Local girl wins second straight national wrestling title

by Neil Zacharjewicz
WIKWEMIKONG - Katrina Pitawanakwat has successfully defended her 
Canadian National Freestyle Wrestling crown.
On April 5 and 6, Ms. Pitawanakwat was in Frederiction, New Brunswick 
for the Canadian National Freestyle Wrestling Championship. Ms. 
Pitawanakwat had quite the credentials going into the competition, as 
she had not lost a match since December of 2000, and had not had a 
point scored against her since last year's championship in Saskatoon, 
Saskatchewan. Her streak continued throughout the championship 
tournament.
There were six competitors in Ms. Pitawanakwat's weight class: three 
from Alberta, one from British Columbia, and another from Sudbury. In 
her first match, Ms. Pitawanakwat faced off against Ketrina St. 
Pierre of Alberta. Within 30 seconds, Ms. Pitawanakwat tangled her 
opponent in a double chicken wing, then pinned her, for a total of 
four points.
On the morning of the second day of competition, Ms. Pitawanakwat 
beat Jennifer Zubrack of Alberta by technical superiority, downing 
her opponent 12-0 in the second two-minute half of the match, 
advancing her to the gold medal round.
In the gold medal round, Ms. Pitawanakwat faced Stephanie Buchan of 
Alberta, and the match went the full four minutes. Ms. Pitawanakwat 
scored seven points against her opponent, and allowed none against 
herself.
This fall, Ms. Pitawanakwat plans to relocate closer to elite 
coaches, partners and facilities in the hopes of representing Canada 
at next year's World Junior Wrestling Championships. She extended her 
thanks to all of the local businesses which have assisted her, 
including Ritchie's Gas in M'Chigeeng, the Manitoulin Jesuit 
Community, Island Animal Hospital, Lafarge Inc., the Sheguiandah 
Trading Post, the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin, and Dr. 
Doug Powers.
She also extended an invitation to anyone interested in attending the 
Elliot Lake Wrestle-athon Fundraiser, which will be held on Saturday, 
April 27th in the Algo Centre Mall. There, Ms. Pitawanakwat will 
wrestle her teammates for a period of one hour.

Little Current waterfront docks to be transferred Friday

by Michael Erskine
NORTHEASTERN MANITOULIN AND THE ISLANDS (NEMI)---The long anticipated 
transfer of the federal government docks across the town is scheduled 
to take place on Friday, April 12, 2002.
The transfer of the federal waterfront properties, including the 
Little Current waterfront docks and docks located at Rockville and 
Honora Bay, will be accompanied by "a significant amount of money," 
said Algoma-Manitoulin MP Brent St. Denis.
The statement confirming the amount of money involved will have to 
await the official ceremony between the Town of NEMI and the Small 
Crafts and Harbours Branch of the Federal Ministry of Fisheries and 
Harbours.
The actual amount of money involved in the transfer has been 
unofficially estimated by various sources over the past year as being 
between $1.4 and $1.7 million.
"This will be an important step in the development of the 
waterfront," said Mayor Ferguson, who was reluctant to comment 
further on the transfer until after the official announcement is made 
on Friday. "It is time the town got involved in a bigger way."
The transfer of the federal government's interest in the docks to the 
Town of NEMI is a central part of the ongoing discussions regarding 
waterfront development in Little Current. The funds from the transfer 
of the docks could, according to Waterfront Development Committee 
member John Hodder, be used to leverage in excess of $6.6 million of 
additional funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and FedNor 
to develop the downtown waterfront area.
The town currently leases the downtown docks from Small Crafts and 
Harbours, and then in turn leases the docks to a private contractor 
to operate. The fact that the docks are a revenue generating 
operation complicated the transfer to the town, as did concerns over 
whether the maintenance and upkeep of the docks would prove to be a 
significant long term liability for NEMI.
Negotiations for the transfer of the docks were first initiated by 
NEMI three years ago, when it was learned that the federal government 
wished to divest itself of the small docks and harbours to which it 
holds ownership.
A series of engineering firms were contracted to test the soil and 
report on the condition of the docks in the waterfront area prior to 
the deal, in order to ensure the transfer was not a loaded deal for 
the town, according to NEMI Mayor Ken Ferguson. The last of those 
firms was Northland Engineering of Sudbury, whose crews could be seen 
drilling test cores by the docks last summer.
The remaining government docks in the NEMI area are located at Spider 
Bay Marina and are not part of the current land transfer deal. 
Negotiations over that portion of the waterfront are stalled by a 
legal technicality involving a diversionary interest by the province, 
which will have to be resolved before any transfer to the 
municipality can take place. When Spider Bay Marina was first built, 
the province supplied land which was turned over with the provision 
that should the land ever be sold, it would revert to the province.
"This is not an unusual thing," said Mr. St. Denis. "Many of our 
transfers involve situations of this sort, it will undoubtedly be 
resolved in due course."

Ontario strike threatens fish stocking program

by Michael Erskine
MANITOULIN---It will be years before the full effect on Ministry of 
Natural Resources' programs by the current labour dispute between the 
Ontario Public Service Employees Union and the provincial government 
becomes fully apparant, and the fate of this year's fish stocking 
program throughout Northern Ontario may be a good case in point.
Each year, a new stock of trout hatchlings are placed into the bins 
vacated by their older cousins as they make the trip to lakes and 
rivers throughout Northern Ontario, but the current labour dispute 
has made it difficult to transport those fish to their new homes.
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) dispute with the 
province has disrupted the transfer process, as well as the ongoing 
stocking program, and the resulting overcrowding of the holding tanks 
threatens the health of yearling trout who are normally stocked into 
Northern Ontario water bodies through the ice in late March.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has contingency plans to deal with 
an ongoing and long-term strike. Those plans are to essentially dump 
the fry into the nearest available body of water. In the case of 
Manitoulin's Blue Jay Creek Fish Hatchery, that body of water is Lake 
Manitou.
A press release from OPSEU local 627, which represents the 
non-management workers at the Blue Jay Creek faciltity, notes that 
ice conditions are deteriorating fast, making it less likely that the 
fish will be able to make the journey to the lakes they would 
normally be introduced.
"If the labour dispute continues many lakes may not get stocked at 
all this year," said Paule Leale, a OPSEU local 627 contact.
Denis Earle, Ministry of Natural Resources manager in Sault Ste. 
Marie, confirmed that stocking usually takes place in late March.
"Those fish are not leaving the hatchery for stocking north of 
Highway 17," he said. "Lake Manitou will be stocked, we have already 
moved one unit into the lake, but the other lakes will not be 
stocked."
There are normally 10 to 12 units of fry in the holding tanks at Blue 
Jay Creek.
The problem is not yet critical, in terms of health for the fry in 
the Blue Jay Creek facility, but concerns for the health of the fish 
will begin to reach a critical stage in another three weeks.
"The clock is ticking," said Mr. Earle, "especially for those lakes 
which do not have road acess."
Helicopter seeding of lakes is used, but the cost of carrying out the 
entire program by those means is prohibitive. The fish are normally 
delivered by snowmachine across the frozen surface of the lakes.
"The fish they hold down at Sandfield get to be 30 to 40 grams prior 
to stocking, with the amount of fish they hold down there I can 
imagine it is getting pretty crowded," said Rick Fogal, vice-chair of 
the United Fish and Game Clubs of Manitoulin. "I am definitely 
concerned about it."
Mr. Fogal noted that the Ministry normally milks fish eggs for the 
stocking program at facilities in southern Ontario. "If they haven't 
been able to get those eggs harvested, then the whole program is in 
danger."
Another concern is that even if the dispute is settled and the fish 
are moved into other water bodies, without the ice cover they will be 
very vulnerable to cormorant depredations.
"Even if they are able to hold the fish over, lake trout tend to 
school and stay shallow in the cold water," said Mr. Fogal. "We have 
seen a couple of hundred birds (cormorants) come in and feast for a 
few days on the fry when they have been put right into the water."
The issue of critical programs at the MNR is disturbing to the staff 
who administer the fish stocking and other conservation and 
sustainable use operations. Agreements between the union and the 
management at the ministry have already seen staff go in to the plant 
to ensure the safety of the program, but without being able to move 
the fish into the lakes they are intended for, a whole year-class of 
fish will be largely lost.
"I know a lot of the folks down there, people like Paul Methner, and 
they take their work very seriously," said Mr. Fogal. "I have no 
doubt if there is a way to get those fish into the places they were 
intended to, he will do it.
Mr. Fogal said the Fish and Game clubs have offered their help in any 
way they can to save the stocking program. "If there is anything we 
can do, we are willing to help," he said.
The impact of that loss will not be felt for a number of years, as it 
takes at least three to four years for the fish stocked today to be 
ready for the angler's line, but management and staff of the MNR and 
the local game clubs agree, the impact will be felt.
The scale of the fish stocking program is quite monumental. "We 
normally see them putting in a quarter of a million fish here in Gore 
Bay alone," said Mr. Fogal. "This is the main stocking area for the 
entire North Channel. They have done a little bit of stocking in West 
Bay, at our urging, but most of them go in right here."
"We are in a hard position here," said Mr. Leale. "We do not want the 
situation to have a negative impact on our relations with the people 
we have to work with when all this is over and our people have put a 
lot of work into these programs and they don't want to see that work 
wasted."
The tag draw for the annual fall moose hunt has also been effected 
negatively by the strike.
A word to the wise for any would-be poachers however, not all 
Ministry staff have walked off the job in this dispute... there are 
still Conservation Officers out there, and the large number of 
citizens who act as the eyes and ears of the MNR in the field have 
not stopped watching.
OPSEU and the provincial government have resumed negotiations under a 
media blackout.