Ferryland's old stone Church in for upgrade

By Annette Mooney

for the Irish Loop Post

   This year marks the 150th year anniversary of Holy Trinity Church in Ferryland.
When it was consecrated in September of 1865, it marked the last of the five stone churches built under Bishop John Thomas Mullock. The other four were constructed in Torbay, Kilbride, Blackhead and St. Kyran's. 
   The original name of the Ferryland Church was Holy Family, and it had taken two years to complete. The cornerstone was laid on May 31, 1863, and for the next two years, the people of Ferryland rowed back and forth from Stone Island in Calvert gathering the stone needed to build the church. This was no small undertaking for men who had families to support, let alone building a stone church. It was beautifully decorated with stained glass windows over the altar and statues on either side.
   Fr. James Murphy, the parish priest at the time, who was instrumental in having the church built, was indeed a proud man on the day of the consecration.
What a day Sept. 10th, 1865 was! According to an account dated Sept. 14, 1865, in The Newfoundlander, a prominent newspaper of the period, a large group from the Catholic Institute in St. John's travelled up to Ferryland on The Diamond, a vessel similar to a steamboat.
   Landing at Carter's wharf, they were given a rousing welcome with flags, streamers, volleys of gun shots and even a marching band. These Institute members were indeed on a mission, as the paper's account reads, "they were there to secure, as far as possible, a regular discharge of the duties of religion, and a strict observance of the laws of morality by the combined aid of religious practices, intellectual advancement, and social reunions."
   Now, they had a job, didn't they?  This account in  The Newfoundlander is well worth the read, not only for historical documentation, but for its literary style which has long since fallen by the wayside. Other parts of the article talk about the large attendance by the people of Ferryland and neighbouring  parishioners; many whom had given "handsome financial donations." These included two protestant gentlemen from Ferryland and the Messr. Cashin from Cape Broyle who gave 100 pounds; in addition to donating two of the three stained glass windows over the altar.
   The decades following the consecration saw many other features added to Holy Trinity including a three-story tower which was not completed until 1898, and which was also built with stone from Stone Island.
According to an article in The Telegram dated Aug. 17, 1898, the tower could have been completed much earlier, but "Fr. Vereker, P.P. will have nothing done to any property, church or otherwise, unless he's got the money to plank down." 
   In 1927, the grand marble altar, purchased from Rome, Italy, had a tablet installed containing  the names of the men from our area killed in World War 1. The inscription in Latin reads: Their bodies are buried in peace, but their names shall live from generation to generation  (Eccl.XIV.14).
   The Grotto, located next to the entrance of the church, holds statues from the wrecked vessel, the S.S. Torhamvan, which ran aground in Ferryland on Oct. 29, 1926. The people of Ferryland have always been cognizant of the role religion has played in their historic lineage. Lord Baltimore, who arrived in Ferryland on July 23, 1627, founded the first Catholic Colony in North America, and envisioned that Colony of Avalon as a great missionary outpost in the New World.
    Over the past 70 years, Holy Trinity Church has seen numerous changes: some necessary; some mistakes. In 1995, a group of concerned residents founded the Holy Trinity Restoration Foundation with the hope of returning the church to its original state and preserving it for future generations. With funds from a weekly TV bingo, memoriam donations and government funding, the foundation has renovated the exterior, erected new stained glass windows, and completed landscape work on the grotto. The tower will be the last part to be restored.
    On Sunday, August 16 at 11 o'clock, Fr. Ken Walsh, the present Parish Priest, will celebrate a special Mass to mark this milestone of 150 years. This will be followed by a social at the Southern Shore Folk Arts building. All are welcome.

Ottawa funding high speed internet upgrade in region

Improved high-speed Internet services are coming to an additional 13,500 homes across the province, including in this region, thanks to an investment this summer by the federal government.
The local communities that will get the service upgrades include Admirals Beach, Aquafort, Bay Bulls,  Branch, Cape Broyle, Colinet, Fermeuse, Ferryland, Fox Harbour, Gaskiers – Point La Haye, Long Harbour – Mount Arlington Heights, Mount Carmel – Mitchells Brook – St. Catherine’s, Placentia, Portugal Cove South, Renews – Cappahayden, Riverhead, St. Joseph’s, St. Mary’s, St. Vincent’s – St. Stephen’s – Peter’s River, Trepassey and Witless Bay.
Everyday tasks that were once done in person, such as shopping, communicating, learning and banking, are now done online, noted Rob Moore, the Regional Minister for Newfoundland and Labrador and Minister of State  for ACOA. “The Government of Canada is delivering on its commitment to rural Canadians to connect an additional 280,000 households in rural and remote regions of the country to high-speed Internet at minimum speeds of five megabits per second,” he added. “Much of this will be completed by the time Canada celebrates its 150th anniversary in 2017.”
Last summer, the government invited Canadians to provide feedback online to help better determine areas in need of high-speed Internet access, Moore said. Once information was received from individual Canadians and governments across the country, Industry Canada invited Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to submit proposals for funding to build wireless or wired infrastructure.

Witless Bay council sends another councillor to a 'Friendly Hearing'

Witless Bay council has voted to give a third councillor a ‘Friendly Hearing’ on a charge of conflict of interest as it serves formal notice to two other councillors that their seats have been vacated.
Councillor Kevin Smart is accused of having voted to adopt Witless Bay’s new Town Plan, which rezones land he owns within the community.
No date was set for the hearing, which is required under the Municipalities Act when a councillor is accused of failing to disclose a conflict of interest.
Husband and wife councillors Ralph Carey and Dena Wiseman were fired from council last month for failing to disclose they own land on Pond Path when they participated in a discussion last summer about the town providing snow clearing services on the private lane.
Like Smart, they were also accused by developers and land owners of breaking conflict of interest rules when they voted on the Town Plan, because it rezones their land off Pond Path to allow for housing development.
Tuesday’s meeting also saw council tussle over whether councillor Albert Murphy can vote on the Town Plan, which has been sent back from the province  because of irregularities in the way it was handled by council.
Several meetings ago Mayor Sébastien Després moved preemptively  to declare Murphy in a conflict of interest because Murphy’s brother-in-law, Ron Harte, applied several years ago to have land below Mullowney’s Lane rezoned to allow a building lot for his daughter. At the time, council rejected his application. Després, Wiseman, Carey and Smart also passed amendments to make all the Crown land around Harte, and another property owner, Gary Churchill, into a park or conservation zone to prevent any development in the area.
The Department of Municipal Affairs has since ruled that council didn’t follow proper procedure in making those and other amendments to the proposed Town Plan. Council has written Harte telling him his land will retain its old zoning. That led councillors René Estrada and Ken Brinston to argue last week that because Harte’s land is not being rezoned, Després had no grounds to rule Murphy was in a conflict of interest.
“I hate to say this, but you’re in the wrong there,” Estrada told Després.
The mayor disagreed, claiming it is a “classic” example of conflict of interest. He challenged Estrada to make a motion to overturn his ruling. Estrada complied. But with only four councillors left to vote on the motion, it tied 2-2.
“The motion fails,” said Després. “Councillor Murphy is in a conflict of interest.”
The decision means that unless council quickly fills the two vacant seats left by the departure of Carey and Wiseman, it will not have a quorum to vote on the Town Plan, because only Després, Estrada and Brinston are not in a conflict of interest. The town was under an order from the Department of Municipal Affairs to approve the Plan by July 15 or call a new public hearing on it.
“Where does this leave us?” asked councillor Brinston, who along with Murphy was elected in a by-election in late February and sworn into office in March.
“We’ve been in this situation before actually, councillor Estrada and I,” Després noted. He said the town can ask the Minister of Municipal Affairs for permission to allow three people to vote on the Town Plan. “But I would like to make it shown in the record that I am actually opposed to voting as a reduced quorum.”
That remark drew laughter since it was Després, when the accusations against Smart, Carey and Wiseman were made last fall, who claimed he had received permission from the Department to settle the accusations without a quorum. Correspondence between the town and the Department surfaced later showing the mayor’s request was denied. Instead, council had been directed to fill the two vacancies it had as soon as possible so it could have a quorum.
On Tuesday, Després reversed tack, seemingly taking up the department’s ruling of last fall and adopting it as his own. “The last two times we asked the minister he made it very clear there is a way for us to gain quorum,” said Després. “It’s by holding a by-election.”
Murphy cautioned that council should hold off calling a by-election until the period expires for Wiseman and Carey to appeal the vacating of their seats.
“They have appealed it,” Després said.
“We (the rest of council) weren’t aware that they appealed it,” Murphy said.
 

Former mayor looking for PC nomination in Placentia - St. Mary's

The PC Party will see a contested nomination in the district of Placentia-St. Mary’s with former Justice Minister Judy Manning and former Riverhead Mayor Colin Corcoran vying for the right to represent the party in the November 30 provincial election.
Manning, who had promised to seek the nomination in her district when she was appointed to cabinet, without having been elected, by Premier Paul Davis last fall, fulfilled that commitment last week. Corcoran, who was a volunteer on the campaigns of PC incumbent Felix Collins, declared his candidacy at a meeting in St. Mary’s on Sunday night.
“I can safely say I’ve spent the last 20 years volunteering my time in some capacity or the other,” said Corcoran, who is 26. “Over the years I’ve written grant applications, I’ve made phone calls, I’ve sat on committees, I did a stint for four years on council and then eventually mayor, I sit on the Holyrood Pond Development Committee. And every single time there is an issue or anything the community needs, what I end up doing at the end of the day is calling the MHA. So I can continue doing this for years and years to come… I can continue to spin my wheels, but I think the best use of my time now, for the people of Placentia-St. Mary’s, is that when someone calls, I’m the person on the other end of that line.”
As mayor of Riverhead, Corcoran generated controversy because he worked, and some said lived, in St. John’s, causing some members of council to question his residency qualifications for the office. The Chartered Professional Accountant still works in the city, but he and his wife Nanci recently purchased the former Harbourview Restaurant and Lounge in St. Mary’s, relaunching it as the Celtic Knot.
“We decided a long time ago that we wanted to reinvest in the community and when the opportunity arose to purchase a business in St. Mary’s, we jumped all over it,” he said.
Whoever wins the PC nomination will have a tough fight to hold onto the seat against a popular Liberal party and a resurgent NDP. In the 2011 election, the seat saw a fairly even three way split, with Collins managing to go up the middle on a few extra votes. Liberal hopeful Sherry Gambin-Walsh has been campaigning since last fall when she won her party’s nomination, which has been called again due to the redistribution of district boundaries and reduction of seats. She is in a nomination battle against musician Larry Foley of Placentia, who also ran last time, and teacher Gabe Ryan of Holyrood, who ran for the NDP in a different district in 2011. The NDP has yet to choose a candidate for the district, which has been made larger by redistribution to include a number of communities in Trinity Bay.
Corcoran acknowledged he has a big job ahead of him with the way the PCs are in the polls. “It is an uphill battle both ways,” he said, “one, in terms of the nomination, because you know who my contender is, and two, for the party in general. But I fundamentally believe the Progressive Conservative Party is the best option for Newfoundland and Labrador right now. It is the party that is coming up with more progressive policies.”
He pointed to Premier Davis’s promise to eventually start a trust fund for the province using oil royalties. “I think that is a really smart move,” said Corcoran. “And it is that forward thinking that will really bring the PCs through this next election and really make them shine.”
Corcoran said he plans to get to all parts of the new, bigger district during the short campaign window of the nomination period. Anyone living within the district can vote in the nomination. You don’t have to be a party member.
“I’ve been hemming and hawing about this for two years now and having serious conversations with people whom I respect and admire,” Corcoran said… “It’s been a quick decision, but a long time percolating that eventually I would run. And this election or the next election, it was inevitable that I would.”

Stella Maris honours world class alumnus

By Judy Brazil

One of the highlights of Stella Maris Academy’s 50th anniversary and reunion last week was a special tribute paid on opening night to former student Melvin Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald was born in Trepassey in 1953. At age two he was stricken with polio. He had little involvement in organized sports except for softball where he would bat the ball and someone would run to the bases for him. He did not begin his involvement in wheelchair sports until he moved to St. John’s in 1973 at the age of 20.
He began training in earnest with a rigorous weight-training and endurance conditioning program. He set up house at the YM-YWCA where he trained for hours daily, taking only Sundays off.  To gain power in his arms, he did endurance work on a stationary bicycle, with resistance capacity, pedalling it with his arms. 
The long hours of training and his determination paid off. He entered his first national competition in 1976 and in 1977 won his first medal, a bronze, in the national games for the physically disabled held in Edmonton, Alberta.  In 1978, when the annual competition was held in St. John’s, he won five gold medals and a silver in wheelchair races and was chosen to represent Canada at the Pan-American Wheelchair Games in December 1978. 
There, he set two new world records, won gold medals in the 800 metre and 1,500 metre events, silver medals in the 100 metre, and was a member of the Canadian relay team that won the silver medal. That same year he competed in the Tely 10 Road Race in St. John’s as the only wheelchair athlete, and finished in first place with a time of fifty-two minutes. As a representative of Canada at the Stoke Mandeville Games in England, he won gold medals in the 100 m and 500 m events and a bronze as part of the Canadian relay team. In August of 1979 he was a member of the Newfoundland team at the eleventh national games for the physically disabled in Vancouver. At the opening ceremonies, he was presented with the Gene Reimer Award as the best Canadian athlete in national and International competition during the previous year.  He then went on to win gold medals in the 200 m, 400 m, 800 m, 1,500 m, 5,000 m, 15,000 m races.
Fitzgerald was named the outstanding athlete in his class, and was chosen to attend the 1979 International Super challenge held in Montreal, where he competed in the Pentathlon. He also represented Canada at the Olympiad for the physically disabled at Arnhem, Holland and led Canada to a fourth-place finish in competition against more than 100 countries, winning two gold medals, one silver and one bronze.
In September that year he was the only wheelchair athlete to compete in the National Marathon finishing the 42 km race in two hours thirty-five minutes. In 1979, Fitzgerald held seven Canadian records simultaneously and up to 1982 held all Newfoundland records in his class. In 1980, he was named the winner of the Tom “Dynamite” Dunne Memorial Award as the St. John’s Male Athlete of the year. 
In 1981, Fitzgerald competed for Canada in the Rome, Italy Games for the Physically Disabled.  One of the highlights of his visit to Rome was the honor of meeting and shaking hands with Pope John Paul II. This was after winning the Gold Medal in the 1,500 metre event and a bronze medal in the 100 metre course.  
In January of that same year, he received the Canadian Amateur Sports Federation’s highest honour when he was named winner of the Norton M. Crow Memorial Award as Canada’s top male athlete of the year.  In 1982, he was named to the Order of Canada. In 1982 he also set world records at the Pan American Wheelchair Games in Halifax in the 800 metre race with the world record time of ...two minutes 12.9 seconds. 
In 1984 Fitzgerald competed in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles and in May of 1985, at the National Capital Marathon in Ottawa. In September that same year, he competed at the Toronto and Montreal marathons. 
Fitzgerald is truly one of the best athletes to ever come from Stella Maris School in Trepassey.
To honour Fitzgerald’s accomplishments, former teacher Ted Winter unveiled a special plaque that will be erected on the outside the school by the top of the hill as you turn down toward Stella Maris.

Renews residents hoping to give local landmark a face lift

The members of a committee of Roman Catholic parishioners and residents in Renews are hoping an injection of energy from a Spirit of Newfoundland performance will rally enough contributions to save the deteriorating façade of Holy Apostles Church.
The registered heritage structure was built in the 1870s and is still used regularly for Mass. Perched on a hill overlooking a Grotto with its famous Mass Rock, the building is a community landmark as well as a place of worship. In past years, the steeple on the church was used as a landmark for hunters returning from the woods and fishermen heading home from the fishing grounds.
But with Church attendance down and no funds available from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese Corporation to keep it up, the responsibility of maintaining the building rests with local citizens.
“The Church is in bad shape,” allowed Lois Berrigan, one of the members of the Holy Apostles Church Properties committee. “The front of it is woodpecker infested. For the first time ever we’ve seen that a lot of woodpeckers have eaten the front of the Church. Structurally it’s great, we’ve had it checked out, but it needs a lot of cosmetic work.”
The problem is finding the money to fix the problems. Due to declining populations and the limited availability of priests, parishes in the Archdiocese have been reorganized. There is only one parish now – and one priest -from Cape Broyle to Cappahayden. Proceeds from the collection plate circulated at the Masses held in the communities throughout the parish have to be shared throughout the parish. So when a particular church requires major renovations or repair, an outside injection of funds is needed. Hence the fundraiser set for Regina Mundi Cultural Centre on Lady Day, August 15, featuring Spirit of Newfoundland Productions.
Berrigan said the committee can qualify for a grant from the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland on a 70/30 basis. But the local committee has to come up with its 70 per cent first before the foundation will contribute its 30 per cent, up to a maximum of $50,000.
“We can also get new steps on the church through an Inclusion grant (from the provincial government), Berrigan pointed out. “So we’re applying for that.”
Berrigan said she would like to see $100,000 raised this year, but is doubtful the group can reach that figure. “But if we could raise probably $30,000 or $40,000 at least it’s a big start,” she said.
The money would be used to replace the clapboard and the corner boards, which appear to be rotted. “There’s a lot of rot,” Berrigan acknowledged. The steeple and roof also need attention.
Some people are sceptical about the notion of saving churches, because they aren’t used as much anymore, even for weddings and funerals, Berrigan admitted,. “But you don’t want to lose the church – it’s such a heart of your community, even the structure itself.”
The dinner show fundraiser is being organized by Natalie Brazil, who put together a similar event on Lady Day last year. This year’s entertainment features a performance by Spirit of Newfoundland Productions of their Beatles: Back in the NFLD show along with a three course meal for $65.
 

Bay Bulls council wracked by conflict of interest allegations

The largest crowd of spectators to attend in years was on hand last week as Bay Bulls council twisted itself into a tighter knot with three new allegations of conflict of interest coming to light.
Most of the crowd seemed to show up in support of Deputy Mayor Harold Mullowney, who is being accused by fellow councillor Jason Sullivan of being a competing land developer and therefore in a conflict of interest when he discussed Sullivan’s application this past March to acquire 37 acres of Crown land for a 50 lot subdivision.
Sullivan levelled that accusation after Mullowney pointed out in a public council meeting that much of the land in question is wetland and recommended the town get an opinion from the Department of Environment before it accede to Sullivan’s request to develop half acre lots in place of one acre lots.
Because Mullowney was applying for a small piece of Crown land across the highway from his development, Sullivan maintained the Deputy Mayor was a competing developer. Sullivan claimed the land was intended as an access to other property Mullowney has an interest in and intends to develop. Mullowney has denied the allegation.
The crowd in the gallery was clearly anxious for council to get to that matter and at times jawed Mayor Patrick O’Driscoll over his handling of the accusation. O’Driscoll shouted down the crowd and pounded his gavel onto his desk.
But the surprise of the night was when Mullowney insisted that a letter received by council the previous day be reinstated to the agenda for discussion. Mayor O’Driscoll had disallowed the item before the start of the public meeting. After heated debate, and loud complaints from the spectators, the mayor was outvoted.
“This is a democracy, not a dictatorship,” said one woman.
“This reflects back on the whole community,” added another woman. “Harold has been an excellent councillor for 26 years. Harold Mullowney has been an individual who has put himself forward on many occasions to do things that nobody else would. And he deserves the respect of this community.”
Another resident, Kevin O’Brien, suggested Mayor O’Driscoll was himself in a conflict because earlier in the meeting he had voted on a development application from his aunt. O’Driscoll said that wasn’t a conflict of interest under the Municipalities Act. “Don’t get up there and make accusations against me,” he told O’Brien.
As for the letter, it was written by Martina Aylward, who is a partner in a property development company with her brother Ernest Dunn. It accused councillor Sullivan of breaking conflict of interest rules on six or seven occasions. The first charge involved Sullivan allegedly voting on a council motion to pay Sea Gypsy Enterprises, which is owned by his father, almost $2,000 for work down for the Town.
The other allegations centre on Sullivan taking part in discussions and votes involving other development applications. Aylward contends that because Sullivan is a developer - his application for Crown land dates back to August 2013 and he was involved in housing construction before that - he should have excused himself from any decisions involving other subdivision developers.
Aylward and Dunn’s company has filed a legal action against the town over the way council handled its development application in June 2013 involving Crown Land that was also being sought by developer Fraser Paul and sod farmer Christa Luby. The land is about a kilometre or so away from the 37 acres being sought by Sullivan.
In a private meeting in June 2013, council approved Paul’s application in part, along with Luby’s. The decision on Aylward’s and Dunn’s application has never been made fully clear. Meanwhile, council has since rescinded its approval of Luby’s application.
Rather than discuss the allegations against Sullivan publicly, council moved the matter to a privileged session along with the two other allegations involving councillors that were revealed Tuesday night.
The first involves a conflict of interest allegation against councillor Joan Luby stemming to her first night on council.
Luby was elected by acclamation on April 1 and sworn in at the start of the public meeting on April 13. She had asked to be sworn in earlier so that she could get a copy of council’s agenda to prepare for the meeting, but was turned down. Partway through the meeting, Mayor O’Driscoll ordered the public out of the chamber so that council could meet in private. The nature of the discussion was not disclosed. But the Irish Loop Post has learned that it involved developer Fraser Paul’s subdivision application.
Luby said at the time she didn’t even know where Paul’s land was located.
“I said to (the mayor) Patrick, am I in conflict on all this?” Luby recalled. “No one said a thing… It was a decision just to go to a lawyer (for advice), that was all… I said, ‘What is it on? I didn’t know anything about this.’”
The next day, said Luby, Paul wrote the Town accusing her of having broken conflict of interest rules because a corner of the land had also been sought by her sister-in-law, Christa Luby.
“I never knew about that,” said the councillor, pointing out it was first night on council and she had not been given a chance to review any of the information in her councillor’s package before each item came to the table for a discussion and vote.  
Luby said she is unsure how Paul found out about council’s discussion so quickly since it was a privileged session. Sullivan was absent from that night’s meeting and councillor Rick Oxford, who is Paul’s brother-in-law, did not participate in that part of the session.
The third new conflict allegation also involves Paul. He is contending, like councillor Sullivan, that Deputy Mayor Mullowney is a competing land developer and therefore should have abstained from any votes or discussion involving his subdivision application.
Near the end of the public meeting, Mayor O’Driscoll asked the public to clear the chamber so council could meet in private. Two hours later, the chamber doors reopened. Going through each matter one at a time, council agreed to refer each allegation to a lawyer for advice.
Earlier in the meeting, before council broke for the private session, the crowd urged Mullowney to give his side of the story.
“I think I was totally blindsided and set up here,” said Mullowney. “I am not a developer… And yet we have an individual sitting in this chamber, who has told everyone he is a developer, and continues to vote on development… I built my own house (years ago) with a great deal of help from my brothers. I have not built any houses for sale. I am not a developer.”
When councillor Sullivan, who took Mullowney’s remarks as being directed at him, contended he is not a developer either, the crowd groaned and hooted.
“I can’t wait for the next election,” said one of the spectators.
During the whole of the three hour meeting, two uniformed RCMP officers remained standing outside the back of the Town Hall. Mayor O’Driscoll would not say if he had asked the police to remain on standby for the council meeting.

Ferryland Guide looking forward to an India summer

Brandi O’Keefe is having a pretty good year. In May, the 23 year old Ferryland native graduated from Dalhousie University with a combined honours degree in marine biology and oceanography. Last week she started a new job with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans lab in St. John’s. And next week she leads a Canadian delegation of Girl Guides to India.
O’Keefe is one of two leaders selected for the month long trip. Her nomination was promoted by the Guiding movement in Nova Scotia. O’Keefe and the other leader, who is from Alberta, will take eight younger Guides, including two from Newfoundland, to Pune, India for an international conference and then some sightseeing around Delhi and other places on the subcontinent.
“I’ve been involved in Girl Guides since I was five, from Kindergarten right through to Grade 11,” said O’Keefe, who is back living in Ferryland.
O’Keefe is used to travel, and achievement. In her final high school year, she was selected as a Pearson scholar, which qualified her for two years of study at Pearson College in Victoria, British Columbia. The school was founded by and named for the late Lester B. Pearson, a former Prime Minister of Canada and Nobel Laureate.
O’Keefe kept up her involvement in the Girl Guides while in B.C., becoming a Leader. “I graduated from Pearson College and moved to Halifax and I got really involved with Girl Guides there, from a district level to a provincial level,” she noted.
In Nova Scotia, O’Keefe became a District Commissioner, essentially running the Girl Guides’ operations in Halifax, which consists of nine clubs.
Every year, Girl Guides of Canada sends a delegation somewhere internationally. When O’Keefe heard one of the trips this year included India, she got excited.
“I always wanted to go to India,” O’Keefe said. “I love to travel… So I said I would give it a shot and apply.”
O’Keefe got through the initial round of applicants and was selected for an interview as a Nova Scotia Guide. A week later she was notified that she was one of two applicants whose resumes from that province were being passed on to the national council for consideration. That was followed by a second interview that got her placed on a short list of 10 candidates nationally. Then came another interview, which occurred while she happened to be home in Ferryland for a visit this past February. It included a 30 minute panel discussion over the telephone with six judges.
“Mom was in the kitchen when I came and out and said ‘How was it?’ I said ‘I have no idea. They fired questions at me.’ It was quick, quick, quick, with no input on how I did, nothing.”
On Saturday night O’Keefe’s e-mail started to light up. The first message informed her she had been selected to co-lead the trip to India. “I actually screamed,” said O’Keefe. “Dad jumped out of the chair and everything.”
Since then she and the co-leader from Alberta have been planning the trip and coordinating things with the other Guides. The delegation will assemble in Toronto, fly to Frankfurt, Germany, change planes for Mumbai, India and take a five hour bus ride to Pune, site of the Girl Guide World Centre. “We’re going to stay there for 10 days and take part in an international leadership conference, volunteer in some schools and an orphanage and help build a new school,” O’Keefe said.
That’s followed by two weeks of touring.
O’Keefe has to get a month’s leave of absence from her new job to make the trip. Guiding is that important to her.
“Being involved in it so long, I’ve seen everything that Girl Guides has to offer,” she explained. “You learn everything from leadership skills to camping. It became part of me and giving back to the community is a big thing. I’ve seen what Girl Guides can do for me, giving me such a good outlook and teaching me so much. Now it’s my time to give back to the people who gave to me.”
Girls Guides also offers a lot of opportunities scholastically and travel wise, O’Keefe noted. “Girl Guides offers scholarships like no other (organization),” she pointed out. “There are national scholarships, provincial scholarships, District scholarships. There are all kinds of conferences (out of the province). There are opportunities galore and that’s a big part of it.”
India won’t be O’Keefe’s first international trip. She spent a summer in Kenya on a Pearson College program, backpacked through Europe and visited South America.
The DFO job will also be interesting. O’Keefe has an eight month contract studying capelin, including the factors that affect their reproduction and abundance. She is looking forward to spending time on the water this fall with the Coast Guard conducting capelin sampling exercises.
Meanwhile, she is preparing for monsoon season in India where daily temperatures hit about 42 degrees.
“It’s definitely a big place to visit and culturally diverse,” said O’Keefe.
That’s something she expects to enjoy. Pearson College had over 200 students from 100 different countries. “It was exciting that they got to live with us and experience Canadian culture,” O’Keefe said. “Now I’m really excited to go and experience what they have to offer and where they came from and everything they practice from yoga to being a Buddhist or Hindu, and taking part in different religious ceremonies, seeing all the temples, everything.”

For NDP hopeful it's the Wright time to run

Kingman’s Cove resident Jenny Wright is hoping to turn a career of social activism into a political one with her run for the NDP nomination in the riding of Avalon and potentially a seat in parliament.
Wright, 49, is the executive director of the St. John’s Status of Women’s Council, a job she took just over a year ago. Before that she worked with Choices For Youth and the Child and Youth Advocate’s Office.
“I’ve done that work most of my life – advocating for women’s rights, homelessness, anti-poverty work,” Wright said, during a phone interview on her way to Cape St. Mary’s Bird Sanctuary. She is in the middle of a two week holiday, time she is using to explore the nooks and crannies of the riding. It includes the Southern Shore from Mobile southwards, both sides of St. Mary’s Bay, and both shores of Conception Bay – as far as Salmon Cove in the north and Paradise in the south. That gives it some of the province’s largest municipalities in Conception Bay South, Paradise, Bay Roberts and Carbonear, and some of the smallest, unincorporated ones.
“I’ve never run for politics before,” Wright said. “I’ve always worked for advocacy organizations, fighting for people’s access to government services. But if there’s a time to run, this is it. It’s time for a real big change. I’m really concerned about where the country is going and after Bill C-51 I thought, ‘This is it, I’m going to have to take a stand.’ And I want to run. I really want to run in Avalon. My heart and soul is in it and I live in it and it’s a diverse district.”
Wright is using her vacation time to meet with people throughout the riding and ask about their issues and concerns. “Everyone is saying to me, ‘We need change.’ People are unhappy,” she said.
Wright has been struck by the number of people who told her they’ve never voted before but want things to change. “It’s very positive,” she said. “People are very activated, very stimulated… so I’ve just been having a wonderful time talking to people seeing what the issues are.”
Bill C51, the Conservative government’s ‘Anti-terrorism Act,’ was tepidly supported by the Liberals in Parliament, but opposed by the NDP. It allows for “preventative detention” of terrorism suspects before they commit a crime and the sharing of personal data among government agencies. Security experts have warned the new provisions could lead to abuse of suspects while in detention and the possibility of innocent people being detained. There is also concern the new Act will criminalize some protesters and restrict free speech. Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, has also gained new powers.
“We can’t allow government and CSIS and our police systems to have that much power, to have surveillance monitoring and arrest powers over people with absolutely no oversight,” Wright argued. “I mean this is unheard of in Canada and it has so many repercussions for advocacy groups, even for groups like Greenpeace or First Nations people who are out protesting. Under this new law, everyone who is out protesting for change against the government could be hauled in and charged. This is not the Canada that we’re used to. I just think Bill C-51 pushes that too far and for me that was the final straw. I thought, ‘I don’t recognize my country anymore, this is not the country I grew up in.’”
Among the other issues important to Wright is “detangling the mess that is the DFO,” she said. “I live in a very small fishing community and the rules, policies and procedures that are coming down when it comes to managing the fisheries are just a mess and it’s getting in the way of us working on a good resources management plan.”
Affordable child care, is also important, Wright said, because the lack of it is stopping some people from being able to take jobs outside the home. Economic development, including support for small businesses, is also on her list.
“And I’m absolutely passionate of course around women’s issues,” Wright added. “I’ve been a strong feminist voice in this province for a while. We need a strategy to end family violence, we need much more women in government in leadership positions in the province. And all of those issues are not just women’s issues, they’re family issues and community safety issues and they become economic issues with the drain on the economy that happens around family violence and the drain on the economy when women can’t work because of the lack of childcare.”
Wright said many people she has talked to were unaware the Harper government has raised the qualifying age for Canada Pension to 67, up from 65. Many rural residents are worried about being able to retire with dignity, she said, especially when it comes to accessing health care. “If you want to keep people staying in their communities, and get the population growth up, which is a huge issue that we’re dealing with, people need access to health care and to be able to retire with some kind of dignity,” she said.
Jeannie Baldwin, a senior vice president with the Public Service Alliance of Canada has also announced her intention to seek the NDP nomination. In a press release, Baldwin described herself as a “born and raised” Newfoundlander, though she now lives in Nova Scotia. Wright is originally from Wiarton, Ontario, home of the famous weather prognosticating groundhog, Willie. Whoever wins the nomination will face Conception Bay South Mayor Ken McDonald, who is the Liberal Party candidate. Scott Andrews, the incumbent MP who was kicked out of the Liberal Party after an internal party investigation into reports of sexual misconduct towards a federal NDP member from Quebec, is also expected to run. The Conservative Party of Canada is without a candidate since it blocked the nomination of St. John’s lawyer Ches Crosbie.
The NDP nomination is set for August 26 with ballot boxes at the Royal Canadian Legion in Kelligrews. There may also be voting stations in Trepassey and Placentia. In order to vote, you have to be a member of the party for at least 30 days prior to August 25. That means anyone wanting to cast a ballot must sign up as a party member by July 25. Membership is free and can be obtained online.
“Hopefully they will come out and vote for the candidate that they want,” Wright said. “I think a lot of people are going to come out. I’m so pleasantly surprised talking to people all over the region. I’ve been absolutely everywhere and people are really engaged, I’m having fantastic conversations, people want change and they’ve definitely had enough of Harper.”

BBBAA Auction draws biggest crowd yet

Organizers of the annual Bay Bulls to Bauline Athletic Association Auction hope to have a tally within the next week or so on how much money they netted from this year’s event.
Last year the event grossed some $123,000 and left the association with $70,430 after expenses to put into programs and infrastructure in the region. This year’s auction was even bigger in terms of attendance, said BBBAA president Scott Penney.
“It was the biggest crowd ever,” said Penney, “over 370 people. We sold nine more tables over last year… It was amazing. It was a great time. It was great to see so many new people and new faces.”
Among the prizes auctioned off was a seat from the Montreal Forum autographed by the late Jean Beliveau, commissions by painter Jean Claude Roy to paint a scene of the winner’s choice, use of a condo in Florida for a week, $1,000 in Provincial Airlines certificates, a pig roast for 70 at Lester’s farm or at your home and catered by Lester’s, and private performances by the band Bic and the Ballpoints. Three people went home with Roy commissions, at bids of $7,500 each, while a boat tour for 100 people aboard O’Brien’s whale watching boats went for  $3,000.
Other items up for auction or prizes included a couple of high powered rifles, a necklace from Diamond Design, a ‘Passion Party Chest,’ and paintings by Christine Koch and Susan Boyle.
It’s a lot of work keeping such an event going, Penney allowed, but he said it’s possible due to a strong committee of organizers and help from sponsors and others such as the Community Credit Union in Witless Bay, whose staff volunteer to work the show handling the money from the night’s proceedings. Businessman Andrew Bell donated enough wine for every table.
The BBBAA has already booked Bic and the Ballpoints to perform for the dance at next year’s show, which is set for May 28, 2016 and again at the Bay Bulls Regional Lifestyle Centre.
Penney said the money raised at the auction will be put to good use. “We’re in discussions now with Witless Bay and hope to announce soon a project over there,” he said. “We’re in the process of submitting an application (to government) and trying to pull a few things together but we’re there with a significant investment to put into that community.”
Penney said the BBBAA hopes to have a new regional recreation director in place by this fall – the previous one left for a job in the oil and gas industry – and is looking for office space. The association currently works out of free space inside the Bay Bulls Town Hall.
Penney said the association will also look around and entertain proposals to invest in recreational infrastructure throughout its coverage area. “Our goal is to put this (auction) money out into the community as quick as we possibly can.”