Wild Rock Outfitters staff members Bridget Moore (left) and Rachel Dean celebrating the outdoor retailer's winning holiday window display in the annual contest sponsored by the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA). Wild Rock claims a $1,000 prize as the first place winner. Statement House and Green Street came in second and third, winning $500 and $200 respectively. (Photo courtesy of Peterborough DBIA)
Wild Rock Outfitters has won the annual holiday window contest in downtown Peterborough.
The outdoor retail store at 169 Charlotte Street came out on top in an online vote, held from November 19 to December 6, where move than 2,400 votes were cast by local residents for their top three window displays.
As the first place winner, Wild Rock claims a $1,000 prize for its decorated window displaying different outdoor equipment and gear against a wintry background of water and trees.
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“This holiday season has been all about community, getting outdoors, and supporting each other,” says Tori Silvera, general manager of Wild Rock, in a media release. “Our staff brought their fabulous ideas and talents together to create a beautiful expression of just that, and we’re so happy they’ll be rewarded for their efforts.”
Second place and $500 went to vintage retailer Statement House at 378 Water Street, and third place and $200 went to electric bike and scooter retailer Green Street at 237 George Street
“It feels very festive downtown right now thanks to the creativity of our brilliant shop owners,” says Terry Guiel, executive director of the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), which sponsors the annual contest. “This year’s theme was Holiday Cheer and our businesses curated wonderfully cheery holiday window displays this season.”
Statement House at 378 Water Street won second place. (Photo courtesy of Peterborough DBIA)Green Street at 237 George Street won third place. (Photo courtesy of Peterborough DBIA)
JoEllen Brydon is the third of six Nogojiwanong-Peterborough artists who are each participating in a five-week residency in Trent Radio's innovative "Your Radio is Their Stage" project, where artists receive mentorship, equipment, training, and support to reimagine their art as a work for broadcast radio. (Photo: Karen Graham)
The art of creative storytelling is passed on as an heirloom in artist JoEllen Brydon’s family. When her grandparents emigrated from Northern Ireland in the 1920s, they brought along their folkloric traditions.
kawarthaNOW has published profiles of each of the participating artists in Trent Radio’s “Your Radio Is Their Stage”. You can also read about textile artist Melanie McCall, painter Jose Miguel Hernandez, artist Gillian Turnham, and community artist John Marris.
Growing up, she watched her Irish family integrate poems, songs, and gossip into their conversations. Brydon’s late mother, Jean Armstrong Brydon, made creative storytelling her career as a journalist.
Armstrong’s written voice was as lively and witty as their family’s colourful conversations.
Now an internationally recognized artist based in Cavan, Brydon also has the storytelling gene which she, like her mother before her, has translated into a career. Brydon’s artistic practice adapts the day-to-day stories of friends, neighbours, and strangers into vibrant oil and acrylic paintings.
During her Trent Radio artist residency, JoEllen Brydon is creating a multi-media installation capturing the life and work of her mother Jean Armstrong Brydon, a journalist who penned The Globe and Mail’s popular Elizabeth Thompson advice column for 12 years. (Photo courtesy of JoEllen Brydon)
Brydon also retells buried stories by designing and creating large-scale mixed-media installations. During her artist residency with Trent Radio’s “Your Radio is Their Stage” project, she is completing her third installation: a retelling of the stories left by her mother.
“My mother was the advice columnist for The Globe and Mail from 1966 to 1978,” Brydon says. “She worked under the pen name Elizabeth Thompson, and I’ve got all the columns, the articles, the letters, and the copy she typed.”
Through the Trent Radio residency, Brydon receives mentorship, equipment, training, and support to develop an audio component for the project. She is lifting a few of her mother’s Elizabeth Thompson columns off the page by translating the advice-seeking letters, along with her mother’s responses, into recorded voice-acting.
Brydon says finding a voice actor to capture her mother’s voice as Elizabeth Thompson was important. She landed on Leslie Ashton, who has a background in theatre, voice, and puppetry. Ashton knew Jean Armstrong Brydon personally,
“The train came by every day at 2:15. The house would give a similar shudder.” by JoEllen Brydon (acrylic on canvas, 48″ x 60″). Brydon’s paintings tell the day-to-day stories of people she meets as well as the tales of her ancestors rooted in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. (Photo courtesy of JoEllen Brydon)
“Mom’s friend’s daughter Leslie, who I grew up with and who also grew up with Mom, is the one I got to be Elizabeth,” says Brydon. “We’ve done some of the recordings, and she’s really nailing it. I didn’t need someone who sounded like Mom, but I wanted to get someone who felt like Mom.”
Brydon says her mother had an edge to her personality, which was evident in her Elizabeth Thompson columns.
“She was a very progressive writer and thinker,” Brydon explains. “She tackled social issues that people were starting to be willing to explore. And she tried to tackle trivial things. She was a great writer. She had the storytelling gift, and her writing was entertaining.”
In addition to the audio component, Brydon’s project will feature her mother’s typewriter and other writing tools. Visually, the project will see large-scale photographs of those who wrote the advice-seeking letters along with paintings made by Brydon that illustrate the stories within the columns.
Like her mother’s narrative voice, Brydon’s paintings are vibrant. She comes up with ideas for paintings by listening to people telling anecdotal stories.
An “Elizabeth Thompson Advises” column, written by JoEllen Brydon’s mother Jean Armstrong Brydon, answered a reader who asked what his father should do about a neighbour’s apple tree dropping fruit on his property. As Elizabeth Thompson, Armstrong Brydon’s writing was witty, sympathetic, and socially aware. She would often encourage her readers to go beyond the biases of the era. Leslie Ashton will voice Jean Armstrong Brydon in JoEllen Brydon’s upcoming Trent Radio broadcast. (Photo courtesy of JoEllen Brydon)
“If I hear a story, I often just write it down,” says Brydon. “I usually sit down to do some drawings, and at some point, (the vision for the painting) comes to me. And often, even after the painting is started, something else will come to me, and it’ll change.”
Brydon likes to paint anecdotal stories that feel familiar to a wide range of people. She also likes to deal with parts of daily life that may be fading into the past — like the mail, or the traditional telephone.
For example, her painting entitled “The train came by every day at 2:15. The house would give a familiar shudder” is based on a Peterborough story about a building that is now gone.
“There’s a building that was called The Old Banana Factory at Dublin and Aylmer,” notes Brydon. “Artists used to live in the building in an apartment upstairs. The train came about two feet from the window every day. Their daughter used to wave at the conductor, and he’d wave back.”
But since Brydon’s current project centres around her mother’s life, working on it has hit differently than her other projects.
She has been slowly working on the project since her mother passed away in 2019. When the opportunity to apply for the Trent Radio artist residency came along, everything fell into place for the project, since Brydon already knew she wanted to include an audio component in the project.
“I’m so lucky that they chose me to be one of the artists in this residency because it’s so perfect for this project,” Brydon notes. “It’s been an emotional process. I’ve been working on this for a couple of years. Sometimes I have to put it away, give it some time, and then go back to it.”
As part of her upcoming Trent Radio broadcast, JoEllen Brydon is bringing to life some of her late mother Jean Armstrong Brydon’s advice columns in audio and as visual art. Pictured is a painting illustrating the question a reader asked her mother about a neighbour’s apple tree dropping fruit on his father’s property. (Photo courtesy of JoEllen Brydon)
In the quest to retell her mother’s stories, Brydon uncovered buried ones she didn’t know existed. She recalls her mother asking everyone to send in letters for the Elizabeth Thompson column, since she always needed more material, and Brydon wrote a letter herself.
“I remember her always asking us to write, but I don’t remember doing it,” Brydon says. “I found a letter that I’m pretty sure I wrote and her answer. She signed it ‘Jenny’. And then I remembered that Jenny was my favourite name when I was a little girl.”
Re-discovering and reviving her mother’s stories makes this a unique and special project for Brydon. She’s keeping her mother’s story alive in all of her work, though, every time she uses the storytelling gift passed down by her mother.
To learn more about JoEllen Brydon’s folkloric artistic practice, visit her website at www.joellenbrydon.com. You can also follow Brydon on Facebook.
“Family Advisor is gone but her advice still rings in ears.” by JoEllen Brydon (acrylic on panel, 14″ x 14″). As part of her upcoming Trent Radio broadcast, JoEllen Brydon is bringing to life some of her late mother Jean Armstrong Brydon’s advice columns in audio and as visual art. (Photo courtesy of JoEllen Brydon)
The audio component of Brydon’s completed project is set to broadcast from 6 to 7:30 p.m on Sunday, December 12th on Trent Radio at 92.7 CFFF FM in Peterborough, 287 on Cogeco Cable, and online at www.trentradio.ca.
Trent Radio’s “Your Radio Is Their Stage” artist residency project runs until March 2022, with Brydon’s residency concluding on December 12.
Textile artist Melanie McCall was the first to complete her residency on October 17, followed by Jose Miguel Hernandez on November 14 and now JoEllen Brydon. The remaining three artist residencies will be with Justin Million (poetry), Gillian Turnham (Islamic art), and John Marris (community arts). The reimagined work of all six participating artists will also be broadcast next April.
“Your Radio Is Their Stage” is made possible by the Community Radio Fund of Canada, the only organization mandated to support campus and community radio stations in Canada financially.
This story was created in partnership with Trent Radio, a producer-oriented broadcast facility that started as a Trent University student club in 1968. Sponsored and designed by students from Trent University, Trent Radio incorporated as a registered charity in 1978. Trent Radio currently holds a Community Broadcast License, and is a resource that is shared with the Nogojiwanong-Peterborough community.
Carolyn Scatterty and Kim Miller are co-owners of Poho Boho in downtown Port Hope. Now open in its new location at 93 Walton Street, the eclectic shop celebrates bohemian-style clothing and furniture and work by local artisans, with a focus on sustainable fashion and design. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW)
Poho Boho, a unique shop celebrating bohemian-style clothing and furniture and local art, has officially reopened in its new location at 93 Walton Street in downtown Port Hope.
When co-owner Kim Miller first met business partner and friend Carolyn Scatterty, she was a big fan. Kim owned “a number of pieces” from Carolyn’s thrifted clothing and upcycled vintage textile line, On Second Thought Upcycling. At the time, Kim was booking vendors for local markets and invited Carolyn to showcase her work, knowing they were destined for bigger things.
“During the pandemic an opportunity presented itself,” explains Kim. “My friend owns a tattoo shop in downtown Port Hope, Nick’s Studio. She was pivoting to keep her shop alive. She decided to temporarily lease the storefront to help cover costs during lockdown. It provided me access to a downtown retail space while also helping a friend. I launched Poho Boho in the summer of 2020, a celebration of everything local and bohemian.”
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Kim’s goal for the shop was to provide a judgment-free place for women to “play” and try on unique clothing items. Poho Boho’s mission is to celebrate unconventional and timeless style, as well as a variety of local Northumberland artists.
“Carolyn was obviously the first person I reached out to,” says Kim. “Together we contacted people that we both knew, and we ran Poho Boho out of Nick’s Studio for about six months.”
Kim says that it didn’t take very long for Carolyn’s upcycled items to take off.
Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini presents Poho Boho co-owners Kim Miller and Carolyn Scatterty with a certificate of recognition in honour of the shop’s grand opening on November 26, 2021. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW)
“Her stuff was selling like hotcakes,” Kim recalls. “She had one rack to start and our customers, mostly boho babes, were buying it up faster than she could restock it.”
As a curator of boho thrift shop items and with an eye for reclaimed found object art, Kim and Carolyn share the same type of clientele. The duo realized that Poho Boho and On Second Thought were inseparable brands.
But when pandemic lockdown restrictions were lifted, Nick’s Studio reclaimed Kim’s pop-up space and Poho Boho had to temporarily close.
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“I had a small studio close by and I was hoping to move to a new space, but all I could find was retail space,” explains Carolyn. “So I called Kim and suggested that we open a storefront downtown.”
The shop’s new location, across the street from Nick’s Studio, proved to be perfect after a few eclectic design upgrades.
“Poho Boho became Carolyn’s atelier, her studio, the place where she does her magic,” Kim says. “We predominantly feature her stuff in the store, but also sell things from other local artists. It’s vintage, it’s boho, and it’s almost as if the original Poho Boho now runs in the front of On Second Thought Upcycling’s studio.”
Co-owner Carolyn Scatterty at work in her studio space at Poho Boho in downtown Port Hope. The shop predominantly feature her work but also sells work from other local makers. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW)
Carolyn adds that the space is much more than that — it’s a place where Kim creates an ambience that feels like home for customers.
“Many people visit and say they don’t want to leave. People enjoy the space that Kim has created, and we love that because we want people to feel welcome here. We have so much for them to see.”
Kim feels like customers experience a “moment of arrival” when they fully immerse themselves in the space.
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“Everything is repurposed or reimagined and when customers browse our racks, they see that every piece is unique,” Kim says. “It creates excitement and, even if they aren’t prepared to buy today, we want them to feel comfortable trying things on and playing dress up.”
“When people have fun and play it creates an intoxicating vibe because people are experiencing true joy,” she adds. “We get to share that vibe with our customers — it’s why we do this.”
Every piece at Poho Boho is one of a kind, whether it’s Carolyn’s creations, local art, or vintage and thrift items that have been curated and consigned to fit the “boho babe aesthetic”.
Poho Boho is located at at 93 Walton Street in downtown Peterborough, across the street from its previous location at Nick’s Studio. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW)
“The local artisans represented in our shop are all makers of handmade things here in Northumberland County,” says Kim. “The group is comprised of many well-established local brands including Fluke Craft, Kiki and Co, as well as other brands run by female entrepreneurs. We have close to a dozen artisans in the shop, and we’ve also had pop-ups too.”
“Our intention is to have a place where women can be safe without judgment to celebrate their individual style. The definition of bohemian is unconventional — there are no rules. We want you to wear what you like, what makes you feel good, we want you to rock it, that’s our philosophy.”
Poho Boho also takes donations of pre-loved textiles and will consign special items that any self-declared boho fan would gravitate towards. As Carolyn’s services are in high demand, she has had to be very selective about what can be upcycled.
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“Because I’m committed to sustainability, I get a little stressed when I have too much in my workspace,” she explains. “I feel like I have to use everything because that’s what I’m here for. But I’m also just one person and unique pieces take time to create.”
“When I realized the true environmental impact of fast fashion, I vowed to never buy new clothing again. That was four years ago and that’s how I got started. Clothing that ends up in a landfill will rot over time and create just as much methane as anything else does so it’s a carbon footprint issue. We collect things before they ever get there.”
“And if someone buys an item from me, that they later don’t want anymore, I have a buyback program, I’ll buy it back and reinvent it again. Newer fabrics don’t hold a candle to the old stuff. You can tell when you work with it that there are many lives left, and we owe it to the original textile creator to honour that.”
Poho Boho co-owner Carolyn Scatterty is committed to sustainability, specializing in thrifted clothing and upcycled vintage textiles. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW)
Fortunately, Carolyn has also found a way to upcycle her offcuts by donating them to a rugmaker who will weave them into boho rugs the shop hopes to sell.
“For me it’s a real stress reliever to know that my offcuts won’t end up in a landfill,” adds Carolyn. “I try to use everything that I can but some of the small pieces can be very time consuming to upcycle. Now someone else can create wonderful things with them.”
Kim has designed an “inspiration wall” where Carolyn hangs unique textiles. Customers find things on this wall that spark custom design ideas that have become very popular.
Every piece at Poho Boho in Port Hope is one of a kind, whether it’s co-owner Carolyn Scatterty’s creations, local art, or vintage and thrift items that have been curated and consigned to fit the “boho babe aesthetic”. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW)
“People will tell us that they have something special in a hope chest at home, family heirlooms, and clothing that reminds them of people they love,” Kim explains. “Carolyn will do a custom piece for them, so that they can rejoice in family memories and give new life to items that might not see the light of day otherwise.”
Carolyn says the message of sustainability is getting stronger and that the repurposing energy is contagious.
“Customers know they are in a space where upcycling is not just what we do, it’s what we encourage others to do,” she says. “We’re at the forefront and that’s very exciting.”
Poho Boho in Port Hope also features products from local makers, like this jewellery from Vintage Virgo in Northumberland County. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW)
Kim also brings her unique upcycling talents to Poho Boho. What Carolyn does with textiles, Kim does with found objects that would otherwise end up in the trash.
“I love the mashup of industrial design and boho art,” says Kim. “I will search for found objects like stair risers and salvaged foundry moulds and reimagine them — reclaiming them and sparing them from landfills. It makes this space creative and interesting and adds a storied feel to it.”
Carolyn adds that Kim’s eye for thrift items adds to the nostalgia. Visitors reminisce about things they had growing up, triggering good memories. Reimagined items still feel fresh and inspire playfulness, wonder, and imagination.
Poho Boho co-owners Kim Miller and Carolyn Scatterty pose with a reclaimed stair riser transformed into art. Kim searches for found objects she can reclaim and reimagines them, often mashing up industrial design and boho art. (Photo: April Potter / kawarthaNOW)
One of the things that Kim and Carolyn both love about Poho Boho is its sense of community.
“We’ll have a group of girls in here, someone will try something on, and suddenly everyone is commenting on how great it looks,” says Kim. “For us, feeling good in what you wear is all that matters, but to be encouraged by women you don’t know — women supporting other women — is really cool, and we get to witness that all of the time.”
Poho Boho is located at 93 Walton Street in downtown Port Hope. You can also find them on Facebook and Instagram.
Representatives of Fourcast and the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough gathered on December 7, 2021 at the future site of the new Peterborough Opioid Response Hub at 220 Simcoe Street to announce the $160,000 goal of the Light The Way To $160K fundraising campaign has been attained. Fourcast vice chair Ron Black, Mobile Supportive Overdose Resource Team program manager Kerri Kightley, and Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough executive director Jennifer Debues provided a tour of the renovated space and fielded media questions. (Photo: Paul Rellinger / kawarthaNOW)
Pending final building inspection approval, Peterborough’s Opioid Response Hub will open in early January 2022 at the location of the former Greyhound bus terminal at Simcoe and Aylmer streets in the downtown.
On Tuesday (December 7), representatives of Fourcast (Four Counties Addiction Services Team) and the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough gathered to announce the $160,000 goal of the Light The Way To 160K campaign has been attained. With that money in hand, renovations to the building are complete, meaning a variety of wrap-around addiction-related services and supports will soon be offered at the site.
“In just a few months, we received more than 100 donations from individuals, half a dozen from local businesses, a few from churches and professional associations, and a grant from the City of Peterborough, plus contributions from four endowed funds held at the Community Foundation,” said foundation executive director Jennifer Debues.
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“Along with the money, many of the donations came with messages of support,” Debues said. “People shared that this initiative is very close to their hearts. Gifts were often made in memory of loved ones.”
Debues added that donations to the campaign are still most welcome and can be made until early January by visiting www.cfgp.ca/LightTheWay or by mailed cheque to the CFGP, 261 George Street North, Peterborough K9J 3G9. Cheques should be made out to Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough with CTS Fund on the memo line.
Fourcast is partnering with PARN – Your Community AIDS Resource Network, Peterborough 360 Degree Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic, the Mobile Support Overdose Resource Team (MSORT), Peterborough Drug Strategy and Peterborough County-City Paramedics for the hub’s day-to-day operation and provision of walk-in access to sterile drug use equipment, addiction treatment, mental health supports and wound care.
Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough executive director Jennifer Debues handed over a cheque to Fourcast vice-chair Ron Black, signifying that the $160,000 goal of the Light The Way To 160K has been reached, much to the benefit of Peterborough’s Opioid Response Hub expected to open early in 2022. (Photo: Paul Rellinger / kawarthaNOW)
In addition, pending provincial approval, the hub will be home to a Consumption and Treatment Site (CTS). The application to operate a CTS has been in the province’s hands for some time now. According to MSORT program manager Kerry Kightley, that’s far from an ideal situation.
“It’s very frustrating to be waiting (for CTS approval) because there are people dying,” she said.
“We hear that we are one of two applications that are moving forward. We’re hoping our local MPP can put some pressure on the provincial government to see that application move forward. We’re hoping demonstrations of support from our community also puts some pressure on the provincial government saying that this is needed and wanted.”
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While that approval is pending, Kightley said the campaign result has “given us a little bit of hope, a little bit of reassurance, that Peterborough, as a community, is quite supportive” of not only the services the hub will provide but also those of a CTS.
“This isn’t just about using substances, this is about connecting people to the supports that they need,” Kightley said. “When we walk through the door of the hospital, we all feel uncomfortable with ‘Where do I go? Who do I connect with?'”
“Our team will be able to navigate the health system, and social services system supports, for folks who are affected by the drug poisoning crisis and help link them to those services and help them retain those services.”
Extensive renovations to the former Greyhound Bus Terminal at 220 Simcoe Street (at Aylmer Street) are very close to complete, clearing the way for Peterborough’s Opioid Response Hub to open at that location in early 2022. (Photo: Paul Rellinger / kawarthaNOW)
Also on hand during the announcement was Evan Brockest, a health promoter with Peterborough Public Health who deals specifically with substance abuse and addiction challenges.
“We’re constantly working away at addressing the stigma that distorts people’s perspective of why people experience challenges around substance abuse and addiction,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do beyond this site. That said, this (Opioid Response Hub) is so critical in terms of a response.”
“What we’re seeing is a connecting of the dots between a multifaceted integrated system of support and care that’s going to be able to operate on a just-in-time basis. As soon as someone walks through that door, whether they’re looking for harm reduction supplies or for a safe place to use drugs, that will be here in one place.”
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“The drug poisoning crisis is everyone’s issue,” Brockest added. “If we were to walk around the room here, each one of us has some kind of connection to what’s happening in our community and across the country. That really underscores why we need everyone contributing to the solution. What we’re seeing here is a clear indication that our community is willing to step up to save lives.”
A survey conducted by the Peterborough Drug Strategy in November 2019 bears that out, showing 74 per cent of more than 1,600 people surveyed agree a CTS site will benefit the community. Survey participants ranked the reduction of injuries and deaths from drug overdose and poisonings, the prevention of blood-borne infections, and fewer publicly discarded needles and drug litter as key benefits of providing a CTS.
A separate survey of injection drug users showed 91 per cent would access a CTS site in downtown Peterborough if it were available.
Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, provided an update on the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario at a media conference in Toronto on December 7, 2021. (kawarthaNOW screenshot of CPAC video)
With COVID-19 cases continuing to increase in Ontario and with the release of “disconcerting” modelling data from the province’s science advisory table, the Ontario government announced on Tuesday (December 7) it is extending its pause on the lifting of capacity limits in remaining higher-risk settings where proof of vaccination is required.
The announcement comes more than a week before the pause was set to expire. Originally, capacity limits on food or drink establishments with dance facilities (such as night clubs and wedding receptions in meeting/event spaces where there is dancing), strip clubs, and sex clubs and bathhouses were going to be lifted on November 15. On November 10, the government announced a pause until December 15 because of rising cases.
At a media conference in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said the pause would also allow the government to evaluate the impact of the omicron variant which is now circulating in Ontario.
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“We must remain cautious in the face of the virus, and this pause will allow us to continue monitoring trends in public health and health care indicators while also learning more about the omicron variant,” Dr. Moore said.
The science table projects that, not taking into account any impact from omicron, ICU occupancy will likely grow to between 250 and 400 beds in January, putting hospitals under strain again. Along with continuing to follow public health measures to reduce transmission, the science table said Ontario needs to increase vaccinations, particularly among five to 11 year olds.
Data from Ontario’s science advisory table shows that vaccination continues to be highly effective, particularly in preventing ICU admissions. (Graphic: Ontario Science Advisory Table)
“There’s no doubt that the months ahead will require continued vigilance,” Dr. Moore said. “The science table’s modelling released today has shown us that cases continue to rise even without the omicron variant factored in. And while hospitalization and ICU admissions are currently stable, they too will grow. While we expected to see increases as we enter the winter months, the emergence of omicron serves as a stark reminder of just how quickly things can change, and we must always keep our guard up.”
Dr. Moore added we still don’t know much about the transmissiblility and severity of omicron and its impact on vaccine effectiveness.
“What we do know is that the basic public health measures are effective against COVID-19 and the delta variant, and will also be effective against omicron,” he said. “As we enter the holiday season, I’m encouraging all Ontarians to avoid large crowds, practise physical distancing, wear your mask and wear it properly, wash your hands frequently, stay home when you’re sick, and get vaccinated.”
Dr. Moore said he is concerned about the coming months and the potential impact on Ontario’s health care system, and urged anyone who is not yet vaccinated to do so.
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“The modelling is disconcerting,” he said. “We’re seeing a continued rise in cases across Ontario and it’s impact on the healthcare system. To me, as a public health physician, all of the cases for the most part are preventable. It saddens me deeply to see the vast majority of individuals in our intensive care units — they’re unvaccinated. They never took advantage of the means to protect themselves. We know these vaccines are safe, they’re effective, they will decrease the severity of infections in Ontarians. It’s absolutely preventable what is happening in our acute care sector.”
“If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, please reconsider. They are highly beneficial to you as an individual, to your family, to the community. They will decrease the impact on our acute care sector.”
A graphic from Ontario’s science advisory table uses Swiss cheese as a metaphor to show the relative effectiveness of current public health measures at preventing infection, with vaccination the most effective. (Graphic: Ontario Science Advisory Table)
Dr. Moore said it is possible that the proof of vaccination requirement, originally projected to be lifted on January 17, may remain in place.
“A basic means of protecting individuals is stopping the mixing of unvaccinated and vaccinated, and if our cases continue through and after the holidays, we will make recommendation of government to continue the (vaccine) certification process in play,” he said.
He urged Ontarians who have decided against getting vaccinated to reconsider their decision.
“You have a 23 times higher risk of being admitted to the intensive care unit if you are not vaccinated. You have a 13 times higher risk of being admitted to hospital if you are not vaccinated. And you have a five times higher risk of getting the illness itself — symptomatic COVID-19 — if you are not vaccinated.”
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“Those numbers alone should cause alarm, should raise awareness, and should cause individuals to pause and why they haven’t taken the benefit of these safe and effective vaccines to protect themselves and their family,” Dr. Moore added. “The risk is going up — now’s the time to reconsider and to protect yourself and, frankly, all Ontarians and our health system.”
He noted that, unlike the previous wave of the pandemic, case increases and the impact on the health care system is “differential” across the province, with some health units including Windsor-Essex, Algoma, Sudbury, and Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington being affected more than cities like Toronto.
“This is a different game, now that there’s such a different rate and impact on the acute care sector across Ontario,” he said. “We’re really having to try to put fires out where they come up, work very closely with those communities to limit the spread, and we’ll continue to do that diligent and hard work with our sister health units.”
A group of Peterborough-area professional women known as the Mombassadors are partnering with Greater Peterborough Health Services Foundation (GPHSF), Your Family Health Team Foundation to raise $100,000 for youth mental health services.
Their first fundraising event is an online Christmas auction that opens on Wednesday (December 8) and runs until Tuesday, December 14th. The auction features toy bundles, gift cards and gift baskets, art pieces, lifestyle products, and more donated by local businesses (including kawarthaNOW) and Mombassadors supporters.
Funds raised through the auction will support mental health programming provided by Peterborough Youth Services, a non-profit social service agency that has been providing counselling and support to youth and their families locally for more than 40 years. GPHSF and the Mombassadors’ fundraising goal of $100,000 would decrease wait times and increase capacity for the agency’s mental health programming.
“GPHSF has a long history of supporting mental health programming in the community,” says Erin Marshall, a founding member of the Mombassadors, in a media release. “Together we are working to increase capacity and decrease wait times for children accessing mental health programming at Peterborough Youth Services. We know this pandemic has hit many children very hard and we want to ensure they have timely access to mental health programming and counselling.”
The Mombassadors, whose children were all born at Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC), first formed in 2018 to raise funds so the hospital could purchase a new electronic fetal monitors. In subsequent years, the group continued to raise funds for the PRHC Foundation and have now expanded their fundraising efforts by partnering with the
The Peterborough Mombassadors have partnered with GPHSF, Your Family Health Team Foundation to raise $100,000 for mental health programming provided by Peterborough Youth Services. Pictured in 2018 are some of the members of the group, which originally formed to raise funds for the Peterborough Regional Health Centre (PRHC) as all of the members’ babies were born at the hospital. (Photo courtesy of PRHC Foundation)
“The Mombassadors are a powerhouse of passionate women dedicated to improving life for residents of our community and it is an honour to be their charitable partner,” says Laura Kennedy, executive director of GPHSF, Your Family Health Team Foundation. “Youth mental health programming has been an area we have been funding for a number of years and we are excited to be setting a goal of $100,000 to raise with the Mombassadors.”
GPHSF, Your Family Health Team Foundation works to enable the Peterborough community to improve and increase their control over health by funding initiatives that broaden equity and access to healthcare. As a non-profit foundation, their vision is to fund and support programs that positively impact the social determinants of health.
To meet their ambitious fundraising goal of $100,000, the Mombassadors and GPSHF are planning additional activities for the coming months.
Peterborough city council has voted to designate the entirety of Jackson Park, along with the adjacent Hamilton Park, as a cultural heritage landscape under the Ontario Heritage Act. (Photo: Pat Trudeau)
Peterborough city council has endorsed designating Jackson Park as a “cultural heritage landscape” under the Ontario Heritage Act — eight years after the city had proposed building a four-lane bridge through the park.
Councillors voted unanimously to support the designation at a virtual general committee meeting on Monday night (December 6). The designation would include both Jackson Park at 610 Parkhill Road and the adjacent Hamilton Park at 575 Bonaccord Street.
“A walk through Jackson Park on a stressful day is definitely a holiday,” said Councillor Stephen Wright, with Councillor Kemi Akapo referring to it as Peterborough’s “own Central Park.”
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In June 2019, city council requested city staff provide a report on designating the park as a cultural heritage landscape. In September 2019, the Peterborough Architectural Conservation Advisory
Committee (PACAC) produced a 59-page report recommending that both Jackson Park and Hamilton Park be designated.
“The two parks are physically connected by the trails which run under the Parkhill Road bridge and by Jackson Creek which courses through both parcels,” the PACAC report reads. “Although Hamilton Park was developed later than Jackson Park and as a different kind of park, it is integrated into the larger landscape through natural and built features, both historically and in its present usage where it now acts as a southern gateway to Jackson Park. The two parks effectively now function as a single green space and can be considered as connected parts of one unified landscape.”
Before the designation under the Ontario Heritage Act can be codified in a municipal by-law, council’s intention to designate the park must be advertised and a notice of intention must be served to the owners of the properties — which, along with the City of Peterborough, include Otonabee Region Conservation Authority and private landowners.
The boundaries of the proposed cultural heritage landscape of Jackson Park and Hamilton Park. (Map: City of Peterborough)
The pagoda bridge within Jackson Park was already designated as a heritage structure under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1987.
The staff report presented to council at the December 6th general committee meeting describes the heritage significance of Jackson Park:
“Jackson Park has been in continuous use as a park since its creation at the end of the 19th century and is a landmark landscape with considerable significance to the local community,” the report states. “The park is an excellent, representative example of naturalistic urban park design of the late 19th century, designed to allow visitors to experience nature within the context of an urban, industrial setting.”
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“Designed by John Belcher, the noted 19th-century Peterborough architect [who designed Market Hall], the park displays a high degree of craftsmanship in its overall planning and layout, demonstrating a well-developed understanding of the design elements of the 19th-century naturalistic urban park,” the report continues.
“Jackson Park has direct associations with several themes, people, organizations and activities which are important to the history of the community including the development of park lands in Peterborough, recreational activities of Peterborough residents, the role of parks and green spaces as part of community improvement, and the charitable and social goals of Charlotte Nicholls.”
“Through its physical topography and development as parkland, Jackson Park was an important part of defining the late 19th-century layout and settlement patterns of the surrounding roads and neighbourhoods. The park is physically and historically linked to the larger landscape of the oldest sections of the city as part of the Jackson Creek watercourse which flows from the park and through downtown Peterborough where it is a defining feature of the landscape.”
An early postcard showing the original footbridge across Jackson Creek in Jackson Park. (Photo: Hugh Jones Postcard Collection 227 F546 Series 4 via PACAC report)The pagoda bridge within Jackson Park was already designated as a heritage structure under the act in 1987. (Photo: PACAC report)
“It is also historically linked to its immediate surroundings as part of the original Dixon property and to Dixon House, the designated homestead of William Dixon one of the first ‘Colony Settlers’ of 1818,” the report adds.
The report also describes why Hamilton Park is being included in the designation:
“Hamilton Park was created in 1944 on land donated by former Mayor James Hamilton,” the report states. “The park was not intended as a naturalistic park although wooded areas remained; rather,
its creation recognized the creek’s use as a popular swimming destination. The creek bed was widened, its banks hardened, and a weir installed to create a large swimming area.”
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“The work created a contiguous park space and formally extended the recreation facilities of Jackson Park south of Parkhill Road,” the report continues. “Its inclusion in the designation recognizes the evolution of Jackson Park as a large tract of programmed park land within which natural features are altered to create recreational amenities.”
Council’s decision to proceed with the heritage decision comes eight years after the City of Peterborough’s doomed Parkway Corridor project, which proposed a four-lane bridge that would span Jackson Park.
The proposal to build a multi-lane bridge over the green space, which was met with stiff opposition from local environmental groups, was killed after the Ontario Minister of Environment and Climate Change required the city to complete a full environmental assessment, which former Peterborough mayor Daryl Bennett called “a sad day for progress in the city” at the time.
In 2013, the City of Peterborough proposed building a four-lane bridge through Jackson Park as part of the Parkway Corridor project, which was abandoned after the Ontario government required an environmental assessment. (Graphic: AECOM)
Environment Canada has issued a snow squall warning for the City of Kawartha Lakes for Tuesday (December 7).
Strong and gusty west to northwest winds in the wake of a sharp cold front are ushering in fresh Arctic air, resulting in snow squalls across the region.
Heavy snow and blowing snow are expected, with snowfall accumulations exceeding 15 cm in 12 hours possible.
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The snow squalls will weaken on Tuesday afternoon.
Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Travel may also be hazardous due to very low visibility in bursts of heavy snow and blowing snow.
All school vehicles to schools in the City of Kawartha Lakes for Trillium Lakelands District School Board have been cancelled for Tuesday.
Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions. If visibility is reduced while driving, turn on your lights and maintain a safe following distance. Road closures are possible.
The perforated steel plates located on the outer edge of both traffic lanes on Warsaw Road swing bridge on Parkill Road in Peterborough, intended to provide a smooth and safe ride over the bridge for cyclists, are being removed until the spring due to elevanted notice levels when vehicles travel over the bridge. (Photo: Bruce Head / kawarthaNOW)
Parks Canada has announced the Warsaw Road swing bridge on Parkhill Road in Peterborough will be reduced to a single lane of traffic between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday (December 10 and 11),
The lane reduction is necessary to allow for the temporary removal of perforated steel plates for cyclists, located on the outer edge of both traffic lanes on the main bridge deck.
Part of the work to replace the bridge between October 2020 and August 2021 included the installation of the steel plates to provide a smooth and safe ride over the bridge for cyclists.
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However, following the reopening of the bridge, it was discovered that noise levels on the bridge were elevated as a result of the plates vibrating on top of the bridge grating when vehicles travel over them.
The plates will be removed and will be replaced in the spring with new plates that will allow for installation of fasteners to reduce noise levels. Noise from the bridge will not be fully eliminated but rather reduced to levels similar to what existed prior to construction.
Parks Canada is advising cyclists to exercise caution when crossing the bridge until the new plates are installed.
During the plate removal, traffic control will be in place.
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