Support “Bike Friendly” Prescott-Russell lobby "$56"- * 54 r /&84 GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
An international group would like to see Prescott-Russell become an official “bike friendly” community. Besides the good publicity for the region’s recreational assets, it could also mean more money coming in to Prescott-Russell’s tourism sector. “InOntario, cycling tourismhas become a yearly $391million industry,” noted Jacques Des Becquets, “and it keeps growing.” Des Becquets included the observation in a two-page summary report for the economic development and tourism committee of Champlain Township, on a workshop gathering, earlier in the season, with representatives from all of Prescott- Russell’s member municipalities and Justin Jones, an official based in Belleville ON, from the Share the Road Cycling Coalition (SRCC). The non-profit recreational promotion group wants each municipality, in the Prescott-Russell region, to apply for designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community before the mid-October deadline for the program this year. The program began in the United States in 2000 and an Ontario branch formed in 2010. There is a partnership between the SRCC and Vélo Québec. The goal of the program is not just supporting the “diehard cyclists”, who may spend up to $100 a day on their activity, but promote cycling as both an inexpensive form of recreation and transportation for “everyday people”, especially those living in cities and towns who could use a bike to run around on for small errands, within a two or four-kilometre radius of their home, rather than use a car or truck. Jones reviewed examples of successful bicycle promotion projects and programs in other Ontario communities like Kitchener- Waterloo, Thunder Bay, Hamilton, and Belleville, through creation of designated bicycle lanes as part of new and existing street design plans, or development of “Sunday Brunch” group rides or “Glo-Ride” evening biking program for families with children. The latter example involves designating specific street routes for evening cycling and Une délégation demembres du personnel et d’élèves du Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien (CSDCEO) se sont rendus à Moncton, au Nouveau- Brunswick, afin de participer à l’édition 2016 duGrand rassemblement de l’éduca- tion en français (GREF), qui a eu lieu du 5 au 7 mai derniers. C’est sous la présidence de Jocelyne Roy- Vienneau, lieutenant-gouverneur de la pro- vince du Nouveau-Brunswick, que plus de 400 professionnels de l’éducation et élèves de partout au Canada se sont rassemblés pour échanger et discuter sur le thème de S’entreprendre professionnellement dans une francophonie moderne et contemporaine .
The Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail is already becoming a well-known and popular cycling route for both local and visiting riders. An international coalition group is urging local municipalities to make Prescott-Russell an official Bicycle Friendly Community this year. —photo archives
providing glow sticks to fasten onto bikes to helpmake the riders stand out better as they follow the route. Louise Bissonnette, director for the Prescott-Russell Recreational Trail (PRRT), noted during the workshop that groups and individuals within the region are already working on projects to help promote local cycling trails. She cited the Pancake Rider which Mountain Equipment Co-Op organized in Russell Township, earlier this past spring. She also noted that the Grand Tour Desjardins, in mid-August of this year, will seemore than 1500 cyclists making their way around Prescott-Russell, as part of a cycling tour that will pass through Hawkesbury, L’Orignal, and Alfred-Plantagenet Township. « Ces évènements nous permettent de partager nos meilleures pratiques, mais également d’apprendre afin de continuer de remplir notremission d’assurer une édu- cation axée sur la réussite de l’élève, en l’ani- mant d’une fierté pour la langue française, la foi catholique et la culture franco-onta- rienne » a affirmé François Turpin, directeur de l’éducation au Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien. Le CSDCEO est le plus grand réseau d›écoles de langue française dans les cinq comtés de Stormont, Dundas, Glengarry, Prescott et Russell, et assure l’éducation à plus de 10 000 élèves, répartis dans 25 écoles élémentaires et huit écoles secondaires.
Édition 2016 du GREF : des élèves du CSDCEO à Moncton
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