THE
Vol. 120 – No. 22
Thunder Ball See Sports Front
www.northernontario.ca
TEMISKAMING
SPEAKER WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2025
$1.75 per single copy (H.S.T. included)
First Nations protest walk continuing trek to Queen’s Park Diane Johnston Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
TEMISKAMING SHORES – Just over two weeks ago, a small group of First Nations youth protesters set out on foot from Timmins for Queen’s Park. They’re calling for the repeal of provincial and federal legislation aimed at speeding development of major infrastructure projects in response to the trade dispute with the U.S. Anger over Bill 5 and Bill C-5 – Protect Ontario by Unleashing our Economy Act and the One Canadian Economy legislation, which includes the Building Canada Act– spurred Tristan Ashishkeesh, a founder of the walk, to take action. Continued on 2a
NOTABLE LOCAL MUSICIANS
The Downtown New Liskeard BIA Summer Block Party started with an evening-long spotlight on local musical talent. Suddenly Found opened the evening, followed by Random Dogs, the evening’s headliner. Hundreds of spectators enjoyed the music. Pictured here is Suddenly Found. From the left are Josh Lawrence (lead guitar), Jessica Lemay (lead vocals), Shane Brosseau (bass guitar), Christian Lachapelle (rhythm guitar) and Jake Knott (percussion). Random Dogs (a combined effort by The Mud Dogs and the Random Chants) included Pat Pearson (bass guitar and vocals), Kevin Sopchyshyn (guitar and vocals), Jeff Manners (guitar and vocals), Joe Dumais (lead guitar and vocals), Roy Dittmann (guitar and keyboards) and Dan Dalcourt (percussion and vocals). (Staff photo by Darlene Wroe)
FedNor providing support for agriculture and promotional videos Darlene Wroe Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
TEMISKAMING SHORES — Two federal funding announcements were made Friday, July 25, to support economic development in Northern Ontario. FedNor (Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario) announced $702,713 in funds for the Northern Ontario Farm Innovation Alliance (NOFIA) and $160,000 for the Federation of
Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM). Nipissing-Timiskaming MP Pauline Rochefort, Parliamentary Secretary to the Secretary of State (Rural Development), announced the funding to a gathering of community leaders at the Temiskaming Shores city hall Friday, July 25. The NOFIA funding announcement will be used to “support producers, encourage innovation and develop sustainable infrastructure to meet the needs of Northern Ontario,” said Rochefort. An accompanying news
release said that “the initiative will improve local value chains, advance technology adoption and promote sustainable practices. NOFIA will also assess key production and procurement challenges and explore infrastructure investments to support aggregation, storage and distribution. The project aims to expand market opportunities and increase demand for Northern Ontario-produced foods. EXPANDING AND MODERNIZING “The project is expected to help expand and modernize 120
businesses, create 60 new jobs in the agricultural sector over three years and support the development of nearly 2,000 acres of farmland. This will help to attract over $1 million in industry investment and economic benefits for the region.” NOFIA board director Norm Koch was on hand with board director Dennis Jibb and thanked Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for FedNor Patty Hadju and MP Rochefort for their support. NOFIA covers the region including Powassan, Thunder Bay, Cochrane and
Temiskaming, he said. In the news release, NOFIA executive director Emily Seed stated the investment will allow NOFIA “to strengthen our regional food systems, support producers of all sizes and explore innovative technologies that will shape the future of farming in the North.” The announcements included $160,310 in funding for FONOM “to produce and distribute 12 bilingual videos to highlight business opportunities and promote the strengths and talents of Continued on 3a
From Earlton to Honduras and back Diane Johnston Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Keegan Morin, centre, is seen with two young patients at a pop-up medical clinic in La Paz, Honduras. Morin, an Earlton student attending the University of Ottawa, was a student volunteer at week-long clinic in May in the mountain community as part of a Global Medical Brigades trip. (Supplied Photo)
EARLTON – It wasn’t a single factor that led a 21-year-old university student from Earlton to volunteer at medical clinics in a remote community in the mountains of Honduras. But the trip in May deepened Keegan Morin’s interest in medicine, rural medicine in particular. Doctors in Honduras “work with what they’ve got and it’s pretty amazing what they can still achieve despite the lack of resources,” Morin said. He’s now planning another trip with an international medical organization and applying to medical school. The seeds for his trip and career plans were planted in December 2022 when he was diagnosed with stage 4 Burkitt lymphoma. Burkitt’s is a blood cancer that the Lymphoma Research Foundation describes as a rare, but highly aggressive, B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Morin, a graduate of Ecole secondaire catholique Sainte-Marie, was, at that time, at the University of Ottawa working on an honours
bachelor’s degree in geography, geomatics and spatial analysis. “I think I was really lucky I was in Ottawa,” he said, because of the quality of the cancer program at the Ottawa Hospital. He underwent two series of intense chemotherapy treatments and then had a transplant in August 2023 using his own stem cells. He’s now in remission. He acknowledged that the treatments were rough, but believes the experience helped him find his calling. “I was just so interested in understanding the disease and just understanding the science behind everything to the cellular level,” he said. He praised his treatment team and considers his oncologist-hematologist, Andrew Aw, an inspiration. After treatments and the transplant, he continued to be seen by his family doctor, Gretchen Roedde. They talked about Roedde’s work in rural medicine and in developing countries and Morin ended up shadowing her and doing some work for her. When he returned to university, Morin said he began contemplating how he could use his experience to help others.
At a conference, he met a student who was involved with the university’s chapter of Global Medical Brigades. The organization, headquartered in California, sends teams of medical professionals and university students to communities in several Central American countries, as well as Ghana and Greece, which have limited or no access to health care. The student volunteers assist the professionals over about a week at pop-up clinics. Morin said he and the Ottawa chapter raised about $55,000 for the trip. He joined 11 students from Ottawa and five from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, on the trip to La Paz in Honduras in May. They assisted at a triage station, clinics for dental care and general medical care, educational workshops and a pharmacy. He was there for only seven days, but left impressed by the commitment of doctors from the region who work long hours with limited equipment and access to specialists. Given his background, he was curious about Hondurans’ access to hematology. Continued on 7a