Fashionable celebration at CJAM

“Sixty people who live and work in Dundas County gathered at the Christian Reformed Church in Williamsburg on November 18, 2011, to map out some strategies and concrete steps to make our communities more resilient in the face of increasing poverty, and to create a sustainable future for all of us in Dundas County.”

This is the first paragraph in a report made by representatives of the House of Lazarus Community Outreach Mission Linking Hands Project, initiators of the forum.

As a result of the forum, six working groups were set up, each with a coordinator and a first meeting date.

On March 20th, the working group for “Access to Basic Health Care Needs,” coordinated by Lynn Richards, met in Winchester. 

Invited speaker, Muriel Milne, secretary for the United Senior Citizens of Ontario, talked about the advocacy work her organization is involved in, specifically on access to basic health care.

Going forward, this working group plans to show the film “Poor No More.” In addition, they intend to continue gathering information on where Dundas County might have gaps in terms of access to basic health care needs.

On March 22nd, the working group for “Community Connectivity,” coordinated by Cathy Ashby, took place in Morrisburg.

They discussed business from their last meeting, refined their Terms of Reference, and made plans going forward.

Discussion revolved around information databases in terms of what’s out there now and what still needs to be done. The group discussed creating a new ‘database’ versus working with what is currently out there.

The group was keen to promote “211”. According to their website at www.211ontario.ca, “211 is a three-digit phone number and website that provides information and referral to community and social services in Ontario.”

 Going forward, the group hopes to work with the two municipalities, North and South Dundas, to link both “211” and the Linking Hands website to the township websites. 

In addition, they’re hoping to have the online community calendar for each township website refined and updated with information for residents.

A follow-up meeting was set for mid-May following the Homelessness Maze event in Iroquois on May 9th.

The “Strategies for Increasing Participation in Physical Activities” working group, coordinated by Lynn Richards met for a second time on March 27th in Williamsburg where they heard from the developers of the South Dundas Charter for Active Living, Stephanie Caissie of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit and Ben Macpherson, Recreation Program Coordinator for South Dundas.

The “Access to Transportation” working group, coordinated by Nanda Wubs, met initially on February 24th where they welcomed Robert Dupuis and Harry Gow, both of whom had experience creating and running non-profit transportation services for rural communities.

Following the meeting, Wubs said the group’s next step is to “continue investigating other models of transportation networks, send out a survey to agencies to determine current transportation ‘stock’ and to the community to do a transportation needs assessment.” 

The two remaining working groups will meet in May. 

The “Access to Safe, Nutritious, Primarily Local Food” group, coordinated by Dana Kittle, will hold their meeting on May 11th at the South Nation Conservation Authority in Finch. 

The “Economic and Entrepreneurial Development and Training” group, coordinated by Ed DiZazza, will also meet in May, but at the South Mountain Library Resource Centre. 

The group is currently working on a website for the project. The address is www.linkinghandsdundas.ca. 

[…]

 

As soon as the South Branch Wind Opposition Group asked South Dundas council to consider a motion to oppose the construction of industrial wind turbines in this community, they requested that the decision be delayed.

First, Leslie Disheau, president of the SBWOG, read the motion they drafted for council to address pass as a resolution with a recorded vote.

Then she said, “BUT – I would like to ask that council hold off on dealing with this resolution until your next regular scheduled council meeting.”

She invited them, with appropriate municipal staff, to meet with representatives of the SBWOG to discuss the suggested resolution.

The group wants the opportunity to discuss specific areas of concern and share information to help council be more informed. 

They will get the chance.

Council agreed to the deferral and have scheduled a meeting with the group for next week. South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan will not be part of that meeting as he has declared conflict of interest in the matter.

At the council meeting, Disheau spoke about four myths regarding the South Branch wind project.

According to Disheau, municipal council’s hands are not tied, a lot of money has not been spent on this project by anyone other than the wind developers, the South Branch wind project is not a done deal as it is still under technical review, and she disputes the fact that this project will have no negative impact on the community, pointing to the marked decrease in property values. 

“As a council, you should take notice and have concern over the reduction in property taxes, as this is a direct effect on your revenue income,” said Disheau.

Disheau informed council about a public safety matter regarding the turbines. 

The Ashfied turbine fire resulted in a debris field that extended 1,800 from the turbine base. “If turbine 15, which is located between the villages of Brinston and Dixon’s Corners caught fire and had a debris field of 1,800 m like that in Ashfied, we have two villages getting bombarded by flying debris,” said Disheau. 

[…]

 

It’s a big month of ‘firsts’ for the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage. This will be one of the first times in their seven year history that they are presenting two shows only a week apart. 

“We’ve been taking our vitamins and getting ready,” board president Sandra Whitworth said with a small laugh. “We had already booked the fabulous Terra Hazelton for November, and then we had the opportunity to bring in Evalyn Parry’s SPIN on November 24th.”

 “This is a show we’d been keeping our eye on for a while, we were so excited to learn we might be able to bring SPIN to Morrisburg,  we decided to go for it.” 

The board members of the Acoustic Stage had been keeping their eye on SPIN because it is such an innovative show:  part musical performance, part spoken word, part documentary. The reviews describe it as “brilliant” and “a breath of fresh air.”

SPIN uses the bicycle as a metaphor for social change, but also as an actual musical instrument – the bicycle (along with percussionist Brad Hart) is Evalyn Parry’s co-star. 

In an interview Parry notes that this is one of the attractions of the show. 

“We’ve played the show in big fancy theatres and also in small community halls – it’s versatile that way, and seems to work in both intimate and larger settings.   Part of the unique thing about the show is the musical bicycle – and that always seems to go over really well wherever we play – Brad Hart is a talented drummer, and creates an amazing accompaniment with the bike.”

A musical bicycle? As Whitworth points out, that will be another first. “We’ve had a lot of musical instruments played at the Stage, but never a bicycle.” 

Describing her motivations in creating SPIN, Parry says that it brought together not only themes she wanted to explore, but also different parts of her creative life. 

“I had spent my artistic career with one foot in music and spoken word, and the other in theatre, and I felt I wanted to create a show that would bring my two worlds together into one show.”

“I am an avid cyclist, and thought it would be fun to create something about my passion for my bicycle.  Also, I’m a bit obsessed with advertising and the way things get “spun” – so I thought the theme of “spin” could encompass both the bicycling and the advertising, and maybe result in something interesting.   And finally, I had also heard somewhere that there was a connection between the bicycle and the early women’s emancipation movement in the 19th century, and I wanted to research that.   So I dove into the research – and discovered all these unexpected and amazing historical characters and information which connected all my chosen themes.”

SPIN has recently completed an eight-show run in Kingston, most of which were sold out. Some of Parry’s favourite venues are in smaller communities. 

“I love performing in small communities, where people seem to especially appreciate things that are different.   SPIN is a pretty ‘outside the box’ show, even in a big city context, but the show seems to be enjoying a pretty broad appeal. The themes and stories about the history of women and cycling, and consumerism, and advertising, and ‘freedom’ within the show are certainly not only relevant to city-dwellers – they are pretty universal. “

Whitworth commented that the show is drawing a lot of attention. 

 “I do hope the local crowd gets their tickets and has a chance to see this.  I can’t tell yet whether we will be sold out, but there’s been more interest than usual with a lot of online sales from Ottawa, and that’s wonderful of course. But we brought this to Morrisburg to make sure our community has a chance to see it.” 

 Make sure to get to the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage in the OETIO/Morrisburg Meeting Centre  to see this fabulous show. Tickets are $18 in advance at Basket Case or online www.st-lawrencestage.com. The door price is $20, show time is 7 p..m on Saturday November 24th!

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