SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IN AFFECT 
Listen below for the interview with fearless leader Bill Nelson on this amazing festival, Sunset on the Strip!
Buy tickets here: https://sunsetonthestrip.com/
Lillian Berg staff and students in Vermilion Bay recognized Orange Shirt Day by honouring residential school survivours and those who didn’t make it home, with a collaborative school project.
Students and staff were tasked with decorating a small tile with a design or words that honoured Indigenous peoples.
Many chose local Elders who are survivors, others chose children who didn’t survive the Mc Intosh school and some even chose to honour family members.
Listening and learning doesn’t stop with Orange Shirt Day, as Grade 7 student Hailey says it’s an important part of Canadian history that everyone should know.
“We all have to learn about everybody and to respect everybody, regardless of who they are and what their culture is.”
Another Grade 7 student at Lillian Berg, Olivia explains what the day means to her.
“To me, Orange Shirt Day means to learn about residential schools, but I also think it shows everyone should be respected even if they are different from you. To also learn from past mistakes and learning why it’s so important.”
Grade 7/8 teacher Shannon Elliot says they were inspired by the local Elders who shared their stories in a video made by Lloyd Napish.
All the tiles will be put together in one big collective piece to be displayed in the school where everyone can see.
This was just one of many KPDSB school Orange Shirt Day activities on Wednesday.
Check out their Facebook page to see more.
https://www.facebook.com/KPDSB/posts/4394071400663479?__tn__=-R
A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for the Dryden and Vermilion Bay Area as well as Sioux Lookout and Ignace.
Environment Canada meteorologists are tracking a severe thunderstorm capable of producing strong wind gusts and nickel to ping pong ball size hail.
This severe thunderstorm is located 7 kilometres south of Little Mekenak Lake, moving east at 40 km/h.
Locations impacted include:
Hill Lake and Lawrence Lake.
Take cover immediately, if threatening weather approaches. Large hail can damage property and cause injury. Lightning kills and injures Canadians every year. Remember, when thunder roars, go indoors!
Severe thunderstorm warnings are issued when imminent or occurring thunderstorms are likely to produce or are producing one or more of the following: large hail, damaging winds, torrential rainfall.
The Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management recommends that you take cover immediately if threatening weather approaches.
The Vermilion Bay Lions Club has mobilized to support Red Lake fire evacuees.
Food hampers are now available, which will provide displaced residents staying in the Machin area with the basic needs for a couple of days.
If you need a hamper contact Veronica Le Ray at 647-289-9230 or 807-227-5246.
The Lions Club is also donating clothing and arranging items for those in need.
For more information contact the Municipal Office at 227-2633.
Motorists can expect delays on Highway 17 west of Dryden.
A vehicle fire near Eagle River briefly blocked both lanes of traffic on the Trans-Canada Tuesday morning.
Traffic control is in place and travel on the east and west lanes will alternate until the scene is cleared.
There have been no reports of injuries.
Tbaytel customers in Vermilion Bay can expect service disruptions Wednesday and Thursday.
Wireless maintenance upgrades are taking place both days from 7:00am until 3:00pm.
Wireless customers will experience outages of up to one hour each day to their Tbaytel HSPA mobility service, including voice calls, data usage and text messaging.
Officials say every effort will be taken to restore service as quickly as possible.
Any customers experiencing issues with their Tbaytel mobility service outside of this maintenance window are encouraged to contact Tbaytel’s 24-hour technical support team at (807) 623-4400 or toll-free at 1-800-264-9501.
Lots of regional tourism business owners and supporters are rallying in Vermilion Bay today.
It’s estimated over 200 people have come out to the Tourism Matters Rally today to help see more support from the government for the tourism industry.
Owner and Operator of Sunset Country Adventures and Organizer Steve Smith says they want both levels of government to hear that they need support.
Smith says there have been bailouts for other businesses and it seems their industry has been forgotten.
He also says the only supports they currently have available is a $40,000 loan with interest which would be hard to pay with no income from the camps and support for employee wages, but if they are not open then they don’t need to worry about wages.
Smith says they hope they would see some sort of stimulus just to help with their fixed cost for hydro, mortgage, insurance and more.
He also says he doesn’t expect the US border to be open anytime soon for good reason, so that’s why they are looking to the Provincial and Federal Governments for more assistance.
Smith also says Tourism is a very important industry for our region and plays an important role for other businesses in the region as well.
Crystal Lake Campground Owner Robin Gagne says most of his customer base isn’t even from the United States, but they are also seeing losses as well.
He says many of his customers are European who are obviously not visiting at the moment, but most of his customers are Canadians.
Gagne says there hasn’t been as much travel between provinces which plays a huge role in the number of customers they have.
Big turnout at the Tourism Matters Rally in Vermilion Bay! pic.twitter.com/pp9PiLkMJH
— CKDR News (@ckdrnews) June 13, 2020
Environment Canada has issued a Tornado Watch for the Dryden, Ignace, Vermilion Bay, Fort Frances and Kenora Areas.
Conditions are favourable for the development of severe thunderstorms which may produce tornadoes.
Hazards include tornadoes, ping pong ball to tennis ball size hail and damaging wind gusts of 100 to 130 km/h.
Environment Canada says storms could happen from late this afternoon through to late this evening.
They also urge you to be prepared for severe weather and take cover immediately if threatening weather approaches.
Meanwhile, communities north of Highway 17 including Red Lake, Ear Falls, Sioux Lookout and Hudson are under Severe Thunder Storm advisories as well.
Complete forecasts as well as Dopller Radar and ‘Real Time Lightning” can be found on our weather page HERE
Despite a reduction in operations at the Experimental Lakes Area, west of Vermilion Bay, there are some researchers out there this summer.
Executive Director Matt McCandless says while they had to cancel some of their projects because of COVID-19, they have been able to go ahead with others.
“What we will be doing this year is continuing long-term monitoring. So studying the temperature of fish, lakes and biota of lakes. And this is the famous 52 year long data record. It will continue unbroken this year.”
He adds “Our long-term work on algae. Understanding that harmful algae, which of course is a problem and emerging issue with lakes around the world, including Lake of the Woods, that work is going to continue this year as well.”
McCandless says they usually have about 60 researchers out at the ELA at any given time, but this summer, they expect to have about 75% less.
“Some of our experiments that we are suspending for the year include the oil spill experiment. That will be restarting next year as opposed to this year. Similarly a new project on micro-plastics. We’re going to be doing some preparatory work for it this year, but really it’s going to start in full-swing next year as well.”
