Carl Clutchey

An ongoing survey seeking feedback from Northwestern Ontario workers and employers about the state of mental and physical health on the job has already received more than 735 responses from 38 workplaces since it began last fall. The Enhancing the Prevention of Injury and Disability at Work Research Institute says it continues to widen its gaze, with a recent promotion encouraging participants from Fort William First Nation. “It's a large study,” Lakehead University health sciences Prof. Vicki Kristman, one of the officials involved with the institute's survey project, said on Wednesday. “We're reaching out to a variety of groups and organizations.” The institute, which is based at Lakehead University, is seeking 300 respondents each from 20 industrial workplace sectors, including mining, health care, retail, forestry and agriculture. So far, 65 per cent of respondents have been women, with most people taking part living in big cities, according to a regularly-updated website about the project. Data derived from the survey will be used to have a sense of what workers and employers face on the job — including risks for depression and anxiety — and come up with “cost-effective” strategies to improve mental and physical health. “Work can be a huge source of stress for people,” Kristman said. “My approach is what can be changed in the workplace, rather than focusing on the employee,” she added. Kristman said the project, which is funded by the province, is to run for at least five years. Though several hundred people have already taken the survey, Kristman said the institute wants to increase its sample size before commenting about what respondents have indicated so far. “With a large sample size and a long-term goal, (the project) is hopeful that this study will become a powerful tool for change,” said an earlier project backgrounder. Participants are asked to provide their names so that researchers can follow up with them every six months. Safeguards are in place to ensure employers don't know if their workers are taking part, Kristman said. “We only give employers aggregate information to help identify strengths and weaknesses related to workplace mental and physical health,” she said. There is no deadline to take part in the survey, but participants must have been employed or self-employed in the past year and be at least 14 years old. The survey can be found online at workinghealth.ca. This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. End of dialog window. This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile. Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation

A Neebing businesswoman is hoping that regular meetings and events in the municipality aimed at improving Indigenous relations will spark a healthy dialogue between its Indigenous and non-native residents. “I think people will come out and participate if the opportunity is there,” Cindy Crowe, who is a member of Neebing's economic development committee, said on Tuesday. According to Neebing's online community information bulletin, “the municipality would like to provide support and opportunities to the Indigenous people of the community.” “It has been suggested,” the bulletin added, “that the Anishinaabe (and all Indigenous) people may be interested in gathering, discussing options, planning events and other important matters.” Other Northwestern Ontario municipalities, such as the City of Dryden, have been pro-active in recent years in trying to build relationships with Indigenous people who live in the city or at communities close by. Crowe, an Anishinaabe person whose business promotes and fosters its culture, believes Neebing's population of about 2,200 would be enriched by powwows and other activities with Indigenous themes. Some residents may be choosing to keep a low profile and not “self- identify” as Indigenous, though traditional ceremonies may still be occurring at private gatherings, Crowe said. Indigenous and non-native people “should be having a conversation with each other,” she said. Anyone who has ideas about how to start activities or meetings can contact Neebing's economic development department at 807-474-5331. The department can also be reached by email at [email protected].

If spent nuclear-reactor fuel rods are ever transported to a proposed underground storage site near Ignace, communities along the transportation route will be just as much at risk as those who live closest to the disposal site, opponents to the plan contend. That's the gist of a petition bearing more than 3,300 signatures that was tabled in the House of Commons on Thursday by a North Bay-area Liberal MP on behalf of environmentalists. They claim the site-selection process conducted by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is flawed because it has “shut out” communities “living downstream and along the (proposed) transportation route.” “The federal government needs to course-correct the (Nuclear Waste Management Organization),” says North Bay-based Northwatch, the group that created the petition. Conmee Mayor Sheila Maxwell said she shares the group's concerns, given the rate of crashes involving large trucks on Northern routes like highways 11 and 17. “The majority of the logging, wood-chip, wide load and long load trucks go through our municipality, so it's always a concern,” Maxwell said. “The (Nuclear Waste Management Organization) has assured us of the safety (of its plan), but one always has to look at the increased commercial vehicles that will be passing through,” Maxwell added. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization has said the radioactive fuel rods could be moved to a storage site by road or rail, and transported in specialized containers that have been tested to withstand potential crashes, including those involving fire. The petition filed in the House cites a United Nations declaration “which sets out that no storage or disposal of hazardous material shall take place in the lands or territories of Indigenous peoples without their free prior and informed consent.” Opponents to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization's storage-site plan, which has yet to be approved, include Grassy Narrows First Nation Chief Rudy Turtle and Anishinabek Nation. The nuclear waste organization has long maintained it won't locate a storage site where it isn't wanted by area residents. It's been estimated that seven million spent fuel rods will be transported from the country's nuclear reactors to a storage site over a 50-year period. In a statement on Thursday following news of the petition, the nuclear waste organization said “there is a strong international safety record for transporting used nuclear fuel.” “For close to 60 years,” it added, “there have been more than 20,000 shipments worldwide, covering more than five million kilometres, and none have caused harm to people or the environment as a result of the release of radioactive materials.” “Our approach adheres to stringent safety and emergency management regulations set by Transport Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, as well as international standards from the International Atomic Energy Agency, that are designed to help protect the public and the environment,” the nuclear waste group said. An area around South Bruce, a southwestern Ontario community located near an existing nuclear power plant, is the only other candidate site the Nuclear Waste Management Organization is considering for an underground storage facility. Thursday's petition was tabled by former House speaker Anthony Rota (Nipissing-Timiskaming). The government has to respond in 45 days. This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. End of dialog window. This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button. To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile. Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation

A moonlight serenade by a chorus of frogs just doesn't add a bit of charm to a warm summer evening. It's also a good sign that your favourite pond or lake is healthy. Lakehead University biology Prof. Adam Algar would like it to stay that way, although he laments that amphibian choruses were probably more robust about 30 years ago. Effects of climate change — such as having less snow cover to protect frogs over winter — have likely taken a toll, Agar said on Monday. Still, when Agar leads an annual “frog walk evening” later this week at a local conservation area, he expects to hear a bit of music – what he likes to call “the soundcape.” Agar said his personal favourite is the gray tree frog, which can change colour to bright green and is often mistaken for a bird. “It's relatively new to this area,” Agar said. Asked about the health of frogs in the Lakehead Region Conservation Area watershed in general, Agar said the situation is in flux. “It's OK, but it's changing,” he said. “Some species have moved in, but others have diminished.” When gauging the health of a wetland, say, an abundance of frogs is often a good barometer: their presence means the water isn't polluted. “They are the classic canary in the coal mine,” Agar said. “They are sensitive to pollution and changes in hydrology — their eggs have to develop (into tadpoles) in water.” Frogs eat a lot of insects, including black flies and mosquitos, while tadpoles are a source of food for fish. A single frog can lay thousands of eggs. Agar believes an appreciation of frogs isn't just limited to biologists; many people remember catching the slippery amphibians, and hearing them in the forests of their youth. “They're a source of childhood memories,” he noted. Algar's tour is to take place on Thursday at the LRCA's Mills Block Forest site at 7 p.m. It's located on the outskirts of Thunder Bay's north end at the corner of John Street Road and Community Hall Road.

Impala Canada's Lac Des Iles palladium mine is to represent the Thunder Bay district at next month's Ontario Mine Rescue competition final to be held this year at Fort William Gardens.

Gillies Township residents will finally be able to go back to attending council meetings in person at the end of next month. But the number of spectators will be limited to six on a “first come, first served basis,” and providing a security presence will cost taxpayers an estimated $150 per meeting. Council meetings have been limited to an online format for an extended period because the municipality says it had been receiving threats. The nature of the threats have not been revealed. Earlier this week, council passed a bylaw arranging for a security provider for in-person meetings, Reeve Wendy Wright said. In-person meetings are to resume on June 24, with meetings to be held every three weeks. Residents can still watch meetings online if they choose. Wright said only six spectators can attend in-person meetings due to fire regulations; council meetings are held inside a room at an elementary school. The decision to return to in-person meetings follows the results of a municipal survey that asked respondents if they were willing to resume that format if it meant having taxpayers foot the bill for security and limiting attendance to six people. A majority said they weren't in favour of paying, while some seemed perplexed that only six spectators could be in attendance at a council meeting. ”$150 for six people to attend a meeting seems outrageous,” one respondent wrote. Some respondents in the survey, which can be viewed on the township's website, were blunt in their responses. “If the sitting council feels harassed and unable to perform their duties as they were elected to do, they should resign and call a byelection,” one respondent wrote. Others questioned the need for security when only six spectators can attend, while other respondents urged council to disclose the nature of the threats the municipality has received. Wright has earlier characterized the threats as a “health and safety” issue, but has not elaborated Two survey respondents said the current online format is fine, but some in the township have said they can't always hear what council members are saying. Wright didn't immediately respond this week when asked for her take on the survey results. Last summer, council hosted a public meeting at a larger venue following intense opposition to a budget that proposed to raise overall property taxes by 26 per cent. Provincial police officers were in attendance at the request of the municipality. Though the meeting sometimes became boisterous, nobody was arrested. To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile. Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation

At least one wildfire lit up in Thunder Bay's orbit this week, but damp conditions are keeping the risk for more fires in the region in the low- to-moderate range, and less area has been burned compared to other years, provincial officials said. "Widespread wet weather over the next few days is expected to lower hazard conditions in areas that receive rainfall," an Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services (AFFES) bulletin said on Thursday night. On Tuesday, a fire about five kilometres north of Sistonen's Corners in the area of Forbes Centre Road reached half a hectare in size before it was declared out, the bulletin said. According to the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services agency, most wildfires at this time of year are caused by human activity, such as brush-burning and rail grinding. The agency advocates for alternatives to burning. "In order to dispose of yard waste and woody debris, we encourage methods such as composting or using local landfills," the Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services bulletin said. "As we see temperatures rise and thunderstorms become more frequent, lightning will play more of a factor as a cause of wildland fires," regional Aviation, Forest Fire and Emergency Services spokesman Chris Marchand said on Friday. Since wildfire season began on April 1, there have been 49 fires recorded in the province so far, compared to the 10-year average over the same period of 76, the agency said. About half of the provincial fires this spring have burned in Northwestern Ontario. Significantly less area has been burned over so far this spring compared to the 10-year average for the period of more than 9,600 hectares. The total for this year so far is just under 117 ha.