Incroyable mais vrai! Ce groupe Facebook créé il y a à peine cinq ans en mars 2016 atteindra probablement avant de fêter ce cinquième anniversaire le nombre imposant de 5000 membres!

Son fondateur et administrateur, Jean Cuillerier, demeure encore abasourdi par la popularité et le succès du groupe : tous les contributeurs et leurs contributions en photos, anecdotes, informations ont fait de ce groupe une véritable ‘communauté’ où tout le monde se reconnait, se retrouve après des années d’oubli, se reconnecte avec ses ancêtres locaux, ses amis d’enfance, les personnalités politiques, sportives, religieuses locales de l’époque. Quand on dit qu’ ‘une image vaut mille mots’, c’est là une réalité qui s’applique sans contredit à ce groupe : l’histoire locale ‘par l’image’ a captivé l’intérêt de la population est-ontarienne et même d’un peu partout d’après les commentaires qui souvent accompagnent certaines photos.

Jean Cuillerier est un ‘gars local’, né à Hawkesbury en 1965, un descendant de quatre générations de Cuillerier datant de 1885. Il avoue avoir toujours aimé l’histoire, mais surtout l’histoire ancienne ‘concrète’, celle qui a rapport avec sa famille, sa ville, sa région, les événements locaux. Il avoue être un ‘vrai mordu’ selon l’expression courante : la première chose qu’il fait le matin, c’est de vérifier ses nouvelles entrées et les contributions qui lui sont arrivées au cours de la nuit; certains jours, il peut consacrer jusqu’à une dizaine d’heures à ses tâches administratives!

‘La pandémie et ses conséquences aidant, les gens étaient confinés à la maison et avaient plus de temps libres à nous consacrer’, dit Jean. ‘Les gens fouillaient dans leurs albums-souvenirs, leurs trésors de famille…et nous ont fait parvenir des choses étonnantes, incroyables! Ce dont je suis le plus fier, c’est notre album du Chenail auquel j’ai pu ajouter une centaine de photos!’

Lorsque demandé s’il considérait ‘agrandir’ son territoire et inclure certains des villages voisins comme L’Orignal, Vankleek Hill et Chute-à-Blondeau, Jean nous confirme que l’entreprise est déjà en marche : ‘On inclut beaucoup d’items sur la rivière des Outaouais, les ponts et les barrages, par conséquent sur Chute-à-Blondeau, sur les services ferroviaires et leurs gares; mais pour l’instant, on se concentre sur Hawkesbury, il y a encore plein de découvertes à faire ici!’

Sans nécessairement être des ‘locaux’, qui sont nés, ont grandi, travaillé et vécu ici à Hawkesbury depuis des générations, plusieurs membres se sont joints au groupe pour s’initier à la petite histoire locale, à sa géographie, à sa société; et nul doute qu’ils sont émerveillés par ce qu’ils voient et apprennent!

Follow up from last week’s part 1 about a child born in 1914 and all the tragedies that he lived through his life.

1939-1945: WORLD WAR II: 60 million mortalities worldwide, among which six  million Jews in the Holocaust. (Now a 25 year old young adult, he may have volunteered to join the Allied forces; by good karma or by luck, he may have returned home alive and intact.)

1950: KOREAN WAR in which 26,000 Canadian military personnel served as United Nations Peacekeepers, 516 casualties. (Now a 36 year old adult)

1957-1958: ASIAN FLU, originated in China and spread swiftly around the world; it resulted in 1-2 million victims worldwide, some 7,000 in Canada; it marked the first time a vaccine was prepared to try and control the pandemic. (Now aged 43)

1964-1975: VIETNAM WAR in which Canadian Military served as Peacekeepers; the Canadian government parallel served as asylum and safe haven to 40,000+ Americans deserters or draft resisters. (Now aged 50)     

1968-1972: HONG-KONG FLU, originated in Asia, 1-4 million victims worldwide, an estimated 4,000 in Canada.  (Now aged 54)

SMALLPOX (or VARIOLA VIRUS): as recently as the 1950’s, estimated cases of 50 million per year; eradication was confirmed by World Health Organization in December 1979 after successful vaccination campaigns.

MEASLES: by 1962, 90% of people were infected by age 15; vaccination was introduced in 1963 and controlled the spread of the virus.

TUBERCULOSIS: one quarter of the world’s population has already been infected but only 5-10% of those latent infections will progress to become active; annually, eight million of the world population gets infected and two million die; in 2018, tuberculosis became the leading cause of death from an infectious disease, followed by malaria and HIV/AIDS. There is no vaccine, but a drug treatment.

1981-…:HIV-AIDS: first reported cases from Africa; 32 million victims worldwide and counting; in Canada, over 63,000 people living with HIV and 85%  are under treatment; no vaccine available yet. (Now aged 67)

1998: THE GREAT NORTH AMERICAN ICE STORM (Then 84): The North American Ice Storm of 1998 (also known as Great Ice Storm of 1998) was a massive combination of five smaller successive ice storms in January 1998 that struck a relatively narrow swath of land from eastern Ontario to southern Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada, and bordering areas from northern New York to central Maine in the United States. It caused massive damage to trees and electrical infrastructure all over the area, leading to widespread long-term power outages. Millions were left in the dark for periods varying from days to several weeks, and in some instances, months. It led to 34 fatalities, a shutdown of activities in large cities like Montreal and Ottawa, and an unprecedented effort in reconstruction of the power grid. The ice storm led to the largest deployment of Canadian military personnel since the Korean War, with over 16,000 Canadian Forces personnel deployed, 12,000 in Quebec and 4,000 in Ontario at the height of the crisis. ^{(Source: Wikipedia)}

Un autre ex-Hawks atteint le sommet : ne dit-on pas que devenir le ‘coach du CH’ c’est le rêve d’une vie, le top d’une carrière, ‘le boutte du boutte’? Le 24 février dernier, Dominique Ducharme a été nommé entraîneur-chef par intérim des Canadiens de Montréal, en remplacement de Claude Julien.

Dominique était entraîneur associé à Julien depuis l’an dernier et il faisait ses classes en attendant patiemment que son tour vienne d’être promu. Eh bien, son tour, il est venu plus rapidement que prévu, à la grande surprise de tout le monde impliqué dans le monde du hockey, joueurs, commentateurs, journalistes et simples fans.

Saviez-vous que Dominique, à l’instar de Robert Hartley, Martin St-Louis, Yvan Joly et quelques autres, a été membre des Hawks de Hawkesbury pendant une courte mais très fructueuse période de temps? Une seule saison en fait: en 1990-1991. Robert Hartley était instructeur-chef des Hawks depuis la saison 1988 et ceux-ci étaient en période de reconstruction depuis son arrivée. En 1990, ils ont repêché un jeune garçon de dix-sept ans de l’équipe midget AAA des Régents de Laval, Dominique Ducharme, un centre. La saison 1990-1991 allait devenir exceptionnelle, pour les Hawks d’abord: 42 victoires, 10 défaites, 4 parties nulles, tout en étant couronnés champions de la saison régulière et du tournoi éliminatoire de championnat.

Dominique de son côté, allait connaitre une vraie saison de rêve : 58 buts, 82 aides, 140 points au total, nommé le joueur le plus utile, le meilleur pointeur et la recrue de l’année au niveau de la ligue et le meilleur joueur de calibre Junior A au niveau de la zone Canada centrale. Tout un accomplissement pour un joueur recrue! Malheureusement pour les Hawks, mais heureusement pour lui, dès l’année suivante, Dominique obtint une bourse d’études de l’université du Vermont pour se joindre à leur équipe de hockey, les Catamounts, où il a joué quatre ans. Il a par la suite fait carrière dans des ligues professionnelles mineures au Canada, aux États-Unis et en France avant d’accrocher ses patins en 2003 et se diriger vers le coaching. ‘And the rest is history…’

MARCH 2020: Sad anniversary indeed: last year, at this time of the year, the government of Canada declared Coronavirus a national emergency and issued special measures to deal with the spread of the virus within our land. Today, I’ll invite you to join in a simple exercise that may help alleviate your frustrations of confinement, your depressed mood knowing that there are still ??? months to go and your legitimate questions about how life is going to be ‘after’. Maybe when you are done, you will have cheered up a little or agreed to tolerate the situation with another grain of salt. As an old French-language saying says: ‘Quand on se compare, on se console…’

The exercise will deal with your family history: no need to go back ten generations to your original Canadian ancestor, we will concentrate on the last five generations (or one hundred years): great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, yourself, your children.  Let’s roll time back to 1914; it can be taking place in any Canadian city, municipality, village, in any province or territory; imagine a child born that year, happy to join the world, healthy, the pride and joy of his newly-wed parents; happiness in the air, a great family life and a bright future ahead; in fact, with all the unending progresses made in medicine, this child will probably live to become a centenarian! Lucky him/her! Really? Unfortunately, soon after his birth, ‘things’ started to happen…

1914-1918: WORLD WAR I, in which 61,000 Canadians died, 22 million worldwide. (Only a few days old, this child may have never met his father, his uncles, his grandfathers who enrolled in the Canadian Forces and never came back home).

1918-1919: SPANISH FLU EPIDEMIC, infected one third of world population, killing 50 million people worldwide; it appeared during the First World War and was brought into Canada by returning troops; it made its way even in the most remote communities and some entire villages were wiped out; Labrador and Quebec were particularly hit hard. The epidemic not only brought death, but significant social and economic disruption as well; children were left parentless and many families found themselves without their main wage earner and fell into a deep state of poverty. In Canada, 30,000 to 50,000 casualties; in Ontario, 300,000 cases with 8700 recorded deaths (Now four years old, child may have lost his mother or a dear one to the Spanish flu and became orphaned; his father may have become unemployed and unable to deal with his parenthood, the child may have been placed in a boarding school to be educated by a religious order until his majority.) Events that would impact this young life would keep coming, and coming, relentlessly…

1927: TYPHOID FLU, 500,000+ deaths (Now 13 years old)

1929: WALL STREET FINANCIAL CRISIS AND GREAT DEPRESSION: resulted in bankruptcies, unemployment, welfare, poverty, suicide. (Now 15 years old)

1937-1970: POLIO:  Nicknamed ‘The 20^th Century Plague’, it spread sneakily from its first appearance in 1910 to its peak in 1937 when 4000+ cases were reported in Canada among which 2500 were in Ontario with 119 deaths reported; public health departments quarantined the sick, closed schools and restricted such locations as theatres, dance halls, etc.; the ‘iron lung’, an ancestor to modern respirators, was patented to facilitate breathing; a ‘miracle’ nasal spray was tested on 5000 Toronto children but was soon abandoned because it caused a permanent loss of the sense of smell. Canada reached another peak in 1953 with 9000 cases and 500 deaths. Only with the widespread use of the new Salk vaccine in 1955 and the Sabine vaccine in 1962 did the situation come under control. Canada was certified polio-free in 1994 only. (23 years old at the start of this pandemic, lucky to avoid being infected, although a few of his close friends might have been).

Chacun d’entre nous a sûrement déjà entendu ses parents ou ses grands-parents faire un commentaire qui ressemblait à…‘Heille! Ça a été construit solide, ça! C’est pas comme aujourd’hui où c’est construit tout croche avec des morceaux de bois tordus pis gros comme des cure-dents : dans l’temps, c’était des vrais 2×4…’  

Cette vérité s’applique tout à fait à l’édifice situé au 419 boulevard Cartier, l’ancien Centre Mémorial. Construit en 1958, sa première vocation fut d’abriter une patinoire intérieure, doublée d’une salle communautaire où se trouvaient également des allées de quilles au deuxième étage; le centre culturel Le Chenail y a aussi tenu son quartier général et ses activités pendant un certain temps; on retrouvait également une piscine extérieure municipale devant l’édifice. Lorsque l’équipe de hockey des Hawks de Hawkesbury s’est créée en 1974, ils y ont joué leurs parties jusqu’à l’ouverture du Complexe Sportif  Robert Hartley en 1979.

L’édifice s’est ensuite ‘recyclé’ une première fois : on lui a ‘scalpé’ son deuxième étage et construit une aile arrière qui a quelque temps abrité l’école élémentaire anglophone St. Jude; ces locaux sont présentement loués au Club d’Âge d’or 50. La partie principale de l’édifice a été occupée par les quartiers généraux de la Police municipale de Hawkesbury d’abord, puis ceux de la Police Provinciale de l’Ontario (PPO) jusqu’à leur récent déménagement dans un tout nouvel édifice sur la rue Cameron. La partie principale de l’édifice était vacante depuis, en attente d’une décision du conseil de ville de Hawkesbury.

Cette décision est venue le 1^er octobre 2020 alors qu’à de sa réunion ordinaire, le conseil municipal a adopté une résolution ‘permettant la location d’une partie des anciens locaux de la PPO à un organisme sans but lucratif (…) pour une durée initiale de sept ans, sans frais de loyer, mais avec partage des dépenses.’ En l’occurrence, cette résolution (R-237-20) s’appliquait à la Banque Alimentaire Centrale de Hawkesbury (BACH).  Ce bail de sept ans entrera en vigueur à compter du 1^er avril 2021 et sera renouvelé automatiquement pour des périodes successives de deux ans à moins d’avis contraire; la BACH pourra prendre possession des lieux le 1^er avril prochain et les accepte dans une condition ‘tels quels’.

Lors des discussions précédant l’adoption de cette résolution, les conseillers Paquette et Lefebvre ont reconnu l’importance d’un service de banque alimentaire dans la communauté de Hawkesbury, le qualifiant même d’essentiel. Monsieur Lefebvre, qui est également impliqué dans l’organisme à titre personnel,  a d’ailleurs présenté une demande de subvention à la Fondation Trillium de l’Ontario, fondation qui aide les organismes à but non lucratif des communautés ontariennes à se rétablir des suites de la Covid; advenant qu’elle soit approuvée, cette subvention servira à assumer les coûts de rénovation et de déménagement engendrés par l’organisme. François Petit, administrateur de la BACH, trépigne d’impatience à ce que ses volontaires et lui-même se mettent à la tâche le plus tôt possible, de façon à ce que la date d’ouverture prévue, le 1^er juillet, soit respectée.

Sans être une merveille architecturale et d’un grand esthétisme, ce bâtiment du 419 boulevard Cartier connaitra une troisième vie très utile et productive, grâce à l’initiative du conseil municipal qui a su reconnaitre sa valeur communautaire.

Coincidence, luck, karma? Whatever it was, it lead to a great scoop for this week’s column. I am a great sports fan and ever since starting this weekly column some six months ago, I was hoping to cover ‘live’ local organized sports events; but just as I thought the stars weren’t lining up for me, I was referred to a local young man who chose to make his ‘hockey’ dream come true.  Let me introduce Braeden Pearl, the son of Johnny and Lise Pearl from Cassburn Road, L’Orignal, ON.

Braeden has been playing hockey since he was 7, reluctantly at first he admits as his parents ‘kinda forced me to get at it’ (his words!);  but he eventually ended up loving it. ‘I played pretty much all the way from house league to AAA, then to prep hockey and junior level and finally NCAA.’ Braeden is now 26 and decided to tackle a new project while being faithful to his hockey roots, passion and ambition. It goes by the acronym of AHA, Advancement Hockey Advising.

‘As great as the game of hockey is, it is a very complex world, especially as you get towards major junior draft year… My parents and I learned of our mistakes along the way; and that’s pretty much why I started AHA: to help hockey players have the right information and to guide them through the process so that they get to the next level.’ Those are very noble objectives that Braeden and his partners have set; and to help them reach those goals, they have created a YouTube channel as a mean of reaching everyone that needs answers, information, tips so as to plan and achieve the best career decisions possible.

As to what specifically Braeden and his team do, he goes on to say: ‘Well, there are two sides to our services: the mentoring side and the marketing side; the mentoring is similar to coaching players and their family and ensuring they stay on the right track; the marketing includes promoting those players to prospective teams, to help reach the next level; in fact, we are ‘family advisors’. Braeden adds that other complementary services are also available such as on and off ice skill development, mindset coaching sessions, video editing to market players’ skills to prospective coaches and teams, SAT and ACT Test Prep and personal tutoring. In other words, a full range of services normally offered by a professional agent.

Essentially, the agency’s two main goals are to EDUCATE and to HELP young players develop effectively their hockey career. Should you be interested in learning more about AHA’s services and to virtually meet Braeden and his team, please consult the following medias. Best of luck with your enterprise Braeden and keep your hockey dream alive!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0zPb70UkjkLPfQWbRUjEDA

https://www.facebook.com/ahadvising

This ‘virtual interview’ with Braeden was based on a Facebook online presentation available on AHA’s site and through direct email contacts.

The geographical area comprising the city of Hawkesbury and municipalities of Champlain and East Hawkesbury experienced a busy real estate market through this pandemic. Serviced by three major national franchise brokerage firms and two family-type firms, employing over thirty brokers and sales representatives, the local market generated a lot of action and business this past year. In order to get a clear picture of the situation, we reached two brokerage firms and contacted four local real estate agents: EXIT MATRIX Tanya Myre and Iannick Champagne, and SÉGUIN REALTY Carole Séguin and Francis Roy for their assessment of the local market through this unusual 2020.

But first, before getting into local specifics, let’s see what the provincial picture looks like; according to the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA), sales were up 5.3% from the same period in 2019; but where the sting comes if you are in the process of buying a property is that prices have increased by 15.3% from the same period in 2019; the national average increase in Canada was in the same 15% range. Sales of all property types in the Eastern Ontario district in 2020 numbered over 24,000 units, an increase of 1.2% over 2019, at an average price of $481,678.

All four professionals we interviewed agreed: ‘A major upheaval of historical proportions’ is their consensus. A mob of unexpected buyers from large urban areas, especially from Southern Ontario, invaded the local markets, urban and rural, thus creating a higher demand for properties they were willing to and financially able to invest in, thus also bringing the prices above their ‘normal local’ value: properties sold much faster than usual, sometimes within 48 hours, often with multiple offers attached. ‘The ‘supply and demand’ rule applied in full force, commented Ms. Séguin and Mr. Roy; when our inventory of properties and our bank of potential buyers don’t even up, this unbalance creates a domino effect and properties become more expensive because more buyers have more funds to invest in securing the purchase of the exact home they want and can afford.’  Ms. Myre adds a personal touch: ‘I feel sorry for our local buyers, sometimes first-time buyers or couples with young families: they can’t compete financially or have to downgrade to a more affordable property…’  Mr. Champagne points out that the number of properties sold locally in 2020 is almost identical to 2019, standing at more or less 350, distributed almost evenly between urban, semi-urban and rural; since he owns an inter-provincial license for the province of Québec, he adds that the situation is the same across the border in the Argenteuil county and that cottage country in hot beyond expectations, especially the St. Sauveur area.

New prospective customers were mostly middle-aged and opted to take advantage of the Covid situation to downsize or to move out of red-zone large urban settings; and since the trend of working-remotely from home will probably carry on after Covid and may become a new norm, they would be able to avoid long commutes and costs attached; but one ‘essential’ they are all inquiring about is good-quality internet, which becomes as critical as road access when you are conducting business from home.

Our four professionals agreed that the business of conducting normal sales was impossible and not-recommended by OREA: normal house visits, open-houses, any other in-person activity were ill-advised and unacceptable by sellers who were trying to keep their confinement 100% secure.  Virtual tours became the norm, virtual interviews with customers, mortgage arrangements, conditional sales, delayed house inspections in some cases. New procedures to address the situation were quick to be established by different real estate boards and brokerage offices.

Two factors that may help first-time local buyers to purchase their first property were then discussed: mortgage rate as low as 0,99% and a new subdivision of mixed single-family and semi-detached homes in the village of Vankleek Hill. ‘Such rates are unbelievable! Last year’s rates were around 3%; it may make a great difference between affordability or not for people with a limited budget,’ says Ms. Séguin. ‘As far as the Vankleek Hill housing subdivision is concerned, I am convinced these properties will sell in a flash!’ adds Ms. Myre.

As for projections into 2021 and beyond, Mr. Champagne concluded that Hawkesbury developers should be required to market the land they own in order for the municipality to grow, to attract new industries, new employers, new residents; building lots are scarce, so the price of serviced building lots is at a premium. Within two years, provided vaccination is successful in controlling the pandemic, the real estate situation should become more stable. And you will finally get to meet your new neighbors from Toronto, from Windsor, from Oshawa, from…

Wherever you are from, we wish you a warm welcome among us; Montreal is only an hour drive away, so is Ottawa, so is Cornwall and the USA border, so are the Laurentians and Mont-Tremblant outdoor sports facilities and jet set crowds; we are in the very heart of it all and you won’t have any regrets. This is our warranty!

Driving around the Hawkesbury/Champlain/East Hawkesbury area on a sunny but cool Friday afternoon, my wife and I inventoried public skating rinks and took a few pictures : crowd on the premises, condition of the ice, adjoining facilities, Covid rules in place, …Here is a list of open public skating rinks in the area:

Champlain township: Mill Park, Vankleek Hill, L’Orignal Park, L’Orignal and Miner Park, Carillon Gardens district.                                                                                                City of Hawkesbury: Cadieux Park on Kitchener street,  Larocque Park on Abbott street, Old Mill Park was closed.                                                                                                   East Hawkesbury township: Samuel Reilly Park in St. Eugene is open but restricted to residents only; no indication of a public skating facility in Chute-à-Blondeau or in Ste. Anne-de-Prescott.                                                                                                                                                         Rules and restrictions: sometimes indicated in full view, sometimes available on municipal internet or FB site, sometimes no indication at all on premises;                                                 i.e. no hockey, maximum number of 10 on the ice, helmet recommended, social distancing recommended, face covering recommended, alcohol prohibited, chalet facilities not available, use at your own risks.

If you happen to be grandparents and your grandchildren happen to ask you ‘What it was like in the old times…’, feel free to use my experience as a reference if they won’t trust your memory or react with something like ‘It was that bad, really? Allow me to roll time back to the 1960’s-1970’s; this is not a rambling exercise, or reminiscing, or stepping back in prehistoric times, it’s COMMUNITY HISTORY 101!

‘In those days, community life was more active than it is nowadays; winter was a season everyone anticipated with thrill: rinks would go up in late fall in a frantic community bee; small communities/villages would normally have two rinks: the official community rink where league hockey and broomball games against neighbouring villages would be held and the school rink, normally managed by brothers and religious groups since schools were their territory then; we would be using heavy wide metal snow pushers and shovels to clean the ice and we used to think it was part of the fun to do so; once the rink cleared, we would put on our Jean Beliveau skates, grab our $3 wooden Victoriaville hockey stick, often only held together by a double wrapping of black tape, and our hockey puck and play hockey till we dropped, ears, fingertips and toes tingling from near frostbite; on Saturdays, girls would show up: we would bring our small handheld transistor radio, turn them on as loud as can be with entertaining music by the Monkees, and probably if we dared to, invite one of these girls to skate along, HOLDING HAND (probably first female holding hand with besides mother’s and sister’s…); some of those girls were pretty wild: they would steal a few Matinees from their mom’s cigarette pack and ask us to share the puffing (maybe also a first for some of us, addicted to Popeye’s or black licorice cigars…) We would go at it day after day after day, seven days a week, until spring’s first thaws. Watching our rinks go were very sad and depressing moments until…we could take our bikes out. And thus was the cycle of seasons when we were kids!’

OK, maybe your story was only able to put them to sleep and that’s fine! But you certainly had a great time reliving those precious moments of your life as a kid!

What’s The Future Of Outdoor Skating Rinks?

The typical outdoor rink is quite different in its nature from the indoor rink: it tends to be more of a social, less competitive and more relaxing environment, home and school being top one-and-two environments. In addition to obvious physical health benefits such as aerobic, cardiovascular and muscular fitness, it also promotes enhanced mental health benefits such as reducing stress and favoring social interaction and acceptance. It is also a place to make great memories, whether as a kid, a teenager, a parent or a grandparent; overall, community rinks improve a community’s quality of life, as family rinks improve family ties and create great memories and traditions within families and networks of close friends.

These last few years, the greatest enemy of outdoor rinks has been one we have no control over and can’t match: global warming. Snowfalls and thaws and rainfalls and freezes play yoyo with our projects and actual days of use of an outdoor rink have been steadily decreasing, thus the appearance of the market of those snowless rink systems. It is heartbreaking that outdoor ice rinks are threatened in Canada, and a cruel blow to our nation’s capital, home of the largest skating rink, the Rideau Canal. And I am sure it always is one of the saddest moments for outdoor rink fans to see their gathering spot melting away. But it is also the start of a new cycle of seasons and cycle of fun. And hopefully, a Covid-free cycle! Thanks to the cities, townships, villages and communities we live in for investing funds and policies that allow everyone to benefit of outdoor rinks; and a special bravo! to all the families and neighbourhood groups that perpetuate this tradition.

Me: What’s new in East Hawkesbury my friend?                                                         Him: Bah…same old, same old… Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention: St. Eugene’s old COOP building was demolished in late November… Is this a scoop you could use for your column?                                                                                                                                  Me: Well, thanks my friend for snooping around on my behalf! Next time I drive through town, I’ll take you for a cold one at Shooter’s resto-bar!                                                          Him: Ooops! Did I forget to mention that it had closed its doors last year? Why don’t you drop by my place instead, we’ll relax and reminisce of the good old days…or go for a walk and check out the demolition site…You can take a picture of the vacant spot to go with your article…but it’s all covered  in snow now…

                                                       *****                                                                                                          In this early new year, my original plan was to update you all on events worth of mention that had taken place in East Hawkesbury during 2020, either in one of its three villages: Chute-à-Blondeau, St. Eugene and Ste. Anne-de-Prescott or in its rural areas. Well, I was quite disappointed that neither my ‘live’ resident contacts nor my FB contacts nor the internet local news provider had anything significant to report; I guess that country folks are more immuned to bigger city temptations (shopping, restaurants, Dollaramas,…) than city folks themselves and respect confinement rules more diligently. I congratulate them for doing so: they keep themselves safe and they keep you and I safer too.

Although disappointed, I took the decision to carry on with the topic as to not disappoint you: certainly not by writing fake news and eye-catching titles such as ‘WASHED OUT BY HIS CREDITORS, KICKED OUT BY MELANIA AND EXILED FROM THE USofA, DONALD ENDS UP LIVING IN A MODEST WHITE CAMPING TRAILER AT VOYAGEUR PARK!’ or again ‘AIR FRANCE CONCORDE EMERGENCY LANDING AT ST. EUGENE EX-MILITARY AIRPORT: PILOT FOUND AT LOCAL BREWERY!’ I will leave such scoops to specialized publications. The REGIONAL is a respectable newspaper and I am a responsible columnist. So then, I decided to entertain you with surprising(?). unknown(?), secret(?) facts on the aforementioned three villages; I flipped my special three-faced coin to decide which would be first, then second, then third and here I go. But first, a few facts about the township itself.

THE TOWNSHIP OF EAST HAWKESBURY was incorporated on January 1^st 1850; by land and water, heading east, west, north or south, it is a gateway, a natural transit to Ontario and to Canada. Agriculture constitutes its main commercial activity as many centennial stone residences and typical farm buildings can be seen everywhere, on main roads, rural roads and dirt roads. As of 2020 municipal data, population stands at approximately 3,415 with a median age of the population at almost 50.

CHUTE-À-BLONDEAU: A VILLAGE BUILT ON LEGENDS!                                                       This village is the farthest eastern community of the province of Ontario; the village itself and rural vicinity’s population is approximately 1100.

One rumor, somewhat historical, is that the name dates back to 1875 where documents mention the presence of a waterfall, which, obviously, has today become an ‘underwater waterfall’ (does that make sense?) since the rising of water level on the Ottawa river as a result of the building of Carillon dam. Legend claims that a farmer named Blondeau who lived a simple life off his land and the river with his wife on a piece of property nearby, set off on the river on his canoe; after a few hours of poor fishing, he decided to get closer to the rapids in hope of better luck, but got caught in strong currents and raging rapids; sensing danger, his wife came to the shore looking for him and witnessed his canoe tipping over  and her husband knocked unconscious when he hit a rock; she desperately swam to his rescue, reached him, clutched to his body, but didn’t have the energy to swim back to shore; sadly, they both drowned. Legend also adds that their bodies were found at the exact location where excavation was performed for the building of Carillon dam. The village was supposedly named after the two lovers and their tragedy.

If any of your ancestors were in the vicinity of Chute-à-Blondeau in the spring of 1660, they may have witnessed from across the river the famous battle of Long-Sault (today Carillon, QC) where a French-Canadian hero named Dollard des Ormeaux and his fellowmen died at the hands of Iroquois. Or was it really across the river? It seems that the Carillon location was just picked at random because it fit some confirmed facts: the Ottawa river, the presence of rapids and of a bay; but no evidence was ever found to confirm unequivocally the exact location. However, legend says that this battle actually took place on the south side of the river on a piece of land that was the Ross farm in Chute-à-Blondeau; it is said that historical and archeological evidence places Dollard’s fort in this location…

The village’s Catholic church, St. Joachim, dates from 1892 and is the repository of a very unique statue of St. Michael the Archangel, a rare specimen still intact, sculpted out of wood by famed sculptor Louis Jobin. Three historical buildings are also worth mentioning: the old church rectory (circa 1898), the Wyman house (circa 1804) and most of all, the MacDonell-Williamson House (circa 1817). Contrary to a common misconception,  the MacDonell-Williamson House is not located in Pointe-Fortune, QC: its civic address is Chute-à-Blondeau, ON; the actual boundary marker defining Upper Canada and Lower Canada is one the property itself; it was built by a fur trader named John MacDonell for his Métis wife and their twelve children; it also served as a general store and as a stopover for steamboats traveling on the Ottawa River from Lachine, QC to Ottawa, ON; it was acquired in 1978 by the Ontario Heritage Foundation and is still going through extensive architectural and archeological investigations.

STE. ANNE-DE-PRESCOTT AND ITS DEVOTION TO STE. ANNE.                                                                                Ste. Anne is the smallest of the three villages; it owes its existence to the French Catholic Church and its settlers; population stands at about 500.  Its heritage stone church, standing tall on a hillside in the centre of the village, is a true gem with its original artwork by Quebec artist T. X. Renaud and is a landmark and local pride; its Casavant organ has been used every Sunday since 1897 and is one of the few in working order in Eastern Ontario; it has been recognized by the Historical Society of USA as opus #85 on only 362.  A professional-quality illustrated book on the church was published in 2004: ‘Une église, un monument, une merveille’ and is available for 20$; funds generated are applied to the restoration account.

A very special annual event takes place every July on the Sunday preceding the 26: an annual pilgrimage and procession dedicated to Ste. Anne, Jesus’ grandmother; this event is co-celebrated by the Jelsi Italian community from Montreal, whose patron saint is also Ste. Anne; this intimate celebration, which has taken place locally for the last eighteen years, is not as publicized as the main celebration at Ste. Anne-de-Beaupré’s basilica near Quebec city; it is a tradition that dates from 1805, when the village of Jelsi in Italy was miraculously saved from a major earthquake that levelled all other villages in the vicinity; it all happened on a 26 of July. This happens to be a true-verified fact and not a legend.

ST.EUGENE: A WORLD WAR II CONTRIBUTOR

The village is located a few kilometres north of Ste. Anne and holds a population of about 1100; the village/parish was established in 1855. The existing church was completed in 1867. It too possesses an authentic Casavant organ (opus 38) dating back to 1893; its renowned Way of the Cross made of fourteen haut-relief sculptures dates back to 1907.

During World War II, from 1940 to 1945, the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) built and operated a Flying Training School for Fleet Finch and Fairchild Cornell aircrafts: the airfield was located roughly one kilometre south of the village on the south road to Ste. Anne; the airfield was later used for motorsports in the 1950s but has since been abandoned and only faint outlines of overgrown runways are visible.

The village is the starting point of the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail, where hikers, cyclists, ATV riders and  snowmobilers can hit the 72 kilometre trail west to reach Larose forest. East of the village is the Stokidakis goat farm; in 1975, Peter Stokidakis purchased the farm in pursuit of his dream to create and distribute his own version of Greek feta cheese; his original herd only comprised twenty goats, but his endeavour was promised to greater days: he introduced his cheese and yogurts to restaurants in the Montreal markets and the demand skyrocketed; his herd now holds  3000+ goats on 1500 acres of land with a 100,000 square feet production facility. The Canadian dream came true for the Stokidakis family in St. Eugene, Ontario!

I hope our virtual tour of this often undiscovered and intriguing township was enjoyable and that it may generate your interest and discovery in your post-Covid explorations. Enjoy touring!