The Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, the world's first fringe festival exclusive to Indigenous performers, will take place in Peterborough/Nogojiwanong on June 21, 2021 (National Indigenous Peoples Day). The outdoor festival will feature comedy, music, storytelling, and more. (Supplied photo)
This summer, beginning on National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21), Peterborough will host the world’s first and only Indigenous fringe festival on the treaty and traditional territory of the Michi Saagiig Anishinaabeg.
The Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival (NIFF) has put Peterborough on the map. Look no further than the official website for the Canadian Association for Fringe Festivals. There, you’ll find a list of major cities — Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, New York — and on that same list, you’ll now also find Peterborough, Ontario.
The inaugural NIFF was originally slated to launch in 2020; alas, like every other fringe festival, it was postponed due to the pandemic.
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But festival organizers on the NIFF collective have been hard at work planning to make sure the festival will run — outdoors and online — no matter what the summer will bring.
It all started with a tweet.
In 2019, award-winning playwright, author, columnist, and filmmaker Drew Hayden Taylor of Curve Lake First Nation, took to Twitter asking: “Wouldn’t it be cool if we could do a fringe festival?”
Playwright, author, columnist, and filmmaker Drew Hayden Taylor first suggested the idea of an Indigenous fringe festival on Twitter in 2019. (Photo: Paul Kemp Productions)
Professor Joeann Argue, who teaches Indigenous performance and storytelling courses as a Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies faculty member at Trent University, came across the tweet.
“I thought that would be a really good idea, so I tweeted back saying that we have space [at Trent], and that was where it started,” Argue explains.
“I brought it, then, to my colleague, Lee Bolton, who is the Nozhem coordinator, and discovered that she had all kinds of fringe festival experiences, including managing them. So it just seemed like something we could possibly pull off.”
From there, a dream-team collective of powerhouse artists was formed to turn the idea for the world’s first Indigenous fringe festival into a reality.
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“I contacted Drew outside of Twitter and asked him if he would like to be a mentor, and he agreed to do that, which is really wonderful,” explains Argue.
“We also have a relationship with Spiderwoman Theatre out of New York City, which is the oldest native feminist theatre collective — possibly in the world — they’ve done a ton of work at Nozhem. So I contacted Muriel Miguel of Spiderwoman and asked if she’d be interested in being a mentor as well and she said yes right away.”
With two well-known superstars in Indigenous theatre backing the festival, grant funding secured, official festival paperwork submitted, and applications from potential artists all over the country streaming in, NIFF was well on the way to launch the inaugural festival in the summer of 2020.
Muriel Miguel, a founder of the feminist Native American collective Spiderwoman Theater, is considered a grandmother of the Indigenous theatre movement in the United States and Canada. Along with Drew Hayden Taylor, she has agreed to be a mentor for the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival in Peterborough. (Photo: Annie Tritt for The New York Times)
Then the pandemic hit.
“At that point, in March, we didn’t know what was going to happen,” recalls Argue.
“Could we do something? Could we do a smaller thing? Pretty much, every fringe festival was in the same place. We really didn’t make the call — that the festival wouldn’t be a go — until the end of April. By that time all of the festivals were starting to shut down.”
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“But we thought that trying to have our first festival in a pandemic in some really modified, tiny form just didn’t make sense,” Argue adds. “Especially because most of our artists were coming from across the country.”
After making the tough call to cancel the 2020 festival, the collective had to decide whether or not to try again the following year.
“We decided that this was important and we needed to focus on 2021,” says Argue. “We had to make extensive changes to how we will run the festival. At this point, unless things change drastically between now and June, we’ll be an entirely outdoor festival.”
“We have some really nice sites around the Gzowski College area that we’re offering artists. There are a couple of fire pits and there’s a storyteller who wants to tell stories by the fire in the evening.”
Beginning June 21, 2021 (National Indigenous Peoples Day) and running until June 27, audiences will have the opportunity to see 40 outdoor and COVID-safe shows over the course of five days.
Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival co-founders during the original 2020 announcement of the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, before it was postponed until 2021 because of the pandemic. Pictured are Joeann Argue, assistant professor in Indigenous performance at Trent University, Lee Bolton, theatre coordinator of Nozhem First Peoples Performance Space at Trent University, and Drew Hayden Taylor, the award-winning Indigenous playwright, author, columnist, and filmmaker. (Supplied photo)
“Some of the performers we have so far are stand-up comics and musicians. We’ll hopefully have a play if an artist is able to come from B.C. There’s a storyteller.”
“We’ll also have Shirley Williams, a residential school survivor and professor emeritus at Trent, who is going to talk about the dances that they learned at residential school — because none of them were Indigenous dances — so she wants to talk about culture being placed over top.”
Although the call for applications for NIFF officially closed on January 10th, the NIFF collective appreciates how sideways things can be during a pandemic.
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As such, if you’re an Indigenous artist with an idea for a show, or a performing arts company with 50 per cent or more of your members who self-identify as Indigenous, and you’re currently living within 300 kilometres of Nogojiwanong/Peterborough, Argue strongly encourages you to contact NIFF at indigenousfringefest@gmail.com.
Centennial Place long-term care home in Millbrook. (Photo: Centennial Place / Facebook)
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 3,422 new cases today, with the seven-day average of daily cases across the province decreasing by 75 to 3,143.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 12 new cases to report with two new outbreaks, and 12 additional cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region remaining unchanged at 145. However, the numbers do not include Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton, as the health unit does not issue a report on Sundays.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (1,035), Peel (585), Windsor-Essex (254), York (246), Niagara (186), Middlesex-London (166), Ottawa (144), and Waterloo (144).
There are double-digit increases in Durham (97), Hamilton (91), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (66), Lambton (64), Halton (59), Southwestern (58), Simcoe Muskoka (47), Eastern Ontario (45), Huron Perth (36), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (19), Thunder Bay (15), Haldimand-Norfolk (13), and Peterborough (10), with smaller increases in Chatham-Kent (9), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (6), Grey Bruce (6), and Brant (6).
The remaining 9 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 4 health units reporting no new cases at all.
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Of today’s new cases, 51% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,314) among people ages 20-39, followed by 997 cases among people ages 40-59. With 3,078 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% to 85.6%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased since yesterday by 0.3% to 5.2%, meaning that 52 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on January 16.
Ontario is reporting 69 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 36 in long-term care homes. Hospitalizations have decreased by 62 from yesterday to 1,570, although this number is likely under-reported as more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for today’s report. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has decreased by 2 to 395, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has increased by 12 to 293.
A total of 60,183 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 20,284 to 30,103. A total of 200,097 doses of vaccine have been administered, with 11,007 daily doses administered and 21,714 total vaccinations completed (i.e., both doses administered).
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 12 new cases to report, including 7 in Hastings Prince Edward and 5 in Peterborough. The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit does not issue a report for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton on Sundays; numbers shown here are based on the January 16 report from the health unit.
An additional 12 cases have been resolved, including 6 in Peterborough and 6 in Hastings Prince Edward.
Outbreaks were declared at The Regency retirement home in Lakefield and Centennial Place long-term care home in Millbrook on January 17. Details on the outbreaks were not available when this update was published.
There are currently 145 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, unchanged from yesterday, including 57 in Peterborough, 40 in Northumberland, 28 in Hastings Prince Edward (6 in Quinte West, 18 in Belleville, 1 in Prince Edward County, and 2 in Central Hastings), 19 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 481 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (418 resolved with 6 deaths), 328 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (287 resolved with 36 deaths), 335 in Northumberland County (290 resolved with 5 deaths), 39 in Haliburton County (38 resolved with no deaths), and 356 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (323 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on January 16.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 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’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: 481 (increase of 5) Active cases: 57 (decrease of 1) Close contacts: 115 (increase of 4) Deaths: 6 (no change) Resolved: 418 (increase of 6) Hospitalizations (total to date): 19 (no change)* Total tests completed: Over 40,500 (increase of 50) Outbreaks: Fairhaven long-term care home in Peterborough, The Regency retirement home in Lakefield, Centennial Place long-term care home in Millbrook (increase of 2)**
*As of January 15, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, with fewer than 10 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive. The hospital is not providing exact numbers of patients.
**Outbreaks were declared at The Regency retirement home in Lakefield and Centennial Place long-term care home in Millbrook on January 17.
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 statutory holidays. These numbers are from January 16.
Confirmed positive: 703, including 329 in Kawartha Lakes, 335 in Northumberland, and 39 in Haliburton (increase of 10, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 9 in Northumberland)* Active cases: 60, including 19 in Kawartha Lakes, 40 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (net decrease of 2) Probable cases: 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland (decrease of 3 in Northumberland) High-risk contacts: 149, including 64 in Kawartha Lakes, 53 in Northumberland, and 11 in Haliburton (net decrease of 4)** Hospitalizations (total to date): 29, including 19 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)*** Deaths (including among probable cases): 41, including 36 in Kawartha Lakes and 5 in Northumberland (no change) Resolved: 614, including 287 in Kawartha Lakes, 290 in Northumberland, 38 in Haliburton (increase of 14, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes and 6 in Northumberland) Institutional outbreaks: Hope St. Terrace long-term care home in Port Hope, Fenelon Court in Fenelon Falls, Island Park Retirement Residence in Campbellford, Maplewood long-term care home in Brighton, Caressant Care McLaughlin Road in Lindsay, Tower of Port Hope, Canadian Centre for Addictions in Port Hope, Golden Plough Lodge in Cobourg (increase of 2)****
*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.
**This total includes an additional 21 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
***As of January 15, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 5 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19.
****An outbreak was declared at Canadian Centre for Addictions in Port Hope on January 15, and an outbreak was declared at Golden Plough Lodge in Cobourg on January 16 after 1 staff member tested positive.
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, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 356 (increase of 7) Active cases: 28 (increase of 1) Deaths: 5 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 3 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (decrease of 1) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 323 (increase of 6) Tests completed: 38,063 Institutional outbreaks: Hastings Manor Beech Villa in Belleville, Crown Ridge long-term care home in Quinte West (no change)
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 237,786 (increase of 3,422) Resolved: 203,484 (increase of 3,078, 85.6% of all cases) Positivity rate: 5.2% (increase of 0.3%) Hospitalized: 1,570 (decrease of 62)* Hospitalized and in ICU: 395 (decrease of 2) Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 293 (increase of 12) Deaths: 5,409 (increase of 69) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,198 (increase of 36) Total tests completed: 8,925,446 (increase of 60,183) Tests under investigation: 30,103 (decrease of 20,284) Vaccinations: 11,007 daily doses administered, 200,097 total doses administered, 21,714 total vaccinations completed (both doses)
*As more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, this number is likely under-reported.
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from December 17, 2020 – January 16, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from December 17, 2020 – January 16, 2021. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from December 17, 2020 – January 16, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 deaths in Ontario from December 17, 2020 – January 16, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 3,056 new cases today, with the seven-day average of daily cases across the province decreasing by 55 to 3,218.
In the greater Kawarthas region, There are 29 new cases to report and 21 additional cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 9 to 145. There has been 1 new COVID-19 death in Peterborough.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (903), Peel (639), York (283), Durham (162), Ottawa (152), Niagara (147), Waterloo (132), and Windsor-Essex (115).
There are double-digit increases in Simcoe Muskoka (75), Halton (61), Middlesex-London (60), Eastern Ontario (59), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (59), Hamilton (53), Lambton (29), Brant (21), Haldimand-Norfolk (19), Southwestern (15), and Chatham-Kent (10), with smaller increases in Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (9), Huron Perth (8), Thunder Bay (7), Sudbury (7), Grey Bruce (7), and Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (6).
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The remaining 9 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 3 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 51% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,140) among people ages 20-39, followed by 875 cases among people ages 40-59. With 3,212 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.2% to 85.5%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased since yesterday by 0.3% to 4.9%, meaning that 49 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on January 15.
Ontario is reporting 51 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 25 in long-term care homes. Hospitalizations have decreased by 15 from yesterday to 1,632, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs increasing by 10 to 397, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators increasing by 1 to 281.
A total of 73,875 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 13,341 to 50,387. A total of 189,090 doses of vaccine have been administered, with 14,460 daily doses administered and 19,333 total vaccinations completed (i.e., both doses administered).
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 29 new cases to report, including 12 in Peterborough, 9 in Northumberland, 7 in Hastings Prince Edward, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no new cases to report in Haliburton.
There is 1 new COVID death to report in Peterborough. The health unit has not released any details.
An outbreak was declared at Canadian Centre for Addictions in Port Hope on January 15, and an outbreak was declared at Golden Plough Lodge in Cobourg on January 16 after 1 staff member tested positive.
An additional 21 cases have been resolved, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes, 6 in Northumberland, 4 in Peterborough, and 3 in Hastings Prince Edward. An outbreak at Community Living Trent Highlands group home in Peterborough was declared resolved on January 16.
There are currently 145 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 9 from yesterday, including 58 in Peterborough, 40 in Northumberland, 27 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 19 in Belleville, and 5 in Central Hastings), 19 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 476 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (412 resolved with 6 deaths), 328 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (287 resolved with 36 deaths), 335 in Northumberland County (290 resolved with 5 deaths), 39 in Haliburton County (38 resolved with no deaths), and 349 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (317 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on January 16.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 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’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: 476 (increase of 12) Active cases: 58 (increase of 7) Close contacts: 111 (decrease of 2) Deaths: 6 (increase of 1) Resolved: 412 (increase of 4) Hospitalizations (total to date): 19 (no change)* Total tests completed: Over 40,500 (increase of 50) Outbreaks: Fairhaven long-term care home in Peterborough (decrease of 1)**
*As of January 15, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, with fewer than 10 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive. The hospital is not providing exact numbers of patients.
**An outbreak at Community Living Trent Highlands group home in Peterborough was declared resolved on January 16.
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 statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 703, including 329 in Kawartha Lakes, 335 in Northumberland, and 39 in Haliburton (increase of 10, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 9 in Northumberland)* Active cases: 60, including 19 in Kawartha Lakes, 40 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (net decrease of 2) Probable cases: 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland (decrease of 3 in Northumberland) High-risk contacts: 149, including 64 in Kawartha Lakes, 53 in Northumberland, and 11 in Haliburton (net decrease of 4)** Hospitalizations (total to date): 29, including 19 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)*** Deaths (including among probable cases): 41, including 36 in Kawartha Lakes and 5 in Northumberland (no change) Resolved: 614, including 287 in Kawartha Lakes, 290 in Northumberland, 38 in Haliburton (increase of 14, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes and 6 in Northumberland) Institutional outbreaks: Hope St. Terrace long-term care home in Port Hope, Fenelon Court in Fenelon Falls, Island Park Retirement Residence in Campbellford, Maplewood long-term care home in Brighton, Caressant Care McLaughlin Road in Lindsay, Tower of Port Hope, Canadian Centre for Addictions in Port Hope, Golden Plough Lodge in Cobourg (increase of 2)****
*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.
**This total includes an additional 21 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
***As of January 15, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 5 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19.
****An outbreak was declared at Canadian Centre for Addictions in Port Hope on January 15, and an outbreak was declared at Golden Plough Lodge in Cobourg on January 16 after 1 staff member tested positive.
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, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 349 (increase of 7) Active cases: 27 (increase of 5) Deaths: 5 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 3 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 1 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 317 (increase of 3) Tests completed: 34,107 Institutional outbreaks: Hastings Manor Beech Villa in Belleville, Crown Ridge long-term care home in Quinte West (no change)
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 234,364 (increase of 3,056) Resolved: 200,406 (increase of 3,212, 85.5% of all cases) Positivity rate: 4.9% (increase of 0.3%) Hospitalized: 1,632 (decrease of 15) Hospitalized and in ICU: 397 (increase of 10) Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 281 (increase of 10) Deaths: 5,340 (increase of 51) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,162 (increase of 25) Total tests completed: 8,865,263 (increase of 73,875) Tests under investigation: 50,387 (decrease of 13,341) Vaccinations: 14,460 daily doses administered, 189,090 total doses administered, 19,333 total vaccinations completed (both doses)
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from December 16, 2020 – January 15, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from December 16, 2020 – January 15, 2021. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from December 16, 2020 – January 15, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 deaths in Ontario from December 16, 2020 – January 15, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Applications are now open for the Ontario Small Business Support Grant, almost a month after it was first announced.
Premier Doug Ford announced the grant on December 21, when he also announced the province-wide shutdown that took effect on Boxing Day.
The grant provides a one-time grant of $10,000 to $20,000 to small businesses required to temporarily close or restrict services under the shutdown.
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Eligible businesses can use the money however they wish, including paying employee wages or paying rent.
To be eligible for the grant, a business must have fewer than 100 employees and must have been required to either close or significantly restrict its services as a result of the province-wide shutdown.
In addition, a business must demonstrate at least a 20 per cent decline in revenues in April 2020 compared to April 2019.
New businesses established since April 2019 will also be eligible if they meet the other eligibility criteria (they’ll be able to select another revenue comparison period).
Winter seasonal businesses, such as ski hills, will be permitted to compare revenue from December 2019 or January 2020 to December 2020.
Businesses that ineligible for the grant include those that were already required to close prior to October 2020. Essential small businesses that are permitted to operate with capacity restrictions, such as grocery stores and convenience stores, are also ineligible.
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To apply for the Ontario Small Business Support Grant, visit www.app.grants.gov.on.ca/msrf, where you can also apply for the Main Street Relief Grant for Personal Protective Equipment, the Property Tax Rebate Grant, and the Energy Cost Rebate Grant.
Nicole Myers-Mitchell is the inaugural general manager of The Grove Theatre, a new outdoor performance venue in Fenelon Falls in the City of Kawartha Lakes that is staging its first production in summer 2021. (Photo: Roseneath Theatre)
The Grove Theatre — a new outdoor performance venue in Fenelon Falls in the City of Kawartha Lakes — has announced the hiring of Nicole Myers-Mitchell at its first general manager.
Myers-Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a degree in acting from the University of Windsor. In 2006, she moved to Toronto where she worked as an actor and stage manager, as communications and enrichment manager with Volcano Theatre and Peggy Baker Dance Projects, and as development coordinator and manager of corporate development and special events with Opera Atelier out of the Elgin Theatre.
She was also producer and then general manager for Shakespeare in the Ruff’s 2014 and 2015 seasons. Most recently, she has worked as associate producer at Roseneath Theatre in Toronto.
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“I am thrilled to be working with Nicole as general manager,” says Christy Yael, artistic director of The Grove Theatre. “Nicole comes with a wealth of experience in the performing arts that lends itself perfectly to the long-term vision of The Grove Theatre.”
Myers-Mitchell will be relocating to Fenelon Falls with her husband and two-year-old son. While she has worked in Toronto for the past 14 years, she is also familiar with small-town life, having been born and raised in Wallaceburg in southwestern Ontario.
“We are all very excited by the appointment of Nicole to The Grove Theatre,” says Tim Wisener, co-founder of The Grove Theatre.
“Nicole’s experience in arts leadership and administration is exactly what the organization needs to continue its growth. Nicole’s passion for the good the arts can do is infectious and her excitement about living in a small town made her the perfect fit for the organization.”
VIDEO: Introducing The Grove Theatre in Fenelon Falls
The only outdoor performance venue in Kawartha Lakes, The Grove Theatre was created with the help of the Kawartha Works Community Co-operative, a collective that supports a wide range of not-for-profit initiatives that benefit the local community.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation provided the co-op with a $143,700 grant for the construction of the amphitheatre, with members of the local community providing additional support.
The potential audience for The Grove Theatre includes the 75,000 residents in the surrounding community, along with the area’s additional 31,000 seasonal residents, as well as visitors from elsewhere in the Kawarthas and the GTA. Organizers believe the new attraction will provide a substantial economic benefit to the local community, especially Fenelon Falls.
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Built into the garden grove of the Fenelon Falls fairgrounds, the 450-seat open-air venue will host professional performances ranging from musical theatre to Shakespeare plays. Although construction of the amphitheatre was planned well before the pandemic, the outdoor venue also allows for COVID-safe performances.
The Grove Theatre is currently planning its inaugural production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – The Musical! for summer 2021.
For more information about The Grove Theatre, visit www.grovetheatre.ca, where you can also order tickets for the upcoming summer production.
A Kawartha Lakes police vehicle blocks access to Pigeon Lake Road east of Lindsay after a police shooting on November 26, 2020 that resulting in a 33-year-old suspect and an OPP officer being seriously injured. The suspect's one-year-old son was found fatally shot in the man's pickup truck. (Photo: CBC)
There are still no answers from an ongoing investigation by Ontario’s police watchdog into the November 26th confrontation in Kawartha Lakes between police and a 33-year-old man that resulted in his fatal wounding and the shooting death of his infant son at the scene — and the three police officers who were directly involved in the incident have yet to be interviewed.
According to an update provided by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) on Friday afternoon (January 14), little has changed since the SIU’s previous update on December 14th.
Since the December update, the SIU has interviewed an additional four witness officers (for a total of 18 witness officers interviewed to date) and an additional two civilian witnesses (for a total of 14 civilian witnesses interviewed to date).
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However, the SIU states it has not interviewed the three subject officers who each discharged their firearm during the course of the incident, as they “have not as yet availed themselves of an opportunity to be interviewed.”
“Subject officers are under no legal obligation to speak with the SIU but may if they choose to do so,” the SIU states.
The SIU also says it is still awaiting the reports of the post-mortem examinations of the child and his father, which were completed on November 28th and December 4th respectively.
The SIU says the Centre of Forensic Sciences has completed its analysis of the father’s pickup truck — including an exterior examination of the pickup truck, a blood pattern analysis of the truck’s interior, and an initial projectile trajectory analysis — and the SIU is awaiting the report.
The pickup truck was recently released to the SIU, whose forensic investigators have begun a further search for evidence.
The firearms recovered from the scene — including two police-issued rifles, one police-issued pistol, and a pistol located in the pickup truck — along with a number of spent cartridge cases are still with the Centre of Forensic Sciences for examination.
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In its most recent update, the SIU repeats the same statement made in its December 14th update.
“Understandably, there is a pressing public interest in this case, including how the child died and whether it was gunfire from the father or OPP officers that caused the death. The SIU is working to make these determinations.”
On December 14th, the SIU added “Doing so, however, requires time as key evidence must be examined methodically in line with best practices.”
In the January 15th update, the SIU added “In so doing, it is imperative that best investigative practices be strictly adhered to, including the sequencing of various forensic examinations in the proper order.”
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting 2,998 new cases today, with the seven-day average of daily cases across the province decreasing by 207 to 3,273.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 19 new cases to report and 16 additional cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region increasing by 2 to 136.
Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (800), Peel (618), York (250), Waterloo (161), Niagara (153), Windsor-Essex (148), Hamilton (138), Ottawa (133), and Durham (113).
There are double-digit increases in Halton (81), Simcoe Muskoka (73), Middlesex-London (61), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (51), Lambton (36), Eastern Ontario (27), Brant (25), Huron Perth (20), Southwestern (19), Chatham-Kent (18), and Haldimand-Norfolk (18), with smaller increases in Grey Bruce (8), Algoma (7),and Thunder Bay (6).
The remaining 11 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 2 health units (both in northern Ontario) reporting no new cases at all.
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Of today’s new cases, 53% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,159) among people ages 20-39, followed by 860 cases among people ages 40-59. With 2,998 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.4% to 85.3%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased since yesterday by 0.5% to 4.6%, meaning that 46 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on January 14.
Ontario is reporting 100 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 45 in long-term care homes. However, these totals include 46 deaths in Middlesex-London that occurred earlier in the pandemic and are being reported today due to a data cleaning initiative. Excluding these 46 deaths, the number of deaths reported today is 54. It is unknown how many of the long-term care deaths reported today include deaths that previously occurred in Middlesex-London.
Hospitalizations have decreased by 10 from yesterday to 1,647, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs decreasing by 1 to 387, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators remaining unchanged at 280.
A total of 76,472 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 3,212 to 63,728. A total of 174,630 doses of vaccine have been administered, with 15,609 daily doses administered and 17,094 total vaccinations completed (i.e., both doses administered).
Due to the winter break and the remote learning period during the state of emergency, there will be no data to report for schools in southern Ontario until at least January 26. There are 29 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, a decrease of 6 from yesterday, with 14 cases among children and 15 cases among staff.
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 19 new cases to report, including 10 in Northumberland, 5 in Peterborough, and 4 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are no new cases to report in Kawartha Lakes or Haliburton. None of the new cases reported today in licensed child care settings are in the greater Kawarthas region.
An outbreak was declared on January 15 at Crown Ridge long-term care home in Quinte West based on 1 positive case
An additional 16 cases have been resolved, including 5 in Peterborough, 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 3 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are currently 136 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, an increase of 2 from yesterday, including 51 in Peterborough, 35 in Northumberland, 26 in Kawartha Lakes, 23 in Hastings Prince Edward (2 in Quinte West, 16 in Belleville, and 5 in Central Hastings), and 1 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 464 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (408 resolved with 5 deaths), 328 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (279 resolved with 36 deaths), 324 in Northumberland County (284 resolved with 4 deaths), 39 in Haliburton County (38 resolved with no deaths), and 342 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (314 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Northumberland on January 14.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 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’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: 464 (increase of 5) Active cases: 51 (no change) Close contacts: 113 (decrease of 27) Deaths: 5 (no change) Resolved: 408 (increase of 5) Hospitalizations (total to date): 19 (no change)* Total tests completed: Over 40,450 (increase of 150) Outbreaks: Community Living Trent Highlands group home in Peterborough, Fairhaven long-term care home in Peterborough (no change)
*As of January 15, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, with fewer than 10 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive. The hospital is not providing exact numbers of patients.
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 statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 691, including 328 in Kawartha Lakes, 324 in Northumberland, and 39 in Haliburton (increase of 10 in Northumberland)* Active cases: 62, including 26 in Kawartha Lakes, 35 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (net increase of 1) Probable cases: 6, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 5 in Northumberland (increase of 1 in Northumberland) High-risk contacts: 153, including 67 in Kawartha Lakes, 55 in Northumberland, and 9 in Haliburton (net increase of 4)** Hospitalizations (total to date): 29, including 19 in Kawartha Lakes, 9 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)*** Deaths (including among probable cases): 41, including 36 in Kawartha Lakes and 5 in Northumberland (no change) Resolved: 601, including 279 in Kawartha Lakes, 284 in Northumberland, 38 in Haliburton (increase of 8, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland) Institutional outbreaks: Hope St. Terrace long-term care home in Port Hope, Fenelon Court in Fenelon Falls, Island Park Retirement Residence in Campbellford, Maplewood long-term care home in Brighton, Caressant Care McLaughlin Road in Lindsay, Tower of 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.
**This total includes 22 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
***As of January 15, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 5 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19.
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, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 342 (increase of 4) Active cases: 23 (increase of 1) Deaths: 5 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 3 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 1 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 314 (increase of 3) Tests completed: 69,467 Institutional outbreaks: Hastings Manor Beech Villa in Belleville, Crown Ridge long-term care home in Quinte West (increase of 1)*
*An outbreak was declared on January 15 at Crown Ridge long-term care home in Quinte West based on 1 positive case.
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 231,308 (increase of 2,998) Resolved: 197,194 (increase of 2,998, 85.3% of all cases) Positivity rate: 4.6% (decrease of 0.5%) Hospitalized: 1,647 (decrease of 10) Hospitalized and in ICU: 387 (decrease of 1) Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 280 (no change) Deaths: 5,289 (increase of 100)* Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,137 (increase of 45)* Total tests completed: 8,791,388 (increase of 76,472) Tests under investigation: 63,728 (decrease of 3,212) Vaccinations: 15,609 daily doses administered, 174,630 total doses administered, 17,094 total vaccinations completed (both doses)
*These totals include 46 deaths in Middlesex-London that occurred earlier in the pandemic and are being reported today due to a data cleaning initiative. Excluding these 46 deaths, the number of deaths reported today is 54. It is unknown how many of the long-term care deaths reported today include deaths that previously occurred in Middlesex-London.
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from December 15, 2020 – January 14, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from December 15, 2020 – January 14, 2021. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from December 15, 2020 – January 14, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 deaths in Ontario from December 15, 2020 – January 14, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Skaters enjoy Cobourg's Rotary Harbourfront Outdoor Skating Rink. The rink will reopen for daily use on January 18, 2021 with a new mandatory requirement that all skaters wear a non-medical mask, in addition to existing requirements including advance booking of time slots and a maximum of 10 skaters on the rink at a time. (Photo: Town of Cobourg)
Cobourg’s Rotary Harbourfront Outdoor Skating Rink will reopen at 10 a.m. on Saturday (January 16), but with a new mandatory requirement that all skaters wear a non-medical mask.
During an emergency meeting on Wednesday night, municipal council had unanimously decided to temporarily close the popular rink until Saturday while municipal staff reviewed the impact of the province’s stay-at-home order. On Thursday, the Ontario government released the legal text of the order, which permits people to leave home to exercise using an outdoor recreational amenity that is allowed to remain open the province’s Reopening Ontario Act.
“I would like to thank the community for their patience and understanding during the temporary closure while we reviewed and received further clarity on the stay-at-home order,” states Teresa Behan, Cobourg’s deputy director of community services, in a media release. “I am pleased that we can continue to provide another recreational outlet that promotes both physical exercise and mental health and well-being during this time.”
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Beginning on Saturday, the rink will remain open daily from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m., weather permitting. As well as the new mandatory mask requirement, the previous requirements remain in place:
Northumberland County residents only.
10 maximum occupancy.
Bookings must be made in advance.
Bookings consist of a 45-minute time slot.
Register each member of your household (you will receive a confirmation email).
Abide by all safety protocols including physical distancing.
No organized team sports (hockey) or games of tag are allowed.
Peterborough's medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra is asking residents to try to reduce the number of trips outside the home during the stay-at-home order. For example, instead of making multiple trips to the grocery store during a week, make a single trip and stock up for the week. (Stock photo)
With 24 new positive cases of COVID-19 reported in the Peterborough region since Monday (January 11), local health officials and politicians are urging residents to consider the necessity of each trip outside the home during the province’s stay-at-home order — while anticipation of the Pfizer vaccine’s arrival for local long-term care residents is ramping up.
During a Peterborough Public Health media briefing held Friday (January 15), Peterborough’s medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said public health’s inter-agency vaccine planning team held its first meeting Friday morning.
The vaccine’s local arrival is expected sometime during the week following February 1st, with all long-term care home residents and — if supplies allow — home staff and caregivers receiving their first dose by February 15th.
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“I have complete confidence that we will meet our target and that we will take full advantage of the vaccine when it finally does arrive,” said Dr. Salvaterra.
As for the possible scenario where someone associated with a long-term care home refuses to be vaccinated, Dr. Salvaterra noted obtaining the vaccine is “completely voluntary.”
That said, in a letter she addressed to long-term care home staff, she has urged they “truly consider this (getting a shot) as something for their not only own benefit but also for the benefit of residents.”
“I’d like to see the (vaccination compliance) rate over 75 per cent for long-term care staff,” she added.
The overall COVID-19 picture shows that as of Friday (January 15), there were 51 active COVID-19 cases in Peterborough city and county, Curve Lake and Hiawatha region — the same number reported earlier in the week following the resolution of ongoing cases since. In addition, 113 close contacts of positive cases are being monitored.
Since the pandemic’s outbreak, Peterborough Public Health has reported a total of 459 cases, of which 403 have been resolved. There have been five COVID-related deaths confirmed. To date, 40,300 residents have been tested.
Breaking the numbers down further, there has been a decrease in new positive COVID-19 cases. The week of December 28th saw 71 new cases reported, but that dropped to 49 new cases during the week of January 4th. As noted, this week has seen 24 new cases reported so far.
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As for outbreaks, two are ongoing. One is at Fairhaven, the municipally run long-term care home in Peterborough, where a staff member tested positive January 11th, and the other is at an unidentified congregate living facility, also in Peterborough.
In the case of the Fairhaven outbreak, administration has reported there is no evidence as of yet the virus has been transmitted within the home, but the results of outstanding tests are pending.
Much discussion during the briefing centred on the province’s new stay-at-home order. Helping to add some clarity to the rules was Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith.
“This virus does not walk, it doesn’t fly, it can’t move around unless it’s moving with people,” said MPP Smith.
“The stay-at-home order is very simple. It you want to go out, there is one question and only one question that you need to ask. Do you need to go out or do you want to go out? If you need to go out, by all means, go out. But if you want to go out, delay that by a couple of weeks until we lift this order.”
Speaking to heightened social media chatter regarding police doing random stops of people to check why they’re outside of their home, MP Smith insisted that simply isn’t happening.
“Yesterday (Thursday) there was a speed trap on Chemong Road. I have since spoken to police and they have assured me they have not pulled anyone over randomly to find out if their trip was essential. There are a number of reports (of random stops) that are third and fourth hand. There’s nothing first hand.”
MP Smith also addressed another contentious issue, that being the determination that big-box stores are essential and thus allowed to remain fully open.
“We don’t want to be in a position where we’re creating an unbalanced field and unduly punishing small businesses by letting larger stores that sell multiple things stay open,” acknowledged MP Smith.
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“Downtown Peterborough, for example, has struggled significantly. All of the stores there are small stores. In order for you to buy multiple things, you’re making multiple stops. That’s multiple contacts; that’s multiple opportunities to spread the virus. We’re trying to reduce the number of opportunities of having contact with others.”
For her part, Dr. Salvaterra echoed the do-I-need-it-now mantra.
“If it’s a light bulb, do I need it now or can it wait? It’s about making decisions to reduce not only day-to-day trips, but also reduce the number of times you are leaving your home — seeing if you can consolidate those visits and making the most efficient use of those risky times (outside the home). Each time you go out you are taking a risk.”
Also present for the briefing were Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef, and Peterborough board of health chair and Selwyn mayor Andy Mitchell — the latter of whom was re-elected this week to another term as health board chair. In his comments, Mayor Mitchell focused on staying the course until the local population can be vaccinated.
“I know you’re tired and frustrated,” he said. “Everyone is and with good reason. But we can’t give up now. Even though it may not seem like it, the end is beginning to come into focus. This spring we will not just subdue COVID, we will beat it. Our challenge is to get from where we are today to summer.”
A 40-year-old man had died from injuries sustained after being struck by a car Thursday night (January 14) on George Street in Peterborough near the Holiday Inn.
At around 8:30 p.m., police were notified a vehicle had struck a man on George Street between Dalhousie and Townsend streets.
The man was taken to Peterborough Regional Health Centre and then transported to a hospital in Toronto, where he succumbed to his injuries.
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Police say the vehicle believed to have been involved in the incident was located on Water Street, but have not released any information on whether charges will be laid.
“Police would also like to thank the Good Samaritans who stopped their vehicles to help,” states a media release.
Police have not released the name of the victim.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call police at 705-876-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or on online at www.stopcrimehere.ca.
This is the second unnatural death in Peterborough in the past day.
On Thursday morning, a man’s body was found beside train tracks between The Parkway and Lansdowne Street West. The coroner is investigating that incident.
The story has been updated with further details about the incident released by police.
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