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Northeast town
Community Development Corporation launches $265,000
aquaculture program
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by Michael Erskine
ESPANOLA---The governments of Canada and the province of Ontario sent
a clear signal of support to the development of sustainable growth in
the aquaculture industry with the concurrent announcement of
significant start-up funding for the Northern Ontario Aquaculture
Association.
"The aquaculture industry is important to the economic growth of
Northern Ontario," said Algoma Manitoulin MP Brent St. Denis, whose
government provided $112,500 through FedNor to the Northeastern
Manitoulin and the Islands Community Development Corporation to fund
a three-year startup buffer to get the organization running. "The
development of this association will foster new partnerships and
assist in meeting the needs of existing aquaculture-related
businesses."
Mr. St. Denis was speaking on behalf of the Honourable Andy Mitchell,
Secretary of State (Rural Development) (FedNor) who is also a
Northern MP.
"By partnering with the Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands
Community Development Corporation to support the startup of the NOAA
(Northern Ontario Aquaculture Association), the government of Canada
is acting on its commitment to create new opportunities for diverse
economic and community development in Northern Ontario," said Mr.
Mitchell, in a message delivered by Mr. St. Denis.
The province also stepped up to the plate with a $45,000 cheque
delivered by Nippissing MPP Al McDonald, on behalf of Ernie Hardeman,
Associate Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing responsible for
Rural Affairs.
The balance of the $265,000 project will be funded contributions from
the LaCloche Manitoulin Business Assistence Corporation and the
Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands Community Development
Corporation.
"This project focuses on creating and retaining jobs in the northern
aquaculture industry," said Mr. Hardeman. "This industry is an
important economic contributor to Northern Ontario. Our investment
will help to ensure continued growth and prosperity for operators and
their employees."
"The NOAA will be able to meet some specific needs of operators in
Northern Ontario's aquaculture industry as identified in an industry
study completed through FedNor funding last fall," said NOAA
President Mike Meeker, of the Federal funds, and he was equally as
effusive about the provincial contribution. "We are delighted by this
show of confidence from the provincial government. This project will
lead to increased production that can easily replace existing
imports."
"Our Rural Economic Development program is making a difference in
communities across Northern Ontario," said Mr. McDonald, referring to
the five-year, $200-million 'RED" program which is a component of the
Ontario Small Town and Rural Development Program, launched in 2000 to
assist rural Ontario and begin stemming the population outflow to the
south. "Today marks the start of turning northern aquaculture into a
big fish in a big pond."
"Through the efforts of the CDC, we have created a new job in NEMI,"
said CDC President Gary Green. "This project started a year or so ago
with the aquaculture committee, headed by Kevin Hutchinson, and the
result has mushroomed into a new aquaculture association for all of
Northern Ontario."
Mr. Green defered some of the credit to the LaCloche Manitoulin
Business Improvement Corporation.
"This project was originally identified in a study which LAMBAC
conducted," he said. "We just picked up the ball and ran with it."
The NOAA is an association of Northern fish producers and companies
that support and service the Northern aquaculture industry. Its
mandate is to "assist current and future Northern Ontario cage
culture operators in expanding the aquaculture industry in the North.
The organization has recently hired Karen Tracey, of Honora Bay, as a
full-time co-ordinator, whose responsibilities include ensuring
ongoing research and development pertaining specifically to the
Northern Ontario aquaculture industry, as well as marketing and
representing the industry to the public, media and other
organizations.
"It is really a very exciting opportunity to help develop an industry
with huge economic potential for all of Northern Ontario," said Ms.
Tracey. "People need to know the kinds of strides the industry is
making towards truly sustainable development."
Ms. Tracey noted that the Pinewood Motor Inn venue for making the
funding announcements was sponsored by Martin Mills, a major producer
of fish feed. The company took the opportunity of having aquaculture
operators from across Northern Ontario gathered together in one room
to give a seminar from Guelph University Professor Dominique Bureau
on advances in low-phosphorus feed.
"We are doing so much that people don't know about," said Martin
Mills Sales and Marketing Manager Jeff Montjoy. "Alma Research
Station is a world-class research centre located in Elmira, just
minutes from Guelph University and as the only fish feed company in
Ontario, it is vital that we work closely with them to meet the needs
of the industry."
Mr. Meeker noted that the efficiency of aquaculture in converting
feed to protein mass is unmatched by other agricultural industries.
"Swine are around three to one and beef is somewhere around seven to
one, if I am not mistaken, even poultry is only two to one," he
noted. "Fish come in at something like 1.2 to one."
Until now, the aquaculture industry lobby has been a fragmented and
dispersed operation and is often faced with a vigorous and well
connected opposition from cottagers and resorts owners who compete
for the same resources.
"The message we have to get across is that we need clean, fresh water
to produce our product," said Mr. Meeker. "Nobody wants the resource
to be destroyed or degraded."
The formation of the NOAA is intended to not only encourage the
sustainable development of the industry through research and
development, and to globally market its products, but to effectively
communicate the benefits of the aquaculture industry as relatively
benign to a still skeptical public.
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Trial focuses international attention on Indigenous medicine |
by Michael Erskine
WIKWEMIKONG---The clash between the practice of indigenous healing
techniques and modern western society's regulatory organization is
attracting international attention, as journalists will converge on
Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve this coming Monday for the trial of Juan
and Edgar Uyunkar, of Quito Ecuador and their Canadian interpreter,
Maria Alice Ventura, of Wikwemikong.
The death of Jean (Jane) Maiangowi, 71, at a holistic healing
ceremony in South Bay in October, 2001, led to charges being laid
against the trio. The charges included Criminal Negligence Causing
Death, Administering a Noxious Substance, Importing into Canada a
Controlled Substance, Trafficking in a Controlled Substance (Harmine)
and Possession of a Controlled Substance.
The autopsy report concluded that Mrs. Maiangowi died of tobacco
poisoning. Tobacco is alleged to have formed part of the 'Natem'
potion taken during the ceremony.
The charges have divided many in both the Native and non-native
communities. Mrs. Maiangowi was a very popular person in both
communities, as well as a respected Elder, and her death from tobacco
poisoning shocked and angered many who felt it was untimely. Others,
who generally support the Ecuadorians, said that it was her time to
continue Mrs. Maiangowi to begin her spirit journey.
Pat Maiangowi of North Bay, Mrs. Maiangowi's daughter and family
spokesperson, spoke on the matter shortly after her mother's death.
She described her mother as a very devote Roman Catholic and spoke of
her family's misgivings about the ceremony and the circumstances
which led her parents to partake in the event.
"My mother may have been 71, but she acted and seemed more like a
woman of 50," said Ms. Maiangowi.
Ms. Maiangowi said she had a number of questions which remain
unanswered.
"Why was there no phone? Why was there not someone from the Health
Centre there?" she asked. She said she was told the emergency
response team did not arrive until 45 to 50 minutes after her mother
first collapsed, as delays in reaching a telephone were considerable.
Mrs. Maiangowi was attending her third ceremony when she collapsed.
After an investigation by the Wikwemikong Tribal Police, assisted by
the North East Region Crime Unit of the Ontario Provincial Police,
charges were laid.
The Ecuadorian medicine man and his son were welcomed to the
community in a ceremony held September 26, 2001, at Wasse-Abin High
School in Wikwemikong. A single hand-out sheet was sent home with
children from school. The flyer identified Margaret Dewys as the
group's interpreter and indicated the event was being hosted by the
Naadwedidaa Program, Nahndawetchigegamig-Wikwemikong Health Centre.
Wikwemikong Health officials have since refused to comment on the
matter.
The two Ecuadorian men and their interpreter have been awaiting trial
for over a year, unable to return home. Supporters of the two men
claim they could have 'made a deal' which would have allowed them to
plead guilty to lesser charges and return home a year ago, but that
they do not want their name tainted and that they intend to fight to
that end.
The Uyunkars and Ms. Ventura are scheduled to be in court in
Wikwemikong from March 31 to April 4.
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A Manitoulin sugar bush reaches out to the world
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by Michael Erskine
SHEGUIANDAH---The sap is bubbling vigorously in the pan while
Fred
and Nancy Delabbio and their friend, retired lawyer Gord
Michenor,
watch a chickadee work the suet in a squirrel-proof cage hanging
on a
nearby tree.
The trio have spent much of this warm overcast weekend
collecting sap
from the 'coon-proof' buckets hanging below the 108 taps Mr.
Delabbio
has hammered into the maple trees on South Fork, his Greenbush
Road
property.
"The coons are the worst," he said. "When they get inside, oh
what a mess."
"And who wants smelly old fur in their syrup," adds Mrs.
Delabbio.
The sap has slowed for the Delabbios, but they aren't scared.
"It usually runs to the end of April," said Mr. Delabbio. "But
by
this time last year it was all over. If you get 72 hours above
freezing, that's the signal. It's all over."
The volume of sap running, he explains, goes up in the daytime
and
peters out in the night.
Mr. Delabbio has been boiling maple sap into syrup for years,
and he
has used the resulting product as an innovative promotional tool
for
his two companies, Pre-Cambrian, which installs mining
ventilation
equipment and Nelmaco, which sells heavy equipment, steel, and
"just
about anything else."
From Australia, to Europe, from the far North to the wilds of
Brazil
and Uruguay, South Fork Maple Syrup has found its way onto
breakfast
tables where the mere mention of Canada invokes an air of exotic
wilderness mystic.
"They forget all about buying mining equipment," laughed Mr.
Delabbio, as he described the reactions of clients he brings to
the
farm each year. "All they want to talk about is maple syrup."
"One guy from British Columbia knew maple syrup came from
trees,"
said Mrs. Delabbio. "But he thought they grew in tended orchards
like
pears or apples. He couldn't believe they just grew wild and
naturally."
"The Mexicans were startled by the sap, and how clear it is,"
added
Mr. Delabbio.
No matter what their country of origin, his companies' clients
all
had one thing in common. They all ordered it again.
The maple syrup adds a nice wholesome and personal touch to the
rough
and grimy business of mining and ventilation equipment.
"Instead of booze or cigars, I give out bottles of maple syrup,"
said
Mr. Delabbio.
Although the maple syrup is a much healthier alternative, it is
one
Mr. Delabbio, a diabetic can only sample himself sparingly.
"My doctor knows I cheat a little," he said. "He asks me for a
bottle
of my special diabetic maple syrup when I see him," he added
with a
chuckle.
Mr. Delabbio has one client who swears he can't eat any other
maple
syrup but his. A claim echoed by the Delabbio's grown children
who
eagerly look forward to a taste of home each year.
The trees on the Delabbio property are known intimately, and
each
sports a round metal disk bearing the tree's identification
number.
They have been the subject of an in-depth study of sugar bush
production by a team of Laurentian University biologists, and
each
has its sugar content duly recorded for posterity.
"My best trees have a BRIX (sugar content measure) of 11 to
one," Mr.
Delabbio said proudly. "That one is written up in a government
handbook."
He doesn't bother to tap any of the trees whose BRIX lies below
1.5.
"At that point the only thing they are good for is fire wood,"
he
said. "You would have to tap 70 or 80 trees just to get a
gallon."
A typical BRIX which Mr. Delabbio taps lies close to four,
yielding
one gallon of finished syrup for every 40 gallons of raw sap.
"A tree continues to produce at the same BRIX level throughout
its
life," said Mr. Delabbio. "A year, five years, 10 years from
now,
they will still be reading the same. What you got is what you
got,"
he said.
The Delabbio sugar bush's maple trees have been captured in
innumerable paintings and pictures, as artists like Debbie
Ireland,
and the entire Walden Art Club, come on a pilgrimage each year
to
sample the area's vast artistic potential.
"It's the freedom they love," said Mrs. Delabbio. "They start
out
with the trees and pails, but from there they can go anywhere.
If you
go upstairs to the gallery at Turner's in Little Current you
will see
a picture by Sue Lappinen of a pail on a tree. That's from
here."
The magic of the Delabbio's property and their sugar bush has a
special personal quality for Mr. Delabbio, which he loves to
share
with his clients.
"It is tremendous therapy," he said. "I put suet in the
coon-proof
feeders and we sit here and watch all kinds of birds come and
go. I
can tell you when the first Robin appears, and when the Sandhill
Cranes have returned to the Island."
Two butterflies made an appearance on the farm this day.
"They were Monarchs I think," said Mrs. Delabbio.
"No I am pretty sure they were Viceroys," said Mr. Michenor, as
he
helped place a funnel in a bottle for her to fill with the pure
amber
fluid of the finished product. Everybody lends a hand in the
very
labour intensive operation.
Snow still lies deep in many places around the sugar shack,
although
the recent rain has brought it down so patches of grass and deep
brown soil peek through.
"Rain and clouds aren't any good for the sap," said Mr. Delabbio.
"You need sunshine, clear sunny days, for the best runs."
One friend of the Delabbio's found he had to raise his buckets,
after
discovering a herd of sheep drinking deep from the sweet spring
nectar.
Like hundreds of other sugar shacks dotting Ontario's North, the
Delabbio's operation appears ramshackle, but the cooking stove
is in
top shape. A raised weld on the firebox door reads: "Serpent
River
Camp."
"I clean it carefully each year," he said. "You have to watch
for
what they call 'sugar sand.' The minerals from the tree sap
build up,
it's like a gravel."
The stove sits on long metal runners, ash piled thick through a
screen below it.
"They would drag it out to the sugar bush," explained Mrs.
Delabbio.
"A friend came out one year and helped us cover it over."
Outside the shack, a stainless steel tank awaits installation.
Ever
alert for a good deal, reselling used equipment is his business
after
all, Mr. Delabbio had spotted the redundant tank at Rammakos
Sports
in Sudbury.
"He had found it had become too small for his operation," he
said.
A little soap and some elbow grease and the shiny tanks will now
do
duty as a holding tank for the sap, more accessible than hauling
the
50 litre pails of sap down into the sunken sugar shack hollow. A
tap
will control the flow to the stove.
Even with labour saving innovation, sugaring is not an automated
process.
"You can't leave it run," said Mr. Delabbio. Sugaring requires
constant measurements and close attention near the end if you
want a
good product. He once made the mistake of going back to the
house for
a few moments. When he returned, a caramelized mess greeted him
which
took many hours of hard scrubbing to remove before he could
continue.
"You don't do that twice," he laughed.
Many of Mr. Delabbio's clients have visited the sugar bush over
the
years, and they have seen first hand the amount of work and
effort
which goes into each bottle of maple syrup. For those clients
the
gifts are much more than an expensive and exotic treat or an
innovative promotional tool. Each individual bottle represents a
personal commitment and labour of love which anyone familiar
with the
process would be honoured to receive, and it speaks with quiet
confidence about the kind of man who gives such a gift to his
associates.
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Municipal offices may stay put |
by Cheryl Waugh
NORTHEASTERN MANITOULIN and the ISLANDS (NEMI) --- NEMI council
is
reconsidering its decision to build a new municipal office in
the
wake of a new 10 year contract offer from Jim McBane, president
of
Streetwise Holdings Inc., which owns the Island Business Centre
where
the town currently rents space.
Under the terms of the 10-year renewal, Mr. McBane would provide
the
town with additional chamber space at the Island Business
Centre,
located on Highway 6 South. For the first five years of the
contract,
the cost of renting the municipal office space, including the
additional chamber area, would be $3,677.12 monthly or
$44,125.50
annually. For the second five years, the cost would rise to
$4,156.75
monthly or $49,881 annually.
However, Mr. McBane suggested that since the Community
Development
Corporation (CDC) also needs office space the town could recoup
$1,000 monthly, or $12,000 annually by sub-leasing space to the
CDC.
Under that scenario during the next five years the cost to the
town
per month to rent the municipal space would be $3,677.12
monthly,
less $1,000 for the CDC sub-lease, bringing the balance to
$2,677.12
monthly.
At council last Tuesday, where Mr. McBane made a presentation on
the
new lease offer, he noted that NEMI would save $288 per month,
effective April 2003, while also getting additional chamber
space
under the 10 year agreement.
In late 2002, NEMI council decided to pick-up a two year renewal
option on the lease at the Island Business Centre. The option
was for
$35,581 annually, or $2,965 per month.
"It's cheaper than what you're paying now, plus there is new
found
space for a chamber," said Mr. McBane of his offer.
Councilor Jim Stringer, who chairs the Building Committee, said
the
space at the Island Business Centre, even with the additional
chamber
area, simply doesn't meet the municipality's needs. "There isn't
enough space, and it's not laid out well. It doesn't meet our
needs.
We have no storage space now, so we have archives stored in
places
where they shouldn't be. And leasing to the CDC makes no sense,
we're
just going to funnel money through the CDC back to the town."
NEMI provides the core funding for the CDC, and has provided the
CDC
with a budget allocation of $82,850 over the 2001 and 2002
budget
years.
The town currently leases 2,737 square feet of office space at
the
Island Business Centre, however, if NEMI sub-leased to the CDC,
they'd lose an estimated 750 square feet for its offices. The
new
chamber area does offset that loss for a total net gain in
square
feet, but the lack of overall space for staff and storage is
already
a problem, said Councilor Stringer.
Councilor Al MacNevin noted that council already has approved,
in
motion, to go forward with building a new administrative office,
and
that the cost of building versus the cost of leasing over a
10-15
year period was "reasonably close."
He was also doubtful about sub-leasing to the CDC. "The CDC has
told
us that they need a new location, but there needs to be a degree
of
arm's length separation between the CDC and the town."
(The CDC is losing its present location at the NEMI Public
Library
building as it goes through renovations. In April, it must find
office space for itself as well for the Northern Ontario
Aquaculture
Association with which it has a three year commitment to provide
office space.)
Councilor Stringer agreed, stating that "offering office space
to the
CDC needs serious discussion all on itself."
Councilor MacNevin also noted that in addition to rent, the town
also
pays "common fees" to Streetwise Holdings Inc. and that cost is
likely to go up with the additional space.
Common fees are charges that the town pays for 'common' areas
that it
shares with BDO Dunwoody, including two washrooms, hallways, and
the
furnace room. As well, it pays for grounds maintenance, snow
removal,
hydro, heat, property taxes, building insurance, garbage
removal,
water, and janitorial services for the common areas. The town
paid
about $26,000 in common fees in 2002.
As far as the development of a new administration building, to
date
council has only agreed in motion that they would like to build,
and
have taken no other action. However, the last figures presented
estimated the cost of building at $145 per square foot, or under
$1
million. The cost would likely be debentured over a 20 year
period.
Councilor MacNevin said there were a lot of benefits to
constructing
an administration building, including building equity, and the
ability to decide the lay-out. "And, if the CDC were to stop
functioning at some point of time, we'd lost that rent. The CDC
exists because of the municipality, who knows what a new council
would do?"
Mr. McBane noted that all levels of government rent space, and
that
there were benefits in that as well. "I'm also here as a
taxpayer. It
is quite obvious to me that with the size of the town and staff,
we're not in a growth position as far as employees are
concerned.
Here is the opportunity to save taxpayers dollars...to me it is
quite
obvious."
When Mr. MacNevin explained to Mr. McBane that council, in
motion,
has already decided to pick-up the two year option on the lease
at
the Island Business Centre, as well, as to build, Mr. McBane
said,
"Rescind your decision, sign a new 10 year lease, and save the
taxpayers dollars."
Councilor Marcel Gauthier noted that Mr. McBane does pay taxes
on the
Island Business Centre, and thought that his proposal was "quite
inviting."
NEMI though essentially rebates Mr. McBane on the property taxes
since they are accounted for within the common fee costs.
Councilor Bill Koehler suggested that there were people in the
room
more knowledgeable than he on the rent versus build issue, and
opened
up the council meeting to the audience at large.
A handful of people took in Mr. McBane's presentation to
council,
including Jim Bousquet, who asked where the dollars to build
were
going to come from? "Maybe it's time to take a second look. The
interest alone (to build) is in excess of what you'll pay in
rent."
As well, he noted the town would have to pay for the physical
maintenance of a new building, and will take choice waterfront
property to build the new municipal offices.
"There has been a lot of controversy in town, and you guys have
taken
a lot of flak...from what I can see, Mr. McBane is offering a
pretty
sweet deal. I would take a second look at it."
Council decided that councilors should do just that, and will
vote on
whether to rescind the previous council motions and take on the
10
year lease at its next meeting on Wednesday, April 2.
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