Civic Alert: Everyone can respond to the Mount Stephen fire

We re-jigged the story at press time, to focus on the accounts of those involved, but I still want to emphasize how important the availability of emergency response is for citizens.

“The ultimate way to judge a municipality,” was Director-General Bruce St. Louis’ theme when he spoke to the Westmount Municipal Association at the time of the “Y2K” computer scare some eight years ago.

Westmount shone then and, of course, during the Ice Storm of 1998. Care went beyond the provision of shelters and emergency, bottled water, and included scores of citizens stepping forward in a neighbourly way, particularly to look after the aged and infirm.

There is now another opportunity for us to come to the aid of fellow Westmounters — by helping the victims of the Mount Stephen fire. Though on vacation at the time, Mayor Karin Marks proposed that the City cooperate with Sun Youth to provide long-term support.

Cash donations or gently-used furniture and appliances are sought. Details are available on www.westmount.org or at 514 989-5455.

On that bitterly cold night of January 2 — it was -25 degrees with the wind chill at midnight — I think the fire chiefs fighting the incident were surprised to find Westmount’s emergency services ready to step forward. St Louis, who was on vacation, quickly drove in and stayed until all the victims had been accommodated.

Library comfort

Library director Ann Moffat, who has the responsibility for emergency services for victims, was also there.

“Opening the Library provided a comfortable and warm place for the Red Cross to process the victims,” Moffat said.

The volunteer Red Cross group that was offering assistance on the scene agreed. Rime Naim, an Outremont financial adviser and frequent volunteer for the society, explained their operation.

She was the duty dispatcher that evening when the Montreal Firemen, who routinely advise the Red Cross when there is a residential fire, called.

In the Westmount case, Naim heard from them at 10:25 p.m., about 20 minutes after their first trucks — from Stanton Street — had responded.

“It was not a very escalated call at first,” she noted.

The Red Cross has a core of volunteers, each available for about a fortnight’s duty every three months. A pair always responds to an emergency. Dispatchers are on call much more frequently.

On Jan 2, Naim reached three volunteers, including a Westmounter whom she could not name for confidentiality reasons. Not surprisingly, he was the first to arrive and had called for backup.

“There was great cooperation between the City, Sun Youth and ourselves,” the dispatcher added.

Human dignity

“Maintaining human dignity at such times is very important. We want to show that someone cares and can be counted on.”

The Red Cross provides hotels for up to three nights for those who have nowhere else to go and also gives out food and clothing vouchers.

“Clothing stores are not open in the night, of course,” Naim explained, “so I called in Sun Youth who provide the physical items the Red Cross does not have.”

The Library was opened again the following evening for the Red Cross to hold a meeting with many more of the victims.

The Society has a contract with the Big Montreal to supply the emergency services. This is regarded as an Agglom expense, so Westmount taxpayers pay towards its support.

“We seem to be famous for our international relief work, but not for the local emergencies,” Naim added. “We always have need for more volunteers.”

It is noteworthy that a Westmounter was the first Red Cross worker to arrive, and is a reminder of the many residents who donate their efforts and resources to causes outside the physical boundaries of the town.

A score of issues — and counting!

Council’s first big meeting of 2008 is not until the end of the month, but most members are already back in action and preparing for the last third of their mandates.

If one accepts that electioneering will have taken over by September, 2009, and that there are two summers and a year-end break in between, only about 15 working months remain for councillors!

They could be fully occupied with their already announced projects and ongoing issues and concerns, without others about to crop up. Here is a partial check list, in no particular order, except alphabetical!

Arena: Think of it as a new sports facility for which, at present, ambition knows no bounds. But see The Debt, below. What will be planned?

Bike path 1: Are we really going to leave it as part of the Park? Will there be new traffic calming measures?

Bike path 2: Cyclists would really like to use their bikes to go safely to the same places as car passengers, which include the Library, the Y and shopping. So that means safe cycling on Sherbrooke. How to face this island-wide concern?

Bike path 3: Mega-hospital planners may attempt to use CP land to get over the Decarie bottleneck in NDG. The route would continue into Westmount and then join the existing path at Prince Albert. Could it continue downtown on CP land? Perhaps, especially if no Shuttle – see below.

Compost: Council ordered 1,000 containers for a pilot project in kitchen waste collection. But the City has 8,800 homes. Decision time for who will be on the collectors’ routes? Approximately half of homes are in apartments and there is no plan to extend the service to them for the time being.

FCQGED: “Front commun québécois pour une gestion écologique des déchets”. Spelling out here the name of Quebec’s main waste management environment group means that I don’t have to make the following paragraph even longer than it is!

Lachenaie: Home of the monster landfill owned by the America giant, BFI. Some of Westmount’s garbage goes there and all will eventually if Big Montreal has its way. The owners have asked the Quebec government for a license to extend its life by 17 years! Whatever happened to the 3Rs? A decade ago, their Mayor, Council and citizens welcomed the mega dump. Now they oppose it and the FCQGED wants it to close! Should Westmount send its garbage to a place where the population opposes receiving it?

Parks: An inventory of present facilities, with some proposals for the future, is now commissioned. It could provoke another Great Debate. Will any decisions and actions be possible during this mandate?

Redevance: The term for a surcharge on garbage collected by the government to refund municipalities for some of their recycling and similar costs. Big Montreal claims it is all theirs. Westmount and the like say the law stipulates it is to help meet their local recycling costs. Who will win? Meantime, $193,000 sits in escrow.

Shuttle: Latest news is Henry Aubin’s revelation that developers of the mammoth Griffintown project want a train station. This would mean the CN line is used for the proposed Airport Shuttle. Would Westmount win or lose?

Snow: At the very least, December’s big storms must have dented the city’s financial reserves. Are cutbacks in other sectors coming to compensate?

Sound barrier: A contentiously expensive project to help a relatively small number of people living near the CP tracks. Could the situation be helped by trams and quieter tracks? See Shuttle, above.

Sustainable Community: A city policy adopted eighteen months ago awaits the appointment of a project leader. Will the right person be found? It calls for someone to work with all departments, motivate citizens and outside institutions, explain the science to councillors and write the Plan — all on a proposed two-year contract!

The Debt: Brings everything back down to earth.

Water: The promised evaluation of our system has been delayed, perhaps by Public Works’ dedication to beat the huge snowfalls this season.

X: The mark to use on each of the above that won’t be completely resolved by election ’09.



Community activist Don Wedge can be reached at calert@web.net