Canoer Rescued from Woodland Caribou Park

A 51-year-old Florida man is in good condition after he was rescued from Woodland Caribou Provincial Park.

Red Lake OPP received an emergency call in regards to a stranded canoeist inside the park on Friday.

Police say the canoeist severely injured his knee on the first day of his planned 15-day canoe trip.

Once OPP got the call and the emergency beacon was activated on the man's GPS, it took officers about 5-hours to rescue the man.

Two City Councils vying for Conservative Nomination

It looks like there will be a race for the Conservative nomination in the Kenora-Rainy River Riding.

Louis Roussin has confirmed that his nomination papers have been accepted by the party.

Roussin is a member of Kenora city Council and is the seat mate of the other candidate seeking the Conservative nomination, Rod McKay.

Roussin is a former real estate agent in the City of Kenora.

Still no word as to when a nomination meeting will be held.

Two Kenora Bridges in Need of Repair

A sobering report on the state of Kenora's Bridges.

Stantec Engineering has conducted the review and it looked specifically at the West Branch of the Winnipeg River Bridge and the Keewatin Channel Bridge.

Mike Boisseneault is the project engineer and says the West Branch Bridge in particular, is in need of repair.

Boisseneault says the steel girders on the bridge are corroding in some places and the concrete footings are also starting to crumble in areas.

The total price tag to do basic repairs to the two bridges is about six million dollars.

OPP Investigate weekend break-ins

The OPP are investigating a couple of break and enters at the west end of town.

Over the weekend, someone broke into a business on Ottawa Street in Keewatin.

Police say the incident took place sometime between 6:30 Friday night and 7:40 Saturday morning.

An undisclosed amount of money was stolen.

Officers responded to a complaint of another break and enter on Lakeview Drive on Sunday.

Once again, the suspects broke into the business and made off with a quantity of cash.

KeeMan Elects Five Member Board

Organizers of a vote to select a slate of officers to oversee the new KeeMan Local Services Board say they are happy with the turn-out of their elections over the weekend.

A total of 135 people turned up at the McKenzie-Clearwater Bay Fire Hall on Saturday.

Six people were in the running for five positions on the board.

Jerry Perras, Terry Wright, Laurie Bracken, Roger Giguere, and Larry Warelis were all elected.

The board now has to meet to decide who will take on specific duties such as chair, treasurer and secretary.

Right to Play gets more money

The provincial government is boosting the amount of money its giving the Right to Play organization.

Right to Play will be getting 1.5 million dollars this year to expand programs into at least 30 first nation communities in northern Ontario.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Chris Bentley says the groups youth leadership program has been particulary successful.

The Leadership program was initiated a couple of years ago in two first nation communities and was expanded to four first nations last year.

Nature Conservance of Canada Develops plan for Lake of the Woods

A natural area plan for Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake is ready to be put into action.

It was worked on by the Nature Conservancy of Canada for the past decade.

Regional vice-president Chris Maher says the aim is to protect the area from over development.

Maher says the plan goes to its board of directors in the fall before work on its implementation takes place..

OPP Use Taser to subdue brawl

The OPP say they had to use a taser to subdue a man who was involved in a brawl in downtown Kenora over the weekend.

Around 2:00 Saturday morning, police say they were called to deal with a large disturbance on Matheson Street South.

Officers tried to break up a fight involving a large number of people.

One man refused to back down and started to act agressively towards the police.

The OPP say a conducted energy weapon was used to subdue the assailant.

24 year old Kane Smith of Kenora was charged with assault with intent to resist arrest.

Local Paddlers excel at Dragon Boat Festival

The Super Troopers were super once again at the 9th annual Dragon Boat Races on Rabbit Lake.

The Kenora team, made up of members from the Seymour and Boucha Families won the A-side final Sunday afternoon.

The B-side went to a new team called ThinkHeadwaters from Winnipeg, while Aeolian Arc won the Ladies division for the third year in a row.

In the youth races, Sink or Swim took top honors.

A mixed youth squad also won the 200 meter sprint race, beating out five other adult boats.

Storm Damages Harborfront Tent

Its a good thing the city is getting a new tent for the Kenora Harborfront, because the old tent isn't going to be of much use for a while.

A sudden windstorm yesterday afternoon ripped the tent off its moorings, snapped the ropes holding the tent in place, and toppled the structure.

While no one was hurt, a few vehicles sustained some minor damage.

The loss of the tent means there will have to be a change in venue for the farmer's market tomorrow.

Its still not known where it will take place.

KFP Uncertain when sawmill will re-open

The Manager of the Kenora Forest Products Mill still isn't exactly sure when the sawmill might re-open.

The province announced 101 thousand cubic meters of wood from the Kenora Forest to expand the mill operations.

Rod McKay says they are tentatively looking at the spring of 2012, but that's still dependant on the American market.

Kenora Forest Products is hoping to hire back 98 of its laid off workers and hire as many as 36 new employees, once things get back up and running.

Red Cross In NWO Accepting donations for Somalia

Red Cross officials in northwestern Ontario are collecting money for famine relief in Somalia as the situation there remains critical.

Spokesperson Rob Zuback says people across the region are starting to respond.

Zuback says more donations started to come in when the Harper government announced it would match them dollar for dollar.

ILevel Gets Electricity Rebate

The I-Level Timberstrand Mill on the Jones Road is getting a much needed boost from the province.

Less than a month after being promised a wood allocation from the Kenora Forest, the company will also be getting a 5.8 million dollar electricity subsidy.

Bill Canline is the mill manager and says the funding is much needed.

The money will give the mill a two cents a kilowatt hour subsidy over the  next three years and comes from the Northern Industrial Electricity Rate Program.

NOHFC Announces more funding for local Communities

Nine communities in northwestern Ontario will be sharing 5.4 million dollars from the northern Ontario Heritage Fund.

That includes money the Whitefeather forest Management Corporation to develop a business plan for the operation of a new sawmill in Red Lake.

Minister responsible for the Heritage Fund, Michael Gravelle says these projects are deserving of the funding.

The North Caribou First nation will be getting a million dollars to build a community and Recreation Center, while Deer Lake will also get a million dollars to complete a multi-purpose facility.

Goldcorp Donates to Eye Van

Goldcorp is making a 25-thousand dollar donation in support of the CNIB Eye Van.

Red Lake Gold Mine Manager Chris Cormier made the announcement in Red Lake last week.
The vehicle is a mobile clinic that brings the best in medical eye care to remote areas in Northern Ontario.

The Van travels more than 6-thousand kilometres to 30-communities, examining more than 5-thousand patients.

MNR Hoping weather will help their fight against forest fires

The Ministry of Natural Resources is hoping the weather this week will help them combat more than 130 fires burning in the region.

There are 41-forest fires alone burning in the Red Lake area.

Ministry of Natural Resources Information Officer Kathy Crampton says the lightning caused fire is 32-hundred hectares in size and growing.

Heavy smoke from the fires was blowing into the Kenora area and parts of southern

Manitoba over the weekend.

Walk For Good Life wraps up

A group of walkers has completed their journey around the Kenora-Rainy River district.

The seventeen young people took part in the "Walk for Good Life" that started a week ago on the Eagle Lake First Nation.

16-year-old Justin Morrison of Couchiching says its been a great experience.

The group wrapped up the trek yesterday back at the Eagle Lake First Nation.

Libitka and Bennett win KBI

It came down to the wire, but the Kenora duo of Mark Libitka and Dave Bennett took away top honors at the 24th annual Kenora Bass International.

They reeled in 50.67 pounds of bass, just edging out Jeff Gustafson and Chris Savage, who weighed in

last on day three of KBI on Saturday.

Jess Swenson and Michael Reid from Sioux Narrows placed third with 47.83 pounds.

Libitka and Bennett took home more than 25 thousand dollars for their three days of work on Lake of the Woods.

In the Can/Am Challenge, Team Canada narrowly beat out Team USA by less than four pounds.

Dragon Boat Races this weekend

Rabbit Lake will be infested with dragons this weekend.

The annual Dragon Boat Festival will launch from Garrow Park on Sunday.

Darlene McGillvary is the executive director of the Kenora and Lake of the Woods Regional Community Foundation and says they are expecting an excellent turn-out.

Racing will take place all day long, with finals set to begin at 2:00 Sunday afternoon.

Curling Club gets Trillium Funding

The Kenora Curling Club is getting some help paying for some renovations.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation has promised 76 thousand to install a new roof  and boiler system to upgrade the facility.

The money is part of the 766-thousand dollars in community grants to 11-local  not-for-profit organizations.

Lac Seul First Nation is also receiving 84-thousand dollars to establish an  Ojibway community radio station.