For a second year in a row there was a Saint-Jean Baptiste celebration at Lion’s Park, and I would like to thank all the volunteers involved to make this welcoming of the mostly French migrant workers happen.
But I would like to celebrate the name of Carol Sheridan in particular, the parks and recreation manager, as she spearheaded this in trying to diminish conflicts in Lion’s Park in the past.
Where she saw conflict, in her own words she saw “opportunity,” an opportunity to make something better by acknowledging the very long-term relationship that exists between the town of Oliver and the French migrant workers.
Though a lot of others came in, some of them created the idea of the appreciation day, Greg Norton in particular, it is through Sheridan’s leadership, through her commitment of creating a positive opportunity to bridge the gap between the communities, to install a sense of mutual respect that this event happened.
I am so thankful to her, and to the rest of the volunteers, the Lion’s Park Action Committee, the RCMP, and all who lend a hand to make the French people, pickers, and farm workers appreciated.
It helps a lot to undo some of the negativity in the past that existed between the communities.
Pierre Davidson, Oliver
