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  • 8/6/2019 FACS - Provincial Funding Response

    1/2

    email: [email protected] ISSN 0834-6283 PAP No. 07429www.fortfrances.com

    A N D R A I N Y L A K E H E R A L D

    Fort Frances TimesFort Frances TimesWEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2010$1.19 plus 6 GST, $1.25 U.S. Printed in Canada Volume 116 Number 43

    INSIDE

    The proposed hydroelectricdevelopment on the NamakanRiver means economic andsocial hope for Lac La CroixFirst Nation, Chief Leon Jour-dain said as the public review period of the projects draftenvironmental report wrapsup by the end of this week.

    Namakan projectmeans hope

    The Emo spray park com-mittee has reached its fund-raising goal of $150,000thanks to a $20,000 donationfrom former district residentsRob and Liana (nee Hyatt)Frenette.

    Were ecstatic about this,said spray park committeechair Lincoln Dunn.

    Obviously for us, this isfabulous, he enthused.

    Spray parkachieves goal

    The Kenora Broncos had provided some late-season headaches for the Muskie se-niors boys basketball team.

    Kenora upset the Muskies49-41 back on Feb. 4, andnearly repeated the feat thefollowing week before falling49-46.

    Sr. hoopsterssnag gold

    See story on C1

    See story on A3

    See story on B1

    Trio hails Alabama trip as a successBy Duane HicksStaff writer

    If tired feet are a sign of success,then a trip to Alabama last weekby a trio of local delegates was ablockbuster.

    Doug Cain and Jim Cummingof the Fort Frances Canadian BassChampionship, along with localChamber of Commerce manager

    Anthony Mason, who also is anFFCBC director, got back Mondayfrom the 2010 Bassmaster ClassicOutdoors Expo, which ran Fridaythrough Sunday in Birmingham.

    Similar to a trip taken to Shreve-port, La. last year, they were thereto promote Fort Frances and RainyLake as a place to fish and forthose in the fishing industry to dobusiness.

    And while it will take time tosee what might result from theirefforts, the three did their best totalk to as many people as possibleat the major fishing show.

    It went very well, Cain said yes-terday. One thing that we found inBirmingham, versus Shreveport, isthere were a lot of people whowere familiar with our part of thecountry because they had moved

    from the upper [U.S.] Midwest toretire down there.

    They would say, I used to livein Wisconsin, or I grew up inOhio, and we used to go whereverwhen I was a kid, he noted.

    It was kind of neat. There wasthat kind of connection we did nothave when we were in Shreveport,Cain added.

    We ran into far more people that

    were familiar with Fort Frances,Rainy Lake, Nestor Falls, and RainyRiver District as places to vacationand fish, and thats because an aw-ful lot of people that attended thebooth had lived in Illinois, Indiana,Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota,Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, andeither through their jobs changingor retirement, theyd relocated to

    By Peggy RevellStaff writer

    Faced with million-dollar deficits,Childrens Aid Societies across the province have welcomed the On-tario governments one-time miti-gation funding of $26.9 millionbut now are left wondering aboutthe state of their budget next year.

    We were quite pleased, DebbieLeonard, director of administra-tion for Weechi-it-te-win FamilyServices here, said about the prov-inces allocation of $942,000 inone-time funding to their agency,

    meaning their expected deficit of just over $1 million has been re-duced and now will be minimal.

    But despite the provinces fund-ing announcement, the upcomingyear is still up in the air.

    Thats the issue, right? Leon-ard remarked when asked abouthow the agency is looking to avoidthis same funding shortfall in theupcoming financial year.

    Were back to square one. We have to start all over again, shestressed.

    If the agency was short by a mil-lion dollars this past year, it prob-ably always will be a million short because of the provinces cut tocore funding, she explained, whichsaw Weechi-it-te-win lose $940,00in funding last June.

    This something every agencyacross the province is facing, shenoted.

    Although we welcome [the

    funding], it really does nothing forour deficit in future years, Leon-ard warned, noting they will bemeeting very shortly to plan howto keep costs down.

    When originally faced with thisfunding shortfall, Leonard saidWeechi-it-te-win implementedquite a few cutbacks, includinglayoffs, a five percent wage cut,and cuts to the pension plan.

    All in all, about $1 million [in]cutbacks [occurred] to try to re-duce our costs, she said, addingthat even after this, the agencystill was forecasting a $1-milliondeficit.

    Prior to receiving the phone callfrom the ministry, Weechi-it-te-winwas ready to take advantage of thepolitical strengthssuch as throughthe Treaty #3 grand chiefto pres-sure the ministry to get fundingback, Leonard noted.

    Of the $29.7 million announcedby the province of one-time mitiga-tion funding, $2.1 million has beenearmarked for aboriginal agencies.

    Meanwhile, as first reported lastweek, Family & Childrens Servicesof the Rainy River Districtwhich had predicted at $600,000 defi-citreceived $430,000 from theprovince.

    The province either had to pro-vide this funding or you literallywould have seen dozens of CASacross the province close theirdoors, lay off their staff, and ceaseto provide services to children and

    Provincialfunding

    seen asshort-termsolution

    By Duane HicksStaff writer

    Organizers are hoping to getlocal people of all ages hookedon a new community art projectwhich is coming together in FortFrances.

    A collaborative rug-hookingproject based on the theme WhatHooks You Here, which has re-ceived funding from the Com-munity Arts and Heritage Educa-tion Project (CAHEP), will seecommunity members take turnshooking two pieces over the nextyear which, when completed, willremain on display at the Fort Fran-ces Museum.

    Intended to be both a commu-nity arts and heritage education project, it will involve creativeinput from the community while,at the same time, teach the public how to rug hook, explained Deb-bie Ballard, who along with fellowavid rug hooker Judy Kielczewski,were among those who submit-ted several hooked pieces to acommunity art-themed museumexhibit last month.

    Those same pieces led to adiscussion of a community rug-hooking project at a CAHEP meet-ing here last month, after whichmuseum curator Pam Cain urged

    them to apply for funding.They then met with CAHEP co-

    ordinator Lila Cano of ThunderBay a couple of weeks ago, wholoved the all-encompassing na-ture of it, enthused Ballard.

    Shortly thereafter, the rug-hook-ing project was given the greenlight.

    When I met [Ballard and Kielc-zewski], they were just amazing. Isaw their work at the museum andit is really phenomenal, notedCano.

    As a project, it is fantastic,she added, saying the rug-hookingproject will see a range of peopleartists, rug hookers, students, and just about anybody elseworkingtogether to make it happen.

    And not knowing what theyllcome up with is exciting.

    What were hoping is, say, awriter and maybe a visual artistworks in a class to get the kids,seniors, or the learners theyreworking with to brainstorm ideasfor what the final result could be,said Cano.

    When you jump off a cliff, youdont know if youre going to flyor where youre going to land, andpart of it is because the initial cre-ative work has got to come fromthe groupswhether it is younglearners, older learners, seniors,or community groups, she re-marked. Please see Provincial, A5

    Belles father, Maurice (Caleb Dueck), was surprised by Cogs-worth (Conner Pocock) during a rehearsal for Donald YoungSchools production of Beauty and the Beast on Monday.Performances will take this evening, as well as tomorrow and

    Friday, starting at 7 p.m. Tickets, which will be available atthe door, cost $10 for adults and $6 for seniors, with childrenunder 12 admitted free. See more photos on B1.

    Dave Ogilvie photo

    Beauty scene

    Please see Trio, A5

    This selection of hooked rugs now on display at the FortFrances Museum is an example of what could be done forthe CAHEP-funded project. These pieces were among thosecrafted by Debbie Ballard, Judy Kielczewski, and Cheryl Be-han. Duane Hicks photo

    Community rug-hooking

    project in the works hereIdeas wanted

    Please see Community, A5

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  • 8/6/2019 FACS - Provincial Funding Response

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    Wednesday, February 24, 2010 FORT FRANCES TIMES A5

    How would your rate Canadasperformance at the 2010 Games?

    HAVE YOUR SAYHAVE YOUR SAY

    To take part in our onlinepoll, visit the Times Website at: www.fftimes.com

    Last weeks question--How much have you been

    watching the Olympics?--saw 409 responses:-55 % voted Every day-19 % voted Once in a while-14 % voted What Olympics?

    -12 % voted Fairly often

    More from A1the southeastern United States,echoed Cumming.

    Many of the people had fondsmemories of their time spent fish-

    ing here, and spent time reminisc-ing, he added.Oft times, they brought other

    family members who hadnt beenhere and were really curious aboutRainy Lake. . . .

    That was really encouraging tosee they had a connection to thisarea, this community, Cummingenthused.

    Cain and Cumming went toShreveport last year, but Masonwas new to the Bassmaster Classicexperience.

    I think it was a very successfulevent, he remarked. Mind you,its 1,300 miles away. How manypeople are we going to attract fromdown there? Who knows?

    But the thing is they now knowwhere we are, the people thatwalked through, Mason reasoned.

    It was a nice show. I met a lot o fgood people, Mason added later.One of the highlights was I met aguy [Kevin Ogle] who started up apaper [Coastal Angler] and talkedto him for 20-30 minutes, andthen he came up to us later andoffered us a free quarter-page adin his paper.

    I met another guy who wasinterested in coming up here anddoing a sports show.

    But its all a time game, Masonstressed. Youve got to wait andsee what comes out of all of thebusinesses you talked to. . . .

    Its a time game to see howmany people we met will actuallyget back to us.

    That said, he reiterated it neverhurts.

    You go down there and youtalk with 2,000 people, and youvemade contact with 2,000 peoplewho didnt know about Rainy Lakeor Fort Frances, nothing bad willcome out of this.

    Its always a positive thing,Mason noted.Cumming said they made a seri-

    ous effort to talk with manufac-turers and distributors of fishingtackle and gear, and met as manyas they could (100-150)even do-ing so prior to the trade showopening each morning.

    Many of them were smaller busi-nesses that had an interest inexpanding beyond their regionalarea, he added, noting Fort Francesis a ideal spot for them to expandto, with a central location andan easy access borderperhaps agood location where tackle comesin bulk, is packaged, and thenshipped east or west.

    The Rainy River Future De-velopment Corp. will follow upon any leads in the next severalmonths, noted Cumming.

    The local trio also got media cov-erage while down there. Cumming

    was interviewed by CBC RadiosGord Ellis on Thursday afternoonand Lisa Laco on Friday morning,as well as by Darla Bardelli of pop-ular U.S. radio program, OutdoorsIn America.

    Cumming said they also tried totalk to as many outdoor writers,filmographers, and other membersof the media they could catch upto, and when possible, had themfill out a survey.

    They will be holding a draw formembers of the media, the winnerof which will win a trip to comehere and do a story (similar drawswill be held for survey participantsfrom the public and fishing indus-try sectors, respectively).

    All of these surveys will pro-vide valuable data that could beused for future marketing purposeshere.

    Cumming said the show was laid

    out better than in Shreveport. Andtheir booth not only was twice asbig, but located near the entranceto the weigh-ins, which were heldin the same building, bringing byextra traffic.

    I think the traffic was down alittle bit from Shreveport, but we had far more people stop, Cum-

    ming said. Perhaps a good sign iswe were out of literature Saturdayafternoon, our main literature.

    So we had bass literature, andan In-Fisherman article and aRapala article to hand out all daySunday, he noted, adding thecrowd attendance was highest thatday.

    The bigger booth also allottedthem more room to talk to people.

    Cumming also said they weregrateful that FFCBC mainstayPhil Bangert, who has fished theBassmaster Elite Series in thesouthern U.S., helped out at theirbooth.

    He was able to put a real cred-ible face as to how good the fishingis on Rainy Lake, and talk about

    the multi-species fishing and whata fun place it is, he noted.Cumming added many people

    had a hard time fathoming howbig Rainy Lake is. Lay Lake, wherethe Bassmaster Classic was held, isonly 1/12 the size.

    As for the bass tourney itself,Cain said they were very busy attheir booth, but he was able toslip away and see the full weigh-inon Friday and the last half of theweigh-in on Saturday, though notthe finals on Sunday.

    He noted the weigh-ins at the12,000-seat arena were quite aspectacle.

    They do it up right, Cain said.The lights are down, everythingis hot lights, special effects, discoballs, rock n roll. They do a reallygood job.

    The set they have to build thereis unbelievable, he added. Themedia centre was in the arena, so

    we were back and forth and youcould see the set up taking shape.

    Our booth went up in the morn-ing [Thursday], and in that samemorning, the transformation thatthey made was unbelievable. Theywere hanging stuff from the ceil-ings.

    Its a neat thing, Cain enthused.It gives us some ideas we mightwant to be able to do, just in termsof layout, when we go to the arenathis year [for the FFCBC].

    The trip was a joint effort ofthe Rainy River Future Develop-ment Corp., Town of Fort Frances,FedNor, Fort Frances Chamber ofCommerce, Fort Frances CanadianBass Championship, and the pri-vate sector.

    Cumming stressed the impor-tance of having those private-sec-tor sponsors, who committed tensof thousands of dollars to theirpromotional efforts.

    For example, area resorts suchas Campfire Island, Camp Ontario,and Camp Narrows donated tripsworth $3,900 apiece as draw priz-es while La Place Rendez-Vous do-nated a two-night stay and mealsas part of one of those prize pack-ages.

    Fin-tech Tackle, which transport-ed their booth and materials fromInternational Falls to Birmingham, probably saved them $1,000 infreight costs while other sponsors,like Northland Tackle and LindnerMedia, donated thousands of dol-lars in lures and tackle, DVDs, andother items to give away.

    Its a positive sign when you have Fin-tech Tackle, Faculty ofFishing, Northland Tackle, BillLewis Lures, Lindner Media, In-Fisherman Magazine, Rapala, whoall use this area to test their prod-ucts, shoot shows, all of that, and

    they see the value in promotingthe Fort Frances area and RainyLake, remarked Cumming.

    They see value in having their products associated with us, heexplained. We might not perceiveit ourselves, but these national cor-porations do.

    Trio hailsAlabama tripas a success

    More from A1families in need, said local MPPHoward Hampton.

    I think the McGuinty Liberals have been forced to admit thatthey have been underfunding Chil-drens Aid Societies.

    Thats really whats happenedhere.

    Hampton also warned the miti-gation funding is not going to doanything wonderful.

    It will merely allow the Chil-drens Aid Societies across Ontarioto continue operating until the end

    of their fiscal year, which is March31, he argued. But theyre stillunder the gun, theyre still in a position where theyre having toreduce services.

    Theyre still in a position where,for the next fiscal year, theyre go-ing to be in the same situation, hestressed.

    By the time the end of Novem- ber or December rolls around,many of them will be out of moneyagain, Hampton warned.

    Ive talked with the CASs, bothwith Tikinagan, with Weechi-it-te-win, Ive talked with FACS, Ivetalked with Kenora-Patricia CAS,Ive talked to all of them over the past six months and all of themare facing these budget pressuresin one way or another, theyreall being pushed over the edge,Hampton said.

    And not because theyve doneanything wrong.

    If anything, theyve done ev-erything right, he noted. Theyvedone everything according to thelaw of Ontario, and they shouldntbe treated this way.

    Despite this one-time mitigationfunding, Childrens Aid Societies

    from around the province still arepredicting deficits.

    With a projected shortfall of$2.5 million, Algomas CAS re-ceived $1.4 million in mitigationfunding, according to the CanadianUnion of Public Employees.

    Thats not enough to sustain programs, charged CUPE 1880Group VP Melissa Guild.

    Until funding is fixed in a waythat includes long-term base fund-ing for these programs, it will bethe same scenario next year-end,she warned.

    With the current funding for-mula, there will never be adequatedollars for these critical programsthat keep children safely with theirfamilies whenever possible ratherthan coming unnecessarily intocare of the agency.

    And thats a shame because itsthese types of programs that aregood for children, and also actu-ally save money in the long-runby keeping children out of institu-tional care.

    Ultimately these cuts hurt chil-dren, Guild argued.

    When it comes to the funding ofCASs in the province, the Ministryof Youth and Childrens Services has established a commission topromote sustainability in the childprotection sector.

    Hopefully, through this process,theyll be able to come up with anequitable funding formula for allagencies, said Leonard.

    But she added the process itselfwill take three years, with reformpossibly taking four or five years.

    The ministry really needs toexamine the existing funding for-mula, she agreed. In my opinion,it dont think it needs to take that

    long.This review isnt going to do

    anything for two years, echoedHampton. Lets be clear. Thisreview is a political creation to getthem past the next election.

    This review wont even reportuntil after the next election.

    Its a shell game to cover upthe fact that Childrens Aid Societ-ies are simply not getting enoughfunding to enable them to do theirjob in many places across the prov-ince, he charged.

    [What] needs to be recognized

    is this: the funding formula thatthe McGuinty Liberals are usingdoesnt address the real needs,Hampton said, arguing past Liber-al and Conservative governments have loaded up CASs with newobligations, responsibilities, andprocesses while not increasing thefunding to pay for these initiatives.

    CASs havent just suddenlyratcheted up their spending,Hampton noted.

    [CASs] dont have control overwho comes through the door, hestressed. So the fact that a CAS[such as FACS] has a balancedbudget for three years, and every-thing is working along in a reason-able way, the next year that CASmight be hit with five, six, sevenchildren who have very complexmental health, social, and psycho-logical issues.

    The budget process the prov-ince has established has to address

    those realities.As well, the downturn of theeconomy has meant there morechildren in need than ever, Hamp-ton addedsomething the provincehasnt addressed.

    This increasing demand for ser-

    vice also has been noted by theOntario Association of ChildrensAid Societies in its submissionto the Ontario governments pre-budget consultation.

    As of the end of fiscal year2008-09, CASs reported increasesof three percent for child pro-tection referrals and two percentfor investigations, the submissionnoted.

    While these increases appear tobe modest, they reflect the growthin caseloads before the full impactof the economic downturn.

    Research clearly indicates thatchild protection growth lags be-hind unemployment and social as-sistance increases, the submissionadded.

    There is no doubt that CAScaseloads for referrals and investi-gations will rise in 2009-11.

    Hampton said the province alsohas implemented rules and regula-tions for CASs which need to beremoved, some of which mean thatthe agencies now are being forcedto deal with what are, in effect, re-ally problems of low income andpoverty.

    The way the rules are now, Ithink a lot of children are beingtaken into care not because their parents are bad parents, not be-cause their parents are negligentparents, only because their parentsare poor, he noted.

    Thats wrong. You should notbe using the Childrens Aid Societ-

    ies to address poverty issues, heargued.Those should be addressed in

    other ways, through EmploymentInsurance federally and througha more realistic social assistanceprocess provincially.

    Provincial funding seen as short-term solution

    More from A1You dont know what that end

    result is going to be.They are part of the creative

    process, Cano stressed. They areeither developing the story thatsgoing to go on the rug that will behooked by the community or theyare going to brainstorming intothe design or colourswho knowswhat?

    Probably a lot of all of thosethings.

    Cano also liked the theme WhatHooks You Here.

    People live in Fort Frances, welive in the north, for a reasonwelive here because we love it, sheenthused. There are so many

    things that draw us to these kindsof places that are exciting and beautifularts, heritage, culture,sports, landscapes, all of it.

    Were trying to really celebratewhy we choose to live in theseplaces.

    Cano said she also was lookingfor a project that could be done byabsolutely anyone. Whether theyare young children or seniors in ahome, they should be able to hooka rug and get joy out of participat-ing, out of being part of that.

    I thought, Thats fantastic.Thats real collaboration and itsreal inclusivity.

    Absolutely everyone can geton board and celebrate what theirstory is.

    Ballard agreed the idea is to getas many hands as possible workingon the rug-hooking pieces.

    They would like to see the piec-es passed around from group to

    groupwhether they are a quilt-ing group, service group, volley- ball team, sorority, co-workers, orRainycrest residentso that theyare truly community projects,

    and people of all ages can say theyworked on this or that part of thefinished works.

    The idea is that it is a heritagecraft, and rug hooking is a heritagecraft, Ballard noted. And manymembers of the community canparticipate.

    Anyone who can pull up loopscan work on the project, and our part will be going around put-ting on workshops, showing peoplehow to pull up loops.

    Well get the map of the projectdone so people will know whatto do when they get it with theirgroup, or place or work, or wher-ever, Ballard added.

    Community input

    Many details still have to besorted out, but the gist of the proj-ect is that the rug-hooking pieceswill be mapped out based on art-work which, in turn, was inspiredby what community members likeabout living here.

    Whats needed right now is in- put from the community so theproject can start moving ahead.

    We dont want to sit and wait,enthused Kielczewski, adding theywould like to start seeing stories,artwork, photographs, or any othertype of creative input as soon aspossible.

    If someone has an idea, wewould certainly be open to it, saidBallard.

    Its a community project. Wewant to be as all-inclusive as pos-sible, she stressed.

    Kielczewski conceded it mightnot be possible to use every ideafor these two pieces, but it doesnt

    mean theyll go to waste and pos-sibly would be used in a futureproject.

    Writers, artists, or anyone withideas to contribute to the proj-

    ect can contact Kielczewski (274-7120), Ballard (274-3250), or themuseum (274-7891).

    As well, any individuals, groups,or teachers interested in workingon it once the rug hooking actuallybegins should contact them at thenumbers above.

    Looking ahead, the project will be more formally explained atopen house slated for March 25 atthe museum. At that time, Ballardsaid theyll most likely demonstrate how a piece of artwork, done byCain, will be turned into a rug-hooking creation.

    That workshop is for anyonewho is involved in the projector even interested in participating

    in the project, noted Ballard. If youre a teacher and you think itwould be cool for your class to getinvolved, but arent sure if theycould, you can come and you cansee.

    Its fine for kids to do. Its actu-ally maybe a little easier for littlefingers.

    The public also will get a chanceto work on it during the first weekof June, at which time the projectshould be well underway.

    Ballard and Kielczewski willhave it at one of the various activi-ties being held in conjunction withthe grand opening of Phase II ofthe Heritage Tourism Project (i.e.,the Hallett, lookout tower, andother waterfront enhancements).

    For those who may not be thecrafty type, Ballard said rug hook-ing shouldnt intimidate anyone.

    Its not difficult. You only haveto be able to pull up loops, she

    promised. Theres a hook thatsdesigned specifically to grab thewool.

    I have taught quite a few peopleto hook and really have to say I

    have only had two or three whohad trouble pulling up loops.

    Thats the beauty of doing with-in your groupif you have troublewith it, other group members can pick up your slack, added Bal-lard.

    Its not hard. Pulling up loops isa means to an end, thats all it is.

    Its not the final product, its themeans to an end.

    While everything will depend onhow many rug-hooking pieces aredone and how large they are, Bal-lard said the entire project will takeabut a year to complete.

    The size of the piece will de- pend, ultimately, on how muchmoney is available, she reasoned.

    It is expensive to buy wool, so thebigger it is, the more wool it takes,the more dye it takes.

    And until we have artwork, wedont know that.

    But Id really like to have twopiecesone piece done completelyby kids, and then one piece done by other interested groups, Bal-lard said.

    The project received CAHEPfunding in the amount of $1,500while another $1,000 was raisedat the Rodney Brown and ThunderBay Symphony Orchestra concertlast week at the Townshend The-atre here.

    In addition to a myriad of proj-ects in Thunder Bay, Cano saidCAHEP is working with 13 com-munities in Northern Ontarioofwhich Fort Frances is oneto helpget those smaller projects off theground.

    Called the Big Picture Initia-

    tive, the effort is funded by theOntario Arts Council, Ontario Tril-lium Foundation, and NorthernOntario Heritage Fund Corp., andsponsored by Bearskin Airlines.

    Community rug-hooking project in the works

    Fort High students Caitlin Fitzgerald and Natasha Bragg (aboveleft) dished up pasta and salad, while at right, Kimberly Per-reault and Laura Morrish showed off silent auction items dur-

    ing last Thursday evenings spaghetti dinner fundraiser for

    Haiti in the high school cafeteria. With support from the pub-lic, more than $4,000 was raised for earthquake relief effortsin that country.

    Peggy Revell photos

    Help for Haiti

    It was a niceshow. I met a lot

    of good people.Anthony Mason