Rapides-des-Joachims mayor gathering signatures for remote status

The mayor of the far-flung municipality of Rapides-des-Joachims, located roughly an hour northwest of the Upper Pontiac region, is hoping to get his community recognized as remote. Roger Lafond said that his council and the MRC council of mayors have passed resolutions requesting that the municipality be recognized as a remote/isolated community by Quebec’s Ministry [...] The post Rapides-des-Joachims mayor gathering signatures for remote status appeared first on The Equity .

The mayor of the far-flung municipality of Rapides-des-Joachims, located roughly an hour northwest of the Upper Pontiac region, is hoping to get his community recognized as remote. Roger Lafond said that his council and the MRC council of mayors have passed resolutions requesting that the municipality be recognized as a remote/isolated community by Quebec’s Ministry of Health and Social Services. He said that he would also be soliciting signatures from members of the community to accompany the two resolutions, which he hoped would lend them more weight with provincial decision-makers.

“The more support I can show, the more serious it is and the more results we get,” he said. The only route for police and emergency services is via a one-lane bridge linking the island to the Ontario side of the river. While the small community of roughly 150 permanent residents relies on its neighbours in Ontario for fire services, police and health care workers from Campbell’s Bay or Fort-Coulonge have to make the several-hour round trip up Hwy. 17 to serve Swisha residents.

Lafond said that many residents have to travel several hours to see the doctor or pick up their prescriptions. “All the kids go to school in Ontario,” he said. “Every student goes to Ontario.

My wife goes from here to Shawville, two hours away, to see her doctor. She has to go to Coulonge to get her prescription.” Revenu Québec gives certain tax breaks to residents of communities deemed remote, which are mainly located in the province’s far north, as well as isolated areas like the Côte-Nord region.

Lafond said he wasn’t sure what could be offered by other ministries or levels of government, but said that recognizing the area’s unique geography would be a start. He said he believed partnering with the OPP or health care providers in Deep River would make the most sense. “We need to do something, we need to grow,” he said.

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