FedNor minister offers incentives to prospective 'angel'

business backers Hon. Tony Clement visits Manitoulin

by Alicia McCutcheon

MANITOULIN-Federal Minister of Health and Long Term Care and FedNor made a two-day stop to Manitoulin last week, bringing with him good news for Manitoulin and Algoma.

At the Anchor Inn in Little Current last Wednesday morning, the minister announced $433,000 in funding for the region for six different projects-three of which are Island-run initiatives.

"It's been wonderful to be back on Manitoulin," he allowed, referring to his visit weeks earlier with Minister of Northern and Indian Affairs Jim Prentice.

The Northern Ontario Enterprise Gateway (NOEG) received the most funding at $175,000 to create a comprehensive marketing and communication strategy to raise the profile of this new not-for-profit organization. The NOEG seeks to connect entrepreneurs seeking investment capital with a network of investors and small businesses across the North.

Elliot Lake retirement living received $156,000 for a waterfront development feasibility study while the Manitoulin Farmers' Markets received $34,400 to expand the three-market location through a comprehensive marketing and promotional campaign and to achieve growth both in membership and sales.

The Manitoulin Chamber of Commerce also received funding worth $29,100 for a one-year FedNor youth internship. Kelsey Maguire of Manitowaning is a newly graduated student from the University of Guelph who has a busy year ahead of him. One month into his internship, Mr. Maguire is running the popular ferry ambassador program, the program's second year in existence. Ambassador Meg Middleton can be found on the Chi-Cheemaun from Monday through Friday, keeping tourists abreast of events happening on Manitoulin and inviting local businesses and attractions to promote themselves on the ferry.

Mr. Maguire is also conducting a visitor survey for the Island which targets people leaving Manitoulin and has tourists answer such questions as where they stayed, what activities they took in, and what they would like to see on Manitoulin. The busy intern is also working on a terms of reference for a Chi-Cheemaun economic impact study as well as working on a wholesale trade show featuring Made-on-Manitoulin goods.

Other Island funding went to the LaCloche Manitoulin Business Assistance Corporation (LAMBAC), with $11,000 given by FedNor for the development and implementation of a series of culinary tourism workshops which are aimed at building partnerships between "agricultural and food producers and commercial hospitality establishments, allowing them to capitalize on the region's unique agri-food products and robust tourism industry," a recent press release from Minister Clement stated.

Rounding out the bulk total, the Sagamok First Nation received $27,500, also for the FedNor youth internship program for an economic development officer.

"There's a lot going on here and I see such improvements," Minister Clement told the crowd at the Anchor Inn. "You just have to look across the way to see one big success," he added, pointing to Little Current's new waterfront, to which FedNor contributed $750,000.

"I've seen how much FedNor has been involved every step of the way," he said.

He stressed that his government is committed to Northern Ontario and values the North and commented on how the North's caucus representation has even doubled-"from one to two," he quipped..

While walking Little Current's new docks, Mr. Clement told the Expositor how impressed he was with the new waterfront. "This is the kind initiative where small towns need help," Minister Clement said. "I'm pleased that we are also involved in Gore Bay's waterfront development."

The minister also made a trip to the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation the previous day, which was hosted by the Great Spirit Circle Trail.

Deputy grand chief of the Union of Ontario Indians, and OCF board member, Glen Hare was in attendance and spoke of the long journey the OCF has undertaken to get where it is today, but stressed that there was still much farther to go.

"FedNor has been a great help to our organization," he said. "I believe our relationship is strong."

Cathy Bebamash addressed the minister on behalf of the Waubetek Business Development Corporation and the Great Spirit Circle Trail. She explained to the minister that Waubetek has handed out over $27 million to over 700 Aboriginal businesses in Northern Ontario.

In June of 2008, Waubetek's contract with the government is up for renewal, she noted, and "we would appreciate your support and FedNor's continued support."

Ms. Bebamash also called attention to Waubetek's general manager Dawn Madahbee, explaining that Ms. Madahbee's term on the National Aboriginal Economic Development Board is nearly up and asking Minister Clement for his support in her reappointment to the board in September.

"FedNor has been a partner and wants to continue to be a partner," he told the crowd at the OCF. "I see a value in it...we're on the same mission."

Court downgrades charges in 2006 watercraft fatality

From criminal negligence to dangerous operation of vessel

MANITOULIN-It was one year ago this week that 17-year-old Justine Martin of Sudbury was killed in a horrible boating accident on Lake Manitou's Newby's Bay, but a final ruling in the case is still pending.

There has been a reduction, however, in the severity of the charge that was first brought against the US cottager whose 17-foot boat was determined to have struck a smaller craft occupied by Ms. Martin and a male cousin.

David Bogataj, a US resident with a seasonal abode on Newby's Bay, 59 at the time of the accident, was originally charged with criminal negligence causing death for his role in the tragic mishap. But at a preliminary hearing held in Gore Bay court on June 28, that charge was reduced to dangerous operation of a vessel, with Judge Gerry Michel ruling that evidence was insufficient to support the graver offence.

The incident occurred last summer on the evening of July 12, a Wednesday. Ms. Martin had been staying at the cottage of her grandmother, Eileen Martin, on Newby's Bay and had decided to go fishing in a 12-foot aluminum boat with her cousin.

Around 8 pm, an hour or so before sunset, the larger boat piloted by Mr. Bogataj was seen entering the bay and continuing on a collision course towards the tin boat. According to witnesses, the teens saw the boat coming, and waved their arms to try to get the driver's attention; when that failed, they attempted to jump out of the way.

The boy emerged unscathed from the ensuing collision, but Ms. Martin incurred fatal injuries. A neighbour attempted to perform CPR on the unconscious teen when she was brought to shore, but efforts to resuscitate her failed.

Alcohol is not considered a factor in the accident, nor was the weather inclement on that evening, although the setting sun may have made it difficult for the boat operator to see the smaller craft.

A date for Mr. Bogataj's trial will be set in the next two weeks.

Bear suspected in Spring Bay calf kill

SPRING BAY-One Spring Bay farmer is short a calf after what may have been a bear attack last week.

Chris Noland explained that last Friday morning, he was informed that one of his calves was seen on the road near his farm. After searching for the lost calf, Mr. Noland didn't find it until later that evening. The calf was dead.

"There were claw marks on it and the skin was ripped," he said.

The farmer explained that he had lost calves before, but has never had direct evidence before of an attack, be it bear or otherwise.

Brian Bell, regional representative of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, was called to the scene on Saturday to document the case, take pictures and submit a report.

Evidence suggests that the attack may have been a bear, but the government will have the final say. If deemed a bear attack, Mr. Noland will receive compensation for the dead calf.

Mr. Noland says he has heard of bear sightings recently in his area, both to the north and south of his farm, but has not seen any bears himself.

Northern health travel grants hiked

by Jim Moodie

NORTHERN ONTARIO-A significant hike in the mileage rate for Northerners who have to travel for medical reasons was announced by the province last week.

Speaking in Thunder Bay on Wednesday, Premier Dalton McGuinty revealed that the reimbursement rate for drivers utilizing the Northern Ontario Health Travel Grant program will increase from 34.25 cents per kilometre to 41 cents per kilometre, retroactive to July 1.

As well, the province is committed, for the first time, to providing an accommodation allowance of up to $100 for Northerners who need to stay overnight while seeking treatment in an urban centre away from home. Such allowances will be made available in October.

While the boost in compensation is obviously welcome to anyone who makes frequent trips to access specialist care, critics are calling the increase both overdue and insufficient.

Barry Barnes, a septuagenarian resident of Evansville who has made repeated forays to Sudbury in recent years to have an eye condition addressed, has been critical in the past of the health travel rate, which hadn't budged in three years despite increases in the cost of gas and insurance.

Speaking with the Expositor a month ago, he complained of "the total inequity" between what Northerners receive to defray travel costs and mileage rates paid elsewhere in the province, saying, "I don't like feeling ripped."

And even with the recent increase, the Island resident remains unimpressed.

"It should have been done three years ago, and it's still too little," he protested, adding, "it's nothing but an election carrot."

Particularly irksome to Mr. Barnes is the fact that some government employees using their vehicles for government business in southern Ontario will be reimbursed at a higher rate than a Northern patient who must travel long distances for medical care, not to mention pay a higher price at the pumps.

According to the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents government workers across the country, the mileage rate in Ontario as of September 1, 2006, was 48.5 cents per kilometre for federal civil servants.

"Why are we not worth what a government employee gets, or more?" asks Mr. Barnes.  "We're paying their salaries."

The pennies add up, said Mr. Barnes, particularly when one has to travel often for health reasons. "I made about eight trips this year to Sudbury," he noted. "And everything gets more expensive. My insurance-and I haven't had an accident-has tripled in the last five years."

He believes that whether you are a government employee or a Northerner seeking medical help, "the rate should be the same amount." Otherwise, "build me a bloody hospital in Gore Bay that has all the specialists so I don't have to drive to Sudbury or the Soo," he said.

The mileage rate for Northern patients is actually higher (by a half-cent) than the rate paid to members of provincial parliament, however. Scott Turner, supervisor of financial analysts for the Legislative Assembly, told the Expositor that MPPs are reimbursed for travel at the rate of 40.5 cents per kilometre.

According to information from the province, Northern Ontario residents file over 155,000 applications for health-related travel assistance every year.

Along with providing better compensation for driving expenses and overnight stays, the province is additionally pledging to speed up the time it takes for travel grant applications to be processed.

"This investment means residents will get quicker payment for their travel expenses," said Health and Long-Term Care Minister George Smitherman in a press release.

Mr. Barnes said that, at present, "it takes two or three months" before the paperwork is complete and an applicant receives their compensatory payment in the mail.

"McGuinty says they're going to streamline it so that it won't take more than six weeks, but it shouldn't even take that long," he said, noting, "Revenue Canada processes a hell of a lot more tax returns than provincial employees process travel grants, and do it faster."

EDITORIAL

Peaceful demonstration preferable to blockading busy highways

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Day of Action, the Friday before the Canada Day weekend, has certainly given a focus to Aboriginal concerns, specifically about land claim issues across the country.

On Manitoulin and in the general region, motorists had the opportunity of experiencing two quite different styles of protest that Friday.

At the swing bridge in Little Current the approach was soft, with protestors largely limiting themselves to passing out pamphlets that detailed some of their concerns.

Some of the people who were involved in this benign protest moved to the Highway 6-17 intersection just outside of Espanola around noon of the National Day of Action but in this new location strategies were markedly different. Traffic was blocked along the Trans-Canada Highway for close to three hours, and following that blockade, traffic was further blocked farther west at Serpent River First Nation by another protest group that held up traffic for another hour at that spot on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Doubtless some westbound travellers would have been held up twice, and for as long as four hours in all-first at the Espanola corner and then again at Serpent River. (The Serpent River group also blocked the progress of a Huron Central train bound from the Soo to Sudbury.)

If the AFN plans to make the National Day of Action an annual event, and if traffic-halting roadblocks like the ones experienced in this region, on Highway 401 east of Toronto (where the highway was actually closed by police concerned about comments made by a protestor), and elsewhere in Canada, are to become routine, it's a sure bet that motorists (whether holiday-bound or of a commercial nature) will go out of their way to either avoid driving that day at all or to take alternate routes.

It would seem that the less militant approach taken by the protestors who were responsible for "protest duty" at the swing bridge in Little Current will have had more effect by merely slowing traffic down and distributing information than will those who actually blocked traffic for several hours on Highway 17 in two locations.

Some of those caught in the Highway 17 blockade will have been inconvenienced enough to be annoyed by the protest, especially if they were late for or missed appointments. They would be unlikely to pay attention to the protestors' legitimate message.

But for those who were merely slowed down by a group of friendly people, human nature would dictate that as a group they would be far more likely to read the information provided to them and to be sympathetic to it.

No doubt reports from the different styles of protest across the country will filter into the national office of the AFN over the next few weeks.

And no doubt this national organization will be watching carefully to determine whether the protest day gained or lost overall support for land claims issues.

We would be more inclined to support the style of protest used at the swing bridge, with many more of these mini-protests scheduled for another year's event.

At Little Current, for example, traffic could be slowed and information distributed. But so too could this same thing take place at Birch Island and M'Chigeeng, but without protestors going on to actually blockade the highways.

Similarly, protestors could do the same thing at Naughton, at Serpent River First Nation, at Mississauga First Nation, at Sagamok and at Garden River with each community tailoring its printed message to its own particular history and concerns.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Seasonal resident appreciates peaceful protest at the bridge

The country I want to live in is one with harmony

To the Expositor:

My family recently purchased a camp on the M'Chigeeng First Nation. We are very pleased to be here, and hope to some day be included as good members of the community. We travelled to the Island on June 29, and knowing about the day of protest, assumed there would be protest activity but were confident it would take a peaceful form. My best hopes have been confirmed by the decision to have a peaceful demonstration, and it only makes me happier to be where we are. On behalf of my wife Lara, son Evan, and unborn daughter, I wish to say thank you. We passed the bridge after the information session was over, but had we been there at the time we would have gladly taken the material that was being handed out, and gladly shaken hands. What First Nations people were doing on this day is important to all of us-the country I want to live in and want my family to live in is one where understanding and harmony exists.

Sean Newell-Barrette

Sudbury

People should "pull their heads out of sand" and take UFOs seriously

New website is dedicated to telling the stories of UFO eyewitnesses

To the Expositor:

For over 30 years, I've investigated UFO sightings and flying saucer reports from all over Northern Ontario, and more specifically, the Sudbury area in which I reside.

Since age 10, I've been dedicating my life to the pursuit of the unknown, and in some respects, I've bitten off more than I could chew. I've had 23 separate-and individually different-UFO sightings since 1974. Most were seen here in the Sudbury region, but some were witnessed by myself and others in my presence in such places as Blind River, Whitefish and, more recently, Scarborough, where I photographed a daytime object, spherical in shape, which was "parked' approximately five miles high, next to some large clouds.

Also, I've had the privilege of investigating a physical trace case from Spring Bay, Manitoulin Island back in 1990, when two objects apparently landed, and left behind two circular traces, each measuring approximately nine feet in diameter. The traces were consistent with similar reports from other countries.

I've also investigated two reports of alien abductions: one in Sault Ste. Marie and the other in Blind River. I came away from those cases with a greater understanding of the complexity of the phenomena and an appreciation for the sincerity and honesty of the people involved in these traumatic events.

I would like to announce the official launch of my new website (www.noufors.com) specifically dedicated to all those eyewitnesses, past and present, who dared to speak out but were never heard.

The Northern Ontario UFO Research and Study (NOUFORS) focuses mainly on educating the public about a subject that has been ridiculed, downplayed, dismissed and debunked for 60 years or more.

It's time the world caught up to the fact that we humans are not alone in the universe, and that we are simply part of a larger community in space. The mountain of evidence, both physical and anecdotal, can no longer be denied. It's time for the rest of the population to pull their heads out of the sand and take a serious look at the UFO phenomenon and all related aspects of an enduring mystery that just won't go away.

Perhaps one day, the governments of the world will have the decency to take on the responsibility of confessing to its people that since at least July, 1947, they have known about the existence of extraterrestrials and their vehicles and deliberately lied and hid the truth from the public for nearly 60 years.

Michel M. Deschamps

provincial section director for Mutual UFO Network Inc.

Sudbury

Seraphine

Osawabine-Kaboni

Manitoulin Trading Post

Sheguiandah First Nation

I'm your neighbour

Seraphine Osawabine-Kaboni has seen a great deal of change and growth in her time with the Manitoulin Trading Post on the Sheguiandah First Nation. She first began working at the Trading Post in 1989, with its humble beginnings as a small trailer located on the property where the new, much larger store is today.

"We sold gas, movies, pop and chips and milk and bread," she explains. "We tried to sell crafts too, but that didn't work out."

In 2000, the Trading Post expanded to the store it is today, stocking all that it had in 1989 and much, much more. Like most of our 'neighbours,' Ms. Osawabine-Kaboni says her favourite aspect of her job is the people she sees day to day-from family and friends, to tourists in the summer. In fact, she says summer is her favourite time of year to work for just that reason.

"It's nice to meet different people," she says, adding that she particularly enjoys helping European tourists when they stop by the store with questions about Manitoulin and its people. "It can get pretty crazy around here though," Ms. Osawabine-Kaboni says of the busy summer traffic.

The camaraderie between the co-workers is great too, the Sheguiandah resident says, confessing that it's not uncommon for a practical joke or two to be played on one another. When Ms. Osawabine-Kaboni is not busy at the Trading Post or her other job with housekeeping at the Manitoulin Health Centre, you might find her at the camp on Rabbit Island. She says that her beloved camp was hit hard by last year's storm and there is still plenty of work to do to clean it up.

Ms. Osawabine-Kaboni is an active woman who "likes to keep healthy." She plays hockey for the Whitefish River First Nation women's hockey team, and works out at Jaz's Gym in Little Current.

"The store is continuing to grow," she says, which is good, as Ms. Osawabine-Kaboni likes to be kept busy.

Shopping at local businesses like the Manitoulin Trading Post provides lasting employment for people like Seraphine Osawabine-Kaboni.

Re-enactors playing Mohawk (left) and Anishinaabe warriors duel during hand-to-hand combat. The re-enactment was completely safe: the warriors learned their choreographed technique from the same trainer who works with Shakespearean actors in Stratford.

photo by Lindsay Kelly

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