South London location for Emergency Services Campus approved by council without seeing confidential feasibility study
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CTV News
3 hours ago
- CTV News
‘A very awkward and bizarre situation' sees St. Marys officials cease park uses at former cemetery
An old St. Marys cemetery at East Ward Park on July 23, 2025. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London) More than 140 years after its last burial, the souls at rest in a St. Marys cemetery have come back to 'haunt' the town. The community northeast of London has been forced to idle two baseball diamonds, which sit atop the former graveyard now known as East Ward Park. David Vessie has lived next door to the park since 1952. As a child, he would play in the weeds amongst the collapsed graves. 'Oh, yeah. All these here and all down at the end of the park. They were all over the place,' said Vessie. David Vessie St. Marys resident David Vessie on July 23, 2025. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London) Today, behind a baseball diamond sits a stack of tombstones representing the lives of settlers who passed generations ago. It is one of two sections of stones on the edges of the vast park. The stones have rested here since sometime in the late 1950s or early 60s when service clubs cleaned up the overgrown cemetery and transformed it into a park. Over the following decades, most people in St. Marys have forgotten the dead still rest below. Although some remains were reinterred in the 1880s, the town recently learned some settlers remain. 'We believe that there are still quite a few bodies that are here,' stated Jenna McCartney of the Town of St. Marys. Jenna McCartney Jenna McCartney, clerk for the Town of St. Marys, on July 23, 2025. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London) The information was discovered in an act of good faith. St. Marys is attempting to assume ownership of the land from three protestant churches, two of which no longer exist. As part of the process, they contacted the Bereavement Authority of Ontario (BAO), an arms-length government agency, for insight. McCartney said that call sparked an inspection and, ultimately, a violation against the town, 'That's when it became identified that they didn't know that we were using it for active recreation currently.' Once notified of the violation, the town ceased baseball games at two diamonds on the former cemetery site. For now, a playground will remain. The BAO is expected to issue a final ruling by the end of summer. East Ward Park An old St. Marys cemetery at East Ward Park on July 23, 2025. (Sean Irvine/CTV News London) 'We're maintaining the land and trying to make it a great space for people and to be respectful in the interim,' said St. Marys Mayor Al Strathdee. 'So, it is a very awkward and bizarre situation, I would say. But hopefully going forward, we can work something out with the BAO.' Strathdee anticipates residents will be allowed to use the park for light uses, including picnics and reflection, in the future. 'We have operated it without any disrespect to anyone, and we'll have to see what the BAO says going forward,' he said. But Vessie is torn, 'It is a graveyard, and you've got to respect that. But you know, what harm are they (children) doing? They're just kids playing T-ball.'
CBC
5 hours ago
- CBC
Manitoba wildfires prompt First Nations pavilion to withdraw from Folklorama
Due to the impact Manitoba's wildfire situation is having on communities, organizers of the First Nations pavilion have decided to cancel their participation in the 2025 Folklorama Festival in Winnipeg. With the province in a state of emergency once again, the focus must shift to supporting those who have been displaced by the wildfires, Buffy Handel, executive director of Neemu-Egwah Inc., the First Nations pavilion's sponsoring organization, said in a news release on Wednesday. "Many evacuees are carrying the weight of trauma after being forced to leave their homes. In this moment, it is essential that space, safety and extra care be given to those most affected." Folklorama, which began in 1970 and labels itself as the longest-running multicultural festival in the world, runs this year from Aug. 3 to 16. Executive director Teresa Cotroneo said in the news release that the organization is disappointed but fully stands with the decision. "The well-being of those affected must come first." Another change due to the wildfires is the Brazilian pavilion moving from week one (Aug. 3-9) to week two (Aug. 10-16) and relocating from the third floor of the RBC Convention Centre's south building to the second floor of the north building. The adjustment is necessary to accommodate an emergency shelter for evacuees.
CBC
8 hours ago
- CBC
Volunteer firefighters missing work to battle roaring wildfire in rural Newfoundland
The mayor of a rural Newfoundland town is among the volunteer firefighters missing work to battle a raging wildfire in a part of Canada where unpaid town councils and first responders are shouldering increasing numbers of emergencies. Jason Chaulk was supposed to fly out on Monday for Saskatchewan, where he is a rotational worker at a mine. But the volunteer mayor and deputy fire chief in Musgrave Harbour, N.L., along the northeast coast of Newfoundland, said he stayed home to fight the out-of-control wildfire threatening his community. Crews from volunteer fire departments in about a dozen other neighbouring communities have also pitched in, working alongside provincial firefighters, he said. Meanwhile, volunteer search and rescue teams helped residents leave safely after officials ordered an evacuation on Sunday. "I got guys here that flew in [Monday] morning that were away on turnarounds, guys that work on supply boats off the island, guys that work in construction in Ontario. Everybody came home, came together," said Chaulk. "We have our own jobs and our own families that we have to be concerned about," he added. "But we're taking on that responsibility for protecting the town as well." The fire near Musgrave Harbour ignited on Saturday evening during a spate of hot, dry weather. On Sunday, officials ordered the community's some 950 residents to evacuate as the flames crept within a kilometre of the town. Chaulk and his 30-member volunteer firefighting crew have been working since the blaze began, he said. They set up air mattresses in the fire hall so they can take shifts sleeping. The work means a lot to him. He grew up in Deadman's Bay, about 25 km southeast of Musgrave Harbour, where two children died in a fire, he said. The town didn't have a fire department to respond, Chaulk said. "From that day on, I took it upon myself that if there was any way I could help a community and be a firefighter, I would." The 16-square-kilometre wildfire in Musgrave Harbour was one of five burning in the province on Tuesday. A larger fire — 18 square km — burned about 100 km away in the Chance Harbour area. As of Tuesday morning, both were out of control. The Chance Harbour fire began last week and burnt several cabins to the ground along Bonavista Bay. It was the second wildfire this year to destroy structures. In May, a fire in the Adam's Cove area, located about 90 km to the south, demolished about a dozen homes. Craig Pollett, a consultant and former chief executive of Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, worries that too much is being asked of small volunteer councils and fire departments, especially as more storms and wildfires are expected as the climate changes. "I would imagine the impact on the human beings doing this work is incredible, whether they are volunteer firefighters or professional firefighters," said Pollett, vice-president of Strategic Steps, which advises organizations on governance. "It's got to be even more so when you actually have another job that you have to do." Newfoundland and Labrador has about 274 municipalities across a population of roughly 540,000. Three-quarters of those towns are home to fewer than 1,000 people, and many have a few hundred residents, he noted. Unlike much of the rest of Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador doesn't have regional governments, which could help towns pool their scarce resources and better plan for emergencies such as wildfires, he said. This lack of upper-tier governments puts a large burden on small volunteer-led towns — some with fewer than 100 people — when disaster strikes, Pollett said. Mike Tiller is a volunteer firefighter and mayor in New-Wes-Valley, which is about 45 km southeast of Musgrave Harbour, where he was on Sunday helping out, along with other members from the New-Wes-Valley crew. Tiller wondered if there was some way for the federal government to create a program to compensate unpaid first responders working for days or weeks in an emergency.
