The refrigerated outdoor skating rink at Quaker Foods City Square in downtown Peterborough is available for use in the fall and winter. (Photo: Bruce Head / kawarthaNOW)
The outdoor skating rink at Quaker Foods City Square in downtown Peterborough will close for the season after Thursday (March 16), the City of Peterborough has announced, with up to 10 mm of rain in the forecast for Friday followed by warmer weather and sunny days over the next couple of weeks.
The year-round community space near the corner of Charlotte and Aylmer streets officially opened in December.
The refrigerated outdoor skating rink is available in the fall and winter, with a space for community activities and water play feature available in the spring and summer.
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The Quaker Foods City Square will be used as a community space for various programs and events this spring and summer, including the weekly farmers’ market.
The space is available for rent, with a daily rental fee of $925 plus HST.
Information on how to get a permit to use the space for events is available on the City of Peterborough’s website at peterborough.ca/events.
The Rotary Club of Peterborough has maintained a long-time commitment to addressing local environmental issues, including by organizing the annual Super Spring Clean-Up with other area Rotary Clubs for the past 15 years. The Rotary Environmental Innovators Fund, now in partnership with Cleantech Commons at Trent University, will support local environmental-related research and start-ups addressing the top environmental concerns that affect the Peterborough area. (Photo: Rotary Club of Peterborough)
The Rotary Club of Peterborough has partnered with Cleantech Commons at Trent University to support local environmental-related research and start-ups.
Last fall, the Rotary Club of Peterborough launched the Rotary Environmental Innovators Fund (REIF), aiming to raise $10,000 through corporate and individual donors — known as “environmental champions” — to fund individuals, businesses, or organizations addressing environmental issues that affect the Peterborough area. REIF has since reached its $10,000 fundraising goal.
Environmental innovators can apply for REIF funding by Friday, March 24th (extended from March 17), describing how they would use the funding to address environmental issues such as biodiversity conservation, sustainability, global warming, waste disposal, pollution, and water and waste water management. While eligibility for the funding is not limited to Peterborough residents, the effect of the applicant’s work must be in Peterborough County.
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The applications for REIF funding will be reviewed first by a panel of environmental specialists and then by the “environmental champions” who donated to REIF, who will vote on the applications.
Three applicants will be selected to receive a $3,000 award each at an event to be held at Camp Kawarthas on Thursday, April 27th. The environmental champions will be invited to attend the event to meet the three winners.
REIF was created by a collection of active citizens and businesses with an interest in addressing some of the top environmental concerns facing us today and impacting us locally, and is led by Rrotarian Graham Wilkins, a long-time local manufacturer and businessman.
Rotarian Graham Wilkins, director of the Rotary Environmental Innovators Fund, and Martin Yuill, executive director of Cleantech Commons at Trent University, which is dedicated to clean, green, low-carbon, and sustainable technology research, innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship. (Graphic: Rotary Club of Peterborough)
“The journey towards environmental sustainability is inherently collaborative,” says Wilkins in a media release. “We can have far more impact by engaging with the individuals and companies working on our behalf. The REIF will help to pave the way for local Innovators to play a role in achieving this.”
Cleantech Commons at Trent University is a research and technology park focused exclusively on clean, green, low-carbon, and sustainable technology research, innovation, commercialization, and
entrepreneurship.
According to executive director Martin Yuill, the partnership between Cleantech Commons and the Rotary Club of Peterborough will not only support and advance individual environmentalists and start-ups working on environmental concerns, but will create networking opportunities for the applicants to connect with related ventures in Ontario and Canada and take advantage of mentoring relationships.
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The partnership will also help identify early-stage innovators and entrepreneurs who can benefit from Cleantech Commons’ suite of programming, facilities, and expertise.
“This exciting collaboration will create pathways for skilled youth and talented graduates to start and grow their own companies and find employment in the environmental sector right here in Peterborough,” Yuill says.
To learn more about the Rotary Environmental Innovators Fund, to apply for funding, or to become an “environmental champion” by donating, visit rotaryenvironmentalchampions.ca.
One person is dead after an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) crashed on Old Wooler Road around 13 kilometres north of Brighton on Wednesday (March 15).
Members of the Northumberland County Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and emergency crews are at the scene of the fatal collision, which involved a single ATV on Old Wooler Road between Tower Line Road and Lord Road.
No other injuries were reported at the time of the collision.
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Police have not provided any details about the victim, the nature of the collision, or whether more than one person was involved.
Old Wooler Road will be closed between Tower Line Road and Lord Road for several hours while police investigate and document the scene. Detours are in place.
Anyone who may have witnessed or has video/dash camera footage of the collision and who has not yet spoken with police is asked to contact the Northumberland County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles speaks at a media event at the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce office in downtown Peterborough on March 14, 2023. Also pictured is Joel Wiebe, the Chamber's vice president of government relations and communications. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW)
Newly elected Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles visited Peterborough on Tuesday morning (March 14) to meet with the local chamber of commerce and to hold a media conference in which she called for mental health coverage under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) to boost the economy.
The NDP MPP for the Toronto riding of Davenport since 2018, Stiles was the sole candidate to run for the party leadership after Andrea Horwath stepped down as leader following last June’s provincial election. Stiles was elected the party’s leader on February 4, also making her the leader of the official opposition in the provincial legislature.
Following her meeting at the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce office in downtown Peterborough, Stiles gave brief remarks on the significance of government support for small business and the importance of ensuring accessibility to mental health services.
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Stiles’ stop in Peterborough is part of a tour of eastern Ontario that has included Ottawa, Kingston, Belleville, Prince Edward County, and Picton. She told those assembled that the tour has really driven home the place of small businesses in building strong and caring communities that in turn bolster the economy.
Issues of affordability are no longer only the concern of those living in Toronto, Stiles said, before suggesting that her reason for visiting some of the smaller communities outside the GTA has been important in getting a better idea of how to solve issues related to cost of living and housing while maintaining a strong economy.
“The economy will grow, I really believe it will, but only if people are feeling healthy and getting the support they need,” Stiles told attendees, connecting the issues of mental health and the health of the economy while pointing to the role government can play in ensuring solutions are found to pressing issues facing workers and businesses in Ontario.
Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles addresses the media during a stop at the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce office in downtown Peterborough on March 14, 2023 while Joel Wiebe, the Chamber’s vice president of government relations and communications, looks on. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW)
“Mental health should be part of our public health care system — OHIP coverage should be expanded to include mental health,” Stiles said, before citing an opposition motion put forth last week that would remove the 13 per cent HST on psychotherapy services.
Stiles spoke further about the connections between strong mental health supports and employment and strong local business communities.
“Expanding mental health care is a win-win — a win for the people and one for the employers, and a win for the province,” she said, noting the upcoming provincial budget and adding that she will, as leader of the opposition, keep the government in check so they are addressing issues at the forefront of business owners’ minds.
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Stiles addressed questions about affordable housing in the area, as well as supply-chain concerns and infrastructure including transit and transportation. She also spoke of how an ongoing health care crisis in the province related to mental health and addictions is a barrier to workforce development projects and the necessity of investing in workers.
“We know that the government right now is not spending billions of dollars — money that they budgeted for services to help people,” said Stiles, referring to a March 8th report by the province’s financial accountability office that the Ford government has allocated $21 billion less than will be needed by 2028 to fund current health sector programs and deliver on its program expansion commitments in hospitals, home care, and long-term care.
“Because of this, and because people are going to be struggling, they’re struggling for longer and longer,” Stiles added.
Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles speaks at a media event at the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce office in downtown Peterborough on March 14, 2023 while Joel Wiebe, the Chamber’s vice president of government relations and communications, looks on. (Photo: Jeannine Taylor / kawarthaNOW)
When asked about specific supports for workers and small businesses in this respect, especially in the private sector, Stiles reiterated her conviction about addressing concerns in the supply chain and spoke of how, when governments really want to address issues affecting the province such as during the pandemic, they are able to “roll up their sleeves and get it done.”
Responding to a reporter’s question asking for specifics, Stiles referred to utility prices and the cost of rent as factors affecting the viability of small businesses.
“Government has a role to play in ensuring that we are training people, that we are providing that solid workforce, that we are supporting communities,” she said. “But small businesses are not going to be able to thrive, are not going to be able to retain workers, if people can’t afford to live in those communities. If people can’t get basic health care, they have to take (time) off and go to another community to go to a walk-in clinic. That’s actually costing small businesses.”
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Stiles was also questioned about the conduct of Sarah Jama, the NDP’s candidate for Hamilton Centre, which was vacated in 2022 when former leader Andrea Horwath decided to run as Hamilton mayor. Jama is widely expected to win the by-election taking place on Thursday (March 16).
Recently, footage of Jama — a noted community organizer and activist — from a 2021 protest in Toronto has resulted in a flood of allegations of antisemitism due to her statements regarding Palestinian liberation and the legitimacy of Israel. The comments prompted the Jewish human rights organization B’nai Brith to call for the revocation of Jama’s nomination for the legislative seat.
In response, Stiles stated she had not seen the clip in question but added Jama has “spoken very passionately about issues like policing and human rights here and internationally.”
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“She’s spoken out about homelessness, she’s spoken out about antisemitism,” Stiles said. “I know antisemitism is on the rise in our country. I think it’s incumbent on all of us to work together to address that. I think Sarah is speaking up on behalf of a lot of her constituents every day, and is known to be a strong advocate against violence and racism.”
kawarthaNOW asked Stiles about her impression of Bill 5, Stopping Harassment and Abuse by Local Leaders Act, a private member’s bill put forth by Liberal Orléans MPP Stephen Blais that is currently in second reading in Queen’s Park.
At the March 6th general committee meeting, Peterborough City Council voted unanimously to support a motion by councillor Alex Bierk calling on the city to send a letter of support for Bill 5 to the Ford government and to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario.
While not addressing the bill in particular, Stiles said she felt there has been a rise in harassment of elected leaders, specifically school board trustees, and that she believes all workplaces should be free from harassment.
Oshawa-based Trademark Homes, a member of the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Home Builders Association since 2022, won a national award for housing excellence from the Canadian Home Builders' Association for this custom-built home on Balsam Lake in the City of Kawartha Lakes. (Photo courtesy of Trademark Homes)
A member of the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Home Builders Association (PKHBA) has won a national award for housing excellence from the Canadian Home Builders’ Association, and a past president of PKHBA has been named to the Canadian association’s executive board.
The National Awards for Housing Excellence were handed out in February in Banff, Alberta, at an awards gala at the culmination of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association’s Home Building Week in Canada. Oshawa-based Trademark Homes, a PKHBA member since 2022, won the award for best custom home over 5,000 square feet for “The View on Balsam”, a custom home built on Balsam Lake in the City of Kawartha Lakes.
Nearly 800 entries were submitted into 48 categories, with the finalists and winners selected by a group of almost 150 industry professionals from all over Canada. PKHBA members Dietrich Homes and Linwood Homes were also award finalists.
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A new executive board for the Canadian Home Builders’ Association was also announced during the conference.
Garnet Northey, PKHBA past president and a current board member, was named as the Canadian Home Builders’ Association new treasurer. Northey is also owner of Spotlight Home & Lifestyle Inc. near Buckhorn.
Northey’s presence on the Canadian Home Builders’ Association’s board will help give Peterborough and the Kawarthas representation and a voice at a national level, according to a PKHBA media release.
“Garnet and myself attended the full conference program and promoted the beautiful Peterborough and Kawartha Lakes Regions to colleagues from across the country,” says PKHBA executive officer Rebecca Schillemat.
Rebecca Schillemat, executive officer of the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Home Builders Association, with past president and current board member Garnet Northey, who was recently named as treasurer of the Canadian Home Builders’ Association. (Photo: Rebecca Schillemat)
Pickleball has become one of Canada's fastest-growing sports because it's easy to learn and play, has low startup costs, and appeals to a wide range of ages and fitness levels. (Photo: Delta Pickleball Association, British Columbia)
Port Hope will have its own pickleball courts later this summer thanks to a $141,300 capital grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, an agency of the Ontario government.
Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini and Port Hope Mayor Olena Hankivsky made the announcement on Tuesday (March 14) at the Town Park Recreation Centre in Port Hope.
“With this funding, everyone in our community will have a new, exciting way to stay active,” MPP Piccini says in a media release. “Port Hope residents will benefit greatly from these new courts, and I’m looking forward to getting shovels in ground in the coming months.”
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Three new outdoor courts pickleball will be built by late summer, with a decision on the location to be made soon. They will be available seven days a week from dawn until dusk from May to October.
“We are thrilled to announce the addition of three new dedicated outdoor pickleball courts for our community and we thank the province for their generous support,” Mayor Hankivsky says. ” The new courts will help us to continue to promote safe recreation and social engagement in the community, particularly for our older adult residents. We welcome this new addition to our recreation offerings and look forward to the grand opening of the new space later this year.”
Pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island near Seattle, Washington by three fathers whose kids were bored with their usual summertime activities. Combining many elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong, the game is played with a paddle and a plastic ball with holes.
Over the past few years, pickleball has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States and Canada, largely because it’s easy to learn and play, has low startup costs, and appeals to a wide range of ages and fitness levels.
Canadian-Argentinian pianist Alexander Panizza will join the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra during "Welcome Spring" on April 1, 2023 to perform Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23". The orchestra will also perform works by Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho and Jean Sibelius. (Photo: Charles Maurer)
The Peterborough Symphony Orchestra is inviting you to celebrate the return of spring on Saturday, April 1st at Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough with “Welcome Spring”, a concert featuring works by Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho along with iconic composers Tchaikovsky and Sibelius.
Welcoming audiences back to the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra is a recurring theme of all of this season’s concerts, since the 2022-23 season is the first one since the pandemic began where the orchestra is performing a full slate of five in-person concerts.
“Welcome Spring”, the fourth concert of the season, will also welcome Canadian-Argentinian pianist Alexander Panizza to the Showplace stage as the orchestra’s guest artist.
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The evening’s program will open with a performance of Jubilation of Spring by Canadian composer Alice Ping Yee Ho. Born in Hong Kong and now living in Toronto, Ho is considered one of Canada’s most important living composers. She has received numerous national and international awards, and was twice nominated for a Juno for classical composition of the year.
“This is a lyrical but energetic piece, based on folk tunes about spring that Alice remembered from her youth in Hong Kong,” says Michael Newnham, the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra’s music director and conductor. Ho will be in the audience for the orchestra’s performance of her piece.
Ho’s nine-minute composition is based on the 4,000-year-old legend of the origins of Chunjie, also known as the Chinese Spring Festival or the Lunar New Year, in which people warded off a demon called Nian preyed by putting red paper streamers on their gates, setting off firecrackers, and beating bamboo sticks and gongs.
AUDIO: “Jubilation of Spring” performed by Montreal Chamber Orchestra (2015)
“The festive and uplifting spirit of the composition depicts the various old traditions celebrating hard work, bringing good tidings and prosperity,” Ho says. “My intent is to incubate non-Western elements into a Western ensemble with a personal childhood nostalgic reference to Cantonese folk style. The composition also symbolizes the coming together of different cultures and traditions embraced by our metropolitan society.”
Based on an earlier piece for strings and timpani Ho created for the Toronto Chinese Youth Orchestra in 1992, she expanded it in 2014 for the Montréal Chamber Orchestra, which performed the piece for the first time in 2015 at Bourgie Concert Hall in the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts.
“Its sunny disposition and beauty is perfect for getting us ready for the on-your-sleeve Romanticism of the other two pieces of the evening,” Newnham notes.
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That “on-your-sleeve Romanticism” includes a performance of Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Op. 23 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, one of the best known of the Romantic composers.
Tchaikovsky was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting international impression, with some of his compositions — including the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49 (commonly called the 1812 Overture), Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, and Romeo and Juliet, TH 42, CW 39 (commonly called the Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy) — remaining the most popular in the current classical repertoire.
Canadian-Argentinian pianist Alexander Panizza will join the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra to perform Piano Concerto No. 1.
VIDEO: Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 performed by Alexander Panizza (2012)
“When I approached Alexander about performing with the orchestra, he requested that we do Piano Concerto No. 1,” Newham says.
Born in Toronto, Panizza began his musical education at the Royal Conservatory of Music. As a teenager, he moved to Argentina with his family and was soon recognized as one of the most talented young musicians of his generation. He won several first prizes in competitions and received scholarships to further his studies in Geneva, Barcelona, Paris, and London. Moving back to Toronto in 2017, the award-winning pianist remains in high demand as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras, participates regularly in chamber music festivals, and offers master classes throughout the Americas.
Tchaikovsky composed Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1874 and 1875, revising it in 1879 and again in 1888. The piece was first performed in Boston in 1875 with pianist Hans von Bülow, after Tchaikovsky’s desired pianist Nikolai Rubinstein criticized the piece, calling it “bad, trivial, and vulgar.” Rubinstein later recanted his criticism and championed the composition, which remains among Tchaikovsky’s best known and most popular works.
A 37-year-old Tchaikovsky in 1877, two years after he composed “Piano Concerto No. 1”, with his bride Antonina Miliukova, a former student. The disastrous marriage ended after only two and a half months. (Public domain photo)
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“This piece has been a favourite of audiences for as long as it has been around, and it’s one that I love collaborating on,” Newnham says. “This music has the perfect combination of fiery virtuosic bravura and broad, unforgettable themes. This work is, without question, one of the most recognizable pieces for piano and orchestra that was ever written.”
The evening’s program concludes with a performance of Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43 by Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, widely regarded as Finland’s greatest composer.
Sibelius began writing his second symphony, which he called “a confession of the soul”, in 1901 while the 36-year-old composer was wintering in Rapallo, Italy. He completed the piece back home in 1902, when it was first performed by the Helsinki Orchestral Society with the composer conducting. After three sold-out performances, Sibelius made some revisions.
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The four-movement Symphony No. 2 is Sibelius’s longest symphony, and it received mixed reviews from critics after it premiered. However, the Finnish public admired the symphony, especially its grandiose finale, with some calling it the “Symphony of Independence” as it was written during a time when Russia had imposed sanctions on Finnish language and culture.
“it is unabashedly romantic in style, even though it was written during an era when many composers were trending toward a more modernist flair,” says Newnham, adding he is “really looking forward” to performing the symphony with the orchestra again.
“This is one of the greatest Nordic late-romantic pieces that exists,” he explains. “Sibelius always creates atmosphere. He is also the master of spinning the music through repetitive rhythms and small motivic ideas. It’s generally a very happy piece, since it was conceived when he was on holiday in Italy. It is very much about bringing the sun from the southern climates to the North, which is our basic theme for this concert.”
VIDEO: Sibelius’s Symphony No. 2 performed by Frankfurt Radio Symphony
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“Welcome to Spring” begins at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 1st at Showplace Performance Centre at 290 George Street North in downtown Peterborough. A pre-concert “Meet the Maestro” talk takes place at 6:45 p.m., where Newnham takes the Showplace stage for an intimate chat about the evening’s program. All audience members are also invited to a post-concert reception downstairs in the Nexicom Studio to meet Maestro Newnham and members of the orchestra. The reception will feature treats from reception sponsor The Pin.
Single tickets are $33, $48, or $55 depending on where you sit, with student tickets $12. Tickets are available in person at the Showplace Box Office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, or online anytime at showplace.org. Student tickets are only available online.
New this season is a “rush ticket” option, where seats are available on the day of the concert for only $20 (online only, depending on availability).
kawarthaNOW is proud to be a media sponsor of the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra’s 2022-23 season.
Alice Williams and Nadine Changfoot at the ReFrame Film Festival's in-person opening night event at Showplace Performance Centre on January 26, 2023. Peterborough city council is recommending a three-year $15,000 community investment grant for the festival, one of 48 community groups and not-for-profit and charitable organizations approved to receive community grants from the City of Peterborough in 2023. (Photo: Ziysah Von Bieberstein)
Peterborough city council has endorsed a total of $169,483 in community grants to 48 community groups and not-for-profit and charitable organizations in 2023 — with the ReFrame Film Festival, Kawartha Sexual Assault Centre, Kawartha Youth Orchestra, and the Elizabeth Fry Society of Peterborough to each receive over $10,000.
City council endorsed a staff recommendation for the 2023 grants at its general committee meeting on Monday night (March 13). Final approval of the grants will take place at the regular council meeting on Monday, March 27th.
A total of $20,655 will be provided to 28 community groups under the community project grant stream, which is intended for smaller organizations and smaller programs and events from $250 to $1,000. A committee of six city staff reviewed 41 grant applications, double the number received in 2022, which exceeded the available funding by $31,785.
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A total of $148,828 will be provided to 20 local not-for-profit and charitable organizations under the community investment grant stream, which provides supports for projects and special events, specific programs, or operating budgets from $1,000 to $15,000. A committee of two city councillors and 11 citizen appointees reviewed 25 grant applications, more than double the number received in 2022, which exceeded the available funding by $118,102.
Another $67,000 in previously approved multi-year funding will flow in 2023 to eight organizations. Out of the 12 organizations that requested it in 2023, four are being recommended for multi-year funding.
Below are the organizations and grant amounts.
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Community Project Grants
Social services
Community Fridge Nogojiwanong/Peterborough – $775
Dalhousie Youth Support Services – $400
Hearts 4 Joy Skills Development Project – $675
Kawartha Haliburton Children’s Foundation – $1,000
Operation Catnip Peterborough – $1,000
Peterborough Gleans – $1,000
Peterborough Veterinary Outreach – $1,000
Arts
Creepy Doll Museum – $650
Kawartha Potters Guild – $675
Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival – $1,000
Peterborough Friends in Music Community Band – $750
Show and Tell Poetry Series – $775
The River Magazine – $800
Environment
Ashburnham Memorial Stewardship Group – $450
Bird Friendly Peterborough (BFP) – $430
Kawartha Wildlife Centre – $700
Sheet Seven Community Garden – $750
Trent Vegetable Gardens – $900
Sports
FairPlay Sports – $625
Kawartha Lakes Lightning Athletic Club Inc. – $600
Peterborough City Soccer Association – $750
Peterborough Swim Club – $475
Health
Food for Kids Peterborough and County Student Nutrition Programs – $1,000
ME/FM Association of Peterborough & District – $350
Quilts for Cancer Peterborough County – $900
Culture
Peterborough Chinese Community Organization – $775
Ukrainian Community of Peterborough and the Kawarthas – $675
Recreation
Peterborough Pickleball Association – $775
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Community Investment Grants
Arts
ReFrame Film Festival – $15,000 (three-year grant)
Indigenous actor and musician Cheri Maracle will perform in the one-woman musical "Paddle Song", which tells the story of the celebrated late 19th-century trailblazing Mohawk poet and performer Emily Pauline Johnson, at Nozhem First People's Performance Space at Trent University for three performances on March 24 and 25, 2023. (Unattributed photo)
A fir tree rocking its lullaby,
Swings, swings,
Its emerald wings,
Swelling the song that my paddle sings.
– “The Song My Paddle Sings” (Emily Pauline Johnson)
Paddle Song, a one-woman musical starring Cheri Maracle that tells the story of the celebrated late 19th-century trailblazing Mohawk poet and performer Emily Pauline Johnson, is coming to Nnogojiwanong-Peterborough for three performances only on March 24 and 25.
Presented by Public Energy Performing Arts and Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space, Paddle Song was co-written by Dinah Christie and Tom Hill, with music by Tom Hill. Since its world premiere in 2016, the show has toured across Canada and the world, including in New Delhi and Norway.
Although she was famous in her day, many modern-day Canadians may be unfamiliar with Emily Pauline Johnson. The daughter of a respected Six Nations Mohawk chief and his English wife, she was born in 1861 at Chiefswood, an imposing residence (now a national historic site) built by her father at Six Nations of the Grand River near Brantford. Raised in a privileged middle-class family, Johnson was mainly tutored as a young child, where she learned to embrace her Indigenous heritage and culture. She began composing poems at the age of 10.
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At the age of 22, Johnson published her first full-length poem in a magazine. After her father died the following year, the family moved out of Chiefswood for financial reasons and Johnson turned to writing as a means of supporting herself. But it was not until 1892, when the 31-year-old Johnson was invited to participate in an evening of poetry at the Young Men’s Liberal Club in Toronto, that she found success. Over the next seven months, she performed around 125 times in 50 towns and villages across Ontario.
She soon adopted her stage persona of “Tekahionwake” — her great-grandfather’s Mohawk name which means “double wampum” or “double life” — and would wear traditional Mohawk dress during the first act of her performance before changing into Victorian women’s clothing for the second act. Her shows became wildly popular, and she went on multiple tours in Canada, the U.S., and England for over 30 years.
She continued writing poems and published various poetry collections, including The White Wampum in 1895, Canadian Born in 1903 and Flint and Feather in 1912, along with her collections of stories Legends of Vancouver in 1911 and The Shagganappi and The Moccasin Maker in 1913. Emily Pauline Johnson performed under the stage name “Tekahionwake”, her great-grandfather’s Mohawk name which menas “double wampum” or “double life”. (National Gallery of Canada / Public domain)
Acclaimed by audiences and literary critics alike, Johnson was dubbed the ‘Poetic Princess of the Mohawks’. Through her poetry, she brought attention to the struggles of women and First Nations people. Johnson died of breast cancer in 1913 at the age of 51.
In Paddle Song, Johnson’s story is brought to life by veteran Indigenous actor and musician Cheri Maracle, who is also a member of Six Nations and, like Johnson, has a Mohawk father and European mother.
“She spoke for Indigenous rights, women’s rights, children’s rights,” Maracle said in a 2021 interview with the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN). “She was a trailblazer, she was enigmatic, she was gutsy. She traversed this countryside over and over again, just she and her stage partner, which back then was really rare. She was a household name in her time.”
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Maracle is best known for her roles in the television series Blackfly (Global), Moccasin Flats (APTN), The Coroner (CBC), Tribal (APTN), and Degrassi: Next Class (Netflix, Epitome). She has also appeared in various stage productions including Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout (Western Canada Theatre), The Unnatural and Accidental Women (The National Arts Centre), The Rez Sisters (Belfry Theatre), and The Road to Paradise (Crow’s Theatre).
She performed in the world premiere production of Paddle Song at Calgary’s High Performance Rodeo in 2016, where she was nominated for Best Solo Performance. She also performed Paddle Song in 2021 at the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver, where Gail Johnson of Stir praised Maracle’s portrayal.
“Maracle keenly conveys Johnson’s vulnerability, courage, and confidence as her career starts to take off,” Johnson said. “With heart, she exudes the hope and hurt Johnson experienced, whether buoyed by glowing reviews by even the toughest critics or heartbroken by the humiliation her one love imposed on her. Maracle’s performance is emotional without being melodramatic, gentle but assertive. Hers is a powerful and beautiful portrayal of an extraordinary individual whose story needs to be told anew — and shared with this kind of care.”
Like Emily Pauline Johnson, actor and musician Cheri Maracle is a member of Six Nations of the Grand River and has a Mohawk father and European mother. (Photo: Benjamin Laird Arts & Photo)
Maracle will perform Paddle Song at Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space at Trent University for three shows only, at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 24th and Saturday, March 25th with a 2 p.m. matinee performance on Saturday. The all-ages show runs for 75 minutes, including a 15-minute intermission.
Tickets are available at the door, cash only, on a sliding pay what you can scale from $5 to $25. To reserve seats, visit eventbrite.ca/e/512021820047. You can also reserve seats by emailing admin@publicenergy.ca
or calling 705-745-1788.
Paramedic students at Fleming College's on-campus simulation lab in 2019 participating in a simulation where a "groom" at a wedding (actually a high-fidelity manikin) was experiencing an anaphylactic response while surrounded by rowdy bystanders (played by graduates of the paramedic program). The students had to assess the groom and the scene to determine the appropriate treatment protocol. These scenarios help students prepare for real-world situations where they must act quickly under pressure. (Photo: Fleming College)
If you see emergency vehicles and people who appear to be injured at Fleming College in Peterborough on Tuesday (March 14), don’t be alarmed.
Students in multiple programs at the college will be participating in a mass-casualty incident simulation at the Sutherland Campus off Brealey Drive.
“This simulation is a valuable, hands-on learning experience for our students,” reads a media release from Fleming College.
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Led by students in the college’s paramedic program and involving students in the pre-service fighter education and training and pre-health sciences programs, the exercise will involve students and volunteers dressed up to appear distressed or injured.
Emergency vehicles will also be on site.
Set-up for the simulation will begins at 8:30 a.m., with the exercise running from approximately 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Most of the activity will take place in the Oak parking lot and in the B Wing of the main campus.
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