By Mike Stimpson
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Thunder Bay Source

SIOUX LOOKOUT – People in this Northwestern Ontario town pay a lot for home heating, gasoline and other essentials, says a town councillor. That’s why Coun. Reece Van Breda has been campaigning to get the town put back on the Canada Revenue Agency’s list of northern communities whose residents qualify […]

By Sandy Krasowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle Journal

Thunder Bay, Ont. — Gauging the annual success of Paro Centre for Women’s Enterprise is not just about how well a company did, it’s all about their circles of women entrepreneurs, their successes and the creation of new businesses and employment. Rosalind Lockyer, Paro founder and chief executive officer, says […]

Police briefs (FORT FRANCES, ON) – The Rainy River District Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is warning the public to be aware of fraudulent text messages they may receive. Do You Know How to Spot a Text Scam? The text message scams are the new way of making […]

By Greg Seitz
Quetico Superior Wilderness News

With Boundary Waters permits for the 2024 quota season on sale, the current methods to reserve permits to enter the wilderness is not working well, according to some outfitters. Several have said they believe the Forest Service needs to change the system, and one resort owner and outfitter is proposing […]

By Shari Narine
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com

How do the lives of an Indigenous professor and an aging hockey player in the Indigenous Hockey League intersect with an investigation being carried out by a Toronto detective? It’s all because of an Indigenous myth terrorizing the largest city in Canada. That’s the premise of Ojibway author Drew Hayden […]

By Mike Stimpson
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Thunder Bay Source

CAT LAKE FIRST NATION – City dwellers may have welcomed the unseasonably warm December weather, but it made Cat Lake’s chief a tad nervous. Chief Russell Wesley estimated in a recent interview that his remote community northeast of Red Lake might see a winter-road season of just four weeks, with […]

By Carl Clutchey
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle-Journal

Neebing, Ont. — Mild temperatures and low snowfall amounts so far this winter is bad news for sledders and skiers, but small municipalities may receive a break on the amounts they have to put out for plowing and sanding local roads. In Neebing Township, just southwest of Thunder Bay, the […]

By Dave Baxter
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Winnipeg Sun

First Nations leaders say hunters, fishers and trappers in Manitoba continue to be unfairly targeted and disciplined by conservation officers for exercising their Treaty rights. At the First Nation Hunters and Commercial Fisherman Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Meeting in Winnipeg on Thursday, they asked the province’s new NDP government to […]

By Michelle Gamage
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Tyee

It took only one puff of drugs cut with xylazine to knock the tall, solidly built William Bernier out for an hour. Bernier, who didn’t know he was taking xylazine, was alarmed by the sudden powerful rush despite having more than a decade’s worth of experience using drugs. First, he […]

From the OPP
Press release

(KENORA, ON) – The Kenora Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is seeking the public’s assistance in investigating a mischief. On December 30, 2023, shortly after 11:00 p.m., the Kenora OPP Detachment received information about a mischief incident at the intersection of Main Street South and Second Street South […]

By Allan Bradbury
Staff writer
abradbury@fortfrances.com

Observed today for the second time, National Ribbon Skirt Day originated in 2020 when 10-year-old Isabella Kulak wore a ribbon skirt on her school’s “formal wear day” and was shamed by a staff member. According to the ribbonskirtproject.ca ribbon skirts are an ancient tradition among the different Indigenous groups across […]

From the IAFF
Press release

OTTAWA – The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) is marking January as the inaugural Firefighter Cancer Awareness Month in Canada.  Nearly all professional Canadian fire fighters have felt the pain of losing colleagues in the line of duty from occupational cancers. In the five-year period 2018-2022, an average of […]