Gatineau mayor met for frank discussion with English-speaking community

More than a dozen residents gathered on the third floor of the Symmes Inn Museum to hear the Mayor of Gatineau Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin on the evening of January 25.

During the event, organized by the Regional Association of West Quebecers (RAWQ), the mayor briefly spoke about Gatineau’s forthcoming cultural policy and gave a quick overview of Bill 122 before fielding questions from the floor.

Pedneaud-Jobin told the crowd that Bill 122 is the “biggest reform for municipalities in a long time”. The city has yet to take an official stand on the bill, a proposal tabled recently at the National Assembly. “We are still reviewing it,” he said. Pedneaud-Jobin indicated that the bill will increase the autonomies of municipalities and finally recognize the municipality as a “real local government.”

The bill states that it aims to give “local municipalities broader powers over urban planning, including zoning, over regulation of contributions for parks and over proper maintenance of immovable assets.”

Pedneaud-Jobin also explained that this bill will abolish the obligation to have certain zoning changes approved through a referendum. Lastly, the mayor explained that the bill will permit Gatineau to modify how public notices are published.

“In short, it will allow us to select where to publish and whether to publish,” added the mayor, who said he favours publishing on the city’s website. The bill states that “a municipality may, by bylaw, determine the terms governing publication of its public notices. These terms may differ according to the type of notice, but the bylaw must prescribe their publication on the Internet.” Gatineau was one of 11 Quebec cities that pushed for this significant modification.

 

A couple of attendees took issue with this item. One man said that not everyone had a computer or Internet and would be willing to go online simply to see if the city published a public notice. He and a few others asked the mayor to continue publishing the notices in newspapers. The mayor responded by saying that thanks to a new a system, residents can receive emails when a notice affecting their neighbourhood is disseminated.

Lily Ryan, editor of the Bulletin d’Aylmer, argued that publishing notices in newspapers is a key component to a healthy democracy. “It’s important for cities to go on the record with their plans. The recent example of Gatineau’s outdoor skating rink tender specifications being changed a number of times on the website is a point in case,” she said. “Residents want more information, not less, but our newsroom now spends a lot of time doing the city’s job of letting ratepayers know what the plans are; whereas we used to use our newsroom to dig into how the plans are working out.” Ms Ryan asked if the mayor is concerned with the future of democracy.

The mayor said printing public notices in newspapers was not a good use of public money. He said that many did not understand them. However, he did not totally shut the door, adding he was open to proposals. He noted that this year would be an important one regarding this issue. The bill was introduced on December 6, 2016. There are many steps remaining before it comes into law.

On the topic of the renewal of Gatineau’s cultural policy, the mayor invited the English-speaking population to participate in upcoming consultations. Following this invitation, one question from the floor to the mayor was about whether the city could further recognize the role of Gatineau’s English-speaking population.

He responded by saying that, in general terms, the relationship between the English population and the city is good. Richard Henderson invited the mayor to fulfill the promises of previous mayors and of Gatineau’s transition committee to establish a Linguistic Services Policy for the whole city.

“It would be great to see something on paper,” said Henderson. Former RAWQ President Noel Gates added his voice, requesting that the city table an official Linguistic Services Policy. Some attendees noted that they have no problem receiving services from the city in English. The mayor indicated that very few, if any, complaints regarding English services are on recent record.

Active in the arts, heritage and cultural community, Mr Henderson also highlighted that not one member of the English-speaking community has been invited to sit on the City's Commission des arts, de la culture, des lettres et du patrimoine, despite applications received.

The mayor said he would talk about this with the commission’s Chair Mireille Apollon. Further to that point Mr Henderson asked if the city’s cultural department could reach out to the English community's cultural institutions.

“I participated in founding the Aylmer Community Theatre Company which has operated successfully for ten years. The City has never reached out to us and I doubt employees even know we exist,” said Henderson.

Following this point, Mr Henderson continued on the topic of existence saying that he was sad to see English street names changed to French names, namely since amalgamation. He asked the mayor if the city could put an end to erasing the English names of streets and parks and the francization of these names.

“It’s difficult to see our culture and our history gradually erased,” he added. He pointed to the controversial name change of Lac-Leamy (named for Andrew Leamy) to Atawe as an example.

On the subject of toponym, James Shea asked whether or not the city would be paying homage to former Pontiac MNA Robert Middlemiss anytime soon. The mayor said the name is now available to be used for toponymy reasons. Richard Bégin, councillor for ward 3, added that his name might be used for the future parc des Cèdres Pavilion. He said the name Joe Tchorewski was also available for use.