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All Candidates Forum An Example of RAWQ Community Partnerships
by Gaetanne Séguin
October 21, 2005
With the municipal election just two weeks away, The Regional Association of West Quebecers, together with APICA and the Coalition of Resident’s Associations, is proud to be sponsoring a bilingual public forum of the City of Gatineau mayoralty candidates, as well as councillor candidates from the Aylmer sector. This all-candidates meeting will be held on Monday October 24th at the Galeries d’Aylmer Cinema # 4 from 6 pm to 9 pm.
With the goal of being fair and balanced, a draw will be made shortly before the meeting begins to establish the speaking order of the candidates, and the evening will be divided into two sections. In the first part, each mayoralty candidate will give a 10-minute bilingual speech, followed by a question and answer period. Afterwards, the three ward candidates will each have five minutes to address the audience in both official languages, with a question and answer period following speeches in each ward. We invite everyone in the Aylmer sector to attend this important event so you can hear where your municipal candidates stand on issues important to you.
Planning for the upcoming all-candidates meeting is another example of RAWQ’s partnerships with other organizations in West Quebec for the benefit of the community at large. Last month on Sunday, September 18th, the Regional Association of West Quebecers hosted our 3rd annual Golf Tournament Fundraiser together with the D’Arcy McGee and Symmes School communities. It was our most successful tournament yet thanks to a 75-percent increase in participation. We were proud to present the schools with a cheque for $1342.24 which will help pay for their new Performing Arts Auditorium.
The auditorium is now under construction and should be completed in time to house a performance next month. Symmes Junior High School Principal George Singfield says the RAWQ golf tournament proceeds take them one step closer to paying off their share of the cost.
“Obviously we’re really happy about the parents, former parents and staff that came out to support this cause. We’re really excited about benefiting from it.”
RAWQ Executive Director Brian Gibb says working with the schools was a worthwhile and positive experience that benefited everyone involved. “It was the best golf tournament we’ve had to date and I was very pleased with the community relationships that were strengthened through this partnership with the schools.
Strengthening our community relationships is certainly a key focus for our association, and another example is the promotion of RAWQ’s New Residents’ package. This free information package helps English-speaking new residents to West Quebec access community and government services which can be difficult if you don’t speak French.
Recently the Western Quebec School Board promoted the New Residents’ package in their bulletin which was given to parents throughout the English school system in early September. Many people who otherwise may not have heard of the program have contacted us to request a package, which is another positive example of working together to reach and benefit more people in the community. The City of Gatineau has also agreed to display our promotional bookmarks about the package at their five service centers, and to also include them with the City’s packages given out to new residents. We are confident this partnership with will also lead to more people hearing about and benefiting from our new resident’s package.
RAWQ hopes to build on what we have already accomplished with the New Residents package, the golf tournament, and our annual Community Awards Banquet for which we will be accepting nominations early in 2006. We welcome input from our members and the community at large on how to take all of these events to a higher level to involve and benefit even more people, and also new ideas for future events and activities. If you would like to get involved in RAWQ’s Community Outreach committee, give me a call anytime at 819-682-9602; toll free at 1-877-733-0177, or via email at clco@magma.ca.