By Tyler Moffitt
Fire Chief/CEMC
Fort Frances Fire Rescue Service

On January 7, 2024, at approximately 11:09 p.m. the Fort Frances Fire Rescue Service responded to a house fire in the 800 hundred block of Nelson Street. Six full time firefighters, six part-time firefighters, and the fire chief responded with a pumper truck, an aerial ladder truck, and a rescue […]

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 Sam Laskaris
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com

Justina Di Stasio, a member of Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba, took another step toward fulfilling her lifelong dream of representing Canada in the women’s wrestling competition at this year’s Paris Olympics. In mid-December she took top honours in her weight class at the Canadian team trials held in […]

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 […]

–Allan Bradbury photo

Members of local fire departments, Treaty Three Police, and staff from a nearby provincial park were among those who received training on how to lead search and rescue (SAR) efforts in December. The training was sponsored by Indigenous Services Canada. Students learned about the technical capabilities of GPS units, search […]

By Tyler J. Moffitt
Fire Chief – Fort Frances Fire Rescue Service

The shortage of Firefighters across Canada is a growing crisis, as well as a disaster. In 2016, when I became Fire Chief, there were over 126,000 volunteer firefighters in Canada. In 2023, that number diminished by over 37,000. The unfortunate clarity of the shortage of firefighters makes many communities, including […]

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 Tyler Moffitt
Fort Frances Fire Rescue Service Chief
Press Release

(Fort Frances, ON) – December 21, 2023, at approximately 11:29 a.m. the Fort Frances Fire Rescue Service responded to a structure fire (house fire) in the 400 block of Sixth Street West. Six fulltime firefighters, four part-time firefighters, and the fire chief responded with a pumper truck, an aerial ladder […]