Kenora

Teary eyes filled Kenora’s council chambers on Monday as this group of Council held their last meeting together ahead of the 2022 municipal election.

The celebration began as councillors came together at the end of September 20’s Council meeting to honour Chris Van Walleghem and Rory McMillan, who have both decided to step away and retire from municipal politics after this term.

Leadership with the Kenora District Services Board and Northwest EMS say they’ve met with the community of Onigaming First Nation after the death of a young man last week, and investigations are continuing to determine why paramedics allegedly refused to save his life.

The Dryden GM Ice Dogs are gearing up for their season opener this weekend.

The Dogs will be up against Kam River and the Fighting Walleye at 7:30 p.m. Friday night, at the Dryden Memorial Arena. It’s the first of a back-to-back at home, with another 7:30 p.m. puck drop on Saturday.

The Ice Dogs will have a six-day break before they face off against the Wisconsin Lumberjacks on September 30, once again at home.

In consultation with the Northwestern Health Unit, the Lake of the Woods District Hospital has declared its most recent COVID-19 outbreak over. 

The outbreak was reported on August 30, which was the hospital's third outbreak this summer. Hospital-wide visitor restrictions were implemented, with possible exceptions for end-of-life patients. 

The LWDH Clinical Planning Team is currently reviewing the visitor policy. 

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has set aside a temporary injunction that halted a lawsuit filed by some parents of those who died in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. 

Sixteen people were killed and 13 were injured when an inexperienced truck driver went through a stop sign and into the path of the junior hockey team's bus at a rural intersection near Tisdale, Sask., on April 6, 2018. 

A few months after the crash, a lawsuit was brought by the families of five who died. 

Kenora’s councillors have unanimously approved a new five-year deal with physicians of the Keewatin Medical Clinic to keep them in their building at 904 Ottawa Street.

The five-year deal leads the two partners into at least 2027, with 3 per cent year-to-year rent increases beginning after December 2022. Rates range between $1,450 per month in 2022 to $1,685 by 2027. Physicians will also have the option to opt into a five-year renewal into 2032.

This comes after a tumultuous summer for members and clients of the clinic.

It was a big day for the Kenora community and Kenora-Rainy River MPP Greg Rickford.

Rickford, Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development and Minister of Indigenous Affairs, toured the area yesterday to announce $1.4 million in work through the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, all aimed to improve the quality of life in the Kenora community.

The Kenora and Lake of the Woods Community Foundation is welcoming Mr. Mustafa Karim to the region as their new Executive Director.

Tire tracks worn into the gravel roads that lead into James Smith Cree Nation are deeper than they were two weeks ago, remnants of the heavy police presence and the numerous funeral processions that followed.

Locals have returned to these roads, once again waving as they pass each other to run errands or visit family.

But as the sun sets, which is happening earlier than it did in early September, the fear creeps back in.

On Saturday, September 17, 2022, Sharon Gail Lajeunesse-Sutcliffe (Mammy), a beloved sister, wife, mother and grandmother, passed away suddenly at the Lake of the Woods District Hospital with her family by her side at the age of sixty-three years old.