Catégorie : Tribune-Express (Hawkesbury)

“Extremely successful,” said Councillor Ian Walker, who sits on the Alfred-Plantagenet Township environmental committee. “It was a good, steady lineup and everybody waited patiently.”

The May 6 event is the fifth year for the annual tree-and-seedling giveaway offered every spring to resident through a partnership between the township and the South Nation Conservation Authority (SNC). The conservation authority provides young tree saplings and seedlings ready for planting and local municipalities, who take part in the program, provide a pickup site and handle the advance registration for the tree and seedling orders.

This year’s event in Plantagenet saw 300 ready-to-plant apple tree saplings handed out to residents for their spring gardening projects, along with about 2000 seedlings of white pine, spruce, maple, oak, sycamore, birch, and also nana berry shrubs.

“There are more and more people concerned about the environment,” said Walker, concerning the growing popularity of the annual tree-and-seedling giveaway.

He noted that the apple tree saplings are a perennial favourite with homeowners.

“They’re glamourous,” he said. “Everybody wants to have an apple tree.”

The local and federal representatives visited the meat processor Monday morning, May 8, to announce the extension of the Agri-Food Pilot program, which works with employers in the agri-food industry to provide foreign temporary workers a pathway to permanent residence status. 

« Our farmers and food processors depend on the steady arrival of foreign workers so that planting, harvesting and food processing activities can take place throughout the year, and they need our continued support to attract and retain these talented workers,” said Fraser. 

First launched in May 2020, the pilot program can process up to 2,750 applications annually and was set to expire on May 14 this year. Fraser announced the government’s intention to support the program until May 2025. 

The announcement included removing the annual occupational caps which limited the number of applicants allowed per occupation. For employers in the region, the lifting of limits means more labour will become available for rural communities. 

“It opens the doors to get more butchers and meat cutters in the area,” said L’Orignal Packing owner Christine Bonneau-O’Neill. « There are so few coming in that they usually go to the big cities like Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto. Decreasing the limit will help bring them to the rural areas.” 

Bonneau-O’Neill said L’Orignal Packing has just one foreign worker on staff, partly because experienced butchers, both at home and abroad, are difficult to find. She hopes this program will give her the opportunity to hire more labour from outside of Canada. 

“There aren’t many butchers around and it isn’t a trade people are really getting into,” said Bonneau-O’Neill. “I have one foreign worker who has been with us since July. As we grow, I’m looking into increasing if I can, especially as a butcher or meat cutter. That would be a great thing.” 

UCPR warden and Mayor of Champlain Township Normand Riopel was pleased to hear rural communities were considered when deciding to extend the program. 

“Whether it’s the upper tier or the lower tier, the municipalities will benefit because we will be able to get people employed in our local businesses,” said Riopel “It’s great news.” 

Other changes to the permanent residency transition include allowing unions, not just employers, to attest to a candidate’s experience, accepting work experience gained under an open work permit and expanding open work permit access to family members. 

“I believe it’s incumbent upon us to extend opportunities for the families to be with them,” said Fraser. “And I think we have a moral responsibility to promote family reunification, which is also going to be an excellent recruitment tool when workers who are thinking about coming to Canada know that their loved ones will be able to be here with them.” 

“It gives us hope for the future, hope in growing our business,” said Bonneau-O’Neill. “It’s a good thing to have hope for future generations of workers, particularly in these trades.” 

Jackson Charron-Okerlund is on Day 60 of his cross-country trek, passing through Hawkesbury, and headed for Ottawa via Alfred-Plantagenet and Clarence-Rockland. He is halfway through his schedule of walking and running across Canada in 120 days to honour the memory of Terry Fox and raise money to support cancer research.

« I’ve always been in awe of Terry Fox, » said Charron-Okerlund, explaining the reason behind his cross-Canada odyssey. « Terry ran halfway across Canada with one leg and a dream. »

Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Charron-Okerlund decided four years ago that he would honour both the dream and the memory of Terry Fox by doing his own cross-country marathon. After a long and intensive course of muscle- and endourance-building and training in long-distance running, Charron-Okerlund left his job as a support person for seniors and went to Newfoundland where Fox began his Marathon of Hope in April 1980. Charron-Okerlhund posed for a photo March 6 with the Terry Fox Memorial statue in St. John’s, then set off on his personal odyssey of hope.

“Working at the care home, I realized that the greatest gift in the world is the gift of life,” he said. “I wanted to take on a cause against something that takes people away from this world. Fortunately, I’ve still got everyone in the world that I deeply are about.”

Preparing for his cross-country odyssey was the first real challenge to Charron-Okerlund’s dream of following in Terry Fox’s footsteps. He chuckles as he recalled that his physical condition was “pretty average” when he first decided that he was going to a cross-Canada marathon against cancer. He started running every day for stamina and, when he wasn’t running, he was at the gym for weight training to build up his leg muscles.

“Squats, calf raises, and on the inclined bench,” he said. “Then I would finish with a ‘hot yoga’ session. My goal is to make at least 50 kilometres a day. Some days I may be doing 70 or 80 kilometres when I get to the Prairies.”

At the start of his journey, Charron-Okerlund was alone on the road, pushing a infant stroller, that he nicknamed Carter, which contained all the few possessions he figured he needed for his journey. On Day 40 just before leaving New Brunswick he was joined by Rob Ingram, his childhood friend, who brought a small camper van to serve as a support vehicle.

“He is my best friend in the whole wide world,” Charron-Okerlund said. “He decided to come out here and help make sure everything goes smoothly all the way to B.C.”

He livestreams his journey through TikTok and other social media. During his journey across the country, Charron-Okerlund meets people along the way who are following his progress and show their support with cash donations and sometimes a gift certificate for a meal at a local restaurant or gasoline for the van.

“People are becoming invested in the journey,” he said, “and seeing to it that I make it all the way safely.”

Jax’s Journey has also acquired a few corporate sponsors, like Telus, which has provided him and Ingram with free cellphones and an unlimited data plan so they can livestream all their adventures on the road to Port Coquitlam, B.C., Terry Fox’s home town. TNL Abatement and Remedial Inc. in St. Leonard, New Brunswick provided them with sleeping bags and a long-distance overhaul of their van, and an offer of more help for the journey should they need it. L’Artisan Yarn in New Brunswick gave them Brunswick and Sid, hand-crocheted moose and sloth dolls for mascots, and is donating the proceeds from sales of any other moose mascots to the project.

The two of them are in touch with and have the blessing of the Terry Fox Foundation. All the money collected during Jax’s Journey will go to the Fox Foundation for distribution to cancer research and support programs. A GoFundMe site is set up to collect donations. Right now the GoFundMe goal is $50,000. As of last Thursday morning, more than $13,000 in donations were pledged on the site at https://www.gofundme.com/f/cross-canada-run-for-cancer-research.

With the Prairies waiting for him beyond the Ontario border and the mountains of B.C. looming beyond, Charron-Okerlund is certain that Jak’s Journey will finish on time.

“I feel like a million bucks,” he said, smiling. “Like I could do another marathon.”

https://www.gofundme.com/f/cross-canada-run-for-cancer-research

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) has released a warning to the public that states packages containing sodium nitrite, a potentially lethal substance, may have been sent to individuals at risk of self-harm in communities across Ontario. Any package received from the following businesses must be brought to the local police service immediately: Imtime Cuisine, AmbuCA, Academic, ACademic, Escape Mode, escMode, or ICemac.

The packages may have been sent to over a dozen communities across Ontario and throughout the world. Excessive consumption of sodium nitrite can reduce oxygen-levels, impair breathing, and result in death. The OPP urges people to be vigilant of the online transactions and activity of family members, and the arrival of any unexpected packages in the mail.

The investigation is ongoing, although the Peel Regional Police have arrested a suspect believed to be responsible for providing this product. Kenneth Law, 57, of Mississauga is charged with two counts of counselling or aiding suicide.

Anyone with any information, or anyone who has received a package they suspect may contain sodium nitrIte, should contact the OPP at 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at ontariocrimestoppers.ca.

Anyone struggling with mental health and wellness should call 1-833-456-4566 or visit talksuicide.ca.

More than 40 milimetres of rain fell over the weekend, with an additional 10 to 15 millimetres forecasted by Tuesday, May 2, adding more water to the Ottawa River at a time when water levels are already near major flood thresholds. 

The ORRC expects between Gatineau and Montreal the levels could rise an additional 15 to 20 centimetres as runoff from the rainfall event makes its way into the main part of the river. The water flow reading at Carillon, Québec as of Monday, May 1, was 6414 cubic metres per second. Flow is expected to increase to 7000 cubic metres per second by Wednesday. 

SNC and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry have stated that Rockland and Hawkesbury are areas of concern. In its latest update issued Friday, April 28, the SNC said the water level in Rockland could rise by an additional 45 centimetres above levels recorded last Friday morning, which were 25 centimetres above the highest level recorded this year. A similar increase in water levels near Hawkesbury are expected, at approximately 40 centimetres above current levels. 

Residents are encouraged to keep an eye on changing water and weather conditions throughout the week, as uncertainty remains regarding rainfall amounts in the coming days and people are advised to stay away from watercourses where flows are high and where banks might be unstable. Parents are also encouraged to explain dangers to children and provide supervision near all waterbodies. 

The SNC also notes that water level forecasts do not account for the impact of wind and waves along the shores of the river.