Heat wave bakes Vankleek Hill but Champlain Township says “no” to ‘cooling stations’ despite request from EO Health Unit

Posted on July 7, 2010 by Gabriel

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People living in Champlain Township and Hawkesbury are being left to find ways to beat the extreme heat on their own.

Due to an ongoing heat wave the Eastern Ontario Health Unit has requested local municipalities make “cooling stations” available to residents living in one of the poorest regions in Canada, and who are without the means to find an escape from the extreme temperatures.

The municipalities, however, say they’re in no condition to offer the service to residents, no matter what the need.

According to the EOHU, a ‘cooling station’ could be an air conditioned local community centre; municipal arena, office or garage; or church, where people could find water and a cool place to regain themselves.

The request was made just days after the EOHU issued a “humidex and smog advisory” for the Vankleek Hill and Hawkesbury region.

“While the humidex and smog advisories are in effect, strenuous outdoor activities are not recommended as they may cause respiratory symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath, and there is a considerable risk of heat stroke and sun stroke.”

With the ‘humidex’, temperatures in Eastern Ontario have been climbing past 40C for days, and Environment Canada is warning residents of Eastern Ontario to expect the extreme temperatures to continue like this for at least the next month.

But according to spokespeople from both the office for the mayor of Hawkesbury, and the Emergency Services department for Champlain Township, there are no protocols or procedures in place in case of an ongoing heat emergency.

“It’s [cooling stations] not something we’ve ever done here,” a spokeswoman for Champlain Township said in an interview. “But maybe it’s something we should be looking at.”

A spokesperson for the Hawkesbury branch of the EOHU said the problem lays in the Health Unit having no buildings to provide.

“And there’s no coordination between us and the municipalities, who have the buildings,” she said.

Most Canadian cities have protocols in place for when the temperature soars. Montreal is extending the hours for their pools, splash-pads and libraries, and is considering opening their cooling centres.

Meanwhile both Ottawa and Toronto have recently opened their “cooling centres” for the second time this summer.

After a teleconference on Tuesday afternoon with the municipalities of Eastern Ontario, the EOHU announced progress had been made in finding safe places for the elderly and people without the means to own an air conditioner.

But it won’t happen anytime soon.

“We just don’t have the facilities,” a spokesman for Champlain Township said in an interview, “and Hawkesbury’s in the same shape. We could use the [Vankleek Hill] Arena, but the elevator’s broken and most of the people who need the cooling service, also need an elevator.

“There’s no policy in place right now, there are no protocols for this sort of thing, and it’s something we’ll have to look into. But if [the heat wave] were to continue we’d have to look into providing emergency services.”

The best thing to do during the heat wave, according to the EOHU, is to stay connected.

“Ask for help from a family member, friend, or neighbour if the hot weather is making you feel uncomfortable. Keep in daily contact with your friends and family to let them know how you are feeling and, stay connected with other people who have a more difficult time coping with hot weather in your community and help them keep cool.”

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Interviews: Champlain Township; Hawkesbury Mayor’s office; EOHU Hawkesbury; EOHU Cornwall

Sources: CBC; CP24; Eastern Ontario Health Unit; City of Ottawa Health Unit; Toronto Medical Officer of Health; Environment Canada

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Posted in Canada, Champlain Township, CSN:AFU Aboot Canada, Entertainment, Hawkesbury, L'Orignal, News, poverty, Reporting, St. Eugene, Vankleek Hill | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Little Victor Sunday Update | Mush fireworks and his first swim

Posted on July 5, 2010 by Gabriel

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It’s official, Victor can float. We brought him and Andrew to the pool in Hawkesbury last Monday, the lifeguard was kind enough to let us in a few minutes before the pool opened to the public, so I could take some photos of the event.

Unfortunately I rushed the shots, and the focus was off for all of them. But Victor’s smile is still there. Diane and I took turns helping him float, he’s not really impressed when his head gets wet but, with the help of a life jacket, he does like to bob around like a 17-pound cork.

He splashed himself, and his little legs were kicking madly, so he has already mastered treading water. I figure he’ll be a lifeguard in a year… maybe two.

Andrew, Diane’s oldest son, is getting more comfortable in the pool. The last time we went it took a little while before he’d leave the safety of the stairway into the pool. He’s 4.5-years old, so he still has to wear a life jacket while in the pool, but his leg kicks and paddling are really improving.

There was a tiny girl next to us who kept jumping into the water, sometimes over hoops, then she’d race to get out and do it again. Her father was only there as a witness, she was totally doing it all on her own. So I started to work on getting Andrew to do the same thing.

It took a little while — Andrew would be on the side trying to figure out if he’d survive the jump, and this little girl would jump in three or four times before he finally jumped.

After a little while Andrew was standing on the edge of the pool like he was getting ready for a 100-yard dash, then he’d explode into the air. He still gets nervous when he’s too far from the edge, but he loves jumping into the pool now.

Victor, meanwhile, had a hard time with his bowel movements this week. Like, a really hard time. I think it was just this past Saturday morning when he cried hard off and on for three or four hours, trying to pass a new flavour of mush we fed him earlier.

I think it was broccoli and cheese. I know there was cheese involved. I think that’s the last time for that combo.

Victor has also been having a hard time with his teeth. I suggested using “OraJel”, but apparently that’s a huge non-no. He also ran a fever for a day — which might have been weather related, and he has a slight rash between his legs. He’s been waking up earlier, and crying in his sleep, from the pain and just basically experiencing prolonged discomfort for the first time.

So we’ve been giving him the (very) occasional dose of baby formula liquid Tylenol.

Which seems to work great. We’re into another heat wave, so Victor’s having a hard time with that. I finally have an air conditioner, it’s meant for apartments without typical windows. I hooked the A/C exhaust up to the hole for the dryer exhaust, unfortunately that means the unit has to stay in the kitchen because the hose is only so long.

I had the thing running this afternoon, and there was a noticeable difference in the apartment within thirty minutes. It was 34C today (Sunday), and it’s going to be the same for a few days to come.

My girlfriend has a proper A/C unit in her apartment, which can be kept very comfortably chilled so Victor can bounce around at will. Until now I couldn’t have him here during a heat wave, because he wouldn’t be able to bounce around in his Jolly Jumper, or do much more than roll over, before getting heat exhaustion.

So, hopefully my electric bill doesn’t cripple the postman. It also has a remote control, so I can respect it as a technology.

Victor also experienced his first Canada Day fireworks and, like almost everything non-cheese related, he loved them. It took him a few moments, but he keyed in on the lights and sounds and watched them until the end with a look of amazement on his little face.

We watched them from my balcony along with Andrew, Diane and two of Diane’s friends. From my place we could also see the fireworks in Hawkesbury and L’Orignal… which is always strange. It’s like the explosions of light from that distance are completely out of context.

It’s like they were tiny explosions going off just feet away.

Andrew loves fireworks. I think any four-year old does, but he was screaming out “did you see that one?!”, “that one was my favourite!”, “no, that one was!”. It was hilarious, we could hear the neighbours laughing — the good neighbours, to the north of us, not the wicked gossipping idiots to the west.

My little brother was down for a few days, visiting and writing an exam which will — he hopes — lead him quickly to a job as a police dude. Victor was a little confused, but he and his uncle had a great visit.

My brother, who works for the Toronto Blue Jays, and his wife are having their first child in the next ten days… hopefully.

Overall this was not a great week for Victor, including a Canada Day BBQ lunch where everyone kept poking him and picking him up when all he wanted was to sleep, but he’s a tough kid.

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Photo Of Victor’s Week:

Victor's photo of the week

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Posted in Canada, CSN:AFU Aboot Me, Entertainment, Hawkesbury, L'Orignal, Parenthood, Parenting, Vankleek Hill, Victor, Victor's Week In Review | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Once hailed as a hero Hawkesbury OPP officer charged with assault

Posted on July 4, 2010 by Gabriel

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A Hawkesbury OPP officer is facing an assault charge stemming from a March 20 incident, according to the Ontario Special Investigations Unit.

The Special Investigations Unit is the civilian agency responsible for “investigating circumstances involving police and civilians that have resulted in a death, serious injury, or allegations of sexual assault.”

On March 20, according to the SIU, a man walking in the “Vankleek Hill area” was stopped and searched by an OPP officer from the Hawkesbury detachment. After being arrested and brought to the Hawkesbury OPP detachment for processing, a 21-year old man was assaulted while in his cell. According to the report the man sustained “serious injuries”.

The SIU released a statement on Friday, July 2, stating there were “reasonable grounds” to believe there was an offence committed by the Constable. According to the statement the SIU won’t comment further because the case is now before the court.

Const. Jean Philippe Mathieu, who was given an award in 2009 for heroism after saving a Vankleek Hill area woman from a frozen pond in 2008, is facing one charge of ‘assault causing bodily harm’.

Mattieu, who is also a volunteer fireman with Champlain Township, received the Ontario Medal for Firefighter Bravery after a woman lost control of her truck on Cassburn Road after being struck by an SUV. The truck came to rest upside down in an ice covered pond. Mattieu was the first person on the scene, and jumped into the pond, forced the locked door open and pulled the woman to safety.

Mattieu will appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in L’Orignal on August 4, 2010.

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Sources: Wikipedia; Champlain Township News Archives (including photo); QMI Agency; SIU Press Release

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Posted in Canada, Champlain Township, Entertainment, Hawkesbury, News, Reporting, St. Eugene, Vankleek Hill | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Happy Canada Day and may your BBQ be Black Fly free

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Gabriel

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Since I moved back to Vankleek Hill my Canada Day celebrations have mostly taken place on my second-floor balcony, from which I can see the fireworks burst over the tops of my neighbours trees.

We’ve had the occasional BBQ at my parents’ home, but mostly it’s been me, a friend or two, and whatever group of strangers makes their way up my stairs thinking my place is abandoned.

I know they have fireworks in Hawkesbury, because from my balcony I can watch those too, as well as the ones in L’Orignal. The ones in Vankleek Hill get fired from the driving range just down the road — this year they’ve moved the celebrations and beer tent from the Fair Grounds to the soccer field behind the high school to accommodate the “VCI Celebration”, which is kind of a reunion and celebration of the old VCI before they tear that old building down.

Personally I think it’s the wrong thing to do. But the fireworks, despite what the ads are intimating about everything being moved to the school, remain at the driving range*.

My little brother is in town for the family BBQ lunch this year, which is good, but he’s back to Toronto in the afternoon. But this will be Victor’s first firework display, so there’s something to look forward to. I’m really curious to see if he even notices the sounds and lights.

Canada Day is a strange celebration. In America the Fourth of July, or “Independence Day”, is about celebrating independence from the corrupt dictatorship that was the British Monarchy. Quick, easy and simple. The Americans won the war, and they celebrate it on July 4th with baseball, hot dogs, fireworks and the Boston Pops playing “Stars and Stripes Forever”.

Canada Day, aka “Dominion Day”, is about the signing of an agreement called the British North America Act (BNA) between the remaining British colonies in North America and the corrupt British Monarchy, creating “a federal dominion and much of the operation of the Government of Canada, including its federal structure, the House of Commons, the Senate, the justice system, and the taxation system.”

Mostly, however, “Dominion Day”, and the BNA, was about bringing the established British provinces into a federation because individually they were targets for annexation by the United States.

So the Americans had their revolution for democracy, and afterwards wrote a Declaration of Independence insisting on “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” for every citizen. Canada, meanwhile, became a democratic nation through negotiation and compromise, and ended up with an Act guaranteeing “peace, order, and good government” and (eventually) free health care.

I like both motto’s, but if I had a vote I’d go with the one we got.

I wrote a piece three years ago called “the first ten things you need to know aboot Canada”, this is number seven:

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Our Origins Are Cloaked In Mystery Confusion: The Dominion Of Canada was created in 1867, Newfoundland joined up in 1949. We got our own flag in 1967, and our own Constitution and Charter Of Rights And Freedoms in 1982. The Canadian Province of Quebec, with a population of 7 million, has yet to sign the constitution. It’s all very weird.

But not as weird as this… follow along if you can:

Canada was founded 350 years ago by the French and their Native allies; who were then defeated 200 years later by the British and their Native allies; who were then joined by British-American refugees who had just lost the American Revolution to a bunch of… well, Americans and their French allies; the British-American refugees then allied with the British-Canadians and their Native allies who in turn joined up with the French-Canadians and their Native allies and together they beat the shit out of the Newly Armed & Famous Americans during the War Of 1812. Or, as we sometimes refer to it, “That Week We Burned The White House To The Ground” or “TWWBTWHTTG Day”.

After that was done all of the territories in Canada thought it’d be a good idea to permanently team up, and so Canada was borne. See? Easy.

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Happy Canada Day, congratulations to us all.

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Update: I think the fireworks were still shot from the driving range, but were aimed towards the “VCI Celebration” thing. We could still see them from my balcony, though. We could also see the Hawkesbury and L’Orignal fireworks. I do like my balcony.

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Posted in Canada, Canadian Charter of Rights, Canadian Politics, Champlain Township, Entertainment, Hawkesbury, L'Orignal, Vankleek Hill | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Little Victor Sunday Update | Sunsets TV and more mush

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Gabriel

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We almost managed to get Victor into the pool this weekend, but this was the weekend the battery in my girlfriend’s car decided to die. This coming week, however, Victor will start his swimming lessons.

We did spend a lot of time this week sitting on my balcony together, just watching the sun go down. He really does enjoy sitting quietly, listening to the birds and the wind blowing through the trees. I’m not exactly sure what he’s looking at, but he’ll focus on something for twenty second, then whip his head around and stare at something else. I think he’s following sounds more than anything else.

I took him out to sit and watch the moon a few nights ago, he seemed to get more excited than usual — I think it might have been the cool breeze, but the mosquitoes found us before I could figure it out, and we went back inside.

I fed him solid food for the first time tonight — my girlfriend has been doing it for a couple of weeks now. We’re introducing him to a new solid food — it’s really mush — every week. Last week was carrots, and Victor really does not like carrots, this week it was mixed vegetables… and there must have been some carrots in there, because he really did not like what I was giving him.

The trick, according to Diane, is to alternate between the spoon and the bottle. So in goes the mush, followed straight away by the bottle. I think Victor caught on to the trick tonight, because after four spoon loads of mush I couldn’t get the spoon close to him without his little arms waving in the air, and his face getting red.

Victor makes a series of noises that are basically warnings of much louder noises to come. He was making those warning noises when the spoon got too close to his mouth.

We introduce meat into his diet soon, then it’s spaghetti. Which, I think, is going to suck more than anything has ever sucked before. Since we started introducing the solid foods into his diet, his… poo has changed. It happened earlier when we switched over from mostly breast milk to a mostly formula diet, but that change was like going from vanilla to butterscotch pudding compared to the horrible, foul smelling clay we’re cleaning up now.

I can’t imagine meat making Victor’s output smell any better.

Oh. My. Good. God. When I was a teenager I cleaned manure for a living, I was crapped and urinated on by cows a few times while I was setting up the milking machine, or cleaning a stall. I would gladly clean a row of milking stalls for a year if it meant I wouldn’t have to smell Victor’s diaper for the next month.

…anyway. Victor is rolling over like he was born to do it. He still has a hard time tucking one arm in to make the rolling that much easier, but leave him on his back and a few minutes later he’ll be on his belly. Leave him on his belly and he’ll wind up on his back. He can even put a few rolls together and end up on the other end of the bed or couch.

He can’t crawl yet, but he’s getting close. He’s getting his rear end into the air, and pushing with his legs, but his arms don’t seem strong enough yet to pull him, or to keep his head off the ground. He can go backwards though. At least if you give him something to push off of.

I’ve been standing him up while I hold onto his hips, and his knees will lock for short periods and it’s almost like he can stand… but then he’ll collapse into a Buddha position. He really likes standing, though. He’ll get up and do a little happy dance before he falls back down.

He really seems to sense that it’s an accomplishment… unless he’s eating carrots, he’s happy all the time, so it’s hard to tell sometimes if he’s happy because it’s his natural state, or if he’s happy because he just did something cool. But standing up, as far as I can tell, is something he thinks is really cool.

He has also developed his first bad habit… he can’t take his eyes away from a television that’s been left on. Victor was laying in his great-grandfather’s arms today (Sunday) while Andrew, his four-year old big brother, was playing a “Dora The Explorer” game on the computer and Victor was twisting his whole body to get a better look.

I’m not sure if this is my fault or not. Victor and I watched almost every game during the NHL playoff… first the Senators, then we followed the Canadiens, and then the finals. He couldn’t stay awake for all the games, or even for an entire period, but we did watch chunks of them together.

The kid’s already shaped like a potato, I’d hate to think I’ve started the process of turning his brain into one as well.

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Photo Of Victor’s Week:

Victor's photo of the week

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Posted in CSN:AFU Aboot Me, Entertainment, Parenthood, Parenting, Vankleek Hill, Victor, Victor's Week In Review | 5 Comments

Twisted but not shaken, Vankleek Hill feels effects of another 5.0 magnitude earthquake

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Gabriel

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An earthquake centred near Val-des-Bois, Quebec, rolled sixty miles down the road and straight through Vankleek Hill on Wednesday afternoon, leaving buildings in our small village shaking and twisting.

The 5.0* magnitude (Richter scale) quake was felt as far south as Toronto, Windsor, Detroit and parts of Ohio, north into Montreal and west through North Bay.

At least one bridge near Val-des-Bois partially collapsed, telephone service has been disrupted in the region, there was damage to some homes in Ottawa, but Vankleek Hill seems to have escaped with no damage. Which always seems incredibly lucky.

Most of the core of Vankleek Hill is made up of 100-year old to 150-year old red brick, multi-storey homes and apartment buildings. With the village situated right in the middle of one of the most geologically active regions in Canada, it’s amazing how little damage from earthquakes there seems to have been over the 213 year history of Vankleek Hill.

Todays earthquake apparently only lasted 30 to 45-seconds — and by the time it reached Vankleek Hill its power had dissipated somewhat, but my apartment building, all two-storeys of it, felt like it was twisting for two minutes. At one point, as I stood in the middle of my living room, it was like one end of my second floor apartment was moving south while the other end was taking off somewhere north-ish.

My girlfriend heard cracks coming from the walls of her apartment while she was trying to get her 4-year old to stand under a door frame. It really felt as though, if it had gone on much longer, or with a touch more force, my home would be a convertible right now.

My parents’ home, a three storey “Victorian” (for lack of a better term) was hit by a runaway bus last year. The driver left the bus without setting the parking brake, and it rolled down a slight decline for roughly forty feet before popping the curb and hitting the house. The impact pushed a six foot wide, four feet high section of the house inwards on the foundation by 1.5 inches.

If the eight inch high curb hadn’t taken away some of the momentum the bus would likely have gone straight through the living room and dining room until it hit the back wall. Because, as strong as these old houses can seem, they’re actually incredibly fragile. The walls are not reinforced with anything, from outside to inside they’re simply brick, framing for the windows, slats and plaster, living room.

And earthquakes do rock this region regularly, so the fact the historically relevant bits of Vankleek Hill are still standing, and in one piece, just seems remarkable.

Thurso, Quebec, was the epicentre of a 4.5 magnitude earthquake just four years ago, in February, 2006 — I can remember that one rolling through Vankleek Hill as well. In 1988 there was a 5.9 magnitude quake in Saguenay, Quebec, which is kind of nearby. And of course, most recently a 3.9 centred just down the road, near Lachute, Quebec.

A ‘three’ would barely disturb a flower bed, but a ‘six’ would significantly alter the village landscape.

According to a “civil engineering expert” interviewed for the Ottawa Sun after todays earthquake, “…the quake registered 5.0 on the Richter Scale, which isn’t enough to cause structural damage to most buildings built to code.” But which code? The one from ten years ago designed for cities, or the one from 150 years ago when most of the core of my village was built?

I guess the point is we’ve lasted more than 200 years without a major calamity… then again, it has been over two hundred years.

Of course, according to Stephen Colbert, a 5.5 earthquake “just proves how bland Canada is.”

I did get an email from my youngest sister making sure I was okay, which was kind of, sort of, very touching. But don’t tell her I wrote that. And, you know how dogs and birds can detect earthquakes before they happen? Apparently cats really just don’t care.

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*Update: according to Earthquakes Canada (Natural Resources Canada), by the time the earthquake got to Vankleek Hill it was a 3.8 on the Richter Scale.

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Posted in Canada, Canadian News, Champlain Township, CSN:AFU Aboot Canada, Entertainment, Hawkesbury, Vankleek Hill, Vankleek Hill History | Tagged | Leave a comment