8/6/2019 FACS - Provincial Lifeline

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INSIDE

The Good Life for YoungPeople Foundation (Oshki-Aa- yaaaag Mino Bimaadiziiwin)is receiving almost $300,000in funding from the OntarioTrillium Foundation.

The three-year grant total-ling $293,700 will go to-wards expanding the founda-tionthe first and only onein Ontario that focuses onaboriginal youth initiatives.

Youth foundationgets funding boost

Life has gotten a little easierfor Wayne Lundstrom sincehe met Sammy.

Lundstrom returned to FortFrances on Friday after gradu-ating as valedictorian of hisclass at the Lions Foundationof Canada Dog Guides train-

ing facility in Oakville, Ont., bringing with him the two-year-old black Lab which has been specially-trained to helphim lead a safer, better life.

Local mangets vision dog

Fort High senior girls vol-leyball coach Duane Roen was blunt about what his squad had to do to mount a seri-ous challenge at Fridays Nor-WOSSA playoffs in Dryden.

We cant make any mis-takes, he remarked.

Error-free playkey for spikers

See story on B1

See story on A2

See story on A5

By Peggy RevellStaff writer

The provincial government hasthrown Family and Childrens Ser-vices here a financial lifeline fol-lowing an announcement Mondayof $26.9 million in one-time fund-ing for the dozens of ChildrensAid Societies across the provincethat are facing funding shortfalls.

The funding we received isone-time mitigation funding, andit was in the amount of about$430,000, noted Bob McGreevy,president of the board of directorsof FACS.

We were gratified because theministry recognizes the exceptionalcircumstances that we found our-selves in, and they were willingand able to provide us some finan-cial relief.

So well be able to continue tooperate for the foreseeable future,certainly to the end of this fis-cal year and then in the future,McGreevy said.

Faced with a deficit of just over$600,000 for this financial year,FACS had tapped into its $450,000line of credit to make ends meetover the past few months at therequest of the ministry, which itnow will be able to repay thanksto this funding.

While FACS originally had filedfor a Section 14 appeal with theministry, which would have meanta review of their funding for this year, McGreevy said this appealwas unsuccessful as the ministryinstead opted to go with this one-time mitigation funding.

Were still going to finish the year with a deficit, he warned,saying that at this point FACS an-ticipates this deficit will be roughly$160,000.

So we will have to continue toeconomize and look for ways ofbeing more efficient while continu-ing to offer the services that we areobliged to provide to families andchildren, McGreevy stressed.

Over the past several months,FACS has made cutbacks, suchas a no-travel restriction on staffand no non-essential training. Aswell, several positions that have

become vacant have not beenfilled.Along with looking at internal

cost-cutting, FACS is looking forexternal ways to save money, too.

One of the things that weredoing is were having discussionswith agencies in Northwestern On-tario and looking at some partner-ships or amalgamations that will,in the end, create a larger agencythat is more resilient, I guess, in hard financial times, McGreevyremarked.

As first reported by the Times back in September, McGreevy

Trio off to Alabama to push town, lakeBy Duane HicksStaff writer

Local delegates are en route tothe 2010 Bassmaster Classic Out-doors Expo, which runs this Fridayto Sunday in Birmingham, Ala., to promote Fort Frances and RainyLake as a place not only to visitand fish smallmouth bass, but forthose in the fishing industry to dobusiness.

Having made a similar sojourndown to Shreveport, La. last year,Doug Cain and Jim Cumming ofthe Fort Frances Canadian Bass

Championship will be joined this year by Fort Frances Chamber ofCommerce manager Anthony Ma-son, who also is an FFCBC direc-tor.

The trio left for Birmingham to-day, and will spend tomorrow set-ting up their booth in anticipationof the three-day trade show.

With booth space twice as biglast year (20 instead of 10), they hope to meet and talk with asmany people as possible while handing out pamphlets with in-formation about Fort Frances andRainy Lake.

Well be promoting Rainy Lakeand Fort Frances as a smallmouth[bass] fishing destination, and theother thing well be doing this year,which is new, is were promotingthe area as a possible place to do business for the fishing industry,Cain noted.

Like last year, the delegates will be asking people who drop bythe booth to fill out surveys/entryforms for a draw for a three-daytrip for two at Campfire Island.

They will be asked questions like have they ever been to Canada,are they aware of Rainy Lake, how

often do they fish, why would theylike to win, and so on.

Entrants also will get promo-tional items provided by sponsorsNorthland Tackle, Fin-tech Tackle,Canada Jam, Canadian Tire, Fac-ulty of Fishing, Rat-L-Trap, Rapala,Bass Man Magazine, Lindner Me-dia, and In-Fisherman Communica-tion.

But something new this year will be a Rainy Lake Canadian Fish-ing Adventure draw specificallyaimed at fishing industry person-nel.

This is similar to the other sur-

vey/entry form, but also includesquestions such as whether theircompanies are interested in doingbusiness north of the border.

The prize includes a five-daymulti-species fishing trip for two,with a three-day stay at CampOntario on Rainy Lake and a two-day stay at La Place Rendez-Voushere.

In addition to making new con-nections, Cain said the trio is hop-ing to meet with various companiestheyve met in the past and followup on any leads.

Provincethrowslifelineto FACS

Anne and Rachel McCoy took a bumpy ride down the bigtobogganing hill in Alberton on Family Day (Monday) duringthe townships ninth-annual winter fun day. There was a big

turnout for the afternoon as families came out to skate on theMillennium Rink, toboggan, and roast marshamallows and hotdogs over a bonfire. Peggy Revell photo

Snowy slide

By Duane HicksStaff writer

District businesses once againwere in the spotlight Saturdaynight during the 14th-annual BellBusiness Awards at the AdventureInn here.

West End Motors, a long-timemainstay on the local businessscene, was named Business of theYear (16+ employees).

I would say that its very nice toreceive that award after 44 yearsin business here, said owner RoyAvis.

Weve had faith in this com-munity. Weve expanded into Emoand throughout the district, henoted.

Years ago, when we stared this business, the pavement ended atWright Avenue and we were partof McIrvine, Avis said. We usedto be the furthest dealer in thewest end, and thats why we calledourselves West End Motors.

Now, were the closest dealer tothe central part of town so things

have changed, he chuckled.It was very good to win that

award, and be recognized by thecommunity and the business lead-ers of the community, Avis add-ed.

Its our staff that won it for us, he stressed. Ive always said youmust earn your business to deserveyour business.

Avis felt the annual businessawards is a good night for thedistrict.

Its a great thing the Chamberof Commerce and the major spon-sor, Bell, has put forward, he re-marked, adding its a positive eventfor the business community andthat the award nominees reflecta good cross-section of what hap- pens in business in Rainy River

District.The Business of the Year (1-15

employees) award went to TheUPS Store here.

We love what we do and wehave fun doing what we do, saidUPS franchisee Lillian Gerley.

Just the other day, I was toldthat when youre nominated for anaward, its the community sayingthat they accept [you].

Well, thank you very much.I am so honoured to be a part

of this awards, Gerley added. Ithank my staff because I love work-ing with them, and theyre doing afantastic job.

Meanwhile, Blair and DonnaLowey (Loweys Greenhouse) werehonoured as Entrepreneurs of theYear.

Were very, very proud to benominated. We couldnt have doneit without you as customers, saidDonna Lowey.

Were very, very proud to livein this community . . . thank youvery, very much.

Jennifer Krag (Moss Yoga & Barn-swallow Photography) was namedBusiness Woman of the Year onSaturday night.

First and foremost, I just want

to thank whoever nominated me,a clearly-surprised Krag said as shestepped up to the podium.

She noted the last year of herlife has seen some big changes, butshes worked hard to be there for her clients, adding all my clientsare dear to me.

If you werent there at the [yo-ga] studio every week, I wouldnt have a reason to be doing yoga,Krag reasoned.

The support, dedication, andstrength that you show when youcome and practise with me is veryinspiring.

District businesses saluted at awards gala

Please see Province, A6

Please see Trio, A6

Please see District, A6

Its our staff that won it for us . . . Ive alwayssaid you must earn your business to deserve yourbusiness.

Roy Avis

8/6/2019 FACS - Provincial Lifeline

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A6 FORT FRANCES TIMES Wednesday, February 17, 2010

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Natural ResourcesAdvisory CommitteeSeeks New Members

Participate

The Natural Resources Advisory Committee (NRAC) is seekingopen-minded, creative residents of the west half of the Fort FrancesDistrict (Mine Centre west to Lake of the Woods) to serve for aterm of 3 years on a volunteer basis. A resident for this purpose

is a person who has lived for at least 7 of the previous 12 monthswithin this area. Members are needed who have knowledge of andrapport with various community sectors, e.g., aboriginal, agricultural,business, Crown land recreationalists, forest industry, general public,labour, municipalities, resources harvesters and the tourist industry.

NRAC members serve to improve government decision-makingby advising the Ministry of Natural Resources District Manageron resource management issues, and by communicating withthe public.

NRAC members act in the broad public interest and promote fair,reasoned advice based on all available facts and information.

NRAC members are expected to attend regular meetings and otherspecial functions such as public forums. Funds are available for out-of-pocket expenses to attend meetings.

Applications for NRAC can be picked up at the main counter ofthe Ministry of Natural Resources, 922 Scott Street, Fort Frances,Ontario between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Mondaythrough Friday. Previous applicants are encouraged to reapply.

Applications should be submitted to:

ChairpersonNatural Resources Advisory Committee922 Scott StreetFort Frances, ON P9A 1J4

Deadline for applications will be Friday, March 5, 2010 at 4:30 p.m.

For further information please contact Patti Collett at theFort Frances District office, telephone: 807-274-8603 or

e-mail: patti.collett@Ontario.caPaid for by the Government of Ontario.

More from A1We had some interesting talks

last year, and even this year, witha couple different companies.We have a couple leads, he re-marked.

The fact that Rapala uses RainyLake as a testing ground, wereusing that, he stressed. Were us-ing our contacts through the basstournament.

Its tough to measure thesethings when you walk away from

a show, six months after or what-ever, Cain admitted.But the town and Rainy River

Future Development Corp. madea commitment to do it more thanone year because you cant walkaway from it after just one year,he argued.

[And] with the Classic being ina different location, its a differentmarket, too.

Cain said the trip mainly issponsored by the Town of FortFrances, the RRFDC, and FedNor,with the Fort Frances Chamber ofCommerce and FFCBC supply-ing the legs to actually go downsouth, and in the latters case, usetheir fishing industry connectionsto make it all happen.

For example, fishing lure com- pany Fin-tech Tackle again will be hauling their booth and ma-terials from International Falls toBirmingham and back.

A couple of district businessesalso have gotten involved. For ex-ample, they will be giving away 10cases of Cloverleaf Canada jam attheir booth this weekend.

Cain said the scope of theBassmaster Classic is hard to imag-ine if youve not seen it yourself,calling it the Super Bowl of basstourneys.

Likewise, the trade show in

Shreveport last year drew 107,000 people through the gate over thethree days.

While Fort Frances and RainyLake may be a long way from thesouthern U.S., Cain was amazed atpeople who recognized the pictureof the Noden Causeway at theirbooth.

[They said] Jeez, I drove overthat on my way to Lac Seul, RedLake, Pickle Lake, Sioux Lookout.And our line was, You drove over

the best fishing of your trip, Cainchuckled.Our tournament was won a

couple years within sight of theCauseway, he noted. It gives ussomething to talk about.

All in all, Cain said he is lookingforward to it.

It was amazing how small theworld was when you were downtherethere people who knew people who I knewit was unbe-lievable, he remarked.

And the thing is, doing it thesecond time, you can work some bugs out that you had the first year and fine-tune your spiel, hereasoned.

Mason, who has never been toAlabama but has been to large-scale sport fishing shows before,said hes excited to go.

I am going to Alabama, itswarm down there, he chuckled.

Ive never been that far south.

Its new to me, he added.Unlike last year, where the bass

tourney weigh-ins and trade showtook place in separate venues20 miles apart, all of the 2010Bassmaster Classic will take placein the same building,

As such, Cain said the local del-egates will get a chance to see atleast some of that event.

Trio off to Alabamato push town, lake

It was a Happy Valentines Dayfor Courtis Jourdain of Fort Fran-

ces, who won the $500 up forgrabs Feb. 14 in the Rainy RiverDistrict Mutual Aid Associationsweekly cash calendar draw.

Winning $30 for Feb. 14-20were Ann Tupper (Devlin), ToreyWihlidal (Winnipeg), Patrick Briere(Fort Frances), Dave and SusanHawn (Kincardine, Ont.), Penny

Logan (Fort Frances), RoxanneWensley (Atikokan), and Gilbert

Perreault (Fort Frances).Winning $30 for Feb. 7-13 wereLori and Paul Whatley (Fort Fran-ces), Nathan and Sarah DeGagne(Dryden), Lauren and Larry Brown(Atikokan), Wayne McKay (FortFrances), Peter Wilkins (Fort Fran-ces), Roberta Wyder (Emo), andJane Johnstone (Fort Frances).

Cash calendar winners

More from A1Town of Fort Frances treasurer

Laurie Witherspoon was namedEmployee of the Year. A tear-ful Witherspoon shared a fewwords of thanks upon receiving

the award Saturday night, but of-fered further comment Mondayvia e-mail.

What an honour to be recog-nized as the recipient of such aprestigious award, she wrote.

A heart-felt thank you to thenominator for taking the time toforward my name and believ-ing that I was worthy of such anaward.

The role of treasurer for theTown of Fort Frances is very chal-lenging and demanding given theconstant changes that municipali-ties face, Witherspoon added. Itry to stay positive, to keep anopen mind, and am committed todo the best job that I can to fulfilthe role that I have been entrustedto do.

Im very fortunate to have adedicated treasury staff, to be partof a supportive senior manage-ment team, and to have the lead-ership of mayor and council.

Its been truly overwhelmingwith the number of congratula-tory phone calls and e-mails fromfamily, friends, co-workers, andcolleagues Ive received since theawards banquet.

Thank you everyone.The Customer Service (Indi-

vidual) award was given to JudyWebster (RBC), who thanked herco-workers for being so good towork with, while Boston Pizzawas saluted for Customer Service(Business).

Elizabeth and I started our busi-ness in November and its been a

very busy year, but one of thethings that we always committedto each other and to our businesswas that we would do our best tooffer service second-to-none, saidDale Fortes, who is co-franchisee

of BP Fort Frances along withwife, Elizabeth Leishman-Fortes.Were working hard at it, he

pledged. We have some room togrow and were going to continueto grow, but we thank you verymuch for this designation andhonour.

The Safety Award (Business/In-dividual) went to the Rainy RiverDistrict Victim Services Program.

Manager Peggy Loyie, who tookthe stage to accept the award, not-ed the program just turned three years old, and whole-heartedlycredited the programs volunteersfor tending to the emotional,mental, and physical safety ofpeople who are experiencing trau-ma.

Jack Hedman (Ontario Federa-tion of Anglers and Hunters) washonoured as the Tony Beyak Me-morial Volunteer of the Year.

The Accessibility Award wasgiven to Betty-Anne MacKintosh(Supervised Access Program)while Ken and Laurie Pentney(Spruce Greek Golf Course) werenamed the Small Business Trainerof the Year.

Cathy Emes, presenting the lat-ter award on behalf of NCDSCareer Works, said the Pentneyscouldnt be there to receive it asthey were at home waiting by thephone to hear word of the birth ofa grandchild.

Finally, a special award this year was the 100th AnniversaryEconomic Development Award,sponsored by the Northern On-

tario Heritage Fund Corp.Meant to honour an organiza-

tion that has shown dedicationtowards the growth of economicdevelopment in Rainy River Dis-trict, the award was presented to

the Rainy River Future Develop-ment Corp. on Saturday eveningby local Ministry of Northern De-velopment, Mines and Forestryofficer Jeannette Cawston.

Economic development officerGeoff Gillon credited the RRFDCssuccess to its board of directorsand committee members, addingall I am is a facilitator.

If I have something happeningout there, you have something happening out there, he added.I need people to do these thingsand I really appreciate this.

The only thing I want to sayis Geoff is the Rainy River FutureDevelopment Corp. right now,and we really appreciate him,said RRFDC chair George Emes.

This years gala drew a total of56 nominees, a couple of whichwere nominated in more than onecategory.

Nominations were open to anybusiness in Rainy River District.

Thunder Bay Chamber of Com-merce president Harold Wilsonemceed the evening while JohnMcEvoy, regional manager of fieldservices for event sponsor BellAliant, greeted attendees.

The Fort Harmonies enter-tained the crowd with some funsongs, including an ABBA med-ley.

There also was a prime rib din-ner and a silent auction featuringitems donated by local business-es.

Provincethrowslifelineto FACS

More from A1had explained FACSs deficit arosedue to several reasons, includingdeclining provincial revenue andfunding, ministry-imposed capson infrastructure which affectsmaller agencies, and because this

year FACS has in its care childrenwho require expensive, intensivecare in an institution.

Young people receiving thesupport and protection of Chil-drens Aid Societies are some ofthe most vulnerable children andyouth in our province, and we arecommitted to keeping them safe,Children and Youth Services min-ister Laurel Broten said Mondayin making the funding announce-ment.

This funding will ensure thatCASs continue to provide criticalservices as they work with . . . myministry to find solutions that arefocused on better outcomes forkids, she stressed.

This support is appreciated,and will be an important stepin meeting the urgent need forfunding stability in child welfare,echoed Jeanette Lewis, executive

director of the Ontario Associa-tion of Childrens Aid Societies.Across Ontario, 49 Childrens

Aid Societies are facing an overallfunding shortfall of $67 million,according to the OACAS, whichalso noted agencies in NorthernOntario have received some ofthe largest cutbacks and are fac-ing a collective shortfall of $16.9million.

Meanwhile, the province ismoving ahead with the Commis-sion to Promote Sustainable ChildWelfare Works, with the purposeto strengthen service delivery, promote financial sustainability,and improve outcomes for thechildren, youth, and families whoreceive child protection services.

This commission is made upof three highly-qualified people,explained McGreevy, who have been travelling around the prov-ince talking to all sorts of different

stakeholders, including [CASs],trying to find out what the im-mediate issues are and to lookfor ways of helping agencies . . .become sustainable over the long-term.

So we remain optimistic thattheyll come up with some good,innovative ideas, McGreevy said.

But their mandate is a three- year mandate, and so I dontknow that were going to havemuch to work with in the immedi-ate future, he admitted.

Of the newly-announced $26.9million in funding, $2.5 million has been earmarked for aborigi-nal CASs.

Local Ministry of Northern Development, Mines and Forestry officer Jeannette Cawstonpresented a special economic development award to Geoff Gillon (centre) and GeorgeEmes of the Rainy River Future Development Corp. on Saturday. Duane Hicks photo

Businesses saluted at awards gala