Community Association President responds to letter criticizing MVCA

The Editor, In response to Lillian D’s letter in April 21st issue of the Messenger, the MVCA has received various comments from the community, in particular one from Dr. Ron St. John, a person with extensive emergency measures experience who wrote me and I quote:

“I am writing in response to the letter to the editor titled “Community association leaves Manotick residents out to dry in the ice storm”. The letter is misinformed since it suggests that the Manotick Village Community Association (MVCA) should have mobilized to provide emergency services to Manotick residents during and after the ice storm. A community association is not a first responder. The MVCA is an association of about 425 members of a community of about 5,000 people who are not coordinated or trained as “first responders.”

“Trained firemen respond to fires; police respond to emergency sites to maintain order; hydro personnel respond to loss of power. These people are ‘first responders’. They are called to take action in an officially declared emergency and are specially trained to limit the destruction of property and the loss of life.

“The City is responsible for organizing first response, and the first priority is to provide shelter, food and water for those who are deprived of these basic needs. It is my understanding that the City did open recreational facilities for shelter and showers.

“Neighbours can certainly take the initiative to organize those on their street or in their area to help each other. But it is difficult to imagine an association of untrained members acting in a first response capacity to help with food, flooded basements, clearing yards, etc., especially when the association members live in the same area may be experiencing the same problems.”

I believe Dr. St. John succinctly articulates MVCA’s roles and responsibilities related to incidents and emergency situations in our community and sets out realistic expectations. Concerning the recent ice storm and outages, the MVCA immediately contacted our Councillor David Brown to ensure that Ottawa City emergency services and hydro services were brought to bear on the problem. Since this emergency did not cause displacement from peoples’ homes, there was no need to conduct triage which is the City’s responsibility. Residents are urged to become familiar with the Emergency Preparedness Guidelines on our website https://www.manotickvca.org/emergencypreparadness-plan

We invite ALL members of our community to attend our May 25th AGM to become more informed about the MVCA, who we are and what we do for our community.

Irene Staron, President, MVCA