Councillor McCann Meeting Report (March 5, 2024)

West Parry Sound District Museum Featuring 'Reconnecting with the Forgotten', Monthly Meeting & 'Curling in Parry Sound, Celebrating 125 Years'
On Thursday evening, February 22, 2024, I attended a special exhibit opening at the The West Parry Sound District Museum, ‘Reconnecting with the Forgotten’.  Dignitaries representing various municipalities were on hand as well as James King, representative for M.P.P. Graydon Smith.  A wide and diversified collection of unidentified photos from its archives are now on display.  The public is invited to drop by with hopes that people will be able to recognize unidentified individuals. In addition to the names and locations, Museum staff is hoping to collect stories behind the photos.  Our Board then followed this with its Monthly Meeting.  As I reported at our last regular meeting, The McMichael Canadian Art Collection Museum has created an exhibition of Indigenous photographs that will be displayed at The McMichael until November of this year.  The photographs were taken by John Macfie while working in the north for the MNR.  In consideration of The McMichael's agreement to loan the West Parry Sound District Museum a quarter of the exhibit for a period of four months, the Board followed up with discussion on funding for this exhibit.  In addition to this discussion we received the Manager’s Report, Treasurer’s Report and there was more discussion on building management.  Finally, don’t forget the public is invited and encouraged to visit the Museum and enjoy the history of curling in West Parry Sound District.  The exhibit, "Curling in Parry Sound: Celebrating 125 Years" is now open.


In Memory of an Icon on Wheels
I thought I would add this evening a note on behalf of the West Parry Sound Community Support Services.  Since 2011, no doubt you've seen our red wheelchair accessible van making its rounds through town and the area.  Certainly it was a peculiar looking vehicle which generally received second looks by pedestrians over these years.  People notice the bright red van which I always described as being so ugly it was cute!  People would then fix their eyes on the logos on the van while silently asking themselves, "What the heck....?"  I myself have put more than a few thousand miles or so on the vehicle!  It was fun to drive and our clients really liked the ease in which it was to get in and out.  It was officially known as an MV-1, or Mobility Vehicle-1.  The company that manufactured this vehicle was sold in 2016 and the purchaser shut down the production of the MV-1.  It was past due its expiry date, but served us very, very well.  I personally became very attached to it.  A mechanic purchased the van for his own use.  We are happy to report that we do have new vehicles on the road as we continue to serve the people of the West Parry Sound District.










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