CommunityNews N O R T H
W E L L I N G T O N
Volume 53 Issue 42
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Minto to apply for official plan amendment to expand Palmerston boundary PATRICK RAFTIS REPORTER
Movie house mural - A new mural was unveiled at the Norgan Theatre on Oct. 7 by the All Aboard Palmerston beautification and steering committees, the Norgan board of directors and the Town of Minto. The cinema-themed mural, created by local artist Stephanie Hood, features a tribute to the volunteers whose efforts allow the municipally-owned theatre to thrive. The project was made possible with funding from an OMAFRA Rural Economic Development grant and joint funding from the Palmerston Lions, Palmerston Legion, Palmerston Kinettes, and various businesses and groups across Minto. Among those on hand for the unveiling were members of the All Aboard Palmerston beautification committee, from left: Minto economic development manager Belinda Wick-Graham, artist Stephanie Hood, Minto marketing and community development coordinator Taylor Keunen, Amy Habermehl and Amy Heinmiller. Submitted photo
MINTO – The Town of Minto will file an application for an amendment to the Wellington County Official Plan to increase the urban boundary of Palmerston in order to accommodate projected growth in that community. At the same time, the proposal would result in a decrease in the urban boundaries of Harriston and Clifford. Triton engineering senior planner Bill White presented a report on the proposed changes at the Oct. 6 council meeting, which was held via video conference. In 2017, the town began secondary planning work in Clifford and Palmerston to prepare for the county’s 2020 five-year official plan review, White explained. The North Clifford Secondary Plan identifies enough land to meet the 165-unit residential county growth allocation to 2041. The West Palmerston Secondary Plan went to council in April 2018 with an informal public consultation
that September. It proposed a Palmerston urban boundary expansion to ensure enough serviceable land to meet the county’s 635-household growth projection and addressed availability of serviced industrial land. The secondary plan proposes policies on future roads, trails, land use, servicing and reducing the 500m setback from the closed landfill site east of the planning area. In May of 2019 the province changed the Growth Plan for the Greater Golden Horseshoe to allow small urban boundary expansions outside formal five-year official plan reviews. This meant the Palmerston urban boundary could grow without waiting several years while the county reviewed its entire official plan, White stated in his report. In October of 2019, council proposed reducing the Clifford urban boundary to support expansion in Palmerston, and requested an engineering study to address the 500m setback from the closed landfill. SEE BOUNDARY » 8
Wellington Heights teacher receives Everyday Hero Award for rock band program JAIME MYSLIK REPORTER MOUNT FOREST – Wellington Heights Secondary School (WHSS) teacher Ben McCabe was surprised when he learned he was one of Upper Grand District School Board’s Everyday Heroes for the 2019-20 school year. He is the head of special education at the Mount Forest high school. “I work with any of the students here who need support with their learning and run the special education department here,” he said. McCabe was nominated for the Everyday Hero award by former WHSS principal Jennifer Meeker (now principal at Centre Wellington District High
School), vice principal Kevin Taylor and student success and CELP teacher Matt Timberlake. Students and other teachers also submitted letters of recommendation. BEN MCCABE Taylor said McCabe is the kind of teacher he wishes all students could have. “He is kind, professional and knowledgeable to be sure, but he is also generous to a fault,” Taylor said. “On top of his duties as head of special education, which he does an amazing job at, Mr. McCabe gives back to school every single lunch hour.
“He has hosted a social skills group and an Arduino Club in the resource room, allowing us to keep the resource room open to students five days a week ... without his gift of time we could not do (that).” And while that makes McCabe a good teacher, those are not the qualities that make him an Everyday Hero, Taylor said. “What makes Mr. McCabe an Everyday Hero is what he did for music at WHSS,” Taylor said. Last year there was a decline in music class enrolment, which lead to the cancellation of the class. “So I offered a rock band program, so like a music program, to students as an extra curricular,” McCabe said. “It was fantastic.
“It was a lot of fun and we went and played over at Victoria Cross for the public school, played some tunes before Christmas and things like that.” But it was more than just choosing to start a rock band program. Taylor said McCabe sought out and secured funding for the program and acquired a class set of guitars and a drum kit. “Mr. McCabe set up all the new equipment, organized and sorted existing instruments to create a safe storage place for the new equipment, and arranged for the professional assessment and cataloguing of existing musical instruments,” Taylor said. “After this was done he also became the staff advisor to the new program. “This meant that Mr. McCabe
taught guitar on Fridays at lunch.” McCabe also brought in Adrian Jones, a professional musician and music teacher, to work with students monthly. “For many of the students this program became a highlight of their time at school,” Taylor said. “It gave them a chance to express themselves through music. I could not estimate the number of hours Mr. McCabe gave to this project. “I know that Mr. McCabe did for students what they could not do for themselves and for me that is the definition of an Everyday Hero.” McCabe said the nomination also says a lot about other staff at the school. SEE TEACHER » 2
Local volunteers lament loss of WE Charity’ Canadian operation PATRICK RAFTIS REPORTER MOUNT FOREST – The fallout from the federal government’s decision to contract delivery of a student volunteer program to WE Charity has robbed Canada of the benefits of an “innovative” organization that convinced many young people “they could help to make the world a better place,” says a dedicated local volunteer. Mount Forest resident Donna McFarlane has been involved with WE Charity, originally known as Free The Children and later Me to We, since 2008. A former teacher, she was instrumental, along with Wellington Heights Secondary School teacher Barb Cowen, in organizing educators and students from Mount Forest’s three schools into a local volunteer arm of the charity. The group raised over $50,000, using the funds to drill a new water source and expand classroom space at a school in the Kenyan community of
WE volunteers - Local volunteers, from left: Barb Cowen, Dr. Robert McFarlane and Donna McFarlane during a 2016 Me to We trip to Kenya. Submitted photo Osenetoi. Involvement in the African community has seen local Me to We volunteers, including McFarlane and Cowen, make trips in 2011 and 2016 to Osenetoi to work on projects there.
In 2012 McFarlane received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, in part for her humanitarian work with Free the Children/WE. More recently she has spearheaded
the collection and delivery of sewing machines for the newly established WE College in Kenya and also donated a portion of the sale of her two children’s books - Crazy About Gum and Who Makes the Best - to ongoing work in Osenetoi and WE College. McFarlane said her most recent involvement came after WE Charity was asked by the Kenyan government to organize and administer the fight against COVID-19 in the Maasai Mara area of Kenya. “WE Charity built and supports Baraka Health Clinic, which has transformed the health and longevity of the local people. Our support there was financial,” she told the Advertiser. Cowen’s connection to the WE movement began through her work as an educator. In 2004 she discovered the documentary It Takes a Child, which tells the story of Craig Kielburger and his fight against child labour. For years, she showed the video to her Grade 9 business students as part of the ethics and social responsibility component of the course. “It was always an eye-opening
SERVING MAPLETON, MINTO & WELLINGTON NORTH
experience for students to learn how other children around the world are not in school, forced to work and live in unhealthy and dangerous situations,” said Cowen. “In 2008, after watching the documentary, I was approached by a small group of female students who said, ‘We have to do something!’ and asked if we could start a school club. A teenage Craig Kielburger changed their perspective.” In 2009, McFarlane and Cowen took a group of students to attend their first WE Day in Toronto. “It was inspirational and unforgettable,” Cowen recalls. “Because of WE Charity, year after year, we had the opportunity to listen to amazing inspirational speakers including: Desmond Tutu, Romeo Dallaire, Kofi Annan, Elie Wiesel, Al Gore, Martin Luther King III, Prince Harry, Chris Hadfield, Gord Downie. “Listening to their stories and learning about the most pressing world issues provided the spark for students to become global-minded SEE WE CHARITY » 3