Randy Thoms is a veteran news broadcaster with over 40 years' experience. He is based in Fort Frances and covers stories across northwestern Ontario. Contact Randy at thoms.randy@radioabl.ca.
The communities that make up Agency One are celebrating.
A gathering on Monday at Point Park came after this summer’s court decision that struck down Fort Frances’ attempts to claim ownership of Point Park.
Naicatchewenin First Nation Chief Wayne Smith says now is the time to move forward.
“Let’s try not to think about the history, about the hurts, the ups and downs we went through. That is gone now,” says Smith.
Naicatchewenin First Nation Chief Wayne Smith, September 8, 2025. Image: Randy Thoms
“We’ve got our land back. Let’s build on it, and let’s make something out of it where we’re going to prosper and make a better nation for ourselves moving forward.
The litigation stretched over 30 years, but for the Agency One First Nations, the fight to maintain ownership dates back to when the federal government permitted Fort Frances to obtain a 100-year lease to operate a park.
Mitaanjigamiing First Nation Chief Janice Henderson admits the lawsuit created divisions between First Nations and the town that need to be healed.
“We need to restore and develop a positive relationship with the town and our neighbours so we can move forward in a good way,” says Henderson.
Mitaanjigamiing First Nation Chief Janice Henderson, September 8, 2025. Image: Randy Thoms/Acadia Broadcasting
“We need to be kind to each other, and we want to share the park as we have in the past.”
The Agency One First Nations are working on a Land Use Plan, which they say will reflect the priorities of the communities.
A community update provided in July indicates this will include commercial development, recreational spaces, cultural areas and public spaces and infrastructure.
Terry Allen, Chief of Nigigoonsiminikaaning First Nation, envisions the areas being the gathering place it was meant to be.
“I had a vision. In this vision, the beach was lined with canoes. The lands here were being occupied by the people here. They’re being used, and the campfires are going and teaching is happening,” says Allen.
“Well, guess what? We can do that again. This is our time, and we’re going to make those things happen.”
Point Park, September 8, 2025. Image: Randy Thoms/Acadia Broadcasting
The Chiefs also expressed the importance of working with the town of Fort Frances.
Mayor Andrew Hallikas was on hand to hear the message and later spoke to the Chiefs to acknowledge the importance of working with them.
A decision from Fort Frances town council on whether the town will proceed with a planned waterfront display of two historic vessels remains on hold.
The town attracted a lone bid costing $1.7 million to display the Hallett and Owandem.
The proposal was presented to council last month, but no decision was taken, allowing other options to be considered.
Five options were presented by administration on Monday.
One included phasing the project over a period of time.
Another considered returning the Hallett to the Rainy River, where it had been moored since 2009, before it was removed during the 2022 flood.
The report identifies that the foundation where the tug sat was substantially damaged, likely from repeated freeze and thaws of the river, and would require engineering and repairs before it could be returned.
It also noted that costs for the design and construction of a location for the Owandem would be needed.
No dollar figures were noted.
Councillor John McTaggart says he wants to see some hard numbers before council makes a final decision on which option to pursue.
“Included would be the costs of a permanent anchor to the Hallet so that if high water should return, it would not be in danger of floating away again,” says McTaggart.
“Option five is probably the one that makes the most sense for me,” says Councillor Steve Maki.
“I don’t even think I can make a decision here because I don’t have enough information on option five to properly make a decision.”
Councillors also questioned how high the vessel would need to stand.
Operations and Facilities Manager Travis Rob says that it is difficult to determine, given the flooding that occurred.
“I can’t say how high we would need to go providing an anchor, some sort of anchoring system to ensure that the Hallet is held down in high water events,” says Rob.
“I don’t think you’ll find an engineer in the province of Ontario that would ever sign off that this boat that’s made to float is anchored down good enough that it’s not going to float.”
Rob adds that the town would also need to address accessibility requirements if the Hallett returned to the river.
“With the way that it was currently set up in the water, it was a ramp. In order to maintain a ramp, there are very specific requirements in the building code about what the slope has to be. So, if we look at raising the boat in the water, we can’t meet those requirements to call it a ramp.”
Stairs were considered as part of the plan to place the vessels on land, but were removed to lower the cost.
Administration is expected to bring back a new report to a future meeting.
The Hallett was gifted by Boise Cascade after its use as a logging boat ended.
It remains on blocks in the waterfront’s parking lot.
The Owandem was acquired by the Fort Frances Museum from the family of a U.S. Coast Guard-licensed captain who purchased the boat in 1993.
After being restored, the vessel was placed in storage at the public works yard.
Owandem. Photo supplied by Fort Frances Museum, 2018
Another step has been taken toward the construction of a $210 million bio-refinery in Fort Frances.
Vancouver-based Highbury Energy, in partnership with Wanagekong-Biiwega’iganan Clean Energy Corporation (WBCEC), made up of ten area First Nations, is behind the project.
The bio-refinery proposed to take biomass and convert it into renewable fuels.
They say the project will lead to net-zero carbon intensity fuels that align with Canada’s low-carbon mandates.
It will also improve forest management by reducing fire risk and creating value from residual wood fibre left after harvesting.
A front-end engineering design looking at the technical requirements and business model is complete, with the project now moving into the final design and engineering stages.
The group also has an agreement with Emerging Fuel Technology (EFT), an Oklahoma firm, related to the technology.
“This game-changing partnership combines Highbury Energy Inc. and EFT’s cutting-edge technologies with the strength of ten First Nation communities—backed by all levels of government,” states Highbury’s Chief Executive Officer Len Bykowski in a release.
The plant is targeted for the corner of McIrvine Road and Eighth Street West and is expected to be operational by 2028.
Over 80 jobs in the plant and in the forest are created.
A former member of the Fort Frances Lakers has been hired as an assistant coach in the Western Canada Hockey League.
Roshen Jaswal joins the Swift Current Broncos.
Jaswal was a member of the Lakers’ back-to-back championship wins in 2015 and 2016.
The native of Burnaby, B.C., registered 30 points over 46 games during the two seasons.
He added another 10 points in 19 SIJHL playoff games
His play with the Lakers earned Jaswal a scholarship to St. Olaf College in Minnesota, where he skated for the school’s NCAA Division III team.
He turned pro in 2020, playing in the ECHL, FPHL and SPHL, where he finished his career with a championship playing for the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs in 2023.
Jaswal turned to the coaching ranks after his playing days and was most recently serving as head coach for a U15 team in Vancouver before gaining employment with Swift Current.
He was also serving as a scout for his alma mater.
The Kenora Thistles’ Stanley Cup victory in 1907 is much heralded.
Their defence of the silver bowl, however, was overshadowed by controversy, politics and squabbles, and a threat to toss the Cup in the lake, all leading to the Thistles falling in the rematch with the Montreal Wanderers in March 1907.
The troubles began in the days after Kenora stunned Montreal for the Cup that January.
Kenora played a pair of exhibition games following the series, losing Billy McGimsie to what was initially thought to be a career-ending shoulder injury in a non-Cup challenge exhibition game with Ottawa.
The team returned home having to take two trains. Tommy Hooper, Russell Phillips, manager F. Hudson and trainer Jimmy Links boarded one train home while the rest of the squad caught a second.
That train took nearly a week to reach Winnipeg after a storm halted it in Detroit, stranding passengers for two days.
The players’ late return forced the Manitoba League to play an abbreviated six-game schedule for its teams to be eligible for Stanley Cup competition.
The Thistles limped into the season with McGimsie and Tommy Hopper, who was ill during the Stanley Cup games and later diagnosed with a broken collarbone.
Si Griffis and playing-coach Roxy Beaudro also expressed a desire to retire but decided to hold off their decision until the end of the year.
In a search for replacements, the team landed Fred Whitecroft from Peterborough, who agreed to a contract worth $700 (est. $24,000 in 2025 dollars).
As the Thistles prepared to play their first league game, they landed in the middle of a dispute between the Portage La Prairie and Brandon Hockey Clubs over a cancelled game due to Brandon loaning Art Ross and Joe Hall, two of its star players, to the Thistles for their cup run.
The dispute split the teams, with the Strathconas agreeing that Portage earn the win by default and Kenora siding with Brandon.
Kenora and Brandon threatened to quit and form their own league before the Thistles issued an ultimatum that Portage replay the game or face cancellation of a game with them.
As Stanley Cup champions, the Thistles were seen as a strong draw, and the prospect of losing out on a strong gate persuaded the Portage team to drop its protest.
The Thistles open the season with three straight wins before suffering back-to-back losses to Portage and Brandon that threaten defence of the Cup.
A win over the Strathconas in their final game secured a tie for first with Brandon, and the need for a playoff series to decide a champion.
Hooper’s absence at point was evident during the team’s two losses, and forced the Thistles again to seek out talent to strengthen the club.
Kenora’s recruitment efforts raised the ire of the Wanderers, who repeated as Eastern Canada Amateur Hockey Association champions.
The Wanderers voiced opposition to playing any team for the Cup that did not have “bona fide” members.
William Foran, the Cup’s acting trustee, agreed and ruled that a competing team would be prohibited from adding any player who came from the league it played in.
In the days following the ruling, Kenora secured the rights to Alf Smith and Harry Westwick from the Ottawa Hockey Club, which lost to the Wanderers in the ECAHA final. An offer was also made Harry Smith, Ottawa’s leading goal scorer, who declined.
The team also made a move to acquire Roy Brown from the Michigan Soo Indians of the International Professional Hockey League (IPHL).
The three players played in Kenora’s final league game, but Foran denied their use in any Cup challenge game.
“It is the infringement on the first principles of sport, and I will not permit it. I am irreconcilably opposed to such measures,” Foran stated.
Foran also confirmed that should the Thistles be successful in defending their league title, they would earn the right to host Cup challenge series games.
Montreal had objected to playing in Kenora, suggesting the city’s rink was too small.
“The people of Kenora have backed their team loyally for years and several times assisted in defraying the heavy expenses of sending them east after the Stanley Cup,” said Foran.
“In this fact alone, I think it would be a very unsportsmanlike to compel Kenora, if they be the cup contenders, to defend it on neutral ice, and unless the Wanderers can prove conclusively to me that the ice is altogether too small for a Stanley Cup series,”
Kenora did appeal the ruling impacting Smith, Westwick and Brown, but Foran warned they would forfeit the chances to defend the cup if the players suited up.
Kenora reacted by filing a protest against the Wanderers for having Riley Hern and Hod Stuart on the roster, claiming the players were imported at the start of the season from the professional IPHL for the sole purpose of helping Montreal defend its championship.
Foran, however, ruled Hern and Stuart had been with the team all season, satisfying his definition of “bona fide” players.
While Foran sifted through the eligibility arguments, the Wanderers arrived in Winnipeg in mid-March, claiming they were told to be in the city for the start of the Cup series on the same day that the Manitoba league championship series began.
Following the Thistles’ decisive victory in the opening game of the Manitoba final, a meeting was convened in Winnipeg to discuss dates for the Cup challenge series.
Montreal wanted the games played the day after the Manitoba title was decided, while Kenora demanded additional time to prepare.
Kenora wrote Foran to uphold its request, and returned home to secure the league title with a second win over Brandon.
Foran instead responded by ordering the Cup series to start a day after the Thistles-Brandon series.
In a show of defiance, the Thistles held firm to their plans to play Smith and Westwick.
The Manitoba Hockey League showed support for the Kenora team by passing a resolution to show its disappointment with Foran’s decisions.
“That this league, having received no notification to the effect that power to institute new rules governing cup contests has been delegated by Mr. Ross to Mr. Foran, refuses to recognize Mr. Foran’s authority to make such a ruling, and declines to be governed by the same,” read a part of the resolution.
The league also rejected Foran’s suggestion that another Manitoba club would take Kenora’s place if it did not comply.
“The team winning between the Brandon and Kenora Thistle clubs for the championship of the present season shall have the exclusive right to defend the cup, and that under no circumstance will the cup be defended this season by any other team in the league,” stated the league.
Kenora offered to move the schedule up one day, but Foran first wanted assurances that the Thistles would not use its recent imports and again threatened that the Wanderers would be awarded the cup if Kenora did not comply.
When the date arrived to play the game, the Thistles announced that they would forfeit the game.
“It is utterly impossible for us to play tonight,” said Tommy Phillips, the Thistles captain, to the Manitoba Tribune.
“If the Wanderers claim the game by default tonight, they will have to win either Friday or Monday to take the cup.”
Lester Patrick of the Wanderers retorted, “We are going to Kenora to get the cup.”
That elicited a response from a Kenora official who threatened to throw the cup into Lake of the Woods, suggesting that if the Wanderers wanted it, they would have to fish it out.
Fortunately, the threat was not carried out, but when the Wanderers arrived at the arena, they found public skating taking place and were not permitted entry unless they paid the admission fee.
Kenora’s team officials were on site, ready to discuss the series schedule.
Montreal insisted on playing the two-game series in Winnipeg.
The Thistles eased back on their demands to have the games on home ice, offering to split the series between Kenora and Winnipeg.
When they proposed that the first game happen immediately following their meeting, the Wanderers balked at the suggestion, saying it was too late in the night for the teams or spectators.
Smith and Westwick’s eligibility was raised, but Thistles’ President J. Johnson refused to discuss personnel, leading to the meeting’s abrupt end.
The Wanderers returned to Winnipeg, where they expressed disappointment in the failure to reach an agreement with their opponents.
“The Kenora team does not seem disposed to meet us on anything like fair grounds, and the negotiations are off,” said the Wanderers Secretary Jennings in an interview with the Manitoba Tribune.
Jennings also indicated Montreal was laying claim by default to the first game of the series.
An illustration in the Manitoba Free Press, March 19, 1907.
Days later, James Bell of the Winnipeg Arena successfully brought the clubs back together once again and convinced them of the expectation of large crowds and financial returns for the teams in playing there.
In agreeing so, Montreal withdrew its objections to Smith and Westwick suiting up for the Thistles, upsetting Foran.
“If the two clubs ignore the instructions of the cup trustee, mutually agreeing to play against Westwick and Smith, when both were positively informed these men were ineligible to participate in the present cup match, the series will be treated as void, and the cup will be taken in charge by the trustees,” stated Foran.
Despite Foran’s threat, the games went ahead with Montreal winning the opener 7-2.
Kenora won the second 6-5 but fell short in their bid to hold onto the Cup, losing the two-game total goal series 12-8.
Manitoba Free Press, March 19, 1907
Beaudro, Eddie Geroux, and McGimsie retired at the end of the season.
Griffis also stepped away from the game, later joining the Vancouver Millionaires that would play for the Stanley Cup in 1918, losing to the Toronto Arenas of the newly-formed National Hockey League.
Westwick and Smith returned to Ottawa, while Whitcroft joined the Edmonton Eskimos of the Alberta Professional Hockey League.
Smith was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1962. Griffis was inducted in 1950.
The Ontario Autism Coalition is voicing its opposition to the possibility of school board trustees being eliminated.
Recent reports suggest the province is looking at merging all 72 boards into four provincial bodies.
Labour groups and opposition MPPs have come out against the idea.
The Coalition says it runs the risk of silencing families and their children and worsening school exclusion rates.
A survey identified 28.4% of respondents reporting they contacted a trustee at least once during the 2024-25 school year.
The Coalition says that translates to 102,051 children and youth with a disability who were helped.
It adds that trustees play a critical role, providing families with a voice, providing accountability, and helping resolve problems when students are excluded or cannot access the accommodations they need.
“Trustees are not a symbolic layer of governance. They are a vital contact point for families, ensuring schools are held accountable to children/youth who too often fall through the cracks,” the Coalition states in a release.
The survey also reveals that at least 19,376 children and youth with disabilities missed out on school altogether last year.
The Coalition says the numbers would be much higher had it not been for the advocacy of trustees.
Nurses employed by the Victorian Order of Nurses want wages similar to those given to those working in hospitals.
It is one of the major issues the Ontario Nurses Association is taking to the negotiating table as contract talks with the V.O.N. get underway.
V.O.N. nurses provide home-care services to seniors who still live in their homes
The nurses’ association says the difference is over $20 an hour.
Chair of the Bargaining Team, Lorna Thompson, says nurses are experiencing increased workloads as the population ages.
“We are educated in the same way. We have the same licensing, and we do absolutely the same work. I would even say our work sometimes becomes more critical because you’re in a one-to-one,” says Thompson.
“We deserve equal pay. We’re demanding it, and we’re not going to settle. Not this time.”
Thompson adds nurses’ wages are 14% less than what they were 10 years ago when factoring in inflation.
She says some have taken on a second job to make ends meet as the wages do not reflect travelling costs or the added workload as the population ages.
Thompson says that workload also has an impact on the level of care nurses try to provide.
“When a nurse gets a worksheet with 16 clients to work in a seven-and-a-half-hour day, how does she do that? We are travelling fair distances. No lunch, no time to catch your breath again. What kind of care are we giving our patients?”
The ONA says home care nurses are among the lowest paid in the province, despite facing some of the worst working conditions.”
President Erin Ariss says some have opted to leave the profession, leaving the system hanging by a thread.
“Unless the VON board of directors negotiates fair pay and improves benefits, there won’t be anyone left to provide the services we need,” says Ariss.
The nurses’ last contract expired at the end of March 2025.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has honoured a conservation officer who works in the International Falls area with a lifesaving award.
The award recognizes Curtis Simonson’s role in the search for Donald Larson, an 80-year-old man, who went missing in July.
A search was initiated the next day with the Koochiching County Sheriff’s Office, with additional support from the St. Louis County Rescue Squad called upon.
Simonson offered his support and checked area trails, where he found the man’s jeep stuck in the middle of the trail and the man lying on his side in mud and water.
It had rained overnight, and the man was covered with mud and flies.
Authorities later learned the man had travelled down the trail and got stuck in the mud.
When he got out of the vehicle, he fell.
Simonson transported the man to an awaiting ambulance, which took him to the hospital, where he was released the following day.
“Donald thought he was going to die,” said Lt. Matt Frericks, who supervises conservation officers in the northeastern portion of Minnesota.
“He and his wife both believe that CO Simonson saved his life.”
Liam Stafford and Trent Friesen each scored a pair of touchdowns as the Fort Frances Muskies romped to a 42-0 win over Winnipeg’s Daniel McIntyre Maroons on Friday.
The game at Fort Frances field opened the Muskies’ season in the Winnipeg High School Football League.
A large crowd was on hand, braving chilly temperatures and brisk winds to watch the Muskies score early and often against an undermanned Maroons squad.
Fullback Landon Medwechuk opened the scoring on a 20-yard run.
On the Muskies’ next possession, quarterback Milo Stafford threw a short pass to his brother Liam, who ran 28 yards untouched for the score.
Friesen added to the lead with a pair of touchdowns on runs of 10 and 2 yards, while Conner Small scampered in from 33 yards as the Muskies held a 35-0 lead at the half.
Friesen also successfully booted the convert on all five Muskie touchdowns in the first half.
In the third quarter, Liam Stafford closed out the scoring when he intercepted a Maroons’ passing attempt and returned it 60 yards for the score. Friesen kicked the convert.
The Muskies play their next two games at home before finishing off the season with four straight road games.
Their next game is on Friday, September 12th, at 3 p.m., when they host the Dryden Eagles.
Homecoming is Friday, September 19th, at 3 p.m. against Kenora.
The Muskies will be in the community on Monday as part of the Touchdown Club Discount Card Blitz.
Players will be selling the cards for $20.00, which offer purchasers discounts at participating businesses.
The Touchdown Club uses the money raised to support the team for things as travel and equipment.
