Peterborough actor, playwright, and artist Chuck Vollmar has passed away.

According to an email from the Peterborough Theatre Guild, Vollmar died on Wednesday morning (June 11) in his 74th year at the Lambton Meadowview Villa in Petrolia in southwestern Ontario.

Vollmar, who began working in theatre in 1981, was best known locally for his comedic and dramatic roles in numerous Peterborough Theatre Guild productions. He was one of the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s actors who represented Canada in an international theatre festival in Japan with the production Hedges.

Vollmar also had leading roles in productions that travelled to festivals in Asia, Aruba, Venezuela, and Newfoundland, and one several best actor awards.

In the 1990s, he was one of the founders of the Peterborough Improv Group, a troupe of improv actors who performed murder mysteries at private functions and local venues in the area.

Vollmar was also a playwright, writing Kawartha Love Letters for the Peterborough Theatre Guild and co-writing Fishing Buddies with Geoff Hewitson, which was produced by the Showplace Players in 2012 and reworked for the Peterborough Theatre Guild in 2014.

In addition to acting, Vollmar was a cartoonist and graphic designer. He designed and created the artwork for hundreds of promotional posters and program covers for the Peterborough Theatre Guild.

Vollmar twice received a Peterborough Civic Award for cultural betterment, first in 2008 and then, along with Geoff Hewitson, in 2015.

In 2016, he received an Ontario Volunteer Service Award for over 30 years of service with the Peterborough Theatre Guild and, in 2017, was inducted into the Peterborough and District Pathway of Fame in the dramatic arts category.

“(We) will miss Chuck,” reads the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s email. “When he was in the audience, his contagious laugh could be heard throughout the theatre. His quick wit, beautifully kind nature, and amazing talent will be missed by all.”

“In a nutshell, Chuck was a beautiful human being and wonderful friend.”

kawarthaNOW will update this story when funeral arrangements are announced.

As cancer rates continue to increase regionally, so too does the need for faster and more reliable diagnoses and treatment plans.

That’s why the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) Foundation has made it a priority to invest in the future of cancer care by bringing digital pathology to the regional hospital, with the help of donors.

An area of focus for the Foundation’s $60 million Campaign for PRHC, the state-of-the-art technology will produce efficient and more accurate diagnoses, reduce turnaround time, and empower world-class healthcare close to home.

VIDEO: Donor-funded digital pathology will be a game-changer for cancer care at PRHC

“Every second counts when patients’ and their families’ lives are on hold, waiting for answers and the call that has the potential to change everything,” says PRHC Foundation president and CEO Lesley Heighway. “Digital pathology will make that experience a little bit better by giving doctors the accurate information they need to diagnose, communicate with anxious patients, and make treatment decisions — faster than ever before.”

Currently, the regional hospital’s pathology laboratory manually processes all tissue samples from PRHC and four partner hospitals. A pathologist uses a microscope to assess the samples and render a pathology report to pass on to the medical oncologist, who will determine the patient’s treatment plans.

With a $2.5 million investment in digital pathology, high-resolution scanners will digitalize the glass slides with precise imaging. Using emerging tools, pathologists will be able to process tissue samples more efficiently, analyze them in greater detail, and provide faster results.

VIDEO: Cancer doesn’t wait, neither should cancer patients — digital pathology will help

“It will make turnaround time from biopsy to diagnosis faster because the pathology report will be done faster,” says PRHC pathologist and medical director of laboratory medicine Dr. Katie O’Reilly. “We’ll be able to do some of the things here that now we currently have to send to Toronto to have done.”

When the samples do need to be reviewed by a specialist outside of Peterborough, the cutting-edge technology will allow the slides to be sent digitally, rather than by courier as is the current process. This will reduce costs, the potential for errors, and the time needed to make a diagnosis when every second is critical.

With PRHC having 23,000 cancer care visits last year alone, Dr. O’Reilly notes it is critical to upgrade the lab as soon as possible to keep up with the technology and the need for pathology reports.

“The field is moving really quickly,” she says. “We are constantly doing more with less resources and this is a way to help us keep up with demand.”

With improved technology and top health care professionals working behind the scenes, PRHC medical oncologist Dr. Neera Jeyabalan says introducing digital pathology will help patients navigating the uncertainty and helplessness that comes with a cancer diagnosis.

“Waiting for a diagnosis is really one of the difficulties of the cancer journey, and not knowing what you’re facing and what sort of treatments you’re eligible for,” she says. “When they get to meet their team and they know what the path forward looks like, it does offer comfort knowing that they are now proactively doing something to have it managed.”

This was the experience for PRHC patient Diana Freeman, a mother of two young girls who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024 at 38 years old. Though she later underwent a double mastectomy and months of intensive chemotherapy and radiation, it was the time before she received the prognosis and knew her path forward when she lost hope.

“How are you supposed to care for your kids and your family and yourself when you don’t know what your life is going to be like?” she asks.

Freeman says having “something to hold on to” upon learning of her prognosis and treatment plan helped her find her strength to face the fight against her cancer. Today, she is a PRHC Foundation volunteer hoping for a future where PRHC cancer patients will get their results even faster through digital pathology.

VIDEO: Quicker lab results mean more time — and hope — for cancer patients like Diana

Like many community members, prior to becoming a patient at PRHC, Freeman was unaware that the government doesn’t fund hospital equipment or technology. According to Dr. Jeyabalan, donor support is why the most generous communities have the best hospitals.

“The donors are the pillars of the hospital,” she says. “Without their support, we wouldn’t be able to offer our cancer program and we wouldn’t be able to call ourselves a centre of excellence.”

Digital pathology is just one of the current priority areas for the $60 million Campaign for PRHC which will help ensure the hospital continues to offer world-class care close to home.

“The choice is ours and it’s up to us — you, me, our friends, family, and neighbours. If we don’t fund these essential tools, they simply won’t be there when we or our loved ones need them,” says Heighway.

“When donors give in support of something like digital pathology, it’s an act of shared belief in what we all deserve. It’s a donation that will truly reimagine healthcare — making it possible for the Foundation to provide those funds to the hospital and for PRHC to invest in state-of-the-art, life-changing or lifesaving technology.”

To learn more about fundraising for cancer care at PRHC and to make a donation, visit the PRHC Foundation website at prhcfoundation.ca or call 705-876-5000.

This branded editorial was created in partnership with the Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation. If your organization or business is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.

While there still won’t be lifeguards at Rogers Cove beach in Peterborough’s East City this summer, the water quality at the beach will continue to be tested.

That’s the word from the regional health unit, which has reversed its earlier decision to stop testing this summer after the City of Peterborough eliminated taxpayer-funded lifeguard services at the beach.

“Peterborough Public Health has confirmed that Rogers Cove will continue to be maintained as a public beach by the City of Peterborough; however, it will not be supervised,” the health unit stated in an email to kawarthaNOW. “Sampling of this beach will resume on June 12, 2025.”

In prior years, the City of Peterborough has paid lifeguards to supervise the city’s two public beaches — one at Rogers Cove and the other at Beavermead Park — daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. from the last week of June to the end of August.

However, during its deliberations on the draft 2025 budget, city council decided to eliminate lifeguard services at Rogers Cove to save $40,000. However, the city will continue to provide lifeguard services at the more popular Beavermead Park beach.

Every summer, Peterborough Public Health has tested the water quality of the city’s two public beaches on a daily basis from Monday to Friday. After the city’s decision to eliminate lifeguard services at Rogers Cove, the health unit announced it would only perform weekday testing at Beavermead Park and not Rogers Cove — a decision that has now been reversed.

With the exception of Rogers Cove, the health unit began testing water quality at public beaches in the city and county of Peterborough and Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations on June 2 to ensure the water quality conditions are safe for recreational use during swimming season. The first sample for Rogers Cove will be taken on Thursday (June 12).

The program will continue through to the end of August, with water at the city’s two public beaches samples on weekdays and the water at most public beaches in the county and two First Nations sampled at least once a week, with a few county beaches only sampled once a month. The health unit posts the results on its website.

Results take approximately 24 hours to be analyzed. If levels of bacteria exceed recommended thresholds for recreational water use, the beach will be posted as unsafe and to avoid becoming ill, people should not use the beach for swimming. If a significant risk to human health is identified, such as a toxic spill or the identification of a harmful algae bloom, a beach may be closed to the public.

Stay tuned to kawarthaNOW in June for The Beach Report™, our weekly report of the results of water quality testing at beaches in the greater Kawarthas region, including the city and county of Peterborough, the City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton County, Northumberland County, and Hastings County.

As Peterborough Mayor Jeal Leal’s first use of his provincially legislated strong mayor powers inches closer to a legal challenge, the director of the group bringing that action is appealing to the public for help with legal costs.

A GoFundMe campaign launched by Sarah McNeilly, the sole director of Northcrest Neighbours for Fair Process (NNFP) Ltd., is appealing for $10,000 in donations by June 19. That follows the filing of a motion by the city demanding that she post $10,000 in security for court costs.

“If I don’t raise the funds in time, the case could be dismissed — before a single legal question is heard,” writes McNeilly on the GoFundMe page.

As of Thursday morning (June 12), about 24 hours after McNeilly’s appeal went live — under the title “I challenged Peterborough’s mayor. Now he’s coming after me” — $7,825 had already been pledged by 85 people.

To understand how things got to this point, making the last few weeks “crazy, emotional, terrifying and just really difficult” for McNeilly, some background is required.

Back on February 3, Mayor Leal issued a statement that he would, in deference to a request from Brock Mission, use his strong mayor powers to expedite its development of a six-storey, 52-unit transitional housing building at 783 Chemong Road adjacent to Cameron House, a women’s shelter also operated by Brock Mission.

In doing so, the city’s zoning by-law would be amended and the project would be exempted from existing site plan requirements — a process that ensures development projects comply with municipal policies and minimize negative impacts on the environment and surrounding community.

Under the strong mayor powers of the Municipal Act provided by the provincial government in 2023 to 45 municipalities, including Peterborough, heads of council can propose municipal by-laws under provincial legislation — including the Municipal Act and the Planning Act — if they believe the proposed by-laws could potentially advance the provincial priority of housing.

At the time, Mayor Leal justified his use of strong mayor powers by citing Peterborough’s “critical need for housing,” adding he will do “whatever is within my authority as mayor” to move housing projects forward.

On February 24, Mayor Leal fulfilled his vow during a city council meeting. While seven councillors voted against his motion, three — Gary Baldwin, Kevin Duguay, and Lesley Parnell — supported it. The motion passed just the same, as just one third of council support is required for a strong mayor powers motion to pass.

McNeilly, who lives near the development site, spoke at that council meeting, arguing NNFP’s position that the development doesn’t qualify as “housing” under the rules governing the use of strong mayor powers.

Further, the group argued — and still does — that the building “more closely resembles an institutional facility (in its planned use), therefore falling beyond the scope of strong mayor powers conferred by the Municipal Act.”

Mayor Leal’s use of strong mayor powers in this case forms the basis for NNFP’s legal challenge. McNeilly says any meaningful consultation with neighbours of the project site and the women sheltering at adjacent Cameron House was eliminated from the get-go.

“Allowing major decisions (to be made) with minority council support sets a concerning precedent for governance by exception rather than democratic consensus,” said McNeilly in an April interview with kawarthaNOW, arguing the development should have been subject to entrenched planning oversight and procedures, and then gone before council for approval, much the same as any other development.

And so here we are, with NNFP, represented by McNeilly, asking the Ontario Superior Court to rule whether Mayor Leal’s use of his strong mayor powers is legal in this case.

Pretty straightforward, but then the city tossed a curveball into the mix. On May 27, city solicitor Scott Seabrooke filed a notice of motion for security of costs from NNFP in the amount of $10,000 — “or such amount as this this (sic) Honourable Court may deem just,” according to the motion.

“The Applicant is a shell corporation without operations and it does not have any assets in Ontario or elsewhere to pay the costs of the Respondent,” the motion states. “The Applicant was incorporated for the purpose of insulating Sarah McNeilly from being exposed to a cost award in her personal capacity and thus there is good reason to believe that the Applicant will try to avoid paying any order for costs.”

In addition, the city’s motion claims that NNFP’s legal challenge “was brought for an ulterior motive, namely Sarah McNeilly’s personal opposition” to the section of the Municipal Act that defines strong mayor powers “which she views as undemocratic.”

As an alternative to $10,000 in security costs, the city is requesting an order “piercing the corporate veil” — a legal concept where a court disregards the separate legal entity of a corporation and holds its shareholders, directors, or officers personally liable for the corporation’s actions.

McNeilly, who was upset back in February and still is, is now seeing red.

“The city is pre-emptively saying they will ‘pierce the corporate veil,’ going through the incorporated entity Northcrest Neighbours for Fair Process Ltd. and going for Miss Sarah McNeilly personally,” she says.

“What this means, and it’s another mechanism or tactic if you will, is in order for the application to be heard, this motion has to be decided first. So this has really delayed things, or has the potential to.”

Not helping matters, says McNeilly, was the recent removal of trees at the proposed development site.

“About a week after the city motion was filed, my phone starts exploding, and I’m getting all these email messages from all my neighbours just totally freaking out because every tree on the property was being clear cut,” she says, adding that with its legal challenge pending, NNFP “was under the impression” that such action “is technically unlawful until the matter is settled.”

The first court session dealing with the matter was held on Tuesday (June 10) via Zoom, when McNeilly says the city introduced its motion for security of costs. In response, NNFP’s lawyer brought a request for an injunction on the development.

“The injunction would be for the city not to issue permits,” explains McNeilly.

“It has nothing to do with Brock Mission. They can get permits under the old (existing) by-law and zoning, just not for this one until it’s figured out. The city solicitor responded that would take an ‘awful lot of time’ and that hearing the injunction and the city’s motion first would push back hearing the original application to the next available date in February 2026. Speaking to the rationale of the injunction, our lawyer said that it’s very clear that if we wait until February (2026), the building will be built.”

“You look at all these things combined and it’s hard not to see the tactic. Delay it. Bleed them out. Threaten them financially. They’ll back down. They’ll go away.”

PDF: City of Peterborough’s Notice of Motion – Security for Costs
City of Peterborough's Notice of Motion - Security for Costs

At that first court session, the judge, notes McNeilly, didn’t entertain any delay in the matter, setting a date of June 19 for triage court, which is used to address the scheduling of civil proceedings, particularly for long motions or applications.

“At that time, we’ll be given a much more immediate date to settle first the motion for security of costs so we can then have our application heard. Also, the judge is allowing for our lawyer to submit his request for injunction by letter to whichever judge will overseeing our case.”

That’s where things stand now as it appears the GoFundMe appeal will reach its goal — a show of community support that McNeilly is most heartened by, saying “It’s exactly the boost I needed as the leader of this fight, and it’s what my neighbours needed.”

“Times are tough for everyone right now. I’m really beginning to feel the pressure (but) I don’t want to let my neighbours down. Some of them have made two, three donations (for legal costs). I just can’t keep going to them, asking for money. Every time the city files a new thing, that costs us money for our lawyer to deal with that.”

As McNeilly has made clear since day one, NNFP isn’t taking on Brock Mission or arguing against the need for transitional housing. In fact, she earlier credited Mayor Leal for having “really good intentions” when he exercised his strong mayor powers to expedite the development, but added “He perhaps didn’t have all the information he needed to make a decision like that.”

“It doesn’t matter what it is. This could be a casino. It could be an arena. It could be anything, and I would be against it because of the way it was pushed through. We can’t give up the bedrocks of democracy: due process, public consultation, majority rule. We can’t just freely hand them over because we think there’s an emergency that justifies it.”

Well aware she’s a player in a precedent-setting legal case being watched closely by all the other municipalities whose top elected officials have been granted strong mayor powers, McNeilly feels a responsibility to get this right on the way to her sought outcome of a court-imposed injunction that will ultimately see the proposed development go before council for debate and a vote outside of strong mayor powers.

As for her perception that the city is going after her personally in a bid to see NNFP’s court challenge dropped, her answer is best summed up in three words: bring it on.

“I’m a fighter,” McNeilly affirms. “I’ve never backed down from a bully and I’m not about to start. And it really does put things into perspective. I’ve beaten cancer twice. I’m not afraid of this mayor.”

Stay with kawarthaNOW for updates to this story as they develop.

This story has been updated to modify a quote from Sarah McNeilly, about the city solicitor’s response during the first court session, for accuracy, with the court date also corrected.

From helping bring to life “the dream of a place to farm closer for aspiring farmers,” to creating an inclusive community for newcomers to Peterborough, these are two ways $100,000 is going to be used locally courtesy of grants recently awarded to 10 organizations.

On Tuesday (June 10), Community Futures Peterborough (CFP) announced the recipients of the 2025 Community Advancement Program (CAP), a non-repayable funding program that supports projects that foster economic stability, investment, and employment across the city of Peterborough and Peterborough County.

In celebration of its 40th anniversary, CFP is providing $100,000 to 10 organizations in the region. According to a media release, the “record-breaking investment” underscores the non-profit organization’s “long-standing dedication to fostering resilient, inclusive, and sustainable communities throughout the region.”

CFP executive director Devon Girard told kawarthaNOW there were more than 40 applications on the table for consideration.

“An external committee of board directors scored the applications against the criteria laid out in the application process and made the decision,” Girard said.

The 2025 CAP recipients are Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Foundation, Kawartha Manufacturers Association, Junior Achievement Northern and Eastern Ontario, Hiawatha First Nation, Peterborough County, 4th Line Theatre, Curve Lake First Nation, Farms at Work, New Canadians Centre, and ReFrame Film Festival.

“These projects reflect the spirit and mission we had in mind for the Community Advancement Program — to empower local organizations that are creating tangible, positive impacts on the economic landscape of our communities,” Girard said in a statement. “From arts and culture to agriculture, education, and equity, these initiatives are helping shape a vibrant future for both the city of Peterborough and Peterborough County.”

First launched in 2024 and funded in partnership with the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), CAP supports strategic projects that align with CFP’s vision for sustainable economic development and regional resilience. The program is designed to create community economic stability, growth, and job creation, develop and diversify competitive rural economies, and foster economically sustainable communities.

“The projects supported through the Community Advancement Program are a testament to the innovation, ambition, and local leadership driving economic growth in Peterborough and the surrounding region,” said Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, in the release.

“Through FedDev Ontario, our government is proud to support the Community Futures Program and invest in the people and organizations creating real momentum. We are empowering local entrepreneurs, generating good jobs, and building a stronger, more resilient economy right here at home during these times of global economic uncertainty.”

Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Foundation will be using the CAP grant to support a bursary initiative designed to uplift children who were involved with children’s aid societies in achieving their post-secondary education goals.

“Together, we are having a positive impact on the lives of youth who are connected to the Kawartha-Haliburton Children’s Aid Society and pursuing their post-secondary education goals,” said executive director Carrie Truman. “It is amazing the hurdles these youth have overcome, and so exciting that they are focused on their future by working towards achieving their education goals.”

Meanwhile, Farms at Work will be using its CAP grant to hire a project manager to launch and support their community learning farm.

The initiative aims to provide hands-on, experiential education to aspiring entrepreneurs in agriculture through workshops and guided tours of established farms.

“These funds, along with in-kind support from the Peterborough County economic development team and farm owner Jason McIntosh, bring the dream of a place to farm closer for aspiring farmers and will benefit the community for many years to come,” said Farms at Work operations manager Heather Thomas.

The New Canadians Centre will use the CAP grant to advance the goals of its workplace inclusion charter, which includes fostering a welcoming and inclusive community, supporting employee attraction and retention, boosting productivity and innovation, and enhancing overall employee well-being.

“Immigration is a key component of the future of our labour force and working age population,” said Andy Cragg, executive director of NCC. “The workplace inclusion charter project will help participating local businesses attract and retain immigrant talent while fostering positive workplace experiences for newcomers.”

For more information about Community Futures Peterborough’s Community Advancement Program, visit communityfuturespeterborough.ca.