Feds pump brakes on St. John's mountain bike trail expansion
CBC
The elaborate mountain bike trail system that runs through the White Hills in the east end of St. John's might go unnoticed by many.
But the fact volunteers were trying to add to the growing network wasn't missed by the federal government, which sat down with the Avalon Mountain Bike Association earlier this year and asked them to stop.
"Basically it was a cease and desist on all new construction," said AMBA's president, Lachlan Roe-Bose.
"We said we'd keep them in the loop on anything that we wanted to do maintenance-wise."
With new trail-building plans now on hold, the not-for-profit group is focusing its attention on maintenance of existing trails.
Mountain bikers began building the trails in the White Hills in the summer of 1997.
Chris Jerrett, the owner of Freeride Mountain Sports in St. John's, led the volunteers back then and is still on site today overseeing the work on the more than 17 kilometres of developed trails.
"Now we have this spectacular network of trails and a mission of conservation that everybody wants to get behind," he said while taking a break during a weekly build.
The bikers who use the trails also maintain them — hiking in to get to the trails with tools in hand — once a week when the weather allows.
It's laborious work as the builders lug large rocks around and move tons of soil and dirt to make the trail.
"We got a massive increase in usage during the pandemic, and that has stuck," Boe-Rose said. "What's happened is [the trails] are degrading faster than we can really keep up with."
The land sits between the back of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans building and the RCMP's headquarters. It belongs to the federal government and is overseen by Public Services and Procurement Canada.
Earlier this year, AMBA met with Helena Jaczek, minister of the department at the time, before a federal cabinet shuffle.
Boe-Rose said the group has gotten lots of support from provincial and federal politicians, but the two sides still need an agreement.
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.