Kids in the Kawartha Lakes can get a healthy lunch for free this summer thanks to a program offered by Kawartha Lakes Food Source, The Salvation Army Lindsay, Kawartha Lakes Food Coalition, and the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit.

The Summer Outreach Lunch Program, which has prepared and distributed hundreds of bagged lunches to elementary-school aged children in the Kawartha Lakes since 2018, will begin early this year on June 16 and run until August 20.

Lunches will be distributed every Wednesday and Friday from 11 a.m. to noon at King Albert Public School (49 Glenelg St., Lindsay) and from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. at Queen Victoria Public School (11 John St., Lindsay).

The free lunches — consisting of a sandwich or wrap, fruits and vegetables, cheese or yogurt, and a healthy baked treat — are available for any elementary-school aged child in the City of Kawartha Lakes. No registration is required. Children or guardians can drop by either school to pick up a bagged lunch, no questions asked.

COVID safety protocols, including physical distancing, will be followed at each school. If a child is sick, someone should pick up a lunch on their behalf.

Last year, the program distributed 520 lunches, including 328 distributed to children with the remainder distributed to A Place Called Home, a 19-bed shelter for adults, couples, and families.

For more information, or to donate to the Summer Outreach Lunch Program, call Kawartha Lakes Food Source at 705-324-0707 or The Salvation Army Lindsay at 705-878-5331 ext. 2.

With one exception, all conservation authorities responsible for watersheds in the greater Kawarthas region have now declared a “Level 1” low water condition due largely to a lack of rainfall during May.

Declared when a watershed receives only 80 per cent or less of the normal amount of precipitation over a three-month period, a Level 1 low water condition is the lowest of three levels and an early indicator of potential water supply problems to come.

Lower Trent Conservation declared a Level 1 condition last Wednesday (June 2), with Kawartha Conservation following suit the following Monday and Otonabee Conversation and Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority declaring a Level 1 condition on Thursday (June 10).

Crowe Valley Conservation, whose watershed includes northern Peterborough County and portions of Haliburton County and northern Hastings County, has not yet declared a Level 1 condition.

During a Level 1 low water condition, everyone is asked to voluntarily reduce their non-essential water use by 10 per cent. This includes municipalities, aggregate operations, golf courses, water bottlers, farm irrigation, as well as individual residents.

Tips for individual residents to reduce water usage include fixing leaky faucets and watering gardens sparingly, and avoiding washing cars in driveways and watering lawns.

Peterborough’s Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities are coming together to host a virtual vigil on Friday (June 11) in honour of the Afzaal family of London, Ontario.

Four members of three generations of the family died Sunday evening while they were out for a walk when a 20-year-old London man rammed his pickup truck into them: 46-year-old Salman Afzaal, his 44-year-old wife Madiha Salman, their 15-year-old daughter Yumna Afzaal, and Salman’s 74-year-old mother Talat Afzaal. The couple’s nine-year-old son Fayez survive the attack but remains in hospital.

London police have confirmed the driver, who they arrested shortly after the attack, intentionally targeted the family because they were Muslim. Police have charged the driver with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder and are also considering terrorism charges.

Peterborough’s Abraham Festival, a local multifaith organization, is inviting everyone in the Kawarthas to join the virtual vigil on the Zoom video-conferencing platform at 2 p.m. on Friday “to remember together in condolence, comfort, and healing”, according to a media release.

“Jewish, Christian, and Muslim teachings all confirm that what affects one affects us all,” says Abraham Festival committee chair Helen McCarthy. “When we come together, we become the change that we want to create.”

Those interested in joining the vigil can register via Google Docs at forms.gle/HuYq6cqGB3Z4qVeB6. Registration is open until noon on Friday, when a Zoom link will be sent to all registrants.

Those attending the vigil are invited to place a flower near their screens in honour of the Afzaal family.

A funeral for the family takes place in London on Saturday, with an outside service in the afternoon at the London Islamic Centre that will be livestreamed.

This June, perhaps more than ever, we need allies against racism. June is recognized as Indigenous History Month in Canada. June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day. These occasions celebrate the distinct histories and cultures of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit people.

We are also marking the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd and the police-involved death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet.

Recent news reminds us of the traumatic injustices Black people, Indigenous people, and people of colour (BIPOC) face worldwide. Heavy on my mind are the anniversary of the Nakba in Palestine, confirmation of the horrors of the Canadian Indian residential school system in Kamloops, and ongoing old-growth logging on unceded Indigenous land on Vancouver Island.

These injustices and horrors can feel overwhelming. I invite you to further your learning journey by beginning to find your place in support of environmental justice.

Environmental justice is closely connected to the fight for justice for BIPOC people. However, mainstream environmentalism often disregards the unique positions of BIPOC people.

“The environmental movement has historically, and often deliberately, excluded BIPOC voices, knowledge, and experiences,” explains Patricia Wilson, founder of the Diverse Nature Collective, a BIPOC-led organization dedicated to creating safe spaces for conservation-minded folks.

Many of the early foundations for the environmental movement are intimately connected to white male leaders and their pseudo-scientific ideologies of white supremacy. These racist voices have prolonged echoes, even today.

“Conservation organizations, environmental groups, and nonprofits severely lack representation from individuals who identify as BIPOC,” observes Wilson. “Until all voices are heard and included, we will not be able to properly protect and conserve the natural world.”

In addition to often being excluded from environmentalism, BIPOC folks are also more likely to experience environmental racism. Environmental racism describes the systems that reserve environmental privileges and exploitation for predominantly white communities while pushing environmental contamination and damaging consequences into predominantly BIPOC communities.

Environmental racism includes white supremacy and the biased action or inaction of governments and other organizations that privilege white communities over BIPOC communities.

There are many examples of environmental racism. Consider Africville in Nova Scotia, where neighbourhoods populated by Black people were chosen as dumping grounds for hazardous waste. Consider pipelines built on unceded Indigenous land. Consider the many First Nations reserves affected by boil-water advisories or permanently tainted water sources.

Environmental racism negatively impacts social, economic, and physical well-being. Environmental racism also breaks our connection to the land we live and depend on.

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BIPOC people and allies fight environmental racism through environmental justice movements. Environmental justice is considered “intersectional” because it combines both social justice and environmentalism. In other words, environmental justice considers both the damage done to our environment and also the ways that damage tends to impact racialized groups more than non-racialized groups.

Rebuilding that broken relationship to place and nature is an important part of the environmental justice movement.

There are several local and global organizations working to help Indigenous, Black, and other people of colour rebuild their relationship with the land.

The TRACKS Program, for example, stands for Trent Aboriginal Cultural Knowledge and Science. TRACKS is hosted at Trent University, in a funding partnership with the Kawartha World Issues Centre and the First Peoples House of Learning. TRACKS offers an Oshkwazin Indigenous Youth Leadership program for Indigenous high-school-aged youth.

“In my work with Oshkwazin, I create more inclusive and fun on-the-land programming for youth coming from all walks of life,” explains Jaida Ponce, Oshkwazin Summer Youth Supervisor. “We create connections to Indigenous knowledge and western sciences programs.”

“Everyone is on a learning journey. Knowing about the place you come from while creating and understanding the place you’re currently living helps create a healthy relationship to place. At TRACKS, I’ve been able to help youth start their journey to creating those relationships with place.”

Nurturing a relationship to place is important for both Indigenous people and for settlers and newcomers in Canada.

On-the-land programming that centres Indigenous perspectives and creates safe, anti-racist spaces for connecting with the land is key to this learning journey.

Creating safe spaces for BIPOC folks to feel comfortable on the land and within the environmental sector was also Patricia Wilson’s goal when she founded the Diverse Nature Collective.

“The Diverse Nature Collective was born out of the idea that diverse and racialized voices need to be heard and supported within the environmental sector in order for us to create meaningful change and protection of our natural assets,” explains Wilson. “Our aim is to provide opportunities for BIPOC folks to learn, explore the outdoor world, and build community.”

Environmental justice can be personal and professional, individual and collective.

“For me, environmental justice means creating safe learning spaces for everyone to grow in their own gifts and create relationships with the land,” says Ponce.

“Advocating and making space for diverse voices is arguably the most important thing we can do in the environmental justice movement,” Wilson adds.

This month, and every month, I encourage you to actively seek out more resources and voices like these. Listen to those voices: whether you identify as BIPOC or not, you are being invited to develop your own place in support of environmental justice.

Here are some useful resources:

• To learn more about the Oshkwazin program, head to tracksprogram.ca/about-tracks-oshkwazin.
• To learn more about Diverse Nature Collective, check out diversenaturecollective.com.
• The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has an education page with resources for youth and adults at nctr.ca/education/.
• The Woodland Cultural Centre (reclaimed by Six Nations of the Grand River, formerly the Mohawk Institute Residential School) offers virtual tours by donation at woodlandculturalcentre.ca/mohawk-institute-residential-school-virtual-tour-now-available-online/
• The Legacies of Hope website at legacyofhope.ca/wherearethechildren/stories/ offers videos of residential school survivor sharing their stories, and many other resources.

A note from author Sara Crouthers: This article was written before the June 6 racist attack in London, Ontario. I am heartbroken to hear this news. Everyone at GreenUP offers our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of those who were killed and injured in this premeditated act of Islamophobia and terror.

Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.

With Ontario set to begin step one of its reopening plan on Friday, the province is reporting 411 new cases today — the second straight day of increases under 500 and the lowest daily increase since September 20 when 425 cases were reported.

For the first time since the third wave began, no health units are reporting triple-digit increases and almost two-thirds of Ontario’s 34 health units are reporting 5 or fewer cases for the second day in a row. The seven-day average of daily cases has decreased to 657 and the proportion of active cases has declined for the 51st straight day.

Hospitalizations and ICU patients have dropped, although these has been a small increase in patients on ventilators. Ontario is reporting 33 deaths, including 2 new deaths in long-term care homes for the third day in a row, but 11 of these deaths occurred in April and May and are being reported now.

With almost 10.5 million vaccine doses administered, including a record number of doses administered yesterday, over 70% of Ontario’s total population has received at least a single dose. Almost 9% of the population is now fully vaccinated, with a record number of second doses administered yesterday.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 7 new cases (including 5 in Peterborough, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward) and an additional 14 cases resolved. The net number of active cases in the region has decreased by 5 to 71. Active cases have decreased in Kawartha Lakes and Northumberland and remain the same in Peterborough and Haliburton. With Hastings Prince Edward reporting its first new case since the end of May, it now has 1 active case again.

Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto (97) and Peel (72), with smaller increases in Waterloo (35), York (26), Hamilton (25), Porcupine (21), Middlesex-London (21), Niagara (20), Durham (18), Windsor-Essex (16), Simcoe Muskoka (13), Halton (10), and Lambton (6).

The remaining 21 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 7 health units reporting only 1 case and 6 health units reporting no new cases at all.

Of today’s new cases, 61% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (150) among people ages 20-39, followed by 113 cases among people ages 40-59 and 102 cases among people 19 and under.

With 932 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% to at 97.1% — the 51st straight day the percentage of resolved cases has increased. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased by 0.7% to 2.0%, meaning that 20 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on June 8.

Ontario is reporting 33 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 2 new deaths in long-term care homes for the third day in a row. This number includes 11 deaths that occurred in April and May that are now being recorded as part of a data review and cleaning initiative. Excluding these deaths, 22 deaths were reported yesterday and the seven-day average of daily deaths has increased by 1 to 18.

Hospitalizations have decreased by 50 from yesterday to 571, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs decreasing by 15 to 466 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 9 to 314.

A total of 30,456 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 975 to 15,135.

A total of 10,445,119 doses of vaccine have now been administered, a record increase of 177,506 from yesterday, and 1,282,676 people have been fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, a record increase of 108,346 from yesterday.

The number of fully vaccinated people represents 8.71% of Ontario’s population, an increase of 0.74% from yesterday, with fully and partially vaccinated people representing 70.90% of the total population, an increase of 1.20% from yesterday. An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 7 new cases to report, including 5 in Peterborough, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward — the first new case there since the end of May, which the health unit says is related to travel. There are no new cases in Northumberland or Haliburton.

There are 6 new regional cases of variants of concern, including 3 in Northumberland, 2 in Peterborough, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes.

There are 2 new COVID-related hospitalizations in Peterborough.

An additional 14 cases have been resolved, including 6 in Peterborough, 6 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Northumberland

There are currently 71 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 5 since yesterday, including 31 in Kawartha Lakes, 28 in Peterborough, 9 in Northumberland, 2 in Haliburton, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward (in Quinte West).

Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 1,535 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (1,486 resolved with 21 deaths), 1,059 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (984 resolved with 57 deaths), 931 in Northumberland County (905 resolved with 17 deaths), 121 in Haliburton County (118 resolved with 1 death), and 1,121 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (1,109 resolved with 11 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Kawartha Lakes on June 5.

The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 4 p.m. the previous day, as well as from systems in Toronto, Ottawa, and Middlesex-London at 2 p.m. the previous day. Data from local health units is more current and is usually reflected in the provincial data the following day. There may be discrepancies between the Ontario data reported today (which is from yesterday) and the local health unit data reported today (which is from today).

Peterborough Public Health

Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.

The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 1,535 (increase of 6)*
Total variants of concern cases: 711 (increase of 2)
Active cases: 28 (no change)
Close contacts: 64 (decrease of 1)
Deaths: 21 (no change)
Resolved: 1,486 (increase of 6)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 72 (increase of 2)**
ICU admissions (total to date): 15 (no change)
Total tests completed: Over 53,100 (increase of 50)
Total vaccine doses administered (residents and non-residents): 90,716 (increase of 11,566 as of June 3)
Number of residents who have received first dose: 81,390 (increase of 9,270 as of June 3)
Number of residents fully vaccinated: 9,388 (increase of 2,729 as of June 3)
Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace #11 in Peterborough, Riverview Manor long-term care home in Peterborough (no change)

*The health unit is reporting 5 new cases in the last 24 hours. The total case count has increased by 6 because 1 case has been added to a previous day.

*As of June 9, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting 2 patients currently hospitalized with COVID-19 (decrease of 1) and a total of 76 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (no change).

Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s service area is the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County.

The health unit provides reports from Monday to Saturday, excluding Sundays and statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 2,111, including 1,059 in Kawartha Lakes, 931 in Northumberland, and 121 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)*
Total variants of concern cases: 762, including 393 in Kawartha Lakes, 333 in Northumberland, and 36 in Haliburton (increase of 4, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland)
Active cases: 42, including 31 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (decrease of 6, including 4 in Haliburton and 2 in Northumberland)
Probable cases: 1 in Kawartha Lakes (decrease of 2 in Kawartha Lakes)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 77, including 43 in Kawartha Lakes, 31 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)**
Deaths (including among probable cases): 75, including 57 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)
Resolved: 2,007, including 984 in Kawartha Lakes, 905 in Northumberland, and 118 in Haliburton (increase of 8, including 6 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland)
Tests completed: 197,310 (increase of 519)
Vaccine doses administered to residents: 112,750 (increase of 7,966 as of June 7)
Number of residents fully vaccinated: 14,676 (increase of 3,568 as of June 7)
Outbreaks: Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, LCBO Port Hope (no change)

*The health unit states that total counts and counts for individual counties may fluctuate from previously reported counts as cases are transferred to or from the health unit based on case investigation details and routine data cleaning.

**As of June 9, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.

The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 1,121 (increase of 1)
Confirmed variants of concern cases: 489 (no change)
Active cases: 1 (increase of 1)
Deaths: 11 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 1 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 1 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 1 (no change)
Resolved: 1,109 (no change)
Tests completed: 147,887 (increase of 6)
Vaccine doses administered: 117,205 (increase of 2,583)
Number of people fully vaccinated: 15,275 (increase of 1,422)
Outbreaks: None (no change)

Province of Ontario

Confirmed positive: 537,487 (increase of 411)
COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) cases: 134,608 of B.1.1.7 Alpha variant (increase of 902); 1,125 of B.1.351 Beta variant (increase of 28); 4,073 of P.1 Gamma variant (increase of 64)
VOC R(t): 0.74 (decrease of 0.01 as of June 9)*
7-day average of daily new cases: 657 (decrease of 46)
Positivity rate: 2.0% (decrease of 0.7%)
Resolved: 521,743 (increase of 932), 97.1% of all cases (increase of 0.1%)
Hospitalizations: 571 (decrease of 50)
Hospitalizations in ICU: 466 (decrease of 15)
Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 314 (increase of 9)
Deaths: 8,920 (increase of 33)**
7-day average of daily new deaths: 18 (increase of 1)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,962 (increase of 2)
Total tests completed: 15,454,884 (increase of 30,456)
Tests under investigation: 15,135 (increase of 975)
Vaccination doses administered: 10,445,119 (increase of 177,506), 70.90% of Ontario’s total population (increase of 1.20%)***
People fully vaccinated (two doses): 1,282,676 (increase of 108,346), 8.71% of Ontario’s total population (increase of 0.74%)***

*R(t) is a virus’s effective reproduction number, which is the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specific time (t) in a partially immunized population. To successfully eliminate a disease from a population, R(t) needs to be less than 1.

**This number includes 11 deaths that occurred in April and May that are now being recorded as part of a data review and cleaning initiative. Excluding these deaths, 22 deaths were reported yesterday.

***An estimated 70-90% of the population must be immunized to achieve herd immunity.

For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.

It’s the 100-year anniversary of the Canadian discovery of insulin, and three members of a local family began a 263-kilometre trek from Peterborough to Ottawa on Wednesday (June 9) in the hopes of making the need for insulin a thing of the past.

Almost two years ago, Peterborough business owner Rob Cahill and his wife Marie-Noelle Denis found out their youngest daughter, Mariloup Cahill, has type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed at nine years old, she has since endured around 3,000 needles to receive her life-saving insulin.

So, with this year’s Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes for JDRF set to finish on June 13, Denis and her oldest daughter Laurence Denis-Bertrand — along with Laurence’s boyfriend David Patton — have set out to walk to Ottawa and raise funds for diabetes research along the way.

“For Mariloup’s sake, we wish for a day without the need for insulin or a full night’s sleep without the need to check her blood sugar level,” says Cahill, who manages Cahill’s clothing store in downtown Peterborough.

“Raising dollars for this cause can advance type 1 diabetes research, and improve the lives of the tens of thousands of Canadians living with this disease,” he adds.

Cahill’s will be donating up to $2,500 to match funds donated to support the Peterborough-to-Ottawa journey of the three walkers — known as “Team Ti-Loup”. You can donate to Team Ti-Loup at jdrf.akaraisin.com/ui/jdrfwalk21/t/e514a179321d4bbb8d80a91a61717ed4. As of the date of this story, they have raised almost $3,000 of their $10,000 goal.

Team Ti-Loup is scheduled to arrive in Ottawa on June 13, to coincide with the finish of the 2021 Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes for JDRF.

This year’s walk is especially important given that 2021 marks 100 years since Frederick Banting and Charles Best discovered insulin under the directorship of John Macleod at the University of Toronto, developing it for use as a medication in 1922. Banting and Macleod would receive a Nobel Prize for their work in 1923.

Prior to the discovery of insulin, the life expectancy of people with type 1 diabetes was cut short. With cells unable to use glucose as a source of energy, the liver breaks down fat into a fuel called ketones, eventually building up in the blood to toxic levels. The only effective treatment for diabetes at the time was a strict no-carbohydrate diet with as few as 450 calories per day — resulting in some people dying from starvation.

There’s no question that insulin — a pancreatic hormone that helps the body use glucose for energy — has saved countless lives.

But while insulin helps people with diabetes live long and healthy lives, it’s not a cure. People requiring insulin have to regularly monitor their blood sugar levels, be careful what they eat, inject insulin several times a day or more, and remain at risk of additional health complications.