Canada Customs costs scuttle Little Current as port of entry
Cruise ships will clear customs elsewhere, then visit Wewebjiwang
by Sheila Bowes
LITTLE CURRENT-The operator of the cruise ship Clelia II will be altering the ship's planned 2010 itinerary to avoid a whopping $11,000 fee that Canada Customs was set to charge them had Little Current been the port of entry for the ship from US waters.
The impressive boat docked in Little Current last Tuesday with her payload of 100 passengers, up-bound from the Canada Soo and then to Mackinac Island. At that point, the prospect of a hefty charge-to cover the cost of the federal agency flying officers from Sault Ste. Marie-still hung heavy over the cruise operator's plans, and local, provincial and federal leaders met in Little Current to seek a way around the extra cost.
Since then, the ship's operators have changed the schedule for 2010. Little Current will remain an important port of call, but when the Clelia II enters Canada from the US, she'll go first to a community with a customs office in place to avoid the charges Canada Customs was set to impose next year.
Such charges "would put us out of business for custom clearance," argued Little Current merchant and council member Jib Turner last week. "After the federal government spent millions of dollars on our town dock, it seems silly to turn around and make it impossible for us to operate."
Cruise lines would be charged a large fee to supplement costs of such things as travel time and overtime for Canada Customs agents travelling to Little Current. Over the course of the summer, that would amount to approximately $66,000 for the visiting ships to pay, making a stop in the town look very unappealing to cruise companies.
However, Canada Customs claims this will not affect the Clelia II coming to port in Little Current this year, or in the future. "Because the previous location will be a Canadian one, in Thunder Bay, there isn't a need for the ship to be cleared, because they were formally in Canadian waters," said Chris Kealey, a media representative with Canada Customs.
"The itinerary has changed several times," he noted. "It used to have them coming from Mackinac but now it is Thunder Bay. If the ship arrives during custom hours, at ports where there is an office, they do not have to worry about paying extra fees."
For now, due to this last-minute change in itinerary, it looks like the town can take a deep breath knowing that the Little Current port will remain a favourite destination.
However, although this won't affect the cruise industry in Little Current at the moment, it could potentially in the future.
"I think we need to get a customs office here in Little Current," said Mr. Turner. "We used to have an office here, and I think it would make sense to have one again to avoid future customs issues."
Many in attendance agreed that having an office in Little Current could help to solve future issues that might arise due to the fact that there is no office at port.
"I am going to approach that subject by hopefully inviting some of the ministers here so they can have a better understanding of the challenges that diversify our economy," said Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing MP Carol Hughes. "We have to remedy the different hurdles that need to be surmounted to be successful. We need to make a case of what needs to be done, like for example getting a customs office in Little Current. Bringing tourism is a huge economic stimulus."

Citizens concerned with windmill project's scope take issue to NE council
LITTLE CURRENT-A group of Little Current-area landowners met on Sunday to discuss issues regarding the proposed McLean's Mountain wind farm project and will be attending a committee meeting of Northeast Town council tomorrow (Thursday) to air these concerns with municipal representatives.
"The purpose isn't to shut down wind farms, but people should be well aware of what they're getting into," said Ray Beaudry, a resident of Morphet's Side Road and one of the 15 people who gathered over the weekend. "We should be making informed decisions on green energy."
Among the group's concerns is the impact on the value and usability of land that is located within the range of noise created by turbines that is considered to be too high for human habitation.
As they write in a letter published in this week's paper, "Once the wind turbines are in place and the 40-decibel limit of sound encroaches on neighbouring property, this will hinder the adjacent landowners' ability to secure building permits if their proposed dwelling projects fall within that limit." It might also allow speculators to purchase the land for additional turbines at less than current market prices, they add.
As well, the group is worried about the size of the project, which "has grown from a few turbines to 43," and will necessitate the construction of a 115-kilovolt line. This high-tension line and the right of way it will require, along with the towers themselves, "will have a much larger impact on local residents and the environment than was initially thought," the wind critics write.
The landowners joined forces following a public meeting held in late June by Northland Power, which is in the process of finalizing its plans for the 43-turbine project.

OCF honours Marion Seabrook for her work in bridging cultures
by Jan McQuay
MINDEMOYA-On Homecoming Weekend, Mindemoya bustled with a flurry of activities with the Lions Club and the reunion of Manitoulin's original high schools. In nearby M'Chigeeng on Sunday afternoon, at one small gathering at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation, Marion Seabrook was quietly honoured for her lifetime contributions.
The tribute was a complete surprise for Ms. Seabrook. Lewis Debassige of M'Chigeeng organized the event and like the trickster Nanabush, had arranged for her to come.
Mr. Debassige spoke first about his own childhood and learning experiences. His grandfather was a major influence in his life. He told of how each child in his family was given the task of tending three rows in their garden, but Lewis would do one row and then blend into the bush at the end of the row, and go to visit his grandfather. His grandfather would tell him stories, and then take him home and told his parents, "This boy is a great worker-make sure to send him over again tomorrow!"
At school in Lakeview, his first teacher brutalized the pupils, even breaking their fingers. Young Lewis dreaded school and prayed every day to be relieved of her. For two years she was his teacher, but then she died the following summer. His prayers were answered.
In Grade 11 at Central Manitoulin High School, Lewis was chosen to represent his high school at a ceremony in Ottawa. It was an honour, but he was criticized, and his reaction was to become a "minimalist," doing just enough to pass. Nevertheless, he became the first Aboriginal student from M'Chigeeng to go to Grade 13.
Marion Seabrook was his homeroom teacher. I was in that class, in 1967/'68, and I remember most of the students were girls. Lewis remembers us as "forceful women," which I will take as a compliment.
Mr. Debassige became the first Native student from M'Chigeeng to graduate with his Grade 13. 
At our high school, the motto was "Honour, Truth, Valour." Forty years later, involved in all the reunion activities, Mr. Debassige felt that a truth was still missing. So he organized a presentation to give recognition to our teacher, Marion Seabrook. "She was a teacher who loved us and inspired us," he said. 
Nanabush's trick had worked. Ms. Seabrook suddenly realized where his speech had been leading. Chief Isadora Bebamash made the presentation, giving her a beautiful quill box.
Ms. Seabrook was surprised, but she is never at a loss for words. Accepting the tribute, she said that after the amalgamation of the schools into the Manitoulin Secondary School, it was decided that MSS should have a Native studies class. But after awhile the principal told her they didn't have a teacher. So she did something that I find remarkable. 
"I had little knowledge of Native studies, but I did know how to teach, so I offered to teach the class," she told the gathering. "I told them that it was strange for a white woman to teach Native studies, so we would learn together. We started with 22 students, then we had 38 students."
It kept growing. The next year she had two classes, and the next year there were four classes and she was joined by teacher Paul Flanagan.
She took her classes on trips to other Native communities, where the students were billeted with families. The first trip, to a community in Saskatchewan, sounds like the kind of experience students never forget. "We had six feasts in seven or eight days," Mrs. Seabrook recalled.
She was even honoured with a rare invitation to attend a sacred ceremonial dance in a huge smokehouse building, along with her students. The next class visited a Micmac community in Cape Breton, and after that, a Haida community in the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Ms. Seabrook was a remarkable teacher. By honouring her contributions, Chief Bebamash and Mr. Debassige filled in the missing truth.

Mushroom pickers find human remains in Spring Bay area
SPRING BAY-OPP are investigating human remains found on Friday, July 3, on Lot 9 Concession 12, off Grimesthorpe Road near Spring Bay. A couple discovered the remains that evening while out for a walk collecting mushrooms.
Although the body has not been identified, OPP are investigating the possibility that it could be linked to disappearance of Spring Bay resident Kenneth McDonald, who went missing last October. Mr. McDonald, a white male, 39, at 5'7" tall, was last seen wearing a red hat, grey sweatshirt, blues jeans and running shoes near his residence on October 28.
"We can't confirm the two cases are connected at this point," said Constable Al Boyd. "The remains were in the area for quite a period of time so we're going to have to rely on dental and forensics."
The post mortem examination took place on Monday in Sudbury to determine the cause of death and identify the body, but results weren't available by press time.
"We likely won't know much more until the results of the forensic report come in," said Constable Boyd, who added that foul play is not suspected in the case.

EDITORIAL
Port fee makes Great Lakes cruise ship operation prohibitive
The governments of both Canada and Ontario decided more than a decade ago that the cruise ship industry should be encouraged to return to the Great Lakes.
In 1997, the Columbus paid a visit to the Port of Little Current and thus inaugurated the rebirth of cruise ships visiting the upper Great Lakes when that same ship had passed through Toronto en route to Lake Huron and Michigan a few days before, the Toronto Star's extensive coverage noted that this was the first cruise ship to visit the Ontario capital in more than a quarter-century.
Following the fanfare associated with this initial cruise ship visit, the Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands, in its initial planning for the rehabilitation of Little Current's downtown waterfront, was encouraged by both provincial and federal funding agencies to incorporate improved cruise ship berthing infrastructure as a key component in both its planning and design phases.
Studies were done, and an area of the downtown docks (basically the old wooden docks between the ice plant and the eastern extremity of that traditional stretch) was identified as the focus area for remediation and complete rebuilding. The study recommended that the couple of "dog leg" features peculiar to the old wooden docks be removed and that the stretch of new docks would run more or less straight, to better accommodate large cruise ships tying up downtown.
The concept was accepted, a design team set about making the plans for the reconstruction and funding was applied for. Contracts began and two years ago the work was complete.
Last week, a brand-new cruise ship, the Clelia II, made its first trip to the Port of Little Current, and the captain-who had brought other ships in to the old docks-was enthusiastic about how much friendlier the improved docks were to his ship than the old ones had been.
The only problem is that not every government department has as its objective the smooth running and continuing activity of the cruise ship industry in our part of the world.
At the present time, Canada Customs needs to send a customs officer aboard the cruise ships that dock in Little Current, should this port be the port of entry for down-bound cruise ships leaving the United States, coming from Lake Michigan.
What is really difficult to comprehend is the fee that Canada Customs has determined it needs to charge for this service: $11,000 per visit to Little Current (although this mind-boggling rate is waived until the 2010 season).
The support that came to the Northeast Town from both federal and provincial agencies was, at least in part, made available precisely to encourage a cruise ship stop on the North Channel of Lake Huron.
That will have been a political decision, encouraged by economic considerations.
Customs Canada could charge the $11,000 fee to service port-of-entry cruise ship visits to Little Current because the agency does not have sufficient staff on Manitoulin and must service the cruise ships from Sault Ste. Marie.
It is clear that, should this come to pass, Little Current will become less and less attractive, on financial considerations, as a cruise ship stop and the ship is likely to seek out other ports that already have customs offices in place.
For cruise ship managers, seeking to provide an affordable product that still renders their company a profit, this decision would likely be reached fairly quickly. On the other hand, the same government that also operates Canada Customs has ploughed money into the reconstruction of the Little Current docks in an effort to place that community as a key port on cruise ships' itineraries and it makes no sense that one department of our federal government undermines the economic stimulator that another agency of the same government has gone to great pains to help initiate.
This season, the cruise ship's operator has changed its itinerary so that Little Current will not be the port of entry following the US leg of the cruise. This year, it will now be Thunder Bay, where there is a Canada Customs office in place, and so any surcharge is avoided. But what happens when Little Current is the logical port of entry for a cruise ship, for this will certainly be the case one of these days? Does the exorbitant $11,000 fee come into play? Apparently, the answer is 'yes.'
Reestablishing a Canada Customs office in Little Current has been a suggested remedy and failing all else, then this is what should happen.
Too much thought, energy and work has been expended for this economic initiative to be threatened, or even squandered, by bureaucratic blindness.

Letters to the Editor
Tory candidate in last election won't be on ballot this time
Dianne Musgrove says she lacked the political bloodlust
To the Expositor:
An open letter to Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapukasing constituents:
This is to inform you that I will not be running in any of the upcoming elections as the Conservative candidate for AMK.
The last election campaign was a huge learning curve for me. I realized I do not have the political acumen, the endless verbal rhetoric or the political bloodlust needed to run a campaign. Nor did I have a lot of learning or preparation time from the call to election and the actual campaign trail.
To those who wondered how I came to run in the first place, let me explain. No-one else had come forward to let their name stand and then when the election call did come, I put my name forward and was appointed by the prime minister to run, bypassing the nomination process because of the lack of time. The other option was to have someone parachuted in from somewhere else and there was no time or anyone available to do that, so the Conservative Party let my name stand for AMK.
My "lacklustre performance on the campaign trail" has been severely criticized as the primary reason why I lost votes and did not win the seat. So be it, I never claimed to be the perfect person for the job; but I hoped my sincerity and honesty and calm approach would bring a different option to the campaign trail. The need to verbally assault the other parties' platforms and shortcomings, present and past, is what the public wanted to see in the public debates and I sorely lacked that ability. As a first-timer I never expected to win, given the years of experience and former campaign ventures by the other candidates, but I was willing to run the gamut anyway.
I am glad the party got in and I hope that they get the chance to complete the allotted tenure of time until another election needs to be called.
I sincerely hope that all the naysayers, rather then just criticize, will become active members of the local riding association and nominate a more qualified, politically savvy local member of AMK to run in the next election and be the voice of the Conservative Party in this riding.
Dianne Musgrove
Birch Island

Islanders need more input on proposed wind farm project
Public has until July 24 to provide comments to registry
EDITOR'S NOTE: A letter has been posted to the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) registry in response to the request for comments surrounding the draft proposals for the Green Energy and Green Economy Act 2009, and specifically in regard to the McLean's Mountain wind farm proposed by Northland Power. This submission has been printed at the authors' request.
To the Expositor:
We feel there is one issue in particular surrounding the proposed windmill farm that would be of interest to the general public. Once the wind turbines are in place and the 40-decibel limit of sound encroaches on neighbouring property, this will hinder the adjacent landowners' ability to secure building permits, if their proposed dwelling projects fall within that limit. We believe the setback requirements for wind turbines should be such that they don't infringe on neighbouring properties, and be such that the noise generated remains within the confines of the land being leased: a buffer zone.
Our opinion is that landowners affected by these building restrictions may experience difficulty in the real estate market, allowing speculators to purchase the land for additional turbines at less than current market prices.
We also suggest that all landowners within the proposed windmill farm zone who may experience these restrictions be notified of all developments in writing, not just through public information sessions, which may or may not be convenient for them to attend.
We are also concerned that the size of this project, which has grown from a few turbines to 43, as well as the construction of the 115-KV line and right-of-way required, will have a much larger impact on local residents and the environment than was initially thought.
Comments concerning the McLean's Mountain wind farm project can be directed to the project manager at Dillon Consulting Ltd. at dpmckinnon@dillon.ca. Any comments are to be submitted by July 10, 2009 (one of several short deadlines) by phone at (416) 229-4647, or by fax at (416) 229-4692.
The public has until July 24, 2009 to submit their comments to the EBR at www.ebr.gov.on.ca, posting number 010-6708.
Also, under Item 12, there is a new proposal for setbacks and public comment, which can be viewed under posting number 010-6708.
Raymond Beaudry, Patti Bond-Beaudry, Susan Hart,
Allan Ryan, Beth Ferguson, Stan Ferguson, Garry White,
Marilyn White, Tom Morphet, Jack Hawryluk, Georgina Grzela
Little Current

Workers to blame for water valve leak
Town should pay cost of water damage

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a letter addressed to Northeast Town council and is reprinted here at the author's request.
To the Expositor:
After trying to educate you at your June 18, 2009 committee-as-a-whole meeting on the necessity of you and your supervisory staff knowing the human and physical aspects of Little Current (i.e. the giants and little people, its street valves) you sent me a $30 charge for your pathetic insult of your employers, the taxpayers of Little Current.
After several hours of turning the wrong valve (i.e. the valve at 3 Meredith Street instead of 1 Meredith's), dripping at the rate of a gallon per day on the basement wall-to-wall rug of 1 Meredith Street, your two lost public servants finally concluded, "Let's look at the diagrams." Something they and you should have done before turning off 3 Meredith's water. And when your two victims finally knew what they were doing and started turning the dripping valve at 1 Meredith, they flooded the basement floor and rug again. Such that it has taken several days of electricity and labour to dry the floor and mildewed rug. Slightly more cost than your insulting $30 charge against your incompetence.
You have a duty to know the human and physical aspects of Little Current, not to waste your employer's hard-earned taxes turning the wrong valve and flooding a basement, and then pathetically trying to pass your $30 crime onto your employing taxpayers.
I trust you will pay the $30 to say nothing of your considerable damage to 1 Meredith; and improve your knowledge of Little Current prior to coming elections.
Captain Douglas K. Campbell
Honora