Gatineau's homegrown dairy is getting into the ice cream business

Tashi Farmilo

Laiterie de l'Outaouais is launching its first-ever ice cream line this summer, venturing beyond    milk products for the first time in the dairy's 16-year history. The new brand, called Rebelle, will hit shelves June 1 in four flavours: Iced Cappuccino, Funky, Chocolate, and Vanilla. The line is the result of four years of development and a major expansion of its facility, backed by federal and provincial government funding.

The launch was celebrated April 14 at the dairy's facility at 275 chemin Industriel in Gatineau, with remarks from President and CEO Yannick Bouchard, federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald, Sophie Chatel, MP for Pontiac-Kitigan Zibi and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture, and Robert Bussière, MNA for Gatineau. Gatineau Mayor Maude Marquis-Bissonnette was in attendance, with City Councillor for the Orée-du-Parc district Isabelle N. Miron speaking on her behalf. Mathieu Lévesque, MP for Chapleau, and Suzanne Tremblay, MNA for Hull, were also in attendance.

The launch was celebrated April 14 at the dairy's facility at 275 chemin Industriel in Gatineau with remarks from CEO Yannick Bouchard, federal Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald, parliamentary secretary Sophie Chatel, and Robert Bussière, Member of the National Assembly for Gatineau.

Rebelle Ice Cream will be stocked at IGA, Maxi-Provigo, Épicerie Saveur urbaine, Metro and Walmart locations across the Outaouais, five Farm Boy locations, select Your Independent Grocer stores, and two Walmart locations in Ottawa, with the company hoping to confirm additional retailers before June 1.

Beyond the grocery aisle, Laiterie de l'Outaouais is also opening two Rebelle scoop shops in Hull, with the first set to open at Saveur Épicerie urbaine in the downtown core. The second location has yet to be announced, though the company suggests both could be open before the official launch date. If the concept takes hold, the plan is to build it into a full franchise network across the region by 2027. Further down the road, the dairy intends to introduce a hyperlocal ice cream line using fruit grown and processed on-site, a project that won't be ready until a new Flavour Kitchen comes online later this year.

Chatel, who said she had been present at every stage of the project over the past year, described the launch as something the whole region could take pride in. "Rebelle is the creative and engaged spirit of our region taking shape," she said.

“That underdog spirit is precisely what the Rebelle name is meant to evoke,” Bouchard said. "For more than 15 years, we have stood up to the multinationals of milk. To survive and to distinguish ourselves, we must do things differently and be better every day. We are 'Rebelle,' and the Outaouais are too, by supporting us and motivating us to always do better. We will have a lot of fun developing the Rebelle community."