CHRIS LOWREY
QUYON July 25, 2018
The Pontiac Community Gym, an initiative spearheaded by the Quyon Family Centre, is on track to open this fall.
The facility will be geared towards social, as well as physical, well-being.
Since the facility will be a community gym instead of a private one, the organizers had to reach out to provincial authorities for funding.
The organizers include representatives from the Quyon Family Centre, the Comité 0-5 ans Pontiac, Centraide Outaouais, Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l’Outaouais (CISSSO) and the Université du Quebec en Outaouais (UQO).

The project is so unique that a UQO social work program will be studying the results of the new gym. The group will be looking at things like social isolation, mental health as well as physical health.
“There are other projects in Quebec like this one but none have been studied before,” said Quyon Family Centre spokesperson, Catherine Beaudet.
According to Beaudet, the aim is to make the gym into more of a social hub than just a building for working out.
“A teenager who goes to the gym and meets a senior, when they see each other on the street, they’re going to be gym buddies,” she said. “It’s going to be breaking down boundaries in the community.”
She said that while bodybuilders are welcome at the gym, the facility will be geared more towards a wide ranging crowd.
“We’re going to have activities for kids, for teenagers, for seniors, for everybody,” Beaudet said.
Instead of having several instructors teaching different classes, Beaudet said the gym plans on using instructional videos to cut down on costs. This way, the gym will be able to have a staff member on site at all times to greet and help clients.
Since the initiative is headed by the Quyon Family Centre, the gym will offer daycare for patrons across the street at the Family Centre.
While the gym is still looking for sponsors, they have received donations from MRC des Collines as well as the Caisse Desjardins in La Pêche. The United Way Canada is also on board.
Beaudet said the anticipation in the municipality is palpable.
“Evertime I go out to the depanneur, somebody will say, ‘Hey, when is the gym opening?’” she said. “People are anxious to have this gym.”