District

Aboriginal youth at the Ge-Da-Gi-Binez Youth Centre here participated in a Lacrosse for Development Program last week to help them develop life skills, leadership, and goal-setting.

You don’t have to be a member of a team to support this year’s “Relay For Life.”
Set to go this Friday night at Fort Frances High School, with opening ceremonies starting at 6:30 p.m., the public is invited to come out to help in the fight against cancer.
“There’s going to be lots of stuff going on before the opening ceremonies starts,” noted committee co-chair Jennifer Anderson.

Heading into the final week of another school year, dozens of “Happy Retirement” cards already lined the desk of Mary-Catherine Kelly, who has been the director of education for the Northwest Catholic District School Board for nearly eight years.
Reflecting on her career here, Kelly expressed what a “wonderful experience” it has been.

Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board has laid out a five-year plan in its first-ever strategic plan.
The board approved the plan at its inaugural annual general meeting last Thursday night at the Fort Frances Volunteer Bureau.

No new fires were reported in the West Fire Region yesterday.
As well, the number of active fires dropped from 25 to 22 as of this morning.
These include 12 in Nipigon District, nine in Sioux Lookout District, and one in Thunder Bay District.
Since April 1, the region has seen a total of 147 fires, which have consumed 6,704.8 hectares to date.

Just one new blaze was confirmed in the Northwest Region yesterday, which otherwise experienced a quiet weekend on the fire scene.
Nipigon Fire #34 is a 0.1-hectare blaze currently classified as “not under control.”
There remain 25 active fires in the region, including 13 in Nipigon District, nine in Sioux Lookout District, one in Thunder Bay District, and one in Red Lake District.

Five people were killed in a single-vehicle accident early Saturday evening northwest of Sioux Lookout.
Police said a GMC Terrain SUV was northbound on Slate Falls Road around 7 p.m. when it left the roadway and entered the Brokenmouth River about 15 km south of Slate Falls First Nation.

Although there was a brief respite in the fire hazard following rain at the beginning of the week, the effects of that are wearing off.
As such, the fire hazard is now “high to extreme” in the northwest sectors of the region and along the north shore of Lake Superior.
It is “moderate to high” elsewhere.
This warming trend is forecast to continue into the weekend.

Rainy River First Nations Solar Partnership has entered a purchase and sale agreement yesterday to acquire three utility-scale solar projects totalling 25 mW from Ontario Solar PV Fields, a joint venture between ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. and Global PVQ Canada Corp.

The forest fire hazard has levelled off to “moderate” throughout Northwestern Ontario, with no new fires reported since Sunday.
There remain 22 actives fires in the Northwest Region, but it’s expected that some of those will be called “out” today.
The majority of these blazes are located in the far north and are not directly threatening any community at this time.