John Rafferty (NDP, Thunder Bay-Rainy River) and Bruce Hyer (NDP, Thunder Bay-Superior North) were punished by the NDP’s interim leader Nycole Turmel in November after the local MPs voted with the government to end the long-gun registry.

The punishment means nether MP can speak or ask questions in the House. They can’t travel for business with the exception of moving between their riding and Ottawa. The y were also stripped of their critic roles and kicked off committees.

Those sanctions were still in place when MPs returned to the House this week after a six-week hiatus.

Rafferty said it will stay that way until the long-gun bill passes third reading. When that happens is anyone’s guess, the MP said.

“I did hear a rumour that they are trying to get finished with the issue this month,” Rafferty said.
Hyer said third reading was originally supposed to come up this week, but was removed.

The timetable change leads Hyer to believe that the Conservatives won’t bring it up until after March so that they can use it to apply pressure to the NDP when it chooses its new leader.

Regardless, they both say the sanctions haven’t kept them from doing their jobs.

Rafferty said he continues to work toward improving rural broadband Internet. He’s also trying to get a one cent increase to the gas tax and change the formula so cities are funded not just by population, but also by geographical area.

The move would bring an extra $500 million to municipal infrastructure he said.

“There’s still lots and lots of work I can do not just in the riding but here in Ottawa,” Rafferty said.

Hyer added that from getting a fire truck for Whitesand First Nation to convincing the Conservatives to extend a federally-funded program for the defunct Terrace Bay Pulp, he’s had no shortage of work. 

“While some of my rights have been taken away, my workload has not,” he said.

They are also still part of the House duty roster, which makes sure there are enough NDP MPs attending various meetings on Parliament.
Although it was the party that sanctioned the two MPs last year, Hyer said he’s still not sure who had the final decision.

“I’m not sure whether the current interim leader drew this up on her own, or whether she is having her strings pulled by somebody in the party,” he said.

Based on the MPs he’s spoken with, Hyer said a majority of the NDP caucus supports Rafferty and him. 
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Marc Nother made 34 saves and Brandon Warmington notched a pair of goals, leading the Thunder Bay North Stars to a 4-0 win over the powerful Wisconsin Wilderness on Wednesday night, stretching their winning streak to four games, equalling a season high.

"It's a big win for us. We wanted to get the win for Lonny in his first game as a junior coach here. It's huge for our team, a big confidence boost to win against Wisconsin and it looks like it's a turning point for everyone," Nother said.

"That's probably our most complete game from the forwards all the way back to the D. So I think we're all happy with the win."

Warmington, who's lit the lamp five times in nine games since joining the Stars from the Markham Waxers, said the adversity surrounding the SIJHL club, as tough as it's been, may have united the players and willed them to the win.

"We had a great team effort out there. It seemed like we all came together," Warmington said. "We weren't really expecting a coaching change, but it seems like it's been working for us. Everything seems to be working out there, we just got a 4-0 win."

Bohonos, though not completely satisfied with the way his new troops played, nonetheless was happy to start out a winner.

"It's good for our hockey club. Obviously Wisconsin is a very good hockey team. I'm obviously happy, but there are a lot of things we need to work on. Our PK did a very good job and our goaltending was outstanding," Bohonos said.

"But I felt there were too many undisciplined penalties and we have to cut those down. We got lucky. They've got a really good power play and we can't give teams that many chances because eventually they're going to capitalize."

The Stars were a perfect 10-for-10 while shorthanded and caught Wisconsin goalie Tanner Millron, who leads the league with a sparkling 1.46 goals against average, on an off night.

Michael Orosey, whose been hot of late, struck first, stepping across the blueline and ripping a slap shot past Millron at the 5:40 mark of the opening period.

Less than two minutes later Kyle Lapenskie doubled the North Stars lead in similar fashion, ringing it off the post and into the net for a 2-0 lead they'd take into the break.

Warmington jumped on a loose puck in front of Millron late in the second, pounding it home for the only goal of the period, and iced the contest at 3:34 of the third, stealing the puck from Wisconsin defender Christian Belobaba and waltzed in alone on Millron to score the final goal of the game.

"I had a couple of goals tonight, but I had good line-mates who got me the puck. It's great to play with good players," Warmington said.

The Stars and Wilderness play the second of three in a row on Friday at the Gardens, then hit the road for a dozen straight to wrap up regular-season play.

First period
Scoring : 1. Thunder Bay, Orosey 7 (Ma. Fox, Osborne) 5:40. 2. Thunder Bay, Lapenskie 18 (Mi. Fox, Mascarin) 6:56.  Penalties : Lapenskie TB (interference) 10:00, Blacksmith TB (high sticking) 11:48, Ma. Fox (delay of game ) 17:49.

Second period
Scoring : 3. Thunder Bay, Warmington 4 (Rempel, Wolframe) 17:11. Penalties : Dietrich WIS (hooking) 2:45, Osborne TB (high sticking) 18:47, Dubinksy TB (hooking) 19:58.

Third period
Scoring : 4. Thunder Bay, Warmington 5 (Rempel) 3:34. Penalties : Blacksmith TB (tripping) 4:37, Tilley TB (holding) 10:17, Mi. Fox TB (high sticking double minor) 11:18, Osborne TB, Hendrickson WIS (unsportsmanlike conduct) 12:11.

Game Data – SOG – Wisconsin 10-14-10-34, Thunder Bay 8-12-7-27; Power plays (goals-chances) – Wisconsin (0-5), Thunder Bay (0-1); Goaltenders – Wisconsin: Tanner Millron, Thunder Bay: Marc Nother; A : 336.

 
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Const. Julie Tilbury of the Thunder Bay Police Services is urging anyone who might have been in the area recently to come forward so they can officially close the case.

The call came just before 1 p.m. on Thursday, reporting a hole in the ice with tracks leading to the water’s edge near the Mountdale Road boat launch.

“Apparently some people were down here at lunchtime, observed a hole in the ice and observed what they believe to be tracks. A search of the area has been done by fire rescue, with negative results,” Tilbury said.

“Thunder Bay police are asking if anyone was down here today, or in the last 24 hours and went through the ice, to give us a call so we can clear this incident and make sure there is no other searching we should be doing.”

Tilbury said it’s hard to say how fresh the hole in the thinner-than-usual ice cover on the river is.

“Right now they’ve checked the area and with the weather conditions, it’s hard to tell. However right now they do believe somebody may have walked out on the ice, possibly fallen through and they believe this person has come back out of the area.”

Follow Leith Dunick on Twitter: @LeithDunick
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Casey Skolnik, Benjamin Brouillard and Spencer Peratalo scored a pair of power play goals and a shorthanded marker in the first 12:50 of the game to sink the Stars.

Sam Dubinsky and Brennen Dubchak tallied 83 seconds apart in the third, but try as they might, the North Stars could not net the equalizer.

Colton Ishmael made 38 saves to earn the win. Carter McEachern was yanked after just 2:43, allowing goals on his first two shots. However replacement Marc Nother, who allowed the third goal, was tagged with the loss, stopping 25 of 26 shots.
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“I’m wearing a tie and trying to be professional,” the Fort Hope First Nation’s resident says, with the tie loosely around his neck, featuring a full Windsor knot and perfectly placed dimple. It’s a sure sign he takes time and care with his professional attire. 

Just 88 days ago, Sugarhead didn’t bother with ties. Making sure he appeared professional took a backseat to his then top priority – feeding his prescription drug addiction.

“I use to take anything just to get a fix,” he says, recalling the days not too long ago when the drug dependency ran his life. “It was very small here at first. It was Percocet first.”

The Percocet that once did the trick couldn’t satisfy the addiction anymore.

“I turned to OxyContin when I was older … People were looking to find a bigger high and I was one of those guys.”

Sugarhead says drug use was a way to deal with boredom, and didn’t realize he was using the narcotics to help deal with pain. All his previous attempts to drop his addiction ended in relapse.

The problem became so serious that Sugarhead found himself resorting to theft to help pay for his habits.

But crime is not part of his life anymore.

Today Sugarhead is a role model, a youth outreach worker for his community’s school and one of the success stories from Fort Hope First Nation’s homegrown detox program. 

“It was a good choice for me because I was heading down the wrong way,” he says.

"In Fort Hope, there was no place to deal with your problems. Now there is. This detox thing came into the community and I was on the list and I was on the bottom. By some chance I was bumped up.”

And as a youth outreach worker, his goal is to help students with their own drug dependency problems.

Fort Hope’s detox program was created after the community declared a state of emergency in 2011.

The First Nation hoped they could bring more attention to the community’s prescription drug problems by calling the state of emergency. Since then, Health Canada has provided the community with Suboxone, which helps people addicted to opiates deal with the withdrawal symptoms.

But Suboxone alone can’t cure the community of its problems. The First Nation lacked a facility that could help deal with the mental health aspects of drug addiction.

That problem led Fort Hope to create a solution in August 2011 – a detox clinic that could provide local addicts with the services they needed.

Operating inside a converted home, the clinic started with four community members per session. Demand was too much for the original four, so the clinic expanded to allow 10 people to receive treatment.

There are now plans to expand, and bring the clinic’s capacity to 20.

Elizabeth Atlookan, health manager at Fort Hope, says the program’s waiting list is huge.

The community was supportive of the clinic, but admits that Fort Hope needs more than a house-turned-detox clinic snuff out to its prescription drug use epidemic.

“A lot of members in our community are using OxyContin,” Atlookan says.

“It’s really crippled our community. We renovated this house, but we are going to outgrow it very quickly. We have seen improvements. People have gone back to work and taken care of families.”

She says many turn to drugs to deal with pain, and adds that it isn’t an uncommon problem in remote First Nation communities in the North.

When Health Canada arrived to give Suboxone, she says federal health regulations wouldn’t allow the nurses to administer the drug at the clinic.

Like many social problems, money was also a hurdle in the community’s efforts to create a solution.

“We’re talking about big expenses here,” she says.

“We’re talking probably a lot of money to really fully meet the epidemic proportion of this prescription drug abuse in the North. We’re hoping Health Canada will work with us. Right now they have put in an interim funding for a nurse and we’re going with that. Hopefully, with all the media attention we will get all the help we need.”

 
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Power, who stepped down before the 2010 municipal election, at the time cited his wife’s help for his decision.

He first moved to Geraldton in 1969 and combined to serve nearly 30 years as mayor of the two communities. He was first elected in 1976. Power also spent three terms at the head of the Northwestern Ontario Municipal Association.

Upon announcing he was leaving municipal politics, Power said it was time to move on, as difficult a decision as it was.

"Would I like to stick around? You always want to stick around, but there is always a time to move on, and you need to realize, I have given, I have done what I can. I’ve worked with a group of people. We’ve achieved a lot together. It’s time for somebody else and put themselves forward to achieve it," Power said.

This is a developing story. More to follow…
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For other children with disabilities, it’s an opportunity to enjoy life to its fullest, thanks to the fundraising side of the annual event on the trails surrounding the Grand Portage Lodge and Casino.

“We have a lot of fun,” Zachary said on Thursday, at the launch of this year’s event, set for Feb. 4. “There are two to three snowmobile trails. And last year I got to go on a snowmobile run. It was very fun. We were going very fast and we got to scare our family members.”

Snowarama, which has been taking place for 37 years across Ontario, was designed to help raise money for Easter Seals through pledges collected by local snowmobile clubs.

First started in 1975 by wrestler Whipper Billy Watson, the inaugural Snowarama raised $130,000 at 12 events staged across the province.

Since then it’s raised a combined $16.5 million for Easter Seals.

“Snowarama is very important for Easter Seals. It’s one of the few events that a lot of the kids like, because they get to see the snowmobiles started and they get to look at the snowmobiles from close up,” Zachary said.

Each event is unique, local organizers said.

The Northern Minnesota challenge features a complimentary spaghetti supper and dancing, featuring the music of Bon Jovi tribute band Bed of Roses.

Tony Swader, vice-president of the Grand Portage Trail Riders, said their ninth annual event should be all set to go, the latest drop of snow helping fill out the trails.

“Right now our trails have been dragged and we’ve got some grooming done. Over on the Gunflint they’ve got some grooming done, so I think we’ll be OK, as far as the trails go. There’s a three- to five-inch base in Portage, a six- to seven-inch base over at the Gunflint and about 16 inches of snow in the woods,” Swader said.

“So a couple more shots of snow and we’ll be OK.”

Swader added it’s all about the children, whose families often face enormous financial challenges. It can cost between $10,000 and $40,000 a year to raise a child with a physical disability, something most can afford on their own.

“We want to help the kids like Zach and all the other kids up here in Thunder Bay get the things they need to get on with life and make life a little bit better for them,” he said.

To participate or donate, phone Rhonda Harrison at 345-7622 or visit www.snowarama.org.
 
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