Honorary Lieutenant Colonel Lee-Anne Quinn, president of the Frank Poley (Peterborough) chapter of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping, speaks at the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the UN Peacekeepers Monument in Peterborough's new urban park on July 1, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Sean Bruce)
Canadian Forces veteran Lee-Anne Quinn is one of six people named as a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Club of Peterborough, who will be celebrating the recipients with a dinner and ceremony next week.
Named for Rotary International founder Paul Percy Harris, Rotary’s highest recognition is given to both Rotarians and non-Rotarians who exemplify Rotary’s motto of “Service above Self” in the categories of community, international, vocational, youth, and environment. Each recipient receives a Paul Harris Fellow certificate and a Paul Harris pin.
The other five people named as Paul Harris Fellows by Peterborough Rotary are Myke Healy and Darlene Callan (youth), Dorothy Taylor (environment), Kathi Curtin Williams (community), and Kateryna Sysoieva (international).
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Quinn was named as a Paul Harris Fellow in the category of vocational service, which focuses on adherence to and promotion of the highest ethical standards in all occupations, the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations, and the contribution of vocational talents to solving the problems of society and meeting the needs of the community.
For 22 years in the Canadian Forces, Quinn worked as an air medical evacuation nurse and U.N. peacekeeper, deployed in Somalia, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, and Afghanistan as well as isolated First Nations and Inuit communities in northern Ontario and Yukon.
After retiring from the military in 2008 with the rank of major, she moved to her hometown of Peterborough where she continued to worked as a nurse practitioner in primary health care. She received the Governor General’s Award of Military Merit in 2006 and the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2012.
18-year-old Syrian refugee Rashid Sheikh Hassan, who recently came to Canada with the support of a sponsor group including Honorary Lieutenant Colonel Lee-Anne Quinn, holds her hand during the ribbon-cutting ceremony of The UN Peacekeepers Monument in Peterborough’s new urban park on July 1, 2022. (Photo courtesy of Dave McNab)
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Now serving as the first-ever female honorary lieutenant colonel in the Hastings and Prince Edward County Regiment, Quinn is also part of a group of Peterborough-area residents who have sponsored Syrian refugees to come to Canada.
Quinn was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Peterborough’s meeting on Monday (November 6), where the key message of her talk was “every human on the face of this Earth deserves to be treated humanely.”
Members of the public are invited to help Rotary celebrate Quinn and the other five Paul Harris Fellows on Monday, November 13th at the Peterborough Golf and Country Club, beginning with a social gathering at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner at 6 p.m. Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased by contacting Rotarian Bill Crins at bcrins@cogeco.ca and sending an etransfer to treasurerpeterboroughrotary@gmail.com.
Reggie Maranda of Mcthirsty's Pint (left) and Garrett Bulmer of Bobcaygeon Brewing Company (right), pictured with Mauricio Interiano and Paris Nguyen of the New Canadians Centre, raise a pint of West Coast Pale Ale, the third beer in the 'Community Brew' series, with a portion of sales to be donated to New Canadians Centre. (Photo: Luke Best / Bobcaygeon Brewing Company)
Bobcaygeon Brewing Company has released the third beer in its “Community Brew” collaboration series in partnership with McThirsty’s Pint in downtown Peterborough, where a portion of sales supports a local charitable organization.
The craft brewery launched the new brew on Wednesday (November 8) at its taproom at 649 The Parkway in Peterborough.
Bobcaygeon Brewing Company describes its West Coast Pale Ale, with 5.5% alcohol by volume, as having a “bold hop aroma and flavour, characterized by a clear, amber-gold colour and a balanced malt profile” and showcasing “citrus and pine notes from the hops.”
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With each beer in the Community Brew series, $1 from every pint sold and 50 cents from every can sold is donated to a local charitable organization. Proceeds from the West Coast Pale Ale will be donated to the New Canadians Centre in Peterborough, a non-profit organization that helps newcomers settle and integrate into the community.
The West Coast Pale Ale is available now in cans at Bobcaygeon Brewing Company and online at bobcaygeonbrewing.ca, and will also soon be on tap at the brewery’s taproom and at McThirsty’s Pint at 166 Charlotte Street in downtown Peterborough.
The first two beers in the Community Brew series were Blackberry Raspberry Goose in support of One City Peterborough and Kolsch in support of the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority.
Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) is located at 1 Hospital Drive in Peterborough. (Photo: PRHC)
A 16-year-old girl from London, Ontario has been arrested in connection with a bomb threat against Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) last week.
At around 11:15 a.m. last Tuesday (October 31), Peterborough police were informed by PRHC that the hospital had received several threatening phone calls, including one about a bomb threat.
As part of the PRHC’s emergency procedure, the hospital immediately declared a “code black” — an emergency code in response to a bomb threat — and initiated a perimeter lockdown.
Through an investigation, police determined the threat was not credible and was being made by a person in another community. However, in accordance with PRHC’s policy, Peterborough police and hospital security conducted a safety search of the building, and it was cleared several hours later.
On Friday (November 3), police officers in London executed a warrant on behalf of Peterborough police and arrested a 16-year-old girl, who has been charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm.
The accused teenager was released on an undertaking and is scheduled to appear in court on November 27.
After Susan and Jim Blakelock moved to their bungalow in the south east of Peterborough in 2020, their registered energy advisor daughter Clara completed a home energy assessment and found many areas for improvement. Two years later, after completing a list of upgrades, the couple has reduced their EnerGuide rating from 135 to 60 gigajoules and their annual greenhouse gas emissions from 5.5 to 1.2 tonnes annually. (Photo: Clara Blakelock / GreenUP)
I became a registered energy advisor with GreenUP nearly two years ago because I wanted to work directly on eliminating the use of fossil fuels in our community.
Each week, GreenUP provides a story related to the environment. This week’s column is by Clara Blakelock, Home Energy Program Manager, GreenUP.
Since becoming an energy advisor, I have performed energy assessments on over 215 homes in our area. The retrofits completed by my clients are saving over 1,600 gigajoules of energy annually, which is the equivalent of 90 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Together that is enough energy to power about 12 homes.
Home energy retrofits have varying degrees of impact and in order to meet our communities 2030 emissions reductions targets Peterborough will need to see many “deep retrofits” where energy use is reduced by 50 per cent or more.
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I’m proud to share one example of a deep retrofit that is very close to me — the retrofit my parents did on their home in the south east of Peterborough.
My parents, Jim and Susan Blakelock, moved to Peterborough in November 2020. They moved here to be closer to their three grandchildren — my kids. They bought a bungalow built in the 1980s that needed a few updates.
They were excited to support me in my new career by having me do my first home energy assessment on their home. When I did the assessment, I found many areas for improvement.
As one of several upgrades to their Peterborough home over the past two years, Susan and Jim Blakelock replaced their air conditioner with a cold climate air source heat pump. (Photo: Clara Blakelock / GreenUP)
Their unfinished basement was only insulated to R8 halfway down the walls — today’s building code requires R22 for basement insulation. The attic had about six inches of blown-in insulation, a value of R20 which is much less than the R50 required by today’s building code.
My parents had already replaced the furnace immediately upon moving in, but the air conditioner was older. The hot water tank was gas and an older less-efficient model with a pilot light.
All in all, their EnerGuide rating was 135 gigajoules. This value is almost twice the energy that a house built to today’s building code would use. The house emitted an estimated 5.5 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
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After receiving my report, my parents steadily proceeded to work away through the list of upgrades I provided them.
They added blanket insulation to the walls in the basement, bringing all the foundation walls up to at least R20. They had additional insulation blown into the attic to bring it up to today’s code of R50.
Since the furnace was new, they opted to keep the furnace as a backup source of heat and replace their air conditioner with a cold climate air source heat pump. Finally, they replaced the gas hot water tank with an electric heat pump hot water tank. The house was already fairly airtight, and most windows had already been replaced, but they also improved the airtightness by fixing some caulking around the basement windows.
The list of upgrades Jim and Susan Blakelock completed to their Peterborough bungalow included adding blanket insulation to the basement walls and additional insulation in the attic, replacing their air conditioner with a cold climate air source heat pump, and replacing their gas hot water tank with an electric heat pump hot water tank. (Photo: Clara Blakelock / GreenUP)
When I came back in May of 2023 to do a post-retrofit assessment, the results were very encouraging. Their new EnerGuide rating was just 60 gigajoules. This was less than half of what it had been previously. They spent about $18,500 on these upgrades, and received $8,500 back in rebates.
After retrofits, my parents’ greenhouse gas emissions went down to 1.2 tonnes annually. This was an outstanding reduction of 78 per cent.
Since then, they have also recently replaced their car with an electric car, and are planning to install solar panels on their roof later this year to offset their remaining energy use.
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Working as an energy advisor, it has been very rewarding getting to support my clients, including my parents, in reducing their energy bills and their greenhouse gas emissions. This story is one that I hope is echoed in many homes this year and in the years to come.
Demand for home energy assessments is on the rise, as homeowners begin to look into accessing grants and rebates from the federal government. Interested homeowners can learn more at greenup.on.ca/home-energy and book a pre-retrofit home energy assessment with our team of registered energy advisors.
GreenUP is also currently looking to recruit someone to complete the training to become a registered energy advisor, which is how I got started. If you are knowledgeable and willing to learn about construction and building science, and passionate about decarbonization, please submit an application at greenup.on.ca/download/job-posting-energy-advisor-in-training/.
A delegation of 10 members from the environmental group For Our Grandchildren visited Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith's constituency office on November 6, 2023 to deliver 100 postcards urging the Ford government to protect old-growth trees in the Catchacoma Forest from logging and to preserve the Greenbelt. (Photo courtesy of For Our Grandchildren)
A delegation of 10 members from the environmental group For Our Grandchildren visited Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith’s constituency office on Monday (November 6) to deliver 100 postcards urging the Ford government to protect old-growth trees in the Catchacoma Forest from logging and to preserve the Greenbelt.
The group had organized a write-in campaign in May as part of Artsweek Peterborough, where 100 residents decorated and signed the postcards.
The Catchacoma Forest is a 662-hectare stand of mature eastern hemlock north of Catchacoma Lake in Peterborough County, beside Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. In 2019, Dr. Peter Quinby, chief scientist of the Peterborough-based non-profit Ancient Forest Exploration & Research (AFER), identified the forest as the largest-known stand of old-growth eastern hemlock in Canada after AFER found many trees over 120 years old — with the oldest tree, a 350-year-old eastern hemlock, marked for logging.
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The documentary film Conserving Catchacoma, which premiered at the 2022 ReFrame Film Festival, follows the efforts of the Conserving Catchacoma group to protect the old-growth hemlock in the forest, which is also home to at least 10 documented species at risk.
The Bancroft Minden Forest Company holds the license to manage the Crown land within the area, which includes logging, and the postcards appealed to the provincial government to withdraw the license and to make the forest part of Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.
The other message on the postcards concerned development on Greenbelt lands.
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“Although since May the government has reversed its course on allowing development in the Greenbelt, it is still planning incursions in these lands, pushing expanded municipal boundaries and projects such as Highway 413,” reads a media release from For Our Grandchildren.
The group adds that sensible development would stop urban sprawl and recognize the significant habitat and important agricultural land contained in the Greenbelt.
“The delegation encouraged MPP Smith to speak out for us all and put action on the climate crisis on the agenda of the Ford government,” reads the media release.
Aaron, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois embedded in the OPP Tactics and Rescue Unit and winner of the obedience category at the 2023 Canadian Police Canine Association's National Police Dog Competition, is featured on the cover of the 2024 OPP canine unit calendar, which raises funds for the OPP Youth Foundation and Friends of The OPP Museum. (Photo: OPP)
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has released its 2024 canine unit calendar to raise money for the OPP Youth Foundation and Friends of The OPP Museum.
More than 50 police service dogs and their 33 handlers serve the OPP in various ways, including search and rescue, narcotics detection, suspect apprehension, and firearms, explosives, and physical evidence search and detection.
Canine unit members also provide community engagement at local events and safety demonstrations. During the calendar’s launch event, children from the Mnjikaning Kendaaswin Elementary School in Orillia enjoyed a demonstration featuring members of the canine unit.
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The 2024 calendar showcases 12 police service dogs from across Ontario, including photos, age, breed, specialty, location, and a brief description.
This year’s cover model features Aaron, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois who was the winner of the obedience category at the 2023 Canadian Police Canine Association’s National Police Dog Competition. Embedded in the OPP Tactics and Rescue Unit, Aaron is deployed with his handler to support high-risk incidents.
The calendar’s 12 dogs also include Hopper (April),a two-year-old yellow lab whose speciality is search and rescue, and Rico (December), a six-year-old Malinois-shepherd mix who is a general service dog.
Featured for April in the 2024 OPP canine unit calendar, Hopper is a two-year-old yellow lab whose specialty is search and rescue. Here he is pictured scenting an article located up high in a vehicle. (Photo: OPP)
Each calendar costs $15 and can be purchased online at www.oppshop.on.ca or in person at the OPP Off Duty Shop at 777 Memorial Avenue in Orillia.
All proceeds go to the OPP Youth Foundation, which provides funds to disadvantaged youth throughout the province of Ontario, and The Friends of The OPP Museum, a volunteer-based charitable organization that supports, promotes, and assists in the preservation of the history of the OPP.
Last year’s calendar sales raised more than $32,800 for the two organizations.
Cake artist Natalie Raponi is back with Heck Yes! Cake following a hiatus while she moved her family to a new home in Millbrook. For clients who don't want a full-blown bespoke cake, Raponi has added three signature-styled cakes to her offerings: The Birthstone Series, The Party Bus, and the Bloomin' Betty. Each cake comes with a customized acrylic cake topper. (Photos courtesy of Heck Yes! Cake)
Sweet tooths of the Kawarthas will be eager to hear that Natalie Raponi is back in the kitchen and ready to say ‘Heck Yes!’ to cake once again.
After taking a hiatus to move her family from Peterborough to Millbrook, Raponi is back to focusing her time on her cake-making business, Heck Yes! Cake, creating extravagant, tall, delicious, signature, and custom cakes for weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries, and all celebrations.
With her two young children now in school, Raponi’s return to work will mark the first time she will be crafting her delicious creations during daytime hours.
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“If you’ve ever tried to make anything important in the kitchen with children around, you know that it’s very difficult,” she says, explaining she always created her cakes late in the night when her children were asleep. “I now have the ability to make and decorate a cake in the daylight, which is wonderful. It feels very different to see the sun, but it just means my capacity has changed — and hopefully I have a few less bags under my eyes.”
Prior to launching Heck Yes! Cake, Raponi was a graphic designer and she and her husband Carlo founded the Peterborough Axe Club seven years ago. Equipped with both a creative skillset and entrepreneurial knowledge, she began creating cakes for family members and friends more than 10 years ago.
“I was always the person who would jump at the opportunity to make any kind of dessert for everybody, trying to make it as beautiful as possible and challenging myself to take on new ones,” she says, adding that she just kept saying yes to baking requests before launching Heck Yes! Cake.
With more kitchen space at her new home in Millbrook and more time available with her two young children in school, cake artist Natalie Raponi is reviving her business Heck Yes! Cake, offering three brand-new signature-style cakes and more opportunity for one-on-one wedding cake consultations. (Photo courtesy of Heck Yes! Cake)
Now back from her hiatus, Raponi is launching three signature-style cakes for those who don’t want a full-blown bespoke cake. Never serving anything small, the signature cakes serve 12 to 25 people and offer limited customization, though they are still one-of-a-kind creations.
The Birthstone Series uses a Japanese candy with a soft inside and crunchy exterior to look like crystals “bursting” out of the cake, the Party Bus uses a choice of colour and flavour for a decadent and dramatic look, and The Bloomin’ Betty has locally grown fresh flowers adhered to the cake using a food-safe acrylic pick, creating both a flower bouquet and cake in one.
“All the signature pieces — and all of my cakes really — they’re the centrepiece for the party,” she says. “They’re attention-getting. If you want something over-the-top that people are going to take pictures of, give me a call.”
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Raponi is also excited to have more time to offer more in-depth one-on-one consultations to craft bespoke wedding cakes.
“I love the face-to-face personal element of finding out how I can make your dreams come true,” Raponi notes.
Describing her own style as “modern whimsical,” Raponi explains that much of her texture and colour combinations draw inspiration from high-fashion and interior design. Though she usually stays away from fondant and trademark characters, she enjoys vintage styles with intricate details and geometric-shaped cakes, using her own laser to create custom cake toppers, and adding local blooms.
Always venturing to try new ideas when making bespoke cakes, Heck Yes! Cake artist Natalie Raponi enjoys surprising her audience and challenging herself with geometric cakes to create pieces of art that are entirely unique. (Photo courtesy of Heck Yes! Cake)
Though, regardless of where her imagination takes her, Raponi has one main rule she sticks to when crafting.
“My own personal mantra is that there should always be one unexpected colour and one unexpected texture,” the cake artist says. “So if things are super pastel, then let’s throw in a little birch orange just to go nuts and keep things a bit fresh and new — or fresh and weird.”
Raponi has developed a good network of clients who understand her style and, even if they request custom cakes, they are open to her creativity and imagination.
“I’ve made a name for myself in that I’m an artist, so give me your ideas and I’ll interpret them in my own wild way,” she says. “You go to a cake decorator when you want something very specific, but you go to an artist like me when you can see and appreciate their art form and, like commissioning a painting, you go to the painter whose style you appreciate and whose style you have an affinity (with).”
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Before launching into the cake-making process, which can take upwards of four to nine hours, Raponi enjoys learning more about the person being gifted the cake to get a better sense of their personality and style.
“I find it’s more fun to interpret when clients give me descriptive words of the person,” she says. “So if they tell me they’re modern-funky, or if they’re ornate and vintage, then that’s a lot more fun.”
Raponi adds that if a client comes requesting something outside of her style, she knows exactly where to refer them to help them find the cake that suits their needs.
“I always refer them to someone local,” she points out. “I have a really good network of people who I know to send where and what time, and I know that they do the same for me. To me, there’s a very strong sense of community over competition and I really appreciate that.”
As a cake artist rather than cake decorator, Heck Yes! Cake’s Natalie Raponi takes an interest in learning about the person being gifted the cake so she can craft something that suits their personality and style. She takes a concept and theme and adds her own creativity and inspiration from high fashion and interior design to create over-the-top, decadent bespoke cakes for her clients. (Photo courtesy of Heck Yes! Cake)
That said, Raponi doesn’t often shy away from trying out new techniques and challenging herself with inventive ideas.
“I love experimenting with different flavour combinations and testing things out and pushing the envelope,” she says, adding that she enjoys being able to surprise people. “My favourite thing is when people say ‘I’ve never seen anything like that’. That speaks to my heart.”
For Raponi, staying grounded in her own styles and preferences while venturing out to experiment is the motivation behind the title of her business.
“Anything that you do should either be a ‘heck yes’ or a ‘heck no’,” she explains. “Obviously meet your obligations, but we often fill our lives with so many things where you say yes and then you regret it.”
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In her case, ‘heck yes’ means ‘heck yes, she can make a birthday cake taller than you thought possible’ and ‘heck yes, she can make a wedding cake that stands out in the crowd’.
“If you’re going to do something, do it and be excited about it,” Raponi says.
Natalie Raponi named her cake business Heck Yes! as a testament to her belief that anytime you say yes to something, it should always have the enthusiasm and excitement of a “heck yes!” rather than being an obligatory yes. As a cake artist, her mantra is to add one unexpected colour and one unexpected texture when it comes to crafting every cake. Her goal is to create a cake that both connects with the person being celebrated and is something they have never seen before. (Photos courtesy of Heck Yes! Cake)
Registered nurse psychotherapist Sheena Howard is the founder and owner of Acceptance Nurse Psychotherapy in downtown Peterborough, which has won a nurse innovator award from the Registered Nurses' Foundation of Ontario. (Photo via Acceptance Nurse Psychotherapy)
Acceptance Nurse Psychotherapy in Peterborough, founded and owned by registered nurse psychotherapist Sheena Howard, has won a Nurse Innovator Award from the Registered Nurses’ Foundation of Ontario.
Howard’s clinic is one of five innovative nursing projects in Ontario that were recognized with the award during a reception on Tuesday (November 7) hosted by CBC radio host Mary Ito at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Acceptance Nurse Psychotherapy, which opened in October in the Be Well Centre at 459 George Street North in downtown Peterborough, is Canada’s only psychotherapy clinic staffed exclusively by nurses.
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“Acceptance Nurse Psychotherapy offers a comprehensive range of mental health services to clients facing various challenges, including anxiety, depression, grief, ADHD, affirming gender and sexuality exploration, trauma, chronic pain and illness, substance use, parenting, infertility, and infant and baby loss,” reads a media release. “Acceptance’s nurse psychotherapists see adults, youth, couples, and families and provide workshops and group therapy.”
The five innovative nursing projects — which also include the “iMentor” program based at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga, “Empowering Goals of Care Conversations” based at Perley Health in Ottawa, “Neuropathy Screening App” based in Simcoe County, and “WeeCare Pediatric Home Care” based in Cambridge — will receive a total of $122,000 as part of the award.
The Registered Nurses’ Foundation of Ontario is a charitable organization that provides financial support, including awards and scholarships, to registered nurses and nursing students. Funded by honorary members as well as donors and supporters, the Nurse Innovator Award was created in 2019 to encourage and celebrate innovative and entrepreneurial nurses in Ontario. More than $400,000 has been awarded to 19 nursing innovation projects in the past five years.
For more information about Acceptance Nurse Psychotherapy or to book an appointment, visit acceptanceclinic.ca.
Peterborough advertising agency Outpost379 is under new ownership with the agency being purchased by five long-standing employees, including (from left to right) Zachary Durisko, Diana Freeman, Ben Steele, Valerie Smith, and Sacha Lai-Svirk. The new and predominantly female ownership team will inspire women in the advertising industry, which has been traditionally dominated by men in both executive and ownership positions. (Photo courtesy of Outpost379)
When Outpost379 recently announced a new generation of leaders taking over the company, the Peterborough-based ad agency took a step forward in the future of advertising with three women included on the new five-person ownership team.
The new ownership team is comprised of Valerie Smith, Sacha Lai-Svirk, and Diana Freeman along with Zachary Durisko and Ben Steele. Co-founder and former president Paul Hickey is stepping into the position of chairman to guide the new team, while co-founder and CFO Chris White heads into retirement at the end of the year.
Hickey explains that, unlike when he sold his previous ad agency MarketForce 20 years ago, he always knew that when it came time to wind down his time at Outpost379, he didn’t want to sell to a global advertising agency that “buys agencies and swallows them up.” Instead, he wanted to sell internally and keep Outpost379 based locally out of his hometown where it was founded.
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“I just wanted to do it completely differently and it just so happens that the team that has emerged and the team that really deserved the chance to own Outpost and take it to a new place was these five,” says Hickey. “They’ve become such an important part of who we are. It’s just natural, as they’ve had such a high potential.”
Outpost379 was founded by Hickey and White in 2005 as BrandHealth and has since grown into a 30-person agency, rebranding in 2019 as Outpost379 — a name that combines its address (379 George Street, Peterborough) with the concept of being the “outpost of advertising” in offering a “fresh perspective” from Peterborough.
The agency specializes in advertising services for health, medicine, and fitness, and has a history of working with both international clients like Medicago and Gilead Sciences, and local clients including the YMCA, the Canadian Canoe Museum, and Kawartha Land Trust.
Paul Hickey (left) and Chris White cofounded Peterborough ad agency Outpost379 as BrandHealth in 2005. Hickey is passing the reins of president to agency partner Valerie Smith (right) as he becomes chairman, with White heading into retirement at the end of the year. (Photo courtesy of Outpost379)
Hickey expresses excitement, trust, and hope in having the next generation of owners being predominantly women.
“It’s no secret in the world of advertising and public relations, women have always been representatives — representatives from a quantity of people point of view,” Hickey says. “But I can’t think of too many of our competitor agencies who are owned by women or have women-dominated leadership teams.”
Recently, the World Federation of Advertisers released its interim findings from the Global DEI Census, which included insights from nearly 13,000 advertising and marketing professionals across 91 countries. One of the report’s main findings saw female respondents dominant in junior positions (64 per cent women versus 36 per cent men) while men were almost twice as likely to be in executive-level positions (21 per cent men versus 11 per cent women).
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Outpost379’s new president Valerie Smith says that, in her experience, there is an even larger divide when it comes to women sitting in ownership positions.
“It’s great that you’ll see more women as vice presidents or directors, as they’re getting more senior, but what I don’t think you see as much of are women as owners,” she explains. “One of the points of difference in our situation that we’re really excited and proud about is that not only do we have senior leadership roles within the agency, but we’ve taken that leap and put our resources behind it as well to have that entrepreneurial component.”
Smith has been working with Outpost379 for 17 years and, along with now being the agency’s president, she is also an owner. She says when she started out in the industry, she was working for a global corporation in Toronto where she saw a very different career path.
“Ownership would have never occurred to me because it was a global corporation,” she recalls. “If I hadn’t decided to put roots down in Peterborough and make this my home and where I was going to grow my career, I don’t think I ever would have owned a company or been a president of an advertising agency.”
Valerie Smith is stepping in as new owner and president of Outpost379 after 17 years working her way through various positions in the agency, including as head of client services. (Photo courtesy of Outpost379)
Sacha Lai-Svirk, head of people and tech and now vice-president, has been with Outpost379 for 15 years and had already been a partner in the agency. She expresses a similar testament to the advantage of having moved to Lakefield during her career.
“At no point in my life did I ever think I was going to be an owner of anything,” she says. “From my generation, the mindset was that leadership roles were for men, and I just thought that I would be an art director my whole life, or maybe a creative director.”
Both women agree a key component that drew them to Outpost379 was the location, where they were able to both enjoy living in an area surrounded by natural beauty while working with Fortune 500 clients. But it was also about the people and support which, Lai-Svirk explains, isn’t easy to find with major corporations. She knows this first hand from previous industry experience.
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“I didn’t have the support (in previous positions) to be able to feel like I could leave guilt-free to start a family,” she says. “It was almost like I had to give up one or the other.”
Lai-Svirk evidently ended up doing just that, explaining she never returned to her previous employer after going on maternity leave.
“It’s a different path for women when you look at your career,” she notes. “Men can come into an advertising agency and just set their sights and say ‘that’s where I want to be.’ But women, we have to make sacrifices.”
After 15 years with Outpost379 including head of people and tech, Sacha Lai-Svirk continues as an agency partner for the agency and adds vice-president to her title. (Photo courtesy of Outpost379)
For her part, Smith says it’s always been different at Outpost379, where work-life balance has been a priority. Each of the women managed to start their families and raise children throughout the course of their careers at Outpost379.
“The leadership team at our agency is always trying to recognize work-life balance and the importance of it,” says Smith. “I was always really supported even when the founding partners and leadership team of our agency was all male. I’ve always felt that it relates back to the community and family values of Peterborough.”
Diana Freeman, who has taken on the position of vice president of client services along with her ownership stake in agency, says the new team of leaders will continue encouraging work-life balance for their employees — but not because they are predominately women.
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“I feel there is something about work-life balance that gets tied to women because of some pre-conceived perceptions that women need it more,” says Freeman, who resides in Bridgenorth. “I actually disagree with it, and I think we need to start changing the narrative of what work-life balance is about. It’s not about separating work and life and doing them differently. It’s about loving what you do and feeling supported in what you do.”
Freeman uses the example that, while there are certainly nights that she works after hours despite having two young daughters at home, she does so because she’s excited about the work she’s doing and for the challenge that’s ahead of her.
“It’s certainly a very strong work-life balance at Outpost379, but not because we’re women at the head, but because we foster a really great work environment and a really great culture that enables (employees),” she adds.
Diana Freeman has moved into her new position with Outpost379 as partner and vice president of client services. (Photo courtesy of Outpost379)
Despite the encouragement of work-life balance at Outpost379, there is still a perception in the advertising industry that women are disadvantaged in their careers when it comes to starting or growing a family. For example, a recently promoted female team member at Outpost379 said family members had told her she wouldn’t get the promotion because she was due to take maternity leave.
According to the World Federation of Advertisers, 36 per cent of women who had taken parental leave in the last five years said it had put them at a disadvantage in their careers, compared to only eight per cent of men.
“We don’t ever want anyone to feel that it’s a disadvantage for them to start a family,” Lai-Svirk says of Outpost379. “That’s one of the most beautiful things in life to experience and your work here is going to support you on that. That doesn’t just go towards women, too. I want our male staff members to know that if they have started a new family and have a new baby, if they want to take more time, (they) just have to talk to us and we’re going to allow that as well.”
In addition to her work at Outpost379, Lai-Svirk is board chair of the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area, a board member of Five Counties Children’s Centre, and a member of the advisory board for business students at Fleming College. She has noticed a hesitancy among women across different industries, not just advertising, about taking on leadership roles.
“I have had women come up to me and when I tell them they would be a perfect person for a certain role, I’m shocked when I hear them say ‘No, I don’t think so’. I stand back saying, ‘But I see that you do have what it takes’. People do need to understand their value and they should not be shy about it.”
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With this in mind, Freeman says she didn’t anticipate how much of an impact the announcement of Outpost379’s new ownership team would have on other female team members.
“When our announcement was made internally to the company, all of our female employees were ecstatic — not just because of the opportunity and what this means for us as an agency, but because it was inspirational to them,” Freeman explains. “I went into this not actually realizing the inspiration and that it could be handed down to our teammates.”
“When I talk about my generation, I had zero female mentors and zero women that I could talk to and be inspired by,” adds Lai-Svirk. “But that’s what they see from us, and I think that is a responsibility that we’re starting to get used to. Definitely we influence our internal agency and perhaps, moving forward, it’s a bigger influence that we can have on the greater industry as well.”
Smith agrees, adding how essential it is for all professional women to have role models.
“I think having a female mentor that you can talk to and rely on and coach — women helping women — is really important,” says Smith. “Part of the motivation for me is to help the next generation of women who are so good at what they do and train, prep, and mentor them and give them the skillset they need. And maybe we will get to the point where it would never even occur to them that they couldn’t lead a business or own a company because they’re women.”
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Though the new owners each acknowledge that the industry is slowly accelerating to be more welcoming to women, they also express their hope to one day see a world where it’s no longer “newsworthy” or “inspirational” to have women in an ownership position, because it’s accepted as mainstream.
“Ideally it would get to the point where you’re just leaders of an organization or a company,” Smith notes. “Because you don’t say ‘male leaders’ — you call them leaders. So at what point in time are we leaders and not female leaders?”
For more information about Outpost379, visit outpost379.com.
This story has been updated to correct some misspellings of Sacha Lai-Svirk’s surname.
Environment Canada has now issued a freezing rain warning for Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes for late Wednesday afternoon and evening (November 8), with freezing rain also possible in Haliburton County and Hastings Highlands until Thursday morning.
An approaching low pressure system is expected to bring snow, ice pellets and freezing rain to the area. Precipitation may begin as snow or ice pellets this afternoon before transitioning to freezing rain late Wednesday afternoon or early in the evening.
Ice build-up of 2 to 5 mm on some surfaces is expected, especially over areas of higher terrain.
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Surfaces such as highways, roads, walkways and parking lots may become icy and slippery. Take extra care when walking or driving in affected areas.
For Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes, freezing rain is expected to transition to rain overnight.
For Haliburton County and Hastings Highlands, any freezing rain is expected to transition to rain showers Thursday morning.
The original version of this story has been updated with the latest forecast from Environment Canada.
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