I have been the mayor of the Municipality of La Pêche Qc since 2017. Our community is well known for the Wakefield village, the Blacksheep, and many other local businesses as well as a number of tourist attractions including our covered bridges, the entrance to Lac Philippe in Ste-Cécile-de-Masham, access to the Gatineau Park, the Gatineau River, the Fairbairn House, and more. We are a welcoming community, we are a fun place to visit with its great mix of French and English cultures, amazing artists, farms, restaurants, pubs, coffee shops and ski hills.
That being said, here is the message I want to share. Given the circumstances, it was brought to my attention by many residents that there were many visitors in our community this weekend. Given the current health crisis, our top priority right now is to save lives and to try to limit the pressure on our health care system. Over the past week, I have seen that our residents are taking the situation seriously and are following the provincial guidelines with respect to social distancing and limiting nonessential travel between regions. This weekend brought a dramatic rise in the number of visitors to Wakefield and the surrounding areas, and there is a concern that people are not taking the necessary precautions to limit the spread of the virus. Many of our local businesses are already closed and those that remain open are trying to maintain essential services for the community. La Pêche will soon once again be happy to welcome visitors when this crisis is over; in the meantime, we expect people to respect the spirit and letter of the provincial health authority’s decree to stay home and travel only if it is essential. The Province has authorized the police to intervene to ensure that the social distancing measures are respected, but it is important that people take responsibility for implementing them on their own so that the police officers are not required to intervene. They have other important work to do.
I personally think of the greater Gatineau and Ottawa region as one large community with an integrated economy, and a population of more than a million. We need to be united right now. We need to stay informed and follow our health authorities’ recommendations. Our community must adapt to these temporary measures. Please support our community: check out our artists and musicians online, get in touch with our farmers as many of them are now offering delivery. This won’t last forever. Start planning your next visit, check out our hotels and B&Bs. But right now, please everyone, do it remotely until further notice from our health authorities. Thank you, bon courage!