“Volunteers Grow Communities” is the theme for this year’s National Volunteer Week (April 17-23), which certainly rings true right here in Rainy River District. Volunteers are all around us, day in and day out, yet far too often we take for granted their enormous contributions that help make our communities […]
Editorials
At first glance, at least, it certainly looks like district tourist operators will be the ones hardest hit by new U.S. regulations that, among other things, will require Americans returning home from a trip to this country to present passports at the border. Sure, loyal customers who have been coming […]
Recent community “summits,” conferences, and workshops have focused on the economic problems facing Rainy River District—job losses in the forest industry, the impact “mad cow” disease has had on local cattle farmers, border issues affecting area tourism outfitters, and the out-migration of our young people. All these are important issues, […]
The Rainy River Federation of Agriculture, led by president Trish Neilson, deserves top marks for staging an “ag summit” today in Barwick, bringing together a broad cross-section of the district farming community to tackle the myriad of serious issues facing that industry. Certainly no one expects to solve all the […]
The decision Friday by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to take control of Rainycrest Home for the Aged, appointing Riverside Health Care Facilities, Inc. as interim administrator in the process, clearly left heads spinning here—and more questions than answers. The ministry said its control is temporary, “until a […]
Ten years ago, our community rallied to a cause—braving a frigid February evening to stage the “Walk for Alex” to lend support (financially and morally) to a young child undergoing aggressive chemotherapy treatment to fight the cancer that was eating away at the bone marrow in his right leg. That […]
Dear Mr. Editor: I am hoping this letter will prompt business owners in Fort Frances to be more aware of the flags that they fly in the front of their establishments. I repeatedly have called several businesses in Fort Frances over the years to ask them to either replace the […]
District residents can cheer legislation introduced by the provincial Liberal government on Monday that, among other things, will keep the Kenora-Rainy River riding intact rather than see us tacked on to Thunder Bay, as is the case at the federal level. Back in 1996, the former Conservative government under then […]
Success in recruiting and retaining physicians is crucial to the future health of Fort Frances, so it’s comforting to see town council and others finally waking up to the urgency of the problem. True, this situation did not crop up overnight. The local physician recruitment and retention committee has been […]
“I went to the fights last night and a hockey game broke out,” the late, great Rodney Dangerfield once observed. Who knows what he might have said had he been at the Ice for Kids Arena here last night? Sure, despite its long reputation for the rough stuff (remember “Slapshot”), […]
It was good to see that the Northwest Catholic District School Board didn’t immediately pull the plug on its French Immersion program at last night’s meeting. Whether or not it can still be saved, however, remains to be seen. French Immersion was on life support last year when less than […]
Building an abattoir in the west end of the district to provincial standards, rather than to more stringent federal ones, may seem tempting on paper—especially to district cattle farmers feeling the crunch from the “mad cow” crisis. For one thing, as Peter Spuzak, president of the Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association, […]
