Grassy Narrows Protest at Queen's Park

Hundreds of demonstrators converged on the lawn of the Ontario legislature this afternoon, calling for action over mercury poisoning on the Grassy Narrows First Nation.

Members of the reserve north of Kenora, marched through the streets of Toronto carrying pieces of blue fabric to form a symbolic wild river and holding up paper fish on sticks.

Almost two dozen police officers on bicycles escorted the demonstrators to the legislature, where the protesters held banners reading ``Clean Water, Our Survival'' and ``Native Rights Now''.

A study out yesterday says residents of the reserve are still suffering health effects from mercury that was dumped into the Wabigoon River three decades ago.

Residents say babies are being born with health defects that they blame on the contamination.

Fellowship Funding

A shot in the arm for the Kenora Fellowship Center.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation has come up with 150 thousanddollars over three years to help operate the emergency shelter.

Henry Hildebrand is one of the people who helps run theCenter and says the money will keep the shelteropen.

Hildebrand says the Shelter provides food and a place to stayfor up to a dozen people a night.

Grassy Narrows First Nation Mercury Poison

An international expert says the health effects ofmercury poisoning on the Grassy Narrows First Nation are worse now than in the 1970s.

The environmental group Earthroots says between 1962 and 1970 apaper mill in Dryden dumped 20 thousand pounds of mercury into theWabigoon River.

Grassy Resident Chrissy Swain was part of a press conference yesterday inToronto to talk about the situation.

She says the effects of mercury polution are still being felt.

Harada first visited theGrassy Narrows reserve in 1975 and found people with mercury levels over three times the Health Canada limit.

Earthroots says when Harada returned in 2004 he found thateveryone who had mercury levels above the 1975 Health Canada guidelines had died.

Molesti Update

There will be another court appearance for the man accused of trying to buy a 5 year old online.

56 year old Patrick Molesti will have a second detention review hearing today to see if he will still remain at the Thunder Bay detention centre.

Canada Border Services Spokesperson Kris Kealey says a seperate process is underway to see if he will be removed from Canada.

Molesti is facing several child pornography charges in the US.

Blood Donor Clinic

157 blood donors walked through the doors of St. Thomas Aquinas High School yesterday.

Canadian Blood Services says they collected 133 units of blood which was 23 over their target.

Spokesperson Harvey Heather adds people can still donate blood today.

Today's clinic runs until 12:30.

To make an appointment call 1-888-2-DONATE.

City Hires new CAO

The City of Kenora has decided to hire from within for its new Chief Administrative Officer.

Karen Brown has been hired to replace Bill Priesentanz, who will retire later this year.

Brown is currently the Finance Manager for the City and has been a municipal employees for the past 18 years.

She'll take over her new duties as of August 1st.

The City began the hiring process back in the fall after Priesentanz indicated that he was planning to retire sometime in 2010.

Senior Thistles lose in Thunder Bay

The Kenora Triple "a" senior Thistles will have to wait another year to make an appearance at the Allan Cup.

The Thistles were eliminated in two straight games in their best-of-three series against the Dundas Real McCoys.

On Friday, Kenora dropped a 2-1 decision, and then lost 4-1 Saturday night.

The series was played in Thunder Bay and Dundas now advances to the Allan Cup Senior Canadian Championships in Fort St. John later this month.

Meanwhile, the Northwestern All-Stars Triple "a" hockey team is at the Ontario Championships in St. Mary's this week.

The All-Stars, made up of players from Kenora, Dryden, Fort Frances and elsewhere across the region, play their first game this morning at 10:00 against the host Huron-Perth Lakers.

OPP recruiting women

A special symposium targeted at women is going to be held by the OPP this spring.

The one day session is aimed at women interested in a career with the provincial police.

Constable Dave Cain says one of the main focuses ofthe symposiums is explaining the recruitment process.

Cain says space is limited to just 12 people, so anyone interested is asked to contact Sergeant Darryl Wilson as soon as possible.

The symposium will take place May 5th at the Kenora Detachment.

NOMA on Provinicial Budget

Municipalities in the region are still digesting the figures contained in last week's provincial budget.

Anne Krassilowski is president of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association and says the budget has some pretty good news for the north.

She does have some concerns with the premier's comment that municipalities should follow the province's lead and freeze employees salaries.

Krassilowski adds that increased funding for Ontario Works and the new industrial hydro rate for the north are boththings that will help out the region.

Another Snowmobile Fatal

Another person has died after falling through the ice in Northwestern Ontario.

The latest incident happened on Upper Jobrin Lake 4- kilometres north of Longlac.

A 48 year old Cochrane man died when a snowmobile fell through the ice yesterday.

Two others were rescued and one was airlifted to the Health Sciences Centre.

Warm weather has caused unsafe conditions and officials are urging people to stay off the ice.

Busy Hockey Weekend

A big weekend for hockey in Kenora.

The Annual North American First Nations Tournament of Champions gets underway tomorrow at the Kenora Rec. Center and Keewatin Arenas.

So far, 20 teams are signed up for the three day tournament, with 20 thousand dollars up for grabs.

Meanwhile, the Kenora Triple "a" Senior Thistles hit the road for the Renwick Cup, which will be played in Thunder Bay.

The Thistles will be taking on the Dundas Real McCoys in a best-of-three series to determine the Ontario senior hockey champions.

The winner will also advance to the Allan Cup which will take place inFort St. John, B.C.

Get Ready for Relay for Life

The 10th annual Relay for Life will be taking place in Kenora this June.

Organizers are trying to drum up interest for the event with a captain's meeting tonight.

Margret Saville is a spokesperson for the Canadian Cancer Society and says they are looking for anyone who has been involved in the Relay in the past, or who might be interested in taking part this year.

The captains meeting will start at 5:30 tonight at Casey's.

Relay for Life will be held at Lakewood School on June 11th this year.

Fire Season officially begins today

It has the makings of a busy fire season for the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Today marks the official start to the fire season in northwestern Ontario,and already fire crews have been called into service to deal with brush fires.

Fire Information Officer, Debbie McLean says they are prepared for the worst right now.

The last two years have been amongst the quietest ever recorded in northwestern Ontario.

McLean says a warm, dry spring doesn't mean this year will be any better or worse than previous years.

Pension Protection Bill Introduced

A private members bill aimed at securing the pensions of AbitibiBowater employees has been introduced in the House of Commons.

Thunder-Bay Rainy River M.P. John Rafferty says the bill would make changes to the Bankruptcy Act to giving pensions priority over other creditors.

Rafferty says he's hoping for all-party support for his bill.

Rafferty says his goal is to get the bill through the House of Commons before the end of the current sitting in June.

Kenora's Sunshine List

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board has more employees earning morethan 100 thousand dollars a year than any other agency in the area.

The provincial government released its so-called sunshine list.

The public school board has 35 senior managers, principals and specialists making more than 100 grand.

Departed director of education, Larry Hope topped the salary listat 179 thousand dollars.

The highest paid employee at the Kenora Catholic District School Board was Phylis Aikre at 162 thousand.

Once again, Lake of the Woods District Hospital had the highest wage earners.

Chief Pathologist, Dr. Kerry McDonald was the best paid employeeat 315 thousand dollars per annum.

Evergreen School Meeting

The Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is being asked for an extensionfrom a committee set up to look at school closures in Kenora.

The Kenora Accommodation Review Advisory Committee was supposed topresent its final recommendations to the public school board on April 13th.

One of the recommendations was the closure of Evergreen School, butchair of the committee Cecile Marcino says that scenario is still a longways off.

The draft recommendations of the committee suggest the closure ofEvergreen, only if the public school board can form a partnership withthe Cathlolic School Board for the operation of schools in Keewatin,and if the public board can get funding to build a new school at Evergreen.

Marcino says they hope to present their final recommendations to the boardat the May open meeting.

Hospital on Ontario Budget

Hospital's across the region are still scratching their heads and wondering how much money they'll have to work with this year.

The provincial government announced a 1.5 percent increase in the overall budget for hospitals.

Chief Executive Officer of Lake of the Woods District Hospital, Marc Belcaensays the budget is still a bit vague on how much individual hospitalswill be getting.

Belcaen adds that a freeze on non-unionized staff will also have an immediate impact on a number of hospital employees.

Ear Falls Sawmill Sold

The idled Ear Falls Sawmill has a new owner.Domtar has agreed to sell its forest products business for 80-million dollars plus additional working capital to Vancouver-based EACOM Timber Corporation.

Domtar Spokesperson Bonnie Skene says the forestry products division includes 5-operating Sawmills as well as the Ear Falls plant, which is currently non-operational.

Skene stresses the deal doesn't include the assignment of any forest licences, including operations in the Trout and Wabigoon Forests.

Record Monday Weather

The month of March came in like a lamb, and it looks like its going to go out the same way.

The Kenora area set a 24 year old record today for the warmest March 29th on record.

Temperatures peaked a 14.1 degrees this afternoon, breaking the previous record of 13.5 degrees, which was set in 1986.

Tomorrow, the daytime high is once again expected to rise to 14 degrees.

Youth Killed in Snowmachine Accident

A 17 year old youth has been killed in a snowmachine accident in northwestern Ontario.

The OPP say Cody Gale of Sioux Lookout was driving a snowmobile Saturday night on Pelican Lake, near the Frog Rapids Bridge around 7:30 when he went through the ice.

Two of his companions tried to rescue him from the icy waters but were unable to locate and retreive the submerged youth.

The O.P.P.'s Marine Unit and Emergency Response teams were called in and were finally able to locate the body the next day.

Police say three male youth were riding the sleds across Pelican Lake, when two of the drivers decided to enter open waters totry their hand at "water skipping".