Anishinabek Nation Comments On Education Act

Chiefs with the Anishinabek Nation believe proposed education legislation from the Federal Government will render 18-years of negotiations useless.  Anishinabek Nation Grand Council Chief Patrick Madahbee says that the legislation does not translate to first nation control over their own education.

Chamber Makes Scholarships Available

The Chamber of Commerce is giving out two 500 dollar scholarships to local high school students. Applications are being accepted from students planning to attend a business related program at a Thunder Bay post-secondary institution for the 2014-15 school year.  The application deadline is April 16th.

Municipal League Meeting In Schreiber

Municipal League President Larry Hebert

Municipal leaders from across the district are meeting in Schreiber this week.  The conference starts Friday morning and runs through the weekend with a variety of issues being discussed. Policing, Crown land policies, poverty, and nuclear waste are up for debate.

New Courthouse Opening Soon

We are getting closer to seeing the new consolidated courthouse open.  A spokesperson from the Attorney General's office says the Superior Court of Justice will be operational at the new building starting April 7th. The Ontario Court of Justice will be operating out of that building as well a week later on April 14th.

Stroke Forum On This Week

Health care providers from across the Northwest are in Thunder Bay this week for the Regional Stroke Forum.  Regional Stroke Educator Elaine Edwards says the region sees a number of stroke cases. Area doctors will learn from the leading stroke neurologists over the next two days. 

Trudeau Skypes With Dryden Kids

An experience that Dryden's New Prospect's Grade 5 class will never forget.  Yesterday the class skyped with Justin Trudeau and asked him 24 questions.  Teacher Mary Trist says the students may not have known who the Liberal Leader was at first but after a mock parliament they clued in. The skype session went on for a half hour.

Tbaytel Fixes Problems

Tbaytel is announcing that technical issues with their voicemail service have been sorted out and service is back to normal.  Users were unable to access their voicemail this morning but spokesperson Katie Crowe says if you were expecting an important message you will still get it. A change in software was required to fix the issue.

Bluesfest Lineup Announced

The 2014 Bluesfest lineup is out.   Among the headliners coming to Thunder Bay this summer, Melissa Etheridge, Jimmy Vaughn and the Wallflowers.   Community Auditorium General Manager Bob Halverson says there's several bands people should be excited to see.  Bluesfest takes place at Marina Park July 4th to the 6th.  Tickets go on sale tomorrow at the Community Auditorium.  

Swing Bridge Work Continues

CN Rail officials say work continues at the James Street Swing bridge. Scaffolding is in place at the site to assist the consultants in their extensive review of the bridge. The final report is still expected to be complete at the end of the month.

Diversity Breakfast

Diversity Thunder Bay welcomed a prominent figure to their 'Celebration Breakfast' this morning.  Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish is a three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee and spoke at their event in support of ending racial discrimination. Chair Tina Tucker says their guest speaker brings with him first hand experiences living near the Gaza strip. Abuelaish is now an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto.

Mercury Removal Planned

Cole Engineering is pitching several ideas on how to clean up the mercury contamination in the Thunder Bay Harbour.  Around 40 people representing a variety of environmental agencies took part in a meeting Wednesday night. Cole spokesperson Mark Bassingthwaite says one of the ideas is to pour clean material on top of the spoiled sediment.  Another idea is to physically remove the sludge and dispose of it at either the Mission Bay facility, a new confined facility or at the landfill.  The price tag of the ideas range from 30 million dollars to over 90 million. It's not known yet exactly who will pay for the remediation.

Mercury Sludge 

College Float Plane Program Moved

A program originally based east of Atikokan is moving west. Confederation College Aviation Chair Paul De Oude says the school's float plane training program will now be based on the Kenora Harbourfront. De Oude says training will start as soon as possible.  He notes the partnership is with River Air and community support provides the long term foundation needed to run the highly successful program.

Resolute Fires Back @ Greenpeace

Resolute Forest Products is responding after Greenpeace unfurled banners in Montreal to denounce the company's forestry practices in the boreal forest. In a release, the company says Greenpeace's actions are consistent with those its taken since withdrawing from the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement a year ago.  Resolute also calls Greenpeace's allegations untrue, noting all of its woodlands are independently certified to one or more internationally-recognized standards. And it adds that only point 2 per cent of boreal forest is actually harvested with 40 per cent of the forest off limits to forest companies.

Rickford Named Natural Resources Minister

A major promotion for Kenora MP Greg Rickford. Rickford has been named Minister of Natural Resources in a Prime Minister Stephen Harper cabinet shuffle.   He says he's grateful for the confidence the prime minister is showing in him.   Rickford replaces Joe Oliver who replaces Jim Flaherty as Finance Minister.   He retains responsibility of FedNor and the Ring of Fire but gives up his Minister of Science and Technology portfolio.

Woman Injured In Rollover

A woman is in hospital after her vehicle rolled over in the ditch on Highway 61 between Arthur Street  and the Harbour Expressway just after 8:30 this morning.  Thunder Bay fire Captain Craig Venables says they used to the jaws of life to extricate the unconscious victim from her vehicle.   Police and paramedics were there as well.  Police say the victim suffered serious injuries and her immediate condition is not known.

OPP Report Several Collisions

In addition to the serious traffic mishap on Highway 61 today, the OPP are reporting a number of vehicle collisions this morning during our snow squall.    They say that at Around 7:45 on Mapleward Road a woman in her Nissan SUV ended up in the ditch.  She was taken to hospital but her injuries aren't considered life threatening.  And at 10:45 on Highway 527, the road to Armstrong, two trucks collided, but there were no injuries.

Thunder Bay MP's Voice Concern

Bruce Hyer

Bruce Hyer is voicing concern for the appointment of Kenora MP Greg Rickford as new federal Natural Resources Minister. Despite believing he has the intelligence for the job, Hyer says that Rickford's priorities concern him. Rickford replaces Joe Oliver who moves into the Finance Minister position.  Thunder Bay MP John Rafferty says Rickford has big issues to deal with involving major oil pipelines, but looks forward to working with him.

John Rafferty

Car Destroyed By Overnight Fire

A car is a total write off after an overnight fire.  Firefighters responded to the vehicle blaze around 4 o'clock this morning in the 900 block of Mountdale Avenue.  The car was parked in the driveway and there was some exterior smoke damage to the house.  Fire officials aren't sure of the cause of the blaze, but have ruled out foul play.  There were no injuries.  

Thief Hit By Vehicle

A 48-year old man is in Regional Hospital with non-life threatening injuries after being struck on a bicycle at the corner of May and Finlayson Street.  City Police report the incident took place just after 9 o'clock last night. Ironically, it turned out the victim had been seen moments earlier smashing a window to break into a vehicle on the CLE Grounds.  Witnesses stated the thief then took off on a bike.  A tool box was recovered at the accident scene.  The man has been charged with possession of stolen property, mischief and failing to yield under the Highway Traffic Act.  

United Way Gets Help From Hotels

Four local hotels are going to do their part to help out the United Way. The Valhalla Inn, Prince Arthur Waterfront Hotel & Suites, Days Inn and Best Western – Crossroads Motor Inn will donate fifty cents from every hotel stay to the charity from now until April 17th. The announcement came today during the United Way's 50th anniversary celebrations in Thunder Bay.