Mel Malette (1936-2026)—Sandy Hill mover & shaker

Ken Clavette

Communities are enriched by those who give themselves to making things work for the benefit of all the residents. Sandy Hill has had many who have given their time and efforts to make our neighbourhood a better place. Action Sandy Hill volunteers helped stop the move of the General Hospital here in the 1960s, and forced the city to put the transitway on Waller rather than up King Edward and Wilbrod to get to the Rideau Centre in the 1980s. IMAGE has been produced by volunteer community labour for over 50 years now, telling our stories and sharing community news. But there have been many others who have given themselves to make Sandy Hill a healthy and enjoyable place for families. One man who did that with sports for over twenty years has just passed away; his name was Mel Malette.

Mel was a Valley boy raised in Portage-du-Fort. He moved to Ottawa as a young man to make a living and start a family. He settled in Sandy Hill, eventually in the veterans housing at Strathcona Heights (see the Bygone Sandy Hill column in the April 2024 issue of IMAGE, available online at www.home.imagesandyhill.org).

With his partner Doreen, they raised five children. His children played a major role in Mel’s life. In 1969, he helped establish the Sandy Hill Ð Ottawa East Sports Association with hockey at the heart of its programming. As early as five in the morning, he was up organizing the cleaning crew at the rink in Sandy Hill Park (now, Annie Pootoogook Park) before going to work at Energy Mines and Resources. Back in those days, the rink at Sandy Hill Park was the only ice surface the city provided. The Minto Skating Club had an arena on Henderson where the uOttawa Minto sports complex is now and while it could be rented, it was not a City facility.

Mel worked with Ottawa East Community Association President Nancy Smith to get the City to build the Sandy Hill Arena we know now. It opened on Mann Avenue in 1974. Nancy would go on to become our City Councillor between 1980 and 1991. Mel took on the new arena. He organized the hockey teams, coaches, and referees. He used the canteen, skate sharpening, and an annual skate-a-thon to raise money for kids hockey programs. He also organized a few Sandy Hill fast ball teams!

He was nicknamed the “Mayor of Strathcona Heights” for his role as chair of the residents’ association. He wrote a regular column in IMAGE on the sports association’s activities and organized the delivery of the newspaper by the kids. He would often use his column to point out the shortcomings of the City when it came to our community, urging us to fight back.

Mel was always on the lookout for kids with too much time on their hands. He felt involving them in sports kept them out of mischief. If a family could not afford fees, then hours volunteering at the canteen would be a tradeoff. Some of those kids left comments remembering Mel on the “Growing Up in Sandy Hill” Facebook group. He “was an icon in Sandy Hill, he kept a lot of us playing sports for years,” wrote one. “I played house league hockey for 2 years. My family was quite poor so we couldn’t afford equipment. [Mel] helped track down free equipment for me and my brother. I think he even drove us to some games.”

It is said when one dies, it’s not the money one has in the bank that’s important, it’s what you leave behind. Mel helped make our community a better place and left a lot of children with fond memories of growing up here in Sandy Hill.