PRESS RELEASE:

“Shannen Koostachin’s gift to us appears to be making some good positive steps forward,” says Grand Chief Stan Louttit.

Before her untimely death in May 2010, 15 year old Shannen Koostachin was making national headlines with her personal goal of doing whatever she could to improve the education system for the Aboriginal people in Canada. In pursuit of her goal and in such a short period of time, Shannen developed strong partnerships, generated national support and became a national role model for the youth.

On February 27, 2012 history was made when the NDP lead Motion 202 was presented, voted on and was unanimously supported by all parties in the House of Commons. Introduced in 2010, Motion 202 is a proposal to make legislative changes to improve the quality of education for First Nations, which includes increasing the funding levels for on-reserve schools to the same levels as provincially funded school systems.

“In addition to the Shannen’s Dream movement, numerous other major government funded studies, tables, commissions, and reports have (for years) indentified inadequacies and underfunded education systems in our communities and this inequality is severely impacting Canada in many ways today..…this motion and pending changes is long, long overdue” says Grand Chief Louttit.

By: Christina Hajjar

Teens are too trusting of today’s technology. That’s the message from the Ontario Provincial Police.

A public awareness campaign has been launched, targeting the dangers of teen “sexting”.

South Porcupine OPP Constable Marc Despatie said teenage relationships often involve the sending of provocative pictures through texts, but when the relationship sours, often the images are shared for vindictive reasons.

He adds teens need to be aware that most of the time these images don’t stay private and can lead to dangers such as criminal harassment and could fall into the hands of internet predators.

Timmins Police have arrested 12 people in connection with a rash of convenience store robberies in the city.

39 criminal charges have been laid, and police have seized multiple items of eveidence, including disguises, a sawed off shotgun, and other weapons.

Police continue to investigate and are looking to make further arrests in relation to the robberies.

By Tom Parisi

Schumacher is gearing up the first annual Mr. Schumcher Days celebrations later this week.

Along with Timmins, Schumacher is celebrating it’s centennial with Mr. Schumacher Days, two days full event family friendsly activities.

Board member on the Schumacher Arts, Culture and Heritage Association Lloyd Salomone said the upcoming Miner’s Walk is something any body can do and enjoy.

“We’re doing the wal to commemorate the miners who use to walk from home to the McIntyre Mine and Dome Mine. They woudl wear their hard hats and bring their lanterns and we hope people come out and do the same.”

On top of the Miner’s walk, Salomone said there’s plenty more to do for anyone young and old.

We have a Creedence Clear Water Revival cover band set to play J.J.’s Ranch Thursday night and we’ll have a DJ playing music from the past 100 years. There will be a cash bar and food being served as well on Friday and Thursday night.”

The Miner’s walk kicks off at the McIntyre Ballroom at 6 p.m. where residents will walk from the Mac to the McIntyre mine head frame and back.

For more information please contact Heather Swietek, hmsietek@msn.com 705-267-6956; or Lloyd Salomone, lloyd_salomone@hotmail.com 506-459-2599.

Mayor Tom Laughren spent time, earlier this week, in Toronto speaking with provincial cabinet ministers.

Among the topics discussed were the high energy rates and the wood cutback to Abitibi River Forest.

Laughren says he also spoke with Premier Dalton McGuinty, who provided the Timmins Mayor with insight as to where Ontario is heading in 2012 and 2013.

“After these meetings with the ministers and MPPs, it’s time to go back and meet with NOMA and FONOM and try and position Northern Ontario towards a propserous future.”

The mayor also discussed the lack of affordable housing in many northern communities.

“The problem was heard and we hope it leads to something positive for us. Talking with the Premier, funding might be a dead issue so we might have to look for other ways to get money for certain projects with housing and infrastructure.”

Timmins police are investigating a break in at Levi’s Foodland in Melrose.

The suspects gained entry to the building through the rooftop early in the morning last Thursday and forced their way into a safe making away with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Timmins Police or Crime Stoppers.

By Tom Parisi

The North east LHIN is holding community engagement sessions this week.

Six communities, including Timmins will be participating in the informations sessions.

Director of communications with the North East LHIN, Cynthia Stables said, this is the chance to voice your opinion on health care in the north.

“We use these sessions to gauge how to to proceed with health care decisions for this year and the future. The sessions will mainly focus on realigning health care services to better sever people in the north at the right times and the right costs.”

The sessions are as follows:

TIMMINS: Monday, February 27, 2012
7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Days Inn, Timmins – Ballroom A & B

IROQUOIS FALLS: Tuesday, February 28, 2012
6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Iroquois Falls Legion

KAPUSKASING: Wednesday, February 29, 2012
6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Kapuskasing Civic Centre, Council Chambers

HEARST: Thursday, March 1, 2012 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., Conseil des Arts, Room B (Light lunch provided.)

SMOOTH ROCK FALLS: Thursday, March 1, 2012
5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Smooth Rock Falls Legion (Light lunch provided.)

CHAPLEAU: Friday, March 2, 2012
11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Chapleau Recreation Centre (Light lunch provided.)

Due to a great demand for V.I.P. tickets, I am pleased to announce that we are releasing an additional 50 VIP tickets to our the Montreal Canadiens Alumni charity hockey game.

As previously announced, The Canadian Cancer Society presents their first ever charity hockey game that will showcase the Montreal Canadians Alumni taking on a home team of local hockey enthusiasts. Put Prostate Cancer on Ice will take place on Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 at the McIntyre arena. All of the money raised will go towards prostate cancer research and awareness.

V.I.P. tickets will be sold at the Canadian Cancer Society in the Timcor building at 273 Third Avenue when the office opens at 9 am. V.I.P. tickets are $100 each and will be sold on a first come, first serve basis.

V.I.P. benefits include the following:

V.I.P. assigned seating at the historic McIntyre Arena

V.I.P. entrance through the McIntyre Coffee Shop

V.I.P. draw for autographed memorabilia

V.I.P. reception after the game with photo opportunities

V.I.P. food and beverage service

The Montreal Canadian Alumni players making the trip North include:

· Patrice Brisebois

· Alain Côté

· Mathieu Dandenault

· Gilbert Délorme

· Gilbert Dionne

· Normand Dupont

· Jocelyn Lemieux

· Sergio Momesso

· Stéphane Richer

· Richard Sévigny

· Guy Lafleur (coach)

The Porcupine Giant Tiger Timberwolves got the sweet taste of victory last weekend in the West Nippissing Sting tournament held in Sturgeon Falls and Verner.

The T-Wolves got off to a strong start rolling over the home team West Nippissing 6-1 to start off the round robin. Jeremy Kelso had a strong game for the Porcupine team, picking up player of the game honours.

Strong goaltending would be a theme throughout the weekend, but continued into the teams second round robin game as they beat Gore Bay out of Manitoulin Island by a score of 5-0. Devon Caron-Debastos picked up the shut out and player of the game honours.

The third and final round robin game was a spirited affair at the Verner Arena, as the Tmberwolves battled the Nickel Centre Sting, a team which had also remained undefeated through their first two round robin games. Strong discipline was the difference as Giant Tiger was able to capatalize on a parade to the box by Nickel Centre, which resulted in many suspensions for the Sting following the game. Brandon St. Denis was unstoppable for the T-Wolves, and was presented with the player of the game award by the coaching staff.

The Semi-Final match-up saw the Timberwolves take on French River in an early morning game on Sunday. After jumping out of the gate with a 2 goal lead, the Wolves defence of Garrett Barbuto, Colbey Tozer, Austin Vaillaincourt and RJ Roy held it together, as Tozer sealed the victory with an awesome end to end individual effort for the 4-1 win.
Giant Tiger was surprised to find out they would be taking on Nickel Centre, the team who they’d played an beaten the night before.

“After the way they had played on Saturday, we expected them to pack it in, and go home!” said T-Wolves Assistant Coach Paul Callegari, adding “At the same time, we knew that it would be a different team heading into the final, and that we needed to be ready.”

It was a different team who came out for Sunday’s final, and the fans were the benefciaries. A back and fourth end to end battle ensued with Jeremy Kelso getting the first goal for Porcupine in the first period. Brandon St. Denis added an insurance marker heading into the third, and the Timbervolves held off a late attack to seal the deal. St. Denis added an empty netter and a late goal to get the hat trick, Devon Caron-Debastos picked up his third shutout of the tournament only allowing two goals the whole way. Porcupine coach Garett Chisholme had this to say about his team’s victory,

“We really came together as a unit this weekend, right from the opening puck drop. We talked a lot about sacrifices, and what we had to do to win this thing. We were disciplined and in the end that was the difference. I’m so proud of the way the guys played, and they really deserve this, they earned it!”

The T-Wolves have been on a tear this year, but hadn’t had much success in their previous tournaments.

“Everyone played a role, Scout Bielaskie was awesome on face-offs, Devin Rousseau had his best games this year. Ryan Sasseville, Lorenzo Callegari and Dylan Roy were great penalty killers. Jacob Fortin had some really big shifts for us. It just all came together.

The Giant Tiger Timberwolves now get set to begin their playoffs in the Tri-City Hockey League.

The Paul Davis Bantam Falcon girl’s team beat New Liskeard Puck Hounds 2-0 and 2-1 winning the best of three games to earn the right to play in the Ontario Women’s Provincials in April.