Shore Report — Covering Lake Huron's North Shore
June 2025
The elusive Northern Harrier, or marsh hawk, hunting Lake Huron’s North Shore in early June. — Image © John Degen
Spring brings blackflies and mosquitos to the North Shore; and these days, increasingly, it brings smoke. Massive wildfires in Manitoba and Northwest Ontario have been blanketing northeastern North America in a smoky haze, causing watery eyes, sore throats, and breathing difficulties to those with lung conditions. On the evening of Friday, June 6th, Toronto’s air quality was listed among the worst in the world, though the smoke patterns change each day depending on weather conditions. Shore Report will continue its fire and smoke watch through the wildfire season. Stay safe out there.
Erosion, Confusion, Intensify Problem with Dean Lake Bridge
Sinkhole shuts bridge during spring flood
A sinkhole large enough to swallow a small car on the approach to the Dean Lake Road bridge. — Image © Shore Report
A forceful spring flood through the Mississagi River further complicated an already tricky situation with the 117-year-old Dean Lake Road bridge east of the North Shore town of Iron Bridge. Local residents suffered a bridge closure for a number of weeks earlier in the year when inspection of the bridge deck raised safety concerns. The bridge re-opened in mid-March with new weight restrictions, before being closed again at the end of April.
Local Public Works delivered a verbal update on the bridge at a May meeting of the Public Services Committee (PSC) of the Municipality of Huron Shores. In late April, a sinkhole was reported on the approach to the bridge along Dean Lake Road coming from Highway 17. Upon inspection by local Public Works and the Ministry of Transportation (MTO), the roadway approach and bridge were shut to all traffic. Soon after, a second sinkhole appeared along with some pavement heaving, and the threat to the roadway became even more apparent.
Huron Shores Public Services Committee meeting on May 1 to discuss the roadway damage. Image courtesy Huron Shores
Committee discussion centered on a sixty-year-old metal culvert beneath the roadway that appears the likely problem. If the culvert walls failed during the flood, the aggregate supporting the roadway would wash out in the intense flood waters. Locals reported that the water level in the river was above the entire culvert for the first time in recent memory. Which level of government is responsible for that culvert was not immediately apparent.
According to Huron Shores CAO and Clerk Natashia Roberts, the MTO claimed no ownership and advised the Municipality to consult with the Ministry of Natural Resources, as they are responsible for the waterbed, and they might be able to share some history about when the culvert was actually installed. Roberts expressed hesitancy around the Municipality assuming responsibility before a legal analysis, as a sizable investment would likely be required for this repair. The Municipality has no record of maintenance or installation of the culvert. Safety worries while the water remained high made close inspection of the damage or culvert all but impossible.
Concerns were also expressed about the traffic bypass to the Dean Lake community along Chevis Road out of Iron Bridge. CAO Roberts characterized Chevis as “on the verge of being compromised” by erosion from high waters. Chevis Road traffic and emergency response concerns were the focus of a mid-January public meeting at which local residents shared their fears.
Dean Lake resident BreighAnn Fairburn speaks at the January public meeting. — Image © Shore Report
CAO Roberts delivered a full report on her research and committee discussion to the May 14 Council meeting at Huron Shores.
Dean Lake community residents have been vocal in their concern for the bridge and the access it provides to Hwy 17. Shortly after the May PSC meeting, a submission was received by the committee from a group called the Community Voices Committee (CVC) asking for clarification on a number of points concerning the bridge and potential repairs.
Community Voice Committee member Mary Johnson at the January public meeting. — Image © Shore Report
According to Dean Lake resident Mary Johnson, the CVC came together to advocate “on behalf of all residents impacted by the bridge closure (including those along the detour route).” While the CVC submission asks many questions of Huron Shores public services, its early focus is on determining just which level of government is responsible for the damaged roadway and bridge access.
“How was it determined that the culvert may lie outside of MTO maintained property boundary and jurisdiction?,” the CVC submission asks.
Shore Report will continue to follow this story.
Firewatch 2025: The Changing Picture
Much of the North Shore region fire danger back at “low” despite three new fires
A new two hectare fire near Chapleau brings the region’s nearby fires to five — image from Ontario’s fire map
Rainy, milder conditions forecasted for this week have reduced the North Shore region’s fire map danger rating to “low” despite three new fires keeping firefighting crews busy.
Ontario maintains a fire reporting website and an interactive fire map to track the status of every known wildfire. The fire map updates automatically as new weather information is added from 130 weather station across the province’s fire zone, and it is showing much of the North Shore region in blue or “low” fire danger.
Older fires near Wawa and Sudbury have been brought under control, but three new ones started in recent days. A two-hectare fire began on Sunday evening, June 8th near Chapleau, and is currently not under control. Two smaller new fires near Sudbury are also not yet under control. Two previous wildfires near Wawa and Sudbury are now fully under control. The Wawa fire is this season’s largest for the region at 10.8 hectares.
Here are the latest official reports affecting Lake Huron’s North Shore:
There were 3 new wildland fires confirmed in the Northeast Region today:
Sudbury 19 (SUD019) is 0.5 hectares and is located 500 metres northwest of Little Round Lake, and 2 kilometres northwest of Long Lake. The fire is not under control.
Chapleau 8 (CHA008) is 2 hectares and is located 1.5 kilometres west of Colin Lake, and 2 kilometres east of Wangoon Lake. Air attack 1 crew The fire is not under control. Air attack is responding this afternoon in addition to one FireRanger crew.
Sudbury 20 (SUD020) is a 0.2 hectares and is located between Boland Lake and Matagamasi Lake, just east of Wanapitei Lake. The fire is not under control. Two FireRanger crews are responding.
Canada’s wildfire seasons have intensified greatly over the past decade, with 2023 and 2024 the worst on record, and this year shaping up to surpass the previous two. In 2023, smoke from Canadian wildfires turned the air in Manhattan an apocalyptic orange, and kept New Yorkers indoors to avoid breathing it all in. North Shore residents are encouraged to track the expected smoke patterns using firesmoke.ca’s Smoke Map.
Ontario’s 2024 season was below the seasonal average. The Ministry of Natural Resources notes that last year we saw:
more than 470 fires and nearly 90,000 hectares burned – compared to the 10-year average of 694 fires and 201,780 hectares burned.
The MNR indicates it has filled almost 100 additional positions on the fire response team, and expresses readiness for the seven-month season. It also stresses that fully half the wildfires each year are human-caused, and advises residents:
There are actions the public can take to reduce the risks of forest fires:
Before starting an outdoor fire, check the interactive map at ontario.ca/forestfires and ensure you are aware of the fire hazard and restrictions in place in your area.
Follow Ontario’s outdoor burning regulations, including igniting fires no sooner than two hours before sunset and extinguishing them no later than two hours after sunrise.
Ensure campfires do not get too big and are fully extinguished at the end of the evening or prior to leaving the site. Have tools and water on hand to control outdoor fires.
To learn more about how to prepare your community or property to reduce the risk or impact of a wildland fire please visit how to prevent forest fires and ontario.ca/firesmart.
Thessalon First Nation to Hold Byelection after Death of Chief
Chief Joseph Wabigwan Was 64 Years Old
The late Chief Joseph Wabigwan. — image courtesy Thessalon First Nation
Councillor Robert Simon Sr. has stepped into the role of Interim Chief at Thessalon First Nation following the May 17 passing of Chief Joseph Wabigwan. A service was held for Wabigwan in Sault Ste. Marie on Saturday, May 24, and the family requested donations to the Canadian Lung Association.
Interim Chief Robert Simon Sr. — image courtesy Thessalon First Nation
Both Wabigwan and Simon Sr. were elected as part of sweeping change to Thessalon FN Council in November 2023. A byelection will be held on an as yet undisclosed date to select a new Chief and fill one vacant Council seat.
Village Media’s James Hopkin has been doing excellent work covering ongoing developments at TFN, which includes a number of legal disputes.
Soo Mayor Speaks to the Nation on Tariffs
Matthew Shoemaker publishes call to action in the Globe
The International Bridge from the Michigan side, in happier times (2023). — Image © Shore Report
Leaning on the history of economic development through integrated cross-border industry, the Mayor of Sault Ste Marie made an appeal to federal and provincial leaders to strike a deal with US President Donald Trump over his erratic and unpredictable trade policies. Shoemaker’s history lesson and argument for negotiation appeared Friday, June 6th in the Globe and Mail, just days after the US government doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from 25% to 50%.
“…the industrial bond across the Great Lakes remains one of North America’s most tightly woven economic fabrics,” Shoemaker wrote. “But now, that shared prosperity is under threat.”
Shoemaker also appealed for immediate support for workers at his city’s threatened Algoma Steel, which both sources iron ore from the US and ships its finished product south for uses in the US auto and construction industries. He painted a picture of daily cross-border traffic in both ships and trucks.
The mayor made no specific ask of the Carney and Ford governments in terms of employment supports, but warned of economic devastation rippling out from the steel industry into the economy as a whole.
“We’ve seen this before,” Shoemaker reminded leaders. “During Mr. Trump’s first round of steel tariffs in 2018, the U.S. steel industry gained 8,000 jobs. But manufacturers that depend on steel shed 75,000. Put another way: the job losses were nearly 900 per cent more than the job gains – a painful price for a short-lived political win.”
Screenshot of Mayor Shoemakers op-ed in the June 6th Globe and Mail.
While Canada’s official “elbows up” position of resistance to the US President’s many threats and trade maneuvers would have us seek out new suppliers and markets for Algoma Steel and similar Canadian producers rather than negotiate against belligerence and bully tactics, Shoemaker speaks from a uniquely vulnerable place. His North Shore city literally straddles the Canada/US border and has built a successful, if hardscrabble, integrated economy over more than a century of friendship and easy crossings of the International Bridge.
A symbol of the twin cities’ interdependence, the International Bridge is itself administered and governed cooperatively by both countries through the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Authority.
Fibre Coming to Whitefish River First Nation
Reliable high-speed internet part of a larger Manitoulin project
A recent Rezound newsletter from Whitefish River First Nation includes a short update on plans to bring high-speed fibre internet to the community. The Huron Shore and Manitoulin Island Community Owned Fibre Infrastructure (H&M COFI) is a federally registered non-profit company, selling wholesale access to individual Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across Huron Shores and the island. H&M COFI covers the North Shore region from Nairn Center to Garden River First Nation and all points Manitoulin.
H&M COFI coverage area. — image courtesy H&M COFI
WRFN Economic Development Officer, Stuart Wilson invites community members to find out more about signing up for the service, which is planned for installation this spring.
North Shore’s Beloved Festival of Books In Crisis
Is Wordstock Sudbury latest victim of funding squeeze?
A panel discussion from last year’s Wordstock Sudbury, at Place des Arts. — image © Shore Report
Sudbury’s 12-year-old literary festival, bringing together authors and readers for three days every year, has followed other festivals across the country into devastating financial straits. The Wordstock Subdury board of directors released a statement on May 28th announcing their recommendation for the festival’s immediate closure.
In light of the growing challenges faced by arts organizations across the country, the Board of Directors of Wordstock Sudbury Literary Festival has made the difficult decision to recommend the dissolution of the organization.
… the organization has struggled to overcome rising operating costs, limited funding opportunities, and the increasing difficulty of sustaining a small arts non-profit in the current climate.
Latitude 46 publisher and Wordstock founder, Heather Campbell — image courtesy Wordstock Sudbury
Begun in 2013 under local publisher and community organizer Heather Campbell, Wordstock Sudbury has brought authors at all stages of their career to the Nickel City, to read from and discuss their latest books before enthusiastic audiences. Campbell’s staff position at the festival was earlier eliminated as a first step in battling the organization’s dire fiscal difficulties. Wordstock has also been instrumental in growing and promoting a local literary scene year-round, with non-festival events dotting the calendar.
Open-mic nights and book swaps for local writers and readers were regular Wordstock fare, and its Nickel City Literacy League brought targeted reading and writing activities to Sudbury students, right in the schools. The Youthwords writing contests grew out of Wordstock as well.
Wordstock board chair, Kyla Heyming — image courtesy Wordstock Sudbury
Reached for comment by Shore Report, Wordstock’s board chair and former Sudbury poet laureate, Kyla Heyming, praised festival founder Heather Campbell’s vision and dedication, and the support of past sponsors, volunteers, and audience members.
What we've been able to accomplish over the years with their support and the tireless effort of Heather Campbell is phenomenal. We can see the impact we've had on this community and how Wordstock has helped blossom countless other artists, writers, poets and lovers of words in our community.
We don't know if there's a chance of an angel sponsor because we have been looking for new sponsors for the last 6 months, but we are always open to hope.
Sudbury poet and novelist, Kim Fahner. — image courtesy Kim Fahner
Kim Fahner, another former Sudbury poet laureate and newly elected chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada, spoke with Shore Report about the closing of the festival:
The loss of Wordstock would be a serious blow to the literary arts not only in Sudbury, but also across Northern Ontario.
As a small, local literary festival, Wordstock offers regional writers a place to meet and connect with writers and publishers from across Canada. This news strikes hard for Northern writers in particular, and it weakens the arts and culture scene in Sudbury a great deal.
Despite an already extremely busy desk, Fahner is toying with the idea of starting a local reading series if the festival does indeed finish its run, using her national connections to keep the literary arts alive in the city.
Sudbury is certainly not the only Canadian city having difficulty sustaining a book festival. Early this year, the long-running Kingston Writers Fest announced its closure due to financial constraints, though local fundraising after the announcement may just have extended that festival’s life for another year at least.
Sudbury Place des Arts, where many a Wordstock Sudbury event takes place. — image © Shore Report
The Word Vancouver street-based books and reading festival made a similar community fundraising appeal after last year’s event. Even the venerable Toronto International Festival of Authors has found recovery from the pandemic years challenging, and recently announced they are moving out of their forever home of Harbourfront Centre to a more central and transit-friendly location at Victoria College on the University of Toronto Campus.
Author, podcaster, and promoter, Hollay Ghadery. Image courtesy her website.
Rural Ontario author, podcaster, and book promoter Hollay Ghadery was a featured speaker at Wordstock last fall. She was quick to mourn the potential loss of the festival in a posting on Facebook that focused on what community members can do individually to make sure arts events like Wordstock survive:
…as readers and writers and supporters of arts and culture, if we don’t want to keep losing these festivals—which are life changing for featured authors and attendees alike and are essential to our cultural vitality—we have to support the initiatives actively in our daily lives, as much as possible, and within our own abilities.
There are an abundance of ways to do this. I can think of many that don’t involve even spending a dime or leaving your couch.
Former Wordstock board member Dinah Laprairie took to Substack to express her sadness at the possible loss of the festival, stressing the importance of local, accessible arts programming for Northern Ontario.
If you are an artist or arts consumer living north of Toronto, you know what impact this has. Our access is cut off.
You can argue that there is no need to continue funding arts organizations after they’ve had a chance to get on their feet, but it remains necessary to address geographical realities. Our access to arts experiences is limited. You might as well draw a line across the highway.
It’s unclear at the moment if a local North Shore business or the Greater Sudbury municipality itself will step forward to rescue Wordstock. Earlier fundraising efforts within the community itself fell short, which is understandable since it’s the rare local festival that survives on individual donations alone. Heyming expressed uncertainty on the question of rescue.
A virtual meeting of members of Wordstock took place early in early June to determine whether or not the closure recommendation would be followed. The vote at that meeting did not ratify the recommendation. For the time being, Wordstock Sudbury remains, though in a diminished state without a paid staff member.
Businesses interested in partnering with or sponsoring Wordstock, and anyone interested in volunteering to help keep the festival afloat are encouraged to contact the board directly at chair@wordstocksudbury.ca.
Historic Soo Memorial Tower To Get Pricey Makeover
Council approves rehabilitation spend close to 900K
Painting of the old Sault Memorial Gardens from the tower’s historic plaque. “A Night at the Gardens”, by Anne Schearsby
The distinctive Memorial Tower next to Sault Ste. Marie’s GFL Memorial Gardens hockey arena (home of the Soo Greyhounds) is set to get a facelift. The city is planning for overall concrete repair where needed on the structure, roofing repair on the tower’s upper walkway, and a complete repainting of the entire structure.
The 20.1-metre-tall Moderne Style tower is all that remains of the city’s previous hockey arena, Sault Memorial Gardens, which was replaced by the current structure in 2006. Constructed in part to commemorate the city’s war dead, the tower continues to play a role in annual Remembrance Day ceremonies. The glass lamp cupula atop the tower was designed to depict the “passing of the torch” from fallen soldiers.
The tower is now designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. With that designation, Sault Ste Marie gains the authority to regulate alterations and prevent demolition, given the tower’s historic significance to the city.
A recommendation to consider Lignum Builders’ 780K (+HST) quote for work on the tower was passed as part of the consent agenda at the June 2, 2025 SSM Council meeting. While not the lowest bidder on the tender, Lignum was the only low bidder with demonstrated concrete repair experience.
The Memorial Tower is expected to be repaired and rehabilitated before winter.
Gore Bay Under Construction
Downtown revitalization in full swing, and recent fire may spur more building
Slide from the Gore Bay Downtown Revitalization project. — image courtesy Town of Gore Bay
The Manitoulin town of Gore Bay is in the middle of a major reconstruction and rehabilitation project envisioned as a complete downtown revitalization. Upgrades to the Community Hall, various sidewalks and boulevards, and the town’s water system are underway.
An April fire in downtown Gore Bay displaced a number of residents from a social housing complex, leading to a police investigation. No injuries were reported. The Red Cross has been asked to assist with temporary rehousing for residents displaced by the fire, and the Ontario Aboriginal Housing Services (OAHS) will begin assessment and repair of the structure if possible.
Thessalon Ballpark Ready for Big Leagues
Trillium grant brings upgrades just in time for summer tourney
Ballpark ribbon-cutting with MPP Rosenberg (middle) and Mayor Bird (right). — image courtesy Town of Thessalon
A $150,000 helping hand from the Ontario Trillium Foundation has paid for some premium upgrades to the North Shore town of Thessalon’s Lakeside Park Ball Fields, home of an annual family softball tournament. Local MPP Bill Rosenberg was on hand for a ribbon-cutting in late May, accompanied by Mayor Jordan Bird.
Focused on safety and accessibility, the improvements include wheelchair accessible bleacher seating, new dugouts with wider entrances, improved backstops, and magnetic bases to cut down on jammed fingers, wrists, and ankles during particularly enthusiastic slides.
Things can get a bit out of hand at the Thessalon ball tourney. — Image © Shore Report
Mayor Bird praised the upgrades as part of Thessalon’s drive to remain a healthy-living community.
“These fields play an important role in supporting active, healthy living and community connection in the Town of Thessalon. Events like the annual Thessalon Family Ball Tournament continue to bring generations of residents and visitors together, and we’re proud to invest in a space that supports such meaningful traditions."
Active, healthy living, and community connection. — Image © Shore Report
OMG… Baby Falcons!
International Bridge Peregrine family makes for great viewing
Peregrine falcon nestlings just the other side of the St. Mary’s River. — Image courtesy the Falcam
While researching Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker’s argument for tariff negotiations, Shore Report discovered that a nest box containing a Peregrine falcon family is situated somewhere on the Michigan side of the Soo’s International Bridge, and it has a live webcam pointed at it.
Bookmark the Falcam for all your baby falcon viewing needs.