With schools closed, youth across Ontario are missing out on in-person celebrations of their accomplishments this year. GreenUP’s Wonders of Water team would like your help in celebrating the remarkable achievements of a group of grade 8 students at Monsignor O’Donaghue Catholic Elementary School in the east end of Peterborough.

Please toast with us as you read this story — raise a glass of water in honour of these student leaders.

This story begins in September 2019. The grade 8 class at Monsignor O’Donaghue — MO’D as it is affectionately known — was starting their science program for the year. As part of a new “deep learning” process, the students were given the freedom to lead their own learning through problem solving and collaboration.

The teachers, Ashley Fitzgerald and Krista Wells-Skinners, assumed the role of supportive facilitators instead of directors or leaders.

Their science program began with a screening of A Plastic Ocean, a 2016 documentary film that looks at plastic pollution choking the world’s oceans and emphasizes the need for a “wave of change”.

VIDEO: “A Plastic Ocean” Trailer

“We had group discussions about the documentary,” explains student A.J. Whitney. “We had to be patient and inclusive. It was so much fun sharing my ideas and having very loose guidelines.”

After much discussion, the students narrowed their focus on how they wanted to proceed in their science program for the year.

“The kids were the ones making all the decisions,” observes grade 8 student Erin Livings.

The students felt strongly about being part of that “wave of change” mentioned in the documentary. They wanted to support water preservation with real actions, and they wanted to start with goals for change right at home by focusing on the use of water in the school itself.

“We chose the water refill station as our goal,” says Austin Gallagher, one of the students who led this project. “Our water stations at the time barely worked. We wanted to promote reusable water bottles so less people would bring in disposable water bottles.”

Applying for a Wonders of Water Deep Learning Water Retrofit was one way to realize that goal. Karen O’Krafka, coordinator of GreenUP’s Wonders of Water program, had sent the retrofit grant expression of interest criteria to all Peterborough city and county schools. The students reviewed the criteria and wrote an email to O’Krafka asking for support to change their school’s infrastructure and, ultimately, their relationship with water.

Citing aging water fountain infrastructure at MO’D as a driving reason for dependence on single-use plastic water bottles, the email proposed a student-researched solution. They would install water bottle refill stations at MO’D, and use this important water retrofit as the catalyst for a school-wide water education program designed and delivered by the grade 8 students themselves.

The students named their project “CAPS off Water”, an acronym representing the conservation, awareness, protection, and stewardship of water. These are the core pillars of the Peterborough Children’s Water Festival and the basis of the Wonders of Water Program. “CAPS off Water” is also a useful mnemonic for remembering the goal of reducing single-use plastic water bottles.

The students formed groups to focus on all the different areas they wanted to cover. As part of this school-wide education program, students took on a broad range of projects.

They made art displays communicating the core elements of water conservation. They applied for additional grants, including Ecoleague funding. They designed reusable water bottles. They wrote children’s books about plastic pollution in water. They created awareness-building posters. The students even planned to lead their very own World Water Day assembly in advance of the Peterborough Children’s Water Festival.

Each of these projects was completely spearheaded by the students and their vision for creating an enduring legacy at MO’D.

“We had come to a decision that we thought would have a lasting impact on the school,” says student Lucas Pronk.

As a result of the collaborative efforts of these students, two water refill stations were installed at MO’D before March break.

“After the water stations were installed, it was amazing to see how many kids were using them,” observes student Ireland Payne.

“It was so much fun to see this project go from an idea to having a line-up at the water refill station,” adds student Macy Harper.

To celebrate Earth Day in April, the students had planned to host an assembly, a media event, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony. They had eagerly designed an activity centre for the Peterborough Children’s Water Festival to demonstrate peer-to-peer learning.

Then schools closed and the water festival cancelled because of COVID-19.

While we can’t demonstrate this remarkable student-led learning and leadership in large gatherings as the students had planned, we can still celebrate and share the accomplishments of these students with you at home.

Together apart, we can share with you that this group of remarkable student leaders at Monsignor O’Donaghue have been awarded with GreenUP’s School Engagement Award for participation in education workshops and events, including the Wonders of Water workshops and Active School Travel planning.

Thank you for reading this article and sharing in this celebration from home.

You can find out more about the Wonders of Water program at greenup.on.ca/wow or connect with Karen O’Krafka, GreenUP’s Water Education Programs Coordinator, at karen.okrafka@greenup.on.ca.

The Ontario government has lifted restrictions on short-term rentals in the province, including cabins, cottages, homes, hunting and fishing camps, resorts, houseboats, condominiums, and bed and breakfasts.

Beginning just after midnight on Friday, June 5th, short-term rentals can resume. The government says owners and operators are expected to follow occupational health and safety guidelines and general public health advice by consulting:

• the health and safety guidelines related to the tourism and hospitality sector
• the health and safety guidelines for hotel reception, room service, and front-line staff
• the health and safety guidelines for hotel housekeeping and laundry employees
• the advice of local public health officials under s.22 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act when considering how they can reopen their doors to guests.

The government originally banned short-term rentals — defined as rentals of 28 days or less — on April 4th in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, short-term accommodations could be provided only to individuals in need of housing.

The story has been updated to confirm the date when restrictions on short-term rentals were lifted and with information about health and safety guidelines.

People with challenges finding employment will be helping clean downtown Peterborough this summer beginning in June.

The One City Peterborough program was originally launched in 2018 as an initiative of the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) in partnership with the Warming Room Community Ministries.

The 2018 program saw 13 people with various barriers to employment hired to help clean the downtown core, along with a pair of outreach workers to to reach out to vulnerable people in the area.

This year, clients of One City Peterborough will join workers with Clint’s Property Maintenance to assist with cleaning the downtown during the summer months.

The One City Peterborough “clean team” will be in downtown Peterborough during the day with cleaning carts to sweep sidewalks, pick up litter, remove old posters from lampposts, safely disposing of discarded needles, and other small cleaning tasks.

In 2019, the DBIA issued a new request for proposals for its downtown streetscape maintenance contract, with a request that proposals include a social enterprise component. In January, the DBIA awarded the contract to Clint’s Property Maintenance in partnership with One City Peterborough.

“We’re excited to have One City Peterborough back,” says DBIA executive director Terry Guiel. “This partnership with Clint’s Property Maintenance shows what organizations can do when they add social procurement into their contracts.”

“Not only are we going to end up with a cleaner downtown, but we’re going to help who really need it,” Gueil says. “We’re going to make downtown stronger.”

The One City Peterborough program aims to help people with barriers to employment to get back into the workforce, including connecting team members with local employment agencies and potential employers.

One City Peterborough, which was among 10 charities to receive $200,000 in funding in April from the Community Foundation of Greater Peterborough and United Way Peterborough & District’s COVID-19 Community Response Fund, also provides supportive housing for small groups of previously homeless people.

For more information about One City Peterborough, visit onecityptbo.ca.

If and when the Ontario government adopts a regional approach to reopening the province, the Peterborough area is well positioned to one of the regions given the green light.

During her weekly media briefing held Wednesday (June 3), Peterborough’s medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra said she believes the local region “is primed to move ahead with the relaxing of some restrictions” ahead of other regions.

Cause for her optimism can be found in the low number of cases locally in comparison to the provincial average.

In the Peterborough Public Health catchment area of Peterborough city and county and Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations, there have been 60 positive cases detected per 100,000 people compared to Ontario’s rate of 193 positives cases per 100,000 people. Meanwhile, the local incidence rate over the past week is 4.7 positive cases per 100,000 people, again much lower than the provincial incidence rate of 17 cases per 100,000 people.

The challenge with regional openings, noted Dr. Salvaterra, lies in the likelihood of people from outside the region coming here to take advantage of services still not open or available in their home region.

“That’s always the tension when you take a regional approach,” she said. “I would expect that there would be provincial guidance given to ensure people will respect whatever regionalization there is and stay close to home.”

While the local rate of positive cases versus the provincial rate is indeed favourable, community transmission locally is still a concern.

Of the region’s reported positive cases, 19.1 per cent are connected to community spread where contact with a known case or travel circumstances was not a factor. That’s the highest that number has been locally.

“That number is really critical,” said Dr. Salvaterra, noting it is being watched carefully. “We’re not sure where will we land. We’re learning as we go in terms of how low we can get that community transmission rate.”

That said, Dr. Salvaterra noted “the community is doing very well” as the COVID-19 pandemic and related measures approach the three-month mark.

“I think the community is doing very well. The (anti-racism) protest yesterday (Tuesday) was another clear example that people are taking the physical distancing message to heart. I was there. Everyone was wearing a mask. The emcee asked people to adhere to physical distancing and they did.”

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday (June 2), the total number of positive cases in the region was 89 — an increase of six cases over the past week.

Of the positive cases, 76 have been resolved while 11 cases remain active, with two COVID-19 related deaths reported so far for the entire duration of the pandemic. There are currently no institutional outbreaks reported in the region.

Meanwhile, an estimated 9,150 people have been tested, with 1,800 of them over the past week. One of every 16 residents in Peterborough Public Health’s catchment area has been tested.

Dr. Salvaterra also spoke to the success of the drive-through COVID-19 testing centre at the Kinsmen Arena, noting 1,855 have been tested at that site since it opened last Wednesday (May 27) — a daily average of 265 people tested.

To date, 1,350 test results have been reported, all negative except for one, which was a positive test result for a visitor to the area from Durham Region.

The Kinsmen Arena testing centre will remain open until at least this Friday (June 5). Dr. Salvaterra said drive-through testing will now also be introduced in rural areas.

Drop-in clinics will be held in Curve Lake this Friday (June 5), Hiawatha on Saturday (June 6), and in North Kawartha Township on Monday (June 8). Both the Curve Lake and Hiawatha are for residents of those communities only, while the North Kawartha clinic will be open to the general public.

The time and location of each clinic is yet to be determined. That information will be posted on the Peterborough Public Health website at peterboroughpublichealth.ca.

Dr. Salvaterra again addressed a recent alarming increase in the number of local suspected opioid-related deaths, with two more reported over the past week — bringing to eight the total in May and 17 so far in 2020.

“We have engaged the early warning system task force to identify common factors behind these tragic deaths,” she said.

“There are likely multiple factors causing these untimely deaths. We continue our call for a comprehensive approach to this tragic epidemic involving opioids and other potent drugs. Our board of health is on record with a motion asking the federal and provincial governments to legalize a safe supply of opioids as one part of a comprehensive approach.”

Users are reminded to never use drugs alone, avoid mixing drugs, carry a naloxone kit and keep it visible for others to see, do not use drugs at the same time as those with you, and test your drug using a small amount first.

Also participating in Wednesday’s media briefing were Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef and Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien.

This story has been updated to correct “the local incidence rate over the past week is 4.7 per cent” to “the local incidence rate over the past week is 4.7 positive cases per 100,000 people”.

Peterborough city councillor Stephen Wright has issued a public apology for travelling to New Brunswick in May during the COVID-19 pandemic — a trip that prompted outrage in New Brunswick and national news coverage.

In the apology “to the residents of New Brunswick and Peterborough”, Wright says he made an error in judgment by travelling to New Brunswick during this pandemic.

“My over zealous approach to research the restaurant sector in the anticipation of reopening our economy, and for that I am truly sorry,” he writes in part.

On Friday (May 29), Wright was interviewed by Joelle Kovach of the Peterborough Examiner about a “fact-finding road trip” he had taken to New Brunswick the previous weekend.

Wright, who is part of the City of Peterborough’s economic recovery task force, told Kovach he took the trip to investigate the impact of restaurants reopening in that province.

Kovach reported that Wright said the trip lasted three days, that he stayed in his car for the entire trip (including sleeping), and that he told an RCMP officer on his way into New Brunswick that he would stay isolated in his car for the entire trip.

Wright’s trip sparked outrage on social media, as there ia ban on non-essential travel into New Brunswick due to COVID-19.

Wright’s trip happened just before news of a COVID-19 outbreak in northern New Brunswick that was linked to a doctor at a hospital who had contracted COVID-19 outside of the province and who didn’t self-isolate when he returned.

It also happened at the same time as a scandal involving U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson’s chief advisor, Dominic Cummings, who was highly criticized for breaking that country’s lockdown rules by driving 425 kilometres from London to Durham.

Both Saint John Mayor Don Darling and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs raised concerns about Wright’s trip to the province. Higgs said at a media conference on Sunday (May 31) that the province had launched a “full investigation” into what provincial enforcement officers asked Wright at the Quebec-New Brunswick border and what he told them.

On Monday (June 1), CBC News interviewed Wright about his trip. Wright told CBC he was “misunderstood because of a poor phone connection” when he spoke to the Examiner, and that his trip to New Brunswick actually lasted 10 days — from May 14 to 23 — and that he stayed at the private home of an acquaintance, who he has refused to identify, rather than in his car.

He also told CBC that he had called chambers of commerce and business associations in New Brunswick but that his calls were not returned. On Tuesday (June 2), four business groups in New Brunswick said they had no record of calls from Wright.

Also on Tuesday, the Peterborough Examiner reported that Peterborough mayor Diane Therrien demanded that Wright issue a public apology for the trip.

“Councillor Stephen Wright’s trip outside the province was not endorsed by myself, city council, or the city,” Therrien wrote in a statement to the Examiner. “He will not be reimbursed for any costs incurred as a result of the trip. Councillors Wright should apologize for the trip.

“As elected representatives, we are rightly expected to lead by example — especially during a public health emergency when we’re asking people to put their health and the health of the community first.”

On Wednesday (June 3), Wright issued the following public apology: