The co-op of producers working to bring back the Shawville abattoir will now have an additional $100,000 it can use to pay its staff thanks to some last-minute funding secured by the MRC Pontiac.
A motion passed at the council of mayors meeting on Apr. 16 will allow the MRC to contribute $100,000 toward helping the Coopérative de solidarité AgriSaveur du Pontiac to pay for external help, including a general manager and other more specialized positions.
“It includes salaries and professional fees,” said Shanna Armstrong, the MRC’s economic development commissioner in charge of agriculture who is also on the co-op board.
“If we needed a consultant to come in and help with one element of the most streamlined process for cutting and wrapping, or very specific things like that, then that gives some flexibility on being able to hire someone in to help with some of the process.”
MRC Pontiac warden Jane Toller said after the meeting that $80,000 of the money was left over from last year’s FRR Stream 1 pool, while the other $20,000 is an in-kind contribution by the MRC.
“The fact that with our producers, three of them live in Municipality of Pontiac, that allows us to qualify as more than one region,” Toller explained.
The co-op confirmed in an email they had not yet hired a general manager. “No decision has been made yet,” read a statement emailed to THE EQUITY. “This hiring process takes time and we need to work with all the board to make final decisions.”
The statement confirmed the co-op is waiting on new equipment to arrive from Germany, which they expect to receive somewhere between late spring and early summer.
Part of the work the board is doing to prepare for reopening includes a trip to Germany to pick up new tips and tricks of the trade. An Apr. 16 press release from the co-op announced three members will attend the IFFA International Trade Fair in Frankfurt, which it describes as an “industry-leading event for meat processing and technological innovation.”
The release said the aim of the trip is to “gather innovative ideas to improve the efficiency, safety, and profitability of the abattoir operations”, and is a “concrete step that reflects the members’ determination to equip the facility with the sector’s best practices.”
The release said the co-op and will take its time to ensure it can do right by the farmers it will serve.
“Rather than rushing the process, it is committed to a stable reopening, focused on the needs of producers and built to last. This long-term effort is driven by a shared belief: that food autonomy and the economic vitality of the region matter.”
The co-op did not provide an estimated opening date for the abattoir.
Transformation kitchen needs more time
The second component of the AgriSaveur project – its food transformation facility – needs more time as well, according to Armstrong.
The MRC Pontiac’s lease for its AgriSaveur food transformation kitchen at 107 rue West in Shawville began Apr. 1, but Armstrong said the space is not quite ready to be rented out.
“We have access to it now, but it’s not ready to start renting because there is some setup that we need to do, some other equipment we want to put in place,” she said, adding that while they have nearly all the equipment they need, they need to rearrange the equipment’s location within the kitchen for a better user flow.
She said one of the biggest pieces that needs to fall into place is figuring out a booking system that will allow anyone wishing to rent the kitchen to book a time slot for a particular piece of equipment.
“We’re leaning towards having some sort of an online availability calendar, but it’s integrating the different pieces of that with payment and certain pieces of equipment. It’s not as straightforward as, ‘Oh, I want it for four hours.’ [ . . . ] So it’s looking at the different cost structure that goes in with the reservation system.”
Armstrong said the MRC is looking at ways to keep the facility available even if no staff is on-site, including a keypad at the door with a code for entry.
“Then we can have more hours readily available, because realistically a lot of businesses, startups and producers all are really busy during the day. And it’s not feasible that we have someone there 24 hours a day to open and close the door.”
Armstrong said they are aiming to have the kitchen open to the public sometime in June.
Correction: Apr. 24, 2025 This article previously reported the abattoir co-op received a total of $200,000 from MRC Pontiac and MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais. This was incorrect. In fact, the co-op received $100,000 solely from MRC Pontiac. The MRC des Collines-de-l’Outaouais was not involved.
