Ne-Chee Friendship Center Looking for New Board Members

The Ne-Chee Friendship Center is looking for a couple of new board members.

Ne-Chee's Board of Directors has accepted the resignations of Leanna Leask and Bob Albany at their meeting earlier this month.

The Friendship Center will be holding a general meeting to fill the vacancies.

The actual date of the general meeting hasn't been announced yet.

McIntosh Residential School Commemoration Today

Another commemoration ceremony is taking place today for residential school survivors.

The McIntosh Residential School operated north of Vermillion Bay by the Roman Catholic Church between 1924 to 1969.

The Commemoration Ceremony is taking place at the Best Western Lakeside Inn and features a number of speakers who were students at the school.

The event is a day long affair and will wrap up this evening with some entertainment, including the Billy Joe Green Band.

Bayfield Wraps Up Drilling Project

Bayfield Ventures has stopped its drills for this season.

The company has been conducting an extensive exploration program on its Burns Block project, south of Kenora and adjacent to New Gold's gold project.

It says drilling has confirmed the widespread distribution of gold and silver in high grade shoots with the potential of further discoveries.

Street Gangs Turning To Social Media

Facebook and other social media sites are becoming the tools of choice of local street gangs.

Graffiti and tagging are slowly starting to be replaced by more high tech
forms of communications.

Brad Greer is with the Kenora Street Crimes Unit and says social media
is also a lot more anonymous.

Greer adds that the Native Syndicate and Indian Posse continue to be the
most prominent gangs in this region, though they are keeping a little lower
profile than in the past.

He says their main source of income comes from dealing in weapons and drugs.

Northwest Innovation Center Meets Local Entrepreneurs

Calling all entrepreneurs.

The Northwest Innovation Center wants you.

Members of the Center are in Kenora this week talking about
their services.

Terry Smith says they have a number of meetings set up over two days.

Smith says while the Innovation Center is located in Thunder Bay, they can help local entrepreneurs expand or help them market their products.

MNR Conducts Hunting Blitz

The Ministry of Natural Resources says it pulled out all the stops in a weekend blitz to enforce deer hunting safety.  

Officials say they laid 11 charges in the effort including lying to a conservation officer, hunting without a licence and failing to wear hunter orange.

They say the region was patrol
led by air and land including the use of the OPP canine unit and its officers.

Health Unit Conducting Phone Survey

The Northwestern Health Unit is launching a telephone survey starting this week.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Perrault says they will be contacting their partners from health, education, social services and other agencies,

Perrault says they want to ensure the Health Unit is delivering the proper public health services to area residents.

The survey will also be used to measure the success of the 2013-2016 strategic plan.

Oracle Research is conducting the survey on behalf of the Health Unit.

NOMA to Hear from local Vets about Office Closure

Veterans and members of the Public Service Alliance will be speaking to the Northwestern Ontario Municipalities Association today.

They're pushing for support to help keep the Federal Government from closing the local Veterans Affairs Office.

World War 2 Veteran Roy Lamore says the move is going to mean hardships for veterans.

NOMA is considering a motion opposing the office closure in Thunder Bay and another 8 across Canada.

Tories Complain About Mazza in Lakehead ER

Dr. Chris Mazza's stint in the emergency room of the Thunder Bay
Health Sciences Center has caught the attention of at least one politician
at Queen's Park.

Conservative MPP Frank Klees says its not appropriate for the former
president and CEO of ORNGE to be back on the public payroll.

He says Mazza should be in jail, not a hospital ER.

Health Minister Deb Matthews says its up to each hospital to hire medical staff, and it's not her job to dictate who they can or cannot employ.

Auditor's Report Raises Red Flag About First Nation Emergencies

The Department of Aboriginal Affairs needs to be more proactive when it comes to dealing with emergencies on first nations.

That's one of the recommendations contained in the Auditor General's annual fall report.

Michael Ferguson says of the almost half billion dollars spent on emergencies over the past four years, only one percent has gone towards prevention.

Ferguson's report also suggests that outdated or missing emergency plans are putting first nation communities at risk.

Bronco Hockey Teams Split at Home

Beaver Brae's girls hockey team has earned its first win of the season.

The Broncos got by their cross-town rivals from Thomas Aquinas last night 5-1.

It was the Saints first game of the season.

Rylee Smith had a pair of goals for the Broncos to lead the offense.

Meanwhile, a third period collapse cost Beaver Brae's boys hockey team.

The Broncos were tied 4-4 with Dryden entering the final frame, but the Eagles scored five unanswered goals to secure the win.

Jed Rattai had a pair of goals in the loss.

Beaver Brae doesn't have a lot of time to lick its wounds as they travel to Sioux Lookout tonight to face the Warriors.

Bronco Hockey Teams In Action Today

A busy week for Beaver Brae's boys hockey team.

The Broncos play three games in four nights.

Tonight, Beaver Brae hosts Dryden at the Rec. Center, then
heads to Sioux Lookout tomorrow night.

Game time is 7:30 this evening.

Meanwhile, it will be an all-Kenora affair in girls hockey.

The Thomas Aquinas girls team will play its first game of the season
tonight when they face Beaver Brae at the Rec. Center.

Game time is 4:30.

SN-NF To Operate Caliper Lake Provincial Park Next Year

Some hope for a provincial park in northwestern Ontario.

Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls town council has voted in favour of operating Caliper Lake next summer.

Mayor Bill Thompson says they managed to get the Ministry of Natural Resources to make some concessions in the operation of the camp sites.

Thompson says the MNR has also agreed to add Sioux Narrows to the provincial park reservation system, which he feels will benefit the operation of that park next year.

Thompson estimates the town spends between 30 to 50 thousand dollars each year to operate
Sioux Narrows Park, and admits they don't know how much more it will cost to maintain Caliper Lake.

Lake of the Woods Hospital Board Receives Provincial Honor

The Lake of the Woods District Hospital has been received the first ever “Leading Governance Excellence” Award.

The award, presented by the Ontario Hospital Association's Governance Center
of Excellence, recognizes work done by a hospital's board of directors.

Board Chair Fred Richardson says there is one big reason they received the reward.

He says community involvement was key to the honor.

Richardson says the Ownership and Linkages Committee is their outreach into the community.

Richardson says there was 26 submissions between 2 categories.

Campbell Seeking Input on Road Conditions

 Kenora-Rainy River MPP Sarah Campbell is using social media to find
out what local motorist feel about our road conditions.

Campbell has put out a Facebook message asking constituents to share their
stories about the state of local highways.

She's responding to Transportation Minister Glen Murray's promise to come to
northwestern Ontario and talk to local road maintenance contractors if the situation doesn't improve.

Campbell is asking residents to message her, contact her constituency office or
e-mail her directly.

Winnipeg Hunter Runs Afoul of MNR

A Winnipeg man has been fined 15-hundred for illegally exporting deer from northwestern Ontario.

Leonard Rivers pleaded guilty to the charge as well as providing false information to a Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer.

Court heard that Rivers told officers he had not hunted during the fall of 2012.

However, an investigation found that Rivers obtained a non-resident deer hunting licence and harvested an antlered white-tailed deer north of Kenora.

Court heard that Rivers butchered the deer and transported the meat to Manitoba by train, even though he didn't have a permit to do so.

Northerners Embracing Liberals Common Voice

Northerners appear to be responding to the Premier Wynne's call for ideas.

Liberals from the region gathered in Thunder Bay on the weekend to discuss the Common Ground initiative.

Regional Vice-president Anthony Leek says he's happy with the response.

Some of the ideas include strengthening Telehealth services and creating a Far North Advisory council.

Former ORNGE CEO Working In ER

The former president and CEO of the Ornge Air Ambulance CEO Dr. Chris Mazza is moving onto a different line of work.

Mazza spent some time this weekend as an ER doctor at the Regional Health Sciences Center in Thunder Bay.

Chief of Staff Dr. Gordon Porter says he has no concerns that the controversy surrounding Mazza.

Porter says in fact he'd like it if Mazza helped fill future ER shifts.

Porter says the hospital is in need of part time physicians to help staff the ER.

Conservatives Reclaim Provencher Riding

No change in the standings in the House of Commons following four
federal by-elections.

The Conservatives held onto their two seats in Manitoba.

Ted Falk was an easy winner in the Provencher Riding just west of Kenora
taking 58.1 percent of the vote.

The Harper Conservatives also narrowly held onto Brandon-Souris.

Meanwhile, the Liberals held onto Toronto Center and also the Bourassa
riding in Montreal.

Good Results for Young Sharks in Dryden

Some impressive results from a couple of members of the Kenora Sharks
Swim Club at the Formula 500 meet in Dryden over the weekend.

10 year old Evan McDonald led the medal parade with five first place finishes.

On the girls side, Alexis From won four gold and a silver, while
Emilia Mastromateo took home three firsts and two seconds.

Jessica Therian and Samantha Green also enjoyed a number of strong
performances.