Canadian Blood Services is asking post-secondary students to “swab up” and “save a life.”

Representatives from Canadian Blood Services are visiting campuses of Ontario colleges and universities to recruit stem cell registrants.

Members of “Canada’s Lifeline” team will be at Trent University on Monday, February 12th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the main lobby of the Trent Athletic Centre.

“Canada’s Lifeline is coming to select colleges and universities to help you join the stem cell registry and save lives,” Canadian Blood Services noted in a media release.

“Students have the power to change the life of a patient by attending swabbing events across Ontario campuses from February 5 to 16.”

Canadian Blood Services is asking students between the ages of 17 and 35 to participate by having their cheeks swabbed. Between February 5 and 16, students can register to become a stem cell donor and potentially be a match for one of the nearly 1,000 Canadian patients waiting for a life-saving stem cell transplant, Canadian Blood Services noted.

Stem cell transplants can treat more than 80 diseases and disorders, according to Canadian Blood Services.

“Post-secondary students have the power to change a patient’s life, because people ages 17 to 35 make the best life-saving stem cell donors. When a patient undergoes a stem cell transplant, it’s often their last hope for survival, and the use of stem cells from younger donors typically leads to better patient outcomes.”

Patients who need a stem cell transplant are more likely to find a matching donor among those who share their ethnic ancestry. Students who come from an ethnically diverse or mixed-race background could be the match a patient has been waiting for, Canadian Blood Services said.

Campuses participating in Ontario, in addition to Trent University, include:

• Queen’s University in Kingston
• University of Ottawa in Ottawa
• Carleton University in Ottawa
• University of Toronto in Toronto
• Toronto Police College in Etobicoke
• York University in Toronto
• Sheridan College in Oakville
• Ontario Tech University in Oshawa
• Centennial College in Scarborough
• University of Waterloo in Waterloo
• Lambton College in Sarnia
• Western University in London
• McMaster University in Hamilton
• Georgian College in Barrie
• Brock University in St. Catharines

Interested students who are unable to attend one of the events can still register online. Find out more about the campaign at blood.ca/swabatschool.

For more information or to join the registry, visit blood.ca/stemcells or call 1-888-2-DONATE (1-888-236-6283).

Canadian Blood Services is a not-for-profit charitable organization. Regulated by Health Canada as a biologics manufacturer and primarily funded by the provincial and territorial ministries of health, Canadian Blood Services operates with a national scope, infrastructure and governance. In the domain of blood, plasma and stem cells, Canadian Blood Services provide services for patients on behalf of all provincial and territorial governments except Quebec.

The national transplant registry for interprovincial organ sharing and related programs reaches into all provinces and territories.

If you’ve recently walked or driven past the new Canadian Canoe Museum under construction at 2077 Ashburnham Drive in Peterborough, you may have wondered about the streaks of rust on the grey steel siding surrounding the building.

It’s not a defect with the steel siding — the rusting is intentional. According to a recent progress email from the museum, the steel siding that encompasses the building’s exterior is designed to rust with exposure to the weather.

Known as Corten or weathering steel, the high-strength low-alloy steel will form a stable surface with a rust-like patina finish over time. This finish guards against future corrosion and prevents the need to paint the steel in the future.

For an idea of what the museum’s final exterior finish will look like, you can visit Ashburnham Ale House on Hunter Street East in East City, which was clad in Corten steel siding when it was built in 2013. Today, now fully weathered, it has a deep dark rustic colour and texture.

As for the new museum, along with the Corten steel siding, installation of windows and the roof are now all completed. Around the museum’s exterior, trees have been planted, pavement is being poured in several areas, and light posts are being installed. Grading for the constructed wetland basin has also now been completed.

At the back of the building facing Little Lake, boulders from the current museum have been brought to the site and repurposed for the museum’s Campfire Circle, and the Canoe House is being prepared for the move-in of on-the-water equipment including canoes and kayaks.

Inside the new building, drywall for the Atrium is being finished and painted, and wood ceiling and wall treatment are being installed as well as light fixtures. Work is also well underway on the Gathering Room — which will host events, educational experiences, and other functions — as well as on the Upper Terrace, which connects the space to the outdoors.

The first canoes, kayaks, and other exhibition materials have been hung in the Exhibition Hall, and 300 watercraft have been moved into the Collection Hall, with around 200 still to be moved in.

Work also continues for the Living Traditions Centre, which will house the Artisan Studio, Canoe-Building Studio, and Millshop. A glass garage overhead door has been installed that will connect creators, artisans, and builders to the outdoors while they are practising or learning a skill.

Several other areas of the new museum are also beginning to take shape as well, including a library, archive and research Room, a kitchen adjacent to the Gathering Room, washrooms, and a staff area.

The museum’s construction team includes Unity Design Studio (formerly Lett Architects), Chandos Construction, DG Biddle and Associates, Engage Engineering, Kelson Mechanical, Lancer Electric, and LEA Group.

Along with private donations, the museum is being funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario), the Weston Family Foundation, the City of Peterborough, Peterborough County, and the Province of Ontario.

We can talk all we want about the discrimination, indifference and, yes, outright hate experienced by newcomers to Peterborough, but hearing about it straight from the mouths of those who daily live that reality is a potential game changer.

That’s the hope of the New Canadians Centre that, on Friday (February 2), premiered its “Our Neighbourhood” video series — a compilation of testimonials from six newcomers, each speaking not only to the opportunities that their new home has provided them but also unsettling moments when it’s been clear they’re not welcome.

With support from the City of Peterborough, the video series produced by Impact Communications was funded via a Community Support, Multiculturalism and Anti-Racism Initiatives grant provided by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage.

Each video in the series can be viewed on the New Canadians Centre YouTube channel.

The premiere, held at Ivy Event Space on Hunter Street West in downtown Peterborough, drew a large crowd, each of the video participants among them:

• Tim Nguyen, a high school student from Vietnam, a musician, and a young leader who, as someone with an accent, talks about the challenge of starting over in a new country.
• Tashvi Menghi, a teenager from India who arrived just one year ago and, as an artist and youth activist, strives to be a support for other newcomers struggling to fit in.
• Miguel Hernandez, a Venezuelan artist who, in Canada for close to 10 years, has met the challenges of immigration and settlement through his art.
• Fatma Al Ahmed, a high school student from Syria who, as a woman who wears a hijab, speaks to the challenges and barriers that young Muslims face.
• Bhisham K. Ramoutar, a native of Trinidad and Tobago who highlights the value of representation in traditionally marginalized fields and spaces.
• Samantha Banton, a Jamaican poet and entrepreneur who wants to see more diverse spaces and representation become a reality, and has taken steps to move that along.

VIDEO: “Our Neighbourhood” video series trailer

The New Canadians Centre’s Mauricio Interiano, who came to Canada in 2010 from his native Honduras and subsequently earned his BA in international development and sociology from Trent University, was front and centre at the event, introducing the screening before welcoming each of the participants profiled in the video series.

“We really wanted to showcase some aspects of being a newcomer that are not always in the media,” said Interiano. “We often are really quick to celebrate what newcomers are doing here, but it’s time to talk about the challenges that newcomers face when they’re in a new country.”

“Our six speakers, at some point in their video, speak about some of the challenges they’ve had — but it’s important to note that these are not complete stories. These videos are conversation starters.”

Interiano noted the New Canadians Centre assisted close to 1,400 newcomers last year. He added a big part of the centre’s work involves increasing the community’s “capacity of receiving and welcoming refugees and immigrants.”

“Peterborough is well known for for receiving and welcoming newcomers,” he said. “I want to believe, as a newcomer, that it is a safe space, but that doesn’t mean bad things don’t happen. The videos highlight the hopes and dreams of each participant, but also the discrimination and racism that each has experienced.”

Interiano, who was involved in the process that determined who would be profiled, said each participant deserves admiration for their courage to put themselves out there.

“It’s not easy to talk about such challenges,” he said, adding “They want to see a change.”

In his remarks, New Canadians’ Centre executive director Andy Cragg said the video series serves up some hard truths deserving of more attention by the community at large.

“Peterborough is incredibly welcoming but, at the same time, it’s a community where Indigenous people and people of colour experience racism and discrimination on a regular basis. Both of those things are true and that can be uncomfortable.”

The video series, said Cragg, “validates the experiences of folks in our community who love living here but who also have that experience (of discrimination and racism) on a regular basis.”

Also on hand was Reem Ali, the City of Peterborough’s diversity, equity and inclusion officer. She too praised the courage of each participant.

“I did a quick online search of what it means to be welcoming,” said Ali. “It means making someone feel happy and accepted. It means welcoming everyone while calling for all of us to be transformed. It means showing compassion, cordiality and generosity. It means having intentional, inclusive practices and norms that enable all of us not only to survive but thrive. It means we focus on integration rather than assimilation.”

“They (the videos) are gateways to identifying the themes, or rather, the symptoms that are holding us back from being welcoming. Symptoms that point to systemic inequities and diseases that we don’t like to talk about much, such as racism, hate, and discrimination.”

Ali pointed to the takeaway of the videos’ production and sharing.

“These (examples of discrimination and racism) are not problems that individuals or specific groups must address alone,” Ali explained. “These are societal and systemic issues that require collective action. But the stories also remind us that there are bright moments as well as opportunities for becoming more welcoming and inclusive, and that we all have a huge role to play in that.”

For more information about the New Canadians Centre, and including its many programs and offerings for newcomers, visit www.nccpeterborough.ca.

The Kawartha Lakes Legends Special Olympics basketball team is proving to be a slam dunk for Theresa Burfield’s son, Steven, and other Kawartha Lakes teens and adults who have an intellectual disability.

When Burfield, her husband Mike, and Steven relocated from Aurora to Kawartha Lakes, they discovered there wasn’t a Special Olympics basketball team.

Today, Steven and other athletes who have an intellectual disability are lacing up their sneakers and shooting hoops.

“Steven participated in Special Olympics basketball in Aurora,” Burfield told kawarthaNOW. “When we moved to the Kawartha Lakes area, he eagerly joined the bowling team, but was disappointed to find that there was no basketball team. My husband Mike and I decided to offer to start a team in this area.”

In March of 2023, Burfield attended a meeting of the Special Olympics Kawartha Lakes council and presented her proposal to start the basketball team.

“They eagerly accepted, and, with their encouragement and administrative assistance, we put everything in place,” she said.

The Kawartha Lakes Legends Special Olympics basketball team was born.

To make it happen, the Kawartha Lakes Civitan Club donated $1,000 so the team could purchase all the equipment necessary to play, as well as pay for the gym rental for the first session, which ran from October to December 2023.

“Lindsay Canadian Tire gave us a discount on the equipment we purchased there,” Burfield added.

The Kawartha Lakes Legends welcomed 11 athletes to its first practice in October 2023. Burfield has been witnessing the team’s growth and the players’ progress ever since.

“We are very excited by the team’s progress. The basketball experience of the athletes ranged from beginner to very experienced. The beginners are gaining skill and confidence, largely thanks to the efforts of the volunteer coaches and the patience and mentorship of the more experienced players,” Burfield said.

Everyone is enjoying the workout, the friendly competition, and the camaraderie of belonging to the team, she added.

“We’re seeing weekly improvement in skill and ability, but the best thing we’re seeing is the development of each participant both athletically and socially.”

Their team is designed as a “recreational” team, meaning that it’s not aspiring to compete at a regional, provincial, national, or international level, Burfield explained.

“We eventually would be interested in challenging other area teams to a game from time-to-time, though. The athletes think we should try to make it to the NBA.”

The team is open to adding more players to its roster. Those interested in possibly joining are welcome to watch a practice underway on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Langton Public School in Fenelon Falls, located at 35 Wychwood Crescent.

Special Olympics is for teens and adults who have an intellectual disability. The athlete must be registered with Special Olympics Ontario. Registration is completed online at specialolympicsontario.com.

There is a cost of $30 for each nine-week session. The current session ends March 14. The next session runs March 21 through to May 16.

“In order to ensure our athletes are appropriately supported, Special Olympics maintains a five-to-one athlete-to-coach ratio,” Burfield noted. “Our programs — whether it be basketball, bowling, softball, curling, or other new sports — can only grow if we have committed volunteers to attend.”

Those interested in volunteering can also do so on the website.

“You do not have to be athletic or know anything about the sport — we just need your patience and enthusiasm in supporting our athletes,” Burfield said.

For further information about the basketball team, contact Burfield at tburfield@hotmail.com.

In general, members of the local Special Olympics programs “are continuing their winning ways with so many great opportunities for athletes to represent Kawartha Lakes this season,” said Special Olympics program consultant Hellaina Rothenburg in a media release.

Local five-pin bowler Steven Pyke has been selected for the Team Ontario team-in-training, heading to Calgary for the Special Olympics Canada National Winter Games. The games start February 27 and run through to March 2.

Last month, the Lindsay Hard Rockers curling club took two teams to the Funspiel hosted by SOO-Muskoka, at the Gravenhurst curling club. Both teams returned home with medals.

Teagan McDonald, who has been swimming since she was an infant, is putting in her training as she prepares for the Special Olympics Ontario Provincial Spring Games. Those games are being held from May 23 to 25 in Waterloo Region.

For general information about becoming a Special Olympics volunteer, contact Rothenburg by phone at 1-888-333-5515 ext. 276 or by email at hellainar@specialolympicsontario.com.

Although the Peterborough Petes are second last in the Eastern Conference standings, they are first in fundraising for cancer care.

On Saturday night (February 3), the Petes hosted the Niagara IceDogs at the Peterborough Memorial Centre for the 15th Annual Pink in the Rink game.

The campaign has raised a preliminary total of $49,103.26 — just dollars shy of the $50,000 goal — and has pushed the total funds raised during the history of the campaign to over $1 million. For this season’s campaign, all Petes players acted as ambassadors to help meet the $50,000 goal and push the grand total over $1 million.

“I’d like to thank the players for being ambassadors for this year’s campaign,” said Michael Oke, the Petes general manager and vice president of operations, in a media release. “We started this initiative 15 years ago with Petes staff such as Aaron Garfat, Cathy Webster, and Don Sharp. To be able to raise over one million dollars in just 15 years is an amazing accomplishment.”

Proceeds from this year’s Pink in the Rink campaign, which is in support of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Wheels of Hope program, were raised by the Petes players acting as campaign ambassadors, as well as the 2024 Game Jersey Auction, a silent auction, a bucket pass, Pink in the Rink T-shirt sales, and chuck-a-puck.

Over the past 15 years, the Petes have raised a grand total of $1,003,239.20.

“We hope to see this campaign continue to grow at the rate that it has today,” Oke said. “Wheels of Hope is a great program, and we’re extremely pleased that the funds from this year will be put to good use.”

Despite the campaign’s success, the Petes would ultimately fall to the IceDogs 5-4 in overtime.

Quinton Pagé led the way for the Petes with two goals. Carson Cameron also scored and added an assist, with Caden Taylor rounding out the scoring. Aiden Young, Tommy Purdeller, Cam Gauvreau, Nico Addy, Jonathan Melee, and Braydon McCallum all picked up an assist each.

Liam Sztuska stopped 42 out of 47 shots in the loss.

The Lakefield Literary Festival is bringing Canadian journalist and author Steve Paikin to Lakefield College School’s Bryan Jones Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 22nd for a conversation about the current state of political leadership in Canada.

Best known as the award-winning host of TVO’s flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin, the Hamilton native is also the author of eight books, including his critically acclaimed 2022 John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada’s 17th Prime Minister. Paikin is also a documentary producer, whose Return to the Warsaw Ghetto won the Silver Screen Award at the US International Film and Video Festival, and a political podcaster.

A graduate of the University of Toronto with a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Boston University, Paikin also holds honorary doctorates from McMaster University, Victoria University, Laurentian University, York University, and honorary diplomas from Humber College, Centennial College, Mohawk College, and Fanshawe College. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in December 2013 and invested into the Order of Ontario in January 2014.

The March 22nd conversation with Paikin, which will be moderated by Lakefield Literary Festival board chair John Boyko, will also include a question-and-answer session withthe audience and an opportunity to meet Paikin and have a book signed.

Tickets of the event cost $30 and are available in person at Happenstance Books and Yarns 44 Queen Street in Lakefield or online at lakefieldliteraryfestival.com.

Attendees at the event will also be the first to hear about the author lineup for the annual festival, which will take place on July 19 and 20 in Lakefield.

The Lakefield Literary Festival was established in 1995 as a celebration of Margaret Laurence, but has since become a celebration of the rich literary heritage of Lakefield and the surrounding area, including the works of Catharine Parr Traill, Susanna Moodie, and Isabella Valancy Crawford, all of whom lived and wrote in Lakefield.

The festival celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019 and, after a three-year pandemic hiatus, resumed in 2023 with Waubgeshig Rice, Kai Thomas, Sheila Heti, Harley Rustad, Iain Reid, and Catherine Hernandez among the Canadian authors attending.

Northumberland County’s warden and the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC) recently had the ear of the province’s minister of infrastructure.

Reflecting on the recent Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference in Toronto, Northumberland County warden Brian Ostrander said he and his EOWC colleagues took the opportunity to highlight challenges around housing, among other key issues for the caucus.

“With the EOWC, I attended a delegation with the minister of infrastructure (Kinga Surma), providing the minister and her team with the needs across eastern Ontario and the municipal sector in general,” Ostrander told kawarthaNOW.

“We know that in order to build more houses faster we also need to invest in the municipal infrastructure that is required to service those homes and the residents who will move to our communities,” Ostrander said. “We highlighted the massive gap between what municipalities can afford to do with property tax dollars and the need for repairs and maintenance items.”

On another note, the warden added, the EOWC continues to support a review of how services are delivered, by which level of government, and how they are funded.

“The Association of Municipalities of Ontario is undertaking a social and prosperity review which will help guide municipalities and the province to better understand what services might be better managed at the provincial level and how we might better provide revenues to the municipal levels of government to manager service delivery and pay for infrastructure upgrades and renewals,” Ostrander explained.

From across Ontario, the EOWC joined more than 2,000 rural municipal colleagues at the conference to participate in meetings with provincial ministers, members of provincial parliament, and the Ontario New Democratic and Liberal opposition parties to share the EOWC’s “critical priorities,” a media release noted.

The EOWC’s pressing priorities include affordable and attainable housing, next generation infrastructure funding, long-term care, and modernizing the construction approval process. For details about the priorities, visit the EOWC website at eowc.org.

“The EOWC believes that strong partnerships between government are needed to tackle housing, health, and economic challenges across the region,” said Peter Emon, EOWC chair, in the media release. “The ROMA Conference was a success in building upon our relationships to better serve our 103 communities across rural eastern Ontario.”

Ostrander said housing was also on the agenda of a delegation he took part in with Northumberland County. The warden attended a delegation with the associate minister of housing Rob Flack, providing him with Northumberland’s need for lands, currently owned by the province, that might be better used at the county level for affordable housing projects.

“The conversation was thoughtful, and we hope to hear from the ministry on next steps soon,” Ostrander said.

Overall, “ROMA was very busy from a minister’s delegation perspective” for the Northumberland warden, as he attended three different delegations during the conference, which ran from January 21 through 23 at the Sheraton Centre Hotel on Queen Street West.

ROMA is the rural voice of AMO. The association “is an integral part of AMO” and several of its executive members serve on the AMO board of directors, according to the ROMA website. Policy, research, and advocacy activities are undertaken by ROMA through AMO.

“ROMA is committed to promoting, supporting and enhancing strong and effective rural governments and socially and economically sustainable rural communities, today and into the future,” the website states.