Chelsea Ward 6 councillor

By Madeline Kerr

Longtime Hollow Glen resident Donald Déry has experience convincing people to make good choices, and now he says he wants Ward 6 residents in Chelsea to choose him as their next councillor. 

Déry, who lives with his partner and has called Hollow Glen home for the last 31 years, recently told the Low Down that he has a background in public health, having spent nearly 15 years working to help reduce public second-hand smoke in Quebec and curtail tobacco use among military personnel in the Canadian Armed Forces. 

After retiring several years ago, he became actively involved with the Outaouais chapter of Fédération de l’âge d’or du Québec (FADOQ), the largest seniors’ organization in Canada, and served as president of the National Association of Federal Retirees in the Outaouais.  

If elected, Déry will represent a district that looks noticeably different from the last round of municipal elections. In 2024, Chelsea redrew the boundaries of its six districts to make the distribution of residents more equitable. Ward 6 now has the greatest share of the voting population, with 20 per cent of residents residing in its sectors, including Hollow Glen, Kingsmere and Hendrick Farm. 

Déry said he has a plan for each of these sectors.   

In Hollow Glen, he said he wants to tackle recurring infrastructure issues by paving Chemin Kelly and Chemin Hollow Glen, and plans to collaborate with the National Capital Commission to reduce flood risks in the area. 

On Chemin de la Mine, he said he wants to focus on school travel safety by completing the pathway that leads to the high school and CEGEP. 

In Kingsmere, the priority will be on environmental protection, reducing noise and limiting traffic to preserve residents’ quality of life.

Finally, in the Hendrick Farm sector, Déry said he wants to install safe pedestrian crossings and ensure that upgrades to the water and sewage systems are financed by developers rather than by residents. 

Déry’s priorities for the whole municipality are more general. He said he wants to improve local transportation, increase recreational opportunities and encourage more dialogue between the municipality and residents. He also said he considers the state of Chelsea’s roads “an urgent concern” and wants to prioritize rehabilitating the municipality’s famously pothole-ridden streets. 

A major focus for Déry is seniors’ well-being and making Chelsea more accessible for residents as they age, something he said he knows about both as a member of FADOQ and as a senior citizen himself. 

“Right now, I’m 75 years old. I’m in very good health, and I have a lot of energy…but at 75, you know, if you want to do something new, now is the only time to do it.” 

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

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

Déry added that, after a career serving public interests and years volunteering for non-profits, “now it’s time for me to do something else. I like to contribute to my community. For me, municipal government means serving [others].”

Current Ward 6 councillor, deputy-mayor Kimberly Chan, has not returned the Low Down’s request to confirm if she intends to run for re-election, but sources close to the Low Down say that she does not plan to defend her council seat on Nov. 2.