Heart warming stories of perseverance and determination were shared amongst the crowd at this year’s Adult Alternative Education Centre graduation ceremony on June 26.

Martin Gage, vice principal, stressed the notion that everyone walks a different path in life but no matter how windy it might be, there is always a choice to succeed.

“A mentor of mine once told me, there are many paths to the top of the mountain. But once you’re there, the view is the same,” he said.

The students at the centre are of all ages and work towards their Grade 12 diploma in a time frame that works best for them.

Some have children or full-time jobs and other just decided to finish high school in a different setting.

Graduate Hasan Wiso came from Syria to make a better life here in Canada.

He learned English from scratch through the school and his job at McKecks and spoke about how thankful he was for everyone in the community who has supported him.

“This, these people, are my family,” he said. “I am so thankful to be here and graduating with them.”

Standing at the podium placed in the back of McKecks, Lori Sargent, a teacher at the school, told stories of her students. She explained how she met them, the challenges they’ve endured and how they’ve excelled.

Cardiff Elementary School’s Senior Kindergarteners and Grade 3’s donned their home made graduation caps, decorated with stickers and glitter, as they made their way into the community centre June 24.

The ceremony was full of excitement, singing and even a little dancing as the kids received their diplomas and special awards for all their hard work.

Elaine Fournier, principal of the school, said she was excited to give students recognition for categories such as academics, character, effort and athletics as well as hand the Grade 3’s their diplomas.

The Cardiff Elementary School graduates will move onto Grade 4 next year at Wilberforce Elementary School.

“It is a big step when they move because Grade 3 marks the end of our primary years,” she said. “When they come over to Wilberforce, they’re not the big kids at the school anymore where we’ve been telling them the kinders are looking up to them and they’re our leaders.”

Parents of the graduates commented on how grown up their little ones were and how they remember their first day of kindergarten at Cardiff like it was yesterday.

“I think there’s a shift for them and it’s almost like a new beginning where they start their own growth and development until they move onto the point where I get the pleasure of watching them graduate Grade 8,” said Fournier.

The County of Haliburton and City of Kawartha Lakes are planning to bring 5,500 additional rental housing units to the area over the next 20 years. Lisa Oliveira of the Housing Services.

Corporation spoke to county council about a new affordable housing master plan June 26. The plan, titled “From Housing Assets to Housing People” aims to address community trends and a 1700-household strong waiting list for subsidized rental units.

Oliveira said the overarching target would amount to about 100 rental units in the city and 40 in the county annually.

“There’s an opportunity there to include those affordable rental targets in our official plans as well as other local plans,” she said.

The new plan lays out seven goals to achieve those new units, including a focus on the long-term viability of non-profit providers, strategic redevelopment, providing a diverse range of rental housing types and creating mixed-income inclusive communities.

Coun. Andrea Roberts expressed some skepticism for the idea to add 40 units in the county annually, noting how private developers have not been going for affordable developments.

“I honestly don’t know if that’s overreaching,” Roberts said.

The city’s manager of human services Hope Lee said the new units need not necessarily be newly built and the figure comes from the county’s official plans.

“We’re going to be looking at other alternatives of providing rent supplements, looking at that secondary suite,” Lee said.

Coun. Brent Devolin said in conversations with private developers in Minden, there’s been more uptake for affordable components.

“That’s a huge change in mindset,” Devolin said. “The numbers are big but potentially do-able.”

Lee also presented council with an overview on the latest about legislative changes at the federal and provincial level which aim to improve rental rules. She highlighted new housing benefits and upcoming changes to simplify things like rent geared to income rules

“I’d say it’s moving in the right direction, but it will still take some time,” Lee said.

Coun. Carol Moffatt said more communication is needed to get people to sign on for municipal programs aimed at encouraging affordable housing development, such as the Housing Help’s Secondary Suite program.

CAO Mike Rutter replied although a new renovation loan program is getting good uptake, the county would try to market secondary suites more.

County council voted unanimously to endorse the master plan.

The owner of the Donald chemical building is rebutting claims of poor conduct and said his goal is still to keep the building in public use.

A co-op formerly partnered with Jim O’Connor accused him of failing to live up to his side of an agreement made to restore the historic building. The groups comprising the co-op invested more than $90,000 of funding, including grants, toward stabilizing the building between 2010-2013. Co-op member Leora Berman, who has managed the initiative on behalf of the co-op, said she is considering legal action in the matter.

But in a statement to The Highlander, O’Connor said Berman has not lived up to her timeline to restore the building by 20122013. He also indicated the two sides failed to reach a new agreement over the timeline to complete the restoration.

“Agreement on a new MOU (memorandum of understanding) failed due to the inability of Ms. Berman to provide a timeline for the completion of the original commitments,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor initially signed an MOU with the groups in 2010 to lease the building. The agreement indicated after the co-op was more formally created, they would be given a new “life-team lease” for the building by 2015. But after that occurred, the two sides never came to a new agreement by the time the MOU expired.

O’Connor noted donations and grants to restore the building were handled by Berman. He added any money raised from a storage business he runs from the building “has been used solely for the preservation of the Donald building.”

“The building in Donald is and has always been slated for public use,” O’Connor said. “That goal has not changed.”

O’Connor declined an interview and did not respond to further requests for comment on what the public use would be.

Berman responded that the co-op had targeted 2013 to secure the building, which they did. At the time, she said engineers indicated no further restorative work should be undertaken until the building’s original blueprints could be found. But they have not been located.

“He was notified from day one this would be a long process,” Berman said. “Did I hope it would finish, it would be fully restored now? Of course, I did, but this was none of his business or concern.”

Berman said she has also been working with engineers from the University of Toronto to find alternative options to do a proper restoration. But the ongoing dispute has halted progress.

She also claimed O’Connor seriously damaged the building when he improperly renovated it for a storage business in 2017.

O’Connor did not respond to questions on this claim but said he continues to work to maintain the building.

“Any current action is for the safety, maintenance and preservation of the Donald building,” he said.

Berman said O’Connor was supposed to give control of the building to the co-op to oversee its continued use and restoration. She further said the preservation of the historic structure is the most important thing.

“Restoring heritage buildings, according to all the experts, takes a long time,” Berman said. “There are so many considerations.”

The newly rebranded Haliburton County Wellness Fair is returning with new management and a focus on the seven dimensions of wellness July 10.

The fourth annual event, previously known as the Haliburton Highlands Health and Wellness Expo, takes place at Head Lake Park.

The fair invites attendees to learn from an array of health and wellness practitioners, including the Abbey Retreat Centre, the Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre and K.O. Martial Arts.

Nancy Gosse took over running the fair last September. Gosse said she wants to help people understand what wellness means.

“Wellness is not one-dimensional, it’s multi-faceted,” Gosse said. “Wellness is not just about eating right, it’s not just about whether you go to yoga classes or go to the gym. There are many different aspects of wellness.”

To that end, the fair will feature an emphasis on the seven dimensions of wellness, including physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, occupational, social and environmental.

Gosse said there is a broad enough scope of topics being offered to cover those dimensions. People will also be challenged to participate in activities relating to them.

“When you think about wellness as a whole picture, it can fit many different aspects in the community,” Gosse said.

Spectrum Healing Naturopathic’s Eileen Eng will be presenting about holistic medicine at the fair. She said it is a chance to help boost her profile in the community.

She added it is important to address the underlying root causes of illness symptoms and to take an approach to health that keeps in mind a person’s entire wellbeing.

“It is about becoming whole again. Mind and body and spirit,” Eng said. “The key thing is how do you raise the vital force so this person has the highest outcome of health?”

Gosse said she wanted to help the event carry on because of the platform it offers to community members.

“Having a platform like a wellness fair for them to come and reach the community is really helpful for people who may not have the resources at home to make those connections,” Gosse said. “Make in-roads in bringing wellness to the community.”

The fair is a good chance to experience something new and engage in new conversations, Gosse said.

“Being open enough and curious enough to come and check it out, I think people would be pleasantly surprised.”

The event takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

During his commencement speech June 27, Haliburton Highlands Secondary School class of 2019 valedictorian Nick Toth reflected on how four years had changed his classmates. Before an auditorium filled with hundreds of school staff, families and community members,

Toth spoke about how teachers and school experiences shaped them. But the graduates also shaped each other.

“Appreciate each other,” Toth said. “Every day in the halls and at parties, school clubs and in sports, our
interactions with one another shaped us.”

Toth was joined by 98 classmates in graduating, officially marking the end of their high school years. The class was celebrated by teachers and the principal, with dozens of awards handed out.

Principal Chris Boulay said the school community was proud of all that the graduates had accomplished.

“They have overcome adversities and challenges,” Boulay said. “And they did it their way.”

Valibhavi Marathe earned the Governor General’s Academic Medal for the highest graduating average. She plans to attend McMaster University for life sciences and said HHSS guided her path forward.

“All the classes I took, all the teachers that influenced where I want to go,” Marathe said. “This place basically shaped my future.”

Toth said the years went by fast and came with a lot of change. But he stressed to graduates the importance of holding onto what they experienced in high school.

“Hold onto this beautiful insanity forever,” he said. “We have proved ourselves yesterday, we have proved ourselves today and I know, without a doubt, we will prove ourselves tomorrow.”