Icebreaking near Whitefish River, Ontario
Sarnia, Ontario - The Canadian Coast Guard advises residents of Whitefish River, Ontario that the CCGS Samuel Risley will carry out icebreaking operations in the area on or around April 26, 2025. The purpose of this operation is to break up the ice to allow commercial vessels safe access to the Lafarge Whitefish River Terminal on La Cloche Peninsula, Ontario.
It is recommended that all traffic on the ice, including pedestrians, fishers, snowmobilers, and all-terrain vehicle operators, leave the ice during icebreaking operations. The ice may move, creating a real danger for anyone on it. Additionally, plan activities carefully and use extreme caution after operations are complete as the ice will remain unstable even once the icebreaker has left the area.
Icebreaking on the Great Lakes and connecting waterways is delivered through close co-operation between the Canadian and United States Coast Guards. By working together, the two Coast Guards ensure scheduled vessel traffic can move through the shipping channels and in and out of community harbours. Vessels will be assigned as needed to provide this service.
The date and assets are subject to change with no notice, as activities could begin before or after that period, depending on operational requirements or weather conditions.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
12 hours ago
- CBC
Canadian Armed Forces firefighting crews to arrive in Sask. by Saturday
Roughly 300 personnel from the Canadian Armed Forces are set to arrive in the province by Saturday to assist with wildfire operations, Saskatchewan's Public Safety Agency has confirmed. During a provincial update on Thursday, Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) President Marlo Pritchard said the Type 3 fire personnel will be deployed to a number of different fires across the province, freeing up Type 1 and Type 2 personnel for more serious fire areas. "We understand they will be arriving within 36 to 48 hours," Pritchard said. An advance team from the Armed Forces are already in Prince Albert planning where the contingent will be sent. The news came shortly before the province issued a wildfire evacuation notice for Ramsey Bay Northern Resort Subdivision and Ramsey Bay Campground, which are on Weyakwin Lake, about 140 km north of Prince Albert. A fast-moving wildfire is threatening the community and residents are being asked to start evacuation immediately. The province says individuals who can self-evacuate and find their own accommodations should use Highway 2 and register with the province. Individuals who require accommodations are being directed to room 106 at the Days Inn in Prince Albert. More resources arriving soon Public Safety Minister Tim McLeod formally requested assistance from the federal government on Wednesday. Type 3 firefighters are hired on an emergency basis and generally work in less intense conditions, when a wildfire has already been contained or is under control, according to the SPSA. Type 2 fire crews provide firefighting and response services in Northern Communities or First Nations while Type 1 fire crews are trained and experienced staff familiar with wildland firefighting tactics. Pritchard confirmed Canadian Armed Forces personnel would be used for with wildfire mop-up operations, related logistical support for the new fire crews, and helicopters for bucketing and crew movement. McLeod had also requested water haulers to help with wildfire mop-up and fire mitigation and protection kits containing sprinklers and hoses to help protect structures in various communities. Those are not going to be provided by the federal government, Pritchard confirmed. Federal Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Olszewski has confirmed helicopters are being sent along with the Armed Forces personnel. The SPSA has faced criticism from wildfire-affected communities for not requesting federal assistance sooner. On Thursday, Pritchard defended that decision, saying it was about getting the "right resources at the right time." "Over the last number of weeks we have seen significant work done by our Type 1s and Type 2s, we've seen cooler weather, so our fire activity is less," Pritchard said. Those factors mean its now safe to deploy Type 3 fire crews, such as the incoming military personnel, Pritchard explained. Along with the Armed Forces personnel, various countries and other Canadian provinces have provided Saskatchewan with Type 1 fire personnel and Type 2 fire personnel. Pritchard said New Brunswick has recently deployed 22 Type 1 fire personnel to Saskatchewan. They joined 41 firefighters from Mexico, 41 firefighters from Australia, 22 firefighters from Nova Scotia and 12 personnel from Ontario that were already in the province. Pritchard said an additional 41 firefighters are expected from Quebec late on Thursday or on Friday. Métis Nation-Saskatchewan welcomes federal support On Wednesday, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) announced that it had declared a state of emergency in the province's northwest as a result of the wildfires. Northern Region 3 includes Green Lake, Pinehouse, Île-à-la-Crosse, Beauval, Jans Bay, Cole Bay, Dore/Sled Lake, Patuanak, Canoe River, and Sapawgamik. MN-S and its members are concerned about the province's response to the wildfires, Brennan Merasty, a regional representative for the MN-S region told CBC on Thursday. Local leadership "would like to be invited to the space with the province to have a conversation on the approach, their methods and how do we bring our traditional knowledge to the forefront," Merasty said. He also said that MN-S is ready to host evacuees in Batoche, Sask., a community much more familiar to evacuees than where they may be currently staying. Merasty said they have hosted wildfire evacuees before and are capable of doing it again but need to have access to funding from the SPSA. Merasty welcomed the news that federal assistance had been requested and will soon be deployed but said MN-S needs to be part of the conversation. "The province can't do this alone, just like we can't as a Métis nation. We have to all come together, join forces, strengthen our position and do it together," Merasty said. Pritchard said he had not met with MN-S officials recently but is "always" open to having those conversations." State of wildfires in Saskatchewan As of 2:30 p.m. CST, there are 10 communities in the province under an evacuation order. There are 55 active wildfires with five categorized as being contained, 14 not contained, 18 ongoing assessment and 18 protecting values. The latest figures mean there have been 392 wildfires in Saskatchewan in this year to date. That's well above the five-year average of 319 to date. Ten communities remain under evacuation at this point, with Pritchard confirming approximately 3,000 people remain evacuated at this time. Approximately 1.8 million hectares of land in Saskatchewan has burned as a result of wildfires this year.
CTV News
14 hours ago
- CTV News
‘A surreal feeling': Alberta photographer's image selected for Canadian Nutella campaign
A local photographer's talents are being featured as part of a national campaign for Nutella. The company's Savour the Beauty of Canada campaign highlights six picture-perfect locations across Canada for a limited time. • Download the CTV News App for breaking news alerts on all the top Edmonton stories Sean Simmons' photograph of Pyramid Mountain and Patricia Lake in Jasper was selected to be part of Nutella's Canadian campaign. 'It was a pleasant surprise,' said the landscape photographer from Edson, Alta. 'There was a period several months ago where I was contacted about licensing an image, (which) happens from time to time … but no information was given as to what it was for so it didn't really go much past that. 'I didn't think much of it until last week when I received another phone call about the image. By that time, the product was already on the store shelves, and I didn't realize it,' Simmons said. According to Simmons, the image was taken during a trip to Jasper in 2014. 'It was one of those right place, right time scenarios … you spend a lot of time and effort hoping for the right conditions, and more often than not, you're a little bit disappointed but you make do with what you can,' Simmons said. 'Once the sun came up behind me, the sky lit up and that was it.' Simmons told CTV News Edmonton Wednesday that the recognition of being highlighted in a global company's product is 'a surreal feeling.' 'I was asked … what it would feel like to know that my image is on somebody's shelf, in their pantry, or whatever – then to have friends and family sending me messages and pictures of them holding (it) – it's been really cool.' The other locations featured in the campaign include Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Lunenburg in Nova Scotia and Cuckolds Cove in Newfoundland. Simmons' photography can be found on his website and his Instagram.
Global News
16 hours ago
- Global News
From tree cover to green roofs, how are cities fighting extreme heat?
As a heat wave grips parts of Ontario amid a scorching summer, some Canadian cities have been trying new techniques to try to tackle extreme heat, which can quickly turn deadly. A Statistics Canada study last year showed there were roughly 670 deaths between 2000 and 2020 attributable to extreme heat events in 12 Canadian cities. In 2021, a heat dome in British Columbia killed an estimated 619 people in one week. And this week, temperatures in parts of Ontario are set to feel like the mid-40s C — and cities can feel the heat keenly due to how they're built, experts say. 'The surfaces in the cities are such that they absorb more heat and that causes the entire environment to become hotter and the temperature rises as well,' said Sandeep Agrawal, a professor at the University of Alberta's School of Urban and Regional Planning. Story continues below advertisement It's due to the 'urban heat island effect,' which can make a city one to three degrees hotter than the surrounding area during the day and warmer at night, according to decades of urban studies. Among the reasons are glassy or concrete skyscrapers that absorb a lot of heat during the day and take longer to cool down at night. James Voogt, a Western University professor of geography and environment, said heat is a top 'weather hazard.' 'Our ability to physiologically respond to those is relatively slow,' he said. From increasing tree cover to installing 'green' roofs, here's how some Canadian cities have been trying new techniques to try to tackle extreme heat. What's been done to cool cities down so far? A study by the European Commission in 2023 found that increasing tree coverage to 30 per cent in European cities could lower temperatures by an average 0.4 C, with a maximum effect of 5.9 C in some areas, avoiding 2,644 premature deaths. Story continues below advertisement Planting more trees is one approach some Canadian cities are using. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Toronto plans to increase the number of trees covering streets to 40 per cent canopy cover by 2050 by planting about 120,000 trees a year. 'So you want to make use of strategic planting of trees to try to take advantage of the fact that a tree cools by shading a surface and a tree cools by evapo-transpiring water,' Voogt said. 'So if you strategically locate your tree well, you can get maximum benefit.' In May, Vancouver approved an update to its urban forest strategy with a goal of covering 30 per cent of the city with tree canopy by 2050. 1:55 'Wet-bulb' temperatures: What are they and why can they be so deadly? Trees take time to grow, but they can still benefit cities in the long term, said Sara Barron, program director for the Master of Urban Forestry Leadership Program at the University of British Columbia. Story continues below advertisement 'That immediate impact, it's not going to help maybe with next year's heat wave, but we know climate change is a shift that's going to be happening for years,' she said. Voogt cautioned that it may be difficult to just dig up areas of downtown Toronto to plant trees, but green roofs are an alternative. The Urban Land Institute said green roofs replace dark surfaces with soil and vegetation, noting that the 'greening' of five per cent of Toronto's area lowered citywide temperatures by an estimated 1.5 to two degrees. Toronto implemented a green roof bylaw in 2009, requiring new commercial and industrial developments of more than 2,000 square metres to incorporate them. Other cities have also taken steps, including Saskatoon, which offers a stormwater credit for commercial buildings with green roofs, and Port Coquitlam, B.C., which fast-tracks development applications that incorporate green roofs. There are also other techniques cities are using outside of Canada. The Spanish city of Murcia implemented 61 measures to adapt to extreme heat, including resurfacing dark asphalt roads with lighter-coloured materials to reflect sunlight, with Dallas doing something similar by installing reflective pavement. The Texas city has also required new buildings to use materials that reflect solar heat on at least 75 per cent of the surface or have 50 per cent of the roof covered by vegetation. Story continues below advertisement Still more to do, experts say While some cities have taken steps, Agrawal said 'better design' is needed. 'So incorporating more vegetation, vegetation cover and tree canopies, (and) permeable material within the built environment I think would lead to a more sort of sustainable and cooler environment than the current way of doing it, where it's sort of a patchwork of things being done,' Agrawal said. Barron noted changes like using lighter material for roads to lower heat absorption and adding water where you can, such as water fountains, can make a difference. 1:59 'Extremes you never want to be at': As temperatures spike, so do health hazards Using misting systems can also help with cooling, which she said has been used in places like Australia. The systems are set up to spray a mist of water around an area, or to let people walk through them to cool down. Story continues below advertisement Voogt said city planning can also improve how it handles heat, though he said that is a longer-term solution. 'So changing the form of the city, the way it's laid out, how the buildings are spaced, that's longer term, right, because you don't change the buildings that often,' he said. 'What we have to do is start thinking about cities that are a little bit more optimized in terms of the climate they're embedded in.'
