OUR MISSION
The mission is to promote heritage, the arts and debate and discussion and support the community.
The mission is funded through the operations of an events centre, hosting conferences, meetings, weddings, parties and other professional and social events. An executive team operates under the guidance of a Board of Directors.
CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION
The not-for-profit organization: The Grange de la Gatineau
For the original owners, Mary Anne and RAJ (Bob) Phillips, the Grange was truly a labour of love. They saved it from destruction on a farm near Carleton Place some 50 kilometres away in Ontario. They rebuilt it log-by-log as their retirement home on their property by the Gatineau River and filled it with Canadiana antiques, and they filled it with people from the myriad of associations and causes they supported, people from the local community, and friends from across Canada and around the world.
Disaster
After Mary Anne died in 1990, Bob continued their traditions in the Grange until disaster struck in 1992: the Grange caught fire and burned down. The log walls survived, although charred, and only some small sections were intact. But Bob – by this time a septuagenarian – decided to once again give the Grange a new re-birth and he re-built the Grange, and rescued and restored what contents he could. Read the complete story.
Charitable Organization
After Bob Phillips died at the age of 81 in 2003, it seemed that this labour of love and such a piece of Canadian heritage must be saved for future generations. With a history of reincarnations like the Grange’s, the Phillips survivors set out to let it live again.
Brigid Phillips established a not-for-profit organization, The Grange de la Gatineau. The idea was to open the Grange to the public so that many people can appreciate the history and lovely natural setting that is the Grange; and to use the Grange to support causes that the Phillips family have all always valued.
Today, Brigid and her husband, Rod Janssen, divide their lives between the Grange and their own professions. Rod is an international consultant on sustainable energy and climate change issues, working for governments, institutions and non-governmental organizations including many consultancies for the European Commission and the Energy Charter, a board member of the European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and served as advisor to countries in Europe, the former soviet area and Africa. Brigid has directed communications for the OECD in Paris, the World Bank in Washington and was Communications Director for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, England. She has now moved back to Canada where she holds a senior communications role in the public sector in Ottawa.
The Grange Team
- Brigid Phillips Janssen, President and Chief Executive Officer
- John Spears, Manager
- Peter Wardrope, Executive Chef
- Nicolas Desfossés
- Andrée Gosselin O’Meara, technical/web advisor
- Keith de Bellefeuille Percy, Community Relations Co-ordinator
OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Barry Padolsky
Award-winning architect and recognized specialist in heritage conservation and restoration; architectural consultant for the re-construction of the Grange.
John Claxton
Professor Emeritus, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia; Academic Director, Ch’nook Aboriginal Business Education.
Sylvia Haines
Former director of parliamentary affairs, ministerial policy adviser, consultant in communications and relations with non-governmental organisations.
Brigid Phillips Janssen, President
Chief of Communications at the Bank of Canada and formerly in similar roles at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (London, UK), the World Bank (Washington) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Paris); previously, for many years, a journalist based in Toronto, Montreal and Paris after growing up in Ottawa and spending a childhood of summers and weekends at the Phillips property where the Grange now stands.
Rod Janssen, Adviser to the Board
An international consultant in the field of energy, environment and climate change, Rod is also an accomplished singer and has given outstanding performances at weddings and cabaret evenings at the Grange.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
The Grange de la Gatineau’s Charitable Side
The Grange has opened its doors to a wide variety of groups that reflect the mission to promote heritage, the arts, debate and support for the community.
Among the groups that the Grange is proud to support:
- Gatineau Valley Historical Society – building support and awareness of the region’s heritage
- Friends of the Gatineau (FOG) – association to promote the environmentally sound use of the Gatineau River – annual Gatineau River Day host site
- Starlight Starbright – charity for terminally ill children
- SIGNALS – Carleton University-based debate and discussion group of students, academics and policymakers
- Municipality of Cantley
- Association des Gens d’Affaires de Cantley
- Regional Association of West Quebeckers
- Heritage Ottawa
- Leadership Ottawa
- The Troops of CFB Petawawa – for annual historical remembrance
- Friends of Parc Mary Anne Phillips – supporting the maintenance and development of Cantley’s soccer field
Can the Grange Help You?
If you have an association or group that you think reflects the mission of the Grange de la Gatineau, contact us and we will be happy to consider offering a discount or other special arrangements for use of the Grange.
Charity around the Grange Christmas tree
Thinking about Christmas? We can host events such as Christmas carolling or performances to raise money for charity. Talk to us about your charitable cause and we will let you know if we can help.
The arts
The Grange has a mission to promote the arts. If you would like to propose a performance – music, dance, theatre – or an art exhibit, tell us about it and we will see if it fits with the goals of the Grange of the Gatineau.
THE GRANGE IN THE NEWS
The following article by reporter Suzanne Legros appeared in
The Cantley Echo newspaper in January 2006 *
THE GRANGE
REFUGE
I had the pleasure of attending at The Grange recently and being given a tour of this wonderful site on the banks of the Gatineau River in Cantley. Mr. Keith de Bellefeuille Percy of La Grange de la Gatineau kindly took me on a tour of the premises, giving me a brief history of how The Grange came into being.
It was originally built on the site in the 1970s by Mary Anne and Bob Phillips. He rescued the pioneer barn built in the Gatineau Hills in 1819, dismantled it, then had the hundreds of hand hewn logs and lumber transported to the site where it was painstakingly reassembled and beautifully furnished with the many antiques and artefacts that grace this lovely building. Later, fire severely damaged the building, but it rose from the ashes. Mary Anne died a number of years ago and Bob died fairly recently leaving the estate to their three daughters.
The Grange of the Gatineau is a non-profit organization and middle-daughter Brigid Phillips Janssen, would like to see it devoted to the arts, culture, community development and Canadian heritage. It is now available for various functions such as meetings, conferences, retreats, weddings etc. The Grange is in exclusive partnership with a local caterer who offers delicious food, an extensive menu at competitive prices whether for meetings or a full course meal served in the mezzanine dining room.
Wireless internet, an additional telephone line, all the modern, electronic business facilities are provided along with smaller conference rooms. Perhaps a visit to the family museum or billiards in the games room, boating, swimming in the river, a peaceful walk, cross-country skiing or simply sitting on the decks admiring the view. You could rent the private, independent, self-contained housekeeping apartment with access to all the facilities. A parking lot is available as well as parking on the private road.
It’s been said that: “There is nothing like The Grange in this whole area! “. It’s quite true. Thank you for meeting with me Mr. de Bellefeuille Percy.
*edited to correct spelling and titles