Edith Dandenault 

On the warm afternoon when Edith Dandenault and I met up, we traced the many twisting roads of her personal and professional life. We have known each other since childhood, with Mont Sutton as a rallying point in our families’ lives; she as a child of the Boulanger family, me as a child of dedicated Mont Sutton skiers. Ever the woman-about-town, Edith always greeted me and my family with the kind of enthusiasm and warmth I have now come to see as fundamental to how she moves through the world. Our conversation covered a lot of ground as Edith is a woman of many skills and talents, however the thread that held it all together was how she has come to understand and harness the ebb and flow of connection and letting go. 

For over twenty years, Edith has worked as a professional organizer (www.havenmaven.ca) helping families sort through their belongings in times of transition and change. Earlier in the year, I attended a presentation that Edith gave to an attentive audience at the Centre d’action bénévole in Sutton. “No one cares how many dish sets you have when they meet you. They want to know YOU,” she proclaimed emphatically, her eyes wide. Audience members nodded in agreement while shifting in their seats. “Items intentionally on display are a collection; stuff gathered in a box in the basement never to see the light of day is,” she emphasized, “an accumulation.” Accumulation, Edith explained, takes up space in our homes and in our minds, leaving little room for growth. At the heart of organizing one’s personal space and, by extension, life, is knowing what to keep and what to let go. With stories told in quick succession and with healthy doses of humour, Edith cut right to the heart of her messaging about people and their stuff: our material possessions do not define us, the way in which we dedicate ourselves to our lives and our living does. Edith understands and empathizes, however, with the very human desire to accumulate and surround ourselves with objects and collections. “Our connection to objects is emotional. No one wants to die unseen, and somehow if we keep all of our stuff, it offers proof of our having lived!” Edith’s ultimate goal is to help people find new ways of living, liberated from the tangible weight of their past, ready to take active part in their present. It’s all about creating spaces where actual living happens.

These lessons come from her years raising children while living and traveling internationally as a spouse of a diplomat. Packing up again and again to settle in unfamiliar surroundings made Edith appreciate how our belongings can be a distraction from the interpersonal connections that make a life well-lived. Her boundless energy, along with her degrees in education, linguistics psychology, and project management combine perfectly for Edith to support others to live well. “I find inspiration in the Haïda story of the hummingbird who carries endless mouthfuls of water to help douse a forest fire. I always ask: Is there something in any moment that I can do to help by using the capacities and skills that I have?” And skills she has aplenty: in addition to her work as a professional organizer, she is also a language teacher, a project manager, an actress and a consummate volunteer. Edith’s dynamism and determination motivate her to connect, to serve and to unwaveringly help others. 

This ability to connect comes in many forms including in her work as an actor. Edith has appeared in seven films, most recently in Nathalie Saint-Pierre’s Sur la terre comme au ciel. Edith is equally at ease in English and French and is fluent in four other languages which, in combination with her quick wit, charm and attentiveness has positioned her well to do voice work. In 2017, she was invited to record the names of the three-thousand six hundred and ninety-seven Canadian soldiers who perished at the 1917 Battle of Vimy Ridge. She was subsequently invited to serve as the announcer at the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle at the Monument of Vimy Ridge in Givenchy-en-Gohelle, France. Prime Minister Trudeau heard her there and noted how both Francophone and Anglophone Canadians responded: they each felt like she was speaking to them. Edith’s way of connecting to people opened the doors for her ongoing role as the announcer or, what in the entertainment business is called “the voice of God,” for increasingly large-scale public events including the annual Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Most recently, her voice ushered well-wishers and functionaries of all kinds into the funeral ceremonies for former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Edith remains community-minded however, lending her enthusiasm and voice to Sutton events as well. Just this past September Edith served as announcer for the Défi Sutton running races at Parc Goyette, keeping spirits up by encouraging runners big and small to push across the finish line. 

On the day that we met up, we could barely walk 100 meters without Edith seeing someone she knows: one person asking her to spread the word about an upcoming yard sale, another telling her about how they’re recovering from a medical condition, and yet another simply offering a friendly hello. Always connecting, always listening, ever ready to lend a hand. Edith embodies the spirit and the ethos of our village: she is sportive – always on the roads and trails, walking, cycling or skiing – creative and endlessly energetic. Multiplicity, she explains, keeps her stimulated, and connecting to people keeps her finding new ways to show folks how to identify what no longer serves them and find ease from simply letting go. 

Sharon Kivenko