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Funding Boost To Support Crime Victims

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The Treaty Three Police Service is among 21 organizations receiving new crime prevention funding.

Associate Minister of Children and Women’s Issues Jill Dunlop says $6-million will be doled out to police agencies over the next three years to implement crime prevention and community safety initiatives.

“This grant funding is from assets seized from criminal prosecutions, and it’s going back into the community and back to victims and survivors to help them heal,” explains Dunlop.

Treaty Three Police are using $300,000 for their Spirit of Hope Project to reduce domestic violence and human trafficking.

Premier Doug Ford welcomes initiatives like that.

“Too many of our young people are being recruited and preyed on by these gangs. Too many of our young women and girls are preyed on by human traffickers. It’s disgusting, and we’re going to work with our police partners to intervene earlier and stop these heinous crimes,” says Ford.

Other initiatives to receive funding include:

  • Providing training for frontline officers to help them better recognize gang activity and gather intelligence on crime;
  • Adding community patrol officers to neighbourhoods experiencing a surge in gang-related violence or activity to strengthen relationships with community members and deter at-risk youth from entering gangs;
  • Developing and implementing a diversion program to help at-risk youth exit gangs;
  • Supporting covert operations run by police, supported by victim advocates, to identify potential victims of human trafficking and hold offenders accountable;
  • Providing enhanced trauma-informed training and interview techniques for frontline officers to interact with victims in a compassionate and thoughtful way;
  • Bringing together municipal, First Nations and provincial police to improve community responses to human trafficking to help survivors access the supports they need to safely move forward with their lives; and
  • Launching comprehensive education campaigns targeting groups that are more susceptible to becoming victims of human trafficking, such as women in low-income groups, Indigenous and immigrant women, and at-risk youth.
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Funding Boost Announced For Dryden Hospital

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The Dryden Regional Health Centre will be seeing over $380,000 in additional funding from the provincial government.

The amount is specifically $381,300 and represents a 1.9% increase in annual funding for the hospital.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford made the announcement this afternoon at the hospital and says there will not only be a surge of operations in the near future, but the funding will also help as the hospital will have to function in a different way for the time being.

Rickford also says this funding is important, especially for small and medium sized hospitals which face long-standing funding inequities.

He also goes on to say the people of Dryden will benefit in the years to come through this investment in our hospital.

Dryden Regional Health Centre Chief Executive Officer Doreen Armstrong-Ross says the funding is more than important as they have incurred extra expenses to not only prepare for COVID-19, but also with the ongoing services being offered.

Armstrong-Ross also says the financial impact of COVID-19 is yet to be fully realized and our hospitals are likely to be stressed and stretched financially in the days and perhaps years to come.

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Dryden Receiving Provincial Funds For Duke Street Improvements

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The City of Dryden is on the receiving end of some provincial funding for road maintenance.

The City is being provided up to $400,854 to support the milling and repaving of Duke Street between Highway 17 and Colonization Avenue for drainage and sewer improvements.

The money will not include paving of the bridge deck.

The money comes from the provincial Connecting Links program which is assisting municipalities across the province to help them build, repair or replace roads and bridges that connect a provincial highway to a community or border crossing.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford says “Today’s investment to repave Duke Street will serve the people of Dryden and the region for many years to come.”

Rickford adds “Northerners depend on properly-maintained road infrastructure as our primary mode of transportation. That is why our government continues to invest in transportation infrastructure across the province, with focused investments in road infrastructure projects in the north.”

Minister of Transportation Caroline Mulroney says “We understand that the maintenance and repair costs of roads and bridges places a heavy burden on our municipal partners, that is why we continue to support our local communities with investments that will keep families safe, goods moving, and drive economic growth and job creation.”

The provincial government is providing $30 million to 24 municipalities through Connecting Links funding this year.

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Dryden Business Owner On Provincial Small Business Council

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A business owner in Dryden is now a part of the new provincial Small Business Economic Advisory Council.

Little Mod Nest Owner and Operator Morgan Shepherd has been appointed to the council which consists of 12 small business owners across the province.

According to a release Shepherd will be a voice for the business community of Dryden and the region as she is tasked with identifying challenges and providing advice to the government.

Findings, experiences and ideas brought forward by this council will go to the Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee which consists of 13 ministers.

Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford says “I couldn’t have been prouder to learn that Morgan Shepherd of Little Mod Nest was selected to join the Council and bring Main Street small business experience to the table,”

Rickford adds, “The addition of Morgan, will only bolster the ability of this Ministerial Council to provide solid advice to the government on how best to make Ontario Open for Business once again.”

(File photo used)

Members of the Ontario Jobs and Recovery Committee include:

• Rod Phillips, Chair, Minister of Finance

• Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

• Peter Bethlenfalvy, President of the Treasury Board

• Caroline Mulroney, Minister of Transportation

• Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health

• Ernie Hardeman, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

• Greg Rickford, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines and Minister of Indigenous Affairs

• John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry

• Laurie Scott, Minister of Infrastructure

• Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries

• Lisa Thompson, Minister of Government and Consumer Services

• Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development

    • Prabmeet Sarkaria, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction
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Ontario Formally Asks Canada For Help

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The Premier calls the pandemic the fight of our lives.

Doug Ford says we are doing well in stopping the spread in our communities, but long term care homes in southern Ontario are struggling to combat the virus.

“I will draw on every resource and that includes from our federal counterparts,” Ford said.

The province is making a formal request to the federal government for the help that would include military personnel and support for long term care homes.

“They have offered the resources of the federal government to assist Ontario. Those extra reinforcements include resources from the Public Health Agency of Canada and Canadian forces personnel. We will begin by directing the additional personnel are deployed to five priority homes in the province,” Ford said.

The Premier said the additional personnel will provide staffing relief and assist with operations, coordination and medical care for long term care residents.

The provincial government won’t say which long term care homes in the province will be getting the extra help. Officials say it will depend on who needs it the most at the time.

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Province Invests Money In Municipalities

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Area municipalities are receiving provincial dollars to help prepare for future growth.

Ontario is investing up to 8.1-million dollars dollars to support projects that will help 115 small and rural municipalities.

Dryden will use the funds to conduct a Service Delivery and Organizational review, while municipal service delivery reviews will be carried out in Ignace and Machin.

Sioux Lookout is also launching a Municipal Services and Budget Line review and is looking into the future of its Information Technology system.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark says the goal is to help communities lower costs and find better ways to deliver important municipal services like roads, waste management and fire services.

The money comes from the Municipal Modernization Program.

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Province Offers New Deal To Education Unions

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The Ford Government says they’ve made reasonable concessions at the negotiating table in the ongoing fight with teachers and support staff.

During the negotiation process, the Government tabled proposals with each of the teacher unions, which included substantive moves on lower than proposed but not lower than on the ground class sizes, support for students’ unique learning needs, full-day kindergarten, as well as reasonable proposals on merit-based hiring and compensation.

The Province also announced a policy to give parents the ability to opt their children out of the mandatory online courses required for graduation.

The Government is now is calling on the unions to cancel future strikes during this period to allow for good faith bargaining.

Education Minister Stephen Lecce adds the number of students in classrooms will drop from 25 to 23.

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Long Term Care Staff Shortages In Dryden

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Seniors are suffering as staff at long term care homes don’t have adequate time to offer necessary one-on-one care.

Katrina Peterson is the Vice-President of Unifor Local 324, representing workers at Princess Court in Dryden.

Peterson says the province is facing a crisis situation saying there are a few common denominators among health care sectors including lack of staff, funding restraints, ministry constraints, and increasing decline in providing quality care for residents.

She also says no matter how many beds the province opens, there is no clear plan on how to recruit and retain staff.

Peterson mentions they are putting a committee together to address those issues as there is a struggle to fill positions.

Another aspect she talks about is the sector being bogged down by provincial over-regulations, unnecessary paperwork and stifling inspections.

Peterson notes this has resulted in delayed meals, rushed care, missed baths, lack of toiletry, physical and mental hardships, medication errors and no housekeeping.

She is calling on the Ford government to provide tuition breaks for students looking to enter the field, recruitment incentives and a more favourable funding model.

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Province Asked To Act And Help Save Fort Frances Mill

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Time is of the essence to act and get the idled Fort Frances Mill back to producing pulp and paper.

Unifor is calling on the provincial government to get involved and support the community and the forest industry.

Local National Representative Stephen Boon says there was a belief that Resolute Forest Products was being cooperative and was truly interested in selling the facility if the right buyer came out.

Boon says restrictions contained in a sale agreement to sell the mill to Riversedge Developments clearly restricts a buyer to produce pulp and paper, essentially killing the mill.

He adds the government can’t shame a company to do the right thing, but they can apply pressure.

“The province continues their wood licensing, the province controls their regulations, their road money going forward, wood consumption. All of those kind of things are controlled and obviously because of the loans that were forgiven, the province at the end of the day carries a big stick and can also work with Resolute to make it whole.”

Boon is urging the government to quickly intervene, noting re-starting the mill would see 600 direct jobs restored by next year.

“We’ve lost almost 15 permanent closures in the region in the last 15 years. The wood is there. To create a new mill from scratch is just not financially viable for most companies because it would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars if not billions of dollars.”

Boon notes Resolute has received millions of dollars from the province yet has rejected every proposal for renewed mill operations and instead sold the mill property to the re-purposing company.

Boon says once Riversedge Developments starts taking equipment out, that mill will be worth nothing.

He states there’s a growing movement towards producing brown paper, stressing the facility is perfectly fitted for that new reality.

Unifor says it shares the concerns of the people of Fort Frances over the poor outcomes experienced at some of Riversedge’s other former industrial properties, including the recent leaning toward a half-baked marijuana grow-op scheme.

To hear more from Stephen Boon, visit the Audio link below.

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Positive Meetings For Sioux Lookout In Ottawa

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The Mayor of Sioux Lookout says he had solid discussions with provincial officials regarding community needs.

Doug Lawrance and his delegation were in Ottawa last week for the Association of Municipalities of Ontario Conference.

Lawrance says they had a total of eight delegations.

He says they received positive feedback from the government about additional long-term care beds for the Meno Ya Win Health Centre.

Lawrance says one meeting was with Ontario’s Attorney General regarding their continued involvement in a Community Justice Centre for Kenora, which is supposed to include a satellite site in Sioux Lookout.

The government advised Lawrance that the municipality will be involved in the new initiative.

Lawrance says they also talked about the transfer of some Crown land within Sioux Lookout to the Municipality with the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Other meetings:

Solicitor General
-Cost relief on OPP policing costs.
-Mental Health and Addictions and advocating for a Detox/Addictions Treatment Centre and extra Psychiatric services in Sioux Lookout.

Minister of Children, Community and Social Services
-Safe houses for both female and male youth.
-Post-crisis housing for women and children.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing
-Private, Provincial and Municipal Incentive program related to single family rental housing.
-New Emergency Shelter and Service Hub for Sioux Lookout.

Minister of Transportation
-Clarity on five year transit grant.
-Upgrades to the By-pass around Sioux Lookout and upgrades on Highway’s leading into the community.

 

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