The Voice of Pelham, July 19 2017

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Column Six A cryptic tryptich Time passes, eternities await, memories linger

BY SAMUEL PICCOLO

Special to the VOICE

W

a big impact on what we do here in Niagara. As we prepare to open our new branch in Fonthill serving the Pelham community, we are now forced to consider semantic changes to our signage and interior branding which takes time and resources away from much more important things, such as community support.”

John Wink, Manager of Fonthill’s Meridian Credit Union branch, is also disappointed.

“It is an unfortunate stance that

HEN I WAS A N adolescent and still dreaming of becoming a professional golfer, I would, before sleeping each night, listen to a short tape of hypnosis.

This recording assured, or in any case advertised, that it would allow the listener to be more focused on the golf course, allow the listener to more easily enter the zone.

I cannot be certain of its effectiveness, but whether by placebo or fluke the first round I played after such a session was by far the best of my life. Even though the marginal returns diminished soon afterward, listening to those seventeen minutes remained thoroughly meditative.

It opened much as you would expect: soft, computer-generated music shimmered in the background while a man’s baritone encouraged relaxation of body and mind. Once enough time was provided for this initial repose, he moved on, prompting the listener and himself to imagine themselves in a place that “just by being there, allows you to relax...soundly and supremely.” Perhaps the pro-

See BANNED Page 10

See COLUMN SIX back page

SATURDAY AT SUMMERFEST This drone's-eye-view catches a thinning crowd at last weekend's Summerfest. More photos, page 8.

CAMERON YOUNG PHOTO

Federal regulator bans use of "banking" by credit unions Move derided by local executives as contrary to common sense

BY VOICE STAFF On June 30, the federal Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) issued an advisory that essentially banned credit unions from using the term “banking” to describe the services they offer Canadians. Their advisory takes a strict interpretation of the Bank Act, and based on this interpretation, the federal govern-

ment could lay criminal charges against any credit union that uses the term “bank,” “banker,” or “banking.”

Credit Unions have used the verb “bank” and the term “banking” to describe what they do, without penalty, for years with the tacit support of federal officials.

“This is a disappointing decision that will have a severe impact on Credit Unions and their members

across Canada as we’ll be forced to spend a significant amount of time and resources to accommodate these changes," says Ken Janzen, Chief Executive Officer of PenFinancial Credit Union. “Credit Unions are member-owned cooperatives, who in addition to being highly regulated, are also held accountable by their members. All we are asking is for OSFI to take a common sense approach to this language issue in order to create a level playing field for Credit Unions. When you break down this decision locally, it will have

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Page 2

The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

PUBLISHER’S CORNER

IN THE NEWS

Free playtime in Wainfleet

by Dave Burket

It was a summer afternoon, with a high, bright haze above the western shore of San Francisco Bay. The runway and taxiway approaching below, as the plane descended through 500 feet, reflected an intense glare that had the pilot squinting. That pilot was me, and the airport was San Carlos, a few miles south of San Francisco International, scene of last week’s Air Canada near-calamity (or not).

I was several months into training for a private pilot’s license, and I wore the over-confidence typical of successful students who had yet to screw something up.

That time had come. As I continued to descend, lined up with the runway, squinting against that concrete glare, I suddenly couldn’t believe my lying eyes. I wasn’t lined up with the runway. I was lined up with the taxiway running parallel to it. The taxiway was as wide as the runway, and, as I’d later learn, I wasn’t the first to be fooled, but I would have been the first in quite awhile actually to land on it. From that day forward I never took anything for granted, obsessively cross-checking every element of a given flight.

So, in that sense, I can slightly—slightly—empathize with the hapless Air Canada pilot who thought he was lined up on San Francisco’s 28-Right, realizing only at the last moment that it was the taxiway instead.

I say “slightly” because I was a private pilot doofus, an amateur, in it for casual pleasure, a hobbyist who later gave up the hobby due to its expense. (The sim software X-Plane serves the lingering need to soar.)

The Air Canada pilot, however, was a highly trained pro. These errors aren’t supposed to be made by highly trained pros.

Pelham is home to a number of current and retired commercial pilots, and I spoke with three of them about the San Francisco incident. All three said it wouldn’t have happened to them, but all three were also quick to say that all the facts aren’t in. A recently retired pilot for an international carrier said among pilots at his airline he probably flew into San Francisco the most, landing nearly always on either 28-L or 28-R. Surprisingly,

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even at night, most of these approaches were made visually, on the “FMS Bridge Visual” approach, and not using the autopilot coupled with the airport’s instrument landing system. This is due to the high traffic frequency at SFO, with 20-plus planes easily on approach at peak times—which is almost all the time. "Bridge Visual" relies on pilots to report seeing specific items as they descend, most crucially the airport itself.

San Francisco's 28 runways

28-left

28-right

Taxiway YOU-TUBE IMAGE

This pilot said that at night the lights from the ground can easily merge together at a distance. With the taxiway nearly as wide as the runway, if both pilots on the flight deck aren’t entirely on the ball, he says, he could just see the mistake happening—from a distance. That said, he also added that ultimately the pilots realized that something was wrong the more they descended, that they did break off the approach and go around. The system, in that sense, worked.

The other two pilots I spoke with were less forgiving. Neither could understand, with the multiplicity of radio navigation aids, with over-water lights leading to the runway, with runway lighting looking distinctively unlike taxiway lighting, how commercial pilots could have gotten so far behind their airplane. Both speculated that air traffic control may have switched them at last moment from 28-left to 28-right, but even this ought not to have led to such misalignment.

All the pilots agreed that a short answer will be known within a couple of weeks, the longer one in six months, and how or whether Air Canada may change its operations guidelines is anyone’s guess.

Voice on vacation!

At the Wainfleet Arena this summer, children can dribble basketballs, build obstacle courses, play parachute games, and much more — all for free. For the second year in a row, the FITastic Dropin Playtime program is being offered thanks to the dedication and support of staff from the Wainfleet Arena and Wainfleet Township Public Library. This program provides kids with a safe space for unstructured playtime so that they can stay physically active throughout the summer. Children under 10 must have a parent or guardian accompany them. Waivers must be signed at the registration desk before children can play. FITastic is running every Friday in July, as well as August 4, 11 and 18, at the Wainfleet Arena (31917 Park St., Wainfleet). Children can play from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Wainfleet peek-a-boo!

SUPPLIED PHOTO

incident. His identity is not being released by police out of respect for the family. Foul play is not suspected.

Drowning in Welland River

Last Friday, members of the Niagara Regional Police Service responded to the Welland River adjacent to a campground on Stanley Avenue in Niagara Falls in response to a report of an 18-year-old male who was swimming in the river and began experiencing difficulty. Nearby onlookers tried to help the male, according to a police statement, but were unsuccessful. Members of the NRPS Marine Unit recovered the body of the young man, who appeared to have drowned as a result of the

Drinking water scam

The City of Welland says that it has received complaints about a person or persons going door-to-door in various areas of Welland and insisting that a new water filter system be purchased and installed. Should a City of Welland staff member come to your home, he/she will always clearly identify him/ herself and show residents proper identification. City of Welland staff have municipal identification with QR-Code scanning capability that will verify them as city employ-

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Vol.20 No.48

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DSBN wants portion of Town park

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Oops: No fire trucks for you

Column Six

Haist Street traffic-calming measure a little too effective

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Column Six

Growing up British Part 2 of 2: Coronation to embarkation

Vol.20 No.32

Wednesday October 12, 2016

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Apple Day comes to Fonthill

BY JULIE MANNELL

Special to the VOICE

W

BALLOONING INTEREST Grade 6 student Jinja Shepherd explains her experiment on static electricity at the Glynn A. Green Public School's annual science fair last Friday. See story, page 3.

NATE SMELLE PHOTO

Public meeting tonight on school issues

BY VOICE STAFF As questions continue to mount regarding an email that Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn quietly sent to a District School Board of Niagara trustee last summer, Augustyn has agreed to address the issue at a public meeting scheduled for this evening, Wednesday, Feb. 8, in Fenwick.

Nancy Beamer, speaking for “Names Matter,” a Pelham citizens group lobbying the DSBN to reverse its decision to rename a local public school, confirms that the meeting will be held at Fire Station #2, known locally as the Fenwick Fire Hall, starting at 7:00 PM. While the Mayor has agreed to ap-

Under pressure, Mayor to address email revelation, other E. W. Farr matters pear, says Beamer, DSBN officials associated with the school-naming process have either declined to attend or have not yet responded to the group’s invitation.

DSBN Chair, Dale Robinson, to whom Augustyn’s email was addressed last June, has declined to appear, says Beamer, asserting that she would be

“on holidays.” The Voice was unable to independently confirm Robinsion’s intentions. She did not respond to repeated requests for comment on E.W. Farr-related matters before presstime.

Beamer, whose group maintains an email list of some 580 residents, says that all members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend the meeting.

“We would especially welcome parents and children who are unhappy with the name change,” she says, referring to the contentious decision by the DSBN to consolidate two Pelham See MEETING back page

HEN I WAS young, my father and I would go for long drives along the rural routes of Pelham. We’d blast George Thurgood and roll down the windows because we loved the smell of the breeze, the sensation of crisp Niagara wind beating our cheeks and tangling our hair against our summer-kissed skin.

My father was not a sentimental man. He worked in factories and had a Gordon Lightfoot mustache and never shed tears over injuries.

Yet something about the Pelham landscape, the hilly backdrop to his childhood and the childhoods of our ancestors, drew him in. He’d stop by a farm or a gathering of woods and, surrendering his manly veneer, tell me a story about the town.

This place is precious. This is the earth that granted us life. Here is the place where we happened upon love or here is a site of devastation.

On one particular drive sometime in the late ‘90s we stopped at a tree with a plaque.

“This tree looks dead,” I said to my father.

“It sure is getting there, Julie.”

The Comfort Maple is supposedly Canada’s oldest See COLUMN SIX Page 14

BY VOICE STAFF

A construction error was discovered following the opening of a traffic calming chicane on Haist Street north of Hwy 20 last Monday that prevented large vehicles from passing through.

One resident living in the neighbourhood said he contacted the Town after seeing a small schoolbus get stuck as it tried to get through the new traffic calming measure. Later that day while driving behind a cement truck, he said that he became concerned for the public’s safety when the truck had to turn around because it couldn’t get through.

“If a small school bus and a cement truck can’t make it through what about a fire

BY HEATHER McLAREN ROHRER

Special to the VOICE

A

Repair measures underway last week to correct a construction error in the chicane. truck or an ambulance?” he said.

While waiting for the contractor to return to fix

the mistake, the Town has taken measures to temporarily allow passage for vehicles through the neigh-

VOICE PHOTO

bourhood in the short-term.

Manager of Public Works Ryan Cook said that after discovering the issue with

the chicane the morning it first opened, the Town See CHICANE Page 5

Petition-inspired changes coming to 2017 Summerfest

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

Representatives from the Pelham Summerfest committee Candy Ashbee and Bill Gibson presented council with a final report on the 2016 Summerfest at the Council meeting on Monday, Nov. 21.

Prompted by a story in the Voice in August about a merchant petition to move Summerfest from Pelham Street, in September Town staff met with various stakeholders to hear their complaints, promising at the time that changes in the way Summerfest was mounted would be con-

sidered.

The main concerns identified during the community engagement process were security, parking, ensuring customer can access all businesses in town, and liability for damages. How to get all Pelham Street businesses to participate and finding ways to make it beneficial for them to set up a booth were also determined to be of high priority for the committee as they plan for next year’s event.

Gibson told Council that the committee is addressing these concerns in a variety of ways. To improve parking, they intend to create bet-

ter signage for out-of-town visitors to designated parking areas and shuttle services. To make participation in Summerfest more enticing to local businesses, they plan to implement a tiered-charge for booths. Under the new system, Pelham Street business owners will be charged the least, other local businesses will pay a slightly higher fee, and vendors from outside Pelham will pay the most. In response to more specific issues for individual businesses, they will also slightly alter the footprint of the event and make adjustments to security.

Another way the committee plans

Debbie

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Pine

to improve the 2017 Summerfest is by sponsoring and working with the organizers of the Thursday Night Bandshell Concert series to select the artist performing on the first night of Summefest. They also intend to make more use of the smartphone app they launched in 2016.

"We are really going to push it this year," Ashbee said.

“It really helps to get people to see what events there are so they can plan out where they are going.

We will be able to actually help the merchants and local businesses adSee CHANGES Page 5

FTER LUNCH ON Saturday, Mum and Dad had my afternoon cut out for me. Mum had more brass than anyone I knew, and it had to be cleaned. In addition there was the set of silver fish-knives and forks which were never used, but which had to be cleaned and put back in their velvetlined box.

Next was a walk to the newsagents to pay for the daily delivery of the Daily Mirror. As I said, Dad was a printer, but when he was 37 he had been rejected for a job, as being too old, by the printers of the Beano.

For that reason, my favourite comic was not allowed in the house, but while I was paying the papers, the newsagent let me have a 'shoofty' at the Beano. I'd explained my predicament and he understood completely.

Sundays were different again. Dad would play golf on summer mornings and billiards in winter. Then he'd stop for a 'refresher' at the local and would pick up the prawns, cockles, winkles or whelks we'd be having for tea later. Meanwhile, Mum was roasting the 'joint' and potatoes. I got to make the Yorkshire pud, and mint

BY VOICE STAFF

See COLUMN SIX Page 14

Full service. Full-time Realtor.

Your Fonthill real estate connection.

While shopping in Fonthill between Friday and Sunday, keep an eye out for Beavers, Cubs and Scouts in front of local stores with bushels of apples.

As part of the annual Apple Day campaign, Scouting youth of all ages will be trading apples for donations.

The yearly fundraising drive is an important way for young Scouts to connect with the communities they are serving, says Leah Marie of Scouts Canada.

“The Apple Day campaign holds a great tradition of being able to have youth interacting within the communities they live in,” she says. “All of the Apple Day donations stay directly within the group that re-

The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and well-rounded individuals

ceives them, enabling youth to have experiences that build character, challenge them, and allow them to try new things. The goal is to have these youth develop into confident and wellrounded individuals, better prepared for success. Apple Day helps to achieve that.”

“Any money raised during Apple Day goes towards improving the Scouting program by providing more outdoor adventures for youth, camping equipment, canoes and paddles, training and many other endeavours that the youth want to experience,” says Marie.

Scouts Canada has some 100,000 members across Canada, and carries out programs for boys, girls

Joining their principal, Karen Simpson, at the Sept.

19 Council meeting as part of a delegation from EL Crossley Secondary School, students Abby Loewen and Neenah Williams presented Council with a list of reasons that they should immediately approve the construction of the new sidewalk proposed along Hwy. 20. The asphalt side-

walk/trail is slated to be built between the south side of the road from Timmsdale Crescent to the high school.

Because of the large volume of motor vehicle traffic travelling at high speeds through this area, and because of the necessity for students to tread this path on a daily basis, many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later.

After delivering to Council a petition containing

Many residents would like to see the sidewalk go in sooner than later the names of 450 students calling for a safer walk to school, Simpson handed the

podium over to Loewen and Williams to plead their case.

Loewen told Council that because there are a lot of students who have work placements and coop placements during the school year, this is the only route for many of them to travel.

As one of the students facing this predicament, Williams said she has had no other option but to walk along the dangerous highway.

www.pennylanesold.com

H EATHER AND P ENNY L ANE S ALES R EPRESENTATIVES

BY JOHN SWART

VOICE Correspondent

and youth ages 5-25. This year the 3rd Fonthill Group, which includes Beavers to Ventures (youth ages 5- 25) will be hitting the streets to drum-up support.

Over the weekend, Scouts will be set up in Fonthill outside Sobeys, Tim Hortons, Target Gas station, Fonthill Shopping Plaza and the Pioneer Gas station at the corner of Hwys 20 and 24.

Town Council approves sidewalk to serve E. L. Crossley

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

Cell 905.933.3049

T

Second year Beaver with the 3rd Fonthill Group, Russell Letford offers a fresh apple to shoppers in Pelham during the 2015 Apple Day campaign.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

A longtime Canadian tradition, Apple Day began in 1932 in Saint John, New Brunswick, when Scouts handed out 21,000 apples as a way to say thank you to the community. In return for their generosity, many people offered them donations. From then on Scouts have reached out through Apple Day to raise funds for their programs.

Office 905.892.1702

Column Six It doesn’t get better than Autumn

Longtime Scouting tradition dates to 1932

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BY VOICE STAFF The District School Board of Niagara is requesting that the Town of Pelham cede a portion of Cherry Ridge Park for use as a soccer field to serve the students of the new Wellington Heights Public School, formerly the E. W. Farr Memorial Public School, in Fenwick.

Currently under renovation and expansion, the new school will combine students and staff from the previous school and Pelham Centre, where classes are being held while construction continues.

Two letters, containing virtually identical text but signed by different authorities, were sent last week to nearby residents of the park, as well as to parents of Pelham Centre students.

“The DSBN is currently building onto Wellington Heights Public School on Alsop Drive,” states the letter. “The size of the school's addition means the existing small soccer field will be eliminated.

The Town and the Board have been discussing the possibility of working together to create a field for both the school and the

FREE

Bike thefts

With thefts on the rise, the Niagara Regional Police Service reminds riders to "Lock it or Lose it" when it comes to bicycles in the Niagara Region. Since April, some 90 bikes have been stolen from the Niagara Falls area alone.

The stolen bicycles range from low- to high-end models, and are easy targets for thieves who are able to remove them quickly from exterior car bike racks with the use of bolt cutters. In order to assist police in identifying See IN THE NEWS back page

Ethan

Ethan and Chase Budai, in front of Parliament buildings in Budapest, Hungary. Testvérek örökre!

ees. If proper identification is not shown, advises a news release from the City, do not let the individual into your home, or sign a contract for any reason. The person(s) might inform residents that the water filter system is a new requirement with the municipality and ask residents to sign a contract that will obligate them to purchase the water system.

There is no such requirement or program associated with the City of Welland. City water samples are continuously collected and tested weekly by staff throughout the city’s distribution system. The water samples are further tested in accordance with Provincial Regulations. The city’s drinking water meets and exceeds Provincial Standards with all annual water quality reports. The City advises residents to be aware that you are under no obligation to allow a person to access to your home, or to provide them with any information if you are uncomfortable doing so. Should any sales people appear at your door wanting to gain access to your home for any reason and not clearly identifying themselves or the purpose of the visit, residents are advised to call Niagara Regional Police at 905735-7811.

“I start work at 2:30 PM and school lets out at 2:15 PM so I can’t take any other route,” Williams explained.

“I have had friends, family, teachers and other community members reach out to me in the past about how this is unsafe and how there should be another alternative for us.”

Looking ahead to winter, when she will need to walk this path three or four times See SIDEWALK Page 2

HERE IS NO BETTER time to cycle than Fall. It matters not whether you’re new to the sport, a seasoned recreational cyclist, racer, touring rider or mountain biker; we all have reason to look forward to autumn.

Summer’s heat has faded, and the streams of sweat that ran from soggy helmets into our eyes are now just slight perspiration. Fitness is peaking from lots of saddle time, making those tough climbs of Spring a breeze in Autumn.

It’s hard to beat the feeling of beginning a crisp, cool Fall ride with a slight shiver, knowing your efforts will soon warm you perfectly.

The hues of Autumn are outstanding.

A Pelham route as simple as following our southern boundary is one that would make most Toronto cyclists jealous, especially when our forests and fields are ablaze with colour.

Begin from Harold Black Park, and zig-zag south along Effingham Rd toward the Welland River.

If you’re new to cycling, it’s important to know south is the direction away from any hills.

If you avoid the morning and evening weekday rush hours caused by those travelling through Pelham between Wainfleet See AUTUMN Page 3

Indulgence Bakery Mossimo’s Pelham Street Grille Sobeys Fonthill DeVries Fruit Farm Beamer’s Hardware & TV Fonthill Library Black Pearl Fish & Chips Bob’s Boys Antiques Moku’s Fonthill Fitness Curves McDonald’s Fonthill Legion Semenuk’s Gas Bar Target Store Tim Horton’s Giant Tiger Pelham Town Hall Shoppers Drug Mart Zee Lube Express Care Lazy Loon Minor Bros Stores Avondale Stores A-1 Market Sobeys South Pelham Broken Gavel Restaurant Grill on Canboro Petro Canada Mtvl. Hwy. Renewed Thrift & Vintage Ridge Berry Farm Circle-K

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The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

Page 3

E. L. Crossley student selected for Team Ontario

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

After being cut from the Team Ontario volleyball squad in 2016, E.L. Crossley’s Sauli Lianga didn’t give up on his goal of competing at the highest level possible. Dedicating most of his time over the past four years to improving his game, his hard work is starting to pay off. Giving Team Ontario another shot again this past May, he returned home from the tryout camp to find out he had made the cut.

“I thought to myself, well if I didn’t make it last year my chances of making it this year were really slim,” he said.

“I was happy to make the camp but I figured the team was already kind of made, because they had a lot of the same guys from last year. I wasn’t expecting to make it, so when I found out that I did make it, I was really excited.”

Lianga has been training with Team Ontario in Windsor for the last ten days.

This week the team will fly south from Detroit, Michigan to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to compete in the High-Performance Championship (HPC) volleyball tournament. Known as the “Spaceship” of volleyball tournaments, the HPC is a five-day tournament where teams from around the world will showcase their best young talent.

While still a member of the high school team

at Crossley, Lianga began playing with the Niagara Rapids in 2014. He then joined the Niagara Fury team for two years before rejoining the Niagara Rapids for a brief period. This year, Lianga took his game up another few notches as a member of the Division One Kitchener/Waterloo Predators. There he helped the team earn a Bronze medal in the Provincial championships, and then another at the national championships this spring. By defeating the team that won the Ontario championship, Lianga and the Predators unseated the champs to become the highest ranked team in the province. His successes and abilities are not going unnoticed. Over the past couple of years, several Canadian universities have already shown interest in signing Lianga to their roster.

Because volleyball is played year-round, there is not much downtime for the young athlete. Unable to get enough of the sport he loves, Lianga said he recently signed up to play beach volleyball with the Ontario Volleyball Association (OVA). Also asked to play with the OVA’s provincial beach volleyball team, Lianga had to decline considering his busy schedule with the indoor team. To get more experience as a beach player, he still plans to participate in a series of training camps this summer.

“Beach volleyball is a totally different kind of game,” Lianga said.

It's been totally awesome watching him grow in the sport

“For indoor sixes, there is always a team, whereas with beach volleyball there are only two of you. So, you’re touching one or two out of the three balls on every single contact.”

Always looking for opportunities to enhance his skills on the volleyball court, Lianga is eager to head down to Florida to compete against some of the best upand-coming athletes in the sport. His parents Lina and Rich are also pumped to see their son compete at such a high level. The two proud parents are planning a road trip south to the “Sunshine State” to take in the tournament firsthand.

“It’s been really awesome watching him grow in the sport,” said Lina.

“We are very, very proud of him, because he could have given up but he didn’t.

There is a lot of drama in competitive sports and throughout everything he has persevered and stuck with it. And he’s done it all with a positive attitude.”

Proud mom Lina Lianga with son Sauli.

From left: Dr. Vandana Shiva, Chief Leslie White Eye, Maude Barlow.

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The VOICE

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, society has been divided into two categories when speaking in terms of one's personal worth – the one per cent making up the first category and the other 99 per cent composing the other.

Tightening the focus to take a closer look at how each of these groups contribute to the global water crisis, the University of Waterloo recently held a panel discussion with three of the world’s most highly regarded water activists – Chief Leslie White Eye, Maude Barlow and Dr. Vandana Shiva. During the session, the three leaders discussed an ocean full of other water-related issues

stressing the planet including: climate change, Nestle’s profit-driven agenda to pirate clean water from communities around the world, the petroleum-based pollution threatening the Standing Rock Sioux’s drinking water, President Donald Trump’s defunding of Great Lakes water protection efforts and a slew of others.

Chief Leslie White Eye was the first to share her thoughts on why she has come to understand that “Water is Life.” Currently engaged in a Supreme Court battle with energy giant Enbridge to protect the waters of Chippewa of the Thames First Nation, she has been on the front lines of the fight for a sustainable future.

She believes the only way to hold reckless companies

accountable for the environmental degradation they perpetuate is to make them pay for the true cost the damage they are causing. No longer should water be cheap for these companies, she declared.

"For the Anishinaabe people and culture, as with many Indigenous people, in Turtle Island, there is a real centeredness around what is life. In what becomes all of what that means is water."

"With everything that we do, and everything we carry in terms of our protocols, our ceremonies, our ways of gathering our way of eating, our ways of fasting – all these things are centrally bound around a recognition of thankfulness. Within that thankfulness there is a priority of spirit beings that

must be acknowledged in that thankfulness."

That morning, White Eye said her sister in BC was beginning a vision quest where she would go without until Sunday. On this day as well, her son and husband were travelling to Manitoba to take part in a Sundance ceremony where they would also learn how to go without.

Spiritual teachings such as these have been passed on among Indigenous peoples from one generation to the next since time immemorial, she explained. These ceremonies give those partaking in them a different relationship with their place in the natural world and teach them not to take air, water, soil, and everything that keeps them alive for granted.

"These are practices that

have gone on for centuries in our culture, to remind us and to show us quite readily how much water means to you as a spirit being,” she said.

“Because you are fasting, because you are feasting, because you are being faithful, because you are giving prayers, because you are working in a community that centralizes water at the very core of its work, every day, every week, every month, every year. That kind of reminding is not present here in this century, in this world, in this place. We are far and farther removed from the very sacredness of life.”

Every time communities pipe their water in from elsewhere pipeline, the people living in those communities separate themselves

from their environment.

This only serves to create a false sense of security which allows for individuals and businesses to abuse the water, she explained. If people continue down this path they will not learn to appreciate where their water, and their life comes from.

"We will have children who will never know that there was a time when their parents and grandparents walked out the back door, picked up a bucket and went to a local stream and drank freely without any health impact – because that's how clear and clean the water was. We are raising children who believe that water comes out of a tap and that somebody is going to See WATER Page 14

Page 4

The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

OPINION

The opinions expressed in submitted commentary and letters to the editor are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of the Voice of Pelham.

The Voice of Pelham is a 1211858 Ontario Limited publication David Burket, Publisher 2-1428 Pelham St., P.O. Box 1489, Fonthill, ON L0S1E0

COMMENTARY / OP-ED Larry Coté Smoke and mirrors

T

HERE’S A FAMILIAR adage that states, “where there’s smoke, there’s fi re.” While the fi re department has not yet parked a pumper truck at Pelham Town Hall, some folks may be alarmed that there appears to be wisps of smoke emanating from that epicenter of the Town’s civic activity.

When people get a mere whiff of unidentified smoke it can kindle fearful emotions and lead to panicky reactions. What began as a mere wisp of smoke at the Town Hall seems to have grown recently to a plume that threatens to darken the skies over this once pastoral town.

One of the primary smoke generators at Town Hall at this time emanates from the heated debate regarding the Town’s fi nancial machinations.

More specifically, the alleged current debt burden of $32,906,000 appears to be remarkably high for a municipality with a population of merely 17,100.

This current whiff of smoke was initially sparked by a Port Colborne councilor when he raised the matter at Niagara Regional Council. The councilor alleges that his

concern about the size of Pelham’s debt rests on the premise that the Region is ultimately responsible

...the smoke trail is as visible as the whimsical mists that arise from the Falls

should Pelham be unable to service that debt for any reason. According to the rules of the game, this appears to be a legitimate concern. Others may see it differently. For example, some may view this as “political maneuvering” on the part of that lakeside Councilor. In any case, that fi re has been lit and the smoke trail is as visible as the whimsical mists that arise from the Falls.

According to some reports, Pelham’s debt load is considerably higher than most of the other twelve

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municipalities across the Region—higher than the total of Port Colborne, Wainfleet, Lincoln, NOTL, and Grimsby combined.

Apparently, the guideline intended to limit the size of a municipality’s debt comes down to how it is repaid.

The amount to “service”—or make loan payments—to that debt should not exceed 25% of a town’s yearly operating budget. This guideline is similar to those that limit the amount of a household mortgage. If you pay out more than 25% of your income just for your mortgage, it may be hard to stay fi nancially healthy in the long run.

Consequently, Pelham’s Mayor is working hard to throw a wet blanket over these smoldering embers.

As of this moment, it seems this hot-button issue is not going to be extinguished easily. At another fi re site, the Mayor is working to rationalize the $36 million dollar Community Center being erected on the outskirts of Town. Incidentally, you might recall, there was a small puff of smoke associated with the 9,000 square foot change in space See SMOKE Page 6

Letters Enjoyed the weekend Well done Pelham Summerfest Committee and Town Staff. Best one yet.

The bands were fabulous, great mix of music. Thanks to all the volunteers that made this happen.

Mary Reid Fonthill

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Page 5

OPINION Letters

FOLLOW THE MONEY By Jim Pitt

continued

Shakespeare was a clever dude

Open letter to Niagara Region

The recent revelations concerning an alleged “corrupted” process around an East If you support Mayor Augustyn, you are Fonthill land transaction, as well as our subscribing to his political method of divide and conquer. Please don't let this happen. chart showing the rapid increase in the Town portion of property taxes, have been I am proud to be Canadian, in a democramet with silence from Town Hall. cy, but at the moment not proud of Pelham's This reminded me of a couple of words I politicians and CAO. had to help my students understand.

Please look at the amount of debt/capIn my previous life as a high school Enita they are imposing on us. I have stated glish teacher, I taught some of Shakespeare’s all along that I am not against a new areplays to students in grades 9 through 12. na, or now an ampitheatre, but it all comes Shakespeare was a brilliant observer of hudown to affordability and managing debt. If man nature in all of its many shades. you had been present at Pelham meetings, Part of the process involved defining you would have seen how the Mayor, along terms that would help the students underwith certain councillors, rammed through stand what the play was getting at. Most their project with or without proper fundof these terms found their origin with the ing. That is reckless!

Athenians in Ancient Greece. The term HuMayor Augustyn has to be put in his place bris was of special interest. and so do his borrowing methods. This isHubris is not a disease, at least not yet, sue, in my mind, because of what is starting but it is a condition that affects people in to come out, is not only political, but also positions of power, however minor that moral and ethical. The Region is no different power may be. than the person who holds the mortgage, Lord Owen, a doctor and former leader of except in this case it seems as though Pelthe now defunct SPD party in Britain, and ham’s CAO and mayor are saying, "Thanks himself a victim of this malady, has written for the loan, now buzz-off, it is none of your extensively on how it can turn politicians business!” into despots. The symptoms he identified Pelham residents need your help. Please are as follows: be vigilant!

A narcissistic propensity to see one’s Rick and Michelle Kavanagh and Families. world as an arena in which to exercise powFenwick er and seek glory; a disproportionate concern with image and presentation; a messianic manner; excessive confidence in one's Next up: Kunda Park? own judgment and contempt for advice; exaggerated self-belief, bordering on omnipSeems the Mayor and Center is being built. express concerns and ask otence; a belief that one is accountable soleCouncil are moving south Here is what we know. questions but have been ly to history or God; a loss of contact with into the Kunda Park subdi- In 2014, owners of Sterling pushed away and neglected. reality, often associated with progressive vision with their question- Realty John and Lee DeLisio Why is the Mayor so bent isolation; restlessness, recklessness and able land dealings. provided the largest cash on rushing development impulsiveness.

Coincidence, questions, donation to support Mayor After completing a play with such a charinvestigations are begin- Dave Augustyn’s re-election See KUNDA next page acter, we would check to see how many of ning to surface there, much campaign. Sterling Realty is the same as the land deals, partners in the development development credits and of Kunda Park subdivision. secrecy that surrounds the Residents have tried reEast Fonthill development spectfully to arrange meetwhere the new Community ings with the Mayor to It has come to our families' attention that Mayor Augustyn is trying to shut down the Regional Audit Committee process over jurisdiction. After following the whole process in Pelham, this project has reeked with a lack of transparency and, dare I say, ethics on the part of Mayor and Council. I can't understand why he wants to shut down the process. If he had nothing to hide, why would he not let the audit process continue to conclusion?

I do believe he has divided our community by making promises to the sports organizations with his arena and basketball courts.

He will keep those votes in his back pocket. I now believe he is trying to divide Regional Council by dividing mayors vs. councillors. At present it seems he owns Pelham council and is said to micromanage town employees.

My family urges you all to please remain steadfast in your pursuit of what is going on in Pelham. As a Pelham resident since 1958, I believe that it is the Region's jurisdiction, since you borrowed the money.

I believe the good people of Pelham may have been kept in the dark. I personally took time away from my job to attend the last audit meeting and I also was witness and spoke at the Mayor's Meet the Experts meeting. It was a sham.

The first folio, 1623.

the definitions fit.

It was remarkable how many leaders and politicians followed this pattern. Each example of hubris was countered by the term Nemesis, or, agent of retribution.

Retribution was not always in the form of a person, but could be an event or series of events. I bring this to you as homework.

Can you identify a leader or politician who exhibits the traits of someone suffering from hubris? Two hundred words by Friday, please.

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The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

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KUNDA continued from previous page and bulldozing our forests and green spaces—because he desperately needs to build thousands of new homes in Pelham to pay down the $36 million dollar debt of the new Community Centre?

As I see it, the Mayor and Council are pushing to develop and build in Kunda Park contrary to the direct orders of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and lawyers representing them. The lands are protected under law yet this council is determined to ignore that protection and evaluation under the Ontario Wetland. What makes the

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Mayor and council believe they can operate above the law and constantly push ahead without full open public consultation and respect for the Municipal Act which they are governed by?

These continual questionable practices and secrecy is not what Pelham residents want. When is this Mayor and Council going to stand up and be truthful, open and properly transparent?

Its time residents stand up too and take our town back to its basic rural village roots.

Perhaps it’s time to call for the Ontario Auditor General and OPP to investigate.

Nancy Freeland Fonthill

Asks for the truth and nothing but Lying costs. Truth is free.

On behalf of the community, the villages of Pelham, we wish to thank the Voice for being an advocate of truth and reporting in a responsible and factual manner the wrongdoing as we have just witnessed surrounding the East Fonthill developer presentation to Regional Council on June 29.

If you haven’t seen the presentation and the Mayor’s attempts to again deny the public opportunity to speak, then please take the time to see the truth by pasting this link into your browser https:// www.youtube.com/embed/ a5Os3ZEiVMI?rel=0&auto-

play=1 Blindly our Council has followed the Mayor’s march off the end of the pier. The plan now is to use every service and resource available inside Town Hall to spin more mistruths and to build a defense against the corrupted practice charges.

Rumor is that the Mayor wants to get the best of the best lawyers and fight the community, fight the whistleblower, and fight for his political career.

Council, of course, is in the S.S. Corrupted Practice boat along with the Mayor so hey, lawyer-up and hope it works. It doesn’t cost any of them a dime to use our public resources to fund

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the lawyers.

Since I began asking questions, and the D.E.B.T group was formed, and since the Voice started asking questions, the Mayor and Council stopped posting the monthly status reports to Infrastructure Ontario, who holds the loan. They stopped posting monthly reports from the Oversight Committee in January after the 9,000 sq. ft. addition and questions on how would that be paid for became public.

Town Hall went silent when we learned they entered a deal with Ball Construction to pay them a BONUS of 40% for every dollar See TRUTH Page 13

SMOKE continued from Page 4

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However, such edifices are deemed essential, by some, to aggressive community development.

Another wisp of smoke that recently drifted from the portals of Town Hall was the unexplained departure of Pelham’s Treasurer, who held that posting for nearly a decade. Waving away some smoke, one might surmise that a termination included a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. As has become customary with Pelham departures, the reasons for this one will also likely forever remain a mystery to the public. As a consequence, local coffee cliques were rife with uncorroborated rumors around that smudge pot of an issue.

There is no question that politics is a tough business. It is not an occupation for the faint of heart or thin of skin. Regardless of such difficult working conditions, the operations of a community should always be conducted in a transparent, forthright and honest manner. It is the responsibility of all politicians to keep the air clear and avoid the use of smoke and mirrors designed to keep the whole truth from being disclosed. We live in the hope that this will always be the case.

Larry Coté is a retired college professor. He was awarded a Governor General’s Medal for his community activities.

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

Page 7

Page 8

The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

THE KIDS WERE ALL RIGHT Young families took in Summerfest last weekend. Clockwise from top left: Beware the fire-breathers; Jeremy Storts and son Morgan, 3; paddling through the heat; it's a slippery slide for Joshua Loc, 5; taming a hula hoop caterpillar in Peace Park.

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The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

Members of PK Hummingbird Steel Band perform in Peace Park.

NATE SMELLE PHOTO

Steel drum orchestra offers free lessons

BY NATE SMELLE

The VOICE

For nearly two decades, the P.K. Hummingbird Steel Orchestra has been lifting people’s spirits with their Caribbean-flavoured music at community events throughout Niagara. Orchestra co-founder Kay Charles was part of the band performing in Pelham’s Peace Park at this year’s Summerfest. Each week, she said, the orchestra meets to hone their skills and prepare for the next performance. They provide free classes for youth between the ages of nine and 14, held every Monday and Wednesday evening, along with another free class for adults on Tuesday nights.

“Our free music lessons give everyone a chance to learn at their own pace,” she said.

“We teach the music in a way that everyone can pick it up. Anybody can join, anyone can volunteer and anyone can donate, but

there is no pressure. It’s a really great way for people to get involved in the community and we always have a good time.”

Charles said the steel pan drum originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 20th-century. Made from 55-gallon industrial drums, it is now the national instrument of the twin-island country. The pans are struck using a pair of straight rubber-tipped sticks. She explained that by using different sized rubber tips and a variety of different pans, the orchestra is able to create a wide range of sounds. Members of the orchestra are taught to play instruments such as the pan cello, soprano, double guitar, bass or double tenor. No musical experience is necessary to join, Charles said, however it essential for members to attend practice sessions consistently so they can learn to play together.

“It’s one of the easiest types of instruments

Kay Charles performs with the PK Hummingbird Steel Band.

to learn in the world,” said Charles.

“You don’t have to worry about reaching notes, you just tap, tap tap. We still need to practice regularly, so we can play as one. That takes time.”

Next year the orchestra will be celebrating its 20th year. Based out of Thorold, practices are held in the basement of what use to be a church and is now the home of co-founder Patrick Nunes’s home. Charles said Nunes, 75, has been playing with steel drum bands and teaching others for some 40 years. Since starting the orchestra in Niagara, she said they have performed together at events all over Ontario, as well as in the United States.

For more information on the PK Hummingbird Steel Orchestra and the lessons they provide visit their website at www.sites.google. com/site/pkhummingbird; or email pkhummingbird@ gmail.com.

NATE SMELLE PHOTO

Page 9

Page 10

The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

Fonthill Baptist Nursery School closes after 34 years The VOICE

Recently the parents of children attending the Fonthill Baptist Church’s Nursery School were notified that they would be closing their doors after 34 years. Serving to help prepare local children for elementary school, the beloved institution leaves a void in the community for families with young ones. Jocelyn Woodward, one of the parents of the children attending the school, said she was very sad and surprised when she heard the school would be closing.

“It was definitely very valuable for her,” she said.

“I had some tears when they told us it was closing. She already has so many memorable experiences from her time there.”

Since her four-year-old daughter started attending the school a year ago, Woodward said she has seen how beneficial the classes have been for her. Having spent three mornings a week over the last year, Woodward said her daughter has been upset that she hasn’t been able to go to class and see her friends.

“Every day this week she has been asking me if she was going to preschool and I had to tell her no. She doesn’t understand but she could tell something was missing.”

According to Woodward, everything about the school was wonderful. She said the church provided a

continued from Page 1 OFSI has taken,” says Wink.

“As a result, Meridian will no longer be able to use phrases like ‘mobile bank-

Letters

continued

Sidewalk shortcoming sidelined

BY NATE SMELLE

BANNED

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

From left, teachers Elaine Ellis, Manon Krahn and Yvonne Yochim.

perfect space for the children to learn and to play in a safe environment.

The fenced in outdoor area also gave them a chance to get outdoors as well.

With her daughter preparing to enter elementary school this September, Woodward is confident that her experiences at the nursery school will allow her to adapt to her new learning environment.

“There are day cares and day homes but they’re not the same,” she said.

“It’s a different atmosphere. It was a great way for kids to transition from pre-school to Kindergarten. Like with

ing,’ ‘business banking,’ ‘on-line banking,’ or ‘bank with a credit union’ when conducting our business.

It will also mean having to popularize new terms to describe our services to

SUPPLIED PHOTO

my daughter, I have no worry that she will fit in and do well in kindergarten because of her experiences at preschool. It was a great stepping stone for her.”

Dousing any possibilities that the nursery school could reopen at a future date, the school held a sale on June 27 to clear out its books, toys and other resources. Woodward said she is hoping to see another nursery school take its place. Even though another nursery school offering similar programs See SCHOOL Page 15

current and new members.

All this will come at a significant cost to all credit unions. All electronic sites, print materials and signage will have to be updated.”

Wink adds that the irony behind all of this is that people will still refer to doing their transactions at the credit union as “doing their banking.”

“OSFI has taken a position that is inconsistent with its past practices and with common sense,” said Martha Durdin, president and CEO, Canadian Credit Union Association. “The Minister has the power to fi x this so that Canadians continue to have a real competitive option to the big banks.”

Last weekend, my wife (who uses a mobility scooter to get around) and my grandson were on the southeast side of Welland Road on their way to the new Circle K. The sidewalk suddenly ends before the driveway entrance. My wife proceeded to turn the scooter around to take the road approach to the store. Her wheels on the scooter got stuck between the sidewalk and the boulevard. My wife and my grandson tried to get the scooter to move. Luckily, a gentleman stopped his car and helped them to free the scooter and put it on the road for her, for which we were all very grateful.

Upon visiting the scene myself, I noticed that the sidewalk is incomplete at this location as well as at the intersection on Welland Road and Pelham Street. Further down on Pelham the sidewalk is elevated about 3 ft. higher than grade and then suddenly ends.

I took some photos and proceeded to Pelham Town Hall to voice my concerns.

I was told that the recently installed hydro poles were the reason that the sidewalks weren’t completed. I was told by the clerk that the kids in the area loved the sudden 3 ft. drop-off on Pelham road. I told the clerk that a concrete barrier should be placed across this sidewalk to stop any kids getting hurt and bringing suit against the Town of Pelham.

How long will it take to get this issue resolved before someone gets seriously hurt?

Larry Stanley Pelham

Open letter to DSBN Trustee Robinson For 50 years we have been Pelham taxpayers. Both of us, all our siblings and all of our children have attended DSBN schools. DSBN was a significant partner to the organization where we spent careers of over 30 years.

On behalf of the Board, you have written a clear statement refusing to revisit the naming of the E. W. Farr school to the inappropriate name of "Wellington Heights". The intransigence of the Board on this issue is completely unacceptable: we elected

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our trustees to represent our interests in all matters affecting our educational system.

Correspondence written in 2016 by both DSBN staff and DSBN trustees provides evidence that the Duke of Wellington (and the proposed, non-existent fort on the "heights") were indeed the original inspiration for the name of this school. There is also clear proof that the students did not select this name as their first choice as you have stated. It would be responsible of the Board to stop generating new rationales for the name they selected by mistake.

Canadians, supported by extensive government directives, are trying to reconcile in many ways the wrongs committed against Jewish and Indigenous people in a dark period in our history. It IS our duty, each and every one of us, to help right these wrongs. It is not good enough to leave it up to "the government" or some other nebulous party. Why then, would we place a name on our school that is associated with a British official who helped make these past mistakes?

We should have a name that honors a contemporary Canadian of worth.

Local residents were excluded from fair consultation on the naming of a school in our community.

The school name would have otherwise had meaning to all. We do not want this inappropriate name on our school. The students

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ROBINSON continued from previous page we have heard from do not want this name, though you state otherwise. The Town of Pelham, several ministries, our MPP and many local organizations and businesses do not want to look at this name on our school everyday.

Your role, as a trustee, is indeed to "support our students."

The same applies to the parents, grandparents, and other caregivers of our children for whom we speak. You are also the advocate for the community of Pelham with respect to education and must fairly represent our concerns.

It behooves you to get the Board to re-examine the mistaken choice of this school name. Please do not continue to exempt yourself from this issue because it is difficult. This would be beneath the “Standard of Conduct" to which a trustee should hold herself.

You have a choice and we have a choice.

Your choice is that you can assist in the remediation of this problem on behalf of those who elected you.

Our choice will present itself at the next election, when we will vote for a trustee who effectively advocates for our community.

As our elected representative, please grant us the favor of a reply.

Keith and Marilyn Ebert Pelham

The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

Thanks for family fun I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to the Pelham Summerfest Committee, Town of Pelham staff and corporate sponsors for another fantastic community event, Pelham Summerfest 2017.

It was wonderful from start to finish. Many residents and visitors told me how much they enjoyed the events and the focus on family fun.

The staff and volunteers worked many long hours to ensure that visitors were able to have fun, enjoy our community and be safe.

Thank you so much.

Bea Clark Pelham

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Page 12

The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca

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Places of Worship and Events Bethany Christian Reformed Church 1040 Balfour St., Fenwick

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Glad Tidings Church of God 1 Pancake Lane, Fonthill

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Concordia Lutheran Church 105 Welland Rd., Fonthill

Fonthill Baptist Church 1414 Pelham St., Fonthill

Holy Trinity Anglican Church 1557 Pelham Street, Fonthill

Ridgeville Bible Chapel 418 Canboro Rd., Ridgeville

Fenwick Church of Christ 765 Welland Rd., Fenwick

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses 1369 Rice Rd., Fonthill

Kirk on the Hill Presbyterian Church 1344 Haist St., Fonthill

St. Alexander’s Roman Catholic Church 50 Pelham Town Sq., Fonthill

Fenwick United Church 1050 Church St., Fenwick

Fonthill United Church 42 Church Hill, Fonthill

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event that would be of interest to the community, you may submit an events profile by sending your community events information to MORTGAGES editor@thevoiceofpelham.ca Some restrictions apply. Event submissions that meet 1st & 2nd MORTGAGES from 2.00% 5 year VRM and 2.54% 5 year FIXED. All Credit the acceptability standards of The Voice of Pelham will then be posted until the date Types Considered. Let us help you SAVE thouof your event.

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Purchasing, Re-financing, Debt Consolidation, Construcas much notice and information as possible including the date, time and description tion, Home Renovations...CALL 1-800-2251 77 7 , ww w.ho me gof uayour rd fu nevent. di ng .ca The(LIC Voice of Pelham reserves the right to edit for space. #10409).

la that the public needs to understand. When in office, politicians lobby to get the support of other politithey can find in cost-cutcians. They do not necesting, even though Ball was sarily agree with the lead responsible for the original politicians issue or views budget creation as well as but they sign-on their supthe building design. Its like port IN TRADE for when giving a knife and fork to they themselves need supthe fox and telling him to port for an initiative they go watch the hen house. are launching.

This council lost sight of The Mayor has done a the fact we OCNA are a village, Network Classifi eds Ads lot of trading around the we want to (AD stay CENTRAL) a village, Region Council horseshoe they were elected to mainby supporting the other 11 tain our roads, sewers and mayors, so now when he’s Week of basic infrastructure, not is in trouble he turns to July 17 build Mississauga here in them for support.

Pelham.

That is plain wrong and What matters to them Posted that’s where you the pubmost is re-election, and July 13 lic can step in and demand they will do anything, change. say anything, and use our Write to all the Niagara Central money to achieve that end.

Regional mayors, councilPolitics is Region a simple proAds included ors and senior staff and tell cess with a basic formuthem you are disgusted, tell continued from Page 7

them we rely on them to be our safety net and not support the Mayor and Pelham Council in their potentially corrupt and secretive dealings.

The public has an opportunity to stop them and that opportunity is now.

Write the Regional Council, express your disgust, tell them you won’t accept the status quo, rubber stamp, one-for-all-and-all-forone support of politicians.

They are elected by us, we can vote them out, and that will be clear when you write and demand that they step away from Mayor Augustyn and Pelham Council and support the community by taking this case to the Ontario Municipal Board, The Office of the Ombudsman, and Infrastructure Ontario.

Our council cannot be

This ad is to be printed by all participating Ontario papers

permitted to spend hundreds of thousands of taxpayers dollars to defend actions they created when all they had to do from the beginning was tell the truth, which was absolutely free.

The truth is free and the residents deserve the support of the full Regional Council to seek an independent forensic audit and limit Pelham against any further borrowing.

For those not knowing how to contact the Full Regional Council, simply write your letter to and send it to the Regional Chair’s Office: alan.caslin@ niagararegion.ca Residents and your neighbors through all of Pelham are standing up and joining the rapidly growing citizens against corruption and taxes group. The group

is a center for information as well, and all correspondence is held in strict confidence.

If you have any questions or require assistant in contacting the right officials with your letters contact: debt.pelham@gmail.com Curt Harley Pelham DEBT Editor’s Note: Several letters to the editor arrived last week on the topic of Pelham CAO Darren Ottaway’s presentation to a closed-door meeting of Regional mayors in June. It’s generally Voice policy not to print chain, or mass-mailed letters, particularly when the original author is not identified. Readers wishing to express an opinion on this or any other issue in the news are invited to do so in their own words. Thank you.

On the matter of public availability of documents pertaining to the Community Centre's construction progress, in response to Voice queries, Pelham's Public Relations and Marketing Specialist Marc MacDonald says that while some documents are available now, the Town intends to place all relevant documentation at a single location, or at least branching from a single link.

At present, residents may find Oversight Committee meeting minutes and agendas at http://www.pelham.ca/en/ how-might-I/Pelham-Community-Centre.aspx under the "Progress Reports" tab.

Once MacDonald includes the Infrastructure Ontario reports (or a link to them) we will post a permanent link to everything on our Opinion page.

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Page 14

The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

CANADA 150 REVISITED Commentary by Nate Smelle

F

What it means to be Canadian

OR T H E F I R ST H A L F OF 2017 the buzz about Canada’s 150th birthday steadily grew louder. Now that Canada Day has come to pass that noise has started to fade and the invoices need to be paid. Frankly, I had not given the whole ordeal much thought until I learned a few days before the party that it would cost taxpayers half a billion dollars.

Also noticing that the federal government spent just $6 million nationwide on Canada Day celebrations in 2015 my expectations going in this year were high.

A fan of closing down streets for the sake of a good time, my first impression of the Canada 150 parade in Pelham was a good one. The sun was shining, people were smiling, everyone seemed to be having a great time. Walking over to Harold Black Park, the good vibes continued to flow throughout the day and into the night. There was music, dancing, public art, games, cake, fireworks, someone selling beer out of their trunk in the parking area. A pretty good Canada Day all around.

Getting home later that night, I thought about the day behind me and how it stacked up in comparison to other Canada Days in the past. It was at this point my maple syrup began to turn sour. Certainly, the extra $494 million spent this year must have enhanced the festivities in some noticeable way? Not seeing much of a difference between Canada Day 2015 and the one I experienced earlier that day, I asked myself what was missing.

As far as I could see it was just another July 1 that had come and gone.

Giving it some more thought and doing a little digging online, it didn’t take long to discover, at least in my mind, what was absent from the allegedly historic celebration.

Pondering my expectations, it occurred to me that there was nothing that really struck me as profoundly Canadian about the Canada 150 celebrations that I experienced in person or came across on the web. Sure, the over-abundance of Chinese-manufactured Canadian flags and swag projected an illusion of patriotism, but $500 million should buy a hell of a lot more memories than any memorabilia can provide.

Meant to be a monumental moment in Canadian history, the feds seemed to do virtually nothing to remind us of what it truly means to be Canadian. In fact, for someone completely new to the country it may seem like the entire nation was created spontaneously in a lab by the British on July 1, 1867. There was virtually no recognition of

Canada prior to colonization aside from a few feathers and drums displayed here and there to show the cameras how progressive our government can look. Is this tokenism an acceptable and sincere step towards truth and reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, who have inhabited this land since time immemorial?

Though the lack of an Indigenous presence may have tarnished the authenticity of Canada 150 festivities, I do understand why many in the Indigenous community may not have felt like celebrating. When members of the Bawaating Water Protectors tried to erect a tipi near where the party was about to take place, to raise awareness that the land where Parliament Hill is located was never surrendered to the Crown by the Algonquin Anishinaabe First Nation, they were not welcomed with open arms.

Instead, they were greeted with handcuffs and taken away.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared during the 2015 election that he would put Indigenous issues back on the table and renew a nation-to-nation relationship between the Canadian government and Indigenous Peoples. Yet, after taking office he has refused to honour this commitment, and in most cases by doing the exact opposite. Without blinking he has disregarded the Prophet River and West Moberly First Nations’ opposition to B.C.’s Site C Hydroelectric Dam, and ignored the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs’ demands to scrap Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain.

Trudeau has also approved Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement pipeline projects despite opposition from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, while at the same time advocating to revive the dead-in-the-water Keystone XL Pipeline, which is opposed by several First Nations on both sides of the border. Is this how the Canadian government negotiates in good faith?

With half a billion dollars squirreled away for Canada 150 celebrations by the Harper/ Trudeau coalition, the sesquicentennial bash could have been used as a unique, once-every-150-years opportunity to begin rebuilding the government’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples. That however would have taken political will and a backbone when it comes to Indigenous and environmental issues – two things our current prime minister is not yet known for. Over the next five years the feds have allocated See CANADA 150 next page

WATER continued from Page 3 take care of it for them and someone is going to clean it and they don't have to think about or question that. Is that privilege? I hope not."

White Eye said that people need to start attaching their DNA and health records to the place where they live, so that instead of asking themselves what their ancestry has given them in terms of their health, they ask what it is the place where they live is giving them regarding their health and well-being.

“That's an environmental question that can be attached to somebody's wrong doing,” she said.

Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians has been campaigning diligently for decades to protect water from corporations seeking to harness the world’s freshwater supply as a commodity for them to exploit for profit. Drawing attention to the fact the United Nations has stated that by the year 2035 the demand for water will out-strip supply by 40 percent, she called on people to stop supporting companies such as Nestle and Coca Cola who are actively and rapidly depleting water sources around the globe.

Stressing how important clean water is to human health, Barlow said the World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced that two billion people drink contaminated water every day.

"We are in a race against time because we have been allowing the ecological destruction of our water,” Barlow said.

“The UN also says that by 2075, seven billion people will be living in some type of a water crisis. Water contamination is still the largest killer of children, more children die of water born disease than all forms of

www.thevoiceofpelham.ca violence including war. It is still the number one human rights issue in the world just in terms of sheer numbers."

Barlow said it is important for Canadians to realize that they are not immune to the water crisis. Though Canada’s freshwater supply is more abundant than some countries, she said the lack of regulations to protect the water from pollution generated by the oil and gas extraction, agriculture and other ecologically destructive industries. Barlow emphasized that the Federal government needs to start taking water conservation and protection seriously, if it sincerely cares about the future of all Canadians.

She said a good first step for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would be to take immediate action to reverse the damage done to environmental protection regulations. Quite simply, she said companies need to start paying for the irreversible damage they are causing.

"We have many issues with water in this country and of course we have a crisis in First Nations where if you live in a First Nations community you are 90 percent more likely to be living without running water and without sanitation,” she said.

“So, we have issues right here. We also have an abuse of water through bottled water takings. The industry now boasts that by 2020 it is going to be selling 465 billion litres of single-use bottled water every yearmost of it plastic. Try to picture that. It would go to the moon and back 100 times, and we are buying it when many of us have clean safe tap water coming out of our taps."

Having spent a huge portion of her life defending and celebrating biodiversity and indigenous knowledge, environmental activist, scholar and author Dr. Vandana Shiva holds a deep reverence for water. For the

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"All of this flows from the interconnected world in which we are a part,” said Shiva.

“Our connector is our compassion our love and our solidarity with the water. What flows through us is the same water that flows through plants, the same water flows though ecosystems, the same water that evaporates and comes down as rain and snow. We are water, we are one. That remembrance that we are one, in one connected whole is the radical place from where we need to start.”

Breaking down the global water crisis even further, Shiva brought up how the soil is where most of the earth’s freshwater water is. Even the rivers and the wells get their water from the forest and the humous from the forest and the humous in the soil, she explained. There is even evidence of our intimate interconnectedness with the water and the earth in the languages we use to communicate. For example, the Latin word for soil – humous – is also the root of the word human.

Scoping the big picture in hope of finding a solution, Shiva noted how both the Syrian crisis and the Nigerian problem began with drought and a lack of clean water.

"Wherever we look water is at the root of conflict, non-sustainability, violence and migration – because where there is no water there is no life," said Shiva. "On the other hand, water protected, treated with love and given reverence it becomes the place where we can reclaim our one humanity and ensure that this beautiful earth is a place where we can stay."

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The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

This week in baseball

BY MELISSA WELLS

Page 15

FACTS MATTER. TRUTH MATTERS.

Special to the VOICE

It's your Voice. Subscribe to be sure it's heard.

Panthers make tournament semis. MELISSA WELLS PHOTO The Tim Hortons Flames played both Tuesday night and Friday night this past week. Riley Crowe impressed the coaches when her powerful hit which sent Hagen White rounding the bases and sliding into home plate, scoring one for the team. Hagen White has proven his natural talent time and time again with his big hits and hard throws, leaving little doubt that he will be playing for the major leagues in the future.

Another emerging baseball star is Caelan Sagriff, who took one for the team with no fear blocking a line drive straight through centre field on Friday's make-up game against the Tim Hortons Hawks.

The Miller Restoration Mosquito Rep made their first semi-final tournament game in the Thorold tournament on July 14-16. The team played exceptional ball to finish second in their pool. Ace pitching by Connor Jolicoeur in both the Friday night win and in Sunday's semi-final game.

Cameron Wells was a force behind the plate throwing out two runners in the Friday win against Thorold and successfully executing third base pick-off against the Welland Majors. Andy Nawrocki was reliable at third base and Austin Wilson caught several fly balls on the run. Mitchell Morden pitched a fantastic game against Waterdown and fielded his position well with three come backers to the mound, winning him the MVP

CANADA 150 continued from previous page a total of $828.2 million to spend on First Nations and Inuit Health Investments.

That’s $165.64 million each year to cover: chronic and infectious diseases, maternal and child health, primary care, mental wellness, home and palliative care, drug strategy—harm reduction measures and the non-insured health benefits program.

Instead of burning up $500 million on party supplies and preparations, so

SCHOOL continued from Page 10 would help to fill the void in the community in terms of service, she said the teachers at the Fonthill Baptist Church’s school would be difficult to replace.

“All the teachers were amazing,” she said.

“They will be missed dearly.”

Yvonne Yochim has been teaching children at the nursery school for the past 23 years. Disappointed by the board’s decision to close

medal for the game. Max Veld made an outfield fly catch against Waterdown, getting the ball in quickly to hold the runners. Ty Pelletier pitched a great couple of innings to hold the Welland Majors in a deadlock game. Chase Munn, throwing from left field, threw a perfect strike to home plate to get a greedy Welland runner. The Panthers turned on the offence this weekend with a triple by Julian Rubino, a crushing double by Max Myers and multiple base hits by Maverick Halstead. Matthew Oakes secured Friday night's win with two outs with seven pitches and also came in to complete the semi-final game. Special thanks to Miller Restoration, Bromac Construction and J Oskam Steel for their support of the team.

The Pelham Medical Associates team prevailed against the St. Catharines Majors this week in league play. Jake Kalailieff hit a triple and Jake Laewetz hit three singles in support of the team's 13-5 win. Wyatt Gibson showed his flexibility on the infied, making several great plays from the shortstop position. Tyler Hunter made a running fly catch in the outfield, holding off St. Catharines from scoring opportunities. Ryan Culig started a double play and Owen Nicholls fielded several hard ground balls at third. Great job in preparation for the team's last tournament this weekend in Waterdown. Go Panthers!

much more could have been done. An additional $100 million dedicated to maternal and child health in Indigenous communities for each of the next five years, rather than $83.2 million split up over five years. Considering the federal government still subsidizes the oil and gas industry with $1 billion in taxpayer money each year, ideas like these are not unreasonable. If we can afford to continue making the rich richer, we can afford to prevent the sick from getting sicker.

When I think of what it means to be a Canadi-

an I think of helping your neighbor clear snow from their driveway, sharing the wealth and shrinking the gap between the rich and the poor. I think of the Rocky Mountains, the Niagara Escarpment, the Fonthill Kame, the Comfort Maple, the Arctic, the Great Lakes and the Thundering Waters of Niagara Falls. These are the things that define us as Canadians. Before we can define the type of nation we aspire to become, we need to understand where we came from, who we are and what we stand on guard for.

the school, she said the closure was not due to low enrollment. In fact, she said, the school had a wait-list for children wishing to attend.

Yochim explained that two of the main reasons for the closure were new legislative changes for nursery schools and the inability to find new directors to sit on the board.

Recognizing the value of the school and its programs to the community, Yochim pointed out that the kind of programs they offered at the nursery school are becoming more difficult to find.

“We met a special need in the community,” she said.

“We serviced families with a very affordable non-profit program where moms at home on mat leave who wanted a program for the older sibling, families who worked part time, grandparents who cared for grandchildren, and families that wanted a program for just two or three mornings a week rather than full time day care. I suppose all good things come to an end, and for everything there is a season.”

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The Voice of Pelham, July 19, 2017

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IN THE NEWS continued from Page 2 the rightful owner of a stolen bike, they say, it is important to record the serial number of a bike and keep it for future reference. This is easily done by taking a picture of the bicycle and identifying markers, including the serial number or any scratches on the bike, and storing the information on a cellphone.

Free quit smoking help

Free quit smoking patches are available to Niagara residents for a limited time. The STOP (Smoking Treatment for Ontario Patients) program offers eligible participants in Niagara five weeks of cost-free nicotine replacement therapy and smoking cessation information to help them in their quit attempt. STOP workshops will be held in Thorold, Welland and Port Colborne on July 19, August 17 and September 28. Registration is necessary. To find out if you are eligible and to register for a workshop, call 905-688-8248 ext. 7240, or 1-888-505-6074.

Officer Facing Misconduct Allegations Resigns From Police Service

Cop resigns

A Niagara Regional Police Service member facing multiple allegations of misconduct under the Police

Services Act has resigned from the Police Service effective July 7, according to a statement from Niagara Regional Police. In September 2012, Constable Scott Heron was charged with criminal offences related to the illegal importation of cheese into Canada and was subsequently suspended from duty. In September 2015, Heron was convicted of criminal offences related to the matter and in November 2015, he was sentenced to a period of incarceration. In accordance with the Police Services Act, Heron was suspended without pay at that time which continued until the time of his resignation. Heron subsequently filed an appeal of his criminal convictions and sentence to the Ontario Court of Appeal. On June 1, 2017, Heron's appeal was dismissed. Following the conclusion of the criminal appeal process, the Police Disciplinary Tribunal was scheduled to reconvene however Heron tendered his resignation before that occurred. On Monday, Hearing Officer Superintendent Stuart McDonald (O.P.P. / Retired) concluded disciplinary proceedings, noting that Heron's resignation had resulted in the loss of jurisdiction to hear the allegations of misconduct as Heron was no longer employed as a police officer or subject to the disciplinary provisions of the Police Services Act.

COLUMN SIX continued from Page 1 cess would have been more beneficial had this place been the golf course. But since I was calm and confident everywhere else–– and easily frustrated while playing––it seemed wiser to make the game like the rest of life and not the other way around. I would focus upon a three-dimensional image: a graveyard, in the evening, with my grandfather.

At about the same period as I was being hypnotized I would frequently sleep over at my grandparents’ house, in Louth. The two of them, and Grandpa particularly, adhered to a strict routine: dinner was at 5:00, followed by a walk around his yard and the block. When I spent the night I would join him on these wanderings––my favourites being those that brought us around the corner to the churchyard. It was not a great distance to this church, but Grandpa was a slow walker and there was never any rush, and so it was as much the stroll as the arrival that I recalled during hypnosis.

In the summer then I often went barefoot, even as we went along the road. By the time we set off, the sun had typically reclined below the trees, but with my feet I could still feel the day’s heat stored in the pavement. Cracks fi lled with

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The congregation withered and the church closed long before my memories began, but its cemetery was still maintained. Grandpa was not an especially chatty man, and it was common for us to amble among the tombstones in near silence, with he only occasionally interrupting the hush to comment on something he had observed on an unaccompanied walk. The absence of pressure to speak is likely what allowed these times to acquire such tranquility: I was free to linger at the bunches of flowers that had been added since my last visit, or admire the slits of evening light streaked about the stones. It was a small piece of property, and we never took long, even at a reduced pace, to make our way through the rows, until finally we found ourselves at its back, looking down into a ravine.

This ravine had once been what most gullies accessible to automobiles must become: a dump. Though it seemed that the slope had been left alone for several years, it was still strewn with assorted discards: plastic chairs, car tires, a

The absence of pressure to speak is likely what allowed these times to acquire such tranquility

cracked plaster fountain with a cracked pink flamingo. These cast-offs were more or less at odds with the graveyard’s peaceful aura, but my favourite bits of refuse were those that looked less out of place. The cemetery’s oldest markers were from the 19th century and many of those on which the writing had worn off had been replaced, the old stones deposited on the edge of the ravine.

There is much to be learned from the stones in cemeteries, and so it is fortunate that those aged and worn are replaced periodically. Societal changes can be measured over time, birth rates and life expectancies, and specifics can be gleaned, too––an area’s prominent families (by cross-referencing street names) and its fatalities during the wars. Such facts of death are vestiges of sad stories, surely, but there can be sorrow in survival, too. Husbands and wives buried beside one another, decades apart, twenty years

of solitude now recalled only in stone. The stories in cemeteries are the tales of families.

My hypnotist warned listeners that they should not expect immediate results.

He advised us to listen to his tape twenty one days in a row before becoming upset. The virtue is in the repetition.

Grandpa hasn’t listened to the tape, but he seems to know this virtue intuitively.

What remains of Grandma is buried in the northwest corner of that Louth cemetery. Grandpa’s name and date of birth are already inscribed upon his own stone.

He still walks there, on nice nights. At least once every spring he takes the car so that he can more easily bring the year’s flowers for planting. In doing this, genuflecting with trowel in hand, he meets, eyes to empty space, the only blank spot on his tombstone: his death day.

It does not appear to bother him. He seems at ease. ♦