Community Engagement and Saturday Meetings
Art Borups Corners Community Collective continues to strengthen local participation through weekly Saturday morning meetings at 10:00 AM for those who are available to join in. This timing was selected to align with residents’ routines, making it convenient for community members to attend while running errands. We will keep this as a regular time moving forward starting in March.
Here is our update for February 2026.
National Kindness Week 2026
This week is National Kindness Week! It’s the fifth year for us to participate in this awesome week of activities. The Late Rabbi Bulka helped shape the work we do today, and we always take part in activities during this special week.
Thanks to all the Members of Parliament who kickstarted this year’s National Kindness Week. Members of Parliament from all of Canada’s political parties came together in Ottawa to mark the official launch of National Kindness Week (February 15–21) and to respond to the recent tragic shooting in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. The event highlighted the role of kindness, community support, and unity in times of crisis.
Read more here: https://artsincubator.ca/photos/mps-launch-national-kindness-week/
Family Day 2026
Family Day celebrations were held on Sunday. This was the same day as the official start for National Kindness Week. We had an awesome time with the communities and congratulations to everyone who organized all the events and activitiees.
Check out the events here: https://artsincubator.ca/photos/music-community-and-winter-magic/
NWMO Site Characterization Update
The meeting with the NWMO Site Characterization team, originally scheduled for February 18th, was unfortunately cancelled due to weather, but is being rescheduled. Due to these unforeseen circumstances the presentations and dialogue sessions will take place at the next meeting night, Monday, March 16th, 2026 starting at 7 pm. Everyone is asked to be there by 6:30 to help set up.
A Zoom link will be provided to allow all community members to attend. This meeting will provide updates on the site characterization studies and explain how they relate to the federal government’s Impact Assessment process. Participation is encouraged to ensure that residents are informed and involved in discussions relevant to the community’s long-term planning and engagement.
Also, Norm will be representing Dyment and Borups Corners on the new Working Groups that will advise the site characterization studies the NWMO will be working on. More to come on that in the next meeting.
Digital Presence and IAAC Alignment Reporting
The Collective’s new community website is fully operational and has been updated to include the IAAC Summary of Issues, published on February 16, 2028. Residents are encouraged to contribute photos, stories, and historical materials that capture the life and creativity of the community, from local events to natural landscapes and daily moments. A new alignment feature on the website allows the Collective to review community submissions and internal records, compare them against IAAC-identified issues, and highlight areas of alignment as well as gaps where further input may be needed. This tool strengthens the Collective’s capacity to participate meaningfully in the federal Impact Assessment process.
We have hosted the project on the Melgund Recreation, Arts and Culture server as our current server is overloaded. For more information on the project, visit https://melgundrecreation.ca/nuclear
E-Mail Systems, Information Management and Collaboration Tools
In February 2026, the website experienced a notable increase in several key performance metrics when compared to its performance in previous months, showcasing strong recent momentum. The total monthly visits for this month (so far) reached 175,349, with a daily average of 8,767 visits, while bandwidth usage totaled 102,092,772 KBytes for the month. Although the total monthly visits in February 2026 are approximately 18.7% lower (as of February 20) than the 215,781 visits recorded in January, the daily average visits actually grew by 25.9% month-over-month, rising from 6,960 to 8,767. We have had several days where visits were more than 11,000-12,000+ per day. Our servers can barely handle the load, but it’s awesome.
This discrepancy in visits is largely attributed to February being a shorter month, yet still maintaining a higher intensity of daily activity. Additionally, while total visits and bandwidth have fluctuated over the last five months, the February 2026 daily average for pages viewed (20,984) represents a 23.4% increase over January 2026 (16,999) and a 23.2% increase over December 2025 (17,030), indicating a growing trend in user engagement per visit as the year progresses.
New e-mail addresses and servers are set up
To preserve institutional knowledge and streamline operations, the Collective has implemented a Google Workspace. This came with some issues, as many of our accounts were disabled or not working as we transitioned to the new mail server. Google was very helpful in straightening it out and everyone should now have access to all their addresses and tools.
There should be no further e-mail issues with people logging into their accounts.
Standardized email addresses and shared drives ensure that correspondence and project documentation are secured and working. If anyone has any problems just let us know. This will help with real-time document sharing, calendar synchronization, and collaborative tools to improve project coordination, and upcoming training sessions will support volunteers and members in navigating these digital resources effectively. The program also provides $10,000 a month of online advertising credits, which we are working on.
Under 100 Art Show
We were recently contacted by Chantal at Art Spot Canada on behalf of the Under 100 Art Show, an artist-run, juried exhibition featuring original artwork priced under $100 that is planning its Winnipeg debut. She reached out to explore potential collaboration with local arts organizations and businesses, including sharing their call to artists and developing community partnerships. We are happy to get connected and welcome artists to join in and participate.
Creative Resources and Workshops
Through the Collective’s non-profit program, 50 Canva Pro licenses have been secured to provide community members, artists, and volunteers with professional design tools. These licenses enable the creation of posters, digital content, and promotional materials, enhancing the communication and visibility of local projects. Complementing this, a series of hands-on workshops will be offered, teaching participants how to use WordPress to update the website, Canva for graphic design, and Google Workspace for collaborative productivity.
Facility Updates and Community Spaces
Significant progress has been made in revitalizing physical spaces for community use. We’re building our our new space at the Recreation Hall, thanks to the support of the community. The downstairs meeting area has been transformed from a neglected space into a vibrant, multi-functional room suitable for workshops, gatherings, and professional or remote work support. Similarly, the Reading Area is being restored following the flood, with salvaged bookshelves returning to service and a growing collection of books and DVDs now available. Residents are encouraged to contribute gently used books to expand this resource. These spaces are intended to foster creativity, connection, and access to community resources.
Heritage Preservation and Digitization
The Collective has initiated a project to preserve and digitize Melgund’s community history. A centralized database has been created to catalog historical assets, and exhibitions and placemaking activities are planned for spring. These efforts aim to cultivate pride in local heritage while providing accessible ways for residents to explore, contribute to, and engage with the community’s collective memory.
Our next meeting will be on Monday, march 16, 2026 at 6:30 at the Recreation Hall.
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