Medical Assistance in Dying: A growing community need
We will remember: Profiles of local veterans How our local Community Foundation is making a difference
SOUND SOLUTIONS FOR A CLEAR TOMORROW
As your locally owned clinic for almost three decades, Lindsay Ear Clinic is dedicated to serving Kawartha Lakes and Bobcaygeon. Our audiologists provide personalized solutions for hearing issues, vertigo, tinnitus, and advanced earwax concerns. Being independent allows us to prioritize your well-being with cutting-edge hearing aid technologies.
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Having on-site audiologists is essential for personalized hearing care. We provide regular checkups, tailored treatment plans, and care to enhance your overall well-being. Our dedicated professionals at Lindsay Ear Clinic ensure your hearing health journey is prioritized and personalized.
ANNE MARIE SINASAC B.A.(Hons.), M.Cl.Sc., AuD., Doctor of Audiology, Registered CASLPO Audiologist
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Roderick Benns
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McKechnie
Aliyah Mansur
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Community Foundation in Kawartha Lakes has been busy.
our mission
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Fireside Publishing House is the premier print media company in Kawartha Lakes through its family of magazines and all-local weekly newspaper. We believe that community-based media can bring people together and change lives for the better through the power of storytelling, reflecting local culture, and creating informed and engaged citizens. Our commitment is to deliver high-quality and relevant content that reflects the diverse voices and experiences of our communities. We believe in the transformative power of local media to inspire, educate, and empower.
to the editor
Barkey feels blessed to call this community home
May I thank you for honouring me with my inclusion in your latest edition of the Advocate, October edition, ‘The Influencers.’ I am mindful of the many that deserve also to be profiled but thank you for my inclusion.
I would not have been able to undertake any activity had it not been for two primary life and energy giving forces. The first, was my forbearing husband and my family. Also highly important has been this amazing community, initially Victoria County and now Kawartha Lakes. Its support, especially of the years developing Community Care City of Kawartha Lakes was far more important than my efforts. I think of people like Catherine Whitnall, who came to various agency activities and featured Community Care’s efforts and profiled its services, creating awareness both of services and the abundant opportunities for volunteerism, a force when unleashed not only expanded service, but also created a softer, more compassionate, engaged community. Many municipal councillors were key in various initiatives, from the non-emergency transportation service to the provision of seniors housing (Community Care Village Housing). Their willingness to try something new and seize an opportunity for this community was laudable. Indeed, the pattern continues — so much community support, so much wind beneath my wings. I just feel so blessed that as an immigrant to Canada, my father chose Lindsay, a place which enabled me to bloom where I was planted.
Thank you for all you have done and are doing to coalesce our community around the printed word - may it never go out of fashion!
— Valmay Barkey, Lindsay
“A word after a word after a word is power.”
— Margaret Atwood
Reader appreciates new Advocate columnist
(Re: Slow down, take a breath, Mansur’s Musings - October Advocate). Thanks Aliyah, you’ve reminded us of what we may already know, but we ignore the beauty and bounty around us. We need to take time, even those two minutes, to reconnect with ourselves and each other. I’m enjoying your columns by the way, and your fresh take on the community. I hope the business sector is reading. Best wishes for your undoubtedly stellar, upcoming career in writing.
— Anne Carmichael, Kawartha Lakes
Thanks to Fireside Publishing for sports and plowing match coverage
I want to thank Fireside Publishing House (The Lindsay Advocate and Kawartha Lakes Weekly) for their excellent coverage and commentary on two recent events in our community – the International Plowing Match and the Sports Hall of Fame press conference and induction ceremony. Print media and investigative journalism are so important and we are fortunate to have these two publications to support and help sustain our community. Kudos to all staff and management. You did, and continue to do, an excellent job. A sincere thank you for your work.
— Pat O’Reilly, a director with the International Plowing Match and a director with the Sports Hall of Fame
Send us your thoughts to be featured here!
The Advocate welcomes your letters. We do not publish anonymous letters unless it’s a matter of public importance and/or someone risks harm by writing us. We publish under strict guidelines & only if we can verify the person’s identity. Simply email roderick@lindsayadvocate.ca. Keep your letters to 200 words or less.
The Sports Hall of Fame recently honoured new inductees and post-secondary school bursary winners. Photo: Sienna Frost.
The $8 million man
By Roderick Benns Publisher
As a kid one of my favourite shows was The Six Million Dollar Man. I wouldn’t say it has aged well, particularly the not-so-special special effects. As kids we’d toss each other around on the playground and simulate the slow-motion sound from when Steve Austin was using his super strength.
But this column isn’t really about The Six Million Dollar Man; this is about the $8 million man.
Imagine for a moment that last year you made $8 million an hour. (Yes, I meant to write ‘hour.’) To be clear, I mean that for 24 hours a day, all year long, for each hour that passed, you were given $8 million.
Put another way, the new paramedic building that is desperately needed in Kawartha Lakes will cost $50 million. That’s just over six hours work for Mr. Amazon.
I wish this were just a fantasy, but sadly it’s the reality for Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. As Report on Business magazine stated last month, Bezos earned $8 million an hour last year – or $70 billion in just one return of the sun. Nice gig.
Speaking of gigs, a new report from Angus Reid reveals nearly a quarter of Canadians are doing short-term work to meet rising living costs. And more than half of them take this gig work alongside their regular jobs – just to make ends meet. In the U.S., it’s more like a third of the population.
So Bezos is now worth $204 billion while a huge chunk of his countrymen (and women) are barely getting by. And
he has made millions more by the time you’ve read this. If Bezos was a nation he’d be twice as rich as Ukraine, Bulgaria or Ecuador. And if it was for sale, he would have enough money to buy Greece.
Put another way, the new paramedic building that is desperately needed in Kawartha Lakes will cost $50 million. That’s just over six hours work for Mr. Amazon.
If this finds you irritated, I could suggest you buy your books locally or order from Canada’s Indigo chain instead. But honestly that wouldn’t make a dent in the $8 million man. The only thing that can change this reality is government action. There are plenty of Canadian billionaires where a policy adjustment is in order, too.
There are so many ways to fix this problem. (And if you don’t see this as a problem, you’re either a Chicago School of Economics groupie or Bezos himself.) People like this believe markets are self-correcting. And this is how we have rampant inequality across the world – because markets don’t care about people. Only people can care about people.
In the Nordic nations, they have successfully reduced income inequality through progressive taxation and social transfers to average people. And contrary to the notion that high taxes dampen economic activity, Nordic countries consistently rank high in global competitiveness indexes.
At least in The Six Million Dollar Man there was a clear hero. When it comes to the $8 million man and his like, there’s just consistent policy failure.
Medical Assistance in Dying
Cases at Ross Memorial Hospital have doubled in three years. A local doctor and a doula share their insights.
By Aliyah Mansur
Since Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) was legalized in Canada in 2016, there have been concerns about the rapidly growing number of people accessing the health service.
The fourth annual report for MAID in 2022 showed a 30 per cent increase in cases from the previous year. Even locally, cases of MAID at Ross Memorial Hospital (RMH) have more than doubled from 2021 to 2024 (with 13 cases in 20212022 and 33 cases in 2023-2024) and this does not account for MAID administered outside the hospital.
With no sign of plateau, it’s fair to wonder whether proper protections have been put in place to keep vulnerable populations safe and ensure no one is being coerced into this palliative care option. To get an idea of what happens when a patient chooses MAID, we spoke with a local doctor and end-of-life doula, both of whom have MAID experience.
Dr. Brent MacMillan, a clinician at RMH and MAID provider, says that although cases are climbing “many referred patients are found to be ineligible for MAID because they do not fit the strict eligibility criteria.” MAID patients who are eligible will fall into one of two tracks. For track one, the patient’s natural death must be reasonably foreseeable.
For track two, the patient’s death is not foreseeable and requires “a full review of all treatment options and concerted efforts to relieve their suffering during a three-month treatment period,” MacMillan says.
In addition, an expert opinion regarding the state and prognosis of the patient’s illness is needed and the treatment and reassessment cycle continues for a minimum period of three months, only considering MAID as a last resort. Patients in both tracks must make the request for MAID of their own volition and have a “serious and incurable illness, disease or disability” at “an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability” resulting in “enduring and intolerable physical or psychological suffering that cannot be alleviated” (this still excludes mental illness, until an expected review in 2027).
Other criteria include: the patient must be 18 years of age or older, eligible for publicly funded health care services and give their informed consent (informed consent requires that the health care provider inform the patient of all the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a treatment or medical intervention they are considering).
Fast Facts on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID)
• It is now available to over 280 million people in 11 countries around the world.
• A small number of countries around the world have been expanding access to various forms of MAID, a movement that started in Switzerland in 1942.
• Here in Canada, the eligibility criterion is one of the most permissive in the world, particularly since the reasonable foreseeability criteria was removed with Bill C-7’s passage in 2021.
• In the Netherlands and Belgium, which legalized assisted dying 22 years ago, 5.1 per cent of Dutch citizens and 2.5 per cent of Belgians die by MAID.
• Only 25 per cent of Californians said they were aware that MAID was legally available as an option if they had a terminal illness such as advanced cancer, compared to 67 per cent of Canadians who were aware, according to the National Post.
To become a MAID provider, physicians and nurse practitioners (the only clinicians allowed to become MAID providers) are highly recommended to take a 27-hour training program through Canadian MAID Curriculum and additional policy and legal requirements for clinicians has been put in place by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. The Canadian Association of MAID Assessors and Providers organization offers further support for clinicians to interact with each other, especially for challenging cases that may benefit from a variety of clinical perspectives.
MacMillan, the clinician at RMH, became a MAID provider because, he says, “it is important for patient autonomy and dignity” and that patients should have “power at the time of their dying with an emphasis on quality of life… not quantity.”
Working in Kawartha Lakes as an endof-life doula, Desiree Lodge describes her role as “the connecting link between the client, their family and caregivers and their medical team.” Similar to the doctor, she helps to ensure patients’ wishes are met “and (that) they die with the dignity they deserve.” Lodge became a doula for end-of-life after personal experiences with caring for aging and ill parents, where she says, “there was a gap between what care was provided by the medical field and hospice.” Though the doula does not provide MAID herself, she does offer additional support for patients who have chosen MAID and says the MAID context “doesn’t differ much from other end of life care we provide.”
Whether they choose MAID or other palliative care, working with a patient at the end of their life is both challenging and rewarding for healthcare teams. But when it comes to MAID, MacMillan says, “this is one of the few areas in medicine where patients and their family are overwhelmingly grateful for the care that I have provided.” Even when a patient’s family initially
disagree with MAID, MacMillan says that following the treatment they have “often changed their appreciation and acceptance of MAID potentially for themselves in the future.”
In Lodge’s experience, patients have brought up concerns about getting a negative response when discussing MAID with family members and the doula says that “occasionally family dynamics will cause some challenges.”
Helping patients’ families so that the patient “can die in peace and know that their family is also being supported,” is part of the care Lodge provides. Generally, the response to MAID from patients and their families is positive. When family conflict arises due to individual beliefs, MacMillan says “100 per cent of the time, the loved ones who showed complete disagreement with the provision of MAID expressed their gratitude after.”
Due to patient confidentiality, neither of our local sources could provide details about the patients they have supported with MAID. However, according to Canada’s 2022 annual report on MAID, a majority of MAID patients had cancer (63 per cent) followed by cardiovascular conditions (18.8 per cent), and the average age was 77 years. Only 1.3 per cent of MAID cases were people aged 18-45 and 3.2 per cent were age 46-55.
While MAID is an intensely personal decision, MacMillan knows the path he would choose.
“For myself, I believe that I can tolerate a fair amount…however, I would not want my family lingering at my bedside witnessing my suffering, worrying at night whether they’re going to see me the next morning and watching me decline to a fraction of the person that I was in life. I want to be able to give my family a proper goodbye and leave them with the memory of the person that I was in life, rather than leave them with a horrible, painful memory of a man who suffered deterioration and disappeared before their eyes.” LA
Scan me with the camera on your smart phone
7 Kingsway Dr, Bobcaygeon optician@kingswayoptical.ca 705-738-2020 /Kingsway-Optical Monday-Thursday 9:00-5:00 Friday 9:00-4:00 Evenings and Saturdays by appointment
‘Let’s talk about death, baby’
By Aliyah Mansur Contributor
This month my mind is preoccupied with death. Not strictly my own, but the general topic of “end of life” and how little we talk about it as a society. I mean, death is all over the news, every day someone somewhere is dying. But aside from headlines telling us who died when and where, we don’t get to communally process how it makes us feel, what death means to the dying or the people who are left behind. And given we have our own headline about death in this very issue of The Lindsay Advocate with our feature on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), I figured why not start the conversation here.
By the time I turned 25, I had already been to 10 funerals. Some were family, some were friends, and for some I was there as support.
We all experience death and dying, whether it’s the death of someone we know or our own. So, why isn’t this something we learn about in school? We have sex education, but no death education - and, arguably, sex is not a guaranteed or universal experience, just ask a nun. “But what would a death curriculum look like?” you might be wondering. My mind goes to some of the more practical elements like how to prepare a will, the cost of funerals and how different cultures throughout the world prepare for and cope with death (cue the book The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning).
A robust curriculum would also cover the stages of grief and how to support people who are grieving.
By the time I turned 25, I had already been to 10 funerals. Some were family, some were friends, and for some I was there as support. The ages of those who died ranged from infants, young adults, middle-agers, all the way to a near-centenarian. Cause of death also ranged, from car accidents, cancer, birth-complications, old age, suicide, addiction, to a completely unpredictable aneurism. I’ve seen the people left behind go numb, unable to say a word, cry and scream, celebrate a long life, and every reaction in between. I’ve been offered condolences and apologies and have been told “let me know if you need anything.” Often these words come from those who have yet to experience the death of a loved one. For those of us who have, we understand there is not much that can be done but to hold space for whatever emotions and behaviours are coming. To give grace and love. Though, one of the best practical offers of support was food, especially when cooking meals and generally caring for oneself while grieving can feel impossible. No two people respond the same way to someone in their life dying. That’s why I think it’s important to talk about the specifics because it’s the specifics that help people feel seen. Knowing someone has experienced the death of not just a family member but a parent or child or cousin and by means of accident or age or sickness, these details change the type and amount of support we may need and from who we need it most.
Lawyer
Hamid received his Juris Doctor from the University of Ottawa and his Bachelor of Arts focusing on Criminology and Psychology from the University of Oshawa Institute of Technology. Hamid’s practice focuses primarily on real estate, including residential sales, purchases and refinances, commercial financing and leases, title transfers and severances. His objective – to ensure a smooth and stress-free real estate process for all of his clients. Hamid is fluent in English, French, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Farsi, and Dari.
We rememberwillthem Profiles of our Veterans
By Ian McKechnie
Starting in 2023, the Advocate has dedicated a portion of its November issue to profiles of those from our community who served in the major conflicts that shaped much of the last century.
From witnessing the horrors of increasingly-mechanized warfare that reshaped Europe from 1914 through 1918, to participating in the massive efforts to support Canada and the allied countries between 1939 and 1945, people from what is now Kawartha Lakes “did their bit” and sacrificed much – including their lives – in the cause of freedom and justice.
Canadians’ memories of war have over the years generated monuments and poetry, pilgrimages and oral history. Some of these stories have been told and retold by family down through the years; others have faded from public memory and are immortalized only in brass plaques in churches, on local war memorials, or in the faded pages of newspapers.
This year, the Advocate highlights the service of four individuals – three young men and one young woman who hailed from this part of the world and made their mark in a variety of capacities in a distant land so scarred by the atrocities of war. We will remember them.
If you know of a veteran whom you would like to have highlighted in the November 2025 edition of this annual feature, please write to advocatecityeditor@gmail.com.
Private Lewis Lennie
Those who survived the two world wars would carry forth the torch of remembrance in the decades following 1918 and 1945, respectively. Their recollections preserved the memories of friends and family who were prematurely cut down on the fields of France, Belgium, and other theatres of war. One of those who did not come home was a young man by the name of Lewis Lennie. Born in Lindsay in 1896, Lennie signed up for service on Feb. 20, 1915. (Years later, one of Lewis Lennie’s descendants told a local clergyman a story about her uncle leaving the Lindsay Armoury for a good night out on the town with friends – only to face discipline in the form of being marched along Kent Street in shackles en route to the railway station from where he and his comrades would depart for France.) On July 14, 1916, Private Lewis Lennie was killed in action when a vehicle in which he was travelling through a Belgian community was obliterated by shellfire. He was not quite 19 years old.
Lieutenant Olive Williamson
Pedestrians strolling past 3 Melbourne Street in Lindsay in the early 1960s may well have seen an elderly lady out front collecting her mail or visiting with neighbours. They might also have known that, less than half a century before, this lady found herself in a military hospital across the Atlantic Ocean caring for those who had been badly injured in body, mind, and spirit. Her name was Olive Williamson, and she was one of some 3,000 women who enlisted in the Canadian Army Medical Corps during the First World War. Born in 1894, Olive had yet to mark her 22nd birthday when she graduated from the Ross Memorial Hospital’s school of nursing in June of 1916. A year later, she was stationed at the Ontario Military Hospital in Orpington, England, where many thousands of wounded servicemen came under her care. After leaving military nursing in 1920, Olive worked as a private nurse in Lindsay and Ops Township. She later entered Victoria Manor and died there on May 25, 1970, aged 75.
Gunner Richard Hilyer
Those who were born between 1901 and 1927 are often known as the “greatest generation,” and when the time came were of the right age to be called up in service to King and country. Richard “Dick” Hilyer was one such example. Born in 1918, Dick joined the army in 1942, travelling to Lindsay from Somerville Township with his brother, James Albert Hilyer to formally enlist. He was 24 years old, while James was not quite 19. Within a few months, the brothers found themselves in Petawawa, Ontario, where they would acquire the specialized skills necessary for serving in the 6th Canadian Anti-Tank Regiment, a division of the Royal Canadian Artillery. May of 1943 saw the Hilyers travel to Nova Scotia; by August of that year they were bound for England aboard the RMS Queen Mary, then serving as troopship. After spending some time on leave in Scotland (where he would meet his future wife, Isa), Dick undertook additional preparations ahead of the coming invasion of Normandy. He landed in France on July 9, 1944, and from there saw service in Belgium. He returned to Canada aboard the Queen Elizabeth in December of 1945. Dick Hilyer died in 2008, aged 90.
Flying Officer John Nugent
While Dick Hilyer was moving through Europe on terra firma, John Nugent had a unique perspective from the sky. Born in 1920 and raised in Lindsay, John had signed up for service in 1940 not long after graduating from high school. He joined the British Royal Air Force, and underwent basic training in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, before shipping out to Bournemouth, England, in September of 1941. In the late spring of 1942, the plane John was piloting over the Netherlands was hit by a German flare, causing a midair fire and requiring the evacuation of the crew via parachute. Upon landing, the plane’s rear gunner died of injury on impact, while the navigator and wireless operator were promptly captured. John Nugent, his co-pilot, and front gunner managed to escape; while the co-pilot eventually disappeared, John and his sole remaining crewmate would spend 17 days walking across Holland, evading escape themselves. Alas, they were captured in mid-June of 1942 and would spend the next three years in prisoner-of-war camps. John recalled that they were treated humanely, though he and his fellow prisoners-of-war were always contemplating escape. They were finally freed on May 10, 1945. John married 14 days later and returned to Canada with his bride. For many years, John worked as a pharmacist in Dunnville, Ontario, where he died in 2002.
In memory of all those brave men and women who served.
(705) 324-2400 / Toll Free: (866) 688-9881 68 McLaughlin Road, Unit #1, Lindsay, ON jamie.schmale@parl.gc.ca • www.jamieschmale.ca
Thomas Bernard McGuinness (1919-1977) Royal Canadian Navy
Thomas McGuinness was one of 85 crew serving on the H.M.C.S. LINDSAY, named for his hometown, during WWII. As a stoker, he was one of 10 men keeping the boilers running and the engines in peak condition. The LINDSAY participated in Operation Overlord for the invasion of Normandy. Learn more about our local military heroes in our exhibit WWII: BY AIR, LAND & SEA.
50 Victoria Ave N, Lindsay www.klmuseumarchives.ca
Q&A: Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes
By Roderick Benns
Advocate Publisher Roderick Benns recently caught up with Laurie Dillon-Schalk, executive director of Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes. The foundation has been making its presence felt in many ways across the city with multiple funds and initiatives that are improving the quality of life for local residents.
ADVOCATE: We understand you’re building a closer relationship with Kawartha Lakes – the city. What is the nature of this funding and why is this partnership important? What kinds of things will this connection make possible?
DILLON-SCHALK: First, it helps to better understand what kind of charity a community foundation is. We are a charity with the special designation of multipurpose public foundation, which means in addition to our own charitable projects, we can attract, administer, and grant funds on behalf of a fundholder to other qualified organizations.
So by our nature, we are focused on a broad spectrum of community needs, and in many ways very much aligned to
the same goals as the municipality. We are both interested in improving the quality of life and sense of belonging in Kawartha Lakes. So a partnership with the city just makes good business sense.
ADVOCATE: Improving quality of life is somewhat of an audacious goal. How do you tackle an issue this broad? Where do you start?
DILLON-SCHALK: Well, first it’s important to have a healthy public foundation. We are focused on ensuring a healthy non-profit ecosystem encouraging people to give where they live and facilitate granting. We are grateful to be receiving $126,000 municipal financial supports for our operation for the next 18 months. Our charity was founded just weeks ahead of the pandemic and while we have facilitated an incredible amount of granting, more than $1.3 million, we are shifting from a volunteer organization to a permanent structure. I was hired in January 2023. We have an office, we have built up a sophisticated infrastructure for donation administration and funds management, but we are still in startup mode and operating support during this window makes a big difference to our ability to serve.
ADVOCATE: So that’s the financial ‘how’ part. What about the tackling quality of life improvements?
DILLON-SCHALK: There is a strong sense of urgency when it comes to improving quality of life. Not everyone is thriving and we need to act fast in addressing community needs. That’s where data and research can help identify issue areas and support informed action — or even policy changes.
We plan on introducing Vital Signs research in 2025. Vital Signs is a standardized approach to measuring a community’s well-being across major indicators like health, housing, food security, income and poverty, public safety, and more. It is a research project that emphasizes local data but also includes community consultation (called Vital Conversations).
Fortunately, the municipality has already made good progress in this area, already has access to a reservoir of community data and is interested in data-informed action. So a partnership can help us deliver a stronger report and collaborate where it makes sense.
Once we have a better roadmap to the issues or areas that are doing well, we need help to create a granting avenue, getting the funds to the right organizations.
It is early days on creating funding avenues to support issues, but fundamentally, we recognize that many organizations doing impactful work in communities are non-profits without charitable status (also called non-qualified donees). Partnering with these organizations can offer significant scale to tackling issues — like adding accessibility to parks, for example, or supporting recreational building improvements, or offering emergency relief.
Plant Kawartha aims to green the city with trees, another cause supported by the local Community Foundation.
Left: 100 Men Who Care is one of the local groups the Community Foundation supports.
Deficit and operational issues cause Province to intervene in Kawartha Haliburton Children’s Aid Society
A review by the province has identified several significant risks related to the overall operations and financial management of the Kawartha Haliburton Children’s Aid Society.
In a media release Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Michael Parsa, said the ministry “does not have confidence in the society’s ability to make the necessary strategic decisions to address its growing deficit and operational issues, which may negatively impact the safety and quality of protection services that vulnerable children and youth depend on.”
The ministry “does not have confidence in the society’s ability to make the necessary strategic decisions to address its growing deficit and operational issues, which may negatively impact...vulnerable children and youth depend on.”
To that end, he has appointed Rosaleen Cutler as supervisor for the Kawartha Haliburton Children’s Aid Society (KHCAS) “to oversee and operate the society and help ensure the safety and well-being of children and youth receiving services.”
“Although the government does not direct children’s aid societies on placement decisions, we require them to ensure placements are safe, appropriate and meet the child’s needs. That’s not an option: it’s the law. The Ministry of Children,
Community and Social Services has provided $4.6 million over and above the KHCAS’ funding allocation since 202021, while working with the society to address the findings of various ministry-led reviews.”
As supervisor, Cutler will be responsible for overseeing the operations and managing the society in place of the board of directors and executive director, for up to a year. During her term, she will address the society’s growing financial and operational issues and reinstate good governance and fiscal sustainability, while ensuring the continuity of services to children, youth and families.
Cutler is a respected leader in human services whose experience reflects an inclusive, partnership-based strategic approach, says the release. She brings extensive child welfare and transformation experience, and a demonstrated ability of working partnerships within organizations and externally with diverse communities.
Regulatory amendments associated with the Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024 made earlier this year require children’s aid societies to visit children in society care every 30 days – up from every 90 days. That work is continuing with a review and audit of the sector to better understand how children and youth are being served by the child welfare system.
MUSIC SERIES
THURSDAY, NOV. 21, 2024 AT 7PM
And Sometimes Y
Birthdays in Baie-Comeau
Attended
Dip ___ in (test the water)
Areas just above the belt buckle?
Use elbow grease
French piece of prose 36 T.V.'s Magnum and Cannon, e.g.
Enthused about
Role for Ron in Mayberry
Santa's elves, e.g.
Scroogian outburst
Marionette within easy reach?
Prefix with size or sex
65 Take down a size, maybe 66 ___ bad example (mentors poorly)
67 Karaoke plug-in
68 Cuts a swath (through) 69 Gymkhana gaits
Longstocking girl 2 ___ water (up a tree) 3 Fun-in-the-sun car roofs
4 "Sweetie pie" kin
5 Like Abba members: Abbr. 6 Sans women 7 Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er ___" 8 Discussions, slangily 9 Sticky-toed frog 10 Boundless, as the sky 11 Deteriorates bigtime 12 Whitehorse's Terr. 13 Russian Air Force jet 18 Painful cry
22 Wonderland cake word
25 The "S" of iOS: Abbr.
27 "Sweet Child ___" (Guns N' Roses song)
28 There are four in Mississauga
30 Jet-black
31 Connect with, using a rope
32 Cuts class
33 Friskies rival
34 Back in on the runway?
by Barbara Olson
38 "No thanks needed" 40 Dizzy Gillespie, musically 43 Start eating heartily 44 Suffix meaning "tumour" 45 Gentle breezes
48 U.S. airport screening grp. 49 Safari vehicle
53 -Bismol 54 "___ my case!"
55 "¿Cómo ___?"
57 Man of Manchester
59 Lecherous longing
60 Get something for nothing, in a way
61 Folk singer DiFranco
63 Morning moisture
Does culture take a village?
By Susan Taylor
When we think of art galleries, or many of the performing arts, we sometimes think of large, spacious buildings, where only a certain segment of the population enjoys going, to see and be seen. It is an elitist view that has been around for 100 or more years. There’s also an element of truth to it, especially in large, metropolitan cities.
It’s not how we view things at the Kawartha Art Gallery (KAG). Our motto is ‘For the Art in Everyone’. We believe that art, visual art in our case, is many things, but certainly not elitist. It is a community builder, helping to bring people together to experience something new. It is a conversation starter – a chance for people from different backgrounds to share what they like (and often, what they don’t like), and to search for meaning from the artist’s unique take on the world. It is also a business, helping to drive cultural tourism and creating destination cities, in this case Kawartha Lakes. The Kawartha Art Gallery is also a not-for-profit, meaning it relies heavily on the support of individuals, the municipality, local businesses, and government grants. The model of not-for-profits is, as it sounds, to not build any kind of profit - funds that come in, after supporting some infrastructure, go straight back to artists in our area. But government grants, especially, are unreliable at best. There are wonderful arts councils at the provincial and national levels, but there is an ongoing challenge of advocating to them the unique needs of rural communities.
Recently, Kawartha Lakes City Council agreed to a three-year operating plan to support KAG, a huge step in the right direction.
This generous show of support was a first step in building Kawartha Art Gallery’s staff capabilities and answering the need for programming in the community, particularly for those who are underrepresented.
It also got the attention of some people in our community. When he heard of this municipal support, Linborough Property Corp President and Lindsay BIA Chair Wesley Found recognized that KAG was a group to get behind. He made the connection that his father, Ken Found, was a man of culture (in addition to a community leader and entrepreneur). He understood KAG’s value to this city and its residents, and he wanted to help further.
This help turned into The Ken Found Art Fund. Managed by the Community Foundation of Kawartha Lakes, this fund includes an initial monetary value to be used by the gallery over five years. It also includes 61 pieces of art that will be used to fundraise further support for the gallery.
This is a success story no matter how you look at it. An arts and culture gallery that focuses on community needs and supporting local talent, gets the attention and support of a local government, whose investment inspires a local business leader to give their support.
Culture not only takes a village, culture shapes a village. Culture, in fact, makes a village.
Interested in finding ways of becoming part of the Kawartha Art Gallery’s future? Contact us at art@kawarthagallery.com or visit kawarthagallery.com.
From Kawartha Art Gallery’s Permanent Collection: Landscape by Otto Reinhold Jacobi, Watercolour, 1871
Revolution or EVolution?
Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.
Mark Twain said something like that when he read his own prematurely published obit. Earlier this year we were hearing similar bleak news about electric vehicle sales, when they dipped slightly as a percentage of new car sales.
But lately, sales of zero emission vehicles (including plugin hybrids) have rebounded to about 13 per cent of the Canadian market. They were three per cent when I bought my electric Hyundai Kona in 2019.
Why the increase? One, driving an electric vehicle (EV) saves money – on fuel, and on repairs, because electric engines have so few moving parts. Annual savings average $3,000, by some estimates. If I keep my car for 10 years, that’s like getting a $30,000 rebate.
Two, driving electric means no planet-heating, air polluting tailpipe emissions.
American research group RMI show that by 2050 or even earlier, virtually no mining will be needed.
What about those car fires? Anyone concerned about that should drive electric. Forbes recently cited studies showing gas cars were far more likely to burst into flames. While EVs are catching on, not catching fire, some people are reluctant to take the plunge. One reason: upfront costs. In Europe, there are some 11 models with price tags below C$46,000. In Canada, only three. But we have over a dozen that start at $100,000+. Recently, some manufacturers have slowed production, blaming lower demand for EVs. Hmm. Wonder why that is.
Rebates help. In addition to a $5,000 federal grant for cars under $55,000, provinces like B.C. and Quebec have their own. That has helped EVs in those provinces reach at least 20 per cent of new car sales. In Ontario, it’s less than half of that. Those cold Scandinavian countries, with their many incentives, have topped 50 per cent.
Then there’s reliability. A German study recently showed that EVs had 30 per cent fewer breakdowns. The only part of electric cars that was as prone to failure as gas cars was the small 12-volt battery that powers the door locks, starter, lights and sound system.
As for the large battery, many EVs have battery warranties like mine – eight years or 160,000 km. Few need to be replaced outside of that. In fact, now we’re hearing that the batteries will outlast the body of the car. I’ve read about some older models with close to 500,000 km on the battery.
Most of those batteries require mining for cobalt, nickel and lithium. Fortunately, battery recycling now reclaims up to 95 per cent of those minerals, which can then be reused, indefinitely, to make new batteries. Projections from
Increasing public chargers will also help. Their numbers are growing, but not fast enough. Like most EV drivers, I usually charge at home, but on a road trip I appreciate those public chargers.
I also appreciate getting up to 480 km on a full charge in mild weather (about 20-30 per cent less in winter). Some newer EVs go much farther, and charge much faster. Despite those improvements, some people still question this clean driving transformation. But at the turn of the last century, the transition to gas cars was much more challenging. No gas stations, no paved roads. Skeptics were vocal back then too, with one banker saying to a would-be car maker: “You’re crazy if you think this fool contraption … will ever displace the horse.”
Discover endless possibilities at the Kawartha Lakes Public Library. There’s something for everyone — come and see what’s happening at your local library!
One-on-One Tech Help
Need assistance with your computer, smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device? Schedule a personalized 20-minute session with our knowledgeable library staff! Get comfortable with your technology in no time. Registration required.
• Oakwood Branch: November 26 & January 28 • 4 PM – 5 PM
• Bobcaygeon Branch: Every Wednesday 3 PM – 4:50 PM
• More branch locations and times on our website event calendar! Contact your local branch for more details.
Baby & Me
Drop in for a fun time of rhymes, games, and stories, specially designed for babies under 24 months and their caregivers!
• Lindsay Branch: November 6, 13, 20, 27 & December 4, 11, 18 • 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM
• More info and times on our website event calendar!
PA DAY at the Library
Looking for fun activities on November 22? Select Kawartha Lakes library branches are hosting exciting, hands-on activities for kids to enjoy. From creative crafts, and Oreo tasting to a thrilling dinosaur dig, there’s something for everyone! Check out our events calendar on the website to find out what’s happening at a branch near you. Times, locations, and events vary—don’t miss out on the fun!
There are so many exciting programs happening at all 14 of our library branches. Visit kawarthalakeslibrary.ca for a complete list of offerings.
The Lindsay Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary and their 75 years of service
Those entering Branch 67 of the Royal Canadian Legion on Fridays at lunchtime are (depending on the menu) greeted by the delightful aroma of fish and chips, liver and onions, roast beef and potatoes – with pie often served up for dessert. The atmosphere is lively and hospitable, with new friends and old acquaintances catching up over food and fellowship.
Overseeing it all are the dedicated personnel making up the Ladies’ Auxiliary of the Lindsay Legion, which in 2024 mark the 75th anniversary of receiving their charter of incorporation.
Although it was formally constituted in 1949, the LA had in fact been meeting for a year – and the raison d’être for its existence could be traced back to the First World War. During those four years of bitter conflict, women on the home front “did their bit” by preparing parcels of knitted goods and other items destined for those serving on the front lines. Following the cessation of hostilities, women continued to step up in support of those who had been injured, visiting them in hospital and ensuring their families were looked after as well. Ladies Auxiliaries emerged not long after the Royal Canadian Legion itself was formed in 1925 and officially incorporated the following summer.
Fifteen years later, another global conflict saw Canadian women step up in support of those on active service overseas. One of these women was Ruth Nesbitt, who spent the Second World War years working in the Dominion Arsenal
at the corner of Mary and Albert Streets in Lindsay. Born in Toronto in 1924, she was only in her mid-20s when elected as the Lindsay Legion LA’s first president.
The inaugural gathering of the LA took place during the evening of Nov. 23, 1948 in the Legion hall on York Street. Representing the LA’s Ontario Command was a Mrs. J. Cameron, of London, Ontario, who took the assembled women through the roles and functions of a Ladies’ Auxiliary. A short piano recital was presented by Jean Burns before the business portion of the meeting got underway with the election of officers. Supporting Nesbitt in her role as president were first vice-president Bertha English and second vice-president Velma Heffernan, while Margaret Kemp and Catherine Spence would serve as secretary and treasurer, respectively. Catherine Corey was chosen to be the LA’s ceremonial standard-bearer, and an executive consisting of Mildred St. Thomas, Rachael Jones, and Helen York would aid and assist the other women in the discharge of their responsibilities (as was custom in Legion halls, each of these women was formally styled as “comrade”).
Ruth Nesbitt served as the founding president of the Lindsay Legion Ladies’ Auxiliary from 1948 through 1950. Courtesy Royal Canadian Legion Br. 67.
The first anniversary of the LA was celebrated in style the following November. A beautifully decorated Legion hall welcomed an invitation-only crowd, which was treated to speeches, a sing-song, musical entertainment, and a skit that was said to have drawn “a great number of laughs from the guests.” Thereafter came lunch, and as reported in the Thursday Post, “the tables were soon laden with dainty sandwiches, relishes, cup cakes, candies, and after-dinner mints.”
Always looking ahead, the Lindsay Legion LA soon set about organizing a variety of events that not only raised funds for the Legion but also afforded members with many an opportunity to socialize. The Christmas tea and bazaar was a perennially popular function, and the local Legion branch was normally crowded to capacity as local residents sought out that perfect holiday gift.
Members also made pilgrimages to conventions in Toronto organized under the auspices of the Ontario Provincial Command. Here, they had the opportunity to network with women from all over the province and exchange ideas about how to best carry out the work of a ladies’ auxiliary. These could be emotional occasions, too; after all, both world wars were still fresh in the memories of most Canadians. Rita Gen-
dron, one of three delegates from Branch 67 who travelled to the 1958 convention noted that the parade to the cenotaph in Toronto was particularly poignant, drawing tears to the eyes of the padre of Sunnybrook Hospital.
Founding President Ruth Nesbitt passed away in 1989, as the Lindsay Legion LA was on the verge of entering its fifth decade. Her funeral was attended by mourners from far and wide, and florists were reportedly sold out of pink flowers. Among other things, Ruth was remembered for her generosity. “Every year she would pay to send a less fortunate girl to summer camp,” recalled Howard Nesbitt of his mother, who maintained a lifelong interest in the Girl Guide movement. Ruth Nesbitt’s legacy of giving back to the community remains a core part of the Ladies’ Auxiliary to this day. In the last several years, the LA has donated funds towards the installation of a flagpole at the Lindsay Lilac Gardens, it has donated backpacks to students at King Albert Public School, and in 2016 it raised $1,236 for Special Olympics. And that’s not all. The Lindsay Legion LA also supports homeless veterans, a service dog program, and a student bursary.
Three quarters of a century on, the LA remains optimistic about the future. “Branch 67 LA currently has 76 members on the roster,” says present President Marilyn LaMarche, “and we would certainly welcome more members to join our LA and become involved with our activities and events.” LA
Members of the Ladies’ Auxiliary gather for a convention on Oct. 6, 1960. Courtesy Royal Canadian Legion Br. 67.
the MARKETPLACE
LOCAL SERVICES & OFFERINGS
FOR SALE FOR SALE
Camryn’s Painting Free Quotes. References available. Call 705-887-8868
The Lindsay Rotary Club welcomes inquiries from local residents interested in getting involved with an active, rewarding service club. Call 705-328-0469 for more information.
Barr Construction Ltd.
Conventional & ICF basements. Residential, commercial, agricultural additions and floors. Call for a free quote. 705-879-1144
Treasures on 35 Antiques. Collectibles. Decorative. Over 30 local vendors. 3921 Hwy 35, Cameron. 705-300-1544 FB: treasureson35andmore
Droptine Maples
Ontario maple syrup
Available for bulk sale or by the bottle/case. 1L, 500ml, 250ml Call 705-879-1144
20’ Ocean Containers
New one trip $3000.00 plus delivery. Beige, green and grey with lock boxes for added security. Used 20’s and 40’s also available. Modifications can be arranged. You pay only when your unit arrives.
Jeff: 647-722-0044
Balanceequipment@gmail.com
FOR RENT
For Rent 1 bedroom + den. Heat, water included. Adult building - Victoria Station. $2,200 per month. Call 705-488-2421
For Rent 1 and 2 bed units from $1,800 & up. Heat, hydro & water included. Adult building in Lindsay. Call 705-324-9381.
Valentia Church & Community Centre
Annual Christmas Bazaar, Basket Draw, Craft & Bake Sale
Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, from 9 am to 2 pm. Door Prizes, Draws & Lunch.
WANTED EVENTS LAWN CARE
Burns’ Snow Removal & Lawn Care Ltd.
Grass cutting, Fall fertilizing & trimming. Snow contracts now available. Commercial & Residential. Fully insured. Call David E. Burns 705-324-8154
Classic & Vintage Cars & Trucks
Call Mark 613-360-2699
We Buy Vintage...
Vinyl Records, Comics, Costume Jewelry, Glass, China, Pottery, Toys, Sports & All Types of Collectibles. We Make House Calls Cash Paid. Robert & Penny 705-324-2699 howlingdog.rocks
McKenzie’s offers all aspects of outdoor maintenance interlock lift and re level fencing gutter cleaning lawncare snow removal Call 705-934-4333 Free estimates.
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A tale of three cats
By Trevor Hutchinson Contributing Editor
Maybe I’m just getting old, but sometimes I just need to be home for a rest. Thing is, I’m not sure that one would necessarily mistake my very active household with a Zen Garden. Sure, it’s sometimes a little quieter than when there were five kids at home, not counting the hangers-on. But with two teens and a tween it can get interesting.
And of course there is my oldest daughter who is an animal whisperer. We now have three rescued cats adding to the serenity of our happy home. The first was a barn cat. I gave a hard no on that one. Five years in, Barn Cat is ok, I guess. As long as he gets his treats at 6 a.m., 6:05 a.m., 6:10 a.m. – you get the picture.
The second cat was literally rescued from a dumpster. Dumpster Cat got an “absolutely not” from me. Eight months later and he lets me live in his house. I will note that if he were a human, incarceration or at least court-ordered bail conditions would be a likelihood, as cute as he is. The third one was a ditch rescue. I reluctantly allowed Ditch Cat to stay over one night while efforts were made to re-home him. That was six months ago.
The mornings can be fun: The three of them running around all nimbly-pimbly. And helping with the mice in our century-old house is helpful, if not exactly an appetizing start to the day.
I try to tell the family that I hate cats but it’s not effective when all three are lying on me and I browse Pinterest for cat activity walls and
make sure they have treats. Even Dumpster Cat has taken me as his own. And yes, we made sure all are neutered, stay inside and have upto-date shots.
I don’t know what’s going on meow, but I’ll be damned if this trio of felons didn’t make me into a cat person. I probably always was.
The first was a barn cat. I gave a hard no on that one. Five years in, Barn Cat is ok, I guess.
When we got these three, there was no or very limited capacity at the local shelter. So, despite my half-hearted “nos”, it was really the only thing to do. The kids know that how you treat an animal is a direct indication of how you treat a human.
And there is a need to show how we as a community treat animals. According to the Kawartha Lakes Humane Society, there are currently 134 animals looking for homes. If you can’t accept one yourself, please consider donating to KLHS if you are able. Every bit helps.
There are at least five references to a classic cult comedy message in this column. Send an email to info@lindsayadvocate.ca with the subject The Cat Game. A winner will be selected and Fireside Publishing House will donate $25 in their name to the KLHS. Meow!
