Good morning, Greater Sudbury.
Here are some stories to start your day.
Laurentian staff union pres says his members stretched thin, stressed out after cuts
The president of the Laurentian University Staff Union (LUSU) said his members are “stretched thin right now, they are stressed out, and they are not doing well mentally.” This after the union, which represents Laurentian employees such as clerical and computer staff, technologists and security personnel, lost 41 of its members (27 permanent and 14 temporary) earlier this spring as part of Laurentian’s insolvency restructuring. The COVID-19 pandemic also continues to exacerbate the situation as Laurentian deals with the outcome of its filing under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA). Speaking at the June 18 Laurentian board of governors meeting, LUSU president Tom Fenske said many of his members used to work through minor illnesses to service students.For the full story, click here.
Black Lives Matter hopes Sudbury will rally and read this summer
In the year since Black Lives Matter Sudbury first filled Bell Park with supporters, much has happened, both for the group, and the world. Now, to mark their first anniversary, the group hopes the community will rally and reflect, as well as read. Beginning Friday, June 25, at 4 p.m. in downtown’s Memorial Park, Black Lives Matter Sudbury invites community members of all ages and demographics to join them for what they refer to as a chance to “rally, remember and reflect on all the work we’ve done to push forward anti-racism in our city and to nurture a community commitment to ending violence against Black and Indigenous lives everywhere.” Following the rally there will be performances by local artists and refreshments for attendees. COVID-19 guidelines will be enforced, so participants are required to wear a mask and be aware of social distancing. For the full story, click here.
Medical leaders in Sudbury provide shining example of teamwork in overcoming pandemic obstacles
While the pandemic caught a lot of Canadians and Sudburians by surprise, medical leaders in Sudbury knew it was coming and knew things would be different. But what might have surprised them most was the ability of the medical staff to pull together to achieve newer and better ways of providing intense health care to the community. That was one of the revelations that came out of a panel discussion held during the annual general meeting for Health Sciences North this week; that and the fact that all the medical team leaders were women. Their achievements were showcased this week in a panel discussion at that meeting. The panel was introduced by HSN vice-president and chief nursing executive Lisa Smith, who said she was honoured to be able to introduce "so many incredibly talented people". Erin Tarini, administrative director of the HSN clinical laboratory, was the first to reveal how her lab team was a group of the professionals at the hospital lived and breathed everything COVID-19 right from the beginning and that the demand for rapid planning and acquiring new equipment were experiences that would never be forgotten. For the full story, click here.
Public Health Sudbury reports three new cases of COVID-19 for Friday June 18
Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) has reported three new cases of COVID-19. PHSD also reports 20 active cases being watched locally. Also, since the PHSD began tracking COVID-19 cases just over 15 months ago, there have been 2,131 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 2,111 of those cases have now been resolved. The details were reported on the PHSD website. With respect to where the cases might have occurred, PHSD reported that one case occurred in Greater Sudbury and two cases in the rural Sudbury district. As to how the new case might have been caused, PHSD said there were two cases of close contact of a confirmed case, two cases were travel related and there was one decrease in cases under investigation. For the full story, click here.
Ontario reports 345 new COVID cases Friday
Public Health Ontario has reported 334 new COVID-19 cases in its latest report (June 18). This is the fourth consecutive day the province has reported fewer than 400 new cases. In the last seven days, Ontario has recorded 2,874 new COVID cases. Today's update also includes 624 new recoveries and one death – an individual over 79 years old.
For the full story, click here.
Resilient Northern business owners are bouncing back better than rest of Ontario: Stats Canada
As vaccination rates improve and the province begins to open up, Northern Ontario’s economy is finally experiencing an economic uptick following the impacts of COVID-19. The pandemic has had an “unprecedented effect on economic and labour activity in all regions of the country,” and yet Northern Ontario wasn’t hit as hard as other jurisdictions across the country. That's according to Anil Arora, Statistics Canada’s chief statistician, who shared recently collected data on the region during a June 14 online presentation sponsored by Northern Policy Institute. “In Northern Ontario, we’ve seen business activity bounce back faster than in the rest of the province, after an initial shock during the early weeks of last spring’s shutdown,” Arora said. Last May, Thunder Bay was the hardest hit, he noted: 13 per cent of businesses in that city closed, compared to just 5 per cent in Greater Sudbury. For the full story, click here.
Chance of showers in the forecast to begin the weekend
You can look forward to kicking off your weekend with some mainly cloudy skies and a 30- per-cent chance of showers early in the morning. Wind west 20 km/h becoming light late in the morning. High 23 C. Humidex 25. UV index 5 or moderate. Expect the mainly cloudy skies to continue into the evening with a low of 13 C. Things will heat up a little on Sunday with Increasing cloudiness and a high of 27 C. The cloudiness gives way to rain Sunday night and a low of 16 C..
