Cantley 1889 Articles
The following article first appeared in The Echo of Cantley Volume 35 no 6, December 2023. This article is made available for the enjoyment of others with the express permission of the Echo of Cantley.
Season of Giving – the gift of time
By Margaret Phillips
During this season of choosing gifts and making donations, why not consider donating a gift of your time? Cantley exists today only because of its volunteers.
“Help thy neighbour” is ingrained in Cantley culture. From the 1820s when our first settlers arrived, people depended on each other to survive. Cantley farmers gave up days to help neighbours with the workload and lend farm equipment. These “working bees” meant sharing large noon-time meals cooked by the women who also had “bees” of their own for large tasks like quilting.
Unlike many other rural towns nearby, being Catholic or Protestant, French or English didn’t matter in Cantley. Everyone helped each other in times of need and catastrophes like fires and storms. It is no wonder that Cantley had remarkable community spirit. Cantley also had a vibrant social life thanks to volunteers. For over a century, parishioners from St. Elizabeth’s Church held the Cantley Picnic, a summer fair which attracted people from the entire region. Protestant volunteers built Cantley’s Orange Hall and organized popular suppers, tea parties and dances which welcomed everyone.
In 1983, eight years after the province amalgamated Cantley with the City of Gatineau, Cantley’s citizens rallied and formed a committee to protest. Regardless of religion or language, whether newcomer or from an original Cantley family, for six years everyone worked together for a common cause – to separate from Gatineau. Because of these volunteers, in 1989 Cantley became the only municipality in Quebec to be granted independence from big city amalgamation. Everyone in Cantley celebrated at a large event organized, of course, by volunteers.
In 1989, volunteers founded L’Écho de Cantley as a nonprofit organization “to reflect the image of our community.” Today, all writing and work involved in putting the paper together continue to be done by volunteers. Everyone in Cantley should be thankful and proud of our high-quality community newspaper published for all Cantley citizens by volunteers for almost 35 years.
During the devastating ice storm of 1998, a fi ve-page list of volunteers served up to 500 meals a day at the emergency dining hall, ran an overnight shelter, delivered meals, firewood, water and other necessities to isolated Cantley homes. Our volunteer fi refi ghters checked every Cantley home regularly. The fi refi ghters were, and always will be, the most important volunteers in Cantley.
Today, volunteerism is still alive and well in Cantley. The Municipality officially recognizes 25 volunteer groups. Other volunteers meet in less-formal gatherings and, of course, there are many individuals who help people in need. Recently, there has been growing concern about the future of Cantley’s vulnerable green spaces. As a result, four new citizen groups of volunteers have been formed: Citizens for the Environment at Mont Cascades (CEMC), Conservation Cantley, CPYC Community Action Team (www.civilprotection.ca) and Friends of the Ginns Eco Park. Since the goals of these groups are to protect Cantley’s natural heritage, Cantley 1889 supports each group in ways it is able to.
Cantley 1889 was founded in 2010 “to discover, document, protect and promote Cantley’s history and heritage.” For the Echo’s December edition, Cantley 1889’s directors decided it would be fun to include photos of our volunteers at work since 2012 to show what Cantley 1889 is all about. We need new volunteers. If you are interested, please contact info.cantley1889@gmail.com.
During the holidays, we hope you fi nd time to enjoy images and videos of Cantley’s history and heritage in our recently redesigned Virtual Museum – www.cantley1889.ca – our gift to you from Cantley 1889 volunteers.
Happy Holidays!
