Morning Coffee – By Aaron Hall

Weather forecast for Thursday, February 1, 2018

Today – Becoming cloudy this morning with 40 percent chance of flurries. Wind becoming southwest 20 km/h gusting to 40 then northwest 30 gusting to 50 near noon. Temperature falling to minus 6 this afternoon.

Tonight – Mainly cloudy with 40 percent chance of flurries early this evening. Clearing late this evening. Wind northwest 20 km/h gusting to 40. Low minus 15.

Canadian, U.S. Coast Guard recommit to icebreaking partnership

Julie Gascon, Assistant Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard Central and Arctic Region and Rear Adm. Joanna Nunan, commander of the United States Coast Guard 9th District signed a renewed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on ice breaking services for the Great Lakes / St. Lawrence Seaway January 18 2018 **(Canadian Coast Guard)**

Julie Gascon, Assistant Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard’s Central and Arctic Region was joined by Rear Admiral Joanna Nunan, Commander, United States Coast Guard Ninth District to sign the updated Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between their agencies concerning Coast Guard icebreaking services in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway maritime transportation system.

Federal officials say the renewed Canadian/United States Coast Guard MOU strengthens the mutual commitment for ensuring vital icebreaking operations in the Great Lakes region including the main connecting navigable waterways, Georgian Bay and the St. Lawrence River from Tibbetts Point, New York, to as far east as Cornwall, Ontario.

“With our partners at the United States Coast Guard we are truly one team supporting the safe, economical and efficient movement of ships in the heart of North America,” stated Julie Gascon, Assistant Commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard’s Central and Arctic Region, in a press release.

“Our updated Memorandum of Understanding allows us to better share information, equipment and personnel between countries. By working together we ensure scheduled vessel traffic can move through the shipping channels and into and out of community harbours.”

“Our partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard is crucial for our mutual success on the Great Lakes and surrounding waterways,” stated Rear Admiral Joanna Nunan, Commander, U.S. Coast Guard Ninth District.

“As the beginning of this winter’s severe conditions have demonstrated, we need to work together to provide seamless service to our communities and keep commerce flowing.”

The icebreaking MOU authorizes the exchange of personnel on Coast Guard icebreakers.

Temporary exchanges, when conditions allow, will enhance familiarity with each other’s procedures when cooperating in shared waters, often on joint missions.

The truly bi-national nature of icebreaking duties is evident through recent missions on the Great Lakes.

CCGS Griffon cleared shipping routes to Erie, Pennsylvania, and to Conneaut and Toledo, Ohio this month.

Meanwhile, USCGC Alder worked on icebreaking in Thunder Bay, Ontario and USCGC Morro Bay assisted ships to Port Colborne and Nanticoke, Ontario.

As well, in a concentrated effort, CCGS Samuel Risley joined forces with USCG cutters Neah Bay, Bristol Bay and Morro Bay to break up ice jams that posed a high risk of flooding for communities on the St. Clair River particularly at East China Township, Michigan and St. Clair Township, Ontario.

Icebreaking is one of the multiple mission areas where the collaborative Canadian/U.S. partnership has grown, Coast Guard officials say.

Similar agreements also exist for search and rescue, environmental response, maritime security and marine communications and traffic services.

KinderSTARt today at H.W. Burgess

Registration for junior kindergarten is taking place at H.W. Burgess Public School in Wallaceburg.

Here are the details:

Canadian Armed Forces participates in Bell Let’s Talk Day through a panel discussion on mental health

The eighth annual Bell Let’s Talk Day on Wednesday, January 31, 2018, invited all Canadians to help end the stigma surrounding mental illness and support mental health initiatives across the country.

On Bell Let’s Talk Day, for every text message, mobile and long distance call made by Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, and Bell MTS customers, every tweet using #BellLetsTalk, use of the Bell Let’s Talk Facebook frame and Snapchat filter, and every view of the Bell Let’s Talk Day video on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat, Bell will donate five cents to support Canadian mental health programs.

As partners of Bell, DND and the CAF are proud to support this important initiative to continue the conversation around mental health and the stigma attached to mental illness.

Activities in the Defence community included the following:

– A panel discussion on mental health at National Defence headquarters in Ottawa, featuring Bell Let’s Talk ambassador and retired Royal Canadian Navy diver Bruno Guévremont; the Director of Mental Health for the Canadian Armed Forces, Colonel Colleen Forestier; Master Warrant Officer Shelley Lamothe; Commodore Chris Sutherland; and Natasha Khattar, Senior Manager, Total Health Management, ADM(HR-Civ).

– A social media campaign using #BellLetsTalk on Twitter and Canadian Armed Forces Facebook.

– Multiple mental health forums held nationally by Personnel Support Programs, under Canadian Forces Morale and Welfare Services.

“We’re conditioned to be tough and strong but there is a time now – and the CAF is recognizing it, this panel is the proof of that – there is a time to decompress from it,” stated Bruno Guévremont, Bell Let’s Talk ambassador.

“Stressors of life occur through all ranks and all ages and everyone has a point at which they’re going to need support. It’s reaching out and getting that peer support, spiritual support, colleague support that is so important, and not withdrawing,” stated Colonel Colleen Forestier, Director of Mental Health for the Canadian Armed Forces.

“I hit bottom and reached out for help and it was anything but career-ending: it was career-enhancing,” stated Commodore Chris Sutherland.

“The stigma in Health Services is that we care for everyone else; we don’t get sick. How do we look after ourselves better? There is peer support for those who aren’t ready to walk through our doors, and it is there so that when they are ready, they can,” stated Master Warrant Officer Shelley Lamothe.

“It’s our responsibility to take people who need support under our wing. We can facilitate these discussions and support one another,” stated Natasha Khattar, Senior Manager, Total Health Management, ADM(HR-Civ).

If you or someone you know requires emergency mental health assistance, seek help through your health care provider, contact your local emergency department, or call 911. Help is also available by calling the CAF Member Assistance Program or the Employee Assistance Program (for civilians) at 1-800-268-7708 (open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year) or by going to the nearest CAF health clinic or civilian emergency health care centre.

Canada’s new Defence Policy, Strong, Secure, Engaged, released in June 2017, ensures that our people in uniform are well-supported and resilient – physically, psychologically, and spiritually.

Since the release of the policy, DND and the CAF have continued to expand on mental health initiatives. CAF participation in research forums and symposiums such as Warrior Care in September ensures that we find the best approaches going forward to awareness, prevention, and treatment for military personnel. The Road to Mental Readiness (R2MR) mobile application launched in October enables CAF members and their families to apply mental wellness skills to real-life situations.

The CAF-Veterans Affairs Canada Joint Suicide Prevention Strategy also unveiled in October presents a holistic approach to suicide prevention. Going forward, the Total Health and Wellness Strategy will expand wellness beyond the traditional health care model.

23 honourees appointed to the Order of Ontario

The Honourable Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and Chancellor of the Order of Ontario, announced 23 new appointments to the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest honour.

The 23 new members of the Order of Ontario include:

– Internationally renowned pediatrician Dr. Upton Allen, whose approaches to treating hospital-borne diseases have prevented the deaths of countless children

– Comedian Dan Aykroyd, now a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist as well as an accomplished entertainer

– Retired nursing professor Myrtha Lapierre, who broke barriers for black Francophone nurses in Canada

– Mental health advocate Dr. Dorothy Cotton, whose recommendations have helped change the way police respond to people with mental health crises

– Residential school survivor Elder Geraldine Robertson, whose efforts have helped other survivors heal and who educated Canadians on the legacies of colonialism

– Celebrated science-fiction author Robert J. Sawyer, who has published 23 novels and is a champion of the Canadian fiction industry.

The full list can be seen, here.

“I am proud to welcome the 23 newest members of the Order of Ontario,” Dowdeswell stated in a press release.

“They continue a tradition of excellence, and represent the best of this great province. Their extraordinary achievements have contributed to making Ontario, and the world, a better place for us all.”

The Order of Ontario recognizes individuals whose exceptional achievement in their field have left a lasting legacy in the province, in Canada and beyond. Order members come from all walks of life, represent diverse professions and have played an important role in shaping our province.

The Lieutenant Governor will bestow the honour to the newest appointees during an investiture ceremony at Queen’s Park on February 27, 2018.

More details:

– Appointments to the Order of Ontario are made on the recommendation of an independent advisory council based on public nominations.

– The nomination deadline is March 31 each year. Anyone can nominate a resident or former long-term resident of Ontario for the Order of Ontario.

– The Order of Ontario was established in 1986, and 2017 marked the 30th anniversary of the first investiture of appointees to the Order.

FINTRAC publishes indicators of money laundering linked to fentanyl trafficking

Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has published an Operational Alert, Laundering of the Proceeds of Fentanyl Trafficking, to assist businesses subject to the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act in reporting suspicious financial transactions that may be linked to the trafficking of illicit fentanyl, an opioid that is devastating many Canadian communities.

Federal officials say developed from a strategic analysis of FINTRAC’s financial intelligence and in consultation with a number of Canadian financial institutions and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the money laundering indicators show how drug traffickers exploit the financial system to acquire fentanyl and to launder the proceeds of this illicit activity.

“FINTRAC is committed to working with Canadian financial institutions, money services businesses and Canada’s law enforcement agencies to help tackle the national health crisis caused by the trafficking of illicit fentanyl,” stated Barry MacKillop, Interim Director.

“Together, and in close alignment with the Government of Canada’s broader efforts in relation to the opioid epidemic, we are going to follow the money to help identify the drug traffickers and safeguard vulnerable communities.”

This Operational Alert will support a new broader public-private sector initiative, Project Guardian.

This project will see the mobilized efforts of Canadian financial institutions and money services businesses, under the leadership of CIBC, FINTRAC and Canada’s law enforcement agencies brought to bear to combat the trafficking of illicit fentanyl.

With enhanced suspicious transaction reporting related to fentanyl, FINTRAC will be able to disclose additional financial intelligence in support of the money laundering and drug trafficking investigations of its law enforcement regime partners.

More details:

– In 2016-17, FINTRAC provided 2,015 disclosures of actionable financial intelligence to Canada’s police, law enforcement and national security agencies to assist their investigations of money laundering, terrorist activity financing and other threats to Canada’s security.

– Drugs were identified in 20% of the Centre’s financial intelligence disclosures last year.

– In July 2017, FINTRAC’s financial intelligence was recognized by the Peel Regional Police as part of Project Cartella, an investigation that resulted in the arrest of 16 individuals and nearly three million dollars’ worth of fentanyl and other drugs seized.

– In December 2016, FINTRAC published the Operational Alert, The Laundering of Illicit Proceeds from Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation, which led to a 400% increase in suspicious transaction reports from the previous year.