Good morning, Greater Sudbury! Here are a few stories to start your day on this Saturday morning.
Speed possibly a factor in fatal Onaping crash on Jan. 25
Police continue to investigate a three-vehicle crash that closed Highway 144 in Onaping last night and left a 61-year-old man dead. Greater Sudbury Police, Greater Sudbury Fire Services and Great Greater Sudbury Paramedic Services were dispatched to the scene at around 7:25 p.m. on Jan. 25. “Information provided was that a SUV was travelling westbound on Hwy 144, when the driver lost control failing to negotiate the turn ramp onto MR8 (Municipal Road 8) and collided head on with a GOVA Plus bus travelling southbound,” GSPS said in a news release. “A third vehicle travelling behind the bus also struck the bus after the head on collision occurred.” Greater Sudbury Fire Services had to extricate the SUV driver from their vehicle in order for paramedics to begin lifesaving measures.
Bold: Newcomers skating into Canadian life
Having arrived in Canada from Costa Rica just two months ago, Stuart Salazar is gliding right into Canadian life — literally. The family he’s boarding with while working here in Sudbury recently introduced him to hockey and skating, two activities that aren’t really a thing in his country. Wanting to get some proper instruction, he signed up to take adult beginner skating lessons with the Copper Cliff Skating Club, with his first session taking place earlier this week. Like Salazar, many of the participants in the program are newcomers or immigrants to Canada. Speaking to Sudbury.com, Salazar said he was “super excited” to begin — and for someone who had only been on skates a few times, he appeared to be doing pretty well out on the smooth McClelland Arena ice surface.
Video: Sudbury.com has a ‘smashing’ good time in Blezzard Valley
Northern Screams Attractions is pretty well-known in the area for their scare-your-face-off haunted houses during the Halloween season. But what you might not know is that Northern Screams owner Robbie Lavoie opened something called a “rage room” back in December and he’s been welcoming folks to the space in Blezzard Valley ever since. As Lavoie and co. explained, a rage room “is a fun, controlled environment where people break stuff. It can be an adrenaline rush and a form of stress relief although the therapist would rather you see them if you have that much anger to deal with lol. We are seeing date nights, girls night out and families giving it a go.” The concept is pretty simple: pay them money; sign a waiver (very important); don protective gear; choose your weapons, and; get smashing.
Laurentian sees increase in high school applications
Laurentian University is once again seeing an increase (+5.4 per cent) in the number of applications from Ontario high school students. The Ontario Universities Application Centre (OUAC) released their January report of application data for Ontario universities, and Laurentian University’s applications have increased in number and at a rate higher than the sector average (+5.0 per cent). “We are pleased that more students want to study at Laurentian and are selecting our university as their first choice,” said Brenda Brouwer, Interim Provost and Vice-President Academic, in a press release. “The investments we’ve made in faculty and staff renewal and introducing resources to enhance the student experience, is having an impact on positioning Laurentian as a destination of choice.”
Should Ontarians with a history of violence be allowed a gun licence?
If someone is in a bar fight at 18, should that prevent them from getting a gun licence decades later? What if the violence in their past was against a spouse? And what if it was more recent? The Trillium spoke with politicians and gun-control advocates about the discretion police have in Ontario to grant gun licences, prompted by government records we obtained about the decision to grant a licence to Jeremy Pearson, who killed his ex-girlfriend and then himself in 2013. Their views were mixed, but they all called on the provincial government to stop blocking the release of information on gun licences that could help shed light on how the process works, and why it sometimes fails. The government was forced to release records to The Trillium under a freedom-of-information (FOI) request after an order by the Information and Privacy Commissioner this past fall.
Lapointe optimistic federal immigration program will continue
There are still no guarantees, but Sudbury Liberal MP Viviane Lapointe said she’s optimistic the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot program will be made permanent. “It has been very successful,” she told Sudbury.com this week, adding that she met with a receptive Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister Marc Miller last month. “We talked about the importance of the program and the benefits it has had both in terms of growing populations in Northern Ontario, and specifically in Sudbury, and also in addressing skilled labour shortages we have. “I am very encouraged by the conversation I had with the minister, and he certainly understands the importance of the program to the north.”
