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Chapleau Town Council have approved nearly $14,000 to borrow a garbage collection truck from a Wawa contractor.
Mayor Michael Levesque says the purchase order approved during Monday's meeting - for $13,652.66 plus HST - stems from problems with the Township's refuse truck.
Mayor Levesque says the deal saw Provost provide the truck, which was operated by the Township, while the Township's truck was out of service for about a week and a half.
The Township equipment is back in service now.
A monument greeting people to Chapleau will be restored.
Mayor Michael Levesque says Chapleau Town Council's making plans to restore the "Wishing Rock" - or "Painted Rock" - at the entrance to town.
Mayor Levesque credits Councillor Gerard Bernier for being "rather adamant" that the rock is restored.
While Council's reached an agreement to see that area cleared by Hydro One, it's unclear when the utility will do the clearing, which will coincide with other work Hydro One has planned in the area.
Wawa youth are getting the opportunity to attend a recreation summer camp later this month.
The Municipality's hosting a registration event tonight for the camp, which Youth Recreation Coordinator Sarah Morris explains.
Morris notes the camp will run July 30th to August 3rd - from 9 am to 3 pm each day - intended for youth age seven to twelve.
More details will be available during the registration night event at the Michipicoten Memorial Community Centre, from 5:30 to 7:30 tonight.
The registration deadline is next week, however, on Wednesday, July 24th.
Organizers of Wawa's annual William Rose Memorial Golf Tournament are reminding golfers to sign up soon.
The 12th annual event arrives Friday, but organizers are hoping to confirm numbers as soon as possible, with golfers encouraged to call Wawa and Area Victim Services at 705-856-7852 to book a tee time.
Suzanne Lacasse explains there are a few prizes on the line in the tournament.
Lacasse emphasizes that - no matter skill level - you could end up with a great prize, as many are "luck of the draw".
Aside from honouring former Michipicoten Police Chief William Rose, the memorial golf tournament also supports bursaries for students going into the emergency services field, as well as Wawa and Area Victim Services.
Dubreuilville is set to host a run supporting an important cause: ALS.
The "Run N' Roll for ALS" is calling on residents to hit the pavement in a 5, 10, 15, or even 20 kilometre run supporting ALS Canada.
Organizer Josee Bouchard - a member of Eddy LeFrancois' "Let's Roll Out ALS" team - says the event is meant to raise awareness and funds for the cause, prompted by discussions she had with a co-worker.
Bouchard says she believes people are now more aware about how terrible the paralyzing and terminal disease is.
David Taylor - VP, Research at ALS Canada - explains ALS may be classified as a "rare" disease, but it is more common than many people may realize, with about a 1-in-400 chance a person will be diagnosed over their lifetime.
Taylor notes ALS Canada focuses its efforts on three areas: supporting those with ALS by helping provide equipment and other client services; advocacy for government support; and the area he's in charge of, research to better understand ALS and make it treatable.
Registration for the "Run N' Roll for ALS" will be held at l'Oree des Bois Secondary School in Dubreuilville starting at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, with a 1k "Kiddie Dash" at 10 o'clock, followed by the other runs.
Wawa Municipal Council's approved a tender for the major construction phase of the Wawa Waterfront Project.
In their meeting last night, Council agreed to accept the sole tender submitted, from J. Provost Contracting, though - while the resolution passed last night pegs the cost at $1,118,700, which is above the pre-design estimate - Community Services and Tourism Director Alex Patterson says it will actually be much lower than that.
Patterson notes the approvals mean contracts can now be signed, and that will mean work should start soon.
In addition to the construction phase 1, J. Provost Contracting was last month awarded a nearly $51-thousand tender to build and install ten stalls for the "Goose Market" which will be located at Heritage Park, across from Lion's Beach - another part of the waterfront project.
Wawa Mayor Ron Rody is lamenting news that Greyhound Canada will be ending its bus service west of Sudbury - including in Wawa - noting the importance of Greyhound service locally.
Mayor Rody says the municipality will be looking into what might be done, such as possible support from other levels of government.
Greyhound claims it has for years lobbied the federal government for backstop funding to support its rural routes - to cover the difference between the revenues from such routes and the costs to operate them - though no such funding has been announced.
While details for how the service will wind down are few, Greyhound assures service will continue as normal through the summer and Thanksgiving, until October 31st.
Council's awarded J. Provost Contracting another major contract: to reconstruct part of a local street.
A resolution passed by Council Tuesday night - just moments after approving the waterfront project tender - accepts the tender from J. Provost Contracting for water and sewer reconstruction on part of Toronto Avenue.
The resolution notes two tenders were received, giving no details about the other tender, though it notes Provost's $1,978,521.75 tender comes within the project estimate and capital budget amount.
Infrastructure Services Director Cory Stainthorpe told Council he hopes to have the work start by the end of the month - possibly within two weeks - though he suggested various delays in getting the contract confirmed mean that asphalting of the road likely won't happen until spring.
Greyhound is ending Canadian service west of Sudbury.
The busing company says it has made the "difficult decision" to downsize operations as of October 31st, citing a 41 percent decline in ridership since 2010, particularly in rural communities.
Those cuts include the end of operations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta - with only a Vancouver-to-Seattle route remaining for British Columbia - though Greyhound will keep its southern Ontario routes, going into the US, as far east as Montreal and as far north as Sudbury.
The end of service west of Sudbury means places like Wawa, Sault Ste. Marie, communities along the northshore of Lake Huron, and west to Thunder Bay will no longer have access to Greyhound.
Currently, Wawa only sees Greyhound twice a day - a westbound bus at 3:05 in the morning and an eastbound bus at 4:20 in the afternoon - as the bus company has cut service in the region multiple times in recent years - most recently cutting it in half to only the single trip in each direction in September 2015.
It's based at the Michipicoten Memorial Community Centre, after issues finding another host in the town.
This won't leave Wawa and area entirely without inter-community bus service, as Ontario Northland expanded its routes in January as far west as White River - that bus stops at the SPG Wawa twice a day: heading toward Sault Ste. Marie at 8:30 in the morning, and toward White River at 2:40 in the afternoon.
More information on Greyhound's decision can be found on their website.
"Due to an extreme fire hazard and recent periods of heavy lightning in parts of the Northeast region, and the large number of wildfires burning, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry will implement a Restricted Fire Zone for the areas outlined in the map below (zone 18, zone 19,zone 20, zone 21)as of midnight tonight July 6th (12:01am-July 7).
The Restricted Fire Zone is in effect until further notice.
Restricted Fire Zones help protect public safety.
In a Restricted Fire Zone, outdoor fires are banned.
Portable gas stoves may still be used BUT must be handled with extreme care.
For more information contact your local Fire Management Headquarters.
Follow us on Twitter @ONforestfires. "
They also advise that detailed information can be found on the Restricted Fire Zone boundaries by visiting http://ontario.ca/forestfire
Poor weather conditions have caused the Canada Day fireworks to be rescheduled. The Wawa Volunteer Firefighters say the fireworks will not take place at dusk on Sunday, July 1st, but plans are to go ahead with them on Monday, July 2nd, also at dusk.
Chapleau Town Council took the time this week to review the Township's budget for the year to date.
Mayor Michael Levesque says there were no real surprises, but notes Council is looking at a few items in the Capital Budget, as $1.7-million in infrastructure funding is available.
Mayor Levesque also highlights issues with the turnaround at the Beer Store.
Levesque notes Council has not approved any actual work on that turnaround, just the engineering work for Pine Street from Monk to Lisgar, to determine "a reasonable fix for a reasonable price", which would come to Council for approval.
The Wawa Goose was visited Tuesday night by a special cow supporting the Canadian dairy industry.
Henk and Bettina Schuurmans rode their tractor - complete with large plastic cow "Maple" - into Wawa as part of their "Canadian Milk Tour" from their farm in Elmira (in the Kitchener-Waterloo area of southern Ontario) to Vancouver.
Henk Schuurmans explains this is the couple's own initiative, calling for milk to stay 100 percent Canadian amid U-S efforts to end Canada's supply management system - a system Schuurmans praises.
Schuurmans also touts superior quality of Canadian milk, pointing to a monitoring system that helps maintain high standards.
A ninth generation farmer - who notes his last name means "man from the barn" - Schuurmans says he has over three decades experience in the dairy industry, adding that - of his five children - all three sons want to be dairy farmers, but he's worried "maybe" 10 percent of Canada's 11,000 dairy farms would survive without supply management.
The "Canadian Milk Tour" continued on to White River Tuesday night, and is now heading further west.
A Wawa-based rebate program intended to help residents switch to a new wood heat appliance is a casualty in the provincial government's cancellation of cap-and-trade.
Wawa Economic Development Corporation CEO Maury O'Neill explains the EDC has been informed that the Wawa Wood Heat Rebate program can no longer take applications as the incoming government has cancelled the GreenON program - which funded the local rebates - though she notes some good news for those who've already applied.
O'Neill notes the program - which offered rebates for residents and business owners in Wawa, Hawk Junction, and Michipicoten First Nation to switch from oil or propane heat to wood heat or from an older wood heat appliance to a new one - was "very well received - beyond expectations".
O'Neill adds that the E-D-C will work with the Municipality of Wawa and other communities impacted to lobby for a return of the rebate program, or something similar.
The rebate program was only launched at the start of May, one of four such pilot programs funded by proceeds of the province's carbon market, including another municipally-led pilot in Sioux Lookout and Indigenous-led pilot programs for Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Wiikwemikoong territory.
Canada's Transportation Safety Board will not be launching a full investigation into a plane crash near Sault Ste. Marie last Friday.
The TSB says it was able to speak with both people who were in the Piper P-A-18 150 (Piper Super Cub), who told the federal investigative body that they were practicing some forced approaches on a beach shoreline near the undeveloped remote island of Ile Parisienne, in the middle of Whitefish Bay, about 25 kilometres northwest of the Sault.
During the overshoot procedure of the process, a windshear occurred, but the plane's descent could not be stopped - the single-engine monoplane then touched down on the beach and flipped over.
While the plane was substantially damaged, no injuries were reported.
Search efforts have tragically ended after two boaters went missing on Whitefish Lake east of Wawa.
Superior East Ontario Provincial Police say they've recovered the bodies of the two missing boaters, identified as 74-year-old Normand Savoie of Wawa and 57-year-old Daniel Savoie of Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec.
The two were reported missing Friday morning, after their boat was found floating near the shore of Whitefish Lake in Maness Township.
An extensive search was conducted by the Superior East, Sault Ste. Marie, and South Porcupine marine units, as well as an OPP helicopter, the OPP's Underwater Search and Recovery Unit, and the North East snowmobile, all-terrain, and vessel enforcement - or SAVE - unit.
Ontario Provincial Police are continuing to investigate a serious collision at the entrance to the Tim Hortons parking lot in Wawa.
Superior East OPP say they responded to the collision on Mission Road around 3:45 Friday afternoon, with preliminary investigation revealing a motorcycle and a passenger car had collided - two people were taken to hospital with undetermined injuries, though neither have been publicly identified.
Police have confirmed to JJAM FM News that both had been riding the motorcycle at the time.
Technical Traffic Collision Investigators are assisting with the investigation.
Ontario Provincial Police are continuing to search for a missing boater on Whitefish Lake near Wawa.
Superior East OPP say they were called to the lake in Maness Township around 8:20 Friday morning, advised that a boat was found floating near the shore - but without the two boaters.
A search by an OPP helicopter, multiple OPP marine units, and the Northeast OPP snowmobile, all-terrain, and vessel enforcement - SAVE - unit led to the discovery of one deceased male, but the search is continuing for a second missing male.
Neither have been publicly identified at this time.
No injuries have been reported after a plane crash in the Whitefish Bay of Lake Superior.
Sault Ste. Marie Ontario Provincial Police have confirmed they were called about a plane crash around 3:50 Thursday afternoon, told that two occupants of the plane had already safely made it to shore with no injuries.
A marine unit was sent out and confirmed there was no-one else in the plane, which went down near the undeveloped remote island of Ile Parisienne, in the middle of Whitefish Bay, about 25 kilometres northwest of the Sault.
OPP say there was no criminal intent involved, and they will not be investigating, though they have notified the Transportation Safety Board.
The TSB has confirmed that they are looking into the crash of a Piper PA-18 150 (or Super Cub) - a two-seat, single-engine monoplane - though they have not decided whether to launch a full investigation and so have not deployed investigators at this time.
Golfers are hitting the greens today, to support the local women's shelter.
CHADWIC Home's 11th annual Charity Golf Tournament is being held today and Executive Director Paula Valois notes it is supported by local businesses.
Valois reminds the tournament's meant to get people out and enjoying themselves while learning more about and supporting CHADWIC Home.
