Murray Harbour Community Centre preps for emergencies with $185K in upgrades
CBC
The Murray Harbour Community Centre has received significant renovations to help it better support the community, especially in times of emergency.
The upgrades, which took more than two months to complete and cost around $185,000, were made possible through multiple funding sources, including the P.E.I. government's Rural Growth Initiative and Reception Centre Resiliency Fund.
Along with the renovations, the centre is now officially designated as one of the province's reception centres, a place where residents can find shelter, food, power and support during emergencies, including the aftermath of severe weather events.
Pam Oickle, a Murray Harbour councillor and chair of the municipality's Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) committee, said it's crucial for small communities like hers to have local emergency centres.
"Part of the issue is that we are unlikely to be first on the list for the restoration of power, water, anything like that," she told CBC's Island Morning.
"In addition, we tend to be surrounded by a large number of unincorporated areas that don't have a hub to access. So we serve a very large community that we view as... our neighbours, but in actual fact, they may not actually live right in the municipality."
Improvements already completed include accessible door entrances, steel kitchen countertops that are easier to clean and disinfect, new appliances, heaters in the bathrooms, and a new passageway from the main hall to the rear entrance.
Oickle said the need for upgrades became clear after the devastating impact of post-tropical storm Fiona nearly three years ago.
The storm left many Island communities, including Murray Harbour, without electricity for days or even weeks.
"Our community centre became a hub for those folks during that time," she said.
The centre, which had a generator, managed to provide residents with hot meals and a place to charge their phones.
"Most folks in this area are not on municipal water and sewers, so this gave them an opportunity to have access to clean water as well," Oickle said.
That experience made it clear the centre needed to become an official reception centre, she said.
The designation allows the facility to apply for provincial grants to retrofit spaces with the equipment and upgrades necessary to support residents in emergencies.
In Texas this week for a global energy conference, the federal natural resources minister is proclaiming "Canada is back" and ready to bolster its energy sector and grow exports.
Members of Parliament last year went on the fewest sponsored international trips in the last 15 years, excluding the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ontario is running out of time to beef up rules that would crack down on negligent and misbehaving municipal politicians ahead of the next civic election, some experts and opposition critics warn.
Six London teens are each facing multiple charges following a break-and-enter spree at homes in the city's southwest end early Sunday, police said.
The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure is putting the finishing touches on completing the Team Gushue Highway, but it means drivers might have to change their routes until later this summer.
Passage of the Nova Scotia government's budget bill stalled late Tuesday night when a group of singing protesters shut down the final vote to approve the budget.
Health Minister John Dornan said Woodstock-based eVisitNB will continue to provide virtual health-care services to New Brunswickers for another 90 days after March 31.
The head of Canada's largest airline has been summoned to Ottawa to explain why he spoke only in English when he offered his condolences to the families of those killed or hurt in the collision between a plane and a fire truck at a New York City airport on Sunday.
Manitoba is bucking a national trend by promising to slash its deficit, while boosting health care spending by nearly $1 billion and delivering modest affordability measures, including a PST cut that will save you money next time you buy a soda and bag of chips.
Premier Scott Moe has said there are no "cancellations or delays" to school projects as a result of the provincial budget introduced last week.
An 18-year-old man has been charged with second-degree murder in a deadly daytime shooting on a highway south of Edmonton.
More than a month after the deadly mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, stories of bravery during the tragedy are being shared.
Just over six months after the University of Prince Edward Island's medical program began, the dean of the faculty says things are “going wonderfully.”