Across the Rainy River district, plans are now well underway to create a huge celebration of Canada Day. Since 1867 Canadians have rallied around July 1 first as Dominion Day and now as Canada Day. It was not until 1982 that the Day was renamed to Canada Day when the […]
Jim Cumming – From the Publisher Emeritus’ Pen
Jim is the former publisher of the Fort Frances Times Ltd. He writes a weekly column and can be contacted at jcumming@fortfrances.com
The council of Fort Frances earlier this year spoke of the high cost of replacing the community’s infrastructure in Fort Frances. The original sewer in front of the newspaper office was made of clay. Men digging with shovels originally dug a trench about ninety centimeters wide down to a depth […]
I was struck by two news items on Thursday. The first was the 80th anniversary of D-Day when 14,000 Canadian troops stormed Juno Beach breaking the long siege of Nazi Germany over Europe. Three hundred-fifty-nine soldiers died on that day defending Canada. They had all sworn allegiance to protecting Canada. […]
We live on the border. Our two communities, International Falls and Fort Frances, are joined at the hip. We do not have a movie theatre. The Falls does. We have a curling rink. The Falls does not. When our pool was shut down for repairs, the Cyclone Swimming Team travelled […]
Fort Frances is in its most splendid dress. We like to think that our community is a beautiful place to live. We have no major weather issues. We do not have earthquakes. We seldom experience flooding. But this week, Fort Frances puts on its best dresses and flaunts the community’s […]
It is equivalent to Number 11 Downing Street, The White House of Washington, and the Blue House of Seoul. It has been the home of six Canadian Prime Ministers. It is both a private home on one side and the official home of Canada’s prime ministers. Twenty-Four Sussex Drive has […]
This coming weekend is known as Victoria Day Long Weekend when we celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday. The history of Victoria Day goes all the way back to England which declared Victoria Day a national holiday in 1845. It was not until the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 that Canada’s […]
All elections are considered completed with a vote and a simple majority. Whether it is for a municipal, provincial or federal election, we expect that elections will be fair without outside interference. It holds true in a vote for a president of a service club, or a volunteer organization or […]
Are Canadians becoming less tolerant of different religious groups? This thought rolled into my mind as I have watched with concern the growing demonstrations between Pro-Palestinian groups and Pro-Israel groups demonstrating in cities and on campuses across North America. In Quebec the Coalition Avenir Quebec government passed Bill 21 which […]
After a long mild winter, we began the annual spring cleanup of our yard. It used to be a single day to rake the lawn, gather the leaves and all the refuse that has settled under the shrubbery in our yard. Now it takes two days as we have grown […]
There is heat in the sun and the first sign of spring was a dandelion pushing itself up between the cracks in the paving stones of my driveway. New green shoots of grass are growing up from the brown dead grass of last fall. The robins are in my yard […]
A free and open democracy requires strong and open debate on policies and ideas. “Axe the tax” has an easy ring to the ear and quickly denounces the carbon tax that has been implemented by the federal government. It is easily understood by Canadians and is a focal point of […]
