A group of students and parents took part in a press conference and a demonstration outside of Massey-Vanier High School-English (MVHS) on the afternoon of March 20. The demonstration was meant to shine light on claims of sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, and bullying that students have reportedly experienced at the school. 

After hearing about these claims, Anastasia Spanos, a parent of MVHS students and an advocate for the students that have made said complaints, organized the demonstration alongside a collective called “La voix des jeunes compte.” 

A Brome-Missisquoi residential real estate broker has dived into the statistics to highlight the evolution of the Brome-Missisquoi real estate market and what the numbers suggest for the future.

Using data compiled from a platform that is accessible to all licensed real estate brokers called Centris Statistics, Don Joyce from Royal LePage Au Sommet researched what the Brome-Missisquoi market looked like before the pandemic and how the dynamics of the market changed once the pandemic struck in 2020.

It’s been 11 years since non-profit organization and citizens group Habitations Abordables Sutton started working on a social and affordable housing unit project for families in Sutton. The group faced years of delays, but it remained resilient and the project is finally coming to life. The construction of two buildings for a total of 18 housing units is expected to start as early as next week.

France-Élaine Duranceau, Minister responsible for Housing, Isabelle Charest, Member of the National Assembly for Brome-Missisquoi, and François Bonnardel, Minister of Public Security and Minister responsible for the Eastern Townships, officially announced the project last week.

The Knowlton Literary Association and the Bishop’s University Life Long Learning Academy’s (BULLA) Write Here, Write Now (WHWN) program have teamed up to offer a “flash writing” workshop in Brome Lake with the hope that participants will find a new passion for writing.

The Knowlton Literary Association organizes the annual Knowlton Literary Festival, the only English-language literary festival between Montreal and Quebec City. The Knowlton Literary Festival is all about providing high-quality programming and activities to highlight the literary culture of the English-speaking community.

In the summer of 2022, member of the Knowlton community and entrepreneur Jaime Moar received a call from her medical clinic to inform her that the results were in from a biopsy that was done for a lump on her neck. With the support of her husband, Moar went to the clinic to speak with her doctor who diagnosed her with lymphoma.

After multiple tests, she was specifically diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s follicular lymphoma, a blood cancer that, according to her doctor, she will have for the rest of her life. Two months later, her father was diagnosed with the same type of cancer.

L’Organisme de bassin versant de la Yamaska (OBV Yamaska) teamed up with Université de Sherbooke (l’UdeS) as part of a PhD project to gather water quality samples from the Yamaska watershed in 2019 and 2020.

OBV Yamaska is a non-profit organization that brings together all stakeholders in the Yamaska watershed, including citizens, agricultural producers, and MRCs, to encourage sustainable water management. It carries our various activities and projects to improve the state of the watershed.

Non-profit conservation organizations Appalachian Corridor and Conservation des vallons de la Serpentine (CVS) have succeeded in protecting 84 acres of the Millington Bog in perpetuity.

Located in the municipality of Austin, the Millington Bog is unique for being an uncommon wetland in the Eastern Townships. It is home to various species of plants that are rare in Southern Quebec. The Millington Bog is also key to the preservation of the water quality of Lac Memphremagog due to its water filtration capabilities, according to Mélanie Lelièvre, executive director of Appalachian Corridor.

Back in 2018, Danielle Viau approached best-selling author Louise Penny to see if she would be on board with her idea to set up a tour where people could visit the different parts of the Eastern Township that inspired Penny's fictional world of "Three Pines."

Penny is the author of the inspector Armand Gamache murder mystery series and she is also a Townshipper with a home here in the area. After getting a private tour from Viau to get a feel for it, Penny gave the green light and the "Three Pines Tours" were born.

The Canadian Ski Patrol at Owl’s Head is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its famous HOOT event; the largest fundraiser created in the Canadian Ski Patrol - Eastern Townships Zone.

The Canadian Ski Patrol has been an integral part of Owl’s Head since former owners, and founders, Fred and Lillian Korman opened up the mountain to skiers in 1965. The group is primarily made up of trained volunteers and it ensures the safety of those on the mountain through prevention, raising awareness, and by providing first aid services directly on the hill.

Other mountains that are served by the Canadian Ski Patrol in the region include Mont Orford, Mont-Orford National Park, and Mont Bellevue.

The Town of Brome Lake announced at its most recent council meeting that the Mill Pond Dam project will officially wrap up at the end of March.

Besides the Mill Pond Dam project, the March 6 council meeting saw the adoption of a new administrative by-law for short-term rentals, the hiring of two new town employees, and the introduction of a provincial bill that gives towns and cities “the right to first refusal” on properties that interest them when they come up for sale.

A long-term accommodation centre for young adults between 18 and 25 years old living in vulnerable circumstances hopes to finally establish itself in Bedford in the near future.

Éric Crosier and Julie Landry, both of whom have extensive careers in social services, have been working on L’Oasis de l’Espoir for about a year after recognizing a need for such an establishment. To make the project happen, the co-founders needed to find a space that could serve as an accommodation centre.

Between May and November 2022, the Town of Sutton organized brainstorming sessions with different target groups, public meetings, and a public interactive exhibition as a part of the Dream Sutton project “Village core: Establishing a comprehensive plan.”

Following the consultations, the municipality launched a survey for those Sutton residents that didn’t have the opportunity to take part in the consultation process to encourage more citizen participation. The survey was open to any resident over 15 years old.

The survey, which focuses on seven main themes, attracted 1116 responses. The municipality has officially released the survey results to the public.

The Foundation of Stars and Owl’s Head are gearing up to host the second edition of the ALPINE - Owl’s Head Challenge this weekend and they are welcoming the community to hit the slopes in support of the cause.

The ALPINE - Owl’s Head Challenge is an outdoor sporting event that invites participants to do as many tours as they possibly can up and down Owl’s Head mountain to raise money for paediatric research projects. The challenge involves walking up a hill with skins attached to the bottom of the skis and then skiing back down. It can be done either solo or in teams of two to four people. 

International Women’s Day will be celebrated in countries around the world today. It is a day that celebrates women’s achievements in all spheres of life, whether social, political, or economical, while raising awareness around, and building support, for women’s rights.

According to the United Nations website, the first National Women’s Day emerged in the United States on Feb. 28, 1909 after the Socialist Party of America decided to honour the women that protested their working conditions in a garment factory in New York.

group of Bromont citizens came together to purchase the site.

Dating back to the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the park hosts renowned events, such as the Bromont International, that welcome some of the equestrian world’s top athletes. The site also provides riding opportunities for up-and-coming riders and people that are interested in the sport.

The Fédération des Centres d’assistance et d’accompagnement aux plaintes (FCAAP) is a federation that represents the interests of complaint and support centres for health and social services and private senior’s residences in Quebec.

Wanting to spread the word about the type of support that CAAPs can offer to English speakers in the province, the FCAAP launched an English version of its video “What the CAAP can do for you?” in January. The video was created in collaboration with the Community Health and Social Services Network (CHSSN).

At the beginning of January the Magog Historical Society announced on its social media platform that it was temporarily suspending its activities due to a lack of funding and ongoing negotiations with the City of Magog to receive financial support. According to a message on its website, negotiations are still in progress.

Following the announcement, an article appeared in The Record that highlighted the situation at the Magog Historical Society and the concerns it raised for other historical societies and archive centres in the the Eastern Townships.

When locals and visitors enter the village of Sutton, they are now greeted by 15 double sided banners installed on the lamp posts on Main Street.

The goal with the banners is to highlight the work of different Sutton artists and to add a pop of colour to the centre of town during the winter season. The banners depict drawings, paintings, sculptures, and other mediums and they will stay in town up until the month of May.

The Campus Brome-Missisquoi (CBM) hosted the Olympiades Regional in Welding and Fitting last Friday. The event is all about promoting and highlighting professional training programs and vocational trades.

The Welding and Fitting Competition saw eight students in the welding and fitting program representing the four vocational centres in the Eastern Townships, the CBM, the Lennoxville Vocational Training Centre, the Centre de formation professionnelle 24-Juin, and the Centre Expé (Windsor), put their knowledge and skills to the test.

Main dans la Main - a social paediatrics centre for the Brome-Missisquoi community - is participating in a new three-year pilot project launched by the provincial government that will see an outreach worker join its team.

In collaboration with other community groups and partners, like the CIUSSS de l'Estrie - CHUS, la Maison de la famille de Cowansville et Région, and Cellule Jeunes et familles de Brome-Missisquoi (Le Cellule), the organization’s outreach worker will identify vulnerable and isolated families with children between 0 and 5 years living in Cowansville to make them aware as to what services are available to them.