Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Fiery debate but no decision made on fire service level adjustments:
Debate heated up once more on fire services in Greater Sudbury as council weighed in on options for fire service level adjustments on Feb. 23. While no decision was reached on the evening as council voted against proceeding past the three-hour mark, it didn't preclude council from having some fiery debate on the matter. Three options were on the table for council to debate, as follows: Reassign existing full-time staff from Main Station ladder truck, Convert Station 16 to volunteer, Close an existing full-time station and reassign the firefighters to Station 16 and other career stations. The three options didn't receive much attention on the evening, but convestation centred around an amendment from Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan and Ward 6 Coun. René Lapierre to add a fourth option to the mix. Councillors Kirwan and Lapierre represent the Valley East area, the area that will be most directly affected by a service level adjustment as it is Station 16 in Val Therese that is the focal point of the changes The proposed amendment looked to add a fourth option that would direct staff to add 10 career firefighters to the ranks to allow the Val Therese station to be staffed with four full-time firefighters on each shift. Get the full story here.
Parent speaking out after 4-year-old leaves Walden P.S. unsupervised:
The parent of a four-year-old Walden Public School junior kindergarten student is speaking out after the child left the school unnoticed by staff and walked by himself several blocks to his mother’s workplace last week. “When I talked to him, he said he made sure to tell me he looked both ways twice for traffic,” said the boy’s father, Kurt Fraser. “He let the cars go by. He let the big truck go by before he crossed the road. He was very good for that. He knew that he was going to mom’s work. He knew where it was and how to get there. “He’s impressive in that way. But the outcome of this could have been worse had he gone in a different direction. It was very cold outside. He wasn’t feeling well. There’s a million things that could have happened to my child, and we would have been having a completely different conversation and a completely different news story right now about a missing child. So that breaks my heart.” On Friday, two days after the incident occurred — and after Fraser raised concerns with both the school and with the school board — the Rainbow District School Board issued a statement. A letter was also sent home to parents. The board calls the occurrence a “most unfortunate incident that should never have occurred.” It also said Rainbow has apologized to the family and has taken steps to ensure that this does not happen again, including reviewing the incident with school staff to ensure appropriate protocols are followed at all times. Find the full story here.
Public Health Sudbury reports 11 new COVID-19 cases for February 23:
The Sudbury health unit reported Tuesday that there are 11 new cases of COVID-19 in the area. This is a dramatic jump from Monday's report which had zero new cases. Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) said there are now 27 cases being actively monitored, an upward change from the 21 cases being monitored on Monday. Since the pandemic was declared almost a year ago, there have been 594 total COVID-19 cases reported to the Sudbury health unit, with 567 of those cases being resolved locally. With respect to where the new cases occurred,the PHSD daily update page reported that 11 cases were found to have occurred within the Greater Sudbury Area. On the provincial COVID-19 report Tuesday, the Ontario government daily website reported there were 975 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the province.
Police to canvass area near Lake Nepahwin in search of Andrew Martin:
Greater Sudbury Police continue to seek the assistance of the public in the search for 31-year-old Andrew Martin. The last confirmed sighting of Martin was in the early morning hours of Dec. 9 on Bruce Avenue. Detectives from GSPS recently received information about a possible sighting of Martin in the area of Lake Nepahwin. On Wednesday, Feb. 24, members of GSPS will be conducting a canvass in the area of Lake Nepahwin for additional information and video surveillance footage. Officers will also ask area residents for permission to check outbuildings on private property as Andrew may have taken shelter. Andrew is described as being 5-7 tall, weighing around 190 lbs., with stocky build, brown eyes, shaved head and a thick goatee. Anyone with information is asked to contact Police at 705-675-9171 extension 2318 or Crime Stoppers at 705-222-TIPS, online at www.sudburycrimestoppers.com.
Federal pilot helps bring a few dozen new Canadians to Sudbury:
Now entering its second year, the Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot in Sudbury is finding success, even amongst the challenges of COVID-19. And it’s a good thing, said Meredith Armstrong, manager of Tourism and Culture in Economic Development at the City of Greater Sudbury, because while Sudbury is one of the only Northern Ontario communities showing growth when it comes to population, a recent Northern Policy Institute (NPI) report shows that a focus on bringing people to the area is essential to maintaining economic standards in Sudbury. Basically, “we’re not going to have enough babies,” said Armstrong. The Rural and Northern Immigration Pilot was created in 2020 as a three-year program to support and encourage newcomers to Canada to settle in rural areas and Northern Ontario, rather than in big cities like Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, and is based on the applicant securing a job offer before they apply and at the moment, in mining or tourism. Find more on this story here.
Sudbury’s Queen Elizabeth P.S. one of 20 Canadian schools to receive $5K tech grant:
Queen Elizabeth II Public School is among 20 schools across Canada to receive a $5,000 technology grant from the Desjardins Tech Donation Program in collaboration with EdCan Network. The grant will be used to purchase Chromebooks, bringing staff one step closer to their goal of providing all students with access to technology. “We are extremely grateful to Desjardins and EdCan for their generous support,” said vice-principal Coleen Eberlein, in a press release. “This grant will give us the opportunity to further integrate 21st century skills into all aspects of the curriculum.” These skills include critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, creativity and innovation, and global citizenship. Get the full story here.
Wednesday Weather:
Another cloudy day in the forecast with chances of heavy snow. Mostly grey skies overhead with snow in the morning and into the afternoon. Daytime high will be sitting at around -2. Partly cloudy this evening with a 30 per cent chance of flurries. Overnight low will drop all the way to -17, feeling like -22. For current weather conditions, short-term and long-term forecasts visit Sudbury.com's weather page at www.sudbury.com/weather.
