amyotte said, adding that the production increase is typically between 15 and 20 per cent.
“I’m optimistic that they [the cows] are going to adapt well. If I had any concern about their welfare, I wouldn’t be doing this,” she said.
Amyotte said that while the robots will expedite one portion of the tasks involved in caring for her cows, “The rest of the care remains the same. We’re still here 365 days a year.”

She emphasized the continuing need for her cows to be fed, have their stalls cleared and bedded, and be artificially inseminated.
“It’s not a silver bullet,” she added of the robots, “but I do think it’ll become more and more mainstream.”
“We’re displacing roles that not a lot of people want to fill.”
Amyotte said she plans on keeping her current team of staff in place for now to keep the cows comfortable and producing well.
“We’ve been planning for this for a long time,” she said. “We have a lot of university and college students that work for us that will be graduating. As people leave for their own natural reasons, we just won’t replace them.”
Amyotte said her and Beck’s own daughter, Cadence, is currently studying agriculture and business at the University of Guelph, with plans to return to run the farm in the future.
“The whole community has been very supportive. We’ve had a lot of good questions come out of it, but really overall, great support and enthusiasm,” Amyotte said.
“It’ll be a very busy winter, but we’re looking forward to the change.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

At the beginning of this month, Lisa Boisvert made a childhood fantasy a reality, opening the doors of her new café, Méli Mélo Bistro, to the public for the first time.
The Ladysmith resident says it’s something she’s been thinking about for decades.
“When I was a kid I always played restaurant, I had a cash-register for fun,” she said. “I love people so much, I love the public. I love interacting with all ages. And I’ve been in the service industry for a very long time.”
The café, located in the centre of Campbell’s Bay on Front Street, offers a variety of healthy dine-in and take-out options for breakfast and lunch, as well as coffee and fresh-baked snacks.
Boisvert said she hopes Méli Mélo Bistro will provide a space where teenagers and young adults, particularly, know they are welcome.
“I’m not a babysitter, but I want to offer a place for them to be, where they know they’re not going to be kicked out,” she said, explaining that for many teens, finding a place to relax either in solitude or with friends can be challenging.
“I want this to be more than a café. I hope I can be everybody’s comfort. I had a place like that when I was younger, I was very fortunate,” she said.
“I think I’m trying to give back what I had, because I’m glad I had it.”

‘A little bit of this and
a little bit of that’

While Boisvert is still working around empty fridges and display cases from the building’s previous tenants, she said so far business has been good.
There is no fixed food menu at Méli Mélo, but daily specials and some staples are available.
“I’m adapting, it’s whatever they [customers] want,” she said.
Based on customer feedback, Boisvert said she has plans to start serving breakfast, and have chili on offer every day.
“To me, that’s what méli-mélo means – ‘whatever you want’ – a little bit of this and a little bit of that.”
In addition to providing healthy options, Boisvert is making an effort to keep her prices affordable, and is including taxes in her prices.
“The reason I did that is the market I’m aiming at. I don’t need them counting their pennies and wondering if they have enough,” she said.
She added that she is discounting food from the day before, and if still unable to sell it, freezing it and donating it to local food bank, Bouffe Pontiac.

A place for youth

According to Boisvert, there aren’t many options for teenagers wanting to hang out in Campbell’s Bay.
“They’re mature adolescents and yet they have nowhere to go and nothing to do,” said the mother of three.
Boisvert said she intends to remove the old fridges that line the front room, and change the lighting to make the space more cozy, or “zen,” as she called it.
Boisvert said she is familiar with many of the local youth from years of experience working in a CEGEP program called La Défriche.
Through the program, which serves different local high schools including Pontiac High School in Shawville, Dr. Wilbert Keon School in Chapeau, and École secondaire Sieur-de-Coulonge in Mansfield, Boisvert worked with students on things like social autonomy, cooking, positive communication and budgeting.
“I did some entrepreneurial projects with them so I know that they’re smart, they have so many ideas, too,” she said, “And a lot of them recognize me, so I have that to my advantage.”
Boisvert said she’s got plenty of ideas about how she wants to use her new space beyond the café’s regular hours.
“Once I establish myself and know I’m viable, I want to be able to offer evening paint nights and workshops,” she said.
She said she’s already received recommendations from young people as to ways to use the space to best accommodate them.
“Live music and dances, crochet lessons and games nights,” said Boisvert. “I’ve had all age groups come in and I love it, I’ll never turn away anybody.” she said.

Supporting other businesses

Boisvert was keen to stress the need for more inter-municipal community support for local businesses to thrive.
“We’re 18 municipalities and nobody talks to each other,” she said. “Everybody sticks to their own.”
“I want restaurants to encourage each other,” she said. “There’s banger places around and nobody knows about them.”
Boisvert said that in an effort to encourage this, she is toying with the idea of introducing placemats referring customers to restaurants outside of the immediate vicinity.
“I’m not afraid I’m going to lose business because I’m encouraging people to go to other businesses near me,” she said. “I’m just happy to be here. I took a chance, I tried, and whether I make it or not, it’s something that I really wanted to do.”
“We [municipalities] all have good food,” she added, “We should try everywhere and encourage everyone.”
Méli Mélo is open Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. Hours are subject to change.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Outaouais Dragons U15 AA hockey team defeated opponents Outaouais Bisons 4-1 at a packed Shawville Arena on Saturday.
The Dragons AA team, made up of some of the best U15 players in the Western Outaouais region, includes four former Pontiac Lions players; Taytum Thompson, Pierce Rusenstrom, Colton Hines and Tristan Queale.
“It was a good game right till the end, they battled hard, it was a really good team effort,” said head coach Tim Thompson of Shawville.
“Play as a team, win as a team,” he added.
Defenseman Colton Hines said it “felt pretty good” to be playing on home ice for the first time with this team.
“We wanted to do this to show support for some of our players and coaches that were former Pontiac Lions. We also thought it would be a good way to bring the community together,” said Collin Hines, president of the Shawville & District Minor Hockey Association (SDMHA), which helped organize the Shawville game.
“An event like this, held at our home arena, gives our young Lions players an example of what hard work and dedication can bring to them as they navigate their way through their minor hockey careers,” Hines said.
Coach Thompson echoed Hines’ sentiment.
“We don’t have that calibre of hockey here,” he said. “It was a really big deal for the kids, even the kids who aren’t from Shawville were so excited to play this game.”
The Outaouais Dragons is one of 14 teams in the Ligue de hockey Laurentides Lanaudière.
Thompson explained that most of the other teams in the league are based out of the North Shore in Montreal, so while home games are played in Gatineau, most road games are in the Montreal area.
“It’s a lot of travelling,” he said, adding that the game had originally been scheduled to be played elsewhere, but the team made a special request that it be played in Shawville.

“It was great that Eric Labelle [Outaouais Bison’s coach] and his team were nice enough to come play one of our season games here,” Thompson said, adding that the team and players’ parents had gone for an “amazing” dinner at Hursty’s Bar and Grill afterwords.
“We’d love to be able to do it again this season,” Thompson said. “It was just a really good experience for all of them. It couldn’t have went any better.”
Out of the 14 games the Dragons have played this season, they’ve only lost one. They have 12 left to play.
“Hopefully we continue on the winning streak,” said Thompson, adding that while he is glad to see his team doing so well, the personal development of the players is more important to him than the team’s record.
“I like developing the kids to the best of their potential, I like to see them become better hockey players,” he said.
Thompson is one of the Dragons’ five coaches; the others include Craig Lavallee, Dan Perrault, Jason Quaele, and Ed Russenstrom. Each coach has a son playing on the team.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Pontiac Lions Club was full to capacity on Sunday afternoon for its annual Christmas Turkey Bingo.
With the soft whirring of the club’s antique bingo-machine in the background, volunteer Kelly Beauregard called the numbers as nearly 70 people quietly dabbed away at their Bingo cards and nibbled on chocolates provided by the club.
“Everybody seems to look forward to our Christmas Bingo all year long, so we usually get a good turnout. Even the kids get involved!” said Debbie Frost, secretary of the Lions Club and a resident of Vinton.
She added that proceeds from the fundraising event go towards supporting the club.
“We give back to the community all year long,” she said. “[We give] bursaries, and to people who are in need of different things.”
The winners of four “special” games won noteworthy prizes – turkeys – along with $20 cash.
Joanne Hearty was one of the lucky winners.
“I’m going to frame the [Bingo] card, because I’ve never won before,” she said with a laugh, adding that she looked forward to digging into her winnings at Christmas dinner.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Down a snowy road in Norway Bay stands a very special mailbox, decorated with a Christmas garland and topped by a famous red-and-white hat. The letters that regularly fill this mailbox are special, too.
They come from an assortment of local children, and are addressed to one person only; Santa Claus.
The mailbox is one of three of its kind in the Pontiac. A second is located at Renaissance Variety in Shawville, and a third at the Canada Post in Portage du Fort.
All of them are being tended to by a member of Santa’s trusted honorary-elf team, Britney Gauthier.
“I call it my give-back initiative,” Gauthier said. “It was a pretty simple thought, but it seemed to take off.”
The Norway Bay mother of four started working for Santa this year. On Nov. 18, she left the special mailboxes at various locations throughout local communities.
Families that mail a letter through one of them can expect a handwritten letter in return, and those living in Norway Bay are often lucky enough to also receive a small gift, delivered by Santa’s helper herself.
Gauthier said she’s received nearly 100 letters for Santa to date, and that if this year’s initiative continues to be successful, she’d like to make the mailboxes an annual occurrence.
“It’s work but it’s fun,” she said, adding that her kids and husband have been a big help.
“Kids will tell Santa anything,” Gautheir said. “Some of them tug at your heartstrings. I’ve had a good cry reading a letter or two, but there have been some sweet little moments.”
Eleanor and Florence Laframboise visited the mailbox with their mother, Chelsea Declaire, this past weekend.
The girls had each written a letter to Santa. Eleanor, 7, asked for “a Big Stitch mallow” (a plush toy based off of the Lilo and Stitch Disney franchise), and Florence, 5, asked for “Mini Shopkins” (miniature supermarket-brand products for kids), but said that the rest of her letter’s contents were a secret.
“We were super excited to see someone in the community helping Santa send letters back to the children,” Declaire said. “It’s such a nice thing for them and it feels so homey.”
She added that the mailbox’s proximity to her house had been a big draw.
“We’re new to the community and they do so much for the kids [here], it’s so nice,” Declaire said, explaining that her family has lived in the Pontiac for 13 years, but are relatively new to Norway Bay.
“There’s always something they’re doing to make their day better.”
When Gauthier told Declaire’s daughters that she would be hand-delivering response letters from Santa, the two girls grinned from ear to ear.
“That smile is why working for Santa’s the best,” Gauthier said.
Families who have delivered letters to the Norway Bay mailbox will also be entered into a draw to win a large Christmas tray from The Bay Baker on Dec. 18, the day after the mailboxes close for this holiday season.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the local Journalism Initiative

A local women’s group is calling on the MRC Pontiac to put up signs on local highways warning drivers of slow-moving farming vehicles.
Members of the Pontiac County Women’s Institute made a presentation on the topic to the MRC Pontiac Council of Mayors meeting on Nov. 22.
According to a letter penned by the group that was distributed at the meeting, members are concerned about the dangers of combining large agricultural machinery with regular traffic that drives at or above the speed limit on main highways in the area.
“There have been so many tractor accidents, there’s been so much movement of equipment on the highways,” said Elaine Lang, president of the institute, a week after the group made the presentation at the MRC.
“Traffic is getting faster and faster and the machinery is getting bigger and bigger.”
Lang explained that the group is requesting six signs, each eight feet wide by 12 feet high, to be installed along Highway 148 in the areas of Vinton, Shawville, and Bristol, and along Highway 303 in the areas of Portage du Fort and Charteris.
Lang said these roads are used by commuters, large transportation trucks, large emergency vehicles, tourists with campers, and regular drivers alike.
“People need to be aware that these tractors drive slower than they do,” she said, adding that local farmers are often required to transport farm machinery from one farm to another along those same roads.
“We would like to put up some farm-safety signs to say, ‘share the road, slow down, caution’, and we want to do big ones.”
“I’ve had some close calls myself out on the highway with machinery,” said Terry MacDougall, who owns a farm near Stark’s Corners.
“Sometimes we pull wide loads which take up the whole road almost, we don’t travel very fast because tractors aren’t designed to travel at high speeds, and sometimes when you have to turn, when you’re pulling something along behind you, you have to veer out in to the other lane,” he said.
MacDougall added that while newer equipment comes with various signals and flashing lights that make it more visible, a lot of the older equipment does not.
“And people ignore them [the lights] anyways,” he said. “I’ve had people pass me on the wrong side of the road . . . there’s lots of dangerous situations out there that happen.”
“People get so impatient, they can’t wait those 10 seconds,” he said. “They’re putting themselves in danger as much as the person in the piece of farming equipment.”
MacDougall said that he doesn’t know if the signs would help but that he supports the group trying to raise awareness.

According to Lang, the group’s push for signage was prompted by “seeing what was going on in the community,” citing several serious incidents involving farm machinery in the past five years, in which people have been killed, severely injured or permanently disabled.
“If we can save one person’s life, stop an accident, we’re going to go for it,” she said.
Lang said the group is waiting to hear from the province about where the signs can be placed, explaining that certain specifications must be met, otherwise the signs will be taken down.
She added that the group is hoping to fundraise the money to pay for the cost of the signs and their installation, and has already received donations from the UPA and Promutuel Insurance.
This is not the first road safety initiative from the Pontiac County Women’s Institute.
Previously, the group has worked to get the speed limit outside the Shawville Giant Tiger reduced from 90 km/h to 70 km/h on Highway 148 and to get crosswalks painted in front of local seniors’ residences.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

École secondaire Sieur-de-Coulonge (ESSC) students demonstrated a remarkable level of enthusiasm throughout their hour-long Firefighter 1 training last week.
The class of 17, made up of six girls and 11 boys, spent Thursday morning reviewing various skills needed to work in a local fire department.
They practiced technique and speed for dressing in personal protective equipment (PPE), “laying the bed” of fire hoses on the top of a simulated firetruck in the gymnasium and rolling the hoses for transport, and reviewed the reading that had been assigned earlier in the week, which focused on communication practices and radio codes within a fire department.
“When I heard about it [the program] I was one of the first ones to put my name down,” said Jean-Michel Landry, one of the students currently enrolled in the program.
“It’s something that’s always interested me, so I take it seriously,” he said.
The training program is being offered as an elective course, to be taken over the span of two academic years.
Martin Bertrand is the primary instructor for the course, and also the captain of the Calumet Island Fire Department.
He said the high school training opportunity is “a brand new program from a brand new initiative from the province,” made possible in the Pontiac by a collaboration between the MRC Pontiac, local fire departments and the enthusiasm of ESSC students.
“The ones that actually made this a reality, the true stars are the kids,” Bertrand said.
A combination of both theoretical learning and hands-on practice, the Firefighter 1 training covers the essentials of firefighting and allows passing students to work with any fire department in the province in municipalities with fewer than 5,000 people.
“This is not an in-house program,” said Bertrand, who has worked as a firefighter for 17 years. “This is legit, this is real stuff.”

How it started
Julien Gagnon, public safety coordinator for MRC Pontiac and a firefighter of 10 years in the Shawville-Clarendon Fire Department, said that the “resounding success” of two pilot projects launched by the L’École national des pompiers du Québec just prior to the pandemic had been all the encouragement the MRC needed to launch the ESSC program.
“We had thought about it for a couple of years. So when it was made available, we jumped on the opportunity,” Gagnon said.
Bertrand, who is also a gym teacher and outdoor education teacher at the high school, said he was impressed by the dedication he’s seen from his students since they registered for the program, adding that in the lead-up to its launch this fall, he would be visited almost daily by students eager to get started.
“These kids are super passionate, super committed, and they’ve actually promised that they’re going to follow through,” he said.
Mégane Fortin, another student enrolled in the course, said her father and brother are both firefighters and that it has “always been something she has wanted to do?”
“I was so happy it was something I could do here [at ESSC],” she said.
Malaika Segobaetso is another of the students enrolled in the program.
“I love learning new things, being active,” she said. “In two years I’ll be able to help my community in Shawville. I’ll be able to participate in something that most of the time mostly adults do, but I’ll still be a kid doing that, which is pretty cool,” Segobaetso said.
“I’m determined to keep doing it, to be able to help, because we are short people.”

Filling a void
According to a 2018 study from the MRC Pontiac, there were 242 firefighters in the region that year. Gagnon said last year that number fell to 196.
“We lost about 50 firefighters, which is about 20 per cent of our workforce in five years, and we’re not replacing them at the rate that we’re losing them,” he said, adding the reason for this is two-fold.
“The government has imposed many rules and regulations as far as firefighter safety goes. So there’s a lot of training involved when somebody joins a fire department, especially at a local level.”
He added that a Firefighter 1 course is 250 hours of training, which many people feel they cannot accomplish while simultaneously working another job.
Gagnon said that, in addition, since the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s found it harder to get people to commit to helping their community.
“A lot of the time, as much as we try to recruit and entice people to come and join, a lot of people decline either to spend more time with their families, or want their personal time,” he said.
“Of course, firefighting is never scheduled, so it’s hard if they don’t want to commit.”
Both Gagnon and Bertrand cited the shortage of firefighters in the Pontiac as the main reason they were keen to get the high school firefighter training going at ESSC.
“Obviously, [there is] a need in our municipalities,” Bertrand said.
“We know most of them [students] are going to go to school outside of the region. We want them to come back and raise their families here, and join the fire departments as well.”
The hope of the MRC and local fire departments is that completing the Firefighter 1 certification while still in high school will make it substantially easier for young people to join local departments once they have graduated.
“It gets the ball rolling,” Gagnon said, adding that if students wish to pursue career-fighting in larger municipalities, which require additional certifications, having the Firefighter 1 portion already completed would work to their advantage.
“It will open more doors and that’s the benefit of the course for them,” he said.

‘If it’s too dangerous, we don’t do it’
While students seem incredibly enthusiastic about the training, both Gagnon and Bertrand cited safety as a concern regularly flagged by parents.
“We are doing this because safety is our number one concern,” Bertrand said. “We’re doing this the correct way, the proper way with the proper training, so that we can mitigate risks.”
He acknowledged that there is risk inherent to firefighting, but emphasized that the students would be kept safe.
“We will never put somebody in a position where it would be dangerous for them to do what they have to do,” he said.
Gagnon explained that a
main principle of firefighting had been reinforced with the ESSC students since day one:
“You protect yourself before the person you’re trying to save.”
“If it’s too dangerous, we don’t do it,” he added, “And I think the kids have understood.”

Side effects may include: confidence
Bertrand said that while he has often witnessed a defeatist attitude in the students he teaches, saying things like, “I’m from the Pontiac, I’m at a disadvantage, or I can’t do this,” he believes this program demonstrates the opposite is true.
“Programs like this, you can’t do anywhere else,” Bertrand said. “I think we’re showing these young students that the sky’s the limit if you work hard.”
Several students said their favourite part of the program was its practical, hands-on nature, which does not exist in many of their other classes.
“We’ve had comments that they [ESSC staff] think it’ll help some students stay in school,” Gagnon said, adding that he suspects the firefighting course might offer more incentive for less academically inclined students to attend their classes.
Bertrand said that since the start of the program, he has seen some of the students’ confidence “skyrocket through the roof.”
“I’m seeing a lot of beautiful positive transformations happening already, and we’re just beginning. [These students] can achieve almost anything, especially here in the Pontiac.”
Talira Savard is another student enrolled in the program.
“I was always interested in paramedics, but seeing a new point of view on things and doing things to save people’s lives, and risking your own life to help other people is something quite incredible,” she said.
“I never thought that I was going to be doing this while I’m in high school.”
Savard said that before the start of the program, she believed the class would be something she did for fun with her friends.
“But now, I’m like, ‘maybe this could be my future’.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Hundreds of twinkling fairy lights decorated the grounds of La Fée des Bois on Saturday, the first day of a two-weekend Christmas market hosted by the farm this holiday season.
Inside the farm shop, ornately-packaged tinctures, soaps and teas, all made in-house from various medicinal plants, were on display for shoppers.
“It’s all local; local honey, local alpaca, local books from an herbalist in Wakefield,” said owner Mariane Desjardins Roy, who has been growing her medicinal plants on the property for 12 years.
“I’m just trying to add more every year to make it more special,” she said.
“I buy local, local, local. I try to avoid chemicals in my life. I love being outside and I really like connecting people to these things,” Roy said.
Visitors to the market could also harvest their own Christmas tree from the forest or choose one from a pre-harvested collection, explore some of the property’s trails, visit with the farm’s sheep and chickens, and warm up by a large outdoor fire that was burning throughout the day.
“It’s way over what I was expecting,” said Nathalie Dupont, who visited the farm for the first time on Saturday.
“I know quite a lot about herbalism and can’t believe all the work [here], the quality of the product, the smell.”
Dupont said the previous owners of her new house in Bristol left behind an anti-inflammatory cream, made by La Fée des Bois.
She sampled the cream to try and soothe her arthritis when she moved in a couple years ago, and loved it so much, she said she had to see the place it came from.
“[It feels] like you’re in the woods with the fairy,” said Dupont’s husband, Peter.
“I had no idea it was so beautiful.”
La Fée des Bois will host its Christmas market again the next two weekends.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Western Quebec Literacy Council (WQLC) has been supporting individuals looking to improve upon their literacy in the Pontiac and larger Outaouais region for decades.
While the organization aims to support the development of all forms of literacy, the COVID-19 pandemic, which moved much of the world online, highlighted an urgent need for digital literacy in the region.
Outgoing president Donna Cushman knows this well. She’s held the position for four years, since just before the start of the pandemic.
Cushman said the WQCL is doing a lot of work to promote digital literacy, especially with seniors, emphasizing that for many people, digital literacy is “a whole new world” to learn to navigate.
“There are a lot of people that could get along with oral communication [in the past],” she said, pointing out that it was easier for people with a lower level of literacy to find employment, prior to the explosion of internet popularity over the past couple of decades.
Cushman said that now, however, many people “just don’t have all the skills that they need,” which in some cases, she said, can lead to embarrassment.
“Sometimes they’ve had really negative learning experiences growing up, and so they’re reluctant to ask for support, because learning has not been a positive experience,” she said.
“It’s a lot of relationship building, at first, you know, gaining trust . . . Because if you don’t have that, you’re not going to get very far with the learning.”
In her time with the organization, Cushman saw the extent to which literacy and confidence, especially in adults, can go hand in hand.
“To me, in the broadest sense, literacy means making sense of your world, and everybody needs to be able to make sense of the world around them,” Cushman said.
Cushman is continuing with the organization as a tutor and a reading buddy. Replacing her as president of the WQLC is Nikki Beuchler.
‘Learners set their own goals’
Founded in 1984, the WQLC works to promote English literacy across the Outaouais by connecting both adult and child learners with local tutors, free of charge.
Individual weekly lessons consist of reading, writing, numeracy, digital skills and communication with one of about 30 trained volunteers.
Lessons are tailored to developing the skills the learner personally identifies as areas needing improvement. No grades or levels are given.
“Our learners set their own goals,” said Greg Graham, executive director of the WQLC.
“There are all sorts of people at varying levels of literacy,” he said, explaining that while for some people literacy goals can be specific, such as achieving a level necessary for enrolment in a post-secondary or adult education program, in other cases, people simply desire to improve their quality of life.
“People are unable to enjoy life or participate in the way they want, because they’re just not able to read and write at the level they need,” he said.
Graham cited the story of an elderly woman who wanted to improve her literacy and digital literacy skills in order to book a flight online to visit family.
“[It is] something that so many of us take for granted, but for this person it was a struggle,” said Graham, adding that the woman was eventually able to develop the skills necessary to book her flight independently.
According to Graham, a number of factors exist that can contribute to a person’s ability to develop and maintain a functional level of literacy.
“They maybe didn’t have all the opportunities to go to school that you or I had,” he said. “Or because of their family situation, they’re living in a bi-cultural, bi-linguistic family, where the language they speak at home and the language they study at school are two different things.”
Graham said the WQLC does not exist to replace traditional education but rather to provide easy-to-access literacy support to people, many of whom are older and less inclined to go back to school.
“They [learners] are not lost,” Graham said, “they just don’t fit the nice handy categories that traditional education provides.”
He maintained that one-on-one tutoring or small workshops can often better suit adult learners’ needs.
A publicly available report from the WQLC shows that in 2021, the organization helped 317 participants in workshops over the course of the year. The report noted the COVID-19 pandemic significantly restricted the literacy program from reaching as many people as it could have.
The bigger picture
An often-cited survey from the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies conducted in 2013 found that 19 per cent of people in Quebec were likely to find themselves in a situation where they would experience great, or very great difficulty in reading and writing.
For context, that means about one in five people in the province would have great, or very great difficulty reading this article.
Guy Chiasson, a professor of political science at the Universite du Québec en Outaouais, said literacy is “very important” for regional development.
“In the current economy, it’s very hard to find positions where you don’t have some level of literacy,” Chaisson said, adding that literacy is important for citizenship, participation in society, and being part of a dynamic community.
“It shouldn’t be seen only in terms of how to get people to be able to work, but also how to get people to be included in society and to be fully functional in all aspects of life,” he said.
According to the WQLC, higher literacy can improve job prospects, earning potential, self confidence and pride, which in turn helps in areas such as personal development, and community regeneration.
“The more literate everyone is, the better we can hold governments to account, the better we can participate in society,” Graham said.
“Regionally, we have that English-French divide,” he added. “And we [in Western Quebec] have got, in some cases, a lower level of education, as well as an older population that might not have much exposure to technology.”
Graham said that one of the biggest challenges for the WQLC has always been the sheer size of Western Quebec.
“We’re bigger than Belgium,” he said. “We cover a vast territory… we want to be able to be more effective geographically. As a region, we will do a lot better if we have those skills.”
The WQLC office is located in Campbell’s Bay. Interested learners and tutors alike are encouraged to reach out.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Snow-frosted trees and sparkling gift packages filled the tinsel-lined hall at the Forest Inn on Saturday for the Bryson RA’s second annual Jingle & Mingle Christmas event.
Elves, ice princesses and of course, Santa himself, were all present and photo-ready throughout the “jingle” portion of the day.
Upon entry, kids were invited to take a photo with Santa and write him a letter, to be sent to him via North Pole Express Post.
Photo print-outs were available immediately, as was a frame-decorating station, and an abundance of hot chocolate, cupcakes and rice krispies to keep little bellies full.
“Often in rural areas like the Pontiac, when we want nice professional photos with Santa, we go to shopping centres in the city,” said Meghan Griffin, one of the twenty-plus volunteers from the Bryson RA who helped make the event possible.
“We wanted to kind of bring the magic here,” she said, adding that over 100 children had attended the sold-out event over the course of the day.
“It’s pretty special.”
“We don’t have many events in the Pontiac,” said Danick Lacroix, a Bryson father of three who attended the Jingle with his family.
“Last year’s [Jingle and Mingle] was a success, but it’s even better this year,” he said.
Shyloh Pasqua, secretary of the Bryson RA, said that the Forest Inn hall was lent to the RA for the occasion by Stanton Enterprises Ltd.
“It’s exceptionally generous because it’s very hard to find a hall big enough to accommodate the space that we need,” she said, adding that the donated space helped lower the costs of admission, making the event more of “a giving back” to the community.
The hall would be transformed yet again that evening, for the “mingle” portion of the Jingle & Mingle; a Christmas craft and vendor show featuring local artisans.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

After a pandemic-related hiatus, the Catholic Women’s League annual Christmas market was back in full swing at Calumet Island’s Ste-Anne’s Church on Sunday.
“It’s a big church and we try to help out as much as we can with our fundraisers,” said Joan Derouin, president of the Ste-Anne’s Catholic Women’s League (CWL) and lead organizer of the Christmas market.
The event featured 12 local vendors, a bake sale and a draw for prizes including gift baskets, wall-hangings and paintings, with proceeds going to different charitable organizations, as well as the church itself.
“I appreciate that this local event is just for artisans,” said Nathalie Bennett, one of the vendors and the owner of Hodgepodge Artizan. “You get a unique perspective on other artists in the area.”
Bennett was selling her “door jingle-janglers,” which she said bring positive energy and good fortune to the home, as well as a variety of charms, necklaces, and even some decorative Christmas spiders.
“They’re really cute in the bathroom,” said Bennett of her beaded arachnids. “I use them to guard my soap,” she added with a smile.
Bennett’s unique creations were among the many on display.
Local artist Jelly Massee was selling her acrylic paintings and watercolours along with some Christmas decorations made from oyster shells and wood cuts.
“Bryan [Massee’s husband] was eating oysters one night and I didn’t want to waste the shells, so I got the idea to make these,” she said.
Massee explained that she builds the shells up with clay in some places, before painting, varnishing and drilling holes in them to make her decorations.
“It’s been an awesome day,” she said of the market. “Just meeting people and getting my work out there, letting people know I’m here.”
As well as promoting local artisans, Lise Lagarde, the CWL’s secretary, said the Ste-Anne’s Christmas market is about helping people in need.
“We help the homeless, we help local shelters like L’EntourElle and AutonHomme, and we also do baskets for our elderly that are alone or hospitalized at Christmas,” she said.
She added that the rest of the proceeds go towards the church, particularly to help pay the heating bill, or if a member is going through a hard time.
“If their house should burn down or if they are hospitalized or something, we come and help,” Lagarde said.
“CWL stands for Catholic Women’s League, but it’s beyond just a church.” Lagarde said.
“It’s community.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Dozens of women spent Friday evening sharing food, wine, and plenty of laughter at Marché Bristol Market’s first ladies’ night event.
The nearly sold-out charity fundraiser, hosted at Bristol’s Jack Graham Community Center, featured a vendors market, a silent auction, a buffet, bingo, and door prizes.
“We chose the Ladies’ Night theme because there was nothing like it in Bristol and the ladies of the Pontiac deserve a night out,” said Marché Bristol Market’s president Emily Reid.
She said that the event was such a success that the organization, which just got its nonprofit status over the summer, is already planning another large fundraiser for next year.
Reid is one of Marché Bristol’s three board members and permanent volunteers. Other members include treasurer Jennifer Gauthier and secretary Taylor Tubman.
The event raised money for Angel Tree, a volunteer organization whose mission is to provide children in need in the Outaouais with toys, clothes, hygiene products, food, and school supplies.
“We decided to go with Angel Tree because they weren’t getting a lot of publicity through other local events,” Reid said. “And the timing is just perfect, because they’re really focused around Christmas time.”
Samantha Jane, a wedding officiant and sex educator, was one of 11 vendors at the event, selling a range of personal products for women.
“I came here tonight because I know the organizers, and they thought it would be a good place for me to get to know some of the community,” she said.
“I’m having the party of my life it seems,” she added with a grin, yelling slightly over a cover performance of The Beatles’ Twist and Shout that was blaring from the stage.
The live music from self-described “high-voltage rock-blues-country band” Jon Dale kept energy levels up all night.
Band members included lead vocalist Katy Shnier, lead guitarist Nicolas Carrière, Mathieu Carrière on guitar and vocals, Patrick Marshall on drums, and Eugene Sable on bass.
“Everybody was just in a great mood,” said Gail Gavan, who attended the event and even graced the stage herself to provide some impromptu entertainment.
“We all needed to get out and just have a little bit of fun,” she added.
Ladies’ Night was catered by Chantal Labrie and Melanie Rivet of Norway Bay’s My Way chip stand, with desserts from Jennifer Gauthier, also known as The Bay Baker.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Loisir sport Outaouais is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a tour of the Outaouais region, to meet some of the many partners. The MRC Pontiac stop of the tour was held on Thursday evening at Pine Lodge in Bristol.
Loisir aims at supporting and stimulating regional development in leisure, sports and the outdoors, and in making these activities more accessible.
“If they [organizations] have a project, they come to talk to us about it, and we see if we can find money, or we can help them create partnerships with other people,” said Virginie Lacombe, deputy executive director of Loisir Outaouais.
“We work to bring everybody together,” she said. “We’re kind of like glue.”
According to Lacombe, in the last year alone Loisir has distributed nearly one million dollars to different communities for projects that promote physical and mental health.
“We believe that outdoor activities and sports and the arts, and all recreational activities, are a good foundation for communities to be together and to be healthy, mentally and physically,” Lacombe said.
“We think it’s a good way for people to socialize,” she added, explaining that the more municipalities and nonprofits are able to put recreational and sporting activities forward in their communities, the more opportunities people will have to form and maintain meaningful bonds with each other.
Danelle Bourque, an economic development officer at the MRC Pontiac who works in sport and leisure, said she consults with Loisir on every project she has.
“To have their opinion on it, or even to see if they can fund it,” she said, “Or if any nonprofit or school has a project, I’ll approach them [Loisir] to see if they can help in any way.”
Desiree Tremblay is the Pontiac coordinator for Les maisons des jeunes, a non-profit offering activities and support for youth. She said Loisir offers an impressive amount of support for different municipalities, nonprofit organizations, MRCs and volunteer committees within the Outaouais.
“We’ve applied for grants for transportation, to use for outings,” Tremblay said. “We’ve also had support with buying sporting equipment; they helped us out with planning, different types of training; with organizing…”.
“They help you build your dream,” she said.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Carol-Ann Finlan didn’t know she was in for the surprise of a lifetime when she gave the okay to The Digging Dudes to survey her family’s generational home in Wyman.
“I was just curious,” she said, explaining that the farm has been in her family since 1855.
“I certainly never expected they would find what they found.”
It was a dark Monday evening in late October when Finlan got the text from Digging Dudes co-founder, Will (Willy) Webb.
“You won’t believe what I have found,” it read.
Finlan said she was “almost overwhelmed” when he placed the WWI war medal – engraved with the name of her great uncle, Herbert Finlan – in her hand.
“So many emotions were running through my mind,” Finlan said. “But the main one was, ‘If only Kelly was here to share in this moment…to rejoice in this finding’.”
Kelly Finlan was Carol-Ann’s brother, who passed away four years ago. She explained that he had always had “a great interest” in their Uncle Herbert.
“But I thought, ‘I’m sure he’s looking down on me and knows that the metal has been found’,” she said.
Herbert Finlan (1884-1918) was born in Wyman. Son of Andrew and Ellen Finlan, who settled in Bristol after migrating from Ireland in 1855, Herbert worked on the family farm until he enlisted. He was killed in action in Somme, northern France.
“[Kelly] just always had this great interest in the fact that he [Herbert] served Canada in the First World War, and he gave the ultimate sacrifice,” Finlan said of her brother.
“He was always researching,” she added. “He got all the information that he possibly could have.”
Finlan said that in August of 2012, Kelly was able to visit Herbert’s grave in Somme, adding that his visit fell on the eve of the anniversary of Herbert’s passing.
“I forget how many countries in Europe he [Kelly] visited that year, but he said the highlight of his trip was definitely and by far, visiting uncle Herbert’s final resting place,” she said.
“When he came home, he was just thrilled.”
Finlan described her relationship with her brother as having been “very close, noting that they were the only two siblings in the family,” she said.
“I’m honoured to have this medal in my possession,” she said, adding that she is not keeping the family heirloom in her home.
“The first thing I did was put the medal in safe-keeping, I am not having that medal that’s been lost for so long… go missing again,” she said.
“But it’s an honour to have it now back in the family, where it should be.”
In addition to the medal, The Digging Dudes’ property search yielded a pocket watch, an ear tag engraved with Finlan’s father’s name, and a cufflink, engraved with the initials E.F., “which would have been Uncle Earnest Finlan, a brother of Uncle Herbert,” Finlan said.
Buried treasure
Webb described The Digging Dudes as a passionate group of local history enthusiasts; metal detectorists who search for, and often find, lost objects.
“We don’t leave holes. We don’t leave a mess. We don’t take up the whole lawn,” Webb said.
“We specifically aim for super-specific targets that we think are going to have some value, historically, to the potential land owners.”
He said he put out feelers in all of the local Facebook groups, letting people know that The Digging Dudes were looking “to go out to these homes and save some of their family history.”
Webb added that he’s been trying to make it out to Finlan’s property, specifically, for nearly a year.
“We [detectorists] have specific seasons, believe it or not,” Webb explained, adding that for field-work in particular, summers are tricky with local crops, and winter is challenging because of the frozen ground.
Webb said the recently-ploughed field on Finlan’s property actually made his job much easier.
“I heard the [metal detector] signal, I knew it was going to be good on the sound,” he said.
Webb said his heart stopped when he read what was written on the round of the coin-like object he pulled from the earth: Private H. Finlan, 29th Canadian Infantry.
“When I saw the ‘1914 to 1918’… I was stunned, speechless,” Webb said. “We find lots of cool stuff, but not to this calibre.”
He added that of the thousands of artifacts and objects he’s discovered, Finlan’s medal is in the top five.
“Ninety five per cent of the stuff I pull out is going to be a trash or junk signal. And then five per cent of it will be worth preserving,” he said.
“I’ve found some pretty cool things, but nothing as personal and so defined, and so memorable and so unique,” he said.
Webb said that being able to share his find with Finlan made the experience even better.
“Just the fact that there’s so little of her family left to appreciate it, and the fact that she was there to be able to appreciate it…You could tell it really meant a lot,” he said.
More than a hobby
Webb, perhaps better known as professional country musician Levi Hart, said he and Digging Dudes co-founders Erikin Isayev and Jeff Bardell came together nearly three years ago via a Facebook group for detectorists in the area.
At the end of their first year “hunting” together, they decided to take their hobby more seriously.
“We said, ‘Let’s make this hobby the best we can, by trying to preserve as much history as we can up and down the Ottawa Valley, while helping people find and recover lost objects’.”
According to Webb, both his and co-founder Jeff Bardells’ families have lived in the Bristol and Shawville areas for generations.
“If we’re going to save some history, it’s going to be local to where we grew up,” he said.
Webb stressed that while archaeologists may do work of a similar nature, “there are no archaeologists going around to the homes that we are, doing what we do.”
“If we didn’t go out there and do what we did, all the stuff that we find … would be lost forever.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Nursing students from the Pontiac Continuing Education Centre (PCEC) in Shawville travelled to Ottawa last month to spend a day volunteering at Shepherds of Good Hope, an organizataion that supports people experiencing homelessness and vulnerable adults.

“As we’re from a small community, I thought that it would be really important that we’re aware of how big an issue the homelessness is right now,” said Jammie-Lee Coursol, one of two clinical instructors from the PCEC that organized the volunteer experience.

Heidi Hall, the other clinical instructor, said the importance of seeing the prevalence of homelessness in local populations is important for young nurses to understand.

“At some point, we might be having them on our doorstep at the hospital,” she said.

“Just because we don’t see the homelessness in the Pontiac, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

A lack of visibility

Many of the nursing student volunteers were shocked at the sheer volume of people that showed up to the shelter.

“I found lots of them were close to my age as well, which was very surprising,” said Kelsy Lepack, one of the student volunteers.

“I’m lucky enough to still be living at home with my parents,” she added.

“I’m very grateful that they did bring us because like I said, lots of people have no idea this is going on and I was lucky enough to see it,” she said.

Coursol estimated that the volunteers helped feed between 150 to 200 people.

“And that was just one meal,” Coursol said.

“That was pretty shocking.”

“It kind of blew me away just how much food we made,” said Kylie Beattie, another of the student volunteers.

“I didn’t expect how many beds they would have,” added Beattie, noting her surprise that the 252 beds the shelter currently offers are not enough to meet the growing need.

Beattie said that the biggest takeaway for her was “just how big the problem of homelessness is, because when you’re living in a small town, you don’t see that.”

“It was really, really eye opening, just how many people need help,” she said.

According to Bernie Forestell, a senior communications manager at SGH, the community kitchen where the students volunteered serves almost 130,000 meals every year.

Outaouais homeless population growing faster than in other regions

The homeless population in the Outaouais region increased by 268 per cent between 2018 and 2022, according to a 2022 report from Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services.

This is the highest overall increase across the province.

In that period, nearly 400 additional people became homeless in the region, since the first time Quebec conducted the survey on homelessness in 2018.

“We [Outaouais] are the worst in Quebec” said Jacinthe Potvin, director of Centre Social Kogaluk, a centre located near Luskville that offers housing to individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Potvin has worked at Centre Social Kogaluk for 23 years, and said the need for support resources is greater than it’s ever been.

“More and more young people, more and more older people, and families are becoming homeless. In our region we have entire families that live in motels,” she said.

“I think that there is a lack of awareness in rural areas, because people don’t see the amount of people living in the streets,” she said.

“[But] homelessness has exploded, and it touches everybody.”

The province’s report found that in 2018, a total of 5,789 people in Quebec were “visibly” homeless, meaning that they did not have a permanent and secure residence and that on the evening the survey was conducted, they were found in a place not designated for human habitation (i.e. a car, doorway, makeshift shelter), or in a temporary resource centre (i.e. a shelter, crisis centre, etc.).

By 2022, the number of visibly homeless had nearly doubled.

According to Potvin, most of the people at Centre Kogaluk suffer from drug addiction, mental illness, alcoholism, and frequently, a mixture of the three.

“We have people helping them with an intervention plan, helping with whatever they want to do in life, [like] go back to school, or go back to work.”

Potvin added that social housing and community supports are key to addressing the exponential growth of Outaouais’ homeless population.

“I’ve seen thousands of people [at Centre Kogaluk] over the years. Thousands,” Potvin said.

“But I’ve also seen miracles happen.”

Additional findings from Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services Report, 2022

• 67 per cent of people experiencing

homelessness in Quebec are men.

• 13 per cent of those surveyed identified as Indigenous — five times more than in the general population.

• Around 16 per cent of those surveyed

identified as LGBTQ+.

• Immigrants represent around 11 per cent of the homelessness population.

• 15 per cent of people who became homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic say it played

a role in their current situation.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Giant Tiger and the Bryson Lionettes will be holding a fundraiser dinner this weekend to generate financial support for Shelley Martineau, a Clarendon resident who is battling cancer.

“She’s fighting the battle of her life,” said Shelley’s sister, Cheryl Martineau.

“Everyone in the community knows her,” said Cheryl. “She’s one of these people that will just drop everything and help out anyone else.”

Martineau, 53, has battled cancer before.

She was diagnosed for the second time in early 2022, and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Cheryl said that Shelley is not currently able to work, and so any contribution of financial support is a huge help.
“It means so much to us as a family, the outpouring from the community. That’s something that’s hard to find today,” Cheryl said.

“Pontiac is the place for it,” she added. “I tell you, It’s a great, great, great community.” Martineau was a valued employee at Giant Tiger in Shawville for 26 years. “We [staff at Giant Tiger] all wanted to do something for her, and thought this was the best way to raise money,” said owner and manager Brandyn Gauthier.

“We’re a small community, and we’re a family here. We’ve got to take care of our family,” he said. Gauthier spoke highly of Martineau as an employee. The two worked together for three years, and according to Gauthier, had a “very good” relationship.
“She always knew what she was doing, she came to work, she did her job, and she was great with the customers,” he said.

Gauthier added that he hopes the fundraiser will raise enough money that Martineau might enjoy Christmas this year, “without having to worry about anything.”

The spaghetti supper will be held at the Bryson Lion’s Hall on Nov. 4 from 4-7 p.m.

Tickets to the fundraiser dinner are $10 per person, and are available for advance purchase at Giant Tiger in Shawville, or at the door on Saturday evening.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Municipality of Thorne hosted an
information session last week to address
increasing concern from residents and ratepayers
over the amalgamation of the Thorne and Otter
Lake fire departments that occurred nearly three years ago.
In recent months, residents of the municipality
have raised concerns about budget and
management of the amalgamated department
with Thorne’s municipal council.
Karen Kelly, mayor of Thorne, said the meeting
was called to “let everybody know why we did
what we did.” Julien Gagnon, the public safety coordinator for
MRC Pontiac, was one of the five speakers present,
and addressed a key cause for the amalgamation
early on.

“We seem to be having the same issue across
Canada and across North America,” he said.
“There’s a harder and harder time to recruit, and
the retention of our firefi ghters is more and more
difficult.” Gagnon said that with the drop in numbers, it
is becoming increasingly necessary to amalgamate
fire departments, “so we can not only answer calls
together, but also to have the same tactics and
strategies in place to work together when fighting
fire.” Gagnon added that provincial legislation
mandates a minimum number of certified
firefighters be available to answer calls at any
given time.
“We always require a minimum of eight, and
Thorne no longer had eight firefi ghters,” Gagnon
explained, adding that three times that number of
firefighters is what’s recommended.
And so in January 2021, an inter-municipal
agreement to amalgamate the Thorne and Otter
Lake fire departments was made, and the Pontiac
North Fire Department was born.
Pontiac North Fire Department director and
chief Denis Chaussé cited an increase in 911 calls as
another major factor necessitating amalgamation.

Year after year, your fire department received
more demands from the 9-1-1 services,” Chaussé
said, addressing the Thorne community.
“We have structural fires, car fires, water fires,
bush fires, electric fires… Today we also have
motor-vehicle accidents, water rescue, and off-
road rescue assistance,” Chaussé said.
Operating costs rising
Chief Chaussé also received questions
regarding the budget and spending of the Pontiac
North Fire Department.
While the departments are officially
amalgamated, budgets are calculated separately
for services to each municipality.
Chief Chaussé said the Thorne fire department
budget for 2022 was around $77,000, and rose
subsequently in 2023 to over $96,000.
The Otter Lake Fire Department budget
estimate for 2023 is $221,470.
This brings the Pontiac North Fire Department’s
budget to over $300,000.
He cited new equipment, regular inspections
and verification of equipment, along with the
increasing costs caused by inflation as key factors
driving the budget upward.
“When you got cheap equipment, you get cheap
results,” said Chaussé, adding the department
was investing in higher quality equipment, like
leather boots, which he said are ergonomically
better for the firefighters than the cheaper rubber
boots they’d used previously.
He also reminded residents at the meeting that
each firefighter costs the municipality $160 an
hour.
Ronnie Vadneau, a Pontiac North firefighter
who worked in the Otter Lake Fire Department
for 30 years prior to the amalgamation, said he
felt that people view firefighters as an expense.
“I don’t think we’re an expense,” Vadneau said.
“We’re indispensable.”
Vadneau said he believes the amalgamation
should have happened a year prior to when it did.
“It is something that is greatly needed between
the two fire departments.”
Mayor Kelly said she believes the concerns of
the ratepayers were adequately satisfied by the
meeting.
“The majority of them will be happy now,” she
said. “They’ll be happy that we had this meeting
and they got some of their queries answered.”

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Edwin Valles was the only
person in the Shawville Bethel
Pentecostal Church on Thursday
morning. He stood in the foyer,
clad in a sports jacket and
checkered shirt, and smiled when
I walked in.
It took a moment for it to click
that this was the new pastor of
the Bethel Pentecostal Church;
the pastor I’d arranged to meet.
Maybe it was the sports jacket.
Valles was gracious enough
to put an end to my confusion,
introducing himself and offering
a quick handshake. He led us
into the empty chapel, where
we sat not in the pews but on
the regular chairs up against the
back wall.
I soon learned that he, like I,
was a GTA-grown city-slicker,
taking on a new adventure in
rural Quebec.
“I think, as a minister, you
kind of ask yourself, ‘God, where
do you want me to be? What
direction do you want me to
take?’” Valles reflected.
I, decidedly not a minister,
asked him to clarify.
“We don’t ‘make moves’,” he
said. “We decide to go places
through prayer and through
the leading of God. So through
prayer we felt impressed that
this is a place for us. I saw the
ad on the website, that they were
looking for a senior pastor, and
felt that what they’re looking
for… that I filled the need.”
In the “we”, he was referring
to his wife and daughter, who
have made the move to Pontiac
as well.

“That’s the thing that
encouraged me most [to come],”
Valles said. “My family is
onboard. They had to want to be
here.”
Valles was born in the
Philippines, into a family of 11
children. He came to Canada
in the sixth grade, attending a
French school in Quebec for two
years before moving to Ontario.
“I’ve lived in BC, Ottawa,
Quebec, all around Canada,” he
said, “but I’m excited to be here.”
Valles told me he’s looking
forward to getting to know the
people of the church, but also of
the larger community
“We’re praying that this is the
right place for us. We’ve never
lived in a community like this
before, but we want to stay here
long-term,” he said.

I think in a small-town
setting, you’re the pastor for the
whole community.”
I asked Valles what it was that
he’d meant earlier, about filling a
“need” of the church.
What appears to be Valles’ true
vocation became immediately
evident.
“I try and be a father figure or
a mentor to a lot of the young
people,” he said. “Whether it
just be hanging out playing
basketball, or going to a
restaurant.”
Valles said it was his impression
that Bethel Pentecostal seemed
determined to reach out to a
younger generation.
“That’s been my thing for the
longest time. I worked as a youth
pastor at different churches for
many years. My experience is
in teaching and mentoring kids,
and just reaching out to them,”
Valles said.
“And that is why I think I’m a
good fit here.”
Pastor Edwin Valles will be
holding his first mass at Bethel
Pentecostal this Sunday, Nov. 5,
at 10 a.m. All are welcome.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

Pontiac High School (PHS) is celebrating the official completion of its new multi-sport court project.
Several of the projects various benefactors, along with Shawville mayor, Bill
McCleary, gathered at the school on Friday to mark the occasion.
“You can actually play tennis, pickleball, badminton, volleyball, basketball
and road hockey all on the same court now,” said Darcy Findlay, the
school’s physical education teacher and one of the project’s key
organizers.
According to Findlay, the courts will be fully accessible to the community.
“Anyone is more than welcome to come and use it at any time,” Findlay said,
emphasizing how projects between school and community are essential for
regional development.
“They provide opportunity and reason for young
families to move here,” he said, “They showcase a possible lifestyle,
and the facilities and recreational opportunities that we can provide
them.”
The project was started about two years ago, during the
pandemic. “I think it’s a long time coming for us to do something with
it,” said Holly Anabelle Smith, a student at PHS, adding that the tennis
court that had existed there previously was old, cracked and in
disrepair.
Cade Kuehl, another student at PHS, said he believes the outdoor basketball courts in particular will get a lot of use.
“I think it’s awesome to see new stuff coming in the community, and being
able to hang out outside is great, rather than being cooped up like we
have been for the past few years,” he added.
Roughly $100,000 went into the project, which was funded by the Shawville Lions Club ($7,500),
the Municipality of Shawville ($5,000), the Municipality of Clarendon
($5,000), the Shawville Rotary and the Maison des Jeunes ($1,000). The
remaining balance was covered by the Western Quebec School Board.

Camilla Faragalli, reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The Connexions Resource Centre held its first meet-and-greet of the
season for the 55+ community on Thursday morning in Shawville.
Seated in a semicircle at the St. Paul’s Anglican Church hall, the group shared personal stories over coffee, tea and snacks.
It was the first part of a two-hour gathering facilitated by Dianne Wheatley, an activity coordinator for the organization.
“The closeness in this community, the engagement… They are so dedicated to
their wellbeing, to being inclusive, it’s wonderful to see,” said
Wheatley. “Everybody made everyone feel so welcome.”
Introductions were followed by an animated game of Bingo which taught participants
more about each other, and even managed to evoke an impromptu rendition
of the national anthem. A simple card-prompt game, with questions and
answers ranging from silly to sincere.
Gordon Cave of Shawville said his daughter, who lives in Columbus, Ohio,
heard about the event online and encouraged him to attend.
“This is my first time here,” Cave said. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it was very pleasant and fun.”
Socialization is important at any age, and a plethora of Canadian research exists to
demonstrate how social isolation and exclusion is related to serious
negative health effects and reduced quality of life for seniors,
specifically.
“Seniors need to make connections with people, too,”
said Outreach and Engagement Coordinator for the MRC Pontiac, Shelley
Heaphy. “And it can be difficult in the Pontiac to meet people, because
we have such a large, vast territory.”
“For anyone who is isolated or
alone or has no one to talk to, something like this can be a really
great part of their week and keep their mind active,” Heaphy said.
According to the Connexions website, the non-profit exists to promote the health,
social wellbeing and vitality of the English-speaking community in the
Outaouais through empowerment, participation and collaboration.
“I don’t know anybody that works there [Connexions] that doesn’t love what they do,” Wheatley said.
“You have to love the community, you have to be in touch, you have to
believe in inclusivenes . . . and that’s what makes it work.”
The next Connexions 55+ meet-and-greet will be held in Buckingham on October 30.

Camilla Faragalli, Reporter

Funded by the Local Journalism Initiative

The annual Catholic Women’s League Harvest Breakfast was held on Sunday morning at the Immaculate Conception Church in Bryson.

It was a full house, with over a hundred people showing up over the course of the morning.

“We always get wonderful support from our own community and all the surrounding communities as well – so it’s a lot of fun for us,” said Betty Maloney, a key organizer of the event, long-time member of the Catholic Women’s League and a parishioner at the Immaculate Conception Church.

“The food is amazing and the pancakes are known to be the best around,” she said, adding with a wink that her husband is responsible for making them.

The event is one of several community gatherings organized by the Catholic Women’s League of Canada (CWL), a 100-plus year-old national organization comprised of over 60,000 members across different communities that stands for faith, service, and social justice.

“We’re always trying to give back,” said CWL Bryson president Sheila Racine, “I’ve lived here all my life and was raised in Bryson. We always thought what people give you, you help out with, too.” One lucky attendee was the winner of a 50/50 draw, taking home half of the proceeds from ticket sales, Margo Newberry of Bryson.
“I usually never win, but oh my God, what an honour,” said Newberry after her name was called. The CWL will direct the rest of the proceeds from the event towards supporting the Immaculate Conception Church.