Four Exemplary Student-Athletes Receive $2,000 Bursary From Peterborough & District Sports Hall of Fame

Four student-athletes were recipients of the annual Peterborough & District Sports Hall of Fame Bursary Award at a presentation ceremony at the Peterborough Memorial Centre on Wednesday night.

(Left to right) Pat Bronson, PDSHoF chair; Delaney Hancock, 18; Parker Miller, 18; Alexis Thompson Jenkins, 18; Erik Unger, 17 and Linda de Jeu, PDSHoF Second Vice Chair. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Delaney Hancock, Parker Miller, Alexis Thompson Jenkins and Erik Unger were all high-school student recipients that took home $2,000 apiece from the bursary.

It has been given annually to four recipients since 1996 (with 2020 having six). This year’s winners will have their headshots commemorated in the Hall of Fame and will have their names etched into the history of the awards’ beneficiaries.

Delaney Hancock, 18. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Hancock, 18, is an honours student and a graduate of St. Peter Secondary School. She is attending St. Thomas University in Fredericton, N.B. in the fall for their Bachelor of Arts Program.

She plays sports such as field hockey, soccer, badminton, ice hockey and track and field for the St. Peter’s Saints. Hancock was also a member of the varsity running club, winning several MVP awards.

Hancock is active in the sports world not just as an athlete. She is an official for minor soccer, a hockey timekeeper, a lacrosse timekeeper and a fitness leader for the Ice Kats training camp. In high school, she was a LINK leader and a peer tutor in a special needs physical-education class and a member of the Athletics council.

She has played hockey for the PGHA Ice Kats, coccer with the Oshawa Kicks, Ice Hockey for the Central York Panthers U18 AA team and has been a member of the Kawartha Lakes Lightning running Club. 

Outside of sports, Hancock volunteered for Kawartha Food Share as a food sorter, was an instructor at Girls with Game Basketball camp, a Peterborough City soccer camp instructor, baked for Humane Society Fundraiser on National Cupcake Day and helped at the Saints Classic Tournament.

Parker Miller, 18. Photo by David Tuan bui.

Miller is an honours student and a graduate of Adam Scott Collegiate. In the fall, he plans to attend McMaster University in Hamilton to study business. 

During high school, the 18-year-old played volleyball, basketball, soccer and ultimate frisbee. He served as captain of the soccer and basketball teams. In ultimate, he was awarded the gold medal game MVP honours during back-to-back OFSAA championships in the past two seasons. Miller also was the 2023 Nationals gold medal game MVP. 

He captained his school basketball team to an OFSAA Bronze medal earlier this year. His team also was awarded the OFSAA Sportsmanship Award.

In the community, he has played basketball with the Time 2 Hoop program as captain. Miller also played rugby in the Pagans program and ultimate. 

His leadership skills continued by coaching basketball and soccer at local summer camps, coaching and organizing a grade six youth basketball house-league team, officiating basketball, scoring and timing at basketball games, tournaments and camps. He helped with training sessions for Peterborough youth basketball and Time 2 Hoop program. Miller was a camp counsellor at the Raiders summer basketball camp and a Level 1 CISA ski instructor.

Alexis ‘Lexi’ Thompson Jenkins, 18. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Jenkins is an honours student and graduate of the Crestwood Edge program at Crestwood Secondary School. In the fall, she will be attending the University of Oregon on a lacrosse scholarship while studying human physiology.

At Crestwood, she participated on the basketball, volleyball, wrestling, lacrosse, Nordic Ski and rugby teams. Individually, she did track and field and cross country. She was a captain of her teams in lacrosse, basketball and rugby. She earned numerous Kawartha and COSSA individual championships as well as being named MVP in basketball and wrestling.  

At the year-end athletic banquets, Jenkins was awarded the Larry Pearson Award, the Sportsmanship Award and the Dysart Award three years in a row. To cap off her Crestwood athletic tenure, she was named ‘Student of the Year’ which recognizes leadership, character and athletics. 

The 18-year-old was a member of the Kawartha Lacrosse Club, was on Team Ontario’s box lacrosse team, Peterborough Power basketball player, a Kawartha Nordic Ski Club member and part of the Peterborough Legion Pacer track and field club.

A leader both on and off the field, Jenkins displayed leadership skills by coaching and officiating rugby for elementary school athletes, volunteering at the Pagans Minis program, coaching house league lacrosse and officiating youth soccer.

She volunteered at Kawartha Food Share program as a porch pirate, Champlain animal hospital and was an ‘amigos’ for Crestwood’s lunchtime support program for the LLS students.

Erik Unger, 17. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Unger also was an honours student and graduate of Adam Scott. He is headed south this fall to attend the University of Massachusetts – Amherst to study mechanical engineering and compete on the track and cross-country teams.

In addition to those sports, the 17-year-old also is into Nordic skiing. Known for his performance at high-level events, Unger has won almost every Kawartha, COSSA and OFSAA event he has competed in. He has 4 gold medals, 2 silver medals and a fourth-place finish in his OFSAA career.

He is a Paul Burke Honour Athlete, earned his senior and junior athletic letters and numerous MVP awards in all three sports. 

Unger has four All Ontario Awards from Athletics Ontario and was named one of the top 10 athletes in the city by the Peterborough Examiner last year. He also was a 2022 Running Lane USA All-American Selection and he has received the Member of Parliament Award after his U18 National Cross Country Championship win in 2022.

Unger has raced and skied on every competitive level, including internationally with several championships.

He has volunteered with Skate Canada as a youth instructor, with Peterborough recreational power skating, cross country and a relay for life participant. 

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AON Inc's Holds Groundbreaking Ceremony For A Havelock 128-Bed Long-Term Care Home For September 2025

The shovels dug deep for AON Inc. as they started the groundbreaking ceremony for a 128-bed long-term care home in Havelock on Wednesday morning.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The home will help Ontario address the growing demands for long-term care. The Township of Havelock-Belmont-Methuen, Mayor and Council have been very involved in working hard to secure a long-term care home in Havelock according to a press release.

The site is located at 628 Old Norwood Rd. AON won the bid to build the long-term care home on Feb 17. The building is roughly 86,355 sq ft. with the project’s completion slated for September 2025.

“With the support of the citizens of Havelock, they lobbied the government to get bed allocation to here and that's the key component that you need and then through the process, we were able to successfully win the tendering to build the home here,” explained Brad Smith, AON Inc. president. “It's the support of Havelock that's made this happen.”

The long-term care home is part of the provincial government’s $6.4 billion commitment to build more than 30,000 new beds by 2028 along with 28,000 upgraded long-term care beds across the province according to MPP Dave Smith.

“The residents of Havelock have been waiting a long time for the build of this long-term care home,” he said. “Everyone deserves to be close to their family and friends. Today, with this initial ground-breaking, we are one step closer to making this a reality. Our government has made commitments to get long-term care homes built in this province and today proves we are doing just that.”

“We have had a lot of ups and downs over the years, but have always kept this as a top priority for not only Havelock-Belmont-Methuen but also Peterborough County and the surrounding area, where we received tremendous support,” said Jim Martin, Havelock-Belmont-Methuen Township mayor.

The home will have dining, activity areas, lounges and access to outdoor spaces according to AON. The building will employ over 140 staff.

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Peterborough Police Continue to Investigate George Street Homicide; Suspect Remains at Large

Peterborough Police Service are continuing their investigation of a homicide of a man from a stabbing incident late on Tuesday while the suspect remains at large, announced at a press conference in Downtown Peterborough on Wednesday afternoon.

Stuart Betts, Peterborough Police Chief addressing the media in front of Peterborough Square on the corner of George Street and Simcoe Street near the scene of the incident. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The victim was in his late 20s and suffered a stab wound in the George Street and Charlotte Street area at roughly 11:30 p.m. on Tuesday. He was taken to the Peterborough Regional Health Centre and succumbed to his injuries according to Stuart Betts, Peterborough Police chief.

The police were searching for the suspect after discovering the victim. The suspect remains at large and no weapon has been found at that time.

“Our officers also searched Fleming Park and Brock Street area, in the area of Alymer Street as part of our investigation,” said Betts.

When asked if the text encampment was associated with the incident, Betts said that police are currently investigating but have yet to make a connection, if any.

“That's part of what we're exploring right now is to identify what if any connection there is,” explained Betts. “That's the reason our investigators are in that area.”

It has yet to be established if there is any connection between the victim and the alleged suspect according to the Police.

Betts continued to support the CCTV that was installed in Downtown Peterborough on July 31. He said the incident was picked up on their cameras and will determine if the footage will be publicly released to aid in their investigation.

“Sadly, this incident is entirely what this CCTY program is intended to do,” explained Betts. “I’m just disappointed that we're having to employ it so soon after launching this particular program but for anybody who doubted the value of adding CCTV cameras to our downtown, this will help to hopefully dissuade those fears and concerns.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Peterborough Police at 705-876-1122 x555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.

“We understand that this incident will lead to questions about safety in the area, We absolutely understand those questions and concerns,” continued Betts. “We want to reassure our residents that our officers are working diligently to determine what happened and to find and arrest the person responsible.”

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Petes Executive Director of Business Operations Accepts New Position With Professional Women's Hockey League

Burton Lee, Peterborough Petes executive director of business operations is leaving the organization to accept a position as director of game operations and fan experience within the Hockey Operations Department of a new professional women’s hockey league announced on Wednesday.

BURTON LEE, PETES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS OPERATIONS (LEFT) ADDRESSING THE 165+ STUDENTS IN GRADES 7 AND 8 ABOUT HIS CAREER EXPERIENCE WITH THE TEAM at a World of Choices program with JA-NEO. PHOTO BY DAVID TUAN BUI.

The league is planning to launch this January. 

Burton originally joined the Petes in August of 2013 as the director of communications and game operations. He was formerly with the Sarnia Sting in the ticket sales department, after having spent nearly a year in the Canadian Football League with the 2012 Grey Cup Champion Toronto Argonauts. 

“I’m extremely grateful to the Petes Board of Directors and to our hockey and business staff for the opportunity to have worked for the historic Petes organization for the past decade,” said Lee. “It has been a pleasure to have partnered with exceptional people at the OHL and CHL, the City of Peterborough, Peterborough & District Sports Hall of Fame, the Peterborough Lakers, and Compass Food Services. Above all, though, it has been a true joy to play a role in the growth of our business team, as our staff continues to work tirelessly to help fans, partners, alumni, and players have world-class experiences right here in Peterborough.”

After his first two years, Lee was promoted to executive director of business operations for the next eight years. He was recognized with the 2022-23 Ontario Hockey League Community Involvement Award. 

“I am looking forward to contributing to one of the most exciting projects in the sport industry, working alongside a renowned ownership and executive team to establish the new professional women’s ice hockey league,” said Lee. “The Mark Walter Group and Billie Jean King Enterprises have initiated something truly special for the hockey world. I am excited to work alongside a team led by Jayna Hefford and to use the knowledge and experience I’ve gained in Peterborough to help fans across North America and around the world experience elite hockey in a new way.”

Lee was born and raised in Delhi and been an active community member since 2013. He is the current chair of the board of directors for Peterborough and the Kawarthas Economic Development and serves as program advisory council chair for various programs at Fleming and Loyalist Colleges. Lee is also involved in minor and recreational sports, having organized the Peterborough Squash Club’s PSB Wilson Squash Classic for several years as well as coaching minor sports teams.

“Burton has been the driving force behind our business operations for the past 10 years,” said Dave Pogue, Petes president. “His innovative and progressive ideas spawning some major changes in our business model have helped the Petes organization make huge strides and Burton’s team is regarded as one of the best and most respected in junior hockey.” 

Lee’s last day with the organization is on Aug. 15. Lee, his partner Heather and their two children are remaining in Douro-Dummer and continue to be with Peterborough County.

“Although we will greatly miss Burton’s talent, leadership and most of all, his second-to-none work ethic, we are very excited for him to be able to take on new challenges with his next career move,” said Pogue. “On behalf of the Peterborough Petes, please join me in wishing Burton the best of luck. We look forward to seeing him, his wife Heather and their children Louie and Lottie around the rink and in the community.”

Lee has worked alongside the hockey operations department throughout his time with the Petes. His decade-long tenure saw him work closely with Michael Oke, Petes general manager to ensure the smooth operation of the team.

“On behalf of everyone in hockey operations, I’d like to congratulate Burton on joining the new professional women’s hockey league,” said Oke. “It’s been ten great years working with Burton and we’re all excited to see him continue his career in something he’s very passionate about. Since we brought Burton on board, we have seen a tremendous amount of growth on the business side of the Petes. Burton’s vision and ideas were an integral part of this growth. Although we will miss him, we know that he’s going to be a great addition to the new league.” 

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Holden Cattoni Becomes Overtime Hero As Peterborough Lakers Sweep Brooklin L.C. 12-11 to Make Eight-Straight MSL Final

Holden Cattoni gets the series-winning goal as he helped the Peterborough Lakers sweep the Brooklin L.C. 12-11, in overtime to advance to the Major Series Lacrosse final for an eighth-consecutive time at the Iroquois Park Sports Centre on Tuesday night.

The Lakers await the winner of the Six Nations Chiefs and Cobourg Kodiaks. The Chiefs hold a 3-1 series lead with Game Five on Thursday. Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Lakers

The Lakers were off to a rough start as the Cattoni scored the team’s lone goal of the period. Brooklin scored four straight in the period to take a 4-1 lead after the first.

Brooklin continued their run with a Tanner Cook goal to make it 5-1 and seemingly have all the momentum. Peterborough shrugged off their sluggish start with a pair of goals from Matt Gilray and Colton Armstrong to make it a 5-3 game. Kyle Waters gave Brooklin breathing space with a goal to make it 6-3 but Peterborough went into overdrive shortly after.

Just as Cattoni started the scoring for Peterorough, he kept them going with a pair of goals to start a five-goal run. Thomas Hoggarth, Eli McLaughlin and Taite Cattoni got into the mix with goals to get an 8-6 lead. Brooklin broke the streak with a pair of goals to tie it up but McLaughlin got a powerplay goal to round out the period and give Peterborough a 9-8 lead, scoring eight in the second period.

The final frame saw a low-scoring affair from both teams as they traded goals until the end of the period. Brooklin opened and ended the scoring, tallying three scores while Peterborough had two and sent the game into overtime with 11-11 apiece.

As Holden Cattoni started it, he also finished it as Josh Currier and Holden’s brother Taite got in on the assistant helped him get the game winner in overtime 2:30 in to send Brooklin packing in a 4-0 sweep with a walk-off series win.

Riley Hutchcraft made 42 saves to pick up the win for Peterborough. The series victory gives Peterborough their eighth-straight MSL final appearance including their 18th in 19 seasons. The winner of the MSL Final will travel west to meet the WLA champion for the Mann Cup championship. 

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Voice of Business: Creating a National Strategy Regarding Healthcare Credentials

Every province and territory in Canada is struggling to find enough healthcare professionals, adding strain on already overburdened systems.

This is impacting access to effective and efficient healthcare, limiting labour mobility and increasing lost time and productivity across all sectors. As we struggle to train enough workers domestically, barriers to labour mobility in the healthcare sector are keeping skilled workers away. The fragmented and archaic foreign credential recognition processes across the country are leaving qualified newcomers working in areas outside of their expertise. We need a national strategy regarding accreditation barriers in the healthcare sector that addresses interprovincial and international qualifications.

The Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce and Fredericton Chamber of Commerce have teamed up on a policy resolution submitted to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (CCC) at the October convention, urging the federal government to take action on this issue. Policy resolutions are one way for Chambers to work together to create change. If approved by the CCC members, this resolution would become part of the CCC’s advocacy efforts for the next three years.

Systemic healthcare deficiencies across Canada are holding back our workforce and our economy.

The OurCare national survey showed an estimated 6.5 million Canadians are without a family doctor. In Ontario alone, the Ontario College of Family Physicians estimates 15 per cent of the population is without a family doctor and expects that to increase.

Workers who do not have access to primary healthcare through a family doctor are left to piece together solutions for their healthcare needs. The demands on hospitals and a lack of available workers have led to lengthy ER wait times, contributing to worse health outcomes, more time spent trying to access healthcare and more lost time in the workforce.

A shortage of accredited workers is also holding back private sector healthcare providers from meeting the needs of Canadians and supplementing the public system.

In 2020, a Statistics Canada report noted skilled newcomers are under-used in the healthcare sector with 47 per cent of them either unemployed or underemployed in non-healthcare jobs needing only a high school education.

The Government of Canada already provides funding to governments and organizations through the Foreign Credential Recognition Program (FCRP) to support foreign credential recognition in Canada. These other organizations may include regulatory bodies, national associations and credential assessment agencies. Every year, Canada’s Foreign Credential Recognition Program invests roughly $27.1 million through agreements with provinces and territories, regulatory bodies and other stakeholders to help support the labour market integration of skilled newcomers.

While these measures may help, this piecemeal approach will also further exacerbate provincial and territorial variance as programs and projects are implemented on a case-by-case basis. These investments also demonstrate that the federal government accepts that it has a role to play in credential recognition, despite most credentialling bodies being provincial in nature.

Content provided by the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce.

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Peterborough Police Investigating Midnight Homicide; Officer Presence In Fleming Park

Peterborough Police presense is currently at Fleming Park near Brock Street and Aylmer Street as a homicide investigation is being conducted from a midnight incident on Wednesday morning.

Police received the call from the George Street and Charlotte Street area and is undergoing an investigation regarding the incident. Roads in the area are not affected at this time.  

More details will be released when available.

Anyone with information is asked to call Peterborough Police at 705-876-1122 x555 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.

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Tracey Kelusky Becomes 2023 Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame Inductee

Four-time Mann Cup champion and former Peterborough Laker Tracey Kelusky has been named as a 2023 Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductee.

Photo courtesy of the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Kelusky was one of five inductees for this year’s Hall of Fame. He joins Steve Dietrich, Bob Watson, William (Bill) Hutton and Larry Loyd as this year’s inductees.

The former Laker was a top-three scorer during his Junior A carer from 1994-1996. He was awarded the Ontario Lacrosse Association’s Junior ‘A’ League’s Top Defensive Player in 1996.

He won four Mann Cup Champions with the Lakers in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2012.

He was drafted first overall in the National Lacrosse League in 2000 to the now-defunct Columbus Landsharks (who became the Arizona Sting in 2004 and disbanded in 2008). He was named Rookie of the Year and a Second-Team All-Star in 2001, a First-Team All-Star in 2002-2004 and named the MVP in 2003. He won the NLL Champions Cup with the Calgary Roughnecks in 2004 and 2009.

Kelusky is no stranger to having his name immortalized as he was inducted into the NLL’s Hall of Fame in 2016.

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Peterborough Public Health Extends Drug Poisoning Alert From Last Tuesday

Peterborough Public Health (PPH) has extended its drug poisoning alert that was issued last Tuesday following an increase in suspected drug poisonings, reported on Tuesday.

File Photo.

Over the long weekend, PPH detected 17 suspected drug poisonings in Peterborough and the County. The poisonings were responded to by 911 first responders, emergency department staff and service providers in the community. PPH presumes this to be the result of a pink substance from last week. 

These reports have prompted PPH to issue a public warning to help prevent further harm to the community according to a press release. PPH is reminding the public that street drugs may be cut or mixed with toxic substances and even a small amount can be fatal. 

Drug poisoning can look different for every person depending on the drugs involved. PPH urges everyone that a drug poisoning is a medical emergency and to always call 9-1-1.  

If drugs are being used:"

• Carry multiple naloxone kits and keep them visible. Free naloxone kits are available locally.  https://www.ontario.ca/page/where-get-free-naloxone-kit

• NEVER use it alone. Ask someone to check on you or call the National Overdose Response Service at 1-888-688-6677. Visit the Consumption Treatment Services Site at 220 Simcoe St. in Peterborough. Open daily between 9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. 

• Avoid mixing drugs. 

• Start low and go slow when using drugs, especially when buying from different or new suppliers.   

• NEVER share supplies. 

• Call 9-1-1 immediately if someone begins to show signs of an overdose. 

Know the Signs of an Overdose/Drug Poisoning. Photo courtesy of PPH.

Residents can anonymously report drug poisonings and other bad drug reactions using the Drug Reporting Tool. Any information shared through the tool supports PPH and community partners in responding to and preventing drug poisonings in the Peterborough area.

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Peterborough Musicfest Postpones Glass Tiger/Monowhales Concert to Aug. 17 Due to Band Member Illness

Headlined Glass Tiger with opening act Monowhales for Wednesday’s Peterborough Musicfest has been postponed to Aug. 17 due to an illness from Glass Tiger’s lead singer Alan Frew, announced on Tuesday morning.

Glass Tiger. Photo courtesy of Peterborough Musicfest.

As a result of the illness, there is no Musicfest concert this Wednesday.

Peterborough Musicfest released the following statement regarding the postponed concert:

“We wish Alan a speedy recovery and look forward to having Glass Tiger on stage with us next Thursday. Monowhales will open for Glass Tiger on the new concert date of Thursday, August 17th. Showtime is 8 p.m., at Del Crary Park.”

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