While summer is still officially a month away, many consider Victoria Day to be the unofficial start of the season. It’s the weekend to get outdoors in the backyard, garden, park, patio, or campground.

At Five Counties Children’s Centre, our start-of-summer celebration falls on Saturday, June 22nd. That’s the day our Backyard Summer Social returns, promising a three-peat of the fun, food, and festivities people have come to expect and enjoy since its inception in 2022. If you haven’t been here before, consider getting a ticket to fun!

The Backyard Summer Social is our signature fundraising gala, letting adults (yes, it is an adults-only event) be kids again. No tux, gown, or heels are required — instead, sun dresses, T-shirts, shorts, or sandals are how to make a fashion statement here.

Guests will enjoy a petting zoo, alpacas, axe-throwing, circus performers, inflatable jousting, classic picnic games, live music, drinks, treats, and foods from local vendors.

The Backyard Summer Social is held in the backyard space at Five Counties in Peterborough. Used for outdoor treatment and therapy for kids and clients, it will be enhanced for this year’s fundraiser with colourful, newly installed rubberized paving that makes it easier for kids to get around on the trails.

The best part of the Backyard Summer Social is that all monies raised — a combined $80,000-plus in its first two years — go to support high-demand kids treatment services at Five Counties.

Some may wonder why fundraising is so important when Five Counties already receives provincial funding to cover treatment services.

We’re extremely grateful to the provincial government for its ongoing support of our programs. However, as a registered charitable organization, Five Counties can also raise additional funds to provide more services to families. This helps to reduce months-long wait times for treatments, ensuring more kids get the care they need when they need it.

As someone who has worked in fundraising in our community for more than 25 years, my role at Five Counties isn’t just a profession — it’s also a personal mission. I know firsthand the important work Five Counties does with children and their families, because my own child got help here.

As a former client, my child was fortunate in their younger years to work with an amazing Five Counties therapist who helped improve their speech and language abilities. My child’s success in school is tied directly to the support they received here.

Knowing the success my child had at Five Counties, it’s a real motivator for me as a mother and fundraiser to help more kids gain independence and enjoy better of quality of life through the life-changing services they receive at Five Counties.

Tickets purchased to the Backyard Summer Social help make that happen. That — and the start of summer — are worth the celebration.

For more information about this year’s Backyard Summer Social and to purchase tickets, visit www.fivecounties.on.ca/mt-event/bss/.

The Municipality of Port Hope’s mayor is encouraging residents to share their thoughts and ideas about how to make Northumberland County’s new youth wellness hub a success.

Olena Hankivsky is excited about the potential for the Port Hope-based youth wellness hub, which is part of the Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario (YWHO) network.

Youth wellness hubs, of which there are now more than 20 in the province, are designed to make it faster and easier for young people to connect to mental health and substance use services. The concept of a YWHO site is to provide integrated services in one location.

Hankivsky said community members can help ensure the centre meets area young people’s needs by having their say now about what supports and services are needed at the hub, which is slated to be permanently located at 15 Cavan St. in 2025.

“It will be a game-changer,” Hankivsky told kawarthaNOW. “The youth in our community, they fare far worse on all the metrics of health and well-being compared to Ontario averages. This is an opportunity for us to make those improvements.”

“There are going to be many opportunities in the community for folks to be involved in the hub,” Hankivsky said, adding a steering committee is in the works. There’s also an advisory committee of family members and a youth committee “to drive the priorities that youth want to see.”

“It’s not static — it’s constantly going to be changing with the evolving needs of our youth,” she added. “I just invite everybody to come together and to work together … we can all then share in that goal of making sure our kids are OK.”

Across Ontario, youth wellness hubs (YWH) are designed to provide high-quality integrated youth services to support the well-being of young people aged 12 to 25, including mental health and substance use supports, primary health care, community and social supports, and more. YWHO is an Integrated Youth Services (IYS) initiative designed to address the service gaps in the youth mental health and substance use sectors in Ontario.

Northumberland County’s Rebound Child & Youth Services, the agency at the lead of the new hub, hosted public engagement sessions to let residents know about the YWH and hear what services they’d like to see to support mental health wellness for area young people.

Earlier this month, Hankivsky joined other politicians and stakeholders in Port Hope for the Ontario government’s official announcement about the new hub for Northumberland County. The Port Hope hub is one of 10 new additions to the network of 22 YWHs already opened since 2020, bringing the total to 32 across the province.

“As we expand the number of (youth wellness hubs) across the province, young people in Port Hope can connect to the mental health and addictions care they need, in one convenient location, closer to home,” said Sylvia Jones, Ontario’s deputy premier and health minister, in a media release.

The goal is to connect youth aged 12 to 25 and their families in Northumberland County and Alderville First Nation to convenient and free mental health, substance use, and primary care services in a safe, youth-friendly space.

“We’re going to have wrap-around services,” Hankivsky said. “We’re going to have that coordination and that integration.”

Rural communities in the area will also be supported by a mobile hub model, making it easier for youth to drop in for in-person counselling or peer support close to where they live, the media release noted.

The hub will provide other services that include family support, education, employment, housing and access to community programs such as financial assistance for recreational programs and legal support. These services will focus on delivering culturally appropriate and trauma-informed care, according to the province.

Between 2020 and 2023, Ontario’s 22 YWHs connected 43,000 youth and their families to mental health, substance use, and wellness services, accounting for more than 168,000 visits, the province noted.

For more information or to get involved, visit the Rebound Child & Youth Services website at www.rcys.ca or call 905-372-0007.

YWCA Peterborough Haliburton is gearing up for the return of the non-profit organization’s popular community fundraiser on Friday (May 24) after a four-year hiatus, with a slate of local dignitaries set to welcome its return.

“Walk A Mile In Their Shoes” runs from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday at Confederation Park, across from City Hall in downtown Peterborough. Around 100 participants, volunteers, sponsor representatives, and community supporters will gather at 11 a.m. in advance of opening ceremonies at 11:30 a.m.

Dignitaries delivering remarks at the opening ceremonies include YWCA Peterborough Haliburton executive director Kim Dolan, Peterborough-Kawartha MP Michelle Ferreri, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith, Peterborough County warden Bonnie Clark, Peterborough deputy mayor and councillor Joy Lachica, deputy police chief Jamie Hartnett, Selwyn Township mayor Sherry Senis, Peterborough County OPP detachment commander Chris Galeazza, and Hiawatha First Nation Chief Laurie Carr.

The walk itself takes place from noon to 1 p.m., leaving Confederation Park to head south on George Street to King Street, east on King to Water Street, north on Water to McDonnel Street, and west on McDonnel back to the park on George Street.

Following the walk, participants can enjoy lunch and music at the park until 1:30 p.m.

A long-time tradition for local YWCA organizations across Canada, the Walk A Mile event was last held in Peterborough in 2019. Previously known as Walk A Mile In Her Shoes, the event has returned with a more inclusive name but with the same purpose: to raise funds for YWCA programs and services helping women and children recover from gender-based violence.

Proceeds from Walk A Mile In Their Shoes will support the YWCA’s “Journey of Care,” which encompasses each of the programs and services the organization offers to the women, children, and gender-diverse people they serve.

“From our Crossroads Shelter to our START Program and everything in between, your support ensures that a woman who is fleeing gender-based violence not only has a safe place to recover, but also the wrap-around healing programming she needs as she stands on her own, walking her path to the life of her choosing, free from fear and violence,” reads a media release from YWCA Peterborough Haliburton.

Since the first Walk A Mile event in Peterborough in 2009, more than $950,000 has been raised for YWCA Peterborough Haliburton.

For more information, to register for the walk, to sponsor a participant or team, or to donate directly to the event, visit walkamilepeterborough.com.

kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of Walk A Mile In Their Shoes.

The previous chief of Curve Lake First Nation will talk about the women who inspire her in a conversation with the former federal Cabinet minister responsible for women and gender equality in the third instalment of the Women United Speaker Series, presented by United Way Peterborough & District.

Held over Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday, May 27th, the free talk will see Emily Whetung — Chief Emerita of Curve Lake First Nation and director of Indigenous Partnerships, Business Development at Ontario Power Generation — speak with Maryam Monsef, Women United Chair and former Peterborough-Kawartha MP and cabinet minister for women and gender equality.

For Women United Peterborough, one way to encourage women, those who identify as women, and allies to make change in the community is to celebrate those who have come before and have already used their passion, connections, and talents to challenge the status quo. The Women United Speaker Series does exactly that by giving inspiring women of diverse background the platform to share their stories.

“So much good (is) happening in our community because of great women and yet we know so little of their stories and their impact,” Monsef tells kawarthaNOW. “This is one platform to raise awareness, learn from their wisdom, and appreciate their impact.”

An international initiative of United Ways across the globe, Women United is made up of 70,000 women in more than 165 communities in North America. Locally, it is an inclusive network of those with the mission of transforming the lives of women, those who identify as women, and their families.

“By highlighting the resilience and contributions of local women of impact, Women United is raising awareness about the current status of women in our community and offering tangible practical solutions that can make a difference,” says Monsef.

Whetung grew up in Curve Lake First Nation before leaving to get her law degree. She returned to the community, got married, and practised real estate law in Peterborough for a decade while she raised her two children.

In 2019, she was elected as Chief of Curve Lake First Nation at just 34 years old and served for three years. She was also the representative plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit fighting for clean drinking water for First Nations in Canada, which reached an $8-billion settlement in 2022.

In her role at Ontario Power Generation, Whetung uses her background to encourage learning from the generations of experience of Indigenous communities.

“We have to make sure we don’t forget the lessons learned by past generations and we have to build on their successes — all of which were hard won,” Whetung says.

Such hard-earned successes is also what she will be exploring during the Women United Speaker Series, as she shares her appreciation for the women who “cleared the way” for her: the first woman in Canada to be elected as chief of a First Nation, the woman who started the first on-reserve day care centre, and her own mother who told her she “had every right to be in any space.”

“I think it’s important for women to share experiences, opportunities, and struggles so we can learn from each other,” says Whetung. “I wanted to share my gratitude for the women who have made me who I am and tell parts of their story. I hope it inspires other women the way it has inspired me.”

Whetung is the second Indigenous woman to participate in the Women United Speaker Series, with the series launching on March 25th with Dr. Dawn Lavell Harvard, director of First Peoples House of Learning at Trent University.

“Like our first speaker Dr. Dawn Lavell Harvard, Chief Whetung comes from a long line of strong, resilient women,” Monsef says. “The leadership of Indigenous women like her has benefited our communities and our country.”

“Dawn’s presentation was a topic of conversation, with much reverence for her and her mother. People wanted to learn more about her and talk more about the issues she raised. That is a tall order, I know, but I believe in the power of conversation and so far, our speakers have only reinforced that belief.”

The Women United Speaker Series continued on April 29th with Lynn Zimmer, who co-founded the first women’s shelter in Canada and was a longtime former executive director of YWCA Peterborough Haliburton.

For her part, Whetung is hopeful that speaking about the women who have inspired her will offer the same source of inspiration to those in attendance at the May 27th webinar.

“I hope everyone leaves the Speaker Series with a sense of opportunity,” Whetung says. “I hope there is a sense of opportunity to innovate, to work together, to be allies to each other and, most importantly, to challenge the status quo.”

Currently, Whetung is mentoring a workshop of Indigenous girls to promote opportunities in STEM at the University of Saskatchewan, after having held the workshop at Trent University last year, and the experience is a reminder of the goal of the Speaker Series.

“Each workshop has been a great reminder to take the time and have real conversations,” she says. “Listening and encouragement go a long way. That, to me, is the foundation of Women United.”

Visit www.uwpeterborough.ca/women-united-speaker-series/ to register for the lunch webinar on May 27th or to watch the previous two speakers in the series.

A 57-year-old Woodville man is dead after his motorcycle crashed head on into a pickup truck on County Road 507 north of Buckhorn early Sunday afternoon (May 19).

At around 1:05 p.m., Peterborough County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and emergency crews responded to the scene of the collision that occurred on County Road 507 near Mississauga Dam Road, around 15 kilometres north of Buckhorn.

According to witnesses, a southbound motorcycle crossed over the centre line on a bend and was unable to return to the southbound lane before crashing head on into a northbound pickup truck.

Both vehicles caught on fire, but the two occupants of the pickup truck — the 25-year-old male driver and 26-year-old female passenger — were able to get out and escaped without injury other than the effects of the airbags that deployed in the collision. Both vehicles were subsequently destroyed by the fire.

Witnesses on scene attempted CPR on the driver of the motorcycle until emergency crews arrived and continued the efforts. However, the motorcycle driver, a 57-year-old man from Woodville, was pronounced dead at the scene.

County Road 507 remained closed for several hours while police investigated and documented the scene. Anyone who may have witnessed or has video/dash camera footage of the collision and has not spoken with police is asked to contact the Peterborough County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.

A home in Peterborough suffered major damage on Sunday evening (May 19) after a barbeque caught on fire.

Just before 6 p.m., Peterborough Fire Services responded to a report of a barbeque fire at a Glenforest Boulevard home.

The report was upgraded to a structure fire while fire crews were en route to the home.

Fire crews were able to extinguish the fire, which had spread through the entire attic area.

The cause of the fire was a barbeque located on a covered porch. After the barbeque caught on fire, the flames spread to the house, resulting in an estimated $450,000 damage.

There were no injuries, as all occupants had vacated the home before fire crews arrived.

Hiawatha First Nation, the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington (PVNC) Catholic District School Board, and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) are coming together to host a skilled trades fair for Indigenous students.

Taking place Thursday (May 23) at the Hiawatha Life and Culture Centre, located at 431 Hiawatha Line on Hiawatha First Nation, the event is geared towards Indigenous students in grades 7 through 12 and their families and aims to raise awareness about opportunities in the skilled trades sector.

Students and their families will be able to connect with highly skilled journeypersons and tradespeople from many of Ontario’s skilled trades, including Indigenous tradespeople and business owners, said PVNC Catholic District School Board in a media release.

The Hiawatha First Nation Skilled Trades Fair runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. for students. and will then be open to the public between 2 and 5 p.m. The event will begin with drumming from the Michiisaagig Minomin Drum group and opening remarks from Hiawatha First Nation Chief Laurie Carr.

“Hiawatha is honoured to co-host this skilled trades fair for Indigenous students and their families,” Carr said in a statement. “We know that there are over 360,000 job openings across Ontario, with one in five of these new job openings expected to be in the skilled trades by the year 2025.”

Carr said there are currently more than 140 skilled trades in essential industries such as construction, mechanical, electrical, automotive, and manufacturing.

“Hosting this career fair will ensure our First Nations youth know about in-demand careers that exist in the trades and that skilled tradespeople are vitally important to not only our First Nations, but to the overall economy,” she added. “This is a first step in supporting our youth in their success and journey of being one of the next generation of skilled First Nations tradespeople.”

OPG said it is proud to support the Hiawatha First Nations trades-focused career fair.

“Across Ontario, we are working to strengthen the Indigenous workforce, which will play an important role in electrifying life,” said Kenn Ross, OPG advisor, Indigenous relations. “Right now, many Indigenous skilled trades are helping to build important infrastructure and energy projects, including OPG’s Darlington refurbishment.”

“Many more qualified candidates are starting their journey through OPG’s Indigenous Opportunities Network. We hope this career fair can answer questions and provide rewarding and fulfilling opportunities in the in-demand trades.”

VIDEO: Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP)

Indigenous students from all regions of PVNC Catholic District School Board will have the opportunity to attend the trades fair.

“This event signifies a profound collaboration and commitment to the education and empowerment of the Indigenous youth in our schools,” said Jacqueline Gorveatt, the Indigenous education lead for PVNC Catholic District School Board, in the release. “This is a unique opportunity for students to see themselves in the skilled trades and to meet and be inspired by Indigenous tradespeople who have been successful in their field.”

A highlight of the event will be a hands-on demonstration by Anishinaabe chef, restaurateur, and entrepreneur Shawn Adler, who will cook and speak to his own experience in the skilled trades.

Students in grades 11 and 12 can participate in the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program (OYAP). OYAP is a co-operative education experience in a skilled trades placement. Students are able to earn credits while gaining valuable work experience and competencies. The Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development provides funding for this opportunity.

A skilled trade is a career path that requires a particular skill set, specialty knowledge and training and is usually hands-on, OYAP noted on its website. Some skilled trades require an apprenticeship.

There were 91,634 apprentices active in the province as of April 3, 2023, according to the Ontario government. The province announced in December 2023 a substantial investment in key programs to prepare young people for in-demand jobs in the skilled trades.