From 3,000 Miles Away It Doesn't Look Like Progress
By CATHOLINE BUTLER
THE COVERED BRIDGE at Wakefield is a well-known landmark and a famous heritage site in the area.
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Recently I travelled to Ottawa to visit my 97-year old mother who is in a nursing home and along the way I made several side trips.
In Alberta, I stopped in Edmonton where I visited with some of our advertisers and I was in and out of several Irish pubs before visiting Commonwealth Stadium to interview Tom Higgins. He is the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos and the defending 2003 Grey Cup Champions.
I also visited a number of other people I have been in contact with throughout the year, including Chris Whelehan of Celtic Homes. Another stop was the West Edmonton Mall where they really do have everything, including a regulation size skating rink. Several years ago when I lived in Edmonton, I used to watch Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers Hockey Team practice on that rink.
In Calgary, I also visited advertisers and pubs and once again enjoyed the famous hospitality, friendliness and helpfulness of the Albertans.
After arriving in Ottawa, I travelled to Pembroke to attend the Eucharistic Celebration of Sister Marie Bertrand, along with several hundred people. She was celebrating 50 years as a nun with the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph, Pembroke.
Sister Marie is a living legend. She is known and loved by hundreds of people of every race and creed from all over the world, even though she has been confined to her room for years at Pembroke’s St. Joseph Convent due to a debilitating illness.
She started out many years ago helping alcoholics from her bed by keeping in touch with them and giving them advice by telephone. Now, she helps and prays for people with cancer, drug and alcoholic addictions, and numerous other problems. The bulletin board beside her bed is filled with signed autographs from great athletes and other dignitaries, but her down-to-earth humour and advice remains consistent, and that is why she is loved by old and young alike.
The Ottawa Valley is renowned for its friendly, witty sayings and jokes and I enjoyed hearing it all again. In an otherwise great visit, there was only one thing that I found somewhat disturbing.
The National Capital Commission (NCC) is responsible for the upkeep and care of parks and large tracts of land in and around the National Capital Region and while driving around the Chelsea area of western Quebec, I noticed that some farms have been taken over by the NCC and are being allowed to grow back into bush.
I wonder what the early settlers, many of whom were Irish, would have thought of this state of affairs. My father often told me what back-breaking work it was to clear the land and make fields. After cutting down the trees and dragging out the stumps with the horses, they used a stone boat to clear the land of stones in order to sow crops. They worked hard to feed their livestock and make a living for their family.
Not too long ago, farmers in western Canada needed hay to feed their animals because of drought conditions and farmers from the East sent them hay for their livestock. Where will the hay come from if the fields are all bush? Is the NCC not supposed to preserve and beautify the area?
This doesn’t look like progress to me and it doesn’t appear to be preserving the heritage of the region. Maybe this is something that Lowell Green of CFRA Radio in Ottawa should look in to. Maybe there are some of our readers who might have more insight into this situation, because of course, I’m looking at it from 3,000 miles away.
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