Shore Report
December 2024
Shore Report is a bit late this month, as the pre-holiday workload has seen your humble correspondent mostly outside the region for business. Trips to Ottawa, Toronto, and Guadalajara, Mexico saw us meeting with the federal government and media industry partners, and at every stop we talked up the north shore of Lake Huron. Apologies for the tardiness, and hope you find value in the report.
Shore Report acknowledges the North Shore of Lake Huron is the traditional land of the Anishinabek and the Métis Nation. This is Treaty 61 (Robinson-Huron) territory. Anishinabek have lived in the Great Lakes region for thousands of years. Shore Report is very grateful to live and work here.
All written content in this issue is © Shore Report 2024
Northern Cardinal preparing for the holidays. © John Degen, Shore Report 2024
Editorial
Preparing for, and Embracing, Change
There seems to be a theme running through December’s Shore Report. Change is inevitable, and it comes to disrupt, challenge (and hopefully improve) all of our lives. What we do with the change we experience is key to whether it helps or hurts.
Algoma Public Health’s recent profile of the region shows significant challenges continuing, but also an encouraging drop in infant mortality. Whitefish River First Nation is embracing a positive future with ambitious housing starts. Thessalon Town Council is showing foresight in adjusting to the possibility of a weather emergency shift from cold to hot. Sault Ste. Marie’s mayor is not waiting for the province to understand his city’s greatest needs on their own, and is leading his citizens in a push for a new emergency services hub.
Emblematic of positive change in the region is the joyful, funny, and smart viral marketing that has seen JR’s Pizza in Blind River attract a customer base many multitudes of the town’s own population… and yet something about this good-news story clearly rubbed someone in town the wrong way. Not all folks welcome change, one supposes. But science shows that everyone welcomes pizza, so we’re pretty sure JR’s will keep doing great business.
Who’s Bad-Mouthing This Successful Blind River Business?
And for Heaven’s Sake, Why?
JR’s Pizza Receives Surprising Online Review
JR’s left “speechless” by details in online review. Image courtesy JR’s Pizza’s Facebook page.
With its high-quality food offerings, and social media smarts that include almost daily Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok content showcasing happy workers, one would imagine JR’s Pizza in Blind River might be winning business awards, and benefiting from a grateful local government.
Yet, social media observers were surprised to see JR’s re-publish a mysterious online review noting that a “town representative” had warned the customer to “stay away” from the take-out restaurant, located right near the Blind River municipal offices and council chamber.
An online reviewer identifying as “Neighbourhood Watch” wrote a four star Google review about the business — “My husband and I moved to the area recently, we tried the pizza and it was really good! The people work really hard you can tell.” — but added:
The atmosphere of the town is way off. A town representative when we were bragging about how great the food was, warned us to stay away! We won’t be staying away, we will be staying away from that person.”
The owners of JR’s Pizza, local couple Kiara and John Mayer responded with dismay saying they would take the matter to town council. John Mayer is the son of original JR’s owners Richard and Sue Mayer, and took over the business on his parents’ retirement in 2019. The original JR’s location on Highway 17 can still be seen, with a sign directing hungry passersby to the new, larger outlet nearby.
Kiara and John Mayer in their shop. Image courtesy JR’s Pizza.
Since the review was republished, there has been no official public communication from Blind River Town Council regarding the incident, and no indication in recent Council minutes of JR’s Pizza being discussed.
Shore Report reached out to both the business and Blind River’s Mayor, Sally Hagman.
“We love JR’s Pizza!”, exclaimed Mayor Hagman, clearly surprised to hear of a negative review. “In fact, the Town of Blind River supports all of our business community!”
Given the pseudonymous nature of the review, and that no town representative was actually identified by name, the mayor declined to comment further.
Kiara (Rubenstein) Mayer hopes the whole thing can be put to rest, and notes all the positive work JRs has done in the community and even beyond Blind River. During high season (summer) JR’s employs up to 12 people in town, many of whom are regularly featured in the business’s good-humoured social media marketing.
“We have expanded to include pizza kit fundraisers,” says Mayer, “a mobile woodfire pizza oven that we travel to events with, a Dickie Dee ice cream cart, a mobile sausage cart, and we've purchased a food truck. We also host multiple events throughout the year in our community including Poutine Fests, community dances, and Touch a Truck. We provide bursaries towards post-secondary schooling for staff who have committed to JR's Pizza through their high school career. We also offer delivery to Elliot Lake multiple times a year to show our appreciation to customers in our neighbouring community.”
Shore Report can testify from personal experience that Kiara Mayer’s viral marketing has driven traffic to JR’s Pizza, and made the town of Blind River more than just another place to pass through on a long northern drive. In fact, according to Mayer, “You'll see in many reviews people saying they travel to Blind River just for our pizza!”
The 2021 Census puts Blind River’s population at 3,422 residents, down slightly from 3,472 in 2016. Given JR’s Pizza’s social media following is many multiples of the town’s population — their Facebook page alone has almost 12,000 followers, with a reach of half a million views — this local business could probably give seminars on viral marketing.
Area Health Concerns Profiled:
Gaps in Vaccines, Mental Health, Pre-Natal Care
Algoma Public Health (APH) Report Highlights Challenges
Image courtesy Algoma Public Health
Published in September 2024, Algoma’s Community Health Profile depicts a district challenged by health crises. In his introduction to the report, Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. John Tuinema describes a community facing “significant health challenges including the ongoing opioid crisis and the many ways that the social determinants of health can work against our health in the North.”
The Covid-19 pandemic looms large in this report, with related isolation and disruption affecting community health in a variety of ways. To begin with, routine vaccination for diseases other than Covid-19 saw an overall decrease during the pandemic, leaving residents vulnerable to conditions such as pneumococcal disease and pertussis.
Algoma’s mortality rate from all causes trends higher than the provincial average (873.4 per 100,000 as compared to 665.5 per 100,000 provincially), a fact only partially explained by the district’s higher median age and number of seniors. The opioid crisis across the district, as well as rising rates of mental health need, and growing health care access issues are ongoing trials highlighted by APH.
Indigenous residents in Algoma suffer greater health issues than non-indigenous, with 61% of all deaths among band members occurring before retirement age. Compared to a 22% pre-65 death rate province-wide, this one stat suggests a poorly understood crisis that requires immediate provincial attention.
On the good news side, Algoma’s infant mortality rate reduced almost by half over the twenty years studied in the report. As well, while the pandemic caused a great deal of suffering, according to Dr. Tuinema, “we also saw remarkable community resiliency. Communities came together to care for one another in incredible ways, which inspires me still to this day.”
Sault Ste. Marie Looks to Province to Address Addiction & Homelessness
Mayor Shoemaker Leads Advocacy for Complex-Needs Hub in the City
Letter template on Mayor Shoemaker’s website.
“Recent data shows Sault Ste. Marie has the highest opioid-related death rate in Ontario,” wrote Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker in a November Facebook posting. “We urgently need provincial support.”
Expanding on that dramatic news in an article on his website, Shoemaker encourages Sault residents to write provincial Health Minister, Sylvia Jones, in support of the city’s application for focused funding recently announced by the government.
Ontario launched its HART Hubs initiative in August with a call for proposals from potential municipalities. Budgeting upwards of $378 million, the project aims to have 19 hubs launched over the course of three years. According to the RFP, hubs are intended as “integrated, locally tailored health and human services supporting the treatment and recovery of individuals with complex service needs (e.g. mental health and addictions, primary care, employment, and social services, etc.)”. At least two of the Hubs are intended as “Indigenous-focused.”
Earlier reporting in the Sault Star suggests Hart Hubs will not provide safe consumption services for addicts, and are in fact the Ford government’s intended replacement for the ten existing safe consumption sites they intend to close by next year. The closing of these existing sites has been heavily criticized by those on the frontlines of an ongoing opioid use and overdose crisis. A recent Canadian Press story quotes Toronto doctor Dr. Ahmed Bayoumi, lead author for a study by St. Michael’s Hospital’s MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions.
“It'll likely mean more unsupervised drug use, so more overdoses," said Dr. Bayoumi.
According to coroner statistics gathered by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN), there were 254 “suspect drug-related deaths” in the province in September 2024 alone, and 850 in the three months prior. These numbers represent “a 91% increase from the same time period five years ago (June 2019 – September 2019).”
As detailed in a recent CBC report, competition for Hart Hubs in Northern Ontario is intense, with all major cities entering applications. Mayor Shoemaker’s grassroots campaign may make all the difference.
Whitefish River First Nation in Building Mode
Three-Bedroom and Single Unit Homes Set for Construction
WRFN’s Rezound newsletter.
In a recent band newsletter, WRFN Housing Manager, Georgina Recollet detailed ongoing construction activity in the community. Three new three-bedroom houses are currently being built as rental units, with three more similar units set for construction beginning next spring.
As well, Whitefish River is planning single-unit homes in the rural part of their community and a new Shebawenaning Miikun subdivision, and these plans tentatively include a United Chiefs & Councils of Manitoulin (UCCM) Anishnaabe Police Service satellite office.
Thessalon Seeking Funds for Emergency Cooling Centre
Thessalon’s iconic Harbour View building. © John Degen, Shore Report 2024
A resolution passed at Thessalon’s October Town Council meeting will see the town complete a provincial Community Emergency Preparedness Grant to obtain the necessities for turning their Harbour View building into an emergency shelter/cooling centre.
Responding to a query from Shore Report, Thessalon Mayor Bill Rosenberg indicated the proposed project was a bit of forward thinking rather than a response to any immediate threat.
“Although we don’t anticipate an emergency situation for which a shelter to be needed,” he said, “we do want to be prepared and utilize this opportunity for funding to purchase these items to better accommodate Thessalon’s residents in a time of emergency.” The application includes funds to purchase and install air conditioning in both the Harbour View Building and the adjacent Mezzanine. Other emergency shelter supplies such as backup generators, cots, bedding and signage would also be acquired.
Algoma Public Health’s (APH) Community Health Profile includes a chapter on emergency management that indicates “climate change has increased the frequency and duration of extremely hot days in the past 10 years and [they] are projected to further increase by 2030.” APH also notes a decline in extreme cold emergencies, though “the average rate (2019 - 2023) of cold exposure-related ED visits was higher than heat exposure-related ED visits in Algoma.”
“If successful with this funding,’ Rosenberg added, “and the marina buildings acquire air conditioning, then these buildings can be utilized during operating hours as drop-in cooling centres in the event of extreme heat warnings.”
According to APH, “a Heat Warning is issued when the day-time temperature is forecasted to be above 29°C and with a minimum temperature of greater than or equal to 18°C or Humidex greater than or equal to 36°C are forecasted for 2+ days. An Extended Heat Warning is issued when the same conditions apply above 29°C and with a minimum temperature greater than or equal to 18°C or if the humidex is greater than or equal to 36ºC for more than 3 days.”
An Algoma-wide heat warning was issued for three straight August days in the summer of 2021.
Also enjoyed your editorial— hopeful. We’ll book and bird room be giving us a report on Guadalajara?
Awesome article on JR‘s Pizza! What a great business that thinks beyond their immediate offering, and toward the community at large. I’m in Thessalon and didn’t know about them. Will be stopping in from now on.