Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 31, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba Photo by Sault Ste. Marie Tourism RESERVE TODAY Now processing $250 person deposits safely and securely right over the phone. TOUR GUESTS WHO RESERVE WILL BE PROVIDED AN INVOICE & BOOKING NOTES TO PREPARE FOR THE TOUR Full payment deadline approximately 45 days before departure $ 1,895 P/P Double Occupancy Single Supplement an additional $ 600 The package includes admission to attractions, both train trips and hotel accommodations, transfers, most meals, guest speakers, information kit, unique experiences related to the heritage of the area we are traveling and more. R E S E R V E T O D A Y A S T H E S P A C E I S L I M I T E D , o n t h i s t o u r o f f e r e d n o w h e r e e l s e , A N D T H E R E W I L L O N L Y B E O N E D E P A R T U R E SPECIAL READER OFFER Northern Ontario’s Fall Colours & Superior Region BY ROAD & RAIL You will enjoy summer more when you BOOK NOW knowing you can look forward to travelling in Canada to experience… B ook now with Rail Travel Tours on this unique 6-day 5-night package, round trip from Winnipeg for the fall colours around Lake Superior and region. This tour, offered nowhere else, features motor-coach travel, bush plane & boat heritage attractions and both of Ontario’s Superior Region’s scenic passenger day trip rail journeys. We have made arrangements for you to enjoy all the hotel stays, visits to attractions, reserved train tickets during the prime fall season, most meals and more on this memorable tour, with space that is expecting to again go fast. Below is a detailed day by day itinerary with more details. SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 TO FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2024 CONTACT TO RESERVE AT 204-897-9551 (in Winnipeg) OR TOLL FREE 1-866-704-3528 RAIL TRAVEL TOURS V I A R a i l ’s S u d b u r y – W h i t e R i v e r u n i q u e R a i l D i e s e l C a r ( R D C ) r e m o t e r a i l j o u r n e y C d n B u s h P l a n e H e r i t a g e C e n t r e , S a u l t S t e . M a r i e C C G S A l e x a n d e r H e n r y m u s e u m s h i p i n T h u n d e r B a y P h o t o b y F L e s i u k L a k e S u p e r i o r ’s S c e n i c N o r t h S h o r e First 10 bookings will receive A FREE COPY of the book FAMOUS NAME TRAINS – TRAVELLING IN STYLE ON THE CPR to enjoy on the tour SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2024 The tour will start with a morning departure from Winnipeg by motor-coach heading east toward Ontario. We will stop in Ignace Ontario to visit their community museum and enjoy lunch here before continuing east to enjoy more views of the changing foliage. Arriving Thunder Bay we have a planned visit to see the former Canadian Coast Guard Icebreaker museum ship the Alexander Henry docked here on the Lake Superior. After the tour we will check into the classic railway hotel The Prince Arthur Waterfront Hotel (those that book early will get rooms overlooking Lake Superior) and have dinner here before planned time to enjoy the hotel’s pool or hot tub or nearby attractions and overnight here. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2024 Today, after breakfast at our hotel, continuing east we will enjoy the fall colours around the scenic North Shore of Lake Superior from the windows of our motorcoach and a few stops along the way including a planned visit to the Winnie the Pooh Park in White River. Arriving at Sault Ste. Marie, we have scheduled some time to Visit the fantastic Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre to view their large collection of aircraft and WILDFIRES 3-D presentation in their interactive theatre on fighting forest fires from the air. After our museum visit we will check into our Sault Ste Marie hotel for some planned free time before overnighting here. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2024 The inclusive hotel breakfast will be enjoyed early this morning so we can transfer to and board the Agawa Canyon Tour train for its morning departure. This popular scenic 114 mile day train trip features fantastic views from high trestles, curving around numerous lakes and rugged wilderness terrain is rated one of the top rail journeys in North America. Guests will enjoy lunch we will provide and time to stretch their legs in the Agawa Canyon Park stop where Group of Seven paintings seem to come alive in every direction you look. After enjoying the park’s groomed trails we will return to Sault Ste. Marie by rail to again enjoy the fall colours scenery from our train, After some time to visit the station gift shop back in Sault Ste. Marie we will transfer back to our hotel here for some free time after a full day on the rails and time for guests to wind down the day on their own. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 After again enjoying the inclusive breakfast at our hotel this morning we will continue east to the City of Sudbury and visit some of their largest attractions this afternoon. Here we will learn about some of the area’s mining heritage at the Dynamic Earth tour (where the Big Nickel is located) and the Northern Ontario Railroad Museum and Heritage Centre. We will also enjoy a locally prepared dinner here before overnighting in downtown Sudbury at our hotel that overlooks the city skyline and the tracks that travel west where we will be heading the following day. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2024 After breakfast at the hotel we will enjoy the all daylight train trip on VIA Rail’s unique Rail Diesel Car service. This lesser known and equally scenic rail journey from Sudbury, travels the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline through remote and pristine Canadian Shield wilderness (passing Onaping Falls, fur trade river routes; isolated lakes and more) for our guests to enjoy the fall colours on the last operating train of this type in Canada. Arriving in White River, at the same platform where a bear named Winnipeg (Winnie for short) was purchased by Captain Harry Colebourn, we will visit their museum and learn about the origins of this famous bear cub before enjoying supper and overnight here. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2024 Today will be our final travel day with more great views around the North Shore of Lake Superior and Northwestern Ontario. We also plan to stop to see the stunning Terry Fox Monument that overlooks Thunder Bay & Lake Superior. Our westward journey today will end back in Winnipeg, in the late afternoon, with great memories and lots of pictures to show family and friends. A8 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS I CANADA WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2024 Privy Council to continue anti-racism efforts, clerk says after report release OTTAWA — The head of the feder- al public service said he is personally committed to “continuous action” to address racism and discrimination in the workplace, following the public re- lease of an internal report that details employees’ troubling experiences on the job. Privy Council clerk John Hannaford said the department has put a number of initiatives in place, including an of- fice led by a chief diversity officer, which is developing an anti-racism and equity plan. His comments come after the Coali- tion Against Workplace Discrimina- tion publicly released a report Monday that details discrimination and racism faced by employees in the Privy Coun- cil Office. The coalition obtained the report through the Access to Information Act. The report shows Black and racial- ized employees described being passed over for opportunities given to white colleagues and cites the example of Black employees who said they had to intervene with managers who used the N-word in their presence. Hannaford said in a statement the report was part of an anti-racism and equity effort launched in 2021 and was shared internally last year. The coalition has called for Deputy Clerk Nathalie Drouin, who it said has been in charge of the discrimination file since 2021, and Matthew Shea, assistant secretary to the cabinet, min- isterial services and corporate affairs, to resign. “We are particularly concerned about the lack of accountability meas- ures against leaders who were at the helm while widespread discrimination was a regular occurrence,” Nicholas Marcus Thompson, president of the Black Class Action Secretariat, which leads the coalition, said at a press con- ference Monday. Hannaford said the government won’t be asking them to step down. He has “full confidence” in Drouin and Shea, he said in a statement Tues- day. “The entire management team and I are committed to taking continuous action to identify and address any bar- riers that may exist in the federal pub- lic service,” he said. The office has instituted an ombuds- man “to help foster trust and psych- ological safety,” anti-bias training, support for employee-led networks and professional growth programs for Black, Indigenous and racialized em- ployees, he said. The government has improved rep- resentation in the department, he said including boosting the number of racialized employees in its executive ranks from 10.1 per cent to 27.3 per cent since 2020. But Thompson said Monday many key recommendations from the report still haven’t been addressed and point- ed to equitable hiring practices, such as name-blind screening and third-party hiring, as one example. — The Canadian Press ANJA KARADEGLIJA V ANCOUVER — Recent rains and cooler temperatures have knocked down wildfire activity in parts of British Columbia, especially in the north, but another hot and dry spell is expected to settle in across the south- ern Interior, officials said Tuesday. Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said the weather has of- fered “much-needed relief” to com- munities and firefighting crews. Sev- eral evacuation orders and alerts have been lifted around the Antler and Shet- land creek blazes, she said. Still, she said wildfires are still threatening communities, particularly in the southeast, and the province, wild- fire crews and emergency responders are doing “everything that they can do” to keep people safe. More than 10 search and rescue crews have been deployed to support evacuations in the past week, Ma said. “Despite cooler weather, I want to encourage everyone to continue being vigilant and being prepared. As we know, the wildfire situation can change quickly, and we may see more fires as temperatures warm up again in the coming days.” About 1,350 people are currently under evacuation orders, primarily in the central Kootenay region of south- eastern B.C., Ma told a news confer- ence. A further 2,800 people have been told to be ready to leave on short notice. Cliff Chapman, the director of prov- incial operations with the BC Wildfire Service, said rain had “knocked down” fire activity in the northern half of the province. Conditions have improved to the point that the province is lifting campfire bans in the Prince George and North- west fire centres effective at noon on Thursday. Forests Minister Bruce Ralston said the prohibitions would be reinstated if conditions change for the worse. In the south, Chapman said there has been enough rain to provide crews with “operating time” on several “challen- ging” fires that have led to evacuation orders. But the reprieve appears to be fairly short lived, as Chapman said forecasts suggest a “hot, dry pattern” will return in August. He said another high-pressure ridge could build over B.C. by this weekend, especially in the south, ushering in a return to seasonal or above-seasonal temperatures. “Right now, we’re forecasting for sort of that Kamloops Fire Centre, South- east Fire Centre, we’re going to see a return to the low- to mid-30 degree temperatures,” he said, adding that will make for “very challenging” firefight- ing conditions. “We are looking at probably the next 10 to 14 days of seeing little to no rain in the southern part of the province and that may also push into the north.” Many of the roughly 340 wildfires currently active throughout B.C. are concentrated in the southeast, where hundreds of residents of the com- munities of Slocan and Silverton were forced out of their homes due to the danger. But the Regional District of Central Kootenay downgraded the order for 185 properties in Silverton and 17 proper- ties in the surrounding area to an alert on Tuesday. This comes as the nearby Aylwin Creek wildfire continues to burn out of control. The district also rescinded the evacu- ation alert for the village of New Den- ver, noting the wildfire service has now classified the nearby Wilson Creek fire as under control. The number of active fires is down from more than 400 last week, with 46 per cent of the current blazes classified as burning out of control. The wildfire service says 90 per cent of the active fires were sparked by lightning storms that swept over much of the Interior in the last few weeks. The number of people deployed to fight the fires has grown substantially in the last two weeks to just over 1,500 firefighters and more than 200 struc- ture protection personnel. Just over 190 aircraft are also being used in the battle. — The Canadian Press Hot spell returning to southern B.C. after rains, cooler weather dampen fires B.C. WILDFIRE SERVICE / THE CANADIAN PRESS Smoke fills the sky from the Lower Campbell Creek wildfire near Penticton, B.C., July 24. ;