The voice of the Pontiac since 1883 Wednesday, May 4, 2016 1 dollarwww.theequity.ca Volume 133, Issue No. 17

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ALINA SÉGUINLUSKVILLE April 29, 2016

The Municipality of Pontiac host-ed a public consultation meeting toupdate the public on the progressof the Domain des Chutes housingproject.

The project has been ongoing forthree years and has been faced withmany roadblocks along the way.

“We are finally at the point wherethe municipality has approved thesubdivision,” said Pontiac Directorof urban planning Jalloul Salah.“At the last council meeting thedeveloper was granted permissionto build 20 homes.”

The 20 homes will be part ofphase one of the three phase pro-ject and will be on lots at the fur-thest point from Gatineau Park.

“We wanted to go with the first

phase to make sure everything isokay before we get closer to thepark because we want to protectthe park,” said Salah. “After everyproject we will learn something andwe might want to make somechanges.”

The developer will be selling lotsto individuals who will then bebuilding a custom home using abuilder of their choosing. Althoughthe developer has been granted per-mission to sell the 20 lots there isstill some time before any buildingwill begin.

“There are still conditions to bemet such as paying a contributionfor the park … and we wait until allthose conditions are met before weare able to start issuing permits,”Salah explained. “I don’t expectbuilding to start this year at all.”

While the conditions are beingmet Salah is busy working with themunicipality to change zoning andconstruction bylaws that willimpact what type of building isallowed on the lots.

“We believe we need to do this ifwe want to protect the site from anybusinesses we don’t have controlover,” said Salah.”We need to getthis up as soon as possible so thisproject will have accurate regula-tions.”

The proposed changes includechanges to the zoning. The proper-ty is currently listed as zone 18which allows any residences orbusinesses to be built on the land.

“We are trying to make it a zone56 which will just have residential,”said Salah.

Salah also presented the draft ofthe Planning and ArchitecturalIntegration Program (PIIA). The PIIAis a document of objectives that anylot owner and builder will be askedto respect when building theirhome. The objectives are centredaround environmental concious-ness, respect for the park and anoverall image for the neighbour-hood.

“We have some criteria to observeso that if our objectives are notreached then we can go back to theperson to change it,” said Salah.

The PIIA works in conjuntionwith the zoning and constructionbylaws to ensure that any buildingrequest brought in front of theorganic planning committee for per-mit approval will have standards tobe met that are specific to the needsof the area.

Salah hopes the PIIA and bylawmodifications will be approved bycouncil within the next couple ofmonths and encourages membersof the public to reach out to himwith any suggestions they have forthe area.

“With all the modifications wewill implement, we are confidentthat we will go ahead today,” saidSalah.

“The changes to the bylaws willensure the park is respected,” headded. “We can’t afford not to.”

Progresson theDomaindes Chutesproject

DAVID TULLOCHCHAPEAU May 4, 2016

One Chapeau family has been able to get back on their feetthanks to the support of the community after a fire destroyedtheir barn in February.

Kenna Turner lives with her parents, Jim and Sandra Turner.Together, they tend to their hobby farm in Chapeau, raisingcows, horses, pigs, chickens and emus.

On Feb. 22, one of the family’s sows had given birth. Turnerexplained that as the horse barn was warmer than the pig barnand contained heat lamps, they chose to move the piglets in withthe horses to keep them warm in the winter.

On Feb. 26, Kenna arrived home at 3:45 p.m. from her regu-lar classes at Heritage College in Campbell’s Bay, where she cur-rently studies agriculture. Her friend up the road asked her tocheck in on her ducklings, and she obliged.

Around 5 p.m., she received a text from neighbour telling herthe horse barn was on fire. She later said she suspects thesource of the fire was electrical, possibly caused by the lamps.

As soon as Kenna learned of the fire, she decided rescuing thehorses was her top priority.

“Our horses have been our main love,” she said.Though they were able to rescue the horses, the rest of the

horse barn—including the hay, tack, seven full-grown sows andmost of the piglets—were lost.

Beside the horse barn sat a chicken coop, so Kenna said therescue team rushed over to ensure the fire didn’t harm thechickens. While the coop had begun to catch fire, they were ableto rescue the fowl.

After that, all they could do was wait for the firefighters toarrive—who “were extremely fast,” Kenna said—and put the fireout.

Please see SUPPORT page two

“Beauty ashes”Community supportsfamily after barn fire

David Tulloch, THE EQUITY

Kenna Turner and her family suffereda major setback when a fire

destroyed their barn and theequipment and animals within.

DAVID TULLOCHCAMPBELL’S BAY April 27, 2016

Four Heritage College students, allfrom Pontiac, received bursaries lastweek thanks to the college’s ongoingfundraiser to provide financial assistanceto students.

Kenna Turner, 21, of Chapeau andDarleen Robinson, 36, of Quyon wereawarded their bursaries in a special pre-sentation at the college’s Campbell’s Baycampus on April 27.

“Look at us, I’m so proud of us!”Robinson told Turner after the presenta-tion.

Heritage College Director GeneralMichael Randall said the bursaries areperseverance bursaries, designed toencourage students who have completedone year of their schooling to return and

finish their program.Turner and Robinson are both enrolled

in their first year of the three-year agri-culture program. They both live and workon farms, which can complicate theirstudies, while Robinson also has a hus-band and two children.

Though Robinson has struggled, shesaid the program has been “doable”,aided by the encouragement of receivinga bursary.

Especially motivating, she said, is the$30,000 start-up grant some studentsare eligible to receive upon completingthe course.

“Every grant that comes up, we’re eligi-ble once we have the course,” she said,though added that applicants must beunder 40-years-old to qualify for mostgrants. At 36-years-old, she said she hasto ensure she completes the course soon.

Upon completing the course, Robinsonplans to help work on her husband’scow-calf farm in Clarendon.

“My husband is a farmer, so I want togrow the farm,” she said. “Maybe notwork with him, but grow the herd. …More cows, that’s my goal.”

Turner lives on a hobby/horse farmwith her parents. She said she was previ-ously planning to focus on raising hors-es, but after a fire destroyed their barnand much of their equipment, she saidshe and her family will focus more onraising pigs.

During his presentation, Randallpraised the dedication of the studentsand spoke a little of the school’s bursaryfundraising campaign.

The fundraiser marks the first of itskind in the college’s history, heexplained. Representatives from the

school have been approaching munici-palities, businesses and alumni request-ing funds in the hope of raising $1 mil-lion. Twenty-five per cent of this will beused solely for bursaries; the rest will beused to fund special programs and facili-ties.

Please STUDENTS page two

Pontiac students awardedlocally-funded

bursaries

David Tulloch, THE EQUITY

Kenna Turner, left, andDarleen Robinson, agriculturestudents at Heritage College’s

Pontiac campus, eachreceived a locally-funded

bursary from the school in aspecial ceremony Wednesdayafternoon. Two more Pontiac

students received similarbursaries in Gatineau

Thursday evening.

ANDREA CRANFIELDALLUMETTE ISLAND May 4, 2016

Thom Transport has announced they will discontinue service fromOttawa to Allumette Island as of May 16.

For the past 25 years, Thom Transport has offered bus ridesbetween Ottawa and Allumette Island.

However, an employee at Thom Transport said the number ofusers taking the bus has been steadily declining over the past 10years to the point where the company is now losing money.

“There’s only 10 people taking the bus,” she said.Citizens were able to express their views by writing to the Quebec

Transport Commission before May 1.Thom Transport has to file a request to stop service with the

Quebec Transport Commission. The employee said it will be sent onMay 6.

She said Thom Transport will probably receive an answer the weekafter. But even if the request is denied, the employee said the servicewill probably not continue.

“We’re losing money, we don’t even have enough to pay the dri-vers,” she said. “To have a service, you have to show that you’re mak-ing profit. And there’s no way we can do that.”

On Facebook, some Pontiac residents mentioned they didn’t knowa bus service was even available to take them to Ottawa and sug-gested if the company did some advertising, they might attract morepeople to use the bus.

Thom puts thebreaks on itsPontiac runANDREA CRANFIELD

SHAWVILLE April 22, 2016 The Department of Investigation and

Major Crimes of the Sûreté du Québecpolice officers stopped a vehicle on April 22in Shawville and arrested Dominic Dubeau,31, for trafficking.

A 53-year-old woman in the car withDubeau was also arrested and could be fac-ing charges of possession with intent totraffic.

Police seized almost 200 tablets com-prised of a substance similar to syntheticopiate, 28 grams of marijuana and somecash.

Dubeau was detained and went to courtin Gatineau on April 27 and was due backin court yesterday in Campbell’s Bay.

The woman was released and will have toappear in court at a later date.

“One of the special details of that inves-tigation is that the suspect was en route toa detention centre in Ontario because rightnow he’s detained during the weekend forinfractions for the same thing he wasarrested for,” said Marc Tessier,Spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec.

Dubeau was on his way to the detentioncentre where he was being held for drug-related offences when he was stopped inShawville and arrested for trafficking.

Arrests madein drug bust

from