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May Newsletter 2020

Dear Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour
First of all thanks so much to Adam Malus for his lovely close-up of the swan nesting in the Orchard St. Marsh along the south shore of Belle Park.  Wonderful that the trail along the south shore is at an appropriate distance for her privacy.  It will be fun to watch the young ones in due course.  Young goslings are also beginning to appear in the Inner Harbour.
Trust you are all doing OK in these crazy times – and getting out to enjoy the sunshine despite the cold.
Not easy feeling so paralyzed, lethargic and longing for human companionship.
Also, as you know by now,  I am not amazing with computers! For some reason, this letter keeps repeating at the end.  Absolutely no idea why.  Apologies.

Here are some educational and interesting links related to the Corona Virus that are not necessarily associated with either Provincial or Federal legislation.  There is a lot out there.  
This is what I have found the most interesting.
If you only have time for a few, choose these:

Item #1 Physical Aspects of the Disease, 
Item #2 Historical Accounts of Pandemics
Item #14, City Council Presentation by Dr. Kieran Moore, 
Item #16 Excellent Podcast on PSW Payment Issue with Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition.
Item #J.  Recent Feature on the Great Cataraqui River by Skeleton Press
 
SOME CORONA CONTEXTS AND CONSIDERATIONS
1. Physical Aspects of the Disease:
How Does Corona Virus Kill?  Clinicians Trace Fierce Rampage Through the Body
2. Historical Accounts of Pandemics and Why the Second Wave of Spanish Flu was the Deadliest.
3. Good COVID Info Sources for Kingston, Ontario & Canada.
4. Food Security and COVID-19
5. Climate Change and COVID-19
6. Questions about Origin of COVID-19: Science vs. Politics
7. Breathing Techniques for COVID-19
8. City’s Response to COVID-19
9. Some Broad Financial Considerations
10. Nature, Green, Urban and Transportation Issues
11. A Harm Reduction Approach to Physical Distancing
12. Possible Cures + Vaccine Issue
13. Global Public Health Intelligence Network?
14. City Council COVID Presentation by Dr. Kieran Moore + Great Discussion
15. Help paying Utilities
16. Excellent Podcast on PSW Payment Issue with Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition
17. Mayors for Climate & Energy
18. Will COVID-19 be the Death of Globalization?
19. Bats and Unfair Scapegoating?
 
ON ANOTHER TACK
A. Food and Retail Open for Take Outs
B. Growing Plants from Groceries
C. Tree Hugging is Good for You
D. Trail Etiquette Video
E. Interesting Ship Wrecks
F. Huge Turtle Discovered
G. Free Events at Library and Agnes
H.  Daily Seniors Fitness on YOURTV
I. What on Earth?  Interesting Weekly Summary of What’s New in Environmental Issues
J. Recent Feature on the Great Cataraqui River by Skeleton Press
K. Michael Moore’s Feature Film “Planet of the Humans” + Fact Checks
L. Cypress Hills Massacre of 1873 and creation of RCMP
M. Great Idea: Masks for Hearing Impaired – allowing lip reading
 
OTHER UPDATES
I. Enbridge Proposes Tunnel at Straits of Mackinac
II. Queen City Oil Company Update
III. Bailey Broom Company Update
IV. COVID-19 Issues on Lake Ontario Ships
V. Water Levels
VI. Congrats to Doornekamps on their new Shipping Business
VII. New and Encouraging US Groundwater Legislation
 
SOME CORONA CONTEXTS AND CONSIDERATIONS
1. Physical Aspects of the Disease:
How Does Corona Virus Kill?  Clinicians Trace a Ferocious Rampage through the Body
If you read only one article from this e-mail, choose this one!  SO informative!
Here is one paragraph as an example of how it reads:
“When an infected person expels virus-laden droplets and someone else inhales them, the novel coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, enters the nose and throat. It finds a welcome home in the lining of the nose, according to a preprint from scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and elsewhere. They found that cells there are rich in a cell-surface receptor called angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2). Throughout the body, the presence of ACE2, which normally helps regulate blood pressure, marks tissues vulnerable to infection, because the virus requires that receptor to enter a cell. Once inside, the virus hijacks the cell’s machinery, making myriad copies of itself and invading new cells.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/how-does-coronavirus-kill-clinicians-trace-ferocious-rampage-through-body-brain-toes?fbclid=IwAR1soGoxzyp6i2Z0NV5MZtjPU9bey7G52IkyIN9sHuh9JS-6u8iH9I0XMBs#
 
2. Historical Accounts of Pandemics and Why the Second Wave of the Spanish Flu was the Deadliest.
The first link explores the Spanish Flu and why the second wave was the worst.  It also includes links within it to various other pandemics throughout history.  Very interesting reading and a cautionary tale about second waves.
https://www.history.com/news/spanish-flu-second-wave-resurgence
Here is a really excellent overview of the Spanish Flu from a couple of years ago.  Eerie!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDY5Cog2P2c
This next link is an interesting history of pandemics published by Kingston’s own Museum of Health Care
https://museumofhealthcare.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/quarantine-and-isolation-a-brief-history-of-public-health-measures-against-infectious-disease/
Fascinating, and predictive video from Cambridge a year ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x1aLAw_xkY
 
3. Good COVID Info Sources for Kingston, Ontario & Canada.  
https://www.kflaph.ca/en/healthy-living/status-of-cases-in-kfla.aspx
Also http://rheuminfo.com updated every few days.
Another potentially interesting source is http://flatten.ca A young university student has started this to see where cases are according to postal code. You are invited to fill out a survey whether or not you are displaying symptoms.   I can’t seem to find anything for K7K however.
 
4. Food Security and COVID-19
Two great TVO/Agenda pieces on food security.  Who would have thought that a South-Western Ontario farmer would grow strawberry plants to ship to Florida for planting there for strawberries to be imported to Canada in winter?
https://www.tvo.org/video/poverty-food-and-covid-19
https://www.tvo.org/video/feeding-ontario-in-a-pandemic
Another interesting take on the issue:
https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/coronavirus-and-future-food.html?utm_source=TreeHugger+Newsletters&utm_campaign=2d9c7245f1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_11_16_2018_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_32de41485d-2d9c7245f1-244062525
 
5. Climate Change and COVID-19 
 https://truthout.org/articles/climate-change-multiplies-the-threats-of-infectious-diseases/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=71649a96-ad00-4169-afc2-bb1b572e3345
 
6. Questions about Origins of COVID-19: Science vs. Politics
It is fairly common knowledge these days that a number of Corona viruses originate in animals such as bats or pigs in China and mutate to find their way to humans – so-called zoonotic diseases. Former Corona viruses originated in a different part of China than Wuhan. This time around the virus was in Wuhan where there also happens to be a virology lab studying Corona viruses.
I am happy to accept the opinion of my scientist friends (Thanks Dugald, Jane and Dave) that the virus did not escape from the Wuhan lab although my gut feeling was honestly that mistakes happen and it was certainly possible.
However, evidently just three days after the Wuhan virus-lab recalled Shi Zheng-li from a conference in Shanghai to help study a dangerous new disease, she and her colleagues had completely sequenced the 29,000 amino-acids in the genome of the new coronavirus!  Shi went on to make certain that the new virus did not match any of the viruses previously studied in the Wuhan virus-lab, thus disproving conclusively the currently popular theory that the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab before it infected any humans.  Here is her bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Zhengli
Here is a paper on origin although it is not easy to understand unless you are a scientist:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/mining-coronavirus-genomes-clues-outbreak-s-origins
 
Some other relevant articles:
The first describes the work on corona viruses done in Wuhan by Shi Zheng who also works with North American scientists interested in the issue.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-chinas-bat-woman-hunted-down-viruses-from-sars-to-the-new-coronavirus1/
 
The second outlines exploration of the various mutating strains discovered in Cambridge.
https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/covid-19-genetic-network-analysis-provides-snapshot-of-pandemic-origins?fbclid=IwAR2uGIE0uxGEmTZQJquZhZnYc0PzMJ15Zmgngw-YlyzH3s8ulrPI_ajHSBs
 
The third outlines fears among scientists around politicizing the outbreak.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/20/coronavirus-chinese-scientists-false-rumours-experts
 
Interesting article by a smallpox epidemiologist:
https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-interview-larry-brilliant-smallpox-epidemiologist/?utm_source=onsite-share&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=onsite-share&utm_brand=wired
 
And here is the political video attack on the Chinese Communist Party by Epoch Times who are known as right wing supporters of Falung Gong.  It is interesting to watch – sort of like reading Newt Gingrich.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bXWGxhd7ic&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR1ktLTR79ZKCghwMlPQyt0wk6oo_J9bq8qQcwcosgqXwixD4lBlT9jY7yo
 
7. Breathing Techniques for COVID-19
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/4/8/1935532/-Doctors-and-nurses-demonstrate-breathing-techniques-proven-to-help-with-coronavirus-symptoms?detail=emaildksp

8. City Response to COVID-19
Received April 21, 2020
Residents invited to review City’s COVID-19 Response Update
A City of Kingston comprehensive information report captures the impact COVID-19 has had on its operations, including the many safety and community support measures put in place – and the $750,000 bottom line cost of the pandemic to the City so far.
Residents are encouraged to review the 12-page document.
“We are all in this together, and it’s important that Kingstonians are aware of all of the ways we’ve had to adapt at the City,” says CAO Lanie Hurdle. “Every action we’ve taken has been to ensure the continued delivery of essential services while minimizing risks to residents and staff.”
The COVID-19 Response Update Information Report offers a timeline of the actions taken by the City to address the pandemic and includes updates on:
Financial impacts of the pandemic on every City department, including lost revenue, cost savings, and unplanned expenses due to COVID-19. Departments have been tracking the financial impact on operations and proactively seeking out cost-saving measures. With Provincial funding support and a transfer from the Parking Reserve Fund, the City has been able to reduce the total cost of the pandemic to $750,000 through the end of April. This cost is expected to be covered by the Province and other reserve funds.
Pandemic communication initiatives and response.
Efforts to ensure un-housed members of the community are supported.
Financial assistance from the City and Utilities Kingston on bill and tax payments.
Changes to Kingston Transit service delivery to protect workers and passengers.
The waiving of parking fees.
Park amenity closures and cultural event cancellations.
Measures to protect waste collection staff and other changes to Solid Waste Services to reduce risks to residents and workers.
Rideaucrest Long-term Care Home prevention measures and operational changes.
Impacts to Planning Services, including moving Planning and Committee of Adjustment meetings online.
Impacts to Building & Enforcement Services, including accommodating the need to enforce of orders, based on Province of Ontario’s State of Emergency.
Moving Council meetings online.
“We know the immediate impact of this pandemic, but because this situation continues to evolve, the ripple effects remain unknown,” says Hurdle. However, the CAO remains confident. “As a team, and as a community, we will come out the other side of this emergency stronger, together.”
 
9. Broad Financial & Social Considerations:
The cost of borrowing
https://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/views-expressed/2019/04/governments-borrowed-interest-free-bank-canada-now-incur?fbclid=IwAR0RMc35c2s7-IwbR01jsNy3lw5ikWmb9V_ejFZYJaIfKzeeBuiA_8F5JvM#.XptHbiTrgAh.facebook
 
Thomas Pickety on Inequity
https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2020/04/21/Thomas-Piketty-Inequality-Economist-Solution/?fbclid=IwAR144U6IoplfX6QamHujHNyajRc34Guy9PnzIt-mvNNsNUk-F1pc8rHgTvc
 
Guaranteed basic income
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-cerb-is-an-unintended-experiment-in-basic-income/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=Referrer%3A+Social+Network+%2F+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links&fbclid=IwAR0w91Gh9XQH4CX1ParkDu3Hcck4FfM_AaaypT23BbLjBPakJhDn4lgVO0A
 
COVID and Capitalism – Surplus Population
https://truthout.org/articles/covid-19-exposes-the-delicate-economic-balance-we-all-live-in-under-capitalism/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=71649a96-ad00-4169-afc2-bb1b572e3345

Social Inequities and Palliative Care
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe6QqxUd0wA&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=TVO&utm_campaign=18ab79f53b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_1_17_2019_10_56_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_eadf6a4c78-18ab79f53b-61349601
 
10. Green, Urban and Transportation Issues
New Green Deal Essential
https://truthout.org/articles/the-next-economic-stimulus-must-include-green-new-deal-measures/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=71649a96-ad00-4169-afc2-bb1b572e3345
 
Need for Urban Green Spaces
https://news.uchicago.edu/story/why-time-outdoors-crucial-your-health-even-during-coronavirus-pandemic?utm_source=Blue+Fish+Subscribers&utm_campaign=ddd0a8e52e-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_11_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0d298b1276-ddd0a8e52e-227525936

Urban Design After Corona Crisis
https://www.treehugger.com/urban-design/urban-design-after-coronavirus.html?utm_source=TreeHugger+Newsletters&utm_campaign=2d9c7245f1-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_11_16_2018_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_32de41485d-2d9c7245f1-244062525

Ideas for Active Transportation in the age of Corona
https://www.tvo.org/article/mind-the-gap-how-cities-can-make-physical-distancing-work?utm_source=TVO&utm_campaign=a031c20b44-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_1_17_2019_10_56_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_eadf6a4c78-a031c20b44-61349601
 
11. A Harm Reduction Approach to Physical Distancing 
https://maxpolicy.substack.com/p/issue-21-a-harm-reduction-approach?fbclid=IwAR3iGcXPfpNPeO2XvX1hT2kDixTn6PkvgnSbAao_wdrPBDYBpvZtln2ZYQU

12.  Possible Cures + Vaccine Issue
https://www.macleans.ca/society/science/these-drugs-are-being-tested-on-covid-19-do-any-of-them-work/
https://truthout.org/articles/before-covid-19-big-pharma-was-neglecting-vaccine-and-antiviral-research/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=3ef6330a-704a-4f04-9b6b-554f75da7b82 
 
13. Global Public Health Intelligence Network?
Wondering how come we never hear from these guys?
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/eios-gtm-2019-presentations/tanguay-phac—eios-gtm-2019.pdf?sfvrsn=8c758734_2
https://gphin.canada.ca/cepr/aboutgphin-rmispenbref.jsp?language=en_CA
 
14. City Council COVID Presentation by Dr. Kieren Moore + Great Discussion 
Wonderful presentation and interesting discussion and motion on the best way forward!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I29Z5YfZsS8&fbclid=IwAR0ZO1zBjWZ7ncEf3xz3E-8y2sNzaGFfmtTDtsEu0wuOnR4bwb_V0yzLQik
 
15. Help Paying Utilities
Received April 23
Concerned about paying your bill or experiencing hardship?  Please contact us to discuss extended bill payment options and financial assistance programs. You can set up payment arrangements and ask for time to pay them off by:
Completing the three-step online form
Calling 613-546-1181, ext. 2278, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
For understandable reasons, some of our customers are struggling to pay their bills right now. We want to help residents and small business owners avoid building up large balances that could become a bigger burden later,” says Jim Keech, President and CEO of Utilities Kingston. “We made this form to help create a dignified and easily accessible way for customers to connect with us.”
Customers who complete the form, available at the link above, will be contacted by Utilities Kingston via telephone or email as quickly as possible.
As the COVID-19 pandemic situation changes daily, Utilities Kingston is adapting too. To learn other ways in which Utilities Kingston is assisting customers and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
16. Excellent Podcast on PSW Pay Issue with Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition
https://omny.fm/shows/scott-thompson-show/the-support-needed-for-employees-of-long-term-care
13:14-30:40
 
17. Mayors for Climate & Energy
Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy <info@globalcovenantofmayors.org>
 
18.  Will  COVID-19 be the Death of Globalization?
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-will-covid-19-kill-globalization/
 
19. Bats and Unfair Scapegoating?
https://www.thewhig.com/news/local-news/experts-say-bats-are-scapegoats-in-covid-19-origin-theories
 
ON ANOTHER TACK
 
A. Kingston Food and Retail Open for Take Outs
https://www.visitkingston.ca/plan/food-and-retail-services-available-during-covid19/
 
B. Growing Plants from Groceries
https://www.thestar.com/life/homes/2020/04/09/heres-how-to-grow-plants-from-your-groceries.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a03&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=C2DC149D63666E2CCEC3DF1E9C241C82&utm_campaign=rst_23520

C. Tree Hugging is Good for You
https://www.icelandreview.com/nature-travel/forest-service-recommends-hugging-trees-while-you-cant-hug-others/?fbclid=IwAR1H4q4jPkoJopMmZpEVAPDosQozz7dwV7LGYIY-YdcxLrUqD7Qs9LqNOEo  

D. Trail Etiquette Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of6Q4pN4ISY&feature=youtu.be
 
E. Interesting Ship Wrecks
Submerge yourself in history: Haunting pictures show some of the 6,000 shipwrecks that lie in North America’s Great LakesDaily Mail (London, United Kingdom), April 16, 2020.  North America’s Great Lakes are a recreational mecca, offering all manner of watersports and scenic cruises.  They’re also a gigantic graveyard of shipwrecks, with these mesmerizing, haunting photographs showing some of the 6,000 or so that lie in lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario, which collectively cover an area larger than the entire UK and Ireland put together.  Over 30,000 mariners lives have been lost on these colossal bodies of water.
 
F. Huge Turtle Fossil Discovered
https://globalnews.ca/news/6545907/giant-turtle-fossil-stupendemys/

G. Free Events at Library and Agnes Etherington.
Check out their webpages
 
H. Daily Seniors Fitness on YOURTV
Daily Monday to Friday on YOURTV (Cogeco), Channel 13 at 10 am with Erin OBrien
 
I. What on Earth?  Interesting Weekly Summary of What’s New in Environmental Issues
CBC | What on Earth? info@newsletters.cbc.ca
 
J. Wonderful Recent Feature on the Great Cataraqui River by Skeleton Press
http://skeletonparkartsfest.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Skeleton_Press_Spring_2020_Archive.pdf
 
K.  Michael Moore’s Feature Film – Plant of the Humans + Fact Checks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk11vI-7czE&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR0G6-tFk934MkfQmLUjMC359peJTSLDCUyUmRgTC6Mwhx9slV3dHovqNGc
 
https://ketanjoshi.co/2020/04/24/planet-of-the-humans-a-reheated-mess-of-lazy-old-myths/?fbclid=IwAR2iIld5B4x7tffQz5BU6-FbKMOj1YMmgBx9i-MCftDMmXzDL-VpmQbJxcY
 
https://www.aweablog.org/fact-check-new-michael-moore-backed-documentary-full-of-errors-fundamentally-misunderstands-electric-system/?fbclid=IwAR1liCWbcBe3yfd-ow6i-9NdXpdyQQu1xiRbCD0q6mTUOfrdZibTJEa-azM
 
L. Cypress Hills Massacre of 1873 and Creation of RCMP
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/04/25/how-the-cypress-hills-massacre-of-1873-likely-canadas-first-mass-shooting-helped-create-the-rcmp.html?source=newsletter&utm_content=a05&utm_source=ts_nl&utm_medium=email&utm_email=C2DC149D63666E2CCEC3DF1E9C241C82&utm_campaign=tmh_24111
See end of update if you are not a subscriber to the Toronto Star
 
M. Great Idea:  Masks for Hearing Impaired – allowing for lip reading
https://www.designboom.com/design/student-creates-transparent-masks-deaf-hard-of-hearing-04-08-2020/?fbclid=IwAR1KV-wbnBclLDynf6VNb7OgJk-T2n9qPuK8OzB3jbbyspXRyQBZjNvFXEU
  
OTHER UPDATES
I. Enbridge Proposes Tunnel at the Straits of Mackinac
Received April 15
Enbridge seeks permit for Line 5 underwater tunnelKallanish Energy (Hammersmith, United Kingdom), April 14, 2020 (also appeared in the Bloomington Pantagraph, at Energy News Network and at WIZM NEWS).  Canadian pipeline operator Enbridge has filed a joint application with federal and state regulators to build a $500 million pipeline tunnel at the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan.  The application for the Line 5 pipeline tunnel was filed last week with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy.  Both agencies must approve the project.  Enbridge says that construction could begin in 2021 and the tunnel could be completed by 2024.
 
II. Queen City Oil Company Update 
(9 North St.)
An application for Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment have been filed for 9 North Street to facilitate its redevelopment with eight (8) residential units. Due to the former industrial uses on the site, the applicants proposed project will require the management, remediation, and risk assessment of environmental contaminants. With the cost of environmental remediation, the recommendation to Council was to approve a brownfield financial tax rebate benefit in exchange for the remediation and redevelopment of the brownfield property at 9 North Street, and the approval of by-laws and execution of agreements for that purpose. The report to Council on the Brownfield Property Tax Financial Assistance report to Council can be found by clicking here.   
This property is also designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act and it has been moving through the Heritage Approvals Process. You can find out more about this project by visiting DASH and searching using the application file number D35-001-2020.  
More Info? James Bar, Senior Planner, jbar@cityofkingston.ca
 
III. Bailey Broom Company Update 
(305-325 Rideau St.) 
The Bailey Broom Factory application for Official Plan Amendment and Zoning By-law Amendment was at Planning Committee for a decision on April 16th. A link to the report can be found by clicking here. The application was approved by Committee and will be on the Council agenda on May 5th. The approved proposal will see the Bailey Broom Factory redeveloped with a mix of neighbourhood commercial uses, and the addition of 5 townhomes and a semi-detached building containing two units on the vacant parcel north of the Broom Factory.
 You can find out more about this project by visiting DASH and searching using the application file number D35-007-2017.  
More Info?  James Bar, Senior Planner, jbar@cityofkingston.ca
 
IV. COVID-19 Issues on Lake Ontario Ships
Marine shipping sector protects front-line workers with Trusted Partners InitiativeAmerican Journal of Transportation (Plymouth, Massachusetts), April 23, 2020 (also appeared at Canadian Shipper, at The CILTNA, at The GLPA, in Maritime Magazine, at BusinessNorth and at Grainnet News).  The marine industry is rising to meet the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by banding together to create a mutually agreed standard of protocols to protect marine workers.  The Chamber of Marine Commerce has developed the Marine Industry Trusted Partners for COVID-19 initiative with its Canadian ship operator members to help assure ship owners, governments and other stakeholders (including the public) that a mutually-agreed standard of protection, with supporting protocols, is being followed by each Partner during ship-shore interactions.  The initiative is open to any company or organization to join that may be involved with ship-shore interactions in the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence, East Coast and Arctic – and has already attracted the participation of ship inspectors, tug operators, and Canadian pilotage authorities and received a supportive message from The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation.  The initiative will help to facilitate essential ship-shore interactions, which are required for safe operations, by minimizing the need for additional screening between Trusted Partners.  However, it does not prevent any organization from taking further measures to protect their employees where the need arises.  Bruce Burrows, President and CEO of the Chamber of Marine Commerce, is quoted.
 
V. Water Levels
RELEASE: Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River System: Comparison, Update and OutlookQuinte News(Belleville, Ontario), April 23, 2020.  Water levels remain high across the Great Lakes basin.  The four upper Great Lakes are near- or above record-high levels, while Lake Ontario is still well above average, but also well below record levels.  Lake Ontario is now likely to remain below record-highs through the spring.  This is largely due to favorable weather conditions, but also demonstrates the effectiveness of water regulation to help the system recover after the recent record-high water events.  Nonetheless, levels of Lake Ontario and the lower St. Lawrence River remain elevated.  The high inflows from the upper Great Lakes and the weather conditions during this winter and spring clearly demonstrate their predominant influence over Lake Ontario water levels.
 
VI. Congrats to Doornekamps on their New Shipping Business
Doornekamp Lines is the New Alternative to Rail and Truck Transport from the East Coast to the Ontario Market, Picton Terminals (Prince Edward County), April 28, 2020.  Doornekamp Lines is Eastern Ontario’s newest mode of transportation.  Doornekamp Lines Phase 1 Halifax-Picton service moves product by marine shipping and serves importers and exporters in Ontario.  Future plans for Phase 2 includes services to the North East and Mid-West United States through short sea shipping to the US Great Lakes destinations.  Doornekamp Lines is dedicated to creating new opportunities for regional consumers and ultimately supporting Canadian consumers by increasing transport efficiencies, improving road safety and offering a more environmentally responsible option for both domestic and international trade.  Doornekamp Lines offers an alternative transportation mode that facilitates diversification in the logistics chain from the East Coast to the Ontario Market.  The bi-weekly Halifax/Picton service is transitioning to a weekly service in 2021.
 
VII. New and Encouraging US Groundwater Legislation
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/04/24/us-supreme-court-decides-clean-water-act-applies-to-groundwater/?fbclid=IwAR2-nX2IqW3iQ2ZH19XE0mEFBix00Vxuuifcllukqv3WArYBB7ZGTefnQ_0
  
Wishing you all a wonderful May.
Cheers,
Mary Farrar, President,
Friends of Kingston Inner Harbour
 
p.s. Toronto Star Feature on Cypress Hills Massacre of 1873 and Creation of the RCMP
The horrific mass shooting in Nova Scotia has sparked questions about whether it’s the deadliest shooting in Canadian history — but tragedy on a similar scale has happened at least once before.
The last time Canada saw as many people shot dead as were killed in Nova Scotia, it was early summer in 1873, when illegal whisky and a spat over stolen horses spurred a late-night massacre of a group of Nakoda camped in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Although the Cypress Hills Massacre has faded from modern memory, it’s still remembered every spring with a gathering of the descendants of the men, women and children who were killed.
It’s also the reason why the North West Mounted Police — which eventually became the Royal Canadian Mounted Police — were finally marched out to the Prairies, to try to bring order to what was seen as the lawless west.
The exact number of people killed that night has been lost to time. Some historians peg it around 20 people killed, or slightly more. Elders from the Ceg-A-Kin, or Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation in southern Saskatchewan, formed in part by survivors of the massacre, say it’s more like 300.
“It was pretty ruthless, and our people had a real hard time grieving and recovering. It’s still pretty sad, and on the minds of a lot of our community members,” says Matthew R. Spencer, a historian from Carry the Kettle, a First Nation located east of Regina with about 3,000 members.
Until last weekend, the biggest massacre on Canadian soil happened in the rolling Cypress Hills of what is now southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. A quirk of geology, the hills rising more than half a kilometre above the surrounding prairies. Visible from a distance, they’ve functioned as a meeting place and stopping point for travellers for generations.
“You’ve got to think of the Cypress Hills as sort of that last refuge on the prairies in the 1870s,” explains Bill Waiser, a distinguished professor emeritus of history at the University of Saskatchewan. “It’s where people congregated.”
 
By then, the great herds of bison were becoming smaller and harder to find, but some still roamed the hills, drawing hunters. The area was also attractive to a more fringe element.
Whisky was illegal at the time, yet several American traders who also dealt in whisky had set up shop in the hills, safely out of reach of the American authorities. Of course, there were no police in western Canada at the time.
 
Sometime before spring, a group of American wolf hunters had a bunch of their horses stolen, Waiser said. They’d travelled north in search of the missing animals and by June 1, they were in a foul mood. They’d also been drinking heavily, having passed by the trading forts en route.
A group of Nakoda, also referred to as the Assiniboine, including women, children and elders, were camped nearby.
“Then, one of them reports that one of their horses has been stolen. We’re not sure whether that in fact happened or if it just wandered away,” Waiser said. In any case, that was what set the group off.
Although there was no evidence that the camp had anything to do with either horse theft, the wolvers decided to take their revenge.
The Assiniboine were camped at the bottom of a coulee, or valley, and made easy targets as the wolvers shot down from the lip of the embankment.
“The Assiniboine didn’t really have advanced weapons, and (the wolvers) did,” Spencer said. “Our people were just there to camp and to trade. They weren’t really up to anything because our people, the Assiniboine people, were known as very peaceful people. We had a good relationship with the traders.”
“It really sounds like it was a pretty one sided battle,” he said.
 
In a reflection of how isolated western Canada was at the time, the incident appeared in American newspapers, but it would be three months before the Canadian government caught wind of it, according to Waiser.
But it inspired them to finally do what they said they were going to do, and send a newly minted police force, dressed in red, to restore order in western Canada. Although a law to establish a police force had been passed, it hadn’t actually been created yet.
“This forces their hand. So in the fall of 1873, they quickly dispatch about 300 men to Western Canada,” Waiser said, nothing they deliberately chose a route near the southern border.
 
“They’re asserting Canadian sovereignty in the West and that’s why they take that route, but by the time they arrive in southern Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, it’s been such a horrendous trek that they’re in no condition to meet any resistance.”
Luckily, they didn’t.
They also unfortunately arrived too late to do much about the wolvers.
On July 4, 1875, the Montreal Star published a private letter received by “a gentleman in that city” from an unnamed member of the mounted police, sent from Fort Macleod in what is now southern Alberta.
“Col. Macleod has ordered the arrest of several Americans at Fort Benton (Montana), since he went there, for the massacre at Cypress Hill of 100 Indians, which occurred a year ago, but I think he will not be able to make much out of it, as too long a time has elapsed and the most culpable have cleared out,” it reads.

“The massacre was a cold blooded affair, men, women and children being butchered and burned up indiscriminately,” it continues.Saskatchewan, formed in part by survivors of the massacre, say it’s more like 300.
“It was pretty ruthless, and our people had a real hard time grieving and recovering. It’s still pretty sad, and on the minds of a lot of our community members,” says Matthew R. Spencer, a historian from Carry the Kettle, a First Nation located east of Regina with about 3,000 members.
Until last weekend, the biggest massacre on Canadian soil happened in the rolling Cypress Hills of what is now southern Alberta and Saskatchewan. A quirk of geology, the hills rising more than half a kilometre above the surrounding prairies. Visible from a distance, they’ve functioned as a meeting place and stopping point for travellers for generations.
“You’ve got to think of the Cypress Hills as sort of that last refuge on the prairies in the 1870s,” explains Bill Waiser, a distinguished professor emeritus of history at the University of Saskatchewan. “It’s where people congregated.”
 
By then, the great herds of bison were becoming smaller and harder to find, but some still roamed the hills, drawing hunters. The area was also attractive to a more fringe element.
Whisky was illegal at the time, yet several American traders who also dealt in whisky had set up shop in the hills, safely out of reach of the American authorities. Of course, there were no police in western Canada at the time.
 
Sometime before spring, a group of American wolf hunters had a bunch of their horses stolen, Waiser said. They’d travelled north in search of the missing animals and by June 1, they were in a foul mood. They’d also been drinking heavily, having passed by the trading forts en route.
A group of Nakoda, also referred to as the Assiniboine, including women, children and elders, were camped nearby.
“Then, one of them reports that one of their horses has been stolen. We’re not sure whether that in fact happened or if it just wandered away,” Waiser said. In any case, that was what set the group off.
Although there was no evidence that the camp had anything to do with either horse theft, the wolvers decided to take their revenge.
The Assiniboine were camped at the bottom of a coulee, or valley, and made easy targets as the wolvers shot down from the lip of the embankment.
“The Assiniboine didn’t really have advanced weapons, and (the wolvers) did,” Spencer said. “Our people were just there to camp and to trade. They weren’t really up to anything because our people, the Assiniboine people, were known as very peaceful people. We had a good relationship with the traders.”
“It really sounds like it was a pretty one sided battle,” he said.
 
In a reflection of how isolated western Canada was at the time, the incident appeared in American newspapers, but it would be three months before the Canadian government caught wind of it, according to Waiser.
But it inspired them to finally do what they said they were going to do, and send a newly minted police force, dressed in red, to restore order in western Canada. Although a law to establish a police force had been passed, it hadn’t actually been created yet.
“This forces their hand. So in the fall of 1873, they quickly dispatch about 300 men to Western Canada,” Waiser said, nothing they deliberately chose a route near the southern border.
 
“They’re asserting Canadian sovereignty in the West and that’s why they take that route, but by the time they arrive in southern Saskatchewan, southern Alberta, it’s been such a horrendous trek that they’re in no condition to meet any resistance.”
Luckily, they didn’t.
They also unfortunately arrived too late to do much about the wolvers.
On July 4, 1875, the Montreal Star published a private letter received by “a gentleman in that city” from an unnamed member of the mounted police, sent from Fort Macleod in what is now southern Alberta.
“Col. Macleod has ordered the arrest of several Americans at Fort Benton (Montana), since he went there, for the massacre at Cypress Hill of 100 Indians, which occurred a year ago, but I think he will not be able to make much out of it, as too long a time has elapsed and the most culpable have cleared out,” it reads.

“The massacre was a cold blooded affair, men, women and children being butchered and burned up indiscriminately,” it continues.