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HomeMy WebLinkAboutClinton News Record, 2016-03-30, Page 7M Wednesday, March 30, 2016 • News Record 7 ulticultural support in Perth Huron Valerie Gillies Clinton News Record Geza Wordofa is the founder and CEO of the Mul- ticultural Association of Perth Huron based in Strat- ford. This is a fully volunteer organization that has estab- lished independence from its former partner Perth Huron United Way helps teach newcomers the basics of living in Canada. They offer support and help to those who come here as immigrants or refugees. Wordofa has been recog- nized as a long-time volun- teer for his work with the Multicultural Association. He has recently passed his own citizenship exam, which gives him first-hand knowl- edge of the process and of what supports are needed to become a citizen and to be successful in integrating into the Canadian culture. Clinton is just one of the communities that Wordofa commutes to in order to help. Recently he has been meeting with key people in Goderich and Seaforth to set up services there, as well. Currently he meets with people in the Tim Hortons in each community he covers, but is looking for a location to set up a local office. In Clinton he works closely with the churches. One of the initiatives the Multicultural Association is starting is distributing dona- tion jars throughout the communities to allow peo- ple to easily make contribu- tions where they do their regular business. The money collected will go directly towards expenses incurred by the refugees while trying to get settled. This will include such costs as trans- portation to access agencies, education and outreach pro- grams in other communities. Wordofa explains that there are some agencies that cover some of the actual program- ming costs, but none cover the travel expenses to get to the programs. The Multicultural Associa- tion is active in setting up teaching sessions for new- comers. These can range in topics such as recycling and waste management, training for the citizenship exam, how to access and use trans- portation and how to find resources and supports or Central Huron Council Update Valerie Gillies Clinton News Record The Central Huron Coun- cil met for a regular meeting on March 21. Mayor Ginn led a discus- sion on the future closure of the Mid -Huron Landfill Site. A decision will have to be made soon on how to handle the recycling and garbage in the future. Goderich sug- gests that there are not enough materials to justify creating a new transfer sta- tion. Three options were dis- cussed. The first option is to build a new transfer station. The second option is to keep Mid -Huron open for recy- cling, but would require mandatory curb -side pickup for refuse. The third option would be to contact other communities to ask if they have room to take more refuse as recycling has become so successful that many landfills do not have enough refuse to pay for landfill operation. A big con- sideration is the liability. At this point, there are six members of the current landfill site. If some of these parties leave, they are no longer liable for the remain- der of the 50 -year term. After hearing these options, Councillor Lobb asked if Council could find out what services Mitchell provides as they have had to address their landfill issues, as well. It was agreed that it was worthwhile to investigate how Mitchell operates their waste services. Steve Burns of BM Ross presented his firms findings regarding Lakeshore Sewer Servicing. They have evalu- ated the options of sewage flows from Central Huron to Bayfield. Central Huron has entered into an agreement with Bluewater. As part of the environmental assess- ment the flows from Central Huron need to be estab- lished to assess the portion of the project Central Huron will be responsible for. The main question is what part of Central Huron is to be ser- viced by this plan. The origi- nal discussions began in 1999 with the former Town- ship of Goderich. Between 2005-2007 the Central Huron master plan began planning for servicing, establishing three areas for servicing, but this had changed when the official plan was updated. The challenge is to serve the existing needs while plan- ning for future development. The choices that were explained were to either use Bayfield's enlarged system or to bypass that enlarged por- tion for a similar cost to get more service capacity. Burns advised that bypassing is feasible, but Council would have to take into considera- tion projected future devel- opment. The capacity could be staged, but that would increase cost. Coucillor Westerhout asked regarding the feasibility of a packaging plant. Burns suggested that it may be less costly to tie in with the Bluewater system. Mayor Ginn commented that it will take a while to digest the report and study the numbers. Asked what else Central Huron needs to look into to make a decision, Burns suggested that they should look at purchasing up to 20 years of capacity, but not a shorter term than 10 years of capacity. CONTINUED > PAGE 13 anything else that newcom- ers struggle to understand. A lot of the teaching is done on weekends. The organization plans to do fundraising to help with costs. One plan is to teach salsa dancing to people of any age in the communities that they serve. The pay- ments for the lessons would be revenue for the organiza- tion. Currently the main fun- draising events are dinners featuring international cuisine. The next fundraising event in Clinton will be an Interna- tional Women's Day dinner on Apri114 at the Libro Com- munity Centre. The doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with the din- ner being served at 6 p.m. The menu will feature Middle Eastern cuisine with recipes from Syria, Turkey and Greece. The guest speaker will be from Uganda. Sara is excited to be in Canada after having lived seven years in a refugee camp. She will be relating her life story as an example of how to become a strong woman. The $20 admission will go towards supporting newcomers to the region and, with this event, specifically to Clinton. Tickets will be available at Rural Busi- ness Network, Charlie's Vari- ety and Clinton Variety. You can learn more about the Multicultural Association Perth Huron on their Face - book page. et FAIV5HAWE OPEN HOUSE En3v Saturday, April 2 10am-11 am Personal Support Worker 11 am-12pm, Early Childhood Education Reach Centre 169 Beech Street, Clinton, ON For more information contact clinton@fanshawec.ca nwmo NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION SOCIETE DE GESTION DES DECHETS NUCLEAIRES NWMO Learn More Centre The Municipality of Central Huron is one of nine communities involved in a process of learning about Adaptive Phased Management (APM), Canada's plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is working collaboratively with the community to advance preliminary assessment studies. Learn about APM, meet NWMO staff, ask questions and offer your thoughts. Drop in to the NWMO community office and Learn More Centre in Clinton. Everyone is welcome. NWMO Learn More Centre (Central Huron) 38 Albert Street, Clinton ON 519.386.6711 Monday Tuesday Wednesday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.