'Not acceptable:' northern Ontario communities fight to save OPP detachment
CBC
Four small towns and a First Nation near Sudbury are trying to save their Ontario Provincial Police detachment after learning the police forces is considering shutting it down.
The OPP's detachment in Noëlville has been on the closure list for at least 12 years, according to French River Mayor Gisèle Pageau. Noëlville is within her municipality.
As recently as November, provincial police said there were no immediate plans to close the station. Recent rumours in the community, however, led Pageau to ask OPP for an update. She said the police told her they were working on a ministry brief, recommending the closure of Noëlville detachment.
"We were reassured that, before anything would even begin, that there would be some consultation with the municipality and the residents in each of the four communities that Noëlville services. And that didn't happen," Pageau said.
The Noëlville detachment is a satellite office from the main OPP detachment in Sudbury. It services the municipalities of French River, St. Charles, Killarney and Markstay-Warren.
The OPP has closed several satellite detachments in northeastern Ontario over recent years, including Still River, Manitowaning, Mindemoya, Warren, Matheson and Smooth Rock Falls.
The force has said its officers have enough tools to work out of their cruisers in many situations, rather than frequently returning to a detachment.
Pageau said losing the detachment would be difficult for French River. Despite the OPP's assurance that service levels won't change, she said she expected both the perception of policing, and the actual service levels, to take a hit.
She said 10 officers are based out of her community's detachment, and they've been given an option of reporting to either the Sudbury or West Nipissing (Cache Bay) detachments. That may pull them toward service calls in the larger centres.
"I don't buy it for a minute that ... two [officers] will be in our areas every day," said Pageau.
People living in the Noëlville detachment service area have begun circulating a petition that urges the province to keep the police station open. Nickel Belt MPP France Gélinas has also supported that effort.
Pageau said it was worrying that, had it not been for the rumours, she may have been shut out of the detachment closure decision entirely.
"We would have been told what was going on, and we wouldn't have had a chance to gather our citizens, you know, and get them informed about what's happening," she said.
Pageau said French River's permanent population is about 2,600, but that number grows to around 10,000 in the summer, which means policing needs could be underestimated.
The City of Edmonton is developing a wildfire strategy to mitigate risks within the municipality and help neighbouring regions, the city's emergency advisory committee heard Wednesday.
About 20 workers, students and local MPP candidates gathered outside Hamilton's Mohawk College Wednesday — where a fifth of full-time jobs have been cut since December — to call on the province to better fund post-secondary education.
In a busy race to Queen's Park, nine candidates are vying for the Sarnia—Lambton seat — a riding that's been conservative for nearly 20 years.
There's just over a year left in the Canada-Alberta child-care agreement and it's shaping up to be a rocky one for some parents, who — for this first time in the history of the agreement — will see their fees increase as a new phase of the program rolls out.
B.C. MLA Adrian Dix says he gets texts, emails, and even stopped at his local Safeway. He says people urge him to cut off power or even water to the U.S.
B.C. cities, in general, would be among the least vulnerable in Canada if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on tariff threats, according to new data from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Here's where and when you can vote in advance polls in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County
Voting day is Feb. 27 in the Ontario election, but people can cast their ballots this week in advance polls.
Staff with Summerside Electric say they're not getting many updates from Maritime Electric after a failure at the utility's Sherbrooke substation over a week ago caused strain on the city's electrical grid.
The N.W.T.'s public utilities board has ordered the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) to start paying Naka Power $48,500 per month to use a transmission line in the Hay River area, starting March 1.
Ideologically motivated violent extremist groups are using antisemitism in a bid to recruit followers and inspire violence, according to a report from Canada's spy agency.
It's a move that could reshape North American trade.
Ontario's main political parties are competing for the hearts of voters by appealing to their wallets, with a mix of tax cuts and money-back rebates pitched as helping with the cost of living.
With one full week to go before voting day, Elections Ontario is working to reverse a recent downward trend in voter turnout, which set a record low of 43 per cent the last time Ontarians went to the polls in 2022.