The federal government  officially issued policy directions to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for the implementation of  Bill C-11, otherwise known as the Online Streaming Act early last week.

The Brome-Missisquoi riding in Quebec is represented by Canadian Heritage and Member of Parliament Pascal St-Onge. It is also the home of community radio station CIDI.  The Minister made a trip to CIDI's studios last week to speak with journalist Taylor McClure about the Online Streaming Act’s key features and the positive impacts that she hopes to see unfold as a result of the new legislation.

A dog park will officially be created for the municipality of Sutton to help better meet the needs of dog owners in the area. 

For the past ten years, Sutton resident Chantal Lavigne has been working to convince the municipality’s town council to provide its citizens with a closed-in area where they can freely take their dogs to run and play. 

A turtle crossing project will soon be implemented in Sutton with the goal of raising awareness around protecting the turtle population in the Eastern Townships.

The idea for a turtle crossing project comes from local resident Andrew Richards. Richards lives at the southern end of Alderbrooke Road off Highway 139 where there is a large curve in the road. This part of the road is a hotspot for turtle crossings, particularly Wood Turtles, due to the river that is nearby.  But the curve makes it difficult for drivers to see anything crossing the road.

A group of Knowlton citizens - Knowlton Concerned Citizens - have submitted a proposal to St. Paul's Anglican Church and the Anglican Diocese of Montreal in a final attempt to purchase a 4-acre plot of land to conserve it from a potential development project.

According to Knowlton Concerned Citizens, having a residential development project behind St. Paul's Church will impact the pastoral character of the neighbourhood surrounding the church. The citizens' group also believes that it is important to preserve any green spaces and community gathering spaces for future generations.

The Municipal Regional County (MRC) of Brome-Missisquoi has revised its Residual Materials Management Plan (RMMP) and it has now been officially implemented across the MRC. 

Under the Quebec provincial government’s Environment Quality Act, which implements strategies, actions plans, and policies for waste management in the province, all MRCs are required to revise their RMMP every seven years, explained Oriana Familiar, environmental management service coordinator for the MRC of Brome-Missisquoi. 

Campus Brome-Missisquoi’s (CBM) Adult Education Centre is celebrating the re-launch of its Breakfast Club with a new kitchen. 

According to Maude Danis Coulombe, assistant director of Adult General Education at CBM, the Breakfast Club is an extra credit course for those students completing their high-school diploma. The Breakfast Club provides low cost breakfast for students and staff at CBM and it provides club participants with the opportunity to gain important life skills. However, the Adult Education Centre had to put the Breakfast Club on hold earlier this year due to the kitchen no longer being up to code and lacking the proper equipment. 

Waterloo has a new tennis dome that will now provide more opportunities for people across the Eastern Townships to discover and play the sport year-round.

The tennis dome project in Waterloo was spearheaded by Norman Rothsching, a tennis coach for a number of years and now president of the François Godbout Tennis Club. Five years in the making, Rothsching first proposed a year-round facility in support of the development of tennis to the city of Montreal, Bromont, and Granby before he finally found support for the project with the Town of Waterloo.

The Centre Action Bénévole de Sutton (CAB de Sutton) has found a new senior outreach worker in Étienne Guérette and he is looking to rebuild connections and a sense of community in the villages of Sutton and Abercorn. 

Guérette, whom has a background in religious studies, joined the CAB de Sutton team this summer after working in hospitals to provide patients support through spiritual care. 

A member of the Royal Canadian Legion in Philipsburg - Branch #82 - has been working on a veteran grave marker project with the goal of expanding it nationwide by next year. 

Arnold Raymond has been a volunteer with the Royal Canadian Legion in Philipsburg - Branch #82 - since 2013. Shortly after becoming a member, he discovered that his grandfather served in the Canadian Armed Forces in the First World War. After visiting his gravesite, he decided to create a marker that would clearly identify him as a veteran. 

Regional leaders in the Eastern Townships are working together to support Bishop’s University (BU) in the face of the Quebec government’s tuition increase for Canadian out-of-province students.

A press conference was held at BU’s Centennial Theatre on Oct. 31 that saw over 187 community leaders, including former politicians, elected officials, business owners, university representatives, and BU alumni, stand behind the university and demand that government officials reconsider their proposed university tuition fee policies.

The Centre action bénévole de Farnham (CAB de Farnham) and a number of other community organizations are getting set to launch a fundraising campaign for a major renovation and expansion project that will see these groups come together in one space, centralize their services, and work together to serve their communities. 

The Town of Farnham recently ceded a building valued at $1.4 million to the CAB de Farnham, the Maison des jeunes de Farnham, le Maison de la famille de Farnham et la region, the Association des personnes handicapées physiques de Brome-Missisquoi, and la Corporation de développement communautaire de Brome-Missisquoi. The building, located on Rue Saint-André S, dates back to 1967 and it was a gift from the federal government to the municipality in celebration of Canada's Centennial year. It more recently served as the Centre d'arts de Farnham.

The Brome County Historical Society (BCHS) is launching the 27th edition of its “Bring and Bid” auction. This year’s event will raise funds for essential improvements for the Lac-Brome Museum and Archives Centre.

Denis Piquette, executive director of the BCHS, told CIDI that Bring and Bid has “always been one of our key fundraising events.”

A group of local citizens are actively consulting Town of Brome Lake residents on what they are looking for from their municipality as elected officials prepare a new five-year strategic plan. The citizens' group has officially published its own first preliminary report.

Over the last three months, residents living in the villages and hamlets of Fulford, Bondville, Foster, Iron Hill, Knowlton, East Hill, and West Brome have taken part in a bilingual in-depth consultation process known as Imaginaction II. Imaginaction dates back to 1989 when a group of local citizens formed a “citizen’s procedure to analyze everything about the Town of Brome Lake” as elected officials planned for the future of the municipality, according to Peter White, leader of Imaginaction II.

As the Quebec government proposes its increase in tuition fees for out-of-province students studying at Quebec universities, Bishop's University (BU) is actively working to raise awareness around its concerns and it is asking Townshippers to stand in solidarity with the 180-year old institution as it encourages government officials to re-evaluate its new measures.

Earlier this month, Minister of Higher Education Pascale Déry announced new measures concerning the tuition fees for out-of-province students and international students seeking to study at a Quebec university. According to the official press release, the aim is to strengthen the “Francophone-language university network.”

The federal government is seeking to bring about new changes that will make it easier for municipalities to regulate navigation on their bodies of water.

Marie-Claude Bibeau, Member of Parliament for Compton- Stanstead; Pascale St-Onge, Member of Parliament for Brome-Missisquoi; and Élisabeth Brière, Member of Parliament for Sherbrooke made the announcement in Ayer's Cliff late last week where they spoke on the 3 proposed legislative amendments to what is known as Canada's Shipping Act.

A number of community organizations and citizens in the Eastern Townships came together for a peaceful protest in Cowansville to take a stand against poverty for the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on Oct. 17. 

“It’s one day where we take the time to sit down with people that are living in poverty, to actually act on it, and to make sure that poverty is actually talked about,” said Rosalie Dupont, coordinator for the la Table d’Action Contre l’Appauvrissement de l’Estrie - a concentration table that regroups different community organizations across the Eastern Townships to sensitize people to the fight against poverty.

The Centre Action Bénévole de Cowansville (CAB de Cowansville) has officially launched its fundraising campaign for its future expansion project and it is calling on community members to come together and help support people in need.

The CAB de Cowansville is a volunteer-based organization that offers a number of services to help meet the needs of the people in its territory, including the Cowansville food bank, medical transport support, and income tax services. It serves areas such as Cowansville, East-Farnham, Dunham, Frelighsburg and Brigham.

The 13th edition of the Knowlton Literary Festival kicked off on Thursday and a journalism panel is featured as a part of the program for the very first time on Saturday, October 14. 

The journalism panel will be moderated by former CBC broadcaster and member of the local community Wendy Mesley. It will see a discussion between investigative journalist and author Jacquie McNish and author and political editor of MacLean’s magazine Paul Wells as they attempt to answer the question -- is it “The End of Journalism?” 

The Townships Sun is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and looking towards a bigger and brighter future in celebration of its milestone. 

The Townships Sun is an English-language community magazine that was founded in 1973 by the Eastern Townships Social Action Group. A group of volunteers now publishes nine issues of the Townships Sun each year, exploring the history, culture, and lives of the English-speaking communities in the Eastern Townships.

The Knowlton Academy Secret Garden and Greenhouse Project continues to sprout bigger and better things and this year it has officially found its way into the school curriculum.

The project was started seven years ago. Heidi Neil and Matthew Quesnelle, both teachers at Knowlton Academy (K.A), are the team coordinators for the garden and greenhouse project this year. Together, they worked to incorporate the garden and greenhouse project into the science classes at the school.