Liverpool residents Jillian Young, Susan Inglis and Rebecca Delaney are the newest inductees on the Olympic Wall at Queens Place Emera Centre. (Rick Conrad)

Three Queens county residents who have made their marks on the world stage were honoured at Queens Place Emera Centre on Thursday.

Liverpool athletes Jillian Young and Rebecca Delaney and coach Susan Inglis were added to the Region of Queens Olympic Wall, in front of a full house in the foyer of Queens Place.

Young and Delaney each won gold medals in snowshoeing at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Italy in March.

Inglis, who is Delaney’s mother, was also in Italy as one of Team Canada’s coaches.

Mayor Scott Christian said the community is proud of the athletes and coaches from Queens County who have represented Canada at the Olympics, Paralympics and Special Olympics. After Thursday’s ceremony, 12 banners now hang on the Olympic Wall at Queens Place.

“I think that this is a great initiative having the Olympic Wall here. I don’t know what we’re going to do because we’re running out of room, but no, I think I think it’s really fantastic that we have a way of honouring folks for their achievements. We’re happy to celebrate any athlete from Queens County who can climb that mountain and manage to get to an Olympic Games. And so that’s what this is all about.”

Inglis said having her banner sharing space with fellow inductee Sarah Mitton is “a dream come true”.

“I really wasn’t that much of an athlete myself growing up, so I could never have dreamed that I would be on the Olympic wall of anything, let alone, you know, here locally. It’s such a privilege. Special Olympics is an amazing organization, and I am very, I’ use the word again, privilege to be a part of it, and to have guided my athletes to get to where they are today.”

Inglis has coached the five Special Olympians who are now inductees. And she said it’s important for all athletes to be recognized for their achievements in world competitions.

“When you look at the talent that comes out of this small town, you know, people think, oh, you’re from a little small town, you’re not going to get anywhere, but, you know, you look at Sarah, you look at Jenna Martin, all the other people that are on the wall, the special Olympians. And I don’t know that it really hit home to me until I went to Italy and I saw the talent on the world stage and saw how our athletes could measure up to that world talent.”

Delaney, who has numerous medals at national and international competitions, said it’s exciting to be among her heroes like Sarah Mitton and to be inducted alongside her mom.

“I love it because we have a good bond together. I would have never expected to be on the wall, but here I am, at Queens Place.

“Me and Jill are very good teammates and I’m glad she got to do it with me. It was a good experience.”

Young said she was “happy and excited” to be recognized for her achievements, though she joked that she didn’t like the food in Italy and was eager to get home to her parents after the games were over.

The Region of Queens is also selling commemorative prints of all the Olympic Wall inductees to raise money for its Recreation for All program.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Queens MLA Kim Masland and Premier Tim Houston take questions at a business luncheon in Liverpool in February 2024. (Rick Conrad file photo)

As hearings continue this week into a proposed expanded fish farm in Queens County, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has softened his stance against aquaculture in Liverpool Bay.

During a question-and-answer session at a business luncheon in Liverpool in February 2024, Houston said he was personally opposed to Kelly Cove Salmon’s plan to expand its operations near Coffin Island, off Beach Meadows Beach, and to add two new sites in Brooklyn and Mersey Point. That would have added 46 more open-net pens and 1.4 million more farmed salmon in Liverpool Bay. 

Kelly Cove is a subsidiary of Cooke Aquaculture.

 “I think some areas are great for aquaculture and I think that some others are maybe not the best place for it,” Houston said last year. “On this specific question on Liverpool Bay, … I personally don’t think Liverpool Bay is a suitable place for it.” 

But this week, Houston told QCCR that he’s more comfortable with the company’s application to add six cages for a 20-pen farm at its Coffin Island site.

“I think at the time the initial proposals were much larger than what is before the board now,” he said in an interview.

“I think there was some acknowledgement of the concerns that I and others had, certainly residents had, and modification, really bringing things down to size. So the board will make their decision now, but I was happy to see some kind of more appropriate sizing being put before the board.”

Queens MLA Kim Masland, however, told QCCR that she is still opposed to the expansion.

“My position’s never changed,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “And I think if you check the record, there is not another MLA that has said that in this province.”

A three-member panel of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board began hearings on Tuesday in Bridgewater. 

Panel chairman Damien Barry told the hearing that on July 18, the board granted Kelly Cove’s request to split the three applications. The company asked the board to proceed with the Coffin Island boundary amendment and leave the applications for two new farms “in abeyance”.

Lawyers are representing six groups at the tribunal, including Kelly Cove Salmon, the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Region of Queens, community group Protect Liverpool Bay, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay and the Wasoqopa’q First Nation.

Queens County residents opposed to the application were upset that the board didn’t hold hearings in Liverpool.

As the hearing began, Barry said the board tried to find a suitable location in Liverpool for the dates that were set aside. But nothing was available.

When asked on Wednesday, Masland said she was also upset when she found out the hearings were going to be held in Bridgewater.

“I immediately went and met with the minister of fisheries and aquaculture in person, expressed my displeasure and asked for the reasons why and asked him to investigate it. Again, ARB is independent from government, but he did look into it.

“Do I feel that they should have changed the date? Absolutely. It should have been held here in the community and where the fish farm expansion is going, and the minister knows that.”

The hearings are expected to continue until Friday afternoon at the Days Inn in Bridgewater. People can register here to watch a livestream of the proceedings.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Kristopher Snarby, Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian, Queens MLA Kim Masland, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and Olympian Sarah Mitton were among those at the official opening of the Steele Athletic Grounds in Liverpool on Wednesday. (Rick Conrad)

The South Shore’s first turf field and rubberized track officially opened in Liverpool on Wednesday with a new name and lots of community enthusiasm.

The $3.5-million facility at Liverpool Regional High School will be called the Steele Athletic Grounds after a $100,000 donation from Steele Auto Group.

Hundreds of people including Olympian Sarah Mitton, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, Queens MLA Kim Masland and Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian turned out for the ribbon cutting.

The Queens County Track Society spearheaded the project that began in 2018.

“It will be a place where both youth and adults can train and dream, where teams can compete and where a community can come together to celebrate with sport and achievement,” president Kristopher Snarby told the hundreds of students and others gathered for the event.

“Today’s grand opening is more than just a ribbon cutting, it’s the start of a new chapter for recreation, health and community pride in Queens County and across the South Shore.”

Snarby thanked the many people and organizations in the community that made the track and field a reality. The federal government contributed $1.8 million, the province gave $1.2 million and the Region of Queens granted $250,000, with local donors and sponsors chipping in another $250,000.

Snarby said after the event that thanks to the 10-year agreement with Steele Auto Group, the society has about $1,000 left over to put toward future improvements like seating and security cameras.

“Most people are bringing their own chairs, but we would like to have some seating, that’s probably the next thing. The other thing are security cameras, that’s probably the top priority. We need to get security cameras up and we’re putting things in place to get that done.”

In addition to the all-weather track and soccer field, the fully lighted facility also features an area for the long and triple jumps. A new shot put circle and area have also been installed next to the high school. The complex is open to everybody in the community.

“It’s getting a lot of use, the soccer kids are loving the field,” Snarby said. “Track doesn’t start until the spring, so the track hasn’t had like a lot of training but the cross-country team does use it to train as well and just the general public using it for walking and … to have some recreation.”

Masland said she was overwhelmed to see the facility completed and open.

“To actually stand on this field today, to see the kids out there really enjoying it, just an amazing day for me,” she said in an interview. “It’s been something that’s been very close to my heart since becoming elected in 2017. Glad I could be part of the project and work with such amazing dedicated folks with the society. This is a game changer for our athletes, for our community and for our students.”

Mitton is a champion shot putter who was a high school student in Liverpool more than 10 years ago. She said the state-of-the-art facility will help young athletes excel.

Before it opened, local track and field athletes had to leave the community to train or use the bus loop around the school.

“This is such an incredible thing for the kids that go to school in this area,” Mitton told QCCR.

“Anyone in the community can use this, whether it’s for just a healthy active lifestyle, a project like this can really change the lives of many people in the community. … I learned a lot not having a facility like this, but I think like this would have eliminated a lot of barriers for me. I drove to and from Bridgewater three or four times a week as a kid once I started joining a club and to have something like this here I think would have been a lot easier and maybe my progress could have been a little bit faster.

“But to have something like this, if you’re interested in throwing shot put, you can just come up and do it whenever you want like in the evenings, it just opens the door for kids to have the same opportunities other athletes and kids have in other communities on the South Shore and around Nova Scotia.”

The facility is operated by the Queens County Track Society and maintained by the South Shore Regional Centre for Education.

The society is selling annual memberships of $25 which entitle people to use the track whenever it’s available. More information can be found on the Liverpool community track and field Facebook page.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Lawyers listen to Stacy Bruce, clerk with the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board, on Tuesday in Bridgewater as hearings began into Kelly Cove Salmon’s application to expand its operation in Queens County. (Rick Conrad)

Hearings opened Tuesday into a proposed bigger fish farm in Liverpool Bay, with community members and others getting a chance to say what they think of the idea.

A three-member panel of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board is hearing an application from Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, to expand its operation near Coffin Island off Beach Meadows Beach.

Kelly Cove wants to add six more cages for a 20-pen farm, with an extra 260,000 Atlantic salmon. 

Lawyers are representing six groups at the tribunal, including Kelly Cove Salmon, the Nova Scotia Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, community group Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay and the Wasoqopa’q First Nation.

Six members of the public were given time at the beginning of Tuesday’s hearing to make statements about Kelly Cove’s application.

Jeff Bishop, executive director of the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia, urged panel members to allow the expansion. He said ocean-based aquaculture takes up less than half of one per cent of the coastline, creating jobs and pumping millions into local economies.

He warned them not to listen to groups opposing the application.

“They will tell you they are grassroots, community groups that represent the voice of most Nova Scotians, while they talk about potential hazards and not evidence of any actual risks. In fact, by looking at the members of these networks and coalitions publicly available annual reports to Canada Revenue Agency, we know that they take in millions of dollars of unreceipted foreign revenue from outside of Canada every year, and hundreds of thousands of dollars or more annually from other charities. That hardly sounds like grassroots local support to me. … These groups do not speak for most Nova Scotians, but simply their echo chambers.”

Bishop did not name any organizations and provided few other details. Protect Liverpool Bay has been the most prominent to oppose Cooke’s operation off Coffin Island. It’s a volunteer-run organization that began in 2018 and relies on local donations. 

He added that the review board should not allow “the hollow cry of ‘not in my backyard’ to have its way” and to “support growth by approving Kelly Cove Salmon’s application”.

Bob Iuliucci of Bear Cove Resources in East Berlin, who worked as a researcher in applied ocean sciences and marine geology for 50 years, said he was worried about how climate change and the ever-strengthening tides in Liverpool Bay would affect the expanded farm, and the resulting damage it could do to the coastal environment.

“Expansion multiplies risk on every front — ecological, biological, economic loss to wild fisheries and tourism.”

Elizabeth Hartt of Bear Cove Resources said she was concerned that an expanded operation could risk development of other industries that could set up in the area, such as sustainable seaweed, oyster or mussel farms.

She said those types of aquaculture exist lower in the ocean and are not in fixed structures at the surface.

“You can sail over a lot of those things. They’re not fixed structures that in storms are going to be trashed and then thrown on shore. They’re not heavily loaded with fish that are going to land up on the shores of Liverpool.”

Instead of more fish farms, she said the province should be encouraging more exploration and ocean research in Liverpool Bay.

Liverpool resident Andrew Tyler said he and his family moved to the area two years ago because of the natural beauty and the beaches.

He said when they first moved to the area, he didn’t know what the cages were off Beach Meadows Beach. But he said in noticing the signs peppered around the community protesting open-pen fish farms, he realized most residents are against it.

“This is a hearing, and I hope you’re listening, that the Liverpool community, by and large, doesn’t want this expansion,” Tyler said.

“The jobs that fish farming bring are very few. The investment is very little, and it doesn’t add to the draw that bring people like me, who want to move their families to the area, who want to invest in the area, who want to put down roots in the area. So in my view, fish farming takes. 
It doesn’t give back.

“There’s a way to do it that doesn’t risk one of our greatest natural assets at Beach Meadows. This isn’t it.” 

Stewart Lamont, managing director of Tangier Lobster, said he’s concerned how an expanded operation would affect the area’s lobster fishermen and their contribution to Nova Scotia’s $1.5-billion lobster export industry.

He said that up to 1,000 metric tonnes of fecal and food waste is deposited every year on the ocean floor below fish farms operations in Nova Scotia. In an era of foreign markets sensitive to where their food comes from, Lamont said “if any jurisdiction in Europe saw a viral video of our Nova Scotia lobster grazing on bottom below or near an open net pen, our lobster sector would be finished overnight.”

He said climate change will also only add to the problems as waters warm and storms become more intense.

“The greatest piece missing in this business model is the lack of community support referred to already this morning,” he said. “Academics call it social license. What is taking place now is effectively the privatization of public waters, and that is by so many standards, clearly wrong and absolutely unwanted. 
… The more citizens learn about fish farms and open-net pen fish farming, the less they want any part of them.”

For the rest of the day, a nine-member witness panel from Kelly Cove answered questions from lawyers about the company’s extensive application to the board.

Lawyers cross-examined the panel on its consultations with the local Indigenous community, the company’s various studies of impacts on the ocean and surrounding environment and the effects on lobster populations. 

Michael Szemerda, Cooke’s global chief sustainability officer, admitted under cross-examination from Region of Queens lawyer Natasha Puka that the company has been operating outside its lease boundaries since it took over the farm.

He also confirmed that there have been only two “mortality events” at the Coffin Island site, with an unknown number of fish dying in 2018 from insufficient oxygen and 2019 from storm damage. In 2012, Cooke reported an infectious salmon anemia, which led to the destruction of two pens of fish, and a bacterial kidney disease among its salmon.

About 20 community members travelled to Bridgewater to take in the proceedings. 

Beach Meadows resident Tim Nickerson said that he wanted to make the trip, though he was upset the review board didn’t hold the hearings in Liverpool.

“I’m really disappointed with the idea that the hearing’s being held in Bridgewater,” he said in an interview. “We heard the chair say that they made a big effort to be in Liverpool, based on the dates, but I’m like change the dates. I just think that’s such a big issue, and should be really concerning about a public exercise not really being done in the area that has the greatest impact.”

He said he was also disappointed in comments made by Jeff Bishop from the aquaculture association.

“I just didn’t think his comments were very respectful. I think people can have contrary views. 
I don’t think we need rhetoric about foreign investment and that kind of just silliness. … I didn’t appreciate that.”

The three-member panel is made up of Roger Percy, Bruce Morrison and chaired by Damien Barry.

Proceedings continue Wednesday at 9 a.m. at the Days Inn in Bridgewater. It’s open to the public. People can also register to watch a livestream of the hearings.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

The Region of Queens says its reservoir is getting low, so it’s asking customers to use less water. (Photo via SneakyElbow via Pixabay)

The Region of Queens is asking its municipal water customers to restrict their usage to deal with drought conditions, as system-wide leaks appear to worsen.

The municipality posted a notice on its Facebook page on Tuesday asking the 1,200 water users in Liverpool and Brooklyn to conserve water immediately.

The post said that water levels in the Town Lake Reservoir have been dropping because of months-long drought conditions. The region did not mention a chronic system-wide leak problem that outside consultants have said gives the region a poor rating of water loss volumes compared to Canadian and international standards.

Mayor Scott Christian has told QCCR that staff regularly monitor the reservoir’s levels. About two weeks ago, Christian said water levels were still fine.

The region is asking people to limit their lawn and garden watering, fix any leaky faucets, take shorter showers and run dishwashers and washing machines with only full loads.

The Region of Queens Water Utility is asking the Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board for a 106 per cent increase in water rates, or about a $348-a-year hike. In documents filed with the board, a consultant hired by the region says “there is excessive leakage within the (water) system”.

Another report done for the region in 2024 found that the water system was losing more than 611,000 cubic metres, or 611 megalitres, per year due to leaks. Customers were using about 303,000 cubic metres, or 303 megalitres per year.

That represents 69.1 per cent of total water supply. In 2021, that rate was 60.3 per cent.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Signs from the group Protect Liverpool Bay. (Protect Liverpool Bay Facebook page)

Hearings into a fish farm expansion in Queens County get underway on Tuesday, with opponents saying they’re not confident that regulators will listen to their concerns.

Cooke Aquaculture subsidiary Kelly Cove Salmon has applied to Nova Scotia’s aquaculture review board to add six more cages to its operation near Coffin Island off Beach Meadows Beach. It had also applied to add two new farms near Brooklyn and Mersey Point. The review board is looking into only the application to expand the existing site.

Hearings begin at the Days Inn in Bridgewater on Tuesday at 9 a.m. and are set to run through to Friday.

RELATED: Read more of QCCR’s coverage of fish farms in Queens County

Protect Liverpool Bay has been fighting Cooke’s open-net pen fish farm near the beach since 2018. The group has protested the review board’s decision to hold the hearings outside Queens County.

Group spokesman Brian Muldoon told QCCR earlier this summer that he’s worried the hearing is just a formality.

“I believe they are not listening to the people or residents of Queens County. They’re moving forward with their agenda,” Muldoon said. 

“I have no confidence in the board listening to us.”

Still, Protect Liverpool Bay is encouraging its supporters to attend the hearings. It’s also offering to arrange ride shares for people who need transportation.

The group is one of the intervenors at the hearing. Environmental law charity Ecojustice is representing Protect Liverpool Bay on a pro bono basis. But the group says the fight will still likely cost about $25,000 in hiring expert witnesses, and other costs associated with the hearing. 

Other intervenors are a group of 22 lobster fishermen from Liverpool Bay and the Region of Queens Municipality. It’s unclear whether the Wasoqopa’q First Nation and the Brooklyn Marina are still involved.

Hearings had been originally scheduled for March 2024, but they were cancelled shortly after Premier Tim Houston told a business crowd in Liverpool last February that he personally opposed expanded fish farming in Liverpool Bay.

Chairwoman Jean McKenna and other members of the review board were also replaced.

The review board has consistently refused to answer questions from QCCR on any of its decisions or its makeup.

In the leadup to the originally scheduled hearings, more than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Most opposed the expansion and the new farms.

If Cooke is successful in its application to expand the Coffin Island site, it will have a total of 20 cages, holding up to 660,000 Atlantic salmon, covering an area of 40 hectares or 100 acres.

The hearings are open to the public. People can also watch a livestream of the sessions by registering on the review board’s website at arb.novascotia.ca.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian. (Rick Conrad)

Region of Queens mayor and councillors are holding seven town hall meetings around Queens County this month to get public feedback on various issues.

Mayor Scott Christian says it’s important to hear from as many people as possible.

“We’re looking to kill two birds with one stone in that we think it’s important to be accessible and engaging with our residents writ large, but it’s also timely because we have been working behind the scenes on identifying some five-year strategic priorities and a vision and a mission for the organization and we want to make sure that it’s aligned to what residents are seeing and feeling and experiencing in the community.”

Christian says the region will also have a survey available for people who can’t make it to one of the October sessions.

Council’s strategic plan has been mentioned regularly at council meetings since the new slate of councillors was sworn in in 2024. But it hasn’t been made public yet. 

Christian told QCCR that the town hall meetings will be a chance for people to get a look at some of the details of that plan.

“My expectation is that we provide folks with an opportunity to take a look at what we have thus far, provide their feedback on that, give everybody an opportunity to contribute in a way that they’re comfortable (with), but then also just open up the floor for more kind of question-and-answer to engage their councillors and myself as the mayor on particular issues or items of importance to them.”

Christian said that staff and councillors will incorporate what they hear at the town halls into the region’s five-year plan, which will also influence budget deliberations.

He said the region plans to start early budget talks and capital planning by December, with work on the budget set to begin in the new year. 

Municipalities are expected to finalize their fiscal plans by March 31. This year, the Region of Queens passed its budget in mid-May.

“We were quite last minute last go-around so we’re going to start to look at the five-year capital improvement plan and updates to that … in December, so my expectation is that we’ll have those kind of those strategic priorities nailed down by that time.”

The seven town hall meetings are scheduled to run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Christian, councillors and some staff will likely be at the meetings. Here is where they’ll be held:

• Thurs., Oct. 16 – Liverpool Fire Hall
• Fri., Oct. 17 – Milton Memorial Hall
• Mon., Oct. 20 – Mersey Point Hall
• Tues., Oct. 21 – West Queens Recreation Centre
• Thurs., Oct. 23 – Greenfield Fire Hall
• Fri., Oct. 24 – Port Medway Fire Hall
• Mon., Oct. 27 – North Queens Fire Hall

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

The dry hydrant at Bangs Falls pictured in early September, one of the photos of the condition of dry hydrants, posted by the Greenfield and District Fire Department. (Greenfield and District Fire Department)

A new dry hydrant will be installed behind the North Queens Nursing Home but at almost three times the cost that Region of Queens councillors were expecting.

The dry hydrant behind the manor in Caledonia has been on a list of planned work for the past five or six years, council heard at their meeting last week.

Councillors had budgeted $40,000 this year to install three new dry hydrants. The two others were planned for Mary Lake and Westfield Road, also in Caledonia.

But the one approved by council last week near the nursing home is the only one that will be installed this year, and at a cost of $40,000. The others will be pushed to next year, according to Garrett Chetwynd, the region’s manager of public works.

Chetwynd told councillors that staff decided to contract out the work because public works staff were busy with other projects.

“The original request for pricing was posted to the provincial procurement site where we received no responses. When we received no submissions to that, it was submitted to, I believe, 12 local contractors. So that same RFP was sent to them and we only received one submission back.”

That was from C. Eugene Ingram Construction in Liverpool, who will install for $40,000 plus HST.

Dry hydrants are used where traditional hydrants aren’t available. They access water sources such as ponds, lakes or streams to help fight fires. The municipality maintains 51 dry hydrants around the county.

District 6 Coun. Stewart Jenkins said he was concerned that one hydrant will cost so much. He asked how much it’s historically cost to install a dry hydrant, but Chetwynd said he was familiar with only one being installed during his time with the region and he didn’t have those numbers.

“I’m not against dry hydrants coming in,” Jenkins said. “I am against one hydrant costing what three was expected to cost.”

He said he’d like to see council combine dry hydrant maintenance and installation into one larger tender to attract more bids.

“If we as a region working with the fire departments came up with a plan of putting in new hydrants or fixing old ones and came up with a group of hydrants to have fixed, then we would get a tender because it would suddenly become a higher dollar value,” Jenkins told his fellow councillors.

“And I think if we had, you know, $150,000 worth of work out there or $200,000, we’d do it once every two years and fix up a whole bunch of things, it would make it more acceptable to get better quality quotes from the people that do this sort of work in Queens County.”

Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton said bundling the work into a higher-value tender makes sense, especially if municipal staff can’t do it.

“We do have to try to make this more competitive for sustainability moving forward.”

Councillors voted to direct staff to compile a list of new dry hydrants requested to date and those in need of repair to attract more competitive bids for tender. 

Some councillors were also concerned about delaying the work on the other two new hydrants to next year.

With the recent drought conditions in Nova Scotia, many of the water sources for the hydrants have literally dried up. The Greenfield and District Fire Department recently sounded the alarm about the condition of some of the hydrants in their area. According to a Sept. 1 Facebook post, the department has reported problems with dry hydrants to the region many times.

Councillors had set aside $110,820 in this year’s budget for maintenance and installation.

Jenkins said that while the dry hydrants provide handy access to water, the county’s volunteer fire departments have other ways of getting water to a fire scene.

“I know from experience with the fire departments that they do have other ways of getting water out of water sources than the dry hydrants. 
There’s portable pumps that are high volume. Many of the trucks have front intakes so they can pull into a site and pump water. So I don’t think it’s a fact that they’re not going to have water to that site. 
There’s other ways of doing it. And Greenfield (fire) department has had to lay out the other ways of doing it because half of their dry hydrants are very dry and the other ones are plugged up with mud.”

When asked, Chetwynd said he believes the work will likely begin in the next month, though he wasn’t sure exactly when or if the agreement dictates a timeline.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of the story below

Hundreds showed up at the Hank Snow Museum community park on Tuesday in Liverpool for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. (Rick Conrad)

Hundreds turned out to the Hank Snow Museum Community Park in Liverpool on Tuesday to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Survivors of residential schools and their families shared their stories in the morning. In the afternoon, organizers held a mawio’mi, or pow wow, that highlighted Indigenous dancing, drum singing and traditional crafts.

This was the fifth annual event in Liverpool to honour the victims and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.

The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours at 1-866-925-4419. It provides support, including emotional and crisis referral, for former residential school students.

Here are some of the stories and sounds from the event in Liverpool.

Michelle Roy organized the event to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

A new group wants to hear from you on the need for transition housing services in Queens County for survivors of domestic violence.

Jane’s Place Society is holding two public consultation sessions Monday night at the Liverpool Fire Hall at 6:30 and on Oct. 2 at 6:30 at the North Queens Fire Hall in Caledonia.

The group wants to provide second-stage housing for women and families who are leaving shelters, but still need supportive places to live.

Volunteers with the society want to buy a property and develop it into apartments to provide stable, secure housing.

The sessions on Monday and on Oct. 2 are designed to get as much feedback as possible from residents all over Queens County.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com