Some Kenora Flavour at the Memorial Cup

A bit of a Kenora connection at the Memorial Cup tonight in Shawinigan.

Kevin Raine of the London Knights will be on the ice against Michael St. Croix of the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Raine is a former member of the Kenora Triple "a" Midget Thistles, while St. Croix is the youngest son of former Kenora Muskies goalie Rick St. Croix.

Both teams sit at 1-1 after two games at the Memorial Cup.

Two Fighters qualify for Canadian Karate Team

Two members of the Kenora Can-Te Karate Club have qualified to fight for Team Canada at the World Championships this fall.

Darcy Ilderton and Kaylin Sundin qualified at the WKC Canadian Championships this past weekend in Montreal.

Ilderton won silver in continous fighting, while Sundin took home a bronze medal in the same event.

Ilderton also finished 7th in point sparring, while Sundin was 5th.

The World Championships will take place in Montreal in October.

Announcement on Lake of the Woods Watershed expected June 30th

A new era for Lake of the Woods could begin this summer.

The federal government's of Canada and the United States are expected to announce their plans for the local watershed by June 30th.

Todd Sellars from the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation says at this point they don't know what to expect.

Sellars says he was in Ottawa earlier this month to meet with federal officials about the IJC report on Lake of the Woods.

Manitoba Complains About the Closure of the Experimental Lakes Area

The Manitoba government is worried about federal cuts that will shut down a world-class water research project near Kenora.

Conservation Minister Gord Mackintosh says his staff have already begun to lobby Ottawa to reverse the decision to close the Experimental Lakes Area.

The research program being killed made important findings on hydro development, the banning of phosphorus in detergent, acid rain and mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants.

The Harper government says the provinces or universities could fund the research instead.

NAPS Seize Drugs in Nakina

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Police have made a significant drug bust in Nakina, 3-hundred Kilometres North of Thunder Bay.

Police raided a home and found more than 42-thousand dollars worth of marijuana and hashish.

Police Spokesperson Jackie George points out the location of the seizure as being key because Nakina is the jump off point for a number of northern Communities. 

A 46-year old Nakina man has been arrested and will appear next in court on June 14th.

Fight for Tourism Centers isn`t Over Yet

The fight to reopen tourist information centres in Fort Frances, Rainy River and Kenora is not over.

That according to Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell.

Campbell held a rally Saturday in front of the Fort Frances centre to say there's some encouraging news coming out of Queen's Park.

Campbell doesn't support handing the centres over to municipalities, something she sees as a form of downloading.

SIU Called in to Investigate Thunder Bay Fatal

The Special Investigations Unit has been called in to examine the circumstances surrounding the death of a 67-year-old man in Thunder Bay on Sunday.

Late that night, a police officer was about to pull over a reported stolen vehicle, but the vehicle didn't stop after the officer activated his cruiser's lights.

A short distance later, the vehicle crashed in a second vehicle.

The driver of that second vehicle, a 67-year-old man, died at the scene.

Police say 20-year-old Shane Kolody is charged with Criminal Negligence Causing Death and Possession of Stolen Property Over 5-thousand dollars.

Landmark Agreement for Wabigoon

A landmark settlement for Wabigoon Lake Ojibway First Nation.

Ontario is going to pay 27-million dollars in financial compensation for past and ongoing flooding on the shoreline of reserve lands.

Chief Ruben Cantin Senior says the agreement follows 20-years of negotiations.

Cantin Senior says the problem was rooted in the construction of a provincially-approved dam without the First Nations consent in 1897.

MNR Crews make Headway on Falcon Island Fire

Overnight rains should help fire crews deal with a massive fire on an island on Lake of the Woods.

Kenora Fire #36 on Falcon Island grew to about 580 hectares in size over the weekend.

Crews were able to make some headway over the weekend with some wet weather.

There were able to establish helipads and fire lines around the blaze.

There are still some hot spots that continue to challenge fire fighers.

Falcon Island is located about 35 kilometers south of Kenora near the U.S. border.

Discover Center adds Interpretive Forest

Its been a busy weekend for Tourism Kenora.

In addition to the Discovery Center, summer staff have opened up the Thistle Pavillion for another year.

Tourism Development Officer, Heather Paterson says one of the things they want to do at the Discovery Center is add an interpretive forest.

``We`re working on the project right now.  I`m expecting to have the trees in the ground by the beginning of June. The back side of the building will be a forest that will be broken down into eco-system beds, will have information and identification.``

Paterson says they also expect to add some docking space at the Discovery Center later this summer.

OPP Locate Body of Missing Atikokan Man

The OPP say they have found the body of a missing Atikokan man six months after he was initially reported missing.

The remains of 49 year old Eric Natti were recovered on Miller Lake last week by members of the Underwater Search and Recovery Unit.

Natti was reported missing back in Novmeber after he failed to report to work.

A search was unable to locate him at the time due to cold weather and ice conditions.

A post-mortem was held Friday in Thunder Bay.

Youth Nabbed in Break-in

A 17 year old youth faces charges after a failed break-in attempt in the River Street area.

The OPP say the youth entered a home around 3:30 in the morning.

However, he was met by the homeowner, who held the suspect until police arrived at the scene.

That was one of two break and enters reported to the local OPP over the weekend.

Saints Boys win NorWOSSA Soccer Gold

A gold medal for one of Thomas Aquinas' soccer teams at the NorWOSSA championships.

The Saints boys squad needed extra time to earn a 1-0 win over Sioux Lookout in the gold medal game yesterday in Rainy River.

T.A. will now advance to the NWOSSA Finals next week.

Meanwhile, the Thomas Aquinas girls teams didn't get the bounces they needed.

The Saints were beaten 3-2 in a shootout by Red Lake in the semi-finals.

It was the girls first loss in NorWOSSA league play this season.

Library Lobbies for Federal Funding Program

The Kenora Public Library is seeking help from city council to fight a recent federal budget cut.

The government is doing away with its Communty Access Program Sustainability funding.

Councillor Ron Lunny says it will mean a loss of just 37 hundred dollars from the Library's bottom line.

He says while its not a lot of money, every penny counts these days in times of tight budget.

Experimental Lakes on the Chopping Block

The Experimental Lakes area east of Kenora is one of the casualties of the federal government's recent budget cuts.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans announced yesterday that it will be closing down the 58 lake freshwater laboratory between Kenora and Dryden.

The Experimental Lakes is considered a world class research facility that studies everything from the effects of acid rain and phosphates on the eco-system to fisheries.

A Fisheries spokesperson says every attempt will be made to transfer the ownership of  the facility to universities or the provinces.

Gravelle Defends the Bear Wise Program

The Minister of Natural Resources is listening to municipal concerns over the changes being made to the bear wise program.

Kenora mayor Dave Canfield has said the cuts to the program are just another service being downloaded onto the backs of municipalities.

Minister, Michael Gravelle says that's not so.

Police will now be handling calls of nuicence bears.

Campbell Talks to Privacy Commissioner

Ontario's Privacy Commissioner is being asked to look into a contract with a Tennessee company which is working on an automated licensing  system for Ontario for hunters and anglers.

Kenora-Rainy River M.P.P. Sarah Campbell raised the issue in the Ontario legislature this morning.

She says the outsourcing of the jobs just adds insult to injury.

Opposition critics are worried that the Patriot Act in the U.S. will allow the American government to access private information about Ontario residents.

Lipinski Returns as President of MNO

A Fort Frances area man has been given another mandate to head the Metis Nation of Ontario.

Gary Lipinski received over 87 per cent of the vote to be returned as president.

The Metis Nation says there was a record voter turnout in this election.

Lipinski says its a strong mandate to continue to push forward on their Métis rights agenda.

NAN gives the Premier the Cold Shoulder

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation is panning the Premier.

They sent him a curt response saying no to his invite to speak at the 7th annual first nations meeting.

NAN is declining the Premier's invite because they would only have seven minutes to speak with Dalton McGuinty and they feel that's not enough time to properly air their grievances.

Phase Three Tender for Downtown Revitalization ready to go

The third phase of the downtown revitalization project will cost almost 700 thousand dollars before a shovel even hits the ground.

City council is planning to award the design and contract administration tenders for the project next week.

Operations manager Rick Perchuck says the same architect reponsible for phases one and two would also be involved in the third phase.

The city is going to be applying to both the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and FedNor to help fund the project.