About Us

What a pleasure it is to finally say, “Welcome home” to the Family Ties building. The renovation project took much longer than initially expected, but I think we can all agree that it was worth the
wait. We had so many positive comments during the Open House in December and our members are delighted with the improved accessibility of the re-designed layout. The stunning new kitchen has been buzzing with activity ever since the building reopened. The collective cooking groups have mentioned how much they enjoy the space, the light and the modern equipment. The Youth Program participants are also happy to have their own space and, once again, each group is at maximum capacity.

In March 2024, Family Ties held a Strategic Planning Day which gave an opportunity for members, volunteers and staff to work together on deciding the organization’s Action Plan for 2024-2027. This important activity allowed everyone involved to discuss the community’s needs and decide on Family Ties’ goals and strategies to meet these priorities over the next three years. We are very grateful to have community members who are engaged and believe in the value of working together. Another example of this is the response to a survey carried out by the La Fédération québécoise des organismes communautaires Famille (FQOCF). Nearly seventy members of Family Ties took the time to fill in this online questionnaire and their opinions, which were extremely positive, will be used by the FQOCF to validate the important work of family resource centres when communicating with the government.

In addition to the core staff, Family Ties has welcomed several temporary project employees over the past year. Our Canada Summer Jobs employees, Cheyenne Renouf and Kylie Walters, gained work experience in their jobs as garden and playschool assistants. We were also fortunate to have Vanessa Dow work for 20 weeks through the Subvention Salariale program. It was a pleasure to have her join the team and she was a great help to the coordinators. There was also the return of a familiar face with Ann Kelly coordinating the Adapting to Challenges Together
project. This project, funded by the Canadian Red Cross under the Community Services Recovery Fund, has enabled Family Ties to be better prepared for future challenges through training for the staff and Administrative Council, wellbeing initiatives and the creation of a resilience strategy.

We are very happy to announce that, through funding from the Réseau des Éclaireurs-Veilleurs, Ann will continue with Phase 2 of this project as the Family Ties Community Wellbeing Coordinator. She will be working with program participants to develop actions to improve health, wellbeing and resilience. 

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the Family Ties staff for their hard work over the year. They truly are a dedicated team who genuinely care about and want to do their best for you, our Family Ties family.

Heather MacWhirter, Executive Director

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget
what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-Maya Angelou