Deborah Powell

Forestry use consultation agents hold public training session

Deborah Powell & Lily Ryan

Local Journalism Initiative

OUTAOUAIS – Members of the public had the opportunity to be walked through the Quebec public land forestry consultation process currently underway for operational development plans in an online session, November 7.

The presentation team included Charles Blais, coordinator for TRGIRTO (Outaouais regional table for the integrated management of resources and public land), Alexandra Belanger, regional Ministry of Natural Resources (MRNF) consultation coordinator and Marcelle Falardeau, MRNF forestry engineer.

The consultation, open until November 24, involves potential zones for non-commercial forest operations. Falardeau explained this doesn’t involve harvesting, but rather activities like land preparation, reforestation and thinning.

Blais explained how to access the consultations on the Quebec government’s website, explaining usage of the maps, and pointing out how to find sites currently under consultation, which appear in orange.

Alexandra Belanger described the public consultation process, explaining how to lodge queries related to specific sites.

New in this year’s consultative process is a system of note-taking that includes former briefs and comments for sites under consultation again this year. For each comment submitted, and therefore retained for the future, a reference number is issued. Email addresses or telephone numbers are requested so forestry use officials can follow-up with the public about their concerns.

Those interested in participating in the consultation can contact ministry specialists at (819) 246-4827, ext. 701449 or at consultationpafi-outaouais@gouv.qc.ca.

Photo – Areas targeted by the current consultation. (MRNF)

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CISSSO CEO visits the Pontiac

Deborah Powell
Local Journalism Initiative

SHAWVILLE – Dr. Marc Bilodeau, president and CEO of the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO), spoke to the press at the Pontiac Community Hospital (PCH), September 30.

“I’m here to visit the Pontiac region, a second tour … trying to connect with my teams and local partners, trying to see how I can learn more about the reality of the region and hopefully do better from a health perspective in partnership with all the key partners here,” explained Bilodeau.

Asked to comment on the $70 million deficit CISSSO projects for this year, Bilodeau noted an ageing population and increased demand for long-term care beds. A big portion of the projected deficit come from providing more home care to ease that situation, he explained. “This is forcing us to look at the efficiency of all services we’re providing and that’s the exercise we’re doing now with our team”. Other factors contributing to the deficit are increased costs of goods and services, the agency’s reliance on private staffing agencies and overtime costs.

When asked about the Pontiac’s situation in particular, Bilodeau mentioned the region’s low socio-economic status, which makes the population more vulnerable from a health perspective. He said he and his team are meeting with economic and educational partners along with other related community organizations to improve the social determinants of health. “If we don’t feed people, if they’re not paid enough and have no place to live, they’re not going to be healthy,” he said.

While Bilodeau was unwilling to project any dates for the re-establishment of obstetrics at the PCH, he said it’s an ultimate goal and there are good midwife services locally to help things along in the meantime.

Bilodeau was also asked about the committee, including the minister of health and the treasury board, that is looking at human resource challenges province-wide. The phasing out of agency personnel is one of the big challenges. “We need to figure out ways to bring these people back into the system,” he said, to lower costs and improve continuity of care. Bilodeau also mentioned it’s an added challenge to recruit certain types of personnel, like physiotherapists, when there are no local training programs. “I’m confident we’re going to figure out a real solution for the long run,” he said.

Bilodeau became president and CEO of CISSSO in January 2024. He comes from a long career in military healthcare, most recently serving as Surgeon General and Head of Health Services for the Canadian Armed Forces since 2020.

Photo – CISSSO President and CEO, Dr. Marc Bilodeau, visited the Pontiac Community Hospital and met with the press, Sept. 30. (DP)

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Keeping in shape together in Bristol

DEBORAH POWELL

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

BRISTOL – Bristol’s seniors have three weekly opportunities to work together on staying fit and healthy at the Jack Graham Community Centre, with a good number taking advantage.

Free bi-weekly exercise classes run Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 to 10 am. This program has been running for “easily 15 years”, according to Dorothy Cowley, who takes turns with Valerie Henderson leading the class over the last few years on a volunteer basis. “It’s through Val’s leadership that we have this program that leaves us all wiped at the end,” Cowley laughed.

Henderson originally received volunteer certification training through the VieActive program that promotes gentle exercise for those 50+. “But here we do our own thing, which includes cardio, weights and bands,” she said. Participants are reminded to respect their own limitations and not to overdo it, making the class a comfortable place for a wide range of abilities. No registration is required.

“I like to exercise and be with other people. It’s good incentive,” explained Cowley when asked why she leads the classes. Henderson’s motivation is similar: “I do it for my own well-being and everybody else’s,” she said.

Free yoga classes started September 11 and will run for 16 weeks. Instructor Peggy Hodgins-Macgregor offers gentle yoga for beginners and seniors or chair yoga for those with balance or mobility concerns. Registration was first opened to Bristol residents and then to others.

The municipality provides use of the hall for the activities and applied to the federal New Horizons for Seniors Program that provided funding for the yoga classes as well as additional equipment for the bi-weekly exercise program.  

Photo – Dorothy Cowley (left) and Val Henderson lead free exercise classes for seniors in Bristol. (DP)

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Shawville and Wakefield medical imaging technicians excluded from deal

DEBORAH POWELL

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

SHAWVILLE – The anger, incomprehension and frustration of local citizens groups and elected officials was clearly expressed in two press conferences held June 13 and 14 at the Pontiac Community Hospital following a government announcement excluding medical imaging technicians here and at the Wakefield Hospital from receiving a bonus aimed at keeping technicians at their current institutions. The situation is indeed dire, as the loss of imaging capacity would result in the closure of operating rooms and could even force the closure of the hospital itself.

In May, the Quebec government came to an agreement with the Professional and Technical Health and Social Services Staff Alliance (APTS), offering a $22,000 per year bonus to medical imaging technicians at the Hull and Gatineau Hospitals in an effort to stem the exodus to Ontario where payrates are higher. The agreement is for two years and technicians had to commit to work an additional two and a half hours per week to qualify. In addition, they will receive a 10% salary increase for the summer months when maintaining adequate staff levels is challenging due to vacations.

Following this announcement, a number of technicians at the hospitals in Buckingham and Maniwaki made clear their intentions to apply for the job vacancies in the city hospitals, where technicians had already announced their departure for Ontario. In an effort to counter the exodus from the outlying hospitals, the government announced on Wednesday, June 12, that the bonuses would be extended to medical imaging technicians in Buckingham and Maniwaki but not to those in Wakefield and Shawville.

“It appears that the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) has understood nothing at all,” said Liberal MNA, André Fortin during a press conference held Thursday at the Shawville Hospital.

“They are fixing last month’s mistake by making the same one again. For the technicians in Wakefield and Shawville, it is disrespectful; for the health care of the population, it is irresponsible; and, in sum, the decision is incomprehensible,” he concluded.

Jane Toller, also present Thursday, along with several Pontiac mayors, expressed her shock at the exclusion of Pontiac and Wakefield from the bonus agreement. “It’s true that we have loyal workers in Shawville, but they expect to be paid the same as those in Hull and Gatineau,” she said, adding that there is competition for medical personnel with at least three Ontario hospitals – Pembroke, Renfrew and Ottawa.

At another press conference held Friday outside the Shawville Hospital, Pontiac Voice spokesperson Josey Bouchard expressed her frustration: “The decision must be reversed so that technicians anywhere in the Outaouais have access to this bonus. That is non-negotiable. It doesn’t make sense (to do otherwise).” Pontiac Voice has been speaking out since 2016 on the need for better health services in the area.

Jean Pigeon, from the new SOS Outaouais coalition advocating for health and social services, echoed the exasperation of all those concerned and went a step further saying: “A bonus isn’t enough. We need to have salaries competitive with those of Ontario. Without that, we’re just putting off the problem for a couple of years.”

Sophie Pieschke, an imaging technician currently on maternity leave, was also present at the event with her baby. “I find this (decision) unfair and disgusting. It doesn’t make sense… We, as technicians, feel that the government is not giving us any recognition for our work with the population,” she told Radio Canada. Pieschke admitted she would have to think carefully about whether she would return to work in Quebec if the situation does not improve.

Photo – MNA André Fortin and Pontiac Warden Jane Toller expressed their frustration with the provincial government’s failure to include Shawville and Wakefield medical imaging technicians in a retainment deal. (BJ)  

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Working together the length of the Ottawa River

DEBORAH POWELL

LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

OTTAWA RIVER – The Ottawa River Concertation Table (TCO) held a water stakeholders’ assembly online, May 28, bringing together close to 30 participants. The targeted zone associated with the TCO’s work begins upstream of the Première-Chute dam in Notre- Dame-du-Nord, Témiscamingue, and ends downstream of the Carillon dam in Saint-André-d’Argenteuil. The zone includes the waterway and a 1,500 m strip of land adjacent to the river on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River.

TCO’s mission is to “promote discussion and consultation between stakeholders to attain concerted objectives related to issues concerning the Ottawa River”, with the vision to “place the Ottawa River back at the heart of the decisions and concerns of stakeholders who have an influence on its integrity”.

The TCO is currently working on creating an integrated management plan for the Ottawa River. Prioritized issues are: floods, impairment of water quality, degradation of wetlands, degradation of wildlife and plant habitats.

Janie Larivière, TCO coordinator, summarized the specific objectives identified for each issue, explaining that work is underway with the Minister of Environment to establish measurable indicators for each objective. The action plan is scheduled to be ready in December 2024. Between July and October 2024, the TCO will take a draft of the plan on a regional tour of stakeholders for further consultation.

Four short presentations were part of the meeting. Larissa Holman, Ottawa Riverkeeper’s director of science and policy, provided a rundown of the new Watershed Report Card the organization recently released that gave a “C” for the health of the river. Holman emphasized the inter-relationship of indicators used to determine the result, but bottom line, human-driven changes are degrading the Ottawa River.

Jacob Demers, L’Isle-aux- Allumettes native and conservation programs specialist at Ducks Unlimited Canada, described conservation and protection measures taken in the area of the Grand Marais on Calumet Island through land purchases and private conservation. He underlined the importance of the Outaouais as home to some of the greatest biodiversity in the province. The Grand Marais has great ecological value, particularly because of its strategic location on the periphery of the Ottawa River, a high-priority area for the conservation of waterfowl and their habitats.

Jean-François Houle, conservation and education manager, Parc national de Plaisance, provided an overview of actions taken in response to challenges facing the park such as blue-green algae, invasive species and loss of tree cover due to ash die-off. He emphasized the relationship between the park’s health and what’s happening in surrounding areas, noting they have great collaboration with municipalities on that front. Maintaining forested corridors leading to other protected areas is also a concern. From the MRC d’Argenteuil, Josée Lapointe and Geneviève Grenier spoke about the Argenteuil Digital History Trail that invites users to discover the history of the area between Grenville and Carillon on the Ottawa River that was once a 21 km long series of rapids called Quenechouan (big rapids) by the Algonquin people. Renamed Long- Sault by the French, the rapids were swallowed up by tons of water in 1962 with the flooding of more than 825 hectares of land when the Carillon power station was built. The project offers a digital journey of the Long- Sault corridor from pre-contact times to today, using texts, maps, and photos.

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Pontiac represented at Rencontres du Patrimoine 2024

Deborah PowellLocal Journalism Initiative

 GATINEAU – The fifth Rencontres du Patrimoine took place at the Université du Québec en Outaouais in Gatineau, April 6. Two of the dozen presentations given were about the Pontiac.

The Archéo-Pontiac project was presented by Ingrid Khol, daughter of historian Maude-Emmanuelle Lambert, who was also on stage along with teacher Audrey Lapointe.

“Les Rencontres seemed like a great opportunity to introduce this Pontiac project to the wider Outaouais heritage community, and to invite them to come and wield the trowel with us next autumn. What’s special about this project is it was developed by volunteers and brought together people of all ages who lived and shared a very concrete experience with the history of our region. Ingrid’s testimony made this clear. She spoke of the pleasure of searching for these traces and of the discussions between participants at the digs. The presentation also touched on the history of the Chats trading post and shared preliminary findings from the public digs,” explained Lambert.

Later, John McDonnell from Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association accompanied by Wally Schaber of the Friends of the Dumoine, spoke about the preservation and interpretation of the forestry history along the Dumoine River.

“We spent 5 years preparing the Dumoine Tote Road Trail for the public, and now that it’s open, we fear ‘we’re throwing a party and no one will come’. Talks like this to explain our vision are essential to getting the public to share our excitement and lend us their support,” explained Schaber. A wealth of information on the history of the river, going back more than a thousand years, can be found at www.sentierdumoine.ca

In the afternoon, at the open mic session, Mike Lamothe from L’Île-du-Grand-Calumet spoke about his project to reintroduce the Early Rose variety of heritage potato to the Pontiac. The variety is mentioned in the popular song “The Chapeau Boys” written in the 1880s, in the line “and good early roses full six inches long”. Another Pontiac resident, Sebastien Beaudoin, also used the open mic session to talk about First Nation history in the region.

The Rencontres du patrimoine is a biennial, bilingual event organized by the Société Pièce sur pièce that brings together lovers of regional history, provides a forum for research and projects, motivates those interested in looking into local history and fosters networking between participants. This year’s edition received financial support from the City of Gatineau as well as the government of Québec.

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Bristol Council: swim docks planned; support for EFW rescinded

DEBORAH POWELL – LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

BRISTOL – Council’s monthly meeting was held April 2 at the town hall.

Swim docks

Bristol Municipal Council agreed to pay close to $25,000 to purchase new swim docks. Due to the closure of the Norway Bay pier for safety reasons, the Norway Bay Municipal Association (NBMA) would not be able to set up their swim docks alongside the pier as they normally would. The NBMA worked closely with Bristol staff and council to determine how to continue to facilitate deeper-water swimming program activities and plan for community use in time for the summer season. The plan is to purchase a supported linked dock system from Fendocks and connect it to the road portion of the pier. NBMA president Pat Byrne was at the council meeting to explain the proposed dock configuration and express the NBMA’s gratitude to the municipality for their cooperation and financial support.

EFW update

Mayor Brent Orr announced the townhall meeting regarding the Energy from Waste (EFW) project to be held in Shawville, April 3, and mentioned that some municipalities had rescinded their support of the project. Bristol council agreed to do the same in light of information that has come out over the past year since the project first received municipal support.

Councillor Archie Greer, a member of the MRC Waste Management Committee, who proposed the motion of support last year, agreed to rescinding support saying that they’d “looked at one side only” at the time.

Earlier in the meeting, Bristol resident Remo Pasteris presented council with a motion opposing the EFW project using the same wording as the Friends of Pontiac petition that has been circulating both on and offline. Mayor Orr said that council would consider the motion and put it on next month’s agenda.

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