Peterborough’s Little Lake Cemetery and Highland Park Funeral Centre staff are hosting a public Remembrance Day service at sunrise on Friday (November 11).

The service will begin at 7:30 a.m. at the war memorial in the veterans’ section of Little Lake Cemetery (915 Haggart St., Peterborough).

“So often schedules don’t allow for people to pay tribute at the cenotaph at 11 a.m., so we wanted to provide an alternative for those to do that before work or school,” says Little Lake Cemetery Co. CEO James Belk in a media release.

The sunrise service will be officiated by Regimental Chaplain Nancy Wilson of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, and will include playing of “The Last Post” followed by two minutes of silence.

Staff will be at the main gates of Little Lake Cemetery to direct attendees to the service.

“It’s so important to honour our veterans who have fought for the freedoms we have today,” Belk says. “Our staff wanted to give our community another opportunity to honour those veterans.”

Little Lake Cemetery and Highland Park Funeral Centre are also working with various area schools in association with the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation, which focuses on educating youth in Canada about Canadian veterans.

Local students will be placing Canadian flags at individual veteran’s graves in the days prior to Remembrance Day.

The planned closure of Hunter Street in Peterborough’s East City beginning Monday (November 7) has been postponed.

On October 28, the City of Peterborough announced Hunter Street East would be closed between Rogers Street and Burnham Street from November 7 to 11 for the installation of sanitary and watermain services. The sidewalk on the south side of Hunter Street East between Mark Street and Rogers Street would also be closed.

Eastbound and westbound traffic along Hunter Street East would be detoured for the week.

On Thursday (November 3), the city posted on its website that the planned construction has been postponed.

New dates will be provided when they are confirmed, according to the city.

If you live in the Norland area in Kawartha Lakes and see an Canadian Armed Forces helicopter flying overhead on Saturday morning (November 5), don’t be alarmed.

It’s part of a Remembrance Day service and cenotaph re-dedication event being held in Norland, according to a public service announcement from the Department of National Defence.

A Bell CH-146 Griffon helicopter from 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron (427 SOAS) in Petawawa will conduct a flypast at around 10:45 a.m. The helicopter will fly over the area at an altitude no lower than 500 feet above the highest obstacle on their route.

“Flypasts by the Canadian Armed Forces aircraft are conducted in support of special events, and are carefully planned and closely controlled to ensure public safety,” reads the announcement. The flypast is dependent upon weather and flying conditions.

The Norland Remembrance Day service begins with a parade departing the Norland School Hall Community Centre at 3448 Monck Road at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The cenotaph, which was is located on the east side of Highway 35, just north of Monck Road, was erected by the Norland Horticultural Society in 1984. The cairn was built by local stonemason John Beachli.

Based at CFB Petawawa, 427 Special Operations Aviation Squadron is a tactical helicopter unit providing aviation support to the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, with secondary domestic operations including search and rescue support.

The squadron was originally founded during the Second World War as No. 427 “Lion” Squadron RCAF, a bomber squadron. Disbanded after the war ended, it was called back into action in 1962 as a fighter squadron before being disbanded again eight years later. The squadron went back into operation again in 1971 as a tactical helicopter unit.

In 1992, the unit was deployed to Somalia in support of Operation Deliverance, where it distinguished itself during daytime and nighttime operations. The squadron has also taken an active role in humanitarian efforts, including missions in Haiti in 1995, the January 1998 ice storm in eastern Canada, and the November 1998 mission to help the victims of Hurricane Mitch in Honduras. In 2006, the unit joined the Canadian Special Operations Forces Command and was given its current name.

CUPE education workers and supporters in the greater Kawarthas region will be picketing at the constituency offices of local Ontario government MPPs from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday (November 4).

The picket lines will take place at the offices of Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith (1123 Water St., Peterborough), Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott (14 Lindsay St. N., Lindsay), Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini (117 Peter St., Port Hope), and Hastings-Lennox and Addington MPP Ric Bresee (6A St. Lawrence St. W., Madoc).

CUPE, which represents around 55,000 Ontario education workers — including librarians, custodians, and early childhood educators — is in a legal strike position as of Thursday and, on Monday, promised its members would walk off the job on Friday despite the Ontario government’s tabling of legislation imposing a four-year contract and banning strikes.

On Thursday, the Ontario government is expected to pass its controversial legislation which invokes the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and nullifies the Ontario Human Rights Code.

“To pass it, they’ve invoked the notwithstanding clause, overriding the Charter’s protections of the fundamental right to the collective bargaining process,” CUPE Ontario states. “This is the first time in the history of Canada that a government has done so to pre-emptively end a labour action.”

“Education workers are the backbone of Ontario’s public education system and we’re fighting for a good deal to ensure high-quality education and services for kids. Whether you’re an education worker or an ally, come out to a picket line to send the Ford Conservatives a message and to secure a real deal.”

The Peterborough and District Labour Council is supporting CUPE education workers and is encouraging all workers to join the picket line at MPP Dave Smith’s constituency office at 2 p.m. on Friday.

“In addition, CUPE health care workers will be joining the line at 2 p.m. for an emergency rally,” the council writes on Facebook. “We are calling on all workers to join at this time if they are able.”

Peterborough’s Porch Pirates for Good are once again planning to peacefully plunder local porches on Saturday, November 12th with another porch food drive to restock the dwindling shelves at Kawartha Food Share.

People are asked to leave a bag of non-perishable food items on their front porch.

Beginning at 9 a.m., volunteers will drive around the city, collect the donated items, and deliver them to the Kawartha Food Share warehouse.

According to a recent report from Food Banks Canada, food banks across the country are straining under historically high demand due to inflationary food costs, low provincial social assistance rates, and housing costs.

Seniors and students on fixed incomes and the working poor are increasingly turning to food banks to put food on the table for themselves and their families.

The rising cost of food along with supply-chain shortages have also affected Kawartha Food Share’s clients, donors, and the organization’s own purchasing power.

The demand for food supports has also grown over the pandemic, with Kawartha Food Share now supporting 51 local organizations in the city and county of Peterborough — 14 more than they were supporting before the pandemic.

The two most-needed food items are peanut butter and canned tune, along with canned fruit, individually wrapped school snacks, pasta and pasta sauce, easy-to-cook items that kids like such as mac and cheese, breakfast cereal, gluten-free items such as pasta, canned vegetables, rice, and canned soup and stew.

Other needed items include feminine hygiene products, baby formula, and diapers.

You can also help by making a monetary donation at kawarthafoodshare.com/donations.html. For every $1 donated, Kawartha Food Share can purchase up to $6 worth of food.

Porch Pirates for Good has held five porch food drives since the pandemic began, bringing in more than 120,000 pounds of food and over $12,000 in monetary donations for Kawartha Food Share.

All three school boards in the greater Kawarthas region — the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic (PVNCC) District School Board, Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, and Trillium Lakelands District School Board — have announced that all schools will be closed on Friday (November 4) if the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) follows through on its promise of a province-wide walkout.

CUPE, which represents around 55,000 Ontario education workers — including librarians, custodians, and early childhood educators — is in a legal strike position as of Thursday and, on Monday, promised its members would walk off the job on Friday despite the Ontario government’s tabling of legislation imposing a four-year contract and banning strikes.

“As we cannot safely operate schools without CUPE staff, all schools in the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington (PVNC) Catholic District School Board will be closed Friday, Nov. 4, 2022 to in-person learning and all students will transition to remote, asynchronous learning from home,” reads an email from Joan Carragher, director of education for the Catholic school board, sent to parents and guardians on Wednesday afternoon.

An update posted on the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board’s website on Wednesday also states its schools will be closed on Friday if the walkout proceeds.

“We appreciate that the potential of closing our schools is difficult news, and not a decision that we make lightly, but without CUPE education workers on-site, we could not ensure our schools would be safe for all students,” the update reads.

The Trillium Lakelands District School Board also posted a similar update on its website on Wednesday.

“CUPE members include secretaries, clerks, computer technicians, custodial and maintenance staff, and educational assistants. These individuals are vital to maintaining the safe operation of our buildings and various sites.”

For the PVNCC District and Kawartha Pine Ridge District school boards, schools will move to asynchronous online learning on Friday.

The Trillium Lakelands District School Board has reversed an earlier decision and decided not to proceed with asynchronous online learning on Friday, so that teachers have time to prepare for student learning next week in case the walkout continues. Students are being asked to work on previous assignments and to learn independently on Friday.

Education minister Stephen Lecce said on Wednesday there would be no further negotiations with CUPE unless the union cancels its planned walkout on Friday.

On Thursday, the Ontario government is expected to pass its controversial legislation imposing a contract and banning a strike, which also invokes the notwithstanding clause of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and nullfies the Ontario Human Rights Code.

“This is a dynamic situation, and it is possible that a central agreement between CUPE and the province could be reached prior to Friday,” Carragher states in her email. “We remain hopeful that an agreement can be reached, and if there are any positive developments that may avert Friday’s strike, we will message families directly.”

All three school boards will be reaching out to families on Thursday afternoon or evening to confirm school closures through email and their websites and social media platforms.