Speech by the Executive Director at the AGM, May 25, 2002
Gatineau, May 25, 2002 Good afternoon everyone.
I'm executive director of Outaouais Alliance, and have been for just over a year. There are many tales I could tell about everything that's happened at OA since the last AGM.
I'm asking myself what you would want to hear about. So I'll start with what I think will interest you. But there's also the stuff you should know, that's a little less fascinating - so I'll finish with that. I encourage you to ask questions after my report, just as I encourage you to keep in touch with me and Kathy at the office, letting us know how you think we're doing, and how you'd like to get involved.
Summing up our year's activities, I would say it's been a year of "getting the information out - " about developments in culture, health, municipal services, and education. It's not easy to get the word out in today's media climate. The Ottawa Citizen does not cover Outaouais issues adequately or objectively. I did do some live feed interviews for CJOH, and Rick was a regular guest on Le Grand Journal at CHOT, and thank God for the local papers, who regularly cover our campaigns with good reporting. OA particularly enjoys the longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship with Fred Ryan at the WQP and the Aylmer Bulletin and Pontiac Journal.
The members of our community generally aren't easy to get out and involved. This may be for any number of reasons - some are the same for volunteer associations everywhere - people are busy with work and family. People may not identify as members of the Anglophone minority within a national capital region that is predominantly Anglophone, or even as an Anglophone in a region that is so bilingual. But we are convinced from the feedback that the campaigns that we do and the fact that they benefit the community is registering with people, and over time OA may benefit to a greater extent from their participation.
Starting this afternoon and evening, with an art exhibit and concert featuring 8 performers from the region, OA invites you all to stay and soak up some of what the region has to offer in the way of culture. I know you'll find some surprises and I'm sure it will expand your image of your region's assets. This is sponsored by Canadian Heritage and produced by Robin Moir. I'd like to thank the people on the Heritage Days committee for all their input and perseverance in making this concert a reality. And Valerie Black for organizing the art exhibit. Food and refreshments will be served after this meeting in the agora. I encourage you to stay and take in some art.
Hopefully you've all seen our more prominent campaigns in the local papers and on the CBC and the Citizen. One of the mandated areas of Outaouais Alliance concern is health care.
Health is a provincial domain, and you may remember an incident in December that was a blow to the PQ government's credibility. There was a hubbub in the press in December when all 11 Committee members of the provincial committee on Health services in English resigned en masse when it was revealed that the Minister of Health and the premier were operating with a hidden agenda, developed in secrecy and without consultation, that would reduce the scope of Health and social services in English. That Committee had been trying to negotiate a renewal of the Access Plan, an initiative that had for decades been building trust between French-speaking health care professionals and their English patients. A sector group, in cooperation with several regional associations, OA included, built a coalition action campaign and lobbied the premier, and the Health Minister with 1000 hits via a special email address. This campaign was paid for by a donation in trust for initiatives of this nature. Recently Premier Landry announced that he would not touch the Access Plan until after the election. Our collective efforts were successful in influencing the government to abandon its plan to put Access Plans in jeopardy. After all, the Liberals, who may form the next government, will surely be more reliable partners around the table! This campaign was an example that the English-speaking community at present is sufficiently organized, collaborative, and competent at navigating the political system to mobilize around issues critical to their health.
This is the area where people understandably are the most passionate about sharing their perspectives and hopes. Everyone wants the security of knowing that our health care system will take care of us in our time of need. I have the pleasure of serving as Chair of the Regional Committee for Access to Health and Social Services for English-speakers, at the Régie Régionale de la Santé et des Services Sociaux (RRSSSO), which is the Regional office for health and social services. This is a committee which serves to inform its members of new directions the Régie is taking, makes the Régie aware of the reality of services in English, and makes recommendations to the Régie Board. This committee looks at which hospitals are designated francophone institutions, which are bilingual institutions; the percentages of anglophones per region, reflecting greater or lesser demand for English services; which services need the critical mass of population found in Ottawa, that the Outaouais doesn't have; what emergency services are provided where; even what CLSC stands for!! (Centre Local Services Communautaires). : the doctor shortage, unacceptably long waiting lists, signs, reception and phone messages in hospitals and CLSCs in French only, repatriation (the fancy word for encouraging English-speaking West Quebecers to stay on the Quebec side for their medical care. Currently 12% of residents choose to go to Ontario for their health care.). However, as a member of this committee, I also get to hear happy stories from patients who praise their health care professionals for the calibre of the service they provided and the ease of communication that was achieved. I would like to see a role for Outaouais Alliance in encouraging the English-speaking community to be mindful of their lifestyle choices, the factor in their health over which they have the most control. Education is key to achieving community health, and OA can help get the message of healthy lifestyle out. We already facilitate the submission of community health proposals.
How well do we know the health needs of our community? Do we know if those needs are being addressed? And what do we want to change to ensure the continued health of all of us in the coming years? Outaouais Alliance will be undertaking research into community needs this summer, with a recent university graduate, employed by Young Canada Works and the QCGN, Eric Luguya, to try to find answers to some of these questions.
Municipal services is another campaign that affects you and that you may have heard about in the media. OA hosted public meetings with the candidates for mayor, monitored and facilitated the transition to the new city, including getting tax bills in English, and kept the mayor up to date with how he was doing. More recently OA pointed out that there was federal money available for the asking for translation services. It was a pleasure to work on this campaign with the can-do attitude of many contributors, esp. John Trent, Graham, and Rick.
One handy document that will help people access their health care services is the Community Directory. I would like to congratulate Kathy Teasdale on the printing and distribution of the directory. This was a project that was shelved for some years. Kathy was able to dust it off and finish the research. The feedback we have had from the community tells me the book is a success. The Directory is a concrete example of how OA has served the community this year - getting the information out, helping English-speakers realize they're not alone, just in a minority situation, and that there is a community here to help them with their needs and that offers a place to participate and thrive.
The Education Committee supervised the collaboration with Cdn Parents for French on starting a chapter in Quebec. Astonishingly, Quebec was the only province without a chapter. Anglophone parents opted simply to send their kids to French schools if they were dissatisfied that their child was not getting the opportunity to become bilingual within the English board. CPF gives parents a powerful voice to facilitate their kids' exposure to French. OA was involved to try stopping the exodus of youth from the area and from the province, the idea being that if kids are fluently bilingual they'll have less reason to leave.
OA was an active part of the Gym action Project, a group of parents and teachers and students mobilizing around the goal of getting a gym for this Cegep. OA publicized a rally march down Laurier street in Hull, where a petition was handed to the MEQ. There was wonderful news this spring as Minister Legault gave permission for the Cegep to sell its Laurier building and begin construction here. This means students won't have to bus to every phys ed class, and continuing ed will have new offices and classrooms here. Heritage College will become a real centre of the English-speaking community. OA is proud of the role it has had in assuring the gym, as well as in the inception of the College itself.
OA and particularly the president has continued to serve in a key leadership role in several provincial networks of the English-speaking community. There are 10 other regional associations in Quebec from the Townships to the Gaspe and also several sector groups in areas such as drama and community newspapers. Rick is highly valued as a member of the Executive of the Quebec Community Groups Network. The hours he puts in as a volunteer are staggering, and our whole community owes him a debt of thanks for representing us so well at that important group.
The Board also engaged fearlessly in an important dialogue with the Community Table, whose mandate is economic development in the English-speaking community in Quebec. Board members' reservations about the results achieved and the processes of the organization were finally after much perseverance addressed to our satisfaction. Shaun Peppy will attend meetings this week and we are optimistic that our community's needs in economic development can be met by this organization.
We have also this year had renewed contact with several key federal, provincial, and municipal government players. Dyane Adam the Commissioner of official languages met with us and has collaborated with us on several of our priority campaigns. We also have a good rapport with MPs, especially Marcel Proulx. The Outaouais Liberal caucus of the Quebec liberal party met with us and is very happy to renew a link which they had dropped for several years. And thanks to the tireless lunching of John Trent and Rick, we have cordial relationships with most of the Gatineau councillors and the mayor. This last is a relationship which has improved from mutual suspicion and antagonism to mutual respect and appreciation. Outaouais Alliance's effectiveness depends in large part on the quality of our relationships with decision-makers, and it will continue to improve as our circle of friends in high places expands.
We had new relationships with 2 government departments, Health Canada and Canada Economic Development. OA hosted a focus group on bottled water for Health Canada, and we will be cohosting 3 meetings in the region on programs available to small businessmen. As a liaison for the English-speaking community of West Quebec, people are turning to us.
And as for the smaller, less riveting things about our year that you should know about, I'd like to mention the move, the newsletter, and the website.
Last June OA left Hull for a beautiful heritage office in Aylmer. If any of you have not stopped by, I encourage you to. It's a lovely space. You can do photocopying and faxing and good rates, and the board room is available for community meetings.
Our newsletter has been going out twice a year. Hopefully you've all read yours carefully. Kathy puts it together. We would like to get more members' columns in there. Please submit material for the November and May newsletters. We hope that the News snips also tides you over between newsletters. We appreciate all the positive feedback on both.
The website is kept current and has lots of relevant information on it. Please remember to check in with our news in this easy and accessible way.
The volunteer board of Outaouais Alliance is really what keeps the whole thing chugging along. My thanks and appreciation to all the board members this year for their courtesy and promptness in my communications with them, their attendance, and their invaluable contributions.
And thanks too to the members who have were able this year to make donations to Outaouais Alliance. Your commitment through membership and dollars also make OA a viable community organization.
"Getting the information out" - means using the media, personal contact and conversations, in meetings, etc., to inform people about the goals and approach of the current administration. OA is not an anti-francophone group, if anything it is a group of Francophile Anglophones. Acknowledging the place of English-speakers in Quebec does not undermine the French nature of the province. Enough English-speakers have left the province, perhaps, and the rest of us are resilient or patient enough, that one could say the future now looks bright for English-speakers in Quebec.
In the coming year, I look forward to the election, to a new premier, who Rick and I met in Quebec city in April, and some favourable conditions for the English-speaking community. OA applied for some very interesting projects and we will shortly be finding out which one was accepted. The exciting process of strategic planning starts in the fall, where the direction of the organization can be refined and defined.
I've touched on some of the ways that OA has affected the lives of West Quebecers in the areas of health, education, cultural and social opportunities. Looking back, it has been a rewarding year and I look forward to an equally productive one.
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