Editorial
Sarah Rennie
It’s been a long winter. But, as always, the coming of spring brings new beginnings and fresh life to the Valley. For the Chateauguay Valley community, the winter was made especially long by the absence of its weekly newspaper. That being said, these last seven months since The Gleaner closed are but a short interlude in an exceptional 156-year history. And now, it is with great pride and enthusiasm that we, the interim board of directors of the newly formed Chateauguay Valley Community Information Services, as well as the members of the “Future of The Gleaner Steering Committee,” welcome you back to this familiar but refreshed special “relaunch edition” of The Gleaner.
In November 2018, the former owners of The Gleaner reached out to the English-speaking community of the Chateauguay Valley to see if there was any interest in acquiring the title. This exceptional gesture on the part of the owner and board of directors of Gravité Média has allowed for The Gleaner to be brought back to the Valley. The title was officially transferred in May to the CVCIS, a non-profit organization formed to provide the quality information, news and features that are important to a Valley audience via a newspaper, website, community radio/television or other appropriate media.
The printing of this special edition of The Gleaner coincides with the launch of a new website, the-gleaner.com, and a fundraising campaign that is hopefully already circulating wildly on social media. The funds collected as part of this campaign, as well as from various government programs, grants, financing, sponsorships, advertising and subscriptions, will go toward bringing The Gleaner back as a print newspaper by as early as this coming September. Throughout the summer, the newspaper will continue to publish online news, features, events and activities, as well as birth announcements, obituaries and other notices sent in by our readers. In the meantime, we will build toward the first official edition of the new community-driven Gleaner to come off the press early in the fall.
Admittedly, this is a very ambitious goal but we have been riding high on the enthusiasm and positive reactions from the community to date. We have no reason to believe this will slow anytime soon. With that in mind, however, we will need your help. We will need your story ideas, your suggestions, your reactions. We will need your contributions, your events, your notices and your announcements. As much as you have put your faith in our ability to bring back this beloved institution, we will need you to invest a bit of time, some energy, and some change, if you have any to spare. What has always made The Gleaner so special is the sense of community support and ownership that is shared throughout the Valley. The Gleaner is back, but it will be up to all of us to make sure we can keep it where it belongs, rooted as deeply as ever in the Valley community.