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Cullen Flanders (Onterris) advised TRAC at last Thursday's public meeting that the pump & treat system did what it was designed to do. My response is bull#$%^ unless it was specifically designed to give comfort and solace to the public as well as to prevent either lynching or tar and feathering of those guilty of poisoning men, women and children for decades here in Elmira. Oh gosh that is exactly what it was designed for. No nuetral, unbiased experts ever advised Uniroyal Chemical and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment otherwise. 

Mr. Flanders also suggested to TRAC listeners that his words were his professional opinion only and that there is no certainty in hydrogeology. I beg to differ.  O.K. I can certainly see instances where 100% certainty would be very difficult as to what is the exact location, depth, weight and composition of all subsurface DNAPLS in Elmira, Ontario. On the other hand the state of the science of hydrogeology certainly was advanced enough in the 1990s to determine that there were DNAPLS both residual and free phase on the Uniroyal Chemical site then as well as probably some off their site.

Mr. Cullen Flanders also suggested that chlorobenzene is an easier target to remove than NDMA. Really? Then how come even the vaunted pump & treat system can't do it?  How come chlorobenzene with much higher concentrations albeit still only in the parts per billion range is still well above its' drinking water standard of 80 ppb (parts per billion) in both the Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifers? Does he perhaps believe any Lanxess  and their consultants who still deny DNAPLS exist or ever have off the Uniroyal Chemical site? Varnicolor also had DNAPLS ( & LNAPLS) on their site including chlorobenzene. Don't they count just because the Ministry and Uniroyal lied about being the sole  contributer to the destruction of the Elmira Aquifers for decades?

Sebastian of TRAC advised that the public must be clearly advised that achieving the Ontario Drinking Water Standards (ODWS) is not happening in the near future. I believe not ever until or unless the current folks in charge are all removed. Even then it is unlikely but slightly more possible. Tiffany Svensson (TRAC) suggested that TRAC and Lanxess were proposing a long term, new approach to remediation and agreed that achieving the ODWS is certainly not going to happen within the next four years. My response to that is this new approach needed to be done decades ago and if the amendments to improve biodegradation only work on dissolved chlorobenzene (versus chlorobenzene DNAPL) then it will be just as successful as rearranging the desk chairs on the Titanic was. If as I suspect the chlorobenzene DNAPL is now in the fractures of the Bedrock Aquifer then all bets are off.  

P.S. No sign of the MECP at last Thursday's TRAC meeting. Were they hiding quietly on Zoom? No idea and no loss wherever they were.

I’ve been learning about Vision Transformers, and it’s been a ride. It’s probably the densest architecture I’ve studied so far, and it seems loaded with components that border on the miraculous.

• There’s the CLS token. We stick it in front of the patch embeddings, and somehow it comes to represent the image for classification. Very convenient.
• Then there are queries, keys and values. Every token produces all three, and together they determine which other tokens to pay attention to and what information to retrieve from them.
• And before any of that, we add positional embeddings to the patch embeddings, and now the model can account for where patches came from in the original image. Great!

The explanations always started with what these components represented. CLS represented the image. Queries looked for relevant information, keys identified what was available, and values carried the information itself. Positional embeddings represented where each patch came from.

I understood the roles each component was supposed to play. But where did all this meaning come from?

• What made the CLS token a representation of the image in the first place?
• What made one projection a query and another a key, when they were constructed in almost exactly the same way
• Where was “position” actually encoded in a positional embedding?

The answer seemed to be: training. Backpropagation.

Okay. Backpropagation is amazing, but it isn’t magic. It still didn’t make sense to me why these parameters would represent the things they said they would.

Then something embarrassingly simple clicked: I had the explanatory direction backwards.

• A CLS token isn’t first an image representation that we then decide to use for classification. We decide to use its final state for classification, and that creates pressure for it to become useful for classification.
• A query isn’t first imbued with some property of “query-ness” and then placed into the attention equation. We put the output of one learned projection in the query position of that equation, and training specializes that projection for the role we’ve given it.
• And a learned positional embedding doesn’t begin with “position” encoded somewhere inside its random numbers. We consistently use the parameter at a particular position, and training shapes its values according to what is useful when it is used there.

The names describe the jobs we’ve given these parameters, not something inherent in their initial values.

The name makes this question surprisingly easy to overlook. It’s called the classification token. Diagrams label it [CLS]. In a Vision Transformer used for image classification, its final CLS state is fed to the classifier and explanations tell us that it ‘represents the image’. After seeing enough diagrams, I started to feel as though being an image-level representation is somehow a property of the token itself.

But CLS doesn’t start that way. In the beginning of time, it is initialised randomly. There’s nothing inherently image-like about it. how does this arbitrary vector end up representing the image?

The answer is obvious once stated, but it changed how I think about these architectures: We use its final state for classification, so training has reason to make that state informative about the image.

I had been reasoning in the direction of the forward pass: CLS gathers information from the image, becomes an image representation, and then we use that representation for classification.

But I found it more useful to reason backward from the loss. At the end of a Vision Transformer used for classification, we do roughly this:

[CLS] representation → classifier → prediction → loss

The classifier only gets the final CLS representation. That means if the CLS representation is useless for say, distinguishing a dog from a cat, the network has a problem. Then the familiar sequence follows: A poor prediction produces a high loss; backpropagation follows; parameters involved get changed. Over many training examples, this puts pressure on the network to make the final CLS representation useful for the classification task.

And “useful” doesn’t have to be a rich, general-purpose representation of ‘the image.’ It doesn’t necessarily mean that CLS develops a neat, human-readable summary of the image — two ears, four legs, big eyes, and so on. It simply encodes features that help the classifier distinguish the classes it is being trained on. As classification improves, we describe CLS as an “image representation,” but more precisely, it is a representation shaped around whatever information about the image is useful for classification.

So it isn’t that:

CLS represents the image → therefore we classify using CLS

It is closer to:

We classify using CLS → training makes CLS useful for classification

But making classification depend on CLS isn’t enough. Information about the image also needs a way to reach it. By letting CLS participate in self-attention alongside the patch tokens, the architecture gives it a pathway to gather and consolidate information from them.

The architecture has not told CLS what an image is. Instead, it has done two simpler things: made successful classification depend on the final state of CLS, and given CLS access to information that could help it succeed. Training does the rest: the loss provides the pressure; backpropagation communicates that pressure through the network; the parameters controlling how CLS interacts with the patches are gradually adjusted. The architecture assigns the role. Training learns the content.

Once I noticed this, I realized I had been making essentially the same mistake with learned positional embeddings. When I first came across them, I kept wondering where the position was actually encoded. What about the embedding for position 1 made it mean ‘position 1’?

Then came the explanation that they were initialised randomly, just like any other learned parameter. At initialisation, those numbers contain nothing inherently position-related. So what eventually makes one of those arbitrary vectors the embedding for position 1?

Nothing in the vector itself initially says ‘position 1.’ It becomes the position-1 embedding because we consistently add that same learned vector to the token occupying position 1. That repeated association gives the parameter its role. Training then shapes its values according to what is useful for a parameter that is always used there. The parameter doesn’t eventually come to mean ‘position 1’. Rather, its learned effects become useful given that it is always injected at position 1.

The architecture created the association; training shaped the values around it:

• Architecture: This is the parameter that will always be used at position 1.
• Training: Given that role, what values would actually be useful?

The equations for queries, keys and values look remarkably similar:

We take the same token representations X and pass them through three learned linear projections (W_Q, W_K, and W_V). When I first encountered this, I kept wondering: what actually makes one of these a query and another a key? How does W_Q know that it is supposed to learn “queries”, while W_K learns “keys”?

Looking only at these projection equations didn’t answer the question. They’re just different learnable matrices, initialized independently and trained through gradient descent.

The difference only becomes visible when we look at what happens to their outputs next. You can’t tell why Q is a query by looking at the equation above; you have to follow Q in the attention computation:

Although Q, K, and V are produced in essentially the same way, their outputs occupy different places in the attention computation. Q and K jointly determine the attention scores, but occupy different sides of the relationship: a token’s query is compared against the keys of the tokens it might attend to. V has a more obviously different role: once the attention weights have been calculated, those weights are used to combine the value vectors.

That’s what makes Q the query here: not anything inherent in the numbers produced by W_Q, but the fact that we consistently use its output in the query position of this computation.

As a result, changing each projection can have different consequences:

- If changing W_Q would improve which other tokens a token attends to, training can adjust W_Q.

- If changing W_K would improve which tokens receive attention from other tokens, training can adjust W_K.

- If changing W_V would improve the information that gets passed along under those attention weights, training can adjust W_V.

The loss reflects those different consequences; backpropagation computes the corresponding gradients; the optimizer adjusts the parameters. Over training, the three matrices specialize.

I had been thinking:

This is a query → therefore we use it as a query

But the more useful explanatory direction is:

We use this projection as the query → training makes it useful in that role

The same applies to keys and values.

I think some of my confusion came from the names being too good: Classification token, Positional embedding, Query, Key, and Value. In the simpler models I’d studied, I hadn’t encountered names that seemed to carry quite so much meaning.

These names are useful shorthand, but they can make it sound as though the concept described by the name is somehow an inherent property of the numbers:

• A CLS vector sounds like a vector that intrinsically contains classification-related information.
• A positional embedding sounds like a vector that intrinsically contains a position.
• A query sounds like something that intrinsically asks a question.

The names describe the roles we have arranged for these components to play, not some intrinsic meaning carried by the numbers themselves. The distinction feels obvious once stated. Unfortunately, it wasn’t obvious to me while learning the architecture.

I also realized that part of my difficulty came from how I respond when I don’t understand something. My instinct is to stop there and keep digging until the confusion is resolved. If I’ve just been introduced to a positional embedding and I don’t understand where the ‘position’ comes from, moving on feels like building on top of something I don’t understand.

But sometimes I had been trying to answer questions before I’d even seen the part of the architecture that made them answerable. You can’t fully understand why Q is a query from Q=XW_Q alone; you have to follow Q into the attention computation. Sometimes understanding an earlier component requires seeing more of the computation and how it connects to the loss, not staring harder at the component itself.

So when I come across a new learned component in an architecture, my first question is no longer just, ‘What does this represent?’ A better first question is: ‘What is this used for?’. Of course, that is now followed by:

• Where does it enter the computation?
• What can influence it?
• What can it influence?
• Where does its output eventually go?
• Which loss depends on that output?
• What information would make it useful for minimizing that loss?
• Does the architecture provide a pathway for that information to reach it?

So instead of accepting that ‘CLS represents the image’ as the explanation, I now ask “What about this architecture and objective allows and encourages a useful image representation to emerge at CLS?”

None of this is a new result about Transformers. It’s closer to a correction in how I had been thinking about them. I had been looking for meaning inside the components themselves, when I should also have been looking at the larger system around them: where the architecture puts them, what information can reach them, what they can affect, and what the objective rewards.

If you’ve ever looked at a Transformer diagram and had the uncomfortable feeling that terms like CLS token or positional embedding explained what something was doing without quite explaining why those particular numbers should ever come to mean that, this might be the missing distinction:

• The name describes the role we gave it.
• The architecture determines how it can participate.
• The objective gives it something to become useful for.
• Training determines what it actually learns.

Where Does “Meaning” Come From in a Transformer? was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

O.K. so here goes. She's nothing but a PR hack. She's a snake oil saleswoman and a con woman rolled into one. There I feel better. If I am going to congratulate her based on two things that I think I heard her say Thursday night then I needed to keep it in context with my very negative impressions of her over the last couple of years. 

Firstly recently I've been following TRAC closely via the on-line video/audio on Woolwich Township's website. Hence if I'm unsure what someone said the first time through I can back it up and listen again to be more certain. I'll have to wait until it's out on the Township's website for that. Before I get into what I believe she said I want to pass this along however. Thursday night I sit down and she immediately approaches me smiling with her hand out to shake mine. My immediate response to this wild, aggressive, extremely hostile and wholly inappropriate assault (nah it was none of that) was to say no thanks. She walked away. Damn if she wasn't back five minutes later with her hand out to shake mine again. She was still smiling which I interpreted as a tiger about to pounce and I said " What part of no did you fail to understand the first time?". Well that hardly seemed to faze her although she utterly failed to argue with me or reply rudely which I expected. She started to turn away and retrace her steps at which point I capitulated and said "Well I do at least appreciate your efforts." That was it. Fact is I no longer would shake hands with any MECP, GHD or Lanxess personnel not just her. Too many decades and too many lies, deceptions and manipulations.

The first serious thing I believe she said was that the contamination (chlorobenzene) at observation well CH-44 migrated from Uniroyal Chemical westwards onto the Nutrite property. Hallelujah ! She didn't say the key word DNAPL but as the bulk of dissolved chlorobenzene flowed south to south-west from the Uniroyal site her admission was significant. If it was. Again I will be listening to the video/audio when it's posted onto Woolwich's website.

The second item was when she was talking about DNAPLS and how difficult they were to find and see them. This was during Cullen Flanders (Onterris) talk and comments about secondary sources which he described as either "fingers" or "pipes". Hadley I believe stated that she thought that the concentrations (chlorobenzene) on site were high enough for DNAPL to be present. Hallelujah again!  These are the factual admissions necessary BEFORE  there is even the slightest hope of ever fully cleaning the Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards. Again I will be checking the video/audio when it comes out for confirmation.

Lastly I have in the past suggested that TRAC are beyond hopeless. I have suggested that they are simply giving credibility to a hopeless cleanup process (pump & treat) etc. I have also vacillated and suggested that they are simply overmatched and outgunned by the experts and consultants hired by Uniroyal/Lanxess. That said they desperately need better informed and stronger members who will not defer to GHD/Lanxess when push comes to shove. A lack of historical knowledge is part of the problem despite the token presence of one very long time, former (non Canadian) community member. Sebastian asked Cullen Flanders whether or not NDMA which is dissolved in the Municipal Upper and Lower Aquifers was also in the Bedrock Aquifer or not. Mr. Flanders did not know so Sebastian asked the whole group if anybody knew. Stone silence. I waited. The silence grew with no responses until I finally, clearly spoke up from the gallery, in direct contravention of TRAC rules prohibiting public questions or responses. My response was of course NDMA is in the Bedrock Aquifer and has been  known and confirmed as such for decades. Good for Sebastian asking the question but quite stunning the lack of depth of important knowledge by all the TRAC members.  

      A FORM OF BRAINWASHING?

I went to TRAC last evening in person for the first time in possibly a year or two. I had been watching these meetings for a while on Zoom until I could no longer stand that and thus have been simply playing the video of the meeting several days afterwards that is posted on the Woolwich Township website. Wow I have to give it to that pack of  prats they do hold a credible meeting. Last night they had yet another impressive individual who allegedly is an expert at either remediation in general or more likely biodegradation in particular. His name is Cullen Flanders, he speaks well and he is personable. Unfortunately he is also full of poo poo del toro. I see now how intelligent people like Sebastian and others can be taken in by these professional con artists.

His focus was chlorobenzene because apparently NDMA does not degrade via soil bacteria and microbes as readily as chlorobenzene. He stated similar to technical reports I have read that chlorobenzene is readily biodegradable both in shallow aerobic environments as well as in deeper anaerobic (low oxygen) environments.  So here is where the rubber meets the road. Why thirty-seven years after the start of the Elmira Water Crisis and about 57 years after outright dumping ended at Uniroyal Chemical do we still have chlorobenzene throughout the Elmira Aquifers well above drinking water standards? Clearly the buggars are holding information back. Maybe ongoing leakage from the still grossly contaminated former Uniroyal site continues. Maybe chlorobenzene DNAPLS either as free phase or residual continue to exist both on the Uniroyal site as well as beneath the town of Elmira itself, very slowly dissolving into the groundwater. Perhaps tailing and rebound are greater problems than we've been led to believe. Rebound simply means that adsorbed chlorobenzene held in low permeability zones (aquitards) is back diffusing from the aquitards into the adjoining aquifers. 

Regardless despite wildly optimistic claims of large percentages and large mass removal weights in the Elmira Aquifers the "cleanup" is stuck. Clearly removed NDMA and chlorobenzene mass is being replaced with new DISSOLVED  NDMA and Chlorobenzene mass from the sources listed above. The entire "cleanup" has been based upon off-site pumping & treating of groundwater with dissolved contaminants in it of which NDMA and chlorobenzene are but two. Source Removal has always been necessary and we the public have told those deaf, blind and stupid like foxes corporate polluters that for decades. Source removal both on and off the former Uniroyal site. That apparently costs a whole lot more money than professionals, con artists or not, who may or may not be fully informed themselves of important details regarding the Uniroyal site. 

Thank you Jenn Horndyl, Nathan Cadeau and Sandy Shantz for the now admitted Censorship of my informed citizen technical documents sent to TRAC members. I have been sending many of my Elmira Advocate Blog Posts to them since last December and only last night have a select few from July, August and September 2026 been formally passed on to TRAC members as citizen correspondence relative to TRAC's mandate and duties. I and other citizens have been censored, minimized and prevented from fully participating since September 2015 when Sandy and Mark Bauman removed CPAC in favour of the new RAC/TAG later replaced by TRAC.   

♦

Hello again. This summer, I was a writer working toward finishing a new manuscript (essays and poems) and revising my next novel; and now I am a full-time grad student, studying Spiritual Care and Psychotherapy.

It is weird and not-weird, I feel old and not-too-old, at times more socially inclined than I’d expected, at times a little too tired to rise to the occasion of small-talk with desk-mates (I try!). A big goal is to read in a way that allows me to absorb and retain what I’m reading, and that’s very time-consuming; I fear falling behind. But then, I need to practice balance and managing my own expectations; can I learn how to prioritize? For example, I spent about five hours this week on a brief reflection that is worth 5% and was guaranteed to receive an A+; the exercise felt valuable for me personally, but probably not 5 hours worth of value, if you see what I mean.

Proportionality. I have been prioritizing getting to the gym every morning before school. So far, still able to see friends, family. Volunteering. Where will I cut back in order to fit this intensive workload into my hours? I won’t be writing much, creatively, I mean. Journaling, yes, starting a novel, no, probably not. My evenings might be devoted to readings rather than doing a puzzle or watching a show (or going for a walk? but I want to go for walks!). I am still figuring this out.

I feel energized by the material. Open to new experiences. A little bit overwhelmed; mostly calm, prepared, attuned, attentive. I can walk to campus; I pack good food to fuel me through several night classes; I’ve made a few friends (or excellent acquaintances, perhaps more accurately). I sense the importance of building a group of professional peers in this context, as necessary and meaningful for this particular work.

On Monday, I’m going to draw “what God looks like to me”, as a reflective in-class exercise for a course on the “Spiritual Care” side of the roster. On the “Psychotherapy” side, I spent all day reading textbooks about Professional Ethics and the “Ethical Lives of Clients,” with great interest and engagement—I didn’t drift off to sleep even once! Side note: I am aiming for 7+ hours of a sleep a night, and (almost) managing that.

Sitting in the classroom, I feel a strong sense that I’m where I want to be; and wherever it leads, well, that’s a question for a future version of self, the one who’s read all these chapters and written a bunch of papers, and talked to peers, and played with balancing life and study and practice and care. Stay tuned.

xo, Carrie

The Greater Kitchener Waterloo Chamber of Commerce is excited to announce the Third Annual Small Business Awards presented by BDC – a new event in Waterloo Region dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the outstanding achievements of small businesses in our community. Scheduled to take place October 27th to wrap up BDC Small Business Month, this prestigious event aims to honor the entrepreneurs and small business owners who drive innovation and contribute significantly to our local economy.

The Small Business Awards will highlight exceptional businesses across 8 award categories. The event will feature a formal awards ceremony and networking opportunities.

Just like last year, the public is invited to cast their votes for the Exceptional Small Business of the Year Award until Sunday, October 4th at 11:59 PM. The winner of the “Exceptional Small Business of the Year Award” is determined entirely by public voting, which can be done daily during the voting period. The business with the most votes will be announced as the winner.

Small businesses are the backbone of our community. The Small Business Awards is an opportunity to shine a spotlight on these hardworking individuals and organizations that make a positive difference every day. We are thrilled to celebrate their achievements and contributions.

Nominees have just been announced across the 8 award categories. Congratulations to the final nominees

Event Impact Award (Sponsored By: Explore Waterloo Region)

• 4M Commercial Group/LUXE Realty
• Altitude Advisors
• Food4Kids Waterloo Region
• Gluten Free Fest
• Handbags for Hospice/Hospice of Waterloo Region
• Vestika’s Oddities & Wellness

Service Excellence Award

• Aion Appraisals & Consulting
• ALL Corporate Printing and Branding
• Ambassador Building Maintenance
• CulturedHR
• FoodZen
• Girls E Mentorship
• Ried Renos
• SURMESUR
• The Crack Specialists
• Vestikas Oddities & Wellness
• Worm Wrangler

Skilled Trades Award

• Cross Heating & Air Conditioning
• Ried Renos

Professional of the Year Award (Sponsored By: Conestoga College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning)

• Allister Scorgie (Explore WR)
• Chad McIntosh (Great Lakes Helicopter)
• Cheryl McKee (Principal of St. Jude’s)
• Christina Rauchfleisz Shantz (Legacy Builders)
• Christy Bertrand (BIA)
• Fogo Oriowo (A4C)
• Luca Lombardi (Kitchener Rangers)
• Peter Flannery (Clay & Glass)
• Shriaa Sheth (Accelerator Centre)

Family Business of the Year Award

• Evans Collective
• Fo’Cheezy
• Polocorp
• Shuh Orchards

Entrepreneur of the Year Award (Sponsored By: Junior Achievement Waterloo Region)

• Accessibrand
• Ad Ops House
• Amanda Amaral (Maya Moon Books)
• At Home Co.
• AURA-LA
• B Diversity Group
• Big Wish Marketing
• Blue Skies Bookkeeping
• Dr. Narine Dat Sookram, DSW, RSW
• Huckleberry Way
• I Sky Consulting
• Midtown Yoga
• Noteworthy Music Studio
• Ravenwood Tabletop
• Trina (Living Local)
• Vestikas Oddities & Wellness
• Worm Wrangler

Employer of the Year Award (Sponsored By: Reis Informatica Inc.)

• Centre For Mutual Well-Being for Racialized communities
• Concordia Club
• Lyndon Fish Hatcheries
• Pathfinder Staffing

Exceptional Small Business of the Year Award

• AIM Robotics
• ALL Corporate Printing and Branding
• Breakthrough Counselling
• CulturedHR
• F45 Training
• Fo’Cheezy Food Trucks
• Food4Kids Waterloo Region
• Great Lakes Helicopter
• Ried Renos
• Vanessas Cuisine
• Vestikas Oddities & Wellness
• Wesley Courtois (Renovation Rescue with Wes)
• Worm Wrangler

Winners will be announced live at the event on Tuesday October 27, 2026. Winners are never notified ahead of time.

For further information or to purchase tickets for this event please visit www.beagala.ca

To learn more about sponsorship opportunities please email Heather Hutchings, hhutchings@greaterkwchamber.com

The post BDC Small Business Awards 2026 Nominees appeared first on Greater KW Chamber of Commerce.

♦

The idea of a hidden gem is something of a convenient myth and one possessed of a certain charm and quaintness: but in this case, it’s true.

Roughly a 90-minute drive from Moncton, Alma Snackbar & Grocery, in Rogersville, New Brunswick, is a small restaurant and store that’s out of the way but will prove to be a remarkable find if you make your way to it. I’m guessing that thousands of diners already have.

Opened by Rob and Nicole McKim in 2023, the building is both a home and the restaurant. Rob did culinary training at George Brown before heading to a cooking school – Alma – headquartered Colorno, Parma. The McKims named the restaurant as an homage to the school and have been inspired, in part, by some Italian family heritage.

“I knew what I wanted to do ever since I could pretty much walk. I always enjoyed drama and art, but I felt that the culinary art form was the best way to express myself,” says McKim, 39 and Oshawa-born.

So, his passion become his profession.

He has worked at notable Toronto restaurants and with some equally notable chefs: Susur Lee, Mark McEwan at Bymark, Lorenzo Loseto. “I apprenticed at under Loseto at George. I owe a lot of my attention to detail and seasonality to him.”

He gained a love and understanding of Neapolitan street food in his work with Rocco Agostino. “I really got thrown into the nuances of Neapolitan pizza around 2013 have been hooked since then.”

However, a slower pace called, he says. “We were fed up living in downtown Toronto, and we were looking at homes in New Brunswick, where we have family ties,” says McKim, who describes himself as having spent half his life in the industry.

“We came across the building (in 1938 it was the Rogersville post office) for sale and decided we could kill two birds with one stone opening up a restaurant and a home.”

They packed up their lives and a three-month-old and moved 1,300 kms across the country. “We didn’t necessarily think that this is where we would end up in terms of in the Maritimes, but it was probably the best move that we’ve ever made.”

After some time renovating, Alma Snackbar & Grocery opened in November 2023. They serve woodfired pizza and sandwiches, and they serve them very well indeed, as I can attest to.

“I chose to specialize in Italian food and wanted to showcase the best of the food that I grew up eating and fell in love with. The village of Rogersville has been hugely supportive and welcoming, but there are so many people that we get to meet from every corner of the Maritimes, and that has been amazing,” he says.

His food is made-from-scratch: breads, pasta, desserts. On a small menu, there’s a selection of meats and cheeses, some marinated olives and home-made ricotta. I’m fine with the fun/kitschy pizza and sandwich names (because they’re so damned good): “Italian Stallion” with Mozzarella and dry-cured pepperoni; “Super Mario” with a medley of woodfired mushrooms, confit garlic and whipped ricotta; and, handhelds on woodfired bread like “Good Fella” with pork-veal-beef meatballs and “Dolce Vita” packed with roasted vegetables and whipped ricotta.

Striving to open a venue that is “super hospitable and welcoming,” the format at Alma is twofold: it’s a grab-and-go model during the daytime – when it’s gone, it’s gone. Saturday evening assumes more of a fine-dining approach, called “Alma After Dark,” according to McKim. “We change the menu every two weeks, and it’s influenced by the seasons.”

The restaurant is heavily supported by local farms like La Coopérative de la Ferme Terre Partagée in Rogersville and Green Thumb Farm in Acadieville, according the McKim. “We’re smack dab in the middle of both farms, and we get to use the best produce. You can literally see and taste the difference in freshness.”

Alma is located within a fairly small population base. The catchment area draws a wide range of customers who venture there as a dining destination. Citing the fact that many people have the preconceived notion that “pizza is pizza,” McKim was eager to change that perception. “I wanted to show what pizza should be or can be. I applied the training that I’ve received and showcase and share the love of food that both Nicole and I have. We wanted to bring that to people here.”

He describes the space as simple and casual and serves food that isn’t overly expensive executed so that that you can eat “incredibly well” in season and with local ingredients. “This is what the farm-to-table approach means,” he puts it.

Ask him if the model has worked so far, and he says the results have exceeded their expectations and the elevated hopes they had. Seating is for about 30, with additional space on outdoor picnic tables – which, incidentally, were built for the restaurant by the local school. “We donated the lumber to the tech classes. The grades 7s and 8s built four tables and the 11s and 12s four.”

He has a few part-time students helping him in the kitchen and front-of-house, but for the most part, McKim is one-man show, with Nicole helping out when she can. What they’ve achieved is remarkable – and delicious.

Like any restaurant in any location, operations are busy and demanding. McKim constantly adjusts recipes and searches for the quality local ingredients he needs. During a hectic service, he still does his best to check in with his customers. That connection is perhaps another aspect of what qualifies as a hidden gem: pure east-coast hospitality.

“I always try to take the extra second to talk to the guests and get feedback from people.”

Check out my latest post Alma Snackbar & Grocery Rogersville NB from AndrewCoppolino.com.

It took Sue nearly 50 years to find a place she could call home.

♦

As a child, Sue was often put in the middle between her parents, who had an abusive and abrasive relationship.

“My parents’ marriage was horrible,” said Sue. “My mom would throw things at my father.”

Even after the divorce, her parents would put Sue in the middle of their arguments, and make her feel she had to choose one over the other.

“It led to a lot of anger for me,” said Sue. “I was always angry at everyone and everything.” Sue drank a lot in high school and would skip more classes than she attended. Her father was strict, so Sue chose to stay with her mother, who was a lot more permissive.

“My mom gave me no rules,” said Sue. “I lost my mind a bit, and I lost my way. A lot.”

Unfortunately, Sue didn’t get along with her mom, getting kicked out of her home when she was only 17 years old.

During her teen years, Sue struggled with depression, trying to kill herself several times. It was after she survived her third attempt that she finally decided to get help.

“My psychiatrist told me I had this wall that I put up, not letting anyone in. To this day, I still have a hard time trusting people.”

While still in her teens and homeless, Sue met her husband. They dated for a short time before moving in together, and eventually got married.

“It wasn’t a good marriage,” said Sue. “But after a few years, I got pregnant with my daughter, Sharon. She changed things for me. I had this tiny little person who depended on me.”

Sue continued to work on her marriage, trying to keep things together. But after she suffered a miscarriage, a fight with her husband turned physical. That’s when she decided she would be better off on her own.

As a single mother, Sue wasn’t always able to find work, but tried her best to provide. She worked at Subway until she was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease.

Even that didn’t slow her down much until she was also diagnosed with emphysema, making her unable to work. This meant that her only income came from her monthly disability payments.

Sue was getting by while living in subsidized housing, but it wasn’t until she found out about supportive housing – deeply affordable housing that comes with tailored, one-on-one support – that she was able to move beyond mere survival.

Today, Sue has found a community of her own at Eby Village, House of Friendship’s Supportive Housing community.

“It’s just knowing that I have that person, that I can go to when I’m just ready to pull my hair out. I can go and say, ‘I need something,’ and hear my support worker say, ‘Here’s what we can do.’

“It’s really improved my life,” said Sue. “I didn’t have anything like that before. I didn’t have the tools that would make me happier and healthier.”

Sue has become very involved in the community at Eby Village, having served for 14 years on the tenant council, helping organize events for other tenants.

She’s also become a support for others living in Eby Village, a person they turn to when they need advice. In her spare time, Sue enjoys writing, something that helps her express her creativity.

Sue regularly visits the onsite counsellor as she continues to work through the trauma of her childhood, feeling the strength that comes from having someone to talk to.

“It’s truly amazing. I feel like I finally have a place where I belong, where I can contribute something; where I am accepted for who I am.

“I’m safe. For the first time in my life, I have what feels like a safe, stable home.”

Thank you for your care and compassion, and commitment to helping people like Sue get the support they need to build a strong, healthy life for themselves. Your support makes a lasting difference for people in our community who are struggling with addiction, homelessness and mental health challenges.

The post Finding A Place To Call Home appeared first on House Of Friendship.

In her newly released TED Talk, Amy Cuddy, PhD, shares a powerful lesson from her research on bullying: We can stop it before it escalates.

Cuddy knows this firsthand. After her 2012 TED Talk about how body language shapes how we feel, she faced relentless attacks from colleagues, professors, and journal editors who claimed her research lacked scientific rigor and had been debunked. (It had not.)

The attacks took an overwhelming toll on Cuddy. She quit her job at Harvard. Twice, she tried to take her own life.

Now, after spending eight years researching bullying and writing a book titled Bullied, she wants us to recognize an important warning sign: the bully may test the waters before launching a full-blown attack.

As Cuddy explained, it might start with an inappropriate comment in a professional setting or an accusation that could damage someone’s reputation without evidence.

If we hear those things and stay silent or laugh, we’re giving the bully a green light to go further.

Instead, I hope we’ll derail them early. Speak up. Ask for evidence. Question the comment.

And ideally, not alone.

As Cuddy points out, research on changing social conventions suggests that when about 25% of people step in, they can flip a social norm completely.

Share this action on Instagram or LinkedIn.

This week’s Better Allies content is sponsored by:

Inclusion starts with the documents you share. Every inaccessible PDF leaves out a colleague or candidate using a screen reader. Grackle PDF helps you change that easily: drag, drop, done. Start your 14-day free trial, no cost, at app.gracklepdf.com.

Here’s a subtle stereotype to watch for in your workplace imagery, especially given that International Day of Sign Language is coming up on September 23.

If you’re using a photo or illustration of someone using sign language on your website, in a presentation, or in other marketing materials, think twice before choosing one where they’re signing the word help.

As I learned from my friend Meryl Evans, a speaker on communication access and practical accessibility, that image can send an unintended, infantilizing message: “Deaf people always need help.”

Let’s all ensure our stock photos and AI-generated imagery don’t reinforce this negative stereotype.

Recently, Harvard researcher Siri Chilazi wrote a post urging us not to use someone else’s bias as the reason to keep making the same hiring decisions.

She addressed a common concern she hears from organizations that genuinely want a more diverse workforce:

“I’d love to hire a female salesperson for the Middle East, but I’m worried she won’t be taken seriously because of the gender norms in that region.”

Chilazi points out that we may be overestimating how much any one factor matters. Yes, client fit can matter in sales. Similarly, a job candidate’s university might influence how someone perceives them. But these are just some of many factors shaping a decision.

To push back, Chilazi recommends asking for evidence. What data do we have on how clients respond to women salespeople? Are we seeing a pattern in actual customer behavior, or relying on stereotypes and anecdotes that may no longer apply?

Sometimes a joke about pronouns can land very differently than intended.

Last week, Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa posted on Threads:

“My pronouns are Mom, Texan, and soon to be: Governor.”

Whether intended as humor or not, the post can come across as dismissive of people who share their pronouns to signal how they identify and how they’d like to be addressed. She also mocked the support many of us show for the binary, transgender, and gender-fluid communities when we share our pronouns.

As allies, let’s avoid turning pronouns into a punchline.

Instead, let’s be sure to share our actual pronouns when we introduce ourselves, and include them in pronoun fields on forms and in our social media profiles.

Subscriber Paul Turczynski recently shared:

“My name looks daunting, but the Americanized version of it is easy (ter-zin-ski). I had a senior leader, who, even after hearing it pronounced multiple times, insisted on referring to me as Paul “T”. I found it disrespectful and demeaning.”

He added, “Please always ask someone how they pronounce their name if it looks hard for you. And then use it.”

Let’s also not make up nicknames for someone. Doing so prioritizes your comfort and convenience over the individual’s identity.

Thank you, Paul. 🙏

If you’ve taken a step towards being a better ally, please reply to this email and tell me about it. And mention if I can quote you by name or credit you anonymously in an upcoming newsletter.

That’s all for this week. I’m glad you’re on this journey with me,

Karen Catlin (she/her), Author of the Better Allies® book series

100% written by me. I use AI for researching a personal archive of my books and past newsletters, and for light editing.

Copyright © 2026 Karen Catlin. All rights reserved.

Together, we can make a difference with the Better Allies® approach.

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Derail the Bully, and Other Actions for Allies was originally published in Code Like A Girl on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’re pleased to share the recording of our recent webinar, Using a Hydraulic Mixing-Cell to Characterize Surface Water–Groundwater Interactions in Snow-Dominated Catchments. This session, presented by Benjamin Frot, PhD Candidate at Laval University, explores how integrated hydrologic modelling and innovative post-processing techniques can improve our understanding of groundwater contributions to streamflow, water age, and climate change impacts in snow-dominated watersheds.

Using HydroGeoSphere, the webinar demonstrates how a fully integrated surface water–groundwater model was developed for the Saint-Charles River watershed, the primary drinking water source for Quebec City. By applying the Hydraulic Mixing Cell (HMC) approach, the study quantifies groundwater contributions to streamflow, estimates water age, and evaluates how climate change may influence future water availability in snowmelt-driven catchments.

Key Highlights:

• Learn how integrated hydrologic modelling improves understanding of surface water–groundwater interactions.

• Explore the Hydraulic Mixing Cell (HMC) approach for quantifying groundwater contributions and estimating water age.

• Discover how integrated modelling supports drinking water source vulnerability assessments.

• See how climate change scenarios can be incorporated to evaluate future water availability in snow-dominated watersheds.

This session is especially valuable for hydrologists, watershed managers, researchers, and water resource professionals interested in integrated modelling, source water protection, and climate change impacts on water resources.

Watch the recording now to discover how HydroGeoSphere and the Hydraulic Mixing Cell approach provide new insights into groundwater dynamics and support more informed water resource management.

Watch The Recording

Capacity Canada’s MatchBoard program helps to connect business leaders with community by matching them to nonprofit boards across the country. Our MatchBoard team has put together a list of 30 things prospective board volunteers should ask before joining. Joining a nonprofit board can be deeply meaningful — but it can also be frustrating or overwhelming when expectations are unclear. Asking the right questions before you join helps protect both you and the organization, and sets the foundation for effective governance.

Asking these questions may help you understand the role you’d be expected to play on the board and what expertise or perspectives you might bring that are missing. Your lived experience can be an important perspective.

1. How many people are on the board currently? What is the ideal number of directors?

2. How long are board terms? Are they renewable? If renewable, how many terms may a director serve?

3. Does the board have a skills/abilities/competencies matrix? What specific skills or perspectives is the board seeking currently?

4. What are the officer positions (president, secretary, treasurer, etc.)?

Some boards meet monthly, others bi-monthly, others quarterly. Asking these questions will help you understand your time commitment and availability.

5. How many meetings are held each year?

6. Is there a set day and time for meetings?

7. Are meetings in person, virtual, or hybrid?

Not all boards have committees. Those that do often have a requirement that board members sit on one. This may affect your time commitment.

8. What committees does the board have?

9. Are directors required to be on board committees?

There are boards that are strictly governance, boards that are highly operational, and everything in between. You will want to understand what kind of organization you’re connecting with. Are they expecting you to be strategic thinkers, fold chairs after events, or something in between?

10. How would you describe the board’s governance model? Operational? Policy? Other?

11. How many hours a month (or year) are typically volunteered by directors?

12. Are there currently any significant campaigns or initiatives directly involving directors?

Learning about how the board operates together, how decisions are made, and the board’s current priorities will help you understand whether the organization is a good culture fit for you.

13. How would you describe the culture of the board? How do directors work together?

14. What are the current priorities of the board? Is there anything keeping you up at night?

15. How would you describe the board’s relationship with the CEO?

The most successful boards will generally have a set onboarding or orientation process so that all new board members understand exactly what’s expected of them. Additional professional development opportunities may be available as well.

16. What would the onboarding process be should I join the board?

17. Are there opportunities for board education and development?

18. Does the board assess its own performance?

All boards have at least some responsibility for fundraising. You’ll want to understand whether there is an expectation that you help to identify new donors or become a donor yourself. While many organizations expect 100% board participation in giving, this can take different forms depending on individual circumstances.

19. Is there a set amount that directors are expected to donate?

20. How do directors support fundraising generally?

21. Are directors expected to purchase tickets for fundraising events and attend?

Board members have a responsibility to oversee the use of funds to best deliver on an organization’s mission. Even a policy board needs to understand something of the day-to-day operations and financial management of the organization so they can do provide strong oversight.

22. What is the current operating budget? How is it funded? Is there a deficit?

23. How has the budget changed over the past three years?

24. How many staff? How many volunteers?

25. Do you anticipate any major operational changes in the next year or two?

26. Does the organization have Directors & Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance?

Most nonprofits will have a three- to five-year strategic plan that guides the organization. Strategic foresight is one of the board’s duties. You’ll want to know what the current strategic priorities are, and when the next plan might need to be developed.

27. When did the board last discuss the organization’s strategic direction?

28. Does the CEO have a strategic/operational/ business plan in place? When was it last reviewed or revised?

Holding an ED/CEO accountable is one of the board’s most important jobs. You’ll want to know whether a leadership shift is on the horizon. In addition, finding out whether the board has a succession plan for its officer roles will help you understand how much foresight the board has.

29. Do you anticipate any major leadership changes (board or staff) in the next year or two?

30. Has the board identified its next chair?

Joining a nonprofit board is a significant commitment. Board members carry legal responsibilities, influence strategic direction, and help steward an organization’s mission — often in complex and resource‑constrained environments.

Asking thoughtful questions before you join isn’t about being demanding. It’s about being intentional — for your own wellbeing and for the health of the organization. Strong boards are built when expectations are clear, support is available, and learning is ongoing. These questions are one way to begin that conversation.

Written By: 

Dianne Fehr, Executive in Residence, Capacity Canada
Email: dianne@capacitycanada.ca

♦Dianne is a values-driven leader who has worked in the social impact sector since 2000. Her knowledge and skills in board governance and development, and hands-on experience in strategic planning, risk management, project management, and organizational development, has been gained through executive director and board director roles.

Most recently, Dianne acted as executive director for a Canadian charity delivering their mission internationally. Prior to that, she was executive director for one of Canada’s largest microloan charities. Earlier roles in the social impact sector include fund development, marketing and communications; corporate sector roles were in the areas of marketing, public affairs and communications.

Based in Calgary, Dianne’s insights and experiences as executive director have helped her make a strong contribution to the various nonprofit boards on which she has volunteered, and to the social impact organizations with which she has worked.

The post 30 Things to Ask Before Joining a Board appeared first on Capacity Canada.

Am I a psychic?  Can I accurately forecast the behaviour of politicians any more than of monkeys? Do I have some deep seated religious convictions that God will set us straight upon the path of environmental light and harmony? No to all the above. 

Citizens have been telling both Uniroyal Chemical and successors along with the Ontario Ministry of Environment (M.O.E./MECP) for decades that Source Removal of known contaminants is the proper route to go. Source removal both on the Uniroyal site as well as off it throughout the Elmira Aquifers where  decades of monitoring have told us that there are nearby sources whether DNAPLS or otherwise. Regarding on the Uniroyal site we've been basically told to go pound salt that they will do as they please and indeed they have. Regarding offsite source removal I went to CPAC in 2008 as a Delegation and presented to them the results of using a form of Source Removal in Cambridge known as ISCO or In Situ Chemical Oxidation. It was used at the Northstar Aerospace plant on Bishop St. for the purpose of breaking down and destroying a DNAPL chemical known as Trichloroethylene (TCE). It worked but everyone at CPAC from Uniroyal/Chemtura, M.O.E., GHD, Woolwich Twn. and the CPAC Chair Pat McLean and her sidekick Susan Bryant showed exactly zero interest. No intelligent questions along with no dumb questions. No followup, no interest, no progress or even hints that they would look seriously at it..

Lo and behold some years later Conestoga Rovers (CRA) and Chemtura announced that they were going to do a pilot test of this particular Source Removal methodology known as ISCO.  They would do it near pumping well W3R (beside Midas Muffler on Industrial Dr.). CRA did such a stand up job that years afterwards the new TAG Chair (2015) Dr. Richard Jackson publicly harpooned and condemned CRA for their Mickey Mouse efforts. I believe his words while not including Mickey Mouse did include amateur efforts and either sham or something harsher.

Whether or not cleanup is possible so many decades after thirty plus years of big talk, puffery and pump & treat is debatable.  Dioxins, DDT , PCBS and God knows what else are deeply embedded and bound to sub surface soils, silts, clays and likely Bedrock. Some are in mixtures of DNAPLS and some are on their own. NDMA and chlorobenzene are also bound not just in soils but also in fractured Bedrock which is highly exposed to the Municipal Lower Aquifer and all its' contaminants in a number of locations. Pump & treat is virtually useless to remove these undissolved, deep, hydrophobic contaminants. 

  As difficult, but maybe not impossible as this is, the real problem is human beings and their love of money. Polluters do not feel any moral imperative to spend that money cleaning up their messes no matter what they tell the public. Their loyalty is to themselves and their shareholders. Everyone else  are nothing to them. Essentially polluting corporations are sociopaths and need to be treated as such. As are far too many politicians. Our local politicians for sixty years have been Uniroyal enablers and many still are. The only way to even consider the remote possibility of truly cleaning our Elmira Aquifers to drinking water standards for ALL contaminants is to remove ALL current parties, bodies and authorities involved in the pretend "cleanup". Remove Lanxess, GHD, MECP, Woolwich Twn. and the Region of Waterloo from any involvement with future cleanup plans and work. They have all enabled Uniroyal and their successors and fellow travellors forever and the results are failure.        

Thank you for your interest in the KWMP Dance Club, a vibrant dance series designed to foster community, fitness, and fun through beginner-to-advanced level dance instruction.

As part of Doors Open Waterloo Region 2026, KWMP is opening the doors to its dance studio and welcoming new dancers into our space with a free Dance Club session on Saturday, September 19.

The Dance Club has been a KWMP program since 2025, created by dedicated members who wanted to share their love of dance with the broader community. For Doors Open, we’re excited to remove the barrier of cost and invite people of all experience levels to explore something new in an inclusive, welcoming environment.

Doors Open Waterloo Region returns as an in-person event on Saturday, September 19, 2026, from 10:00am to 4:00pm. The event is a day of discovery, inviting visitors to tour 27 local destinations, including noteworthy buildings, interesting places, and heritage sites. Admission to all Doors Open sites is free.

Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Dance Style: Musical Theatre Jazz
Instructors: Laura Hole & Charlie Brohman

• Beginner/Intermediate: 10:00–11:00am
• Intermediate/Advanced: 11:00am–12:30pm

KWMP Arts Centre
14 Shaftsbury Drive, Kitchener

Participants must be 16 years old and up.

Tailored to people who are new to dance or have basic training, this class is perfect for those who want to explore dance and/or hone their skills in a casual and low-pressure environment. Build confidence in movement with slower-paced instruction, a breakdown of technique, and an introduction to basic choreography — and have fun while you’re doing it!

Class Structure: 1 hour total
Approx. 0.5hr Warm Up/Technique, 0.5hr Choreography

For more experienced dancers who want to challenge themselves, continue to push their skills, and are comfortable picking up choreography. This class will be less focused on the basics and more about exploring musicality, style, and more complex moves and combinations. It will include faster-paced choreography, transitions, and a focus on performance quality. Great for audition training and taking your dance skills to the next level!

Class Structure: 1.5 hours total
Approx. 0.5hr Warm Up, 1hr Choreography

Free!

This special Dance Club session is being offered free of charge as part of KWMP’s participation in Doors Open Waterloo Region, helping make dance more accessible and giving community members an opportunity to experience our space and try something new.

Interested in taking part? Sign up for our free Dance Club session below.

Sign Up Now

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