Martin C. Barry

Rosemère mayor Eric Westram began the town’s Nov. 11 municipal council meeting – which was taking place on Remembrance Day – by paying homage to the many thousands of Canadians who showed courage, determination and devotion while helping protect the country.

“If we have the privilege of living in a world where peace reigns, it is largely because of these people who valiantly served their country, often at the cost of their precious lives,” Westram said.

Tribute to veterans

“They were Canadian who sacrificed everything to protect the values and freedoms that we all treasure,” he continued.

“Yet still today, and beyond our own borders, our defenders continue to ensure peace and stability in other regions of the world. Together, let us remember the big sacrifice made by our fellow citizens. But most of all let us say thanks with all our hearts to our veterans for the heritage that is so dear to us.”

State of flood dikes

This was followed by a moment of silence observed by all in the council chamber at town hall, “in memory to those who paid with their lives for our peace and our freedom,” added Mayor Westram.

During the first questioned period, Jonathan Rheault of Louis Hémon St. told the mayor he wanted information on a study the town is working on regarding the state of the anti-flood dikes along the Rivière des Mille Îles.

Government subsidies

The mayor said the town’s three dikes are designed to stand up to 100-year floods. Rheault said he was aware that Infrastructure Canada had pledged a considerable amount of money for flood protection in Rosemère.

The mayor said that prior to the recent federal election, the town had been accorded a $4.4 million subsidy from Ottawa, which he said is supported by an equal amount from the Quebec government.

Waiting for Quebec

According to Mayor Westram, that will leave Rosemère with responsibility for paying a remaining $2 million since the dike construction project the town will be building amounts to around $10 million.

“The only portion that needs to be validated is from the government of Quebec, since the part from the federal was, as I said, allotted before the elections,” he said, while adding that the town is waiting for a study to be delivered in February which might determine where additional dikes need to be created elsewhere in Rosemère.

Applications in process

According to Councillor René Villeneuve, town council applied for a certain amount of money for the anti-flood infrastructure from both governments “in case we should ever need it,” he said.

Mayor Westram added, “We were asked by the office of Linda Lapointe, who was our MP at that point, I would say three weeks to a month before the election, to mention a certain amount of subsidies with regards to our flood zones.

Waiting for a report

“We preferred to be cautious,” he continued. “We said we hadn’t yet gotten back the report from our engineers regarding the actual state of our current dikes.” He said the town plans to take the subsidies while keeping in mind that they could come in handy for future flood control.

Rheault, who has two properties near the water in Rosemère, said the arrival of spring is always a great concern. “We see the water rising, and there was confusion last year,” he said. “All of this to say that everything is clear: when you say the subsidies are going ahead we are willing to believe you.”

An ounce of prevention

Westram said that regardless of the situation, but taking into account that even if major flooding were to recur in Rosemère, “we will do what we did last year. We’ll add to the existing dikes in case. We’ll be acting preventively.“For us it will be important to validate the state of the dikes,” Westram continued. “We want to make sure that what happened in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac doesn’t happen here. That’s why we want to make sure our dikes can stand up to a 100-year flood.”

Martin C. Barry

Deux-Montagnes mayor Denis Martin says the Quebec government has agreed to make an exception for the owners of around 150 homes in Deux-Montagnes which won’t be subject to rigid flood control restrictions as the provincial government had originally planned.

“The government gave us exception for the special intervention zone for the flooding,” he said in an interview last Tuesday with the North Shore News. “We got that yesterday.”

Hearing on Dec. 5

According to the mayor, a special hearing by the government will be taking place at the Polyvalente Deux-Montagnes on Dec. 5 for any of the homeowners who may wish to raise further issues regarding the local flood zone situation.

“The special intervention zone that the government declared in July was a worst case scenario prior to the spring of 2019,” said the mayor, referring to the government’s flood strategy and response following the devastating 2017 floods.

Back to 100-year zone

“Deux-Montagnes and Pointe Calumet had been asking to go back to what was there in the spring of 2019. So we’re bringing back most of the territory to the 100-year zone and we were accepted yesterday by the government of Quebec. We’re happy about that for the citizens who were affected.”

According to Mayor Martin, the flood zoning restrictions revoked by the government would have affected the ability of homeowners to renovate or build. When the government issued new parameters for flood zones in recent years, some areas of Deux-Montagnes not normally considered to be at risk were included.

Negotiation paid off

“Some properties all of a sudden were in a zone where they were not before,” he said. “Some of these homes never got any water from flooding. So we were able to negotiate with the government to prove to them that those areas were not really in the intervention zone that was declared by the government back in July.

“So the residents who are there will be able to renovate their homes and go about their lives as they used to be. Because they were kind of blocked since that special intervention zone was declared. We were working to have that removed.”

Permits not possible

The government’s previous definition of the zone’s area meant the City of Deux-Montagnes couldn’t issue any renovation or building permits to the owners in question until the matter was resolved, Mayor Martin continued. “There were also concerns for people wanting to sell their property,” he said.

The change affects around 150 homes mostly between Ninth and Thirteenth avenues. In Pointe Calumet, the situation was similar, but more drastic since more than 2,000 homes stood to be permanently impacted had the flood zone rules been maintained in their area.

Christmas reminders

At the same time, Mayor Martin issued a reminder to all Deux-Montagnes residents that volunteers from Dépannage Saint-Agapit will be soliciting donations of non-perishable food on Sunday Nov. 24 for the charitable organization’s annual Christmas basket campaign.Paul Goyetche is the honorary chairman of the campaign this year. As well, he wished to remind all residents that the city’s 50^th annual Santa Claus Parade will be taking place on Sunday Dec. 1 beginning at 1 pm.

Martin C. Barry

The first signs of winter creeping into the North Shore region weren’t enough to keep patriotic Deux-Montagnes residents away from Veteran’s Hall on Grand Moulin Road on Sunday Nov. 10 when Remembrance Day was commemorated.

The World War I Armistice was signed 101 years ago in a railway carriage located in the Forest of Compiègne in France. After four years of relentless combat, the conflict had taken the lives of as many as 19 million people, while leaving a significant part of Europe in ruins.

Grateful to Legion

“Deux-Montagnes is always proud to have Branch 185 commemorate the veterans year after year,” Mayor Denis Martin said in an interview following the ceremonies. “We have to thank the organization for organizing these ceremonies which remember all our veterans. We’re very proud here in Deux-Montagnes of the involvement of the Legion in making sure that this is a well-done ceremony.”

Sandi MacDonald, president of Branch 185, said the branch feels very fortunate that so many individuals and organizations support the local Remembrance Day commemoration. “We get so much support every year,” she said. “We have a dinner the night before which is always sold out. Everybody comes to support the veterans and it’s absolutely amazing.”

Statement from PMO

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued the following statement for this year’s Remembrance Day. “Today, we come together to honour the brave Canadians in uniform who have served our country throughout our history,” he said. “They’ve built peace. They’ve defended democracy. And they’ve enabled countless people to live in freedom – at home and around the world.

“Remembrance Day was first held in 1919 on the first anniversary of the armistice agreement that ended the First World War,” he continued. “A century later, our respect and admiration for Canada’s fallen and veterans has not wavered. We owe them and their families an immeasurable debt of gratitude. We honour all those who have served, including the many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit veterans and current service members.

Tribute to our veterans

“Today, we pay tribute to our veterans, to those who have been injured in the line of duty, and to all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Trudeau. “They stood for liberty, and sacrificed their future for the future of others. Their selflessness and courage continue to inspire Canadians who serve today.”

Martin C. Barry

Women and children living away from their usual homes this holiday season will have gifts to open on Christmas morning thanks to donations received during the 11^th annual Holiday Open House of Gift Giving for Women’s Shelters at Memorial Community Centre in Rosemère on Sunday Nov. 24.

The event is being held for the benefit of 11 women’s shelters in the Laval and North Shore regions, including La Citad’Elle de Lachute, La Traverse, Maison Le Mitan, L’Ombre-Elle, La Maison d’Ariane, Maison de Lina, Maison L’Esther, La Maison le Prélude, La Passe-R-Elle des Hautes Laurentides, Regard En Elle and Regroup’Elles.

Give generously

Directors of the shelters will be present to answer any questions as well as to share with visitors and donors how this event, over the years, has touched the lives of the many women and their children who go to the shelters. The organizers are asking once again for generous support to help make the event successful.

They are asking for gifts for the women and children, including monetary donations, raffle table articles and toys. All proceeds will be distributed among the shelters. Thanks to the donations, the women and children in the shelters will be able to enjoy the magic of the holiday season. The organizers look forward to seeing everyone, while also inviting supporters to share the invitation with friends and family.

Gift items needed

Throughout the day, friends and supporters from all over Montreal will be stopping by to drop off new gift items, including clothing, toys, books, care essentials, bath products makeup and giftcards, while chatting for a while with the staff and shelter directors.

Maria Larosa, a Rosemère resident, held the first few Holiday Open House of Gift Giving for Women’s Shelters events at her home before deciding two years ago to make it a larger event at the town’s community centre. The organizing committee is made up of women from Rosemère, Sainte-Thérèse, Laval and many other communities in the Montreal region.

Eleven shelters helped

The effort allows the women’s shelters to hold Christmastime events and to provide gifts to the families who happen to be there during the holidays. The assistance comes at a time when many families are feeling pressure more than at other times of the year.

This is the 11th year in a row that the Valora Association committee has hosted this much-anticipated community tradition, which continues to grow from year to year. In 2018, they collected over 1,100 gifts and $12,000 to help empower women to overcome domestic violence.

(NSN) In the year ahead, the Town of Rosemère plans to take measures to renaturalize the Les Roitelets woods located on its territory.

According to the town, all of the ash trees in the woodland on rue des Roitelets straddling Autoroute 640 have unfortunately died or have been severely weakened by the emerald ash borer.

‘Ecological crisis’

“The emerald ash borer represents a major ecological crisis for the Town of Rosemère and, indeed, the rest of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM),” town officials said in a statement issued last week.

Since severe tree damage causes a risk to public safety, they say they will have to cut down all the ash trees in the Les Roitelets woodland.

Renaturalizing the space

The area is currently composed almost exclusively of ash trees and buckthorn (an invasive exotic shrub that is threatening Rosemère’s natural ecosystems), which makes it a woodland of low ecological value, according to the town.

As a result, Rosemère says it is seizing the opportunity to renaturalize the space in a way that increases biodiversity. “Rosemère cares deeply for the natural environment, and trees and shrubs are a key part of that,” says the town.

‘All necessary measures’

The Town of Rosemère says that it will therefore take all necessary measures in 2020 to reforest and revitalize this green space.

To this end, Les Roitelets woodland will be replanted as a flowering meadow to encourage the presence of pollinators, such as bees and monarch butterflies.

Moreover, the town says planting of trees in the meadow will ensure a return to woodland status in the long term and maintain a high quality in the tree canopy.

Martin C. Barry

Officials with the Town of Rosemère are contemplating their next move following the closing over the past summer of the Tylee Marsh boardwalk, a popular nature attraction along the Rivière des Mille Îles waterfront which has been shut for safety reasons.

According to Rosemère mayor Eric Westram, areas of the boardwalk’s wooden platform have been initially assessed as unstable, although the town’s public works department hasn’t yet determined exactly what the problem is.

Unsure of problem

“We’re not sure whether it’s the structure itself,” he said in an interview with the North Shore News. “We’re having an engineer check it. It could be that we need to replace it totally. The whole structure is in bad shape.”

According to Westram, the boardwalk is slated to remain closed at least until next summer. He explained what the town plans to do until then. “We’re waiting for the engineer’s report,” he said.

Environment ministry

“If he tells us that it’s just a few things to repair here and there, then it will go quick. But if we need to replace it all then we’ll have to go back to the environment minister, because everything we do where there are ponds and marshes we have to have their authorization.”

The boardwalk through the Tylee Marsh was a project completed by the Town of Rosemère around 13 years ago. Located on Grande Côte Rd. behind the Memorial Community Centre, the boardwalk takes strollers out through the dense Tylee Marsh straddling the Mille Îles River.

Has been getting worse

It is a highly unique attraction that draws not only local residents, but also people from all over the Montreal region eager to experience a river marsh up close. “Was it built wrongly?” Westram asked. “We don’t know at this point. Was there something wrong with the pylons? All we know for sure is that it’s been in bad shape for years.”

Although the boardwalk is officially closed off, some people have been spotted jumping over the barrier and going out over the marsh on the structure anyway. Westram pointed out that the Quebec environment ministry’s mandate to protect wetlands and marshes (with rules that have become stricter in recent years) could make efforts to restore the boardwalk more complex.

Safety warnings posted

While the mayor said he was unaware of any incidents, he noted that an initial inspection revealed that parts of the structure have come loose and are moving and that the conclusion was that part or all of the structure might not be stable.

“That’s why we put signs to tell people that it’s dangerous, but some people are still using it,” he added. All the same, Westram said the town is committed to restoring the Tylee Marsh boardwalk no matter what. “We will fix it or rebuild it – that’s for sure,” said Westram. “We’re still waiting to see what needs to be done.”

(NSN) On October 19, the traditional annual Volunteers’ Gala was held in Rosemère to pay tribute to the commitment and dedication of the many Rosemère volunteers.

More than 320 people attended the evening event, which took place at the Externat Sacré-Cœur school. This year’s theme was ‘Once upon a time.’

Storybook time

For the occasion, the guests dressed up as storybook characters, in beautiful costumes. There were many different characters and plenty of originality.

“If Rosemère is such an attractive and welcoming town with such a vibrant community life, it is thanks to the involvement and devotion of outstanding people — our volunteers,” said Mayor Eric Westram.

They were rewarded

“Whether it is in the field of sports, culture, crafts or community life, these people make the dreams of many youngsters and adults come true. They well deserve a special tribute for their commitment.”

The town has more than 500 volunteers working with approximately 45 organizations. Town officials took the opportunity to present a simulated cheque made out for the symbolic amount of $500,000. The amount represents the town’s involvement with its community organizations.

(NSN) Rosemerites came out on Oct. 18 to march for healthy lifestyle habits at Rosemère’s first annual ‘La Grande Marche’ event, supported by the Grand défi Pierre Lavoie.

Colourful clothing

More than 350 people attended the community event, which followed the same path as Rosemère en santé. Walkers wore their most colourful clothing and fluorescent glasses to brighten up the festivities.

Rosemère Mayor Eric Westram said he was delighted by the tremendous public response to this first event. “I’m thrilled to see how excited residents are to be part of La Grande Marche,” he said.

Fitness popular

“The great turnout shows how interested you are in the activities put on by the town and how important you feel it is to promote a healthy lifestyle and make Rosemère an active community.”

Over the course of the same weekend, more than 100 other towns and cities across Quebec held their own versions of La Grande Marche. The total number of participants province-wide was close to 75,000.