Our community, our province, our country and the entire world have all been subjected to one of the worst scenarios in recent history. The pain, suffering and the tragic loss of so many lives, due to the COVID-19 virus, will be entrenched in our minds forever. The unprecedented impact of this global pandemic will also resonate with many individuals, in various ways, for years to come. The daily sacrifices made by all of our front-line workers, in all sectors of our society, have clearly defined, I hope for us all, who the real heroes are in our communities. Their perseverance, dedication and their tremendous courage in helping others is what ensured that all of us stayed fed, healthy, safe and secure during this pandemic. Let us not ever forget their efforts and contributions as we begin our journey back to some form of normalcy in our lives.
Our local community certainly banded together on so many fronts. Collectively, so many reached out in various ways to others in a time of great need. Our food banks, churches, community groups, business leaders, public servants and many local individuals, to name a few, all made tremendous efforts and generous donations to ensure that the needs of our community were addressed. We should all be very proud of our local community, and the great people who live, work and contribute to strengthening our community values every day. I know we are not alone in this effort. Many Canadian communities banded together as well, but our Stittsville and area community, was right there with them all. Stittsville and Goulbourn township has a long and rich tradition of giving back and helping their neighbours. It has never been so evident as during this pandemic.
As we begin to move forward in our lives, I would be remiss if I did not also extend our deepest condolences and prayers to some of the finest Canadians you will ever meet – our fellow Nova Scotians. Not only did they, like us all, have to endure great loss and isolation during the pandemic, but they also had to cope with one of the most horrific events Canada has ever encountered. The tragic events that took place in that beautiful part of our country were truly heart breaking. The people of Nova Scotia are very strong and resilient folks who will recover and heal in time. Please keep them, and all of the victims and their families in your minds and your hearts. We, as a country, also suffered the tragic loss recently of brave members of our Canadian Armed forces in a tragic helicopter accident. We offer each of their families, as well as, their military service colleagues our sincere sympathies for their loss, and thank all of them for their unwavering service to Canada.
There are many lessons we need to learn from the pandemic. None more important, in our view, as the need to re-assess our supply chain management system. All provinces and our country, have learned some tough lessons for not being more self-reliant. Our dependence on others, to provide needed goods and services in a timely manner, proved to be very costly indeed. Our inability to locally source some key products was a real and a constant point of concern and frustration. Having a healthy, successful and diverse local business sector, has never been so important as it is today. Our future depends on re-establishing our independence and sustainability.
As a local community business association our message and mandate from day one has been a simple one. Think and support our local Stittsville businesses as much as possible. In the Stittsville area, we have over four hundred local businesses. Collectively, they offer almost any service or product you can imagine. These folks are not only local business owners, but many of them are also our neighbours raising their families in our community. They need our collective support to get back on track and to regain their ability to grow and prosper. So I encourage everyone going out for a coffee or a meal, or needing to buy goods or services of any kind for your family, to please think, shop and choose local first. Our business members need your support now more than ever. Together we can make our community stronger than ever.
On behalf of our SBA executive team, thank you for supporting our Stittsville business sector. You can find additional information on each of our business members by visiting our website at www.stittsvilleba.ca.
Sincerely,
Allan Ryan – President, Stittsville Business Association