The Canadian Canoe Museum hosted a formal event on Saturday (October 16) to celebrate the beginning of construction of the new museum at the Johnson Property at 2077 Ashburnham Drive in Peterborough. The event, held at the property’s western point beside Little Lake, was attended by project donors, funders, partners, and more.

Speakers included Chief Laurie Carr of Hiawatha First Nation, hand drummer Janet McCue, Chief Emily Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation, Métis elder and canoe builder Marcel Labelle (whose 26-foot long birchbark canoe was displayed at the event), Ontario heritage minister Lisa MacLeod, Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith, museum executive director Carolyn Hyslop, museum board chair Victoria Grant, museum curator Jeremry Ward, Peterborough County Warden J. Murray Jones, and Métis Nation of Ontario regional councillor Andy Dufrane.

“We are excited to celebrate the beginning of construction of our new world-class canoe museum in the company of our project partners, donors, and funders, and with our community as a whole,” says museum board chair Victoria Grant of the Loon Clan Teme-Augama Anishnabai and a member of the Temagami First Nation, in a media release.

“These watercraft, conceived and built over millennia by the Indigenous peoples of what is now Canada, were central to building relations between the First Peoples and those who arrived four hundred years ago from Europe, beginning our shared history,” Grant adds. “These beautiful and functional craft offer us a vehicle through which we can better understand and appreciate that history. That understanding is essential in producing the truth upon which reconciliation between the First Peoples and those who came later must be founded.”

The Canadian Canoe Museum, first established in Peterborough in 1997 based on a collection of the late Professor Kirk Wipper, is currently located at 910 Monaghan Road and contains the world’s largest collection of canoes, kayaks, and paddled watercraft.

The museum has raised just over 82 percent of the total cost of $40 million to construct its new facility, including contributions from all three levels of government as well as the Weston Family Foundation. The museum also intends to sell its Monaghan Road property to help fund the project.

The museum is taking an integrated project delivery (IPD) approach to the design and building of the new museum. Unlike traditional design and construction delivery methods, IPD is a collaborative approach where all project stakeholders are brought on board at the very beginning of the project, sign a multi-party contract, and share the responsibility for the project — including the financial risk.

Along with Lett Architects Inc. of Peterborough as the architect and Chandos Construction Ltd. of Toronto as the general contractor, other project partners include LEA of Markham as structural engineer, Kelson Mechanical of Sharon as the mechanical trade partner, DG Biddle & Associates of Oshawa as mechanical and electrical engineer, Lancer Electric of Peterborough as electrical trade partner, and Engage Engineering of Peterborough as civil engineer.

The Johnson Property is located north of Beavermead Park and south of the Parks Canada-Trent Severn Waterway head offices.

The new museum will be built on a flat portion of the property, away from the floodplain, on the open land along Ashburnham Drive so as to preserve the existing trail, shoreline, and natural waterfront.

The new facility will house the museum’s complete collection of canoes, kayaks, and watercraft in a building that meets Class A conservation standards. With its location on the water, the museum will be able to offer increased on-water and in-person programming. The new museum is scheduled open in 2023.

For more information about the new Canadian Canoe Museum, visit canoemuseum.ca/new-museum/.

VIDEO: Canadian Canoe Museum construction commencement ceremony

It is often in the darkest skies that we see the brightest stars. – Author Richard Evans

Melissa and Alex Lamore are surrounded by stars; bright lights that they can not only see but also hear and sense and, yes, hug.

The Peterborough couple’s sky turned dark in July 2020 when a neurosurgeon at Kingston General Hospital confirmed the cause of Melissa’s severe migraine headaches and multiple seizures was a brain tumour.

Their sky grew much darker when she was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer with an extremely low survival rate — the same cancer that came to nationwide attention in 2015 when the late Gord Downie, lead singer of The Tragically Hip, was diagnosed.

But then the stars showed themselves in growing numbers, bringing light to their world and shining brighter, with each day since.

In February 2021, “Team Mellie” really took flight in the form of a public Facebook group where not only support for the Lamore family — the couple has two children, Megan and Murphy — could be coordinated but also provide a forum for Alex to provide updates on Melissa’s battle. As of this writing, that group was closing in on an incredible 600 members.

Also active are two GoFundMe fundraisers to help the couple cover their bills and hospital visit-related expenses in the wake of lost job income.

The first, titled Let’s Help Mel Beat This, was created in August 2020 by Melissa’s friend Monica Fowler, while the second, titled Help Melissa Lamore And Her Family Fight Cancer, was created in February 2021 by another friend, Catherine Wheeler. Collectively to date, those two appeals have brought in $8,745 for the family.

Make no mistake. The darkness will turn darker but the stars — family members, friends, Melissa’s hairdressing clients, and complete strangers — are shining brilliantly, easing the pain and frustration of the couple’s cancer journey in a very big way.

“Melissa’s big concern was how we’re going to cover the cost of everything,” says Alex, Melissa’s full-time caregiver since early August after taking a leave from his job as an insurance broker.

“And then the people came and the money came. Food just shows up at our door. We have what we call the Magic Mailbox. Every day something shows up in it. A friend of Melissa’s works at Larry Dow Automotive (in Selwyn). They said that any time our car needs anything, bring it in and they’ll look after it for us. We were running back and forth to Kingston two, three times a month. They’ve got our car tip-top.”

Rhonda Preston is the founder of the Team Mellie Facebook group. She met Melissa some 15 years ago. It was “an instant connection” as she recalls.

“I was like ‘Oh, I’ve never had a real hairdresser. Can you do something fun to my hair?’ She said ‘I feel like you should be pink.’ She dyed my hair pink and I’ve been pink ever since. Megan at the time was a year-and-a-half old. I very quickly became Auntie Rhonda. We were inseparable … some interesting and fun nights.”

“She’s a kind old soul. You feel like she should have been born many, many decades ago. She would do anything for anybody. She’s that person who’d be like ‘Oh, I saw this and it made me think of you, so I bought it for you.’ When she met Alex it was a match made in heaven because he’s the exact same way.”

Through Rhonda’s Facebook group, the support effort was ramped up big time. Keychains, vehicle decals, t-shirts, and hoodies emblazoned with Team Mellie were created and distributed.

“I feel like I’m saying ‘Yes’ every day to someone who’s requesting to join,” Rhonda says of the Facebook group. “When Mellie was more lucid and able to have good conversations, she was constantly telling me ‘Stop doing this. We’re fine. You’re going to stress yourself out.’ I was like ‘That’s not an option.’ People have stepped out of the woodwork.”

“Alex was very self conscious of that help in the beginning. He’s usually on the other side — he’s never been on the receiving end. He was almost uncomfortable with it. We kept telling him ‘Nope. This is how it is.'”

Kathy Scollard, a cancer survivor and yet another client of Melissa’s, got together gift baskets that were raffled off. And then there’s Sarah Scott, another friend and client of Melissa’s who has coordinated the collection and delivery of food and meal donations.

“People have helped in any way they can,” says the Millbrook resident, who befriended Melissa years at a wedding and subsequently reconnected by chance a number of times.

“People cooked meals and dropped them off,” Sarah says. “People messaged me and said they absolutely can’t cook and asked if they can send money to purchase groceries for someone else to cook meals. Some live out of town but wanted to send money for restaurant gift cards.”

“There’s good people in the world but I also think this is a testament to the love that Alex and Melissa have shown other people in their lives — the light that they shine on other people’s lives,” Sarah says. “People feel compelled and driven to help in any way they can.”

Sarah adds that as Melissa’s health has deteriorated, it has been very hard on her emotionally.

“You go into something like this feeling like you’re going to beat it,” she says. “The longer it went on, and the more details that came out, it just felt so unfair. Melissa just shines this bright light. You can’t help but love her. I felt instantly connected to her. This whole Team Mellie thing has made me realize that she has that impact on everyone.”

The Lamore family’s cancer journey began on July 1, 2020, when Alex took Melissa to the emergency department at Peterborough Regional Health Centre. “I found her sitting on the couch staring out the window and she wasn’t responding to me,” he recalls.

That same day, Rhonda had a hairdressing appointment with Melissa.

“Alex called me from the hospital and said Melissa’s upset that she has to cancel your appointment,” she says. “After all of the testing and finding the tumour, she FaceTimed me when they got home from Kingston and said ‘I have a tumour. They’re going to remove it.'”

“She knows I’m an emotional person on a good day. She doesn’t want people crying but she gives me a bit more leeway. That moment was a hyperventilating cry.”

The Lamore family’s journey has been a gut-wrenching trial punctuated by both hope and uncertainty, compounded by a dizzying blur of hospital visits and doctors.

After her brain tumour was removed in late July 2020, Melissa was sent home the next morning, with the next step in her treatment being six weeks of radiation and chemotherapy in the fall.

“She actually started working a bit again but come January she was feeling off again,” recalls Alex, noting a subsequent MRI revealed the tumour had reformed but no spread had occurred. Still, that necessitated another surgery to remove the tumour as well as part of her frontal brain lobe — a six-hour operation.

“In May, she started having a lot of word issues again and then, in June, we realized she was having vision issues,” continues Alex.

“After another MRI in Kingston, the oncologist said it’s back and it looked like there was spread this time. She had another surgery. They cleaned it up but they could visually see the spread. The surgeon there’s no way he could cut it out without causing harm.”

Late September saw Melissa undergo yet more treatment to slow the spread down. She was scheduled for another MRI, but Melissa decided enough was enough. Last Wednesday (October 6) marked the couple’s final trip to Kingston. On that same day, Alex shared news of her decision with the Facebook group.

“Melissa has chosen to stop treatment,” he wrote. “No more trips, no more hospitals, no more doctors, no more scans, no more pokes in the arm. It was hard to be the guy in the room watching and hearing this conversation, but Melissa was happy that the doctor agreed. You could see Melissa’s smile through her mask. Melissa wants to spend her time with family and be at home.”

Noting Melissa hasn’t left her bedroom since October 8, Alex says “She has good days and she has bad days.”

“If you bring her the wrong thing, she’ll let you know about it. If you do the right thing, she’s happy. If she sees a certain person, she’ll light up. She still cracks a smile and she’ll still crack the odd joke. She has more of a child-like disposition.”

Alex says his focus has been, and remains, “keeping things as normal as possible for the kids. They’ve been happy and healthy through this whole thing because we’ve maintained a sense of normalcy in the house.”

Still, there’s an inescapable reality that has to be faced. This past Wednesday (October 13), Alex had his first meeting with a funeral director.

“I’m like a duct tape boat … I’m still floating,” says Alex of how he’s holding up.

“It’s going to be hard. I have to be strong for our kids but I have my quiet moments. There’s only been a few times when people have caught me crying. That’s going to happen more as time goes on. The other side of the coin is I’ve had 15 months to think about this.”

But, as heartbreaking as the past 15 months has been, Alex says he’s left with one undeniable truth that brings him great comfort.

“There are good people in this world. It’s been very overwhelming. I can’t say thank you enough. It’s flipping unbelievable. I couldn’t live enough lifetimes to repay everyone for their kindness.”

The Ontario government is providing $1,154,086 to 10 non-profit organizations in the riding of Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock to help them recover from the pandemic.

4th Line Theatre in Millbrook and Globus Theatre in Bobcaygeon are among the organizations receiving $723,200 in funding under the province’s Community Building Fund, which is providing support to 648 non-profit tourism, culture, and sport and recreation organizations across Ontario.

“We know COVID-19 has presented challenges for our local non-profits,” says Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott in a media release. “That’s why our government is providing grants to ensure they can continue to provide the services and experiences our community members miss.”

The province is providing the funding under the operating stream of the Community Building Fund, which covers salaries and fixed operational costs, equipment and other costs related to adapting to public health measures, and costs for virtual delivery of products and experiences.

The 10 organizations and the funds they are receiving are:

• Lindsay Agricultural Society ($250,000)
• Boys & Girls Clubs of Kawartha Lakes ($128,800)
• 4th Line Theatre ($100,000)
• The Lindsay Gallery ($50,000)
• Globus Theatre ($50,000)
• Maple Leaf Cavan FC (MLCFC) ($50,000)
• Rails End Gallery and Arts Centre ($50,000)
• The Beaverton Thorah Eldon Historical Society ($17,400)
• Highlands Summer Festival ($14,600)
• Lindsay Little Theatre ($12,400)

In addition to the funding under the Community Building Fund, three of the above organizations will also be receiving $430,886 in funding under the province’s Reconnect Festival and Event Program.

That program is designed to help festival and event organizers adapt to new public health measures with virtual, drive-in, drive-through, and other COVID-safe experiences.

Under that program, Lindsay Agricultural Society will receive $170,850, Globus Theatre will receive $167,194, and 4th Line Theatre will receive $92,842.

A group of community-minded volunteers are once again turning the phrase “porch pirate” into a good thing with a Peterborough-wide food drive for Kawartha Food Share on the Halloween weekend.

“Those most vulnerable in our community need our support,” reads a media release from Megan Murphy, one of the organizers of Porch Pirates for Good. “People need to eat, and we cannot abandon them. The shelves at Kawartha Food Share are low again and they need the help of the community to restock.”

As with a spring food drive organized earlier this year by Porch Pirates for Good, which collected a record-breaking 50,000 pounds of food for Kawartha Food Share, the “Trick or Eat” food drive will feature both a business challenge and a community challenge. The goal of the Halloween food drive is to collect another 50,000 pounds of food.

For the business challenge, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday (October 29), Porch Pirates for Good is asking Peterborough businesses to challenge each other to collect more than 20,000 pounds of non-perishable food items. Interested businesses should register by contacting Susan Dunkley at susan@suzihomemaker.ca or 705-768-7894.

The community challenge takes place on Saturday beginning at 9 a.m., when residents are asked to leave a bag of non-perishable food items on their front porch. Volunteers with Porch Pirates for Good will drive around the city to collect the items and deliver them to the Kawartha Food Share warehouse.

Needed food items include canned tuna, pasta and pasta sauce, breakfast cereal, peanut butter, non-perishable fruit and vegetable items including apple sauce, nut-free granola bars, rice, canned soup or stew, baby formula, and easy-to-cook items that kids like such as mac and cheese. Other needed items include feminine hygiene products and diapers.

Residents are asked to consider wearing a Halloween costume to greet volunteers when they arrive to pick up a donation (volunteers will be wearing face masks).

Anyone who is feeling ill or in isolation because of COVID-19 is asked not to leave a bag of food on their porch. A monetary donation can be made at www.kawarthafoodshare.com. For every dollar donated, Kawartha Food Share can purchase $6 worth of food.

For more information about Porch Pirates for Good and for updates, visit facebook.com/ptboporchpiratesforgood.

Starting today (October 15) and continuing over the weekend, Ontarians can download their new enhanced COVID-19 vaccination certificates.

The enhanced certificate features a QR code businesses and organizations can scan using a verification app, also now available for free on the Google and Apple app stores.

Although the new enhanced certificate system does not go into effect until next Friday (October 22), the Ontario government is making the enhanced vaccination certificates and verification app available in advance to allow people to become familiar with them.

For the first three days, the Ontario government is staggering the ability of Ontarians to download the enhanced certificate from covid19.ontariohealth.ca by their birth month.

“Between October 15 and 17, we are limiting the number of people onto the website to make sure it can handle the increased demand,” the website says.

Those born from January to April can download their certificate on Friday, those born from May to August can download it on Saturday, and those born from September to December can download it on Sunday.

If you don’t have the chance to download your certificate over the weekend, you can visit the website again on Monday (October 18), when anyone can download their certificate regardless of their birth month. People can save the electronic version to their phone or print a paper copy, or they can call the Provincial Vaccine Contact Centre at 1-833-943-3900 to have their enhanced vaccine certificate emailed or mailed to them.

The new verification app for businesses, called Verify Ontario, was released on Google Play and the Apple App Store yesterday.

The app scans the QR code on the enhanced vaccine certificate.

“Verify Ontario gives businesses and organizations a quick, easy and trusted way to scan and confirm that visitors are fully vaccinated,” the app description reads. “After scanning a QR code, the business or organization will see: a green checkmark indicating that it meets vaccine requirements, a red X for an invalid certificate, or a yellow warning indicating that the QR code cannot be read.”

The app will also show the name and date of birth of the holder of the vaccine certificate, so their identity can be verified.

The Verify Ontario app does not require an internet connection to work (other than for periodic updates), but does require permission to a device’s camera to scan the QR code. According to the province, the app never stores personal information and only shows the minimum amount of information necessary to confirm vaccination.

Businesses must accept both electronic and paper versions of the vaccine certificate with a QR code. While the current vaccine receipt without a QR code remains valid and will continue to be accepted, the province is encouraging people to download their enhanced vaccine certificate as an easier, more secure, and convenient way to have their proof of vaccination verified.

Ontarians will need to continue to show a piece of identification with their name and date of birth along with their proof of vaccination when visiting businesses and organizations that require proof of vaccination.

The story has been updated with additional details from the province.