CFRC Daily News Briefs

CFRC Daily News Brief for Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023.

It’s Thursday December 8th. Good Morning I’m Karim Mosna with your daily news brief. In the news…   The INVISTA Centre will keep it’s name for another two year term after Kingston City Council approved the extension of the naming rights agreement with INVISTA Canada until 2025. Site Manager with INVISTA Kingston Dennis McAllister says,“INVISTA considers the City of Kingston a preferred partner, and we’re honoured to be able to extend our naming rights partnership with the City. The two years we lost due to the pandemic was a challenging time for us all, but we’re moving forward, and we take great pride in being able to support the Kingston community.”   The City of Kingston has announced that Sadiqa de Meijer has been appointed as Kingston’s new Poet Laureate. The honorary four-year term position celebrates the contribution of poetry and literary arts to life in Kingston. Mayor Bryan Paterson welcomed the new poet laureate at Tuesday night’s council meeting. She has received a Governor General’s Literary Award and and recently received a 2022 Mayor’s arts award. De Meijer says, “Over the past twenty years, I have watched Kingston/Katarokwi unfold into new forms… I’m looking forward to translating this shifting place into poetry, to creating collaborative projects with local residents, and to bringing poems to the city’s landscape. Her first official event as Poet Laureate will be at the Mayor’s Levee on January 10, where she will read a new, original poem created for the occasion.    That’s all for your daily news brief. I’m Karim Mosna, if you have any news tips email me: news@cfrc.ca

It’s Wednesday December 7th. Good Morning I’m Karim Mosna with your daily news brief. In the news…   With the United Nations Biodiversity Conference or COP15 beginning in Montreal today and the UN’s COP27 having recently wrapped up, Just Recovery Kingston and Kingston Youth Climate Action are sponsoring a City and Climate Town Hall online tonight at 7, with three panelists discussing opportunities and obstacles for climate justice at the local level. The panelists will discuss: How Kingston can meet the 50% by 2030 target required by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and what can be done in response to the climate crisis at the municipal level. The panelists include:-Mary Jane Philp of 350 Kingston Ian Borsuk of Environment Hamilton and Burnaby city councillor Alison Gu. To register visit the Just Recovery Kingston Website, and join me at 5 on The Scoop for an exclusive interview with Mary Jane Philp of 350 Kingston.   A new museum telling the story of local Holocaust survivors has opened. L’dor Vador: From Generation to Generation, the Holocaust Museum and Educated Centre is located within Kingston synagogue Beth Israel Congregation. The museum is comprised of a permanent exhibit of Family Trees that illustrate the stories of ten children who survived the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War 2, and how they built their lives in Kingston. The trees were created by students of the former Queen Elizabeth Collegiate and Vocational Institute. Teacher Pam Simon who spearheaded the project says, “The goal of creating this museum space is to not only educate students, but also to educate History and English teachers on how to teach the Holocaust.” The exhibit also includes a surviving Torah Scroll from the destruction of European Jewry.   That’s all for your daily news brief. I’m Karim Mosna, if you have any news tips email: news@cfrc.ca

It’s Tuesday December 6th. Good Morning I’m Karim Mosna with your daily news brief. In the news…   Education workers in Ontario have voted to accept the four year deal offered by the provincial government. The ratification vote brings lengthy, and at times contentious, negotiations between the two sides to a close after strike action saw schools across Ontario close in early November. CUPE 1480 Local President Erin Provost says  “They had concessions for a lot of things and we didn’t end up losing anything. We kept everything basically as status quo and we ended up with a dollar an hour raise. It isn’t nearly enough, but it’s more than we’ve seen in over a decade.” 76% of 55,000 education workers participated in the ratification vote between November 24 and December 4, with 73% of those voting in favour of the agreement. Provost said that the recent court decision to overturn the public sector wage-suppressing Bill 124 didn’t really have any bearing on members’ willingness to go back to the table,  however the Ford government’s intent to appeal that decision demonstrates the contempt the government has for its’ school children, as the money that will be spent on an expectedly lengthy and rigorous legal challenge could have gone towards supports for students. This story courtesy of Owen Fullerton, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with YGK NEWS.   International Day of Persons with Disabilities was this past Saturday and just ahead of that, The City of Kingston  presented its 2022 Accessibility Awards.One of the award recipients was Associate professor of mechanical and materials engineering at Queen’s University, Dr. Claire Davies who teaches the interdisciplinary Building Better Together program for 3rd year biomedical students and 2nd year occupational therapy students. Davies and her students design assistive technology to increase independence for persons with disabilities. She says she tries to put her engineering students into an accessibility mindset. Other recipients include: Owner of Signable Vi5ion, Leah Riddell, Bailey Daniels for her work with Motion Kingston and Polson Park Public School. Catch my full conversation with Dr. Davies and Leah Riddel this afternoon at 5 on Citizen K.   That’s all for your daily news brief. I’m Karim Mosna, if you have any news tips email: news@cfrc.ca

It’s Monday December 5th. Good Morning I’m Karim Mosna with your daily news brief. The United Way of Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington has announced a new Youth Peer Support Program for youth in the region. The program will work with youth aged 16- 24 on a referral basis. Youth seeking support will then be matched with trained peers  with lived experience over the age of 18. This past summer, Resolve Counseling hired a Youth Program Facilitator with the financial support from United Way. Director of Community Services at Resolve, Tara Everitt says, “The Facilitator is working with youth and agencies to really develop a model that works for our community, we want young people to know they are not alone. We want to help support them to build hope. It is youth supporting youth.” The community-driven initiative was identified through a special youth mental health committee spearheaded by Kingston Health Sciences Centre and United Way KFL&A. The committee discussed multiple challenges youth often face when they are in crisis, or discharged from hospital. Youth indicated that having a peer walk with them through this experience would be a tremendous help during the transition. According to a release from United Way, following the initial development of the program and pilot period over the next year, the program hopes to expand further to include more youth and agencies in the community.   As of January 6, 2023, Pascan Aviation will be pausing air service at YGK Airport  Aron Winterstein, YGK Airport Manager says, Forward bookings on Pascan are not where they need to be, this is not an issue with safety or support from our partners and residents.. Currently, travellers cannot book directly on the Air Canada website, use Aeroplan points for bookings or speak with an Air Canada booking agent. and we are pausing service until those levels of customer service can be met.”  Travellers can book travel from YGK/Kingston to YUL/Montreal through January 6 by visiting the Pascan Aviation website. Travellers currently holding tickets on Pascan Aviation will be honoured through January 6th.   That’s all for your daily news brief. I’m Karim Mosna, if you have any news tips email: news@cfrc.ca