By Matt Prokopchuk
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
NWOnewswatch.com

CAT LAKE — Several winter road construction projects have received provincial funding, and one First Nations council manager says those corridors continue to be crucial lifelines. Jonathan Salo is the technical unit manager at Windigo First Nations Council. The organization provides a number of social, economic development and other services […]

By Debbi Christinck
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Eganville Leader

Hardwood Lake – When Wesley Behm was only 11 days old, he became Canada’s youngest heart transplant recipient.  Last week he died aged 36, with his family by his side, having lived what his family described as a beautiful life full of love for others. He loved nature and his home […]

By Carl Clutchey
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle-Journal

The proponent of a proposed meat-processing plant near Murillo says it will provide more information about its plans before local municipal officials sit down again to discuss the project next month. Dave Gaudino, a Thunder Bay-based spokesman for a numbered company behind the project, said Monday he plans to submit […]

By Clint Fleury
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
TBnewswatch.com

THUNDER BAY – Local elementary teachers’ unions are skeptical about the Ford government’s recent announcement of the Classroom Supplies Fund. Starting in September, elementary teachers will receive $750 each year for classroom supplies. Lakehead Elementary Teachers of Ontario president Dave Paddington says the recent announcement is a declaration from Doug […]

By Shari Narine
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com

Canada: We are the Story is the colourful and engaging children’s picture book that re-imagines “The Canada Poem” by late Ojibway writer Richard Wagamese. David Robertson, editorial director of publisher Swift Water, a new imprint of Penguin Random House Canada, was approached by Wagamese’s agents and asked to adapt a number […]

By Andrew Flynn
Editor-in-chief
aflynn@fortfrances.com

A coroner’s inquest will be held into the death of 18-year-old Justin Fiddler, who died in hospital in Thunder Bay in 2019 after sustaining injuries at the Ge-Da-Gi-Binez Youth Centre in Fort Frances. The inquest will investigate the circumstances of Fiddler’s death while in custody at Ge-Da-Gi-Binez, which opened in […]

By Sandi Krasowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle-Journal

Final Drives Canada, a Thunder Bay-based international distribution company, is expanding and relocating to Dawson Road thanks to $78,000 given from the Ontario government. The funds, which are made possible through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC), are part of the province’s spending aimed at providing northern businesses the […]

By Carl Clutchey
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Chronicle-Journal

Neebing’s fire chief is urging the province to add medical first responders to a list of crew members eligible for compensation should they become ill with cancer following exposure to carcinogenic materials at emergency scenes. In a letter last month to various provincial agencies, including the Workplace Safety and Insurance […]

By Jacqueline M. St. Pierre
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The Manitoulin Expositor

NORTHERN ONTARIO—Across much of Northern Ontario, the demographic equation has quietly flipped. In town after town, the math of life itself has turned upside down: more funerals than births, more grey hair than diapers. Population growth, once driven by families putting down roots, now depends increasingly on newcomers arriving from […]

By Matt Prokopchuk
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
NWOnewswatch.com

MARATHON — The federal government should improve the Trans-Canada through northern Ontario as part of committed military spending. That’s according to the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association, the organization that represents and lobbies for 37 municipalities in the Northwest. Its president, Rick Dumas, sent a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney […]