“Supporting the English-speaking community in West Quebec”

Board of Directors

David Gillespie

President

Judith O'rourke

Vice President

Judith was born in Norwich, England and has called Aylmer home for more than 40 years. Her 2 older children and all 7 grandchildren also live in Aylmer. Her youngest daughter, a former “Aylmer Citizen of the Year” is a teacher in the Gaspé region of Québec. Judith spent 13 years as a Commissioner for the Western Québec School Board and chaired several committees during her tenure. She is a long-time member of Christ Church Cathedral, in Ottawa where she has held numerous volunteer positions. An avid traveller, who has visited 82 countries, Judith believes that there is always something new to learn. For relaxation, Judith enjoys reading, knitting, making teddy bears and working on her family tree.

Chad Bean

Director

Chris Judd

Director

Born in Shawville, Quebec, Chris was a founding member of Quebec Young Farmers Association in 1967. He has been member of different Associations, such as the Ottawa Valley Tractor Puller, and the Shawville and district Snowmobile Club. Chris set three main life goals in 1978. The first one was to “do things right” or don’t do them at all. The second one was to build a farm that “ALL” his family could be involved in, when they were ready, (If they wanted to), and build a farm that could financially support “ALL” the families. The last one was to teach “someone” on our farm to do each job, task, or future planning, so that the “family” and “farm” could continue without him. Later in life, Chris was a councilor for the Village of Shawville (water, roads, and fire dept. committees) 1991-1995 to what he resigned in 1995 to accept presidency of Quebec Farmers Association. He was also a director of Shawville Ag. Society for two stretches. He was also a director of Pontiac milk producers from 1979-2014, (president from 1992-2013), (Provincial director of “Federation les Producteurs du Lait de Quebec” from 2003-2006.

Presently, Chris is a voluntary director on the “Villa James Shaw” project, planning a 40+ bed retirement home in the village of Shawville. He is also on the CANAMEX committee (with both Canadian and United States members) to explore agricultural tourism, sustainable agriculture, and trade between Canada and the US. Currently he serves as a director on the Quebec “cull cow and veal calf” marketing committee, and a director for the Regional Association of West Quebecers.

Angela Britten

Director

Originally from Halifax, Angela Britten came to the National Capital Region to work for the Federal Government. Angela has lived in Hull for 30 + years, and now, in retirement, she is looking to give back to her community.

Alexander Hays

Director

Originally from Guelph, Ontario, Alexander Hays is a retired former public servant with the Federal Public Service, 26 years with Statistics Canada, as well as eight years with the Ontario Provincial Government. He has been a resident of the Outaouais for 35 years. He is an avid outdoorsman, enjoying hiking and kayaking. Alex also enjoys reading, running, and writing fiction. He is currently a member of the Gatineau Anglophone Writer’s Group.

Susan Larocque

Directeur

Nikki Buechler

Director

Nikki Buechler grew up in Oakville Ontario where she took violin and piano lessons throughout childhood. During a tumultuous adolescence, she attended 4 different high schools but failed to graduate. Nevertheless, she was accepted to study at the University of Toronto, where she obtained a music degree.
Following graduation, Nikki moved to England to play in symphony orchestras. She was accepted to do a master’s degree at Oxford University (St Catherine’s College) where she studied music history. Her thesis focused on propaganda in 1930’s Germany.
After five years in the UK, Nikki accepted a fellowship at Stanford University (California) where she spent four years enrolled in PhD coursework with a focus on Catholic liturgical music. She gave up her doctoral studies after having a child. Nikki remained living in California, spending 18 years there in total.
Nikki enjoys learning, and she continually seeks challenging projects to engage her interest in lifelong education. As such, she has had many career iterations. While at Stanford, she worked as a Unix consultant at the university’s technology cluster. She later founded a software company, where she developed and launched a music education application available on the Apple store. She has tried her hand at tobacco farming, music/art teaching, worked on a horse farm, was director of visual and performing arts at an elementary school, obtained a building contractor license, worked as a software developer, and has been a QA linguist for Apple Inc. specializing in English variant localization.
Moving to the Pontiac during the pandemic was intended as a temporary measure, but she has fallen in love with the Ottawa Valley and can’t imagine leaving. She currently sells art (one of her works is on permanent display at the municipality’s regional art collection) and plays Celtic and Country music under the name Nikki B Fiddling.