The Haliburton Highlands Water Trails in Algonquin Highlands, the Haliburton School of Art + Design in Dysart et al, Central Food Network in Highlands East, and The Riverwalk in Minden Hills were touted as examples of how communities and councils have worked well together in the past – during the first ‘Voices and Votes’ talk Sept. 16 in Haliburton.

More than 90 people, including current and former councillors, and municipal staff, as well as residents “curious about how things work,” attended the session at the Haliburton Legion, according to host, Jessica Slade, of Civics with Slade, and the Haliburton Highlands Healthy Democracy Project.

“Tonight is about putting us all on the same page, creating shared conversation so we all understand how government works, and community works with it, to make us stronger,” she said.

Slade founded Civics with Slade just before the last provincial and federal elections, “to make politics more accessible, especially for youth and women in rural communities.”

In the first month of operation, she said they received 90,000 views, signaling gaps in the way people talk about democracy, and engage in the process.

She outlined how local government works, why it matters in the Highlands, positions up for election in 2026, and how the local community can play a part.

She noted voter turn out in the Ontario 2022 municipal election was the lowest in history – with 33 per cent of eligible voters casting a ballot, or just one in three. “That is a huge drop and a trend we really need to talk about.” She further noted the rise in acclamations, where there is only one candidate, so no vote. In 2022, 32 full Ontario councils were acclaimed and 553 positions uncontested.

She said the healthy democracy project isn’t just about encouraging people to run for council, but also “strengthening civic participation in all of its forms. We want to support local leadership, celebrate successful community collaborations, and give residents the tools they need to shape the future of our County, building on the great work that’s already been (accomplished).”

Organizers used the app, Menti.com to allow audience members to answer questions during the presentation, providing instant feedback to Slade.

For example, one question was “have you ever considered running for local government?” with 19 per cent saying ‘yes’, 38 per cent ‘no’ and 26 per cent ‘maybe’.

Asked what might move that needle, common responses were the need for mentorship or encouragement from others, better pay, and requiring less money to run a campaign.

Some of the other information that came out was that the majority of the audience did not sit on a board of directors or committee but volunteered with a local organization.

Heather Reid of the Haliburton County Development Corporation, working with the project, presented the four success stories.

One example was the Haliburton Highlands Water Trails. Reid said in 2000, citizens voiced concerns about the overuse of the Frost Centre area to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Algonquin Highlands council. The municipality got a land use permit, and grant, from the MNR, with an agreement for the township to manage a registration system for backcountry camping throughout the area, creating “one of the crown jewels of our community,” Reid said. They went on to oversee Poker Lake as well. The impact on the environment is now closely monitored.

“This demonstrates that what first appears as a problem can turn into an incredible opportunity and it really is a way that communities can bring ideas to the council table and collaborate and stretch that regular mode of operation box and make things happen that have a huge legacy for our community,” Reid said.

Slade challenged people to get involved. “Attend a meeting, join a committee, contact your councillors, share your input.”

The second talk will feature former MPs Barry Devolin (Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock) and Maryam Monsef (Peterborough-Kawartha) discussing why people should get involved by running for office, supporting a political campaign, or being an informed community member. It will take place Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at the Lloyd Watson Community Centre in Wilberforce.

Haliburton Highlands OPP Const. Joel Imbeau shared a personal story at this year’s Take Back the Night event in Minden Sept. 18.

He said that when he was a teenager, his older sister was sexually assaulted.

“Not only did I have the saddened opportunity to live that through my sister’s experience, but also as a brother, and seeing my parents suffer. And, seeing the level of depression she went through for years, and the fact we had to slowly try to develop and rebuild our house and make it somewhat of a suitable living situation given my sister’s trauma,” Imbeau said.

He added, “experiencing that firsthand, I dedicated and devoted my life at that point to get into a position of authority where I could, hopefully, lock some of these people up and make sure that this doesn’t continue.

“We can end this situation once and for all. It is going to be a struggle, but we need everyone on board to help fight it. When it comes to being an advocate against intimate partner violence, I have no time for this type of violence; none of us do at our office; we take it extremely seriously and so does the province.”

Imbeau noted he has a “wonderful” working relationship with the YWCA Peterborough Haliburton, and mental health providers in the community, to help people recover, and “try to bear their traumatic incidents.”

Nycole Duncan, the YWCA’s women’s centre and HERS manager, told the audience they have two spaces in the County for women fleeing domestic violence.

Addressing the crowd that would go on to stroll the Minder Riverwalk, she said, “there’s strength in numbers. It’s only through community strength that we can find solutions to community problems. The first step is showing up with compassion and excitement like you all have tonight.”

Duncan said Haliburton County and Minden Hills had declared intimate partner violence an epidemic. Statistically she said the highest number of incidents occur in northern rural centres, “where we are … so this is us.”

Walt McKechnie was flicking through a Saturday morning edition of the Toronto Star recently when he saw a familiar face grimacing back at him. It was his own, in a photo taken more than 40 years ago at the height of the Dysart et al deputy mayor’s National Hockey League career.

The Sept. 7 edition of the newspaper featured a commemorative story about Ken Dryden, the Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender and two-term Member of Parliament, who passed away Sept. 5.

One of the photos used to accompany the piece depicts a then-31-year-old McKechnie going head-to-head with Dryden, sprawled on the floor and reaching for the puck, which appeared to be on tip of the Leafs forward’s stick.

“I had that picture up on the wall at McKeck’s for years when I owned the place,” McKechnie told The Highlander during a recent interview. “What a great player, goaltender and human being he was.”

For years, McKechnie told his patrons that he’d scored on the play – one of many times he bested Dryden, who won six Stanley Cups in nine seasons playing for the Canadiens between 1971 and 1979.

That was until, one day, one of his regulars arrived for his usual nightcap armed with an important piece of information – the game that photo was taken in, Game 4 of the Stanley Cup semi-finals, played May 9, 1978, ended 2-0 Montreal.

“I just smiled and said, ‘you son of a gun’,” McKechnie said. “Of course, I knew I hadn’t scored. But looking at the picture, with Ken down and the puck right there, most people assumed I’d knocked it in. But he was something else, the way he could move and the saves he could make, he was second to none.”

Dryden retired in 1979, aged 30, and while he doesn’t have the longevity of other NHL all-time great goaltenders, McKechnie still considers the Hamilton native one of the best to ever do it.

“I played against him all through that 70s dynasty – he was so great on that team. He was the wall they needed for that type of an offensive team, the foundation to all those cup wins,” McKechnie said. “There are a lot of greats – Johnny Bower, Jacques Plante, Terry Sawchuk, Turk Broda, Jerry Cheevers, but Ken would be very near the top of the list because of all the Stanley Cups he won.”

Asked what made Dryden so special, McKechnie said it was his poise and demeanour, which he said never changed.

“He was so calm – some goalies are fidgety, bouncing around and constantly have their head on a swivel. But Ken would just stare you down. He was a big, tall man and there was a bit of an intimidation factor there because he’d make saves that you just didn’t think were possible,” McKechnie said.

Despite his mountainous appearance, McKechnie said Dryden was always a gentleman – both on the ice and off it. While he didn’t know him well, he’d routinely bump into him at charity functions, noting people were naturally drawn to him.

“I had a lot of respect for him, and I was so honoured the Star chose to use that picture. I don’t know why they picked it, because there sure would have been a heck of a lot to choose from,” McKechnie said.

It’s been 56 years since the decommissioning of the Essonville Anglican Church, but Phil O’Reilly believes the local landmark still plays a vital role in the community.

While other staples of the hamlet have faded into history, the old church building – now named Essonville Historic Church – remains as the sole reminder of the farming and logging community that thrived from the early 1870s into the mid-to-late 1900s.

“This is the history of Essonville. There’s not a whole lot left in terms of buildings – the old schools, the post office, the store, they’re all gone,” said O’Reilly.

He’s one of about a dozen people actively working to keep the structure’s spirit alive. Now owned by Highlands East township, it’s considered a community space – one that people can rent for weddings and other private functions.

It recently reopened, hosting a Decoration Day event in August – following a $82,300 foundation repair covered by the township.

“There were all sorts of conversations last year – what was the need for the church? What’s its purpose? Some were really pushing for [it to be demolished], turn the space into a monument… but this is like the last thread of what this place once was,” O’Reilly said. “That’s the kind of history that should be maintained.”

The congregation – the first in Monmouth township – was established in 1888 after Rev. Arthur Watham purchased a 100-acre property off what is now Essonville Line. The building was constructed using three pine trees sourced from a nearby forest, which were milled at the Dunford sawmill at Lake Brigadoon.

The church’s pews were moulded from the same lumber, while the original bell and stained-glass windows were imported from England.

“It was the hub of the community for a lot of years,” said Carman Coumbs, who has been visiting the church his entire life.

He was baptized there in 1950 and recalls attending dozens of nuptials and funerals, communions and Easter services.

As work at the 12 sawmills that once served the area dried up, people moved away, and attendance dropped. By the mid-1960s, there was only a handful of regular parishioners, Coumbs recalled. After the Anglican Church of Canada opted to close the site in 1969, Coumbs said he, his mother, father and two sisters were the only people in attendance for its final service – led by the site’s last minister, Church Army Capt. R. Sims.

Back in its heyday, the building was only open for half of the year, Coumbs said.

“You couldn’t heat it enough for people to stay there, so we’d go from house to house for services. Folks would take turns hosting – I remember us having lots at the farm. But, slowly but surely, interest went away,” Coumbs noted.

O’Reilly has strong ties to the building, too. His in-laws, Larry and Ruth Strong, were the last couple to be married there, in 1965, before it ceased to be a church; while he and his wife, Kelly, said their ‘I dos’ in the striking white building in 1993.

It’s been a lot of work maintaining the site, Coumbs said – in the 1980s, it took five years to raise enough money to replace several broken stained-glass windows.

“That’s how the committee that oversees the church today was formed,” Coumbs noted, with the start-up group boasting six members.

Since then. The exterior of the building has been repainted three times, the interior plaster repaired and repainted, the steel roof painted, organ pump and belfry rebuilt, propane heating installed, and new parking lot and walkway constructed.

The committee is looking for new members – it meets four times per year and takes charge in organizing the annual Decoration Day and Christmas concert. Anyone interested in helping can contact O’Reilly at essonville17@gmail.com.