Dryden

The Canadian soldier charged with speaking against federal vaccine mandates while wearing his uniform and who recently led a march to Ottawa is now facing a court martial.

Warrant Officer James Topp's lawyer says the army reservist was recently notified that he will be allowed to have his case heard in a military court instead of by his chain of command.

Phillip Millar says the decision represents a second about-face after the military initially offered his client a court martial, only to rescind the offer and send his case to his unit commanders.

The NWHU is continuing to encourage residents to get their COVID-19 vaccinations as we head into another wave this fall.   

The Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU) held its last media conference of the summer on June 21, and during that time, Dr. Kit Young Hoon, Medical Officer of Health for the NWHU, took the opportunity to once again, encourage everyone to get their COVID-19 vaccines and boosters.  

Dryden Drivers will most likely be impacted by this important closure.  

The City of Dryden would like to advise the public that the King St Underpass will be closed to all vehicular traffic from today, July 5, starting at 11:00 am to Friday, July 8, at 5:00 pm.  

The closure is necessary to replace the guide rails.  

Mother Nature did what she could to help northwestern Ontario out last month with the area’s severe flooding situation, sending us roughly half of the rain that we typically see in the average June.

Environment Canada Meteorologist, Gerald Cheng, says the Kenora Airport recorded 60.8 mm of rain last month, which is about 51 per cent of the average amount of 118.7 mm of precipitation we would usually see.

“When we talk about this spring, it was just system after system for northwestern Ontario. That’s why there was so much rain,” explains Cheng.

A group of Dryden volunteers have come together to raise over $4,000 for the community, which includes funds for an expansion of the Dryden Food Bank.

Members of the Retired Teachers of Ontario union, RTOERO, say they found themselves with a surplus of money this year due to fewer activities taking place in the community and within the organization due to COVID-19, so donating it back to the community was an easy choice.

“Giving back to our District 35 communities with donations to the local Food Banks was an easy decision to make,” wrote members, in a prepared release.

Canada has become the first country to ratify Sweden and Finland's request to join NATO, bringing the two countries closer to full membership.

The Prime Minister's Office says Justin Trudeau met with Finland's president, Sauli Niinistö, and Sweden's prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, at the NATO Summit last week. 

In a statement, Trudeau says Canada champions the alliance's open door policy for any European country in a position to "advance the commitments and obligations of membership."

The federal government has signed a $20-billion final settlement agreement to compensate First Nations children and families harmed by chronic underfunding of child welfare on reserve, which Indigenous Services Canada said Monday was the largest such deal in Canadian history.

“First Nations children deserve to be surrounded by love and live free of discriminatory government policy," Cindy Woodhouse, the Manitoba regional chief at the Assembly of First Nations, said in a statement Monday.

Canada is about to toss more than half of its doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine because it couldn't find any takers for it either in or outside of Canada.

A statement from Health Canada says 13.6 million doses of the vaccine expired in the spring and will be thrown out.

A year ago Canada said it would donate almost 18 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to lower-income countries.

As of June 22, almost nine million doses were delivered to 21 different nations.

The Kenora Rowing Club will welcome rowers back to the community this month as they host the 117th North West International  Rowing Association’s Championship Regatta on Rabbit Lake. The event will take play the 22nd and 23rd with rowers from mid-west US and mid-Canada.  Residents are invited to the viewing area at Garrow park and beach to watch and cheer.

The price of gas continues to drop in northwestern Ontario, although, prices remain sky-high.

After another drop in fuel prices over the Canada Day Long Weekend, the average price of gas in the Kenora area is sitting around 214.9 per litre, with prices closer to 210.2 in Dryden and as high as 231.0 in Sioux Lookout.

As it stands, Kenora drivers are paying for the 10th most expensive fuel in Canada at 214.9, tied with a number of communities in British Columbia and one in Quebec. We’re the only community in the top 25 in Ontario.