Greater Sudbury city council votes to close some fire halls, keep others open if they get enough recruits
CBC
After years of debate, including several hours Tuesday night, Greater Sudbury city council has decided to shut down some fire halls in the outlying areas.
That includes the stations in Falconbridge, which will merge with Garson, and the fire brigades in Val Caron and Hanmer which will be consolidated into a new fire hall in Val Therese.
The most passionate opposition to the city's plans, voiced loudly during a round of public consultations over the winter and spring, came from the rural communities of Skead and Beaver Lake.
Council has voted to keep those two fire halls open, including $120,000 in necessary repairs to the Skead station, as long as they can recruit enough part-time firefighters, often called "volunteers."
Fire departments across the continent are struggling to train and keep new volunteers and in Greater Sudbury that's been a problem for years, with most fire halls in the outlying areas being staffed by only a handful of firefighters, including just three in Beaver Lake.
City staff suggested that Skead be given a target of 15 firefighters, but Natalie Labbée, the councillor for the area, called that "unfair" and "setting Skead up for failure," especially since the community has already signed up 11 new recruits.
"And it's because of their concerted efforts and desperation to keep their station open," she said.
"There's no trust from the community of Skead to have the city take the lead to ensure their volunteer firefighter numbers stay up."
Joseph Nicholls, the city's chief of fire and paramedic services, says for years there have been efforts to recruit new volunteers, but the chronic shortages remain.
"They have not been able to sustain any numbers. I have to ask the question: What's different? What's going to be different over the coming days, weeks, months, then has been over the last years?" Nicholls asked city council.
For Beaver Lake, the city is also exploring an agreement with the neighbouring town of Nairn Centre to have their firefighters respond to fires in the western reaches of Greater Sudbury.
"We're going to leave an area that's unprotected. So we're on a mass hunt for volunteers," said city councillor Michael Vagnini, whose ward includes Beaver Lake.
City councillor Al Sizer said that people in his New Sudbury ward are tired of paying for services they don't use and was heckled by citizens in the gallery, as well as Vagnini.
"We're not pulling the service away from our residents. Yes the service may be different, but we're not telling them they won't have fire services," said Sizer.
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.