Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Tuesday morning.
Man gets conditional sentence for death of Laurentian student
A Sault Ste. Marie man who pleaded guilty to hit and run causing death was sentenced to 15-month conditional sentence. Thomas Schell pleaded guilty to the charge, and received his sentence from Justice Bruce Pugsley in Sudbury court Oct. 30. Schell was charged in the death of Rajendra Prasad with failing to stop at the scene of an accident causing death, obstructing a police officer and failing to comply. He pleaded guilty to failure to stop at the scene causing death, which carries with it a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The other charges were withdrawn today after sentencing. Schell will be under house arrest for the first six months, and under curfew (11 p.m. to 6 a.m.) for months 6-9. The remainder will be under the same curfew, and must include counselling. Schell has also been given a 3.5-year suspension of his drivers’ licence (which was already suspended while waiting for trial), a lifetime ban on weapons and he must submit his DNA to the national databank.
New COVID vaccine available to all Ontario residents
As of Oct. 30, Ontario residents aged six months and older are eligible for the newest version of the COVID-19 booster along with a free flu shot. The push is on by the Ministry of Health to have Ontario residents stay up to date with vaccines against possible respiratory illness at this time of year, Health Minister Sylvia Jones said in a news release. “Getting your COVID-19 vaccine and flu shot is the best way to keep yourself, your loved ones and your community healthy,” said Jones. “Our government is ensuring you have access to the tools you need this fall respiratory season by making COVID-19 vaccines and flu shots available in convenient locations close to home, at no cost to Ontarians," she added. The new COVID-19 vaccines now available are specifically designed to target the XBB variant and were approved by Health Canada earlier this fall, said the ministry.
Double album launch for Les Bilinguish Boys members
Local musicians Dayv Poulin and Edouard Landry have known each other “forever,” since they were just teenagers learning Nirvana songs together. Along with another local musician and long-time friend, Stef Paquette — all of them mainstays in the Franco-Ontarian music scene in Northern Ontario — they are part of a group called Les Bilinguish Boys, formed in 2020. Given the bilingual nature of our community, It’s a very Sudbury concept. “It’s a music show, but it’s also a comedy show in a lot of ways,” said Poulin, who, along with Landry, caught up with Sudbury.com in a recent Zoom chat (in English). “We do a lot of improv … When we know it's an English crowd, we will speak in English. We'll still do French songs, but we'll do translations or things like that, or will joke about the differences between the two languages.
French-language PSW students begin classes at Villa St-Gabriel
The inaugural training class of Personal Support Worker (PSW) students has been launched at Villa St-Gabriel Villa in Chelmsford, as part of the provincial effort to offset the shortage of trained health care workers. The French language students are part of the Carrefour Options+ (Sudbury), Conseil scolaire catholique Nouvelon’s continuing education school, in partnership with the Villa St-Gabriel Villa. The new program, open to students 18 years of age and older, provides French-language PSW training to the students, allowing them to provide care to individuals and families in a variety of settings, including long-term care homes and community home care agencies. CSC Nouvelon is the second school board to offer this program in French in Ontario, said a news release from the school board. Over the next few months, the students will complete their studies in a living classroom format that includes both theory in a classroom setting, as well as clinical hands-on learning experience directly on-site at Villa St-Gabriel Villa working towards obtaining their PSW certification, said the board.
‘You are the architects of change,’ leader tells Indigenous economic developers
There’s $22 billion worth of opportunity available for Indigenous businesses across Canada. That’s the estimated amount of revenue to be generated from a new National Indigenous Procurement Policy, which is now in effect within Canada’s federal government, noted Dawn Madahbee-Leach, the general manager at Waubetek Business Development Corp. Under the policy, federal departments and agencies are required to award a minimum of five per cent of their procurement contracts to Indigenous businesses. It’s a stunning number, but Madahbee-Leach believes the actual benefits to Indigenous companies could well surpass that. “We’re not restricted to just five per cent,” she said, speaking at the Economic Development Opportunities Forum, hosted by the Anishinabek Nation in Bawating (Sault Ste. Marie) October 24-26. “If we can build those businesses, we can go beyond that.”
Man cries for change after daughter killed by intimate partner violence
As many people in Sault Ste. Marie were hearing the term "intimate partner violence" for the first time in response to this week's mass murder-suicide, one local man was all too familiar with it: His 22-year-old daughter lost her life to similar violence in southern Ontario just a few months ago. Dan Jennings told SooToday he hadn’t heard that term until dealing with the aftermath of his daughter Caitlin Jennings’ death in London, Ont. in July. “I’m not used to the new term intimate partner violence," he said. "To me it’s always been domestic violence." Caitlin was found dead in a London home on July 5 of this year. David Norman Yates, a 50-year-old construction worker, was arrested at the scene and London Police said the two were known to each other. The charges against Yates have not yet been tested in court.
