EMILY HSUEH
QUEBEC March 10, 2021
A Pontiac local will be representing the region on a provincial scale in an upcoming discussion about belonging to a community.
Greg Graham will be speaking in an online event called The Sense of Belonging Forum, which is hosted by Youth 4 Youth Quebec and will take place on Zoom on March 11 at 6:30 p.m. Graham is one of . . .
the owners of Coronation Hall in Bristol, the president of the Pontiac Community Players and the manager of continuing education at Cégep Heritage College, among other community-oriented things.
“I was approached by Holly Campbell, and I know her through the Regional Association of West Quebecers cause I’m involved with them as well … They want me to talk in terms of my role with the Pontiac Community Players and just in the community,” he said. “It’s about our sense of belonging to a community and how we build that, how we maintain it and how we see it.”
“I contacted him to see if he’d be interested because I feel like he’d be a very good example of a leader in our community; he’s very community-minded and involved in so much and so I just felt like he’d be a great person to have on the panel and he really represents the Pontiac well,” Campbell, the Y4Y Outaouais representative said.
Campbell further explained that the event will include representatives from various regions in Quebec touching on the history of English speaking Quebecers, culture in communities and the importance of connecting a community. Each speaker will have a set amount of time to speak, which will be followed by a question period at the end of each topic. The event is expected to last around an hour and a half.
“I think that it’s going to be a very interesting conversation that is certainly going to involve a lot of different age groups, so a sort of intergenerational conversation, and a lot of the different regions in Quebec are going to be represented at the forum,” she said.
Graham spoke briefly about what he will be bringing to the conversation. He believes that to be a leader in the community, one must volunteer to be involved and take initiative to bring the change they want to see.
“In its normal, healthy aspect, it’s, ‘I’m going to take care of this just like it was my home. My home doesn’t end at the edge of my property. My home is this town, my home is this community and I’m going to take ownership and responsibility for it and if I don’t like something or I think something needs to be changed I’m going to work on that,” he said.
“You want to see a new musical festival here, start a new music festival and see where it goes … If you want to see it done, go out and do it, that’s the best solution. And there’s no reason you can’t, you’d be amazed.”
The forum is open to anyone interested, not only youth. More information on this event and the registration link can be found on the Y4Y website: y4yquebec.org/.
