Forested land in Pleasant River will be protected from development. (Nova Scotia Working Woodlands Trust)

About 200 hectares (500 acres) of ecologically significant forest in North Queens will be protected from development by the Nova Scotia Working Woodlands Trust.

The property in Pleasant River is the first one bought by the trust. The acquisition represents about 12.5 per cent of the organization’s goal to protect 4,000 acres by this spring.

Mary Jane Rodger is the executive director of the trust.

“This is a really exciting step for us, obviously, because it’s the first property we’ve ever purchased,” Mary Jane Rodger, the trust’s executive director, told QCCR, “but then also because of some of the unique habitat features and species at risk that exist in North Queens.”

Rodger says the Pleasant River property is a mixed-wood forest that’s about 35 years old. The trust will keep about 100 acres of it wild, while using the remaining land as a demonstration woodlot to help teach sustainable forestry practices.

“Our organization really has the capacity to help this property achieve its full ecological as well as economic potential. Within our model, we’re heavily vested in the working forest aspect as well as the kind of more traditional conservation aspect. So a portion of this property will be permanently protected.

She said the organizaiton will be “showing woodlot owners different ways to steward their lands or manage their woodlot in a way that you get to cut down trees, but still leave most of them standing and hopefully still be economically profitable.”

The property is also significant because it helps the trust get closer to its goal of accessing the carbon offsets market. That will help raise money to cover the long-term costs of protecting and preserving the forest. 

“Land conservation in itself is an expensive endeavor. You have to send someone out to a woodlot every year to make sure there’s no cutting over boundary lines or invasive species or impacts from climate change. So we need to make sure that as an organization, we have the stability to continue to operate into the future because the nature of what we do is very, very long-term.”

The trust bought the property from Neil Emenau for about $300,000. It partnered with the Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute, with funding from Parks Canada and the Southwest Nova Biosphere Region.

The Pleasant River plot is next to the 3,000-hectare (7,400-acre) Pu’tlaqne’katik (“shaving lake” or “shingle lake”) Wilderness Area, which is protected by the Nova Scotia Nature Trust.

The woodlands trust says the acquisition enhances an important conservation corridor around Kejimkujik National Park, which will help foster ecological diversity and strengthen wildlife habitat. The land will be protected from development and conventional clearcutting.

“We see so many lakes and rivers, in Queens County and in Lunenburg County get subdivided and you lose a lot of that ecological integrity when people clear their land all the way to the lake. Another key component of this property is there’s quite a significant river frontage along Pleasant River that will remain forested forever.”

And it will still be accessible to the public.

“So we’re hoping that we can encourage folks to access the property for hiking, snowshoeing, skiing, whatever it might be. I know the ATV community does use it as a thoroughfare as well, which we’d be happy to work with them to continue that access.”

Rodger says the trust hopes to get its charitable status this year, so that it will be more attractive for landowners to sell their properties.

Email: rickcconradqccr@gmail.com

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Carol Smith is the chair of the North Queens Remembrance Day Committee and chaplain with the North Queens Fire Association. (Rick Conrad)

When people in North Queens gather on Tuesday to commemorate the community’s war veterans, they’ll have a little help from a booklet and website honouring those who didn’t return.

The project is a collaboration between the North Queens Remembrance Day Committee, the North Queens Heritage Society and air force veteran Chris Charlton.

They’ve created a booklet called North Queens: We Will Remember Them. It profiles the 33 service members from the area who died in the two world wars and the Korean conflict.

“I think the importance is that these young men from North Queens were very committed to serving their country and to doing what was needed in their time,” says Carol Smith, chair of the Remembrance Day committee and chaplain of the North Queens Fire Association.

“And when you read the profiles, you just see what a huge change it must have been for them to leave rural Nova Scotia and go fight in faraway countries and just put their lives on the line. So it’s the enormity of their sacrifice that we need to remember. And I think that’s what Remembrance Day is all about, is realizing that we’re all called upon to want the greater good and to remember what they did for peace and what is it that we can do in our time and place. It’s just a great inspiration to me.”

Charlton, who was a Sea King pilot for 28 years and is a Gulf War veteran, approached the committee last year about a project he was working on to commemorate the war dead from North Queens.

The Maitland Bridge native wanted to profile each of the fallen veterans listed on the cenotaph in Caledonia.

“And we quickly got the committee together and started working with Chris,” Smith says. “Chris has done an amazing amount of work researching the lives of those whose names are on the cenotaph in North Queens, and he deserves a lot of credit for that because it’s been a labour of love for him.”

The committee received a $3,000 grant from Veterans Affairs Canada to print 250 booklets to distribute to families of the fallen. There will also be copies handed out at this year’s Remembrance Day service in Caledonia. Charlton will be at the ceremony.

The booklet includes a full profile and photos of each of the servicemen. There’s even more information on the North Queens Remembers website, including a treasure trove of archival documents.

“I think what makes them so very interesting is the details that Chris has put in, where each person was born, their family, where they enlisted, how they served, tragically where they died, where they’re buried, how their families were notified. It all brings to life their commitment and their sacrifice.”

Though Charlton wrote the profiles and compiled the documents, it was a community effort, including members of the former Royal Canadian Legion branch in Caledonia and the volunteer fire department.

“Part of it is to honour these people. And it would be easy to let the passage of time dim our memories. … A lot of the men were buried in foreign fields. And a lot of people have not been able to go and see the cemeteries. So this is just one way to connect us to the amazing stories for each of these people.”

The project was also a personal one for Smith. Her father Mervyn Dunn was a veteran of the Second World War. He returned home, but he didn’t talk much about his experiences overseas.

“He was in France, Italy, Holland, all those places, and he never talked about it. He never talked about it. Many veterans are like that, and I regret, I really regret, that I didn’t ask him more. … But, you know, so many people have the same story, that their fathers didn’t talk about it.”

At the Remembrance Day service in Caledonia on Tuesday, members of the committee will read the profile of Private Joseph Colp, whose brother Simeon is still alive and living in a nursing home in Lunenburg. They also plan to give one of the commemorative booklets to him.

“And I think this is a really good profile to read because it really highlights the sacrifice of so many. And Chris has mentioned in his profile that where he is buried, the cemetery contains the graves of those who died during the fighting at Moro River and Ortona. Today, there are 1,615 graves in the cemetery, of which 1,375 are Canadian.”

Smith says the committee has also given about 20 copies to the North Queens Community School, where teachers plan to use it in class projects. She hopes the document will inspire other groups to do similar research on veterans in their area.

“We used to have them around so that we could talk to them, but now we don’t. So I think these stories need to be told. And so if it could be an inspiration, that would be great.”

The Remembrance Day service in Caledonia is on Tuesday at 10:45 a.m. at the North Queens Fire Hall. 

Copies of the booklet are available for public viewing at the North Queens Heritage House Museum in Caledonia. You can visit the North Queens Remembers website at https://www.northqueensremembers.ca .

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Remembrance Day services around Queens County

A list of 2025 Remembrance Day services in Queens County.

Photo via Pixabay

A food bank in North Queens is getting $10,000 grant from the Nova Scotia government to help stock more protein options for its clients.

The Community Food Resource Network in Caledonia will use the funds for their Protein Pick Me Up program, Queens MLA Kim Masland said in a news release Wednesday.

The funding from the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage helps stock local food banks with fresh produce, dairy and proteins to help vulnerable families.

“The Community Food Resource Network serves hundreds of families every month in North Queens, and this investment will help them provide the nutritious protein and fresh food that families need,” Masland said in the release.

Operating since 2019, Community Food Resource Network provides about $10,000 worth of food and support each month. The organization also includes a seasonal garden, Muriel’s Closet thrift store, and partnerships with youth groups, schools and other local food banks.

It’s located at 9868 Highway 8 in Caledonia and is open Wednesdays from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 5:30 to 7 p.m. They can be reached at 902-682-3130 or by email at ddawe@ns.sympatico.ca.

Fire crews are on the scene of a fire near Round Lake in North Queens. (File photo via Province of Nova)

UPDATED 2:10 p.m., Friday, Aug. 15

Local fire and Natural Resources crews are holding a small fire near North Queens that began around suppertime on Thursday.

Firefighters from Queens and Lunenburg counties were called to an area at Durland Lake Brook, which is near Round Lake, off the Old Annapolis Road, close to the border of Queens and Annapolis counties.

According to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System map, the blaze was about a third of a hectare in size. The wildfire burning in the Long Lake area in West Dalhousie, Annapolis County, is about 406 hectares.

North Queens Fire Chief Chris Wolfe told QCCR on Friday afternoon that the fire is being held.

The Durland Lake Brook fire is part of the Long Lake wildfire complex. According to an update from the Nova Scotia government this morning, five Natural Resources and 12 local firefighters are working on the Durland Lake Brook fire, which was at about a half hectare this morning.

The Liverpool Fire Department posted on Facebook that it will also take a break from filling residential wells so they can concentrate on fighting fires. They’ve asked people to phone the fire hall at 902-354-4530 and leave a message. They said they’ll get to the wells as soon as the wildfire threat is over.

North Queens firefighters in a training exercise. (North Queens Fire Association Facebook page)

The North Queens Fire Association in Caledonia will now be notified of more 911 calls in their community.

“As of right now, if you call 911 and you say you want the fire department to respond, there will be no question. The fire department will be paged out,” Chris Wolfe, chief of the North Queens department, told QCCR on Monday.

Last Monday, about 100 residents, firefighters and other first responders from as far away as Yarmouth met in Caledonia to air their concerns about Nova Scotia’s emergency communications system.

Rural fire departments like North Queens said they weren’t being paged about some medical emergencies in their community, even when residents specifically asked for their help.

Volunteer fire departments can sign up to be a medical first responder agency and respond to various medical emergencies, depending on their level of training. That is vital in rural areas like Caledonia where the nearest ambulance depot is about an hour away.

The 18 trained first responders in North Queens can attend almost any kind of call for help. 

After a couple of high-profile incidents in the community left people waiting for an hour or more for medical help, Wolfe organized the public meeting with help from Queens MLA Kim Masland. She invited officials from Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness, Emergency Health Services and Emergency Medical Care, the company that operates the province’s ambulance and 911 services.

“Our local MLA Kim Masland’s helped greatly with it,” Wolfe said. “The public showed support that night. It’s just a bunch of various things that’s come together to make people more aware of what’s going on and there is an urgent need for something to change there. I couldn’t be more happy with the way it’s panned out.”

Wolfe is also meeting with EHS officials on Tuesday in Halifax to discuss a potential pilot project with the North Queens department that could be used across the province.

“We’re going to sit down and discuss some possibilities. There will probably be a new protocol put in place. It will start with our department and it will trickle down to different MFR agencies around the province.”

Wolfe said he believes hearing from the public pushed provincial officials to act.

“Oh definitely. I think they realize we’re not going to let it lay to rest and it’s something that needs to be addressed and fixed and they’re on board and they’re going to help us get there.”

Wolfe said he will likely post an update on the department’s Facebook page Tuesday evening after the meeting in Halifax.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Chris Wolfe, chief of the North Queens Fire Association, speaks at a public meeting on Monday evening. (Rick Conrad)

When Mya Uhlman’s father needed medical help last August, her mother called 911 and expected her local fire department to respond.

They were still waiting 20 minutes later, so Uhlman’s mother called again. The 911 dispatcher told her the North Queens Fire Department was on its way. Uhlman’s parents live less than 10 minutes from the fire hall in West Caledonia.

“And they never, ever showed up,” Uhlman told QCCR. “She ended up calling a relative that lived close by to be with her because she was by herself.  … So when I inquired about it, I was told (North Queens) were never paged.

“The ambulance did arrive eventually. It was around 40 minutes before the ambulance did arrive. My father is OK, but it was serious at the time. 

“When my mother explicity asked for the North Queens Fire Department, they should have automatically been dispatched with no questions asked.”

Uhlman’s story and others were why Chief Chris Wolfe called a public meeting at the North Queens fire hall in Caledonia on Monday night.

About 100 residents, firefighters and other first responders from as far away as Yarmouth met to air their concerns about their local fire departments not being called to medical emergencies.

Chief Wolfe sounded the alarm on Facebook in February after another resident called 911 and the dispatcher didn’t notify Wolfe’s department. Instead, that person was still waiting for an ambulance when Wolfe’s deputy chief found out about it and had 911 page the fire department.

Volunteer firefighters around Nova Scotia take medical first responder training. The type of call they can respond to depends on the level their department signs up for. North Queens has 18 people trained to respond to almost any level of medical call.

Wolfe said that 111 of 198 of their calls last year were medical emergencies.

“My mandate is not to give up until we find a solution to this problem of not being paged for certain calls within our communities, because North Queens residents depend on us.”

He contacted Queens MLA Kim Masland to help organize the meeting with officials from the Department of Health and Wellness, Emergency Health Services, and Emergency Medical Care, which has the contract to operate ambulance and 911 service in Nova Scotia.

Masland, who is also the minister of emergency management, told those at the meeting to be frank with their concerns. And she also told people to continue to contact her and other MLAs. 

“I want to make sure that we land where we need to land because what has been happening is not acceptable.”

Representatives from EHS and Emergency Medical Care explained how the system works and the challenges in deploying the right resources in a timely way.

But people like Mya Uhlman wanted to know why their local fire departments wouldn’t be told about a call, especially if the person in distress requested it. A first responder with North Queens also demanded to know why dispatchers would deny that request.

Before officials could answer his question, first responders from the Liverpool, Pubnico and Woods Harbour fire departments also spoke up and said the same thing is happening in their areas.

Jeff Fraser, senior executive director of the emergency health services branch with Nova Scotia’s Department of Health and Wellness, said dispatchers have to follow certain models.

“I’m not so sure we should be denying that. I actually didn’t realize that was happening in that manner.”

Gordon Peckham, who is the vice-president of operations with EMC, said he didn’t know why that’s happening, but that it shouldn’t.

After the meeting, Uhlman said she hopes officials change how and when they notify local fire departments.

“In a way it made me feel a little better to know it wasn’t only us. But at the same time, it really made me feel awful  that this is happening in so many places and so many particularly rural community members are not getting the services they need in a timely fashion.”

Masland said she believes some progress was made at the meeting.

“There were things that were said here tonight that I could see they were raising the eyebrows of people here from EHS. And I think it’s important whenever you have communication that’s when you can start to resolve issues, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”

Chief Wolfe told QCCR that provincial officials promised to work on some of the issues raised and return in six to eight weeks for another public meeting. 

“The community did well supporting us, showing up. They voiced their concerns. Most of the concerns voiced we were aware of. I’m hoping that EMC will take it seriously and we’ll get things resolved.

“You could see the reactions with some of the public talking there that there were things going on that they weren’t even aware of. And I believe that within the next day or two, they’ll be taking those things into consideration and addressing them right away.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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The North Queens Fire Association bought a new rescue truck in December 2023 to respond to medical emergencies and other calls. (North Queens Fire Association Facebook page)

The fire chief in North Queens wants answers about why his department isn’t being called to more medical emergencies in the community.

Chris Wolfe, who leads the volunteer-run North Queens Fire Association in Caledonia, says he’s worried that residents aren’t getting the help they need and someone could die because of it.

“We’re supposed to get called for pretty well anything that the ambulance will come out to North Queens for and that hasn’t been the case here lately,” he told QCCR.

“My concern is that the community’s not getting the help that they need when they need help the most. You take an ambulance takes an hour basically get to North Queens and even longer if you’re in a storm, so potentially somebody could be lying there for an hour without medical help.”

That’s why Wolfe has organized a public meeting on March 3 at 7 p.m. at the North Queens Fire Hall in Caledonia at 9793 Highway 8.

He’s invited officials from Emergency Medical Care and Emergency Health Services, as well as Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also the minister of emergency management, and Health Minister Michelle Thompson. Wolfe is also encouraging residents to attend.

Wolfe expressed his frustration in a recent Facebook post. He also posted last August asking residents to contact him if they’ve called 911 in the past expecting the fire department to respond.

A post on the North Queens Fire Association Facebook page from Chief Chris Wolfe.

“I’ve previously had meetings with EMC and EHS and we’ve talked about it and I thought things were going to get straightened out but obviously they didn’t and we did have one particular call there the night before I posted that and the individual was lying outside in the snow and they weren’t going to page the fire department for it.

“We ended up going over on our own terms and dealing with it till EHS arrived so that was my pet peeve that sent me to put the post on Facebook.”

Emergency Health Services contracts out ambulance and paramedic service in Nova Scotia to Emergency Medical Care, which is owned by Medavie Blue Cross. EMC also operates the province’s 911 call centre.

EMC officials declined an interview request. A spokesman said in an emailed statement that they “are committed to continuing the conversation to address” the fire department’s concerns.

Wolfe said 18 of the first responders at his department are certified under the Medical First Response Program, which trains people to care for someone who is injured. He said they responded to 111 medical calls last year, which account for between 65 and 75 per cent of what they do.

But he said they could potentially respond to more calls and more quickly than EHS, if only they knew about them.

It’s a situation that rural fire departments are dealing with around the province, he says. 

“When you become an MFR agency you choose what level of response you want to be and where we’re so far from a hospital or anything like that we choose to be non-urgent and that means that we give anybody the help that needs it for any type of scenario.”

He says he’s not looking for a quick fix, but he hopes the meeting helps.

“I don’t expect everybody to come (to the meeting) with answers. It’s not going to be fixed overnight.

“The purpose of the March 3rd meeting would be to get everybody there, address what the problems are, take everybody’s concerns from the public, put that all together and then go back to the drawing board and say, ‘Look we know this is what’s wrong, what options do we have to fix this, how can the volunteer fire service and MFRs help us out,’ and then maybe have another public meeting maybe three to four weeks later and come back to the drawing board and tell people what was found out and how things are going to be addressed.

“The more people that show up, the better it will be. And hopefully we can get things addressed and make things better for all of Nova Scotia.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Queens District RCMP plan to step up patrols in North Queens after complaints of underage off-highway vehicle use. (RCMP NS Facebook page)

RCMP in Queens County are cracking down on underage ATV operators in North Queens.

Queens District RCMP officers will be stepping up patrols in the area after getting numerous reports from residents over the past several weeks of minors illegally operating off-highway vehicles at high speeds and often late at night.

RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Carlie McCann says it’s all about safety.

“Members are making sure that there are police officers who are out there in order to enforce these laws, but also to ensure that people are being safe,” McCann said in an interview Monday.

“The big reason that laws like this exist is to make sure that people are safe when they’re out operating their off-highway vehicles and using the trails in our communities. So the biggest reason is to make sure that we aren’t seeing peple doing things that are unsafe on their OHVs.”

McCann did not know how many calls the RCMP received or in which specific areas of North Queens this is happening.

“Any type of report like this is too many when it’s unsafe behaviour, like driving too fast and at night. The number of calls that have been received have been enough to promote some concern.”

RCMP say that Queens County has no designated roads or highways yet listed under the Nova Scotia Off-Highway Vehicles Act. And operators must have a valid driver’s licence and wear helmets. Children between the ages of 6 and 15 must be supervised by a parent or guardian.

“I think the biggest thing to remember is that you have to be thinking about safety all the time on things like this,” McCann said.

“It’s really important to use common sense, so making sure that all riders have helmets, making sure that people are using (the vehicles) safely and know how to use them properly, making sure that your vehicles are well maintained and making sure that you are having common sense when you’re picking areas you’re riding in and picking who’s going to be driving the vehicles.”

Under the Off-Highway Vehicles Act, offenders can be fined up to $2,000 and have their vehicle seized by RCMP. 

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen below for the Aug. 19 news update

Jason Parise, development director with SWEB Development, speaks to Scott Joudrey at a community engagement session at the Greenfield Fire Hall last week about SWEB’s proposal for a 10-turbine wind farm in the area. (Rick Conrad)

Property owners in north Queens got an early look last week at a company’s plans to build a potential wind farm in the area.

The Apitamkiejit Wind Energy Project, named after the Mi’kmaq term for tamarack, is being proposed by SWEB Development, an Austrian company with offices in Halifax.

It wants to erect 10 turbines on private property between Little Wentworth Lake and Wentworth Lake. The project could provide renewable energy for thousands of homes in the area.

The company is bidding through Nova Scotia’s Green Choice Program, which is a collaboration between the province, Nova Scotia Power and private companies to reach Nova Scotia’s goal of 80 per cent renewable energy by 2030.

SWEB held a community engagement session at the Greenfield Fire Hall late last week.

Jason Parise, a development director with SWEB, says the project has been in the works since 2021.

“We’ll continue to work on the project, engage stakeholders, engage First Nations communities,” he said. “This project would be at mid-stage development, so we have a lot of things that have been ongoing for a couple of years. Our wind resource assessment has been ongoing, we have a meteorological tower on site. A lot of our field work for the envrionmental assessment component is well underway. We expect to be filing an environmental assessment for this project at the end of 2024.”

The company should know if its application was successful by the end of the year.

Sarah Rosenblat is the senior development director for SWEB. She said community engagement sessions are important in shaping the Apitamkiejit project. This most recent session is on top of the online engagement they held two years ago. 

“The feedback that we’re going to hear tonight could even go as far as helping to shape the project in terms of layout. If there’s a sensitive area that we weren’t aware of, maybe a recreational lake that folks use in the summer. … That allows us to work within the community, hear their feedback, make adjustments, and it allows us to bring it into the actual project planning.

“It looked very different a while back. It’s actually already shifted because of public feedback. So, we’ve pushed away from the roads, come in more internally.”

Rosenblat says that if their bid is successful, the goal would be to have the project up and running by the beginning of 2028.

Scott Joudrey lives in Bridgewater but owns property in the area SWEB wants to develop.

“It’s a great idea,” he said. “It’s part of the future. Cleaner energy, and more sustainable energy. We gotta do something.

“I think it’s going to be a good idea, especially if they can put enough in the area to power a good percentage of the homes and businesses.”

Monica Fisher lives on Lapland Road, which would be near the proposed farm.  

“This development that is being proposed is very close to us so they would be using our Lapland Road extension as an access point if it gets approved. And that road needs major repair. … So if this gets to go through, they’re going to have to completely upgrade (the road).”

She said she and her neighbours were concerned about the impact the project would have on local wildlife. But the company met with them a couple of weeks ago, she said, and assured them that all wildlife would be protected.

“We’ve got quite a few windmill projects in our province that I was very unaware of until now. I’m learning more about them. … I’m not opposed to it, as long as it’s not affecting my life.”

This isn’t the only significant wind project being proposed for Queens County. Mersey River Wind won approval on March 12 from Region of Queens councillors to build a 33-turbine farm on about 80 hectares of Crown land 4.4 kilometres east of Milton. That project is expected to get underway later this year.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Rick and Liz Carten. Contributed by Rick Carten

Beginning this June, graduates living in the North Queens Community School District can get help paying for their post-secondary education.

A new trust has been established by the John Cormac Carten Foundation which will award up to $1,000 USD to any student who meets the eligibility criteria.

Foundation trustees Rick and Liz Carten named the fund in honour of Rick’s great-great-grandfather John Cormac Carten who emigrated from Ireland to Liverpool in the 1830s.

Rick Carten, who lives in Virginia, says he feels a connection to North Queens and wanted to do something for the people living there.

“My wife and I do not have any children,” said Carten, “so this was my way of passing on some of my good fortune to my ancestral homeland.”

Carten has been looking into his roots and learned his grandfather prospered in the shipping trade before moving to Halifax in the 1850s.

The elder Cormac had a dozen children and many of his eight daughters married local men with family names that are familiar in North Queens such as Baxter, Devenney, Ennis, McBride, and Nixon.

The last Carten descendent, Thomas Carten ran a general store in South Brookfield from around 1933 until his death in 1960.

Rick Carten says the John Cormac Carten Foundation is modelled after the highly successful J.D. Shatford Memorial Trust which has benefitted over 1,000 students around Hubbards for the past 60 years.

The scholarships are open to any students living in the North Queens Community School catchment area, regardless of if they attend that school so long as they graduate and can show they’ve been accepted at a university or college.

The same student can receive an award from the foundation up to four times during their post-secondary studies.

Students can apply through their guidance councillors and through the John Cormac Carten Foundation website.

Rick Carten is hopeful he will have the opportunity to attend the graduation ceremony at NQCS this June to meet some of the prospective recipients.

“I want to make sure that no one gets left behind who really deserves and qualifies for a scholarship,” said Carten. “I think it’s really important for them to at least have that opportunity to follow their dreams and their passions.”

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
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Photo Ed Halverson

Meals on wheels is coming in hot to North Queens.

At the start of November, the VON program expanded from a frozen meal service for people who have trouble leaving home to include a hot lunch delivery service.

Community support services program coordinator Heather Kelly says the program has evolved from its initial purpose of serving people who struggled to cook for themselves.

“Nowadays, the program is sort of expanding to people that don’t have time or don’t have time to get out,” said Kelly. “For them, it’s just easier to have a meal delivered to them.”

Hot meals will be provided off the regular menu at the Hollow Log café for a cost of $6 per meal, subsidized by the VON.

Volunteers pick up the meals each day at 11:00am and spend two hours delivering to homes around North Queens.

Kelly says making regular contact with people in their homes can be a lifeline for some.

“When we deliver everyday to somebody’s house that sort of indicates that there’s somebody that’s home all the time, they don’t get out a lot,” said Kelly. “Which is great, because then they have a visit everyday from somebody that will become a familiar face to them, a familiar, friendly face, and somebody that’s basically checking on them everyday to make sure that they’re okay.”

Kelly says the hot meals launched November 1 to 14 clients but has capacity to serve 25 people.

Anyone interested in volunteering or making use of the Meals on Wheels service can reach out to her by e-mail at heatherkelly@von.ca or phone 902-350-2971.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Executive Director Annette Hartlen looks on as Queens Mayor Darlene Norman and MLA Kim Masland cut the ribbon to open the Caledonia home support office. Photo Queens County Home Support

Queens County Home Support is expanding their services into North Queens.

The agency celebrated the opening of their Caledonia satellite office in the old Credit Union building on Highway #8 on Monday afternoon.

Executive Director Annette Hartlen says with the launch of the satellite office the agency can expand their services beyond home care in North Queens.

Hartlen said the new location is, “Basically a one-stop shop for seniors to get information about supports that may be available to them, whether it’s supports to stay in their own home or whether it’s information on what grants they may qualify for housing and repairs.”

Hartlen says services at the Caledonia office will mirror some of those already in place in Liverpool such as providing clients with help to navigate, print and complete government forms.

She says home care workers have already identified a specific need in North Queens for people to be able to do laundry when wells run low.

“There’s no public laundry facilities there, so we’ve put a washer and dryer in our office. For our clients, that service is authorized through the department of health but they’re scared their well may run dry. Our workers will take their laundry, or bring them if they want to come, to our building and have their laundry done for them,” said Hartlen.

The office will also act as a home base for the agency’s home support workers.

“They have gaps between client visits. They have no place to go. They either sit on the side of the road in their car, or whatever,” said Hartlen. “So this office will enable them a spot to come in, eat their lunch or bathroom break, whatever it may be.”

Hartlen says initially, administrative staff from Liverpool will rotate through the Caledonia office to ensure someone is there to assist during the day Monday to Friday but she hopes to hire people to staff the local office full time.

She says the office is a one-year pilot project to determine if the model can provide better services to seniors by setting up in a smaller community.

If it is successful, Hartlen would like the provincial government to replicate the model across Nova Scotia.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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South Shore Drive-In screen. Photo Catherine Croft

It took longer than expected but a drive-in is returning to Queens.

Co-founder of the South Shore Drive-In Catherine Croft had hoped to be showing films again this spring.

Unfortunately, COVID restrictions and some technical issues postponed the reopening of the drive-in at the Hank Snow Museum.

“Towards when we were opening and then my tech guy said, oh by the way, we need a new bulb,” said Croft. “I didn’t know about it. I was waiting for our sizes to open to at least 50, that’s done now.”

Croft was referring to the COVID restrictions lifting to allow at least 50 people to gather outdoors.

In fact, 150 people are now permitted to gather outside which means the drive-in can open to its normal capacity of 300 cars.

“Because we are a drive-in, we keep everyone social distanced by being in their own vehicles,” said Croft. “The only time you’re not in your vehicle is when you are going to the washroom and or concessions and there you’ll find that we are fully masked and hand sanitizers. Washrooms are cleaned upon use.”

Croft says the plan is open August 6 with a double feature but then there will be a short hiatus for films at the Hank Snow site over the next couple of weeks.

The following weekend the drive-in will be closed due to the Hank Snow mini tribute and the weekend of August 27, Croft and her crew will be taking the show on the road to Gateway Campground in Caledonia.

The pop-up show called a Field Good Time will feature a couple of movies, monster truck rides and live music.

The South Shore Drive-In will return to its home at the Hank Snow Museum in September.

Croft hopes to run shows into late October or until the evenings become too cool to operate the equipment.

She says by bringing back the drive-in, she and the rest of the organizers want to provide people an experience they will cherish.

“That’s what we want to bring to the table this year is more of the retro, more of the fun,” said Croft. “We want to create memories as much as you can enjoy remembering your own from years ago.”

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Trucks outside North Queens station. Photo Credit: North Queens Fire Department

The COVID-19 pandemic seriously hurt fire services fundraising efforts in 2020.

The North Queens fire department would normally hold suppers and events throughout the year to support the community and help pay for new equipment and trucks

Those fundraisers would usually net between $60,000 and $70,000 over the course of the year.

Because of the pandemic, those events had to be cancelled.

North Queens fire chief Chris Wolfe is optimistic about restarting the fundraising efforts in the new year as Nova Scotia has begun to administer vaccines and residents have been supporting efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“We’re hoping to get back to the way it was. It’s one of those things you’re uncertain of and you just don’t know at this point but we seem to be holding our own where we are,” said Wolfe. “ Of course with what’s coming up for truck purchases, it’s going to be difficult to do that if things keep going the way they are.”

North Queens is scheduled to replace their 25 year-old pumper truck within the next three years.

Region of Queens has an agreement in place with the five departments operating in the county to contribute $275,000 towards the purchase of any new truck.

That leaves North Queens on the hook to raise the remaining $225,000 to buy the half-million dollar pumper.

In an effort to continue to raise money, the department signed on with other fire services across the province last summer to participate in a weekly 50-50 draw.

“It was a slow start there, but as the jackpot climbed, we started getting more and more people buying. We’re going to use it towards the replacement of trucks,” said Wolfe.

The jackpot reached it’s highest total of $461,595 on New Years Eve with the winner taking home $230,798.

North Queens fire service share of the proceeds for 2020 is $4,550. That’s less than 10 percent of what their fundraising efforts would normally bring in.

Wolfe says there isn’t much that can be done until the pandemic is under control.

While many groups have petitioned public health for exceptions that would allow them to resume their functions, Wolfe says they have not contacted Dr. Strang and public health about any measures that could see their hall reopen to community or fundraising events

“We haven’t mentioned to much to him there. You know they’re doing a good job with what they’re doing, trying to keep the COVID down.,” said Wolfe. “So I’m basically just following the rules and waiting for things to improve.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Trucks outside North Queens station. Photo Credit: North Queens Fire Department

The North Queens Fire Department is opening their doors to offer kids and parents a safe way to trick or treat this year.

The North Queens Fire Association will be setting up tables for parents, kids and neighbours struggling to find a balance between following COVID-19 safety protocols and carrying on childhood traditions.

People can book a table to hand out treats to kids either by showing up Halloween night or making arrangements ahead of time by contacting the North Queens fire association through their Facebook page.

North Queens fire Chief Chris Wolfe says there will be no charge to anyone. The department just wants to provide a safe, central location for the community.

“Instead of the kids going all through the community and travelling here, there and everywhere, everybody can come there and have their own table and all the kids can just come to the hall, walk around in a circle, get their treats and be on their way,” said Wolfe.

He notes many families choose to go door to door in the subdivision across from the fire hall and hopes folks from outside the Caledonia core will take them up on their offer.

The department will start by making about 20 tables available to anyone who would like to hand out treats, but that number could increase depending on the interest from the community.

To keep traditions going for the kids, Wolfe said the community needs to find ways of adapting to the pandemic.

“Unfortunate part is, like I tell the firemen, COVID’s here and it’s not leaving so we’ve got to find new ways to do stuff,” said Wolfe.

This isn’t the first time the fire department has hosted a Halloween event, but given the state of the pandemic Wolfe said they felt it was necessary to revive the event.

“It just seems more fitting to do it this year and hopefully get a bigger turnout. Of course, they’re saying less travel is better, said Wolfe.

Anyone entering the hall will have to use hand sanitizer, wear a mask and follow social distancing requirements but Wolfe said that shouldn’t take away any of the fun of Halloween.

He says the hall will have some decorations and many fire department members will be in costume as well.

“We’re a tight-knit community and we’ve got to stick together and help one another out when we can,” said Wolfe.

He says the trucks will roll out of the bays and the fire association be ready to host all manner of ghosts and goblins between 6:00pm and 10:00pm Halloween night.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

Trucks outside North Queens station. Photo Credit: North Queens Fire Department

North Queens will soon see the return of their medical first responders.

Members of the North Queens volunteer fire department joined crews from across Queens at the Liverpool Fire Hall Thursday night to receive training on the proper use of personal protective equipment.

North Queens Fire Chief Chris Wolfe was one of those attending. He describes the evening.

“They face-fitted us with the N-95 masks and gave us our gowns and other PPE that will allow us to answer cardiac arrest calls and motor vehicle collisions,” said Wolfe.

As first reported on QCCR earlier this week, medical first responders or MFRs from across the province were told at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic they were not to respond to any calls aside from a motor vehicle collision.

This meant during an emergency, someone in Caledonia could wait 40 minutes or more for the nearest ambulance to arrive.

MFRs are generally volunteer fire fighters with the medical training necessary to stabilize someone until paramedics can arrive. They normally respond to any kind of medical emergency when called out.

Wolfe says the service still has restrictions, but can now respond to situations involving cardiac arrest in addition to motor vehicle collisions.

“The plan is to keep implementing different types of calls until we’re fully back to operation,” said Wolfe.

He says the departments have received a stock of the necessary PPEs and are now just waiting to hear the records of their training has been received by the Emergency Measures office so they can begin responding to calls again.

“Well, I feel a little bit more confident that things are on the go,” said Wolfe. “And hopefully it’s not too long and we’ll be back to full service in the North Queens area.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

Trucks outside North Queens station. Photo Credit: North Queens Fire Department

Medical first responders in North Queens are being told not to respond to calls because of COVID-19.

The MFRs are volunteer firefighters trained to attend to someone in medical distress until paramedics arrive on scene.

Queens-Shelburne MLA Kim Masland says when someone is having a medical emergency, waiting 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive from the nearest EHS base in Liverpool is too long.

“If you’re living in Caledonia and you’re in cardiac arrest, the local MFRs can no longer come to you, who actually have an AED on site, there’s no way someone’s going to get to you in time,” said Masland.

In March, the EHS/MFR coordinator told MFRs across the province they could respond only to motor vehicle accidents and to leave emergency calls to EHS paramedics because at the time, there wasn’t enough personal protective equipment to go around.

A spokesperson for Emergency Health Services says since COVID-19 restrictions have started to ease up, they have been bringing MFRs back online in 21 areas with high incidents of cardiac arrests.

Already, 11 have received the training around proper use of the new personal protective equipment and are currently operating.

The other ten are slated to return to service in the coming weeks but unfortunately, none of those are in the Western Zone servicing North Queens.

The EHS spokesperson says the North Queens MFR agency is one of the more remote agencies in the province and is also scheduled to receive training in the coming weeks.

Masland is concerned about what could happen if an ambulance can’t get to the area in time.

“We’re so rural, we’re so geographically isolated and if I’m getting text messages saying on a Saturday morning at 11:55 there’s not an ambulance to be seen from Barrington to Halifax, that’s very, very frightening,” said Masland.

North Queens Fire Chief Chris Wolfe says the community has always relied on the department as medical responders and as fire fighters.

He’s frustrated they’re being left in the dark as to why the department is no longer being dispatched for medical emergencies.

“Every time I see somebody in Caledonia they’re saying, why aren’t you guys answering medical calls?So and so had this problem the other night and you guys weren’t there,” said Wolfe. “To me, if EHS is not going to allow us to do this they should be making it more publicly aware and giving briefings to the public on what’s taking place, why we’re not responding.”

Wolfe is well aware of the strain on the province’s ambulance system.

He has been writing to government officials for the past three years to explain the dire situation residents in North Queens can face when looking for emergency medical help.

“It’s an ongoing problem and the province doesn’t seem to see that there is a problem. I’m to the point myself, that I can’t write no more or talk no more to change anything so, where do you go, right? It’s one of them things that a little town fire chief like me isn’t going to be able to fix ‘cause there’s too many people above me that make the decisions,” said Wolfe.

The president of Local 727 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, the union representing paramedics in Nova Scotia, says the EHS system in Nova Scotia is in chaos as it struggles to fill shifts and reduce offloading time for patients at hospitals.

Michael Nickerson says it’s helpful to have MFRs to service remote areas before his members arrive.

“They can provide oxygen therapy and get vital signs and treat fractures, like, splint fractures and dress wounds, bandage and whatnot,” said Niickerson. “So, they are a great, great asset.”

Nickerson says his members have been warning the province since before the COVID-19 outbreak that the pre-hospital system in Nova Scotia is not working.

The health department took those concerns to heart when they commissioned a $145,000 report by Fitch and Associates in October 2018 to review the ambulance system across the province.

The province received the report in December of that year, but Nickerson says despite repeated requests by IUOE 727, they still have not released the results.

“I don’t understand why they’re not putting it out there. They’re saying because, you know, negotiations and whatnot. Our contract’s settled, so they can’t use that as an excuse. They need to put that report out and let us see what’s in it. I’m sure there’s recommendations in there to make the system better than it is right now,” said Nickerson.

Health department spokesperson Marla MacInnis said they are currently in negotiations with Emergency Medical Care Incorporated, the company contracted by the province to provide paramedic services.

She says while the paramedics working under EMCI have a contract in place, the contract with the supplier (ECMI) is still being negotiated and releasing the Fitch report could put the province at a disadvantage.

Back in Queens, Kim Masland says now that the province has the personal protective equipment in place the focus should be on getting the medical first responders trained, and back in action.

“So let’s get our agencies back in the saddle,” said Masland. “Let’s get them doing what they do best in our communities.”

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson