Clarendon

K.C. Jordan, LJI Journalist

Local food bank Bouffe Pontiac collaborated with the MRC Pontiac last week to host a public forum on food security issues in the county and to brainstorm strategies for addressing these challenges.

The event, hosted at the Little Red Wagon Winery on Thursday evening, was the latest in a series of similar events sponsored by the Concertation pour de saines habitudes de vie en Outaouais, all aimed toward combating food insecurity by bringing together community organizations and members of the public.
Presenters from the MRC and Bouffe Pontiac discussed topics related to food waste, food insecurity in the community, as well as different projects in the community trying to address those issues.

“Tonight was a chance to talk about what each organization is doing in the community and how we can work together,” said Bouffe Pontiac director Kim Laroche in a French interview. “It was to do awareness, to communicate, to engage different partnerships from the community to work together.”

After the presentations, the few dozen participants were split into groups where they brainstormed ideas and solutions related to the day’s topics.

Laroche said participants across the three groups felt initiatives like community gardens and pantries would help address food insecurity, as well as workshops where kids can learn how to transform raw foods into meals or preserves.

She said a common theme across the groups was getting the next generation of kids interested in producing and handling food from a young age, instead of relying on the food they buy at the store.

“Two subjects that were found very important are the education of children into eating healthier or having healthier habits, and how to access them in school and how to have them [get involved] in the community, manipulating the food and knowing how to build a garden from the start and learning how it’s grown.”

Martin Riopel, director of the Jardin Éducatif du Pontiac and a participant at the forum, said this is one of the biggest barriers he has seen to more widespread food security – training kids to enjoy healthy foods instead of chip stand-type foods.

“Education is one of the important things [ . . . ] Promoting healthy eating, not necessarily eating vegetables all the time, but at least include fruits and vegetables in our diet.”

He said sometimes eating healthier must come with the concession that it’s going to cost a bit more.

“When people come to the garden to buy vegetables, people complain that it’s expensive [ . . . ] you have to raise awareness among the population to appreciate and be grateful for what they have to offer [locally].”

In terms of food waste, Riopel said all vegetables that do not get sold at the garden’s market stand end up going to Bouffe Pontiac, where they are sorted through and then offered to the food bank’s users.

Laroche said her organization is always open to partnerships like these, and that by hosting the forum she hoped to learn how she can collaborate with other community organizations and individuals.

She said the food bank is trying creative solutions to reduce food waste, such as collecting expiring or expired produce from local grocery stores, sorting through what is still edible, and offering it at the food bank. But she said this practice can only go so far because there are only four grocery stores on the MRC’s territory where they can collect food waste.

“Regional food banks have better access to grocery stores like Costco, Walmart, Maxi, and they receive enormous quantities of food waste [ . . . ] The quantity of food waste we receive is much smaller compared to what is donated in the city, which means that a lot of the budget goes toward buying food, whereas some bigger food banks don’t need to spend as much.”

Bouffe Pontiac works with Shawville’s Cafe 349, which sometimes freezes unsold bowls of soup that the food bank collects and makes available for its users. Laroche said they are trying to do the same with other restaurants in the area.

“It’s about promoting awareness for them to do it, but what is difficult is that it takes more time than what they are used to doing right now. So if we can raise awareness about maybe keeping a bowl of soup every time there’s one left over, and that it can actually feed many people in the community, then maybe it’s a bit more advantageous for them to donate it.”

Laroche said transportation is another barrier to food security because people who use her food bank often don’t have the means to even get there.

“In other regions they have access to public transport, taxis, etc., but we don’t have any of that. So people have to use their own transportation, and a lot of the time they don’t have any because [ . . . ] they can’t afford to pay for the gas,” she said, adding that she would like to be able to offer transportation for everyone who needs it, but doesn’t have the money required to do that.

“For us, offering transportation for 800 families in the Pontiac, I don’t have the financing to do it adequately, it costs too much.”

New project on the horizon

Laroche said her organization has at times had trouble getting into schools to educate kids about the benefits of healthy eating.

“Accessibility to the school environment isn’t an issue everywhere, but for certain schools it’s not always easy,” she said. “And when we do get access it’s often at lunch hour, which is not a great moment to teach [the kids]. We have to have access to the kids, and if they are on lunch break we are not the priority of activities they choose.”

But she said her organization is hoping to start a new program this spring to make low-cost healthy snacks and meals available to kids at local schools, and are beginning a study in the next few weeks to gauge interest in the project.

“The idea is to distribute them to kids who don’t have a lunch, so it will be a study of how many are coming to school without a lunch or with an unhealthy lunch. It will be to study this, to see if we can provide meals for the entire school community, since we are talking about two school boards in the territory.”

K.C. Jordan, LJI Journalist

After decades of fighting to loosen provincial regulations preventing Quebec-slaughtered meat from being sold in another province, Outaouais bovine producers are making another effort, hoping recent interest in interprovincial trade will work in their favour.

A motion passed unanimously at the Producteurs bovines du Québec’s (PBQ) annual general meeting in Quebec City last month is calling on the Quebec farmers’ union (UPA) to form a new policy for interprovincial trade of beef.

The motion calls for the UPA to adopt a new policy regarding the free trade of agricultural products between provinces, and for that policy to be communicated to the federal and provincial governments.

The motion said there are barriers preventing the interprovincial trade of agriculture products, such a the lack of consistent inspection certifications between provinces and the severe shortage of federally licenced abattoirs that would allow producers to market across provincial boundaries. 

Blake Draper, a Quyon cow-calf producer who attended the meeting as the MRC des Collines representative, said he hopes the motion will improve the interprovincial traffic, allowing meat products slaughtered in Quebec to be sold in Ontario. Currently, those products must be sold in the same province in which they are slaughtered.

“Any meat killed in a provincial slaughterhouse, no matter if it’s pork, beef, lamb, chicken, you’re not supposed to sell it cross-border,” he said, adding that producers can go to a federally licensed slaughterhouse if they wish to sell across provincial borders, but the closest one is in Terrebonne, almost three hours away.

“A lot of the cases are that with these smaller abattoirs, the only inspection option that’s viable is provincial inspection rather than a federal plan, because of the high cost associated with federal plans,” said Stan Christensen, bovine representative for the UPA Outaouais-Laurentides, who presented the motion at the PBQ’s meeting.

Steve Hamilton, a Clarendon beef producer who was in Quebec City representing the MRC Pontiac, said bringing down interprovincial barriers would allow Pontiac farmers to be able to sell and market their meat in Renfrew County, and vice-versa.

“It would open up [the market]. Then those same farmers could [ . . . ] come over, and then they could actually take that meat home and be perfectly legal to market it,” he said.

Hamilton, who is on the co-op of producers working to bring back the Shawville abattoir, said the facility could also benefit from increased interprovincial traffic.

“There were Ontario producers coming over previously, but [ . . . ] coming from Ontario to Quebec and then taking your meat back to Ontario, it’s been provincially inspected, so under the present system that means that technically you aren’t able to sell,” he said.

Christensen said bovine producers in his regional branch of the UPA have been trying to make these changes happen for around 30 years, adding that motions had even made it to the union’s top brass before, but never actually resulted in legislation.

“We’ve always lobbied to have this free trade between provinces [ . . . ] it makes it very difficult to be viable without that movement, because people just all meet on the other side,” he said, adding that some producers just get their meat slaughtered in Ontario because it allows them to sell it there.

Draper said with the current political discourse around increasing interprovincial trade within Canada, they felt it was the right moment to bring it forward again.

“That’s why we brought it forward at this [meeting], was because both the provincial governments and the federal government are talking that we need more interprovincial trade. We felt this was a good time to present this motion and try to have it looked at and furthered.”

Christensen said he felt the moment was right for the Outaouais-Laurentides to come out with a statement in favour of interprovincial trade.

“Beef is usually singled out [ . . . ] as the leader in the selling of meat,” he said. “So it’s important that we take the lead in this, and that this was one way to put pressure on our farmers’ union. [ . . . ] We want a clear statement that we’re in favour of this, and we want to do everything possible to make it happen.”

He added he is confident this motion has the legs to reach the top level of the UPA.

“We had a bit of a movement, we thought it was going to happen with covid and restrictions, and there was a lot of interest in local products and everything, but that waned sort of quickly,” he said. “We’ve got a new impetus.”

Now that the motion has been passed by the PBQ, it will be voted on by the UPA’s executive council. Christensen is hoping the motion will be passed there, so that it may be presented to both federal and provincial governments and make it into legislation.

Draper and Hamilton were also present at the UPA’s Pontiac syndicate general assembly on Mar. 27 to present the motion to their local council. After some modifications to the wording, including the addition of yak producers to the list, the motion was passed and will now be presented at the Outaouais-Laurentides region’s next meeting.

This, Christensen said, will give the motion another chance at getting to the top level of the UPA.

“This is a two-pronged approach, so it’s going to be steered through the local syndicate to the regional federation, and again to the provincial one. We’re heading in both directions.”

K.C. Jordan, LJI Journalist

The Pontiac syndicate of the Union des producteurs agricoles (UPA) had a lively debate about increasing union dues before it could officially begin its 2025 annual general assembly on Mar. 27.

The meeting’s start was delayed by about 40 minutes while attendees voiced their concerns about union dues, which, according to Clarendon producer Ron Hodgins, this year resulted in less money being returned to the local syndicate.

“What I see happening, especially in the last three years, is the federation and the confederation are downloading a lot more expenses to us at this level, and yet we are only paid 7.23 per cent of the dues,” he said.

Hodgins said the local syndicate used to host more events for local producers, which aren’t always possible anymore due to lack of money.

“We used to have farm safety days at Ralph Lang’s, but we’re not doing that anymore. We’re not doing the things we used to do. It’s like we almost fell into a stagnant hole.”

Allumette Island hops producer Charles Allard also questioned the amount he pays annually to the union, adding he would like to see more union employees working for local farmers.

“How much of that percentage stays in the Pontiac?” he demanded of UPA Outaouais-Laurentides president Stéphane Alary, who was in attendance to address concerns.

“Our farm is spending over a thousand dollars a year in costs for the UPA, and I’m not seeing it,” he said in an interview after the meeting.

Alary said the money pays union employees that work in farmers’ interests at the provincial level, lobbying governments and working with various governmental departments.

“All the money you put in there is being managed as well as possible,” he said. “Twenty-eight million, it’s not much to fight for 40,000 people farming.”

Alary said he understands the concerns about increasing costs, adding that the UPA is always looking to increase efficiency, even if that means cutting jobs from the administration council. “We are trying to be [as] efficient as we can,” he said.

“I’m not saying you’re doing a bad job,” rebutted Allard. “You’re in the sausage factory, so you see how it’s made. We don’t know how the hot dogs are made [ . . . ] I don’t know why the farmers have to be starving all the time.”

“I think we’ve got an organization that is really transparent,” responded Alary. “It’s okay to ask questions. I think we have to work together.”

Claude Vallière, who was re-elected as president of the Pontiac syndicate at the meeting, said in a French interview after the meeting that he understands where Allard and Hodgins are coming from, but wants the attitude to remain positive.

“The UPA is an organization that is there to defend the interests of all producers, whether they are members or not. So of course the money is possibly not spent in each union as the people might want,” he said.

“That doesn’t mean the money that the producers or the region [give] doesn’t contribute to the region. It’s more like a collective contribution to defend the interests of the producers. So I think a lot of people don’t understand that aspect.”

When the discussion was finished, the conversation turned toward the election of the local syndicate’s representative for the 2025 year. Allard nominated himself to represent the western sector, but was not allowed to stand as a candidate because he was not a registered member of the union.

Members re-elect president, vice-presidents

Members voted on their executive board for the coming year, re-electing five of the six available positions.
Scott Judd was re-elected for the eastern sector, which spans the municipalities of Bristol, Portage du Fort and Shawville. David Gillespie was re-elected for the western sector, which includes Waltham and all municipalities west of it, while Andrew Graveline was re-elected for the centre-west sector, which spans five municipalities starting in Litchfield and ending in Mansfield.

The position of animal or vegetable producer administrator was filled once again by Ursina Studhalter, while Morgan Lance was re-elected to fill the proximity farm position. Shauna McKenna was elected for the first time as agricultural administrator.

Finally, members re-elected Mansfield producer Claude Vallière as president, as well as Justin O’Brien and Gema Villavicencio as vice-presidents.

Vallière, who is also on the board of the co-op working to get the Shawville abattoir back on its feet, said he was pleased to be re-elected, and said one of the union’s greatest successes this year was being able to make progress on re-opening the abattoir.

“It’s about being able to bring together producers and try to set up the abattoir and provide a service to the community,” he said, adding that they are still waiting on equipment to arrive as well as hire a general manager.

“To get technicians to come, to put it in motion, to find the parts, it takes a while before everything can be done,” he said, noting the co-op does not yet have an opening date.

He said the Quebec budget for agriculture, announced on Mar. 24, has decreased, which will affect the amount of money available in government programs for local producers in the coming year.

“We are asking for it to be increased, but I imagine with the current economic situation, with all the tariffs, they have decided to be careful,” he said.

Vallière said he is unsure exactly how the tariff situation, including China’s tariffs on grain, will affect local producers.