Keep it up, Orléans!
We’re almost back to normal.
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Dr. Kat Muzar
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November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13
Next edition November 25
L’édition de cette semaine à l’intérieur...
Organizers, city working to bring back Santa parade
The Cumberland Panthers U10 tyke team celebrate after winning the National Capital Amatuer Football Association championship on Nov. 6. See story page 9. FRED SHERWIN / PHOTO
By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star Organizers of Santa’s Parade of Lights and the Help Santa Toy Parade are working feverishly with city staff to try and bring a hybrid parade to the streets of downtown Ottawa and Orléans, likely on Dec. 4. Without getting into much detail, Parade of Lights co-chair Bob Rainboth says that discussions are ongoing to hold some sort of shortened parade in the west end, downtown Ottawa and Orléans on the same day. “The hope is to have a parade from the west to the east and not along your traditional route,” says Rainboth. There was a concern that the two parades, which are normally attended by tens of thousands of people, would have to be cancelled for the second year in a row due to COVID-19 restrictions, but on Oct. 25, the provincial government released a new set of regulations
further opening up indoor and outdoor settings. Unfortunately, the guidelines were ambiguous when it came to Santa Claus parades – “Ontario intends to allow for greater capacity at organized public events such as Santa Claus parades with more details coming in the near future.” As of Nov.7, those details had still not been released, which is why the discussions between the parade organizers – the Ottawa Firefighters Association (OFA) – and the City of Ottawa are continuing in earnest. Earlier this month, Ottawa’s associate medical officer of health, Dr. Brent Moloughney, said the parade was still a possibility. “Stay tuned, give us a chance to take a look at it, and we will get back to you.” In the meantime, the OFA is encouraging people to either drop off toy donations at their local fire station in a clear plastic bag, or make a monetary donation on the Help Santa Toy Parade website using their app.
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Position of Director to OCCRC - BOARD OF DIRECTORS (vacant positions) The Orléans-Cumberland Community Resource Centre (OCCRC) is a multiservice centre that promotes and contribute to the health and welfare of the Orléans-Cumberland communities while being committed to working for social change. If you are bilingual, demonstrate skills and experience, and wish to be part of a dynamic team, we invite you to submit your nomination. Interested candidates will have to fill out a Nomination Form along with their most recent resume.
or by email to : mwert@crcoc.ca For further information, please do not hesitate to contact us at mwert@crcoc.ca
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Please submit your applications The form and the eligibility criteria for the position can be to the following address: found on our website at: 105-240 Centrum Blvd. Orléans, ON K1E 3J4
Aldège Bellefeuille Jr. presents a cheque for $1,259.39 to Montfort Hospital CEO Dr. Benard Leduc at the Orléans Health Hub. The Ottawa Raftsmen football player, who is known as “Bear” to his teammates and coaches, raised the money for #breastcancerawareness by organizing three separate events as part of a Grade 11 assignment. He sold breast cancer awareness pink athletic socks to his teammates and a prized signed Emmitt Smith jersey, and also launched a GoFundMe campaign in October. PHOTO SUPPLIED
Drop-off locations unveiled for Operation Christmas Child donations ORLÉANS – Orléans residents are being invited to drop off donations of toys, school supplies and personal hygiene items to Operation Christmas Child at either Community Pentecostal Church, 1825 St. Joseph Blvd. from Monday, Nov. 15 to Saturday, Nov. 20 by calling ahead to 613-837-3555, or Redeemer Alliance Church, 4825 Innes Rd. on Thursday, Nov. 18 from 7-9pm, or Saturday, Nov. 20 from 10am to 1pm. The items can either be placed in a decorative shoe box or a clear plastic bag. Items left in a plastic bag will be placed in show boxes by church members. The shoeboxes will then be distributed to children in need in El Salvador.
Deadline extended for Orléans Outstanding Youth Awards ORLÉANS – The deadline for Orléans Outstanding Youth Awards has been extended to Monday, Nov. 22. Nominees must be 17 years old or younger as of Sept. 1, 2021 and reside within the City of Ottawa east of St. Laurent Blvd. Nominees will be judged on their accomplishments in the areas of academics, sports, the arts and humanitarianism between Sept. 1, 2020 and Aug. 31, 2021. All submissions must include the name, address and phone number of both the nominee and the nominator as well a résumé of the nominee’s accomplishments. Nominations can be submitted by e-mail to OYA@ orleansstar.ca, or by regular mail to the Orléans Star c/o 745 Farmbrook Cres., Orléans, K4A 2C1. For more information, please visit www.orleansstar.ca/OYA.
2 • November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13
City releases 2022 draft budget with proposed 3% tax increase By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star The City of Ottawa’s finance staff presented the 2022 draft budget to city council last Wednesday, which among other things contains a three per cent tax increase and a 4.2 per cent increase in the water and sewer rate. The tax hike equates to an additional $119 for the average home with a market value assessment of $415,000, while the water and sewer hike will cost the average homeowner an additional $35.90. The $4.14 billion budget also includes a 2.5 per cent transit fare increase to come into effect on Jan. 1. EquiPass, EquiFare and Community Pass prices will remain frozen at 2018 levels. An adult monthly pass will increase by $3 to $125.50. Fares will go up 10 cents to $3.70 when paying by Presto card and $3.75 when paying by cash. The senior’s pass is going up $1 to $47.75. The cost of a UPass will go up $5.45 to $223.48 per semester starting Sept. 1. The Para Transpo fare with access pass is going up five cents to $2.50 and the rural fare is going up a quarter to $10. There will also be additional increases in user fees, however, rental rates at city facili-
ties will be cut in half until the end of 2022. In order to help pay for the items contained in the 2022 capital budget, the city plans to take $23.3 million from its reserves. It is also counting on additional support from the upper levels of government to help mitigate the continued loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic, estimated to be about $161 million. If no funding is made available from the other levels of government, the city will need to dip into its reserves even further in order to balance the budget. The budget contains improvements to Milton Road, Frank Kenny Road, Old Montreal Road, Beckett’s Creek and Canaan Road, all in Cumberland Ward as well as a roundabout at Frank Kenny and Innes Road. There are also investments for a new parkette at the Montfort Health Hub, repaving the walkways in Aquaview Park, resurfacing the tennis courts in Harkness Park, an extension of Sweetvalley Park, a picnic shelter at Millennium Park and over $2 million for a new district park in Cardinal Creek Village. In Orléans Ward, $275,000 will be spent to design pathways in North Vineyard Park west of Jeanne d’Arc Blvd. North, and in
Saint-Louis Woods between Hiawatha Park Road and Bilberry Drive. A further $190,000 will be spent to replace asphalt walkways at Father Richard Ward Park, $160,000 will be used to resurface the basketball courts at Luc Major Park, $280,000 has been earmarked to improve ventilation at the Ray Friel Recreation Complex and $318,000 will be used to build Roger Montpetit Park on Champlain Street just south of Jeanne d’Arc. Blvd. Other initiatives include: • $750,000 to develop an east end district skate park at the Bob MacQuarrie Recreation Complex; • $3,000 to install two new baseball foul posts at Pierre Rocque Park; • $350,000 for upgrades to a picnic shelter at Queenswood Ridge Park; and • $22,000 for bulletin boards at four community associations. Road resurfacing initiatives include Jeanne d’Arc Boulevard, west of Bilberry Drive, the Highway 174 eastbound off ramp to Jeanne d’Arc Blvd. and St. Georges Street between Galloway Drive and Amiens Street. City-wide, the budget contains plans to hire 14 new paramedics and purchase 12 new
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November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13 • 3
Remembrance During my recent trip to the Netherlands I couldn’t help but think of my my old friend Syd Davie who was part of the forces that liberated the lowland country in between September 1944 and April 1945. Syd took part in Operation Market Garden which was launched on Sept. 17, 1994. The objective of the operation was to create a bridgehead over the Rhine River into German territory. “Market” was the airborne part of the operation aimed at seizing several key bridges, while “Garden” referred to the ground attack that would whose the bridges to advance across the Rhine and into Germany. Syd was a member of the Irish Guards which formed the vanguard of the British Army’s XXX Corps’ advance into the Netherlands and eventual liberation of Eindhoven and Nijmegen. The Corps’ mission was to push through the two Dutch towns using bridges that were to be seized by elements of the U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, and continue on to Arnhem where they were to relive the British 1st Airborne Division. It took two days for XXX Corps to reach the Waal Bridge in Nijmegen. Unfortunately, that was as far as they got. They never made it past the town due to heavy resistance from the Germans. The liberation of Arnhem would have to wait another six months when the First Canadian Corps took the city during Operation Anger. Syd never spoke much about the battle for Nijmegen. His unit fought through a series of skirmishes and engagements over the course of four days before they were finally relieved on Sept. 21. The one thing he did tell me is that he was lucky to be part of the ground attack and not the airborne assault which was carried out using gliders which were semijokingly referred to as “flying coffins”. They were slow, cumbersome and made out of wood with no armor or armaments. Operation Market Garden ultimately failed to achieve it’s intended mission of liberating Arnhem and establishing a bridgehead into Germany, but it did succeed in liberating several Dutch towns. Unfortunately, liberation is not always what it’s cut out to be. After the Allies liberated Nijmegen on Sept. 19, 1944, it became part of the front line and was bombed multiple times over the course of the next five months by the Germans. More than 1,000 residents were killed, 5,000 houses (nearly a quarter of the city) were destroyed and another 13,000 were heavily damaged. Historians still question why the Allies never evacuated the local population. It’s just a further lesson that it’s always the innocents who suffer the most in war. Syd was born in 1924 and was already a seasoned 20-year-old veteran by the time he took part in Operation Market Garden. Personally, I can’t imagine, even for a second, what it would be like to take part in a protracted war like he did, or any armed conflict for that matter. He would often say that it was a great adventure punctuated by moments of fear, heartbreaking loss and unspeakable horror. “You didn’t dwell on the difficult moments, or even think about them for more than a minute. You didn’t have time,” he said. It wasn’t until the war was over that the demons would sometimes creep into his thoughts and dreams. Even then, he didn’t allow them to prevent him from having a long and fulfilling life. He was the last of his kind and I miss him dearly. – Fred Sherwin, editor
Fredrick C. Sherwin, Editor & Publisher fsherwin@orleansstar.ca The Orléans Star is a bi-weekly publication distributed to 44,000 residences in Blackburn Hamlet, Orléans and Navan. The newspaper is locally owned and operated by Sherwin Publishing Inc., 745 Farmbrook Cres., Orléans, ON. Inquiries and delivery issues should be sent to info@orleansstar.ca.
4 • November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13
Orléans Youth Council applications are now being accepted (15-25 years) On Remembrance Day, I am always honoured to lay a wreath on behalf of Canada while attending the annual ceremony at our local Orléans Royal Canadian Legion Branch 632 in honour of the sacrifices that were made – and are still being made – to ensure our country’s safety and freedom. This year, we are also celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the poppy, the symbol of our support and gratefulness towards Canada’s veterans. My team and I were also happy to join our Legion to support the drive-thru poppy campaign on Oct. 31 in the Superstore parking lot. Thank you to all of you who stopped by on this rainy day! I hope you all had a great Hallowe’en. It was so exciting to see kids out trick-or-treating once again this year, along with the fantastically decorated houses across our neighbourhood. This tradition brought back a sense of normality I think we all missed over the last year and a half. The new cabinet was sworn in on Oct. 26 and I look forward to start the 44th Parliament on Nov. 22 to work together for a stronger Canada. I was delighted to meet and exchange with my colleagues at our National Caucus earlier this week. Following the success of last year’s Orléans Youth Council (OYC), I’m thrilled to announce, in collaboration with MPP Stephen Blais, that the 2022 OYC applications are now open. If you are between 15 and 25 years old, you are
invited to apply to join this engaged non-partisan group and discuss with key community stakeholders and special guests, issues and topics that matter to you most. Interested? Apply before Monday, Nov. 22 by filling this application form: https:// forms.gle/ovFKGTN4denwZchM6. The 20 selected candidates will be contacted on the week of Nov. 29. Don’t forget that nominations are being accepted for the 2022 Orléans Leading Women and Girls Recognition Awards until Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. Help me nominate extraordinary women and young girls to recognize and celebrate their leadership and their involvement in our community. To request a nomination form, please email Marie-France.Lalonde@parl.gc.ca or call 613834-1800. My annual movie night is back! Save the date for Friday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. at our local Cinéstarz, 250 Centrum Blvd. Come watch the newly released Ron’s Gone Wrong movie with your family and enjoy a free popcorn and juice box. In respect of health guidelines, places are limited so you need to reserve your seat in advance at Marie-France.Lalonde@parl.gc.ca or by calling 613-834-1800. Please note - proof of full vaccination and mask are required to attend the event. If you can, bring a new, unwrapped toy that will be donated to the Orléans Cumberland Resource Center for families in need in our community.
If you are fortunate in life you will meet people who will have a profound impact on you. For me, it was two young women who I met totally by chance in Cuba in June 2019. Charlotte and Bente were two college students from the Netherlands who possessed more wisdom in their little finger than adults more than twice their age. We had a number of deep conversations, mostly about relationships, that made me rethink the one I was in at the time – all for the better. We made an instant connection that was completely unexpected given the differences in our ages. In 2020, my two boys had planned to visit Europe for the summer before their plans were kiboshed by the pandemic. They planned to go again this past summer but had to postpone their plans once again. I was going to go with them to visit Charlotte and Bente and meet their families, but I had to postpone those plans as well. It wasn’t until the Netherlands eased their COVID-19 restrictions for fully-vaccinated visitors, and Canada did as well for returning residents, that I decided to use some of the Aeroplan points that had been burning a hole in my pocket to visit the country. The plan was to spend a couple of days in Amsterdam, before taking the train to Rotterdam to meet the girls. I spent my first day in the popular tourist destination walking along picturesque canals and visiting the Albert Cuyp Market where I tried a stroopwaffel for the first time. (I tried a number of other Dutch delicacies during my visit including pickled herring, kibbeling and kapsalon. The latter of which needs to tried to be fully appreciated.) On day two, I went to the famous Rijksmuseum which was, quite frankly, overwhelming. There was so much to see and take in, including masterpieces by
Up Front Fred Sherwin Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh, that I quickly developed sensory overload. After my visit to the museum, I checked out of my hotel and headed to Rotterdam, which is where my trip really began. When you meet people on a vacation, especially at a resort, you’re never sure whether it was the unlimited drinks and intense sun that made the experience memorable, or you actually formed a lasting friendship. In the case of Charlotte and Bente, it turned out to be the latter. As an added bonus I got to meet their roommate Sarah in Rotterdam, who is amazing in her own right. All three girls have boyfriends who I was able to meet along with Charlotte’s parents. Ben took me on a tour of Leiden, which is located about 30 minutes from Rotterdam by train, where she went to school. I got to meet her former roommates, have a glass of wine overlooking one of the canals, visit the botanical garden where curious visitors lined up to take a picture of a penis plant. Not a word of a lie, that’s what it’s called. It blooms once every 25 years and it’s been the subject of countless stories including a feature story on CNN. We ended our visit with dinner at a place called The Bishop which is 110 years young. I say “young” because most of the places I visited were much older. I went to a distillery in Amsterdam which you can read about on page 10, where the tasting room was founded
View of canal in Leiden, Netherlands. FRED SHERWIN / PHOTO
in 1681, and the Nieuwe Church in Delft was first erected in 1373. (FYI The old church, which is still standing was erected in 1246.) Delft is also extremely picturesque and a definite must see if you happen to visit the Netherlands. Besides old churches it is also the birthplace of Johannes Vermeer whose most famous works include Girl with a Pearl Earing and The Milkmaid. Once back in Rotterdam, I visited the Rotterdam Zoo with Sarah who was extremely gracious and funny as hell. Rotterdam was a massive surprise. I had no idea what to expect except for what I read about the city on Wikipedia. The heart of the city had been almost completely destroyed by German bombers in 1940 and was rebuilt during the 50s, 60s and 70s. During the 1990s, an emphasis was placed on more modern architecture to the point where today it is recognized as one of the most modern cities in Europe. Unlike many other cities in the Netherlands, it doesn’t have a lot of canals and the main streets are wide thoroughfares with dedicated bike lanes. The city is home to a number of museums and art galleries including the Kunsthal which is currently hosting an exhibit by the Group of Seven, the Netherlands Fotomuseum and the Dutch Pinball Museum which I visited with Bente. The latter is home to over 100 vintage pinball machines, many of which you can play with the price of admission. I was even allowed to play the oldest mechanical pinball machine in the collection built in 1947. But as cool as that was, it didn’t compare to watching Ben play pinball for the very first time. One of the things I will takeaway from my trip are the sheer number of bikes in the country. We like to think of Ottawa as a bicycle-friendly city, but holy-moly, there is no comparison. The bike parking lot at the Amsterdam train station has room for thousands of bikes. The same is true in Rotterdam and every other city in the Netherlands. Bikes are everywhere. But my other favourite thing about Rotterdam were the electric scoooters. They are everywhere and they cost 30 cents per minute to use. You simply need to download the app for one of the three rental companies, or all three, upload a photo of your driver’s license and credit card info and away you go. My biggest takeaway from my trip is the time I was able to spend with Bente, Charlotte and Sarah – three amazing young women who have extremely bright futures. A lot of people my age, and adults in general, tend to make the mistake of dismissing the younger generation as being lazy, self-absorbed and unworthy of our attention, which is an absolute shame. In-
BENTE LUITING / PHOTO
Trip to the Netherlands a truly unforgettable experience
stead of dismissing them, we need to listen to them. There’s a lot we can learn. During my last day in Rotterdam, Charlotte asked me what I was going to take away from my visit. At first I thought she was talking about all the experiences I had, but she clarified her question by asking me if I had learned anything about myself during the trip. “Every trip,” she said, “should be a journey of self-discovery.” How mindblowing is that? At first, I couldn’t answer her. It took me several days of soul searching before it finally came to me. The relationship I formed with the three girls made me question the relationship I had with my own daughter. It came to me while I was driving the car and acknowledged to myself that I had been a flawed father by not doing enough to make Maggie feel special while she was growing up, especially after her mother and I separated. After my epiphany, Maggie and I had a coffee together and I apologized for failing her as a father. There were a lot of tears, but it was a massive breakthrough moment for both of us, and for that I have to thank three young women from the Netherlands who I will cherish forever. There’s a Dutch word – gunnen – which I learned from the girls that matches what they did for me. I plan to head back in July with my two boys and visit a few places that I didn’t get a chance to visit this time around like Utrect, Harlaam and Friesland. At the same time, Maggie will go to England where I will join her for a week of touring museums and the other popular tourist locations. Until then, I have to replenish all the Aeroplan points I used up for my visit to the Netherlands and suffer through another long cold Canadian winter.
November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13 • 5
OPS members should follow City taking steps to improve mandatory vaccination policy snow-clearing this winter It’s that time of year again, a time to throw to be tested, at no cost to the public, until the out those old rotting pumpkins, change our deadline is fully met. I am not yet satisfied tires, put on our poppies, and prepare for the with the policy in place and will continue to next winter season, like push for a policy more in clockwork. line with the City’s. It’s non-stop these Ottawa Public Health Tim days for council with the (OPH) recently launched Tierney their plan to vaccinate latest release of the draft budget for 2022. It’s children between five given us a good idea of and 11 years old. The Beacon Hill-Cyrville Ward 11 what we’re working with plan includes clinics in 2022 and how we can manage needs, with flexible hours to work with parents’ wants and expectations across the city. schedules as well as child-friendly clinics, These past few weeks I’ve been quite pharmacies and all our vaccine partners vocal about the Ottawa Police Service’s (i.e., CHEO). lack of a mandatory vaccination policy. The province announced that certain Other council colleagues and I have been vulnerable populations are eligible to book pressuring the chair of the Police Board, their booster if at least six months has passed Diane Deans, to call a special meeting; we since their last dose. The general population have questions and need answers. can look forward to receiving their boosters No word if or when a meeting will be in January. taking place. However, the effort was not Last, but certainly never least, this year, as in vain. Late in October it was announced with every year, I will be taking a moment that the Ottawa Police Service will be of silence to pay my respects and wear a implementing a mandatory vaccination poppy as a pledge to remember those who policy; the vaccination deadline is Jan. 31, fought for our freedom. Thank you to our 2022. Unvaccinated members will continue brave veterans. We will always remember.
The City of Ottawa is responsible for tial beats to make plowing more consistent maintaining 6,000 kilometres of roads, 2,400 and equitable. kilometres of sidewalks and pathways, and a For instance, in the past if your street was 50-kilometre Winter Cycling Network. 10th on the list for clearing, it would always The city’s priority when be 10th on the list. Now it it comes to winter maintenmay be 10th on the list for ance is to keep residents one week but second the Laura safe and to keep our city’s next week. Dudas primary transportation • Crews concentrating networks including roads, on sidewalks and residsidewalks, cycling infraential areas to prevent Innes Ward 2 structure and transit routes rutting and icy conditions. accessible and passable during and after a • Responding more proactively to smaller storm. It’s a big job for city crews, who must winter events to prevent ice and snow from contend with varying weather conditions in building up. different sectors of our city in addition to its • Replacing all steel plow blades with rubber geographic enormity. blades to decrease salt use, maintenance As we all know, snow clearing has had its costs and noise complaints. problems in the past. However, since 2018 • An improved focus on winter barriers and the City has worked to improve its winter challenges for people with disabilities. maintenance standards and are presently I am hopeful that these changes will updating those standards, utilizing public continue the trend of improved snow clearing feedback. that Ottawa has seen in the last couple of As a result, several changes are planned for years. If you do have any issues with your this year’s winter snow-clearing operations, a streets this year please let me know so that few of which include: I can work with staff to find solutions and • Alternating the starting point of residen- improve the level of service.
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WillowbendRetirement.com 6 • November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13
Remembrance Day Tales of a ‘bogman’ during the Second World War Syd Davie is a former Orléans resident who passed away in 2020 at the age of 95. He was the last of a group of comrades who served together in the Irish Guard during the Second World War. He saw action in the raid on Dieppe, the Normandy invasion and Operation Market Garden. He was also a member of an elite commando unit known as the Bogmen. Each member was hand-picked from various units within the Guard. Their job was to occasionally divert or “bog down” the enemy’s attention from the main action. As a Bogman, Syd would also go on recon missions to locate enemy positions and occasionally offer some level of “harrassment”. This is the story of one such operation in his own words, taking from a collection of firsthand stories he wrote before he passed. “Peering from the bush on the inside of the bend, I find there are three enemy tanks, closed up and firing at British tanks to the west. As the tanks were still closed up tight and had no ground troops with them we decided that we could take at least one of them out. Now at this point in the story I have to go back a few weeks. Some time after we had arrived in Normandy my troop received a shipment of 50 “Sticky Bombs”.
A “Sticky Bomb” was a device that was designed to be slapped on the outside of an armoured vehicle, it looked like an overgrown toffee apple; imagine a glass ball about 6 to 8 inches in diameter, with a six-inch long handle. The ball was covered in some sort of strongly adhesive goo (commonly referred to as bird shit) and the glass ball contained nitroglycerin. I suppose this was the forerunner of modern plastic explosives; in active use, the ball was protected by a metal sphere connected to the handle, this metal case was to be discarded immediately before slapping the weapon on the target. I had used them many times in practice on demolition courses but I have still never heard of their use in combat situations. As we were recon and not attack and had never requested these armaments I sent them back (I was also very unimpressed with them due to safety reasons) however, before returning them I removed two units and stowed them in one of the rear boxes on my car, “just in case”. Now, we thought, this is the case, this is the time to use what we have and to this end we removed the two bombs from their storage. I gave Charlie a 15-second lesson in its use and while he waited at the bend gingerly holding his toffee apple, I advanced on the nearest tank.
Lest we forget
All three were still closed up! I reached up, slapped the sticky bomb on where I thought was an effective place to get interior shrapnel and walked to the rear of the tank. Five seconds went by and no bang. Now I expected the top hatch to open and a head stick out to see what was going on, but no, nothing happened. There was no reaction. I was about to turn away and hotfoot it back to the bend when the hatch on the adjacent tank started to open. I froze – then I positioned myself to look as if I was having a pee – a head appeared, looked over at the turret of my target, then at me. Luckily he could not see my nether regions because the hand that should have been holding my tap had my Luger in it. I should also mention that our camouflaged fatigues looked very similar so that you could not tell with a glance whose fatigues were whose. I nodded my head at the crewman and grinned. He gave a slight wave in response and disappeared. Before he had the hatch closed, I was hotfooting it back to Charlie who said “God, when his hand came out I nearly let him have it!” Then he asked, “Do we try again?” “No thanks!” was my response. “One misfire is enough for me. Here give me that,” and I threw the other sticky bomb I had given him over the hedge and five seconds
MATTHEW LULOFF Ward 1 Orléans
LAURA DUDAS Ward 2 Innes
Syd “Skid” Davie later we were bombarded with an explosion and numerous screams and shouting. Peeping cautiously through the hedgerow, we were surprised with the sight of a German field kitchen and what looked like a company of infantry in total disarray. Our next decision was not discussed, but it was unanimous and unspoken – we were quickly in the car and driving south past the three tanks who obviously had eyes only for what was before them... Oh! Why didn’t we have three stickies that worked?
TIM TIERNEY
Ward 11 Beacon Hill-Cyrville
CATHERINE KITTS Ward 19 Cumberland
November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13 • 7
Remembering the forgotten casualties of war By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star In Canada, Remembrance Day is reserved for the 116,000 men who served and died in the five major conflicts the country has participated in – the Boer War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War and the Afghanistan War – as well as the thousands more who served and have since passed. But we often forget that soldiers aren’t the only casualties of war. During the Second World War, 390,000 civilians, many of them children, died in France alone. When the Germans first invaded France in May, 1940, it sparked a mass exodus of refugees. An estimated 8-10 million refugees fled their homes in an effort to escape the Nazi invasion – almost a quarter of the French population at the time. Among the millions of refugees was former Orléans resident Miza Davie. Born Mireille Bosc, Miza was just six years old when the Germans invaded France in 1940. It didn’t take long for the advancing force to takeover the entire country. For the next four years, Miza and her two siblings were raised by their grandparents – first in Nimes in the south of France and then in Générac near Bordeaux – while
their mother, who was a well-known radio personality in France, was forced to return to Paris to do propaganda. Miza lived during extraordinary times and experienced joy, grief, sorrow and horror. After the war, she studied nursing and eventually immigrated to Canada where she met her future husband, Syd Davie. After retiring Miza Davie from nursing in 1994, Miza began writing a collection of short stories about her life as young girl growing up during the war. Prior to her passing in 2005, those stories were assembled in a self-published book entitled “A Child’s Memory of the Second World War”. Here is just one of those stories about the day her best friend was forcibly taken from their classroom, never to be seen again. They were both nine at the time.
My School Friend, Helena My school friend Helena had two big black long braids. She had a very pale complexion
and was slim. That morning we were waiting in line for our daily ration of “milk” drink, each child holding their little enamel cup. Soon our turn came. The cup was filled with a mixture of lumpy, whitish grey fluid with yellow rings floating on the top, which was cod liver oil. You had to pinch your nose to drink this mixture which left the taste of fish in your mouth for the rest of the day. It certainly put me off milk for the rest of my life. Once we had finished our drink, we replaced our cup on the hook of our jacket which had our name as well as our school number on it. In case the school was bombed and we were hurt or killed, the number would help the authorities identify us and contact our mothers. The school bell rang and we lined up in our various class groups and proceeded to each of our classrooms. Helena was with me. We sat beside each other at the same wooden desk. That morning as we were having our math lesson the door of the classroom suddenly slammed open. Two tall, massive German officers entered the room, clacking the heels of their boots on the parquet. They went straight to the teacher’s desk and a loud voice with a strong accent said, “Do you
have a child called Helena?” All the children in the class were dead silent at their desks. My school friend Helena was getting very pale and started to shiver. I took her hand in mine. It was moist and clammy. I started to hold her hand tightly and tears started coming down her face. Then the two German officers directed themselves toward our desk. Helena’s heart was pounding so hard I could see her chest moving under her blue school pinafore. One of the officers grabbed Helena, who by then was screaming and crying at the same time with fear. She suddenly was lifted up by the two officers and dangled in the air. I was holding on to her hand so tightly that the other German officer had to hit my hand to break my grip. The pain was so bad I started to cry. The next thing, when I looked up, Helena was gone, dragged out of the classroom like a criminal. That night when I arrived home I was feeling so sad, so bitter and mad at the soldiers. I asked my mother, “Why did they take my friend away?” “She is Jewish,” my mother replied. She then grabbed me in her arms and held me tight. Not one person has an answer to this terrible crime. I hope this will stop one day.
Commemorating the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians in times of war. NOVEMBER 11th, 2021 at 11:00 AM • Opening Remarks • Poems • Prayer • Act of Remembrance • • Last Post (Bugler) • Silence (Two minutes) • • Lament (Piper) • Commitment to Remember •
Please RSVP by calling Glenese at 613-830-4000.
8 • November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13
Cumberland Panthers win tyke A-Cup championship By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star The Cumberland Panthers U10 tyke team won the National Capital Amateur Football Association A-Cup championship on Nov. 6, beating the Cornwall Wildcats 38-30 thanks to a solid effort on both sides of the ball. The game didn’t start well for the Panthers, who fumbled the ball away on just their third play of the game. It took just two plays for the Wildcats to score their first touchdown of the game and take an early 8-0 lead after their kicker added a two-point convert. After the change of possession, the Panthers immediately turned the ball over again, but this time their defense rose to the challenge and forced the Wildcats to turn the ball over on downs after Trenton Sabean sacked the quarterback on third and five. The defensive stand would be repeated several times in the game, including the crucial final few minutes. The Panthers wasted little time in tying the game after Sabean’s sack. A 10-yard horsecollar penalty tagged onto the end of a 25-yard run by Evan Nicholls, would set up a seven-yard touchdown run by the Panther tailback. Place-kicker Liam Bouchard would
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his first of four successful convert attempts to tie the game at 8-8. The deadlock didn’t last long, however, as the Wildcats scored on the very next play thanks to a 50-yard run by Ronin Van Gessel. Another two-point convert would make the score 16-8 in favour of Cornwall. With the first quarter winding down, the Panthers put together a sustained scoring drive capped by an impressive 22-yard run by Rocco Della Vedova, who broke a pair of tackles before changing directions to cut across the field and into the end zone. With the game tied 16-16, the Wildcats responded with their third touchdown of the game, but a missed convert only gave them a six-point lead. The Panthers put together their most impressive drive of the game on the next series, moving the ball 40 yards on 10 plays, culminating in Vedova’s second touchdown of the game. Another two-point convert by Bouchard would put the Panthers up 24-22 at the half. After the break, the Wildcats were threatening to retake the lead once again, before a pick-6 by Maxim Lalonde would extend the Panthers lead to 30-22.
Marie-France LALONDE MP/Députée Orléans
Let's remember those women and men who sacrificed so much for our freedom and our country. Happy 100 th to our poppy! Constituency Office 255 Centrum Blvd., 2nd floor Orléans, ON K1E 3W3 marie-france.lalonde@parl.gc.ca 613.834.1800 MFLalondeMP.ca
Successive defensive stands would force the Wildcats to punt the ball on third and long rather than risk turning it over on downs. When the Panthers found themselves in the same situation, they decided to go for it. The gamble paid off with a 45-yard run by Nicholls on third and five to give Cumberland a 38-22 lead which looked safe until Cornwall scored a quick TD on the opening series of the fourth quarter to make things interesting. They went from interesting to nail-biting
when the Wildcats managed to move the ball down to the Panthers’ two-yard line, but back-to-back stops by Cumberland’s defence, lead by Kallen Doth, forced them to turn the ball over on downs with 1:44 left. A 39-yard run by Vedova would give the Panthers some breathing room. A forced fumble by Cumberland just two plays later would give the Wildcats a flicker of hope with 45 seconds left, but that flicker was quickly snuffed out when Lalonde sacked the Cornwall quarterback to end the game.
We will remember them.
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November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13 • 9
Amsterdam distillery, tasting room date back to 1679 By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star On a narrow street in the medieval historic centre of Amsterdam sits a distillery and tasting room that dates back to the 17th century – Wynand Fockink Proeflokaal and Spirits. The distillery began making spirits in 1679 under the ownership of Jan Bierman, who also opened a tasting tavern which was common during the Netherland’s “Golden Age”. Coincidentally, that same year, King Louis XIV of France signed a decree preventing the sale of alcohol outside any French dwelling in New France. In 1724, the distillery and tasting room were acquired by a Dutch entrepreneur with a vision – Wynand Fockink. In the late 17th century and early 18th century, the drink of choice among the nouveau riche in Amsterdam was genever – distilled malt wine, flavoured with juniper berries The tasting room was already a popular watering hole, when Fockink acquired the distillery. At the time, he had a vision to blend genever with the different spices that were coming into the country from the new Dutch colonies in the West Indies, Africa and the Far East. The result was a selection of liqueurs which he could then upsell.
In 1778, Fockink died and left the company to his lone surviving heir, his daughter Maria who, along with business partner Johan Dentzel, continued to run the distillery. In the proceeding years and decades, the pair turned the distillery into one of the largest in the Netherlands. The brothers Johannes and Petrus Schmitz, who were both married to the greatgrandchildren of Wynand Fockink, took over the business in the early 19th century and also ran it successfully. In the years following the Second World War, Fockink faced increasing competition from the Dutch global giant Lucas Bols. In 1954, Bols bought the distillery, immediately dismantled it and transferred production to their own facility. The tasting room, or tavern, and the liquor store continued to operate with the existing staff. In 2008, the tasting room and liquor store were acquired by Rob Koning and Paul Wanrooij, who were licensed by Lucas Bols to operate two copper stills with which they produced Wynand Fockink liqueurs and genevers using the traditional craft method. When I first read about the distillery, I was immediately curious. After I read the long list of the more than 50 flavoured liqueurs they sell, I just had to go. And let me tell you, it
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any. I then ran out of time and was unable to return. Be that as it may, I definitely plan to go back when I return to the Netherlands in July. I just have to decided which ones I’m going to bring back.
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10 • November 11, 2021 • Volume 36, No. 13
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didn’t disappoint. You can tour the museum and see 300year-old liqueur bottles and learn all about the distilling process or you can go straight to the tasting room where, as tradition has it, you have to take the first sip of your liqueur by leaning down and sipping it from the glass without using your hands. And now I will discuss the centuries-old controversy over genever. The commonly mistaken description of genever is that it is “Dutch gin”. The truth is that there are two types of genever – old and young. Young genever is much more like vodka than gin, it is relatively flavourless until it is introduced to spices and other flavours. Old genever is aged in whisky barrels and tastes a lot like, well, whisky. The type of whisky it tastes like depends on the barrel it’s aged in. Thanks to the advice of manager Maarten Schmidt, I tried the rye geneveer which tasted like rye, the three-year-old whisky genever which tasted like a decent rye whisky and the 11-year-old Superior Genever which had a smoothness and richness that reminded me of a Speyside Single Malt. All three are full malt spirits. Unfortunately, because I was heading out on the town that same night and didn’t want to either lose or break a bottle, I didn’t buy
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Raftsmen win NCAFA midget championship By Fred Sherwin The Orléans Star The Orléans Raftsmen has won the Québec Midget Football League championship for the third straight year. The Raftsmen downed National Capital rivals the Gatineau Gaulois 31-17 in the QMFL final in Montreal on Nov. 5. After spotting the Gaulois a 7-0 lead on the opening play of the game, the Raftsmen responded with a pair of touchdowns from fullback Evan Cordingley and wide receiver Tristan Deschamps. Cordingley scored with three seconds left in the first quarter after the Gaulois fumbled a punt on their one-yard line, and Lefebrve scored on a pass from Deion Blackwood with 1:35 left in the first half. Kicker Devon Lefebrve would add a field goal with six seconds left to give the Raftsmen a 17-7 lead heading into the break. The Raftsmen would add to their lead in the third quarter on a pass from Blackwood to Noah Cardinal to go up 24-7.
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After the Raftsmen gave up a safety in the fourth quarter, the Gaulois scored on the next possession to give their fans something to cheer about. The enthusiasm didn’t last long, however, as the Raftsmen were able to burn some valuable time off the clock late in the fourth quarter leading up to Cardinal’s second
Photo courtesy of the QMFL
TD of the game to make the final score 31-17 and provide a little icing on their championship cake. Evan Cordingley was named the Raftsmen’s Offensive Player of the Game for his efforts, while Aldège “Bear” Bellefeuille was named the team’s Defensive Player of the Game.
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