CHAPLEAU EXPRESS
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Vol. 31, Issue 6, October 8, 2026
Long Term Forecast Thursday High 10 Low 0 Friday High 12 Low 4 Saturday High 20 Low 14 Sunday High 22 Low 10 Monday High 13 Low 0 Tuesday High 4 Low 0
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Weather Summary for Ontario September 2026: Dryness Intensifies and Spreads, Northern Warmth Persists Temperature September was warmer than normal for most of the province. Anomalies in mean monthly temperature were highest in the Far North and generally decreased toward the south where temperatures were nearer normal. As in August, the month's temperature pattern reinforced the climatological trend. The first half of the month was warmer than normal, while the second half was cooler than normal. Weekly mean temperature anomalies were highest for the first week and lowest for the fourth week. Warmer-than-normal conditions, however, returned during the final days of the month. Precipitation September recorded below-normal precipitation across nearly the entire province. In much of the north and Far North, dry conditions have persisted for several months. Meanwhile, much of northeastern and southern Ontario experienced some of its most substantial monthly precipitation deficits in recent months. Many locations from east of the Great Lakes to the Quebec border received less than 25% of their monthly normal precipitation, including Sudbury, which received only 16% of normal. On finer time scales, the first week was the wettest across most of southern Ontario, except in Niagara. A heavy rainfall event on September 2 produced extreme precipitation amounts in many locations, including a record 61.6 mm in Cornwall. In contrast, the fourth week was generally the driest, and many regions experienced a persistent dry spell during the latter half of the month, with little or no precipitation. Significant Events and Impacts S e p t e m b e r 2 - 3 : To r o n t o S e v e r e Thunderstorm A severe storm struck the Greater Toronto Area late on September 2, bringing damaging winds, large hail and torrential rainfall. Winds snapped utility poles, brought trees down onto power lines, homes and vehicles, and caused structural damage, while
heavy rainfall led to widespread street and basement flooding. More than 100 mm of rain fell along a corridor from Vaughan through North York to Scarborough, while a daily record 59.5 mm was recorded downtown at the University of Toronto. The storm caused major disruptions across the region. About 65,000 Toronto Hydro customers lost power, several major roads and three downtown subway stations were flooded, and debris disrupted transit services. The Don River overflowed onto the Don Valley Parkway and Bayview Extension, forcing closures, as numerous vehicles became stranded in floodwaters. Flooding also affected Michael Garron Hospital and many homes, including basements inundated with sewage-contaminated water. Toronto Fire received more than 1,400 calls for service, its highest volume since the 2013 ice storm, and carried out numerous rescues. Elsewhere, large hail damaged vehicles near Yorkdale Mall, strong winds caused significant damage at Rogers Stadium, and a commercial roof was torn off in Brampton. In Vaughan, emergency crews rescued drivers after a road collapsed into a fast-moving creek. September 2-3: Southwestern Ontario Gusty Storms An intense squall line swept across a large section of southwestern Ontario also late afternoon and evening on September 2, producing widespread damaging winds and possible embedded tornadoes. Numerous trees and power lines were downed, homes and other structures were damaged, and more than 150,000 customers across southern Ontario lost power. Some of the most significant damage occurred from Huron-Perth through Waterloo Region and Brantford. Fallen trees forced the closure of portions of major roads in HuronPerth, while extensive tree damage was reported in Kitchener, Brantford and other communities. Near Tavistock, a suspected tornado peeled the roof from a large barn and brought trees down onto vehicles. Brantford also sustained extensive
damage to electrical infrastructure, forcing the closure of several parks and public spaces. Significant tree damage was reported as far south and east as London and Hamilton. September 3: Tornado and Squall Line in the Extreme Southwest A severe squall line accompanied by at least one tornado swept across the WindsorChatham corridor on the afternoon of September 3, causing significant damage. Numerous trees and power lines were downed throughout Essex and Kent counties, while homes and other structures were damaged in Windsor by fallen trees and wind-driven debris. Several minor injuries were reported as a result of the storm. Outlook for October Canadian model guidance for next month favours warmer-than-normal conditions across Ontario, with the strongest signal over the north and along the Far North coast. Precipitation guidance indicates only a weak tendency toward below-normal precipitation east of Lake Superior.
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CHAPLEAU EXPRESS, October 8, 2026 - Page 3
Chapleau's Dakotah Woods of Quebec Remparts Chapleau 'unreal feeling making a dream become reality'
Moments
From the archives of
Michael J. Morris October 8, 2015
Shortly after Dakotah Woods signed to play with the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, he posted on Twitter, "unreal feeling making a dream become reality." A bit later, Dakotah, born in Chapleau in 1998, whostarted his hockey career when he was four years old at the Moore Arena with figure skating lessons, added, "Proud to announce my commitment with Quebec Remparts. Thanks to family, friends and everyone that helped me getting there." After his father Gordon Woods told me that his son had taken figure skating lessons, I just
had to include a question to Dakotah about it in an interview in which we texted back and forth --- he texts much faster than I do. Dakotah said that figure skating helped him out "a lot really. You know you learn all your edges and have to stay balanced or you fall. Strapping on a pair of skates at young age is tough. Figure skating taught me a lot." Dakotah is the son of Gordie and Isabelle (Saunders) Woods. He is also a member of Brunswick House First Nation. Before the family moved to North Bay in 2008, he played Initiation, Novice and Atom on Chapleau Minor Hockey Association teams. The Elite Hockey Prospects web site says that he played Bantam AAA with the Sudbury Wolves in 2012-13, then joined the Nickel City Sons Midget teams until he joined the Elliot Lake Wildcats of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League for the 2014-15 season. Playing now with the Quebec Remparts,
Dakotah Woods played with Elliot Lake Dakotah first game with Quebec Remparts Wildcats, 2014-15 season (Gordie Woods photo)
a major junior team,assures Dakotah a spot in the annals of Chapleau hockey history. I asked him how he felt about it. His text: "Making Chapleau hockey history is great knowing that my name will always be there is just unreal. Good to know that the town I spent my childhood days knows what I have accomplished throughout the years." I asked Dakotah how he felt when he signed with the Quebec Remparts: "Unbelievable feeling. All the hard work you put in growing up as a kid, whether it is working out all Summer, going to different camps and all the sacrifices you have to make. Making a dream become r eality -- hard work does really pay off in the end." One of the camps that Dakotah attended was as a member of the Hit the Ice Program for cont’d on P.7
Dakotah played exhibition games with Oshawa Generals (Gordie Woods photo)
Plan to Travel within Canada
CHAPLEAU EXPRESS, October 8, 2026 - Page 4
New Curbside Recycling Service Coming To Chapleau! Starting in November, Chapleau will transition to an enhanced recycling system. Residents will be able to participate in curbside recycling collection using their new recycling bins. ! Delivery of the new recycling bins begins this week. ! Curbside recycling collection begins the week of November 23. For more information, visit: ! https://www.circularmaterials.ca/resident.../chapleau/ Questions? ! 1-888-597-1541 ! customercareont@emterra.ca
Un Nouveau Service De Collecte Des Matières Recyclables Arrive À Chapleau! À compter de novembre, Chapleau passera à un système de recyclage amélioré. Les résidents pourront participer à la collecte des matières recyclables en bordure de rue à l’aide de leur nouveau bac de recyclage. ! La livraison des nouveaux bacs de recyclage commence cette semaine. ! La collecte en bordure de rue débutera la semaine du 23 novembre. Pour plus d’information : ! https://www.circularmaterials.ca/resident.../chapleau/ !Vous avez des questions? ! 1-888-597-1541
CHAPLEAU EXPRESS, October 8, 2026 - Page 5
ARPA Canada Calls on Parliament to Pass Bill C-218 Later today, Parliament is expected to vote on Bill C-218, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), at 2nd reading. Bill C-218 would repeal the upcoming expansion of MAID to people with mental illness as their sole underlying condition. Euthanasia eligibility is scheduled to expand to those with mental illness on March 17, 2027. That leaves Parliament less than six months to repeal the expansion. Earlier this year, the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying (AMAD) recommended indefinitely excluding people with sole mental illness from eligibility for MAID. “The AMAD Committee's recommendation leaves Parliament without excuse for
further delays or inaction,” said Daniel Zekveld, Policy Analyst with ARPA Canada. “Bill C-218 implements that recommendation and is a timely opportunity for Parliamentarians to protect Canadians with mental illness from MAID.” Zekveld continued, “Since Parliament first debated the question of MAID for mental illness in 2021, it has only become more evident that Canada will never be ready for such an expansion. Psychiatrists continue to warn that irremediability cannot be determined in cases of mental illness. Further, the desire to die by MAID for mental illness cannot be distinguished from suicidality, and Canadians continue to see that expanding MAID to those with mental illness flies in the face of suicide prevention efforts.”
The mounting evidence against MAID for mental illness also comes on the heels of a 2025 report from the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that condemned Canada for permitting MAID for those who are not dying and recommended against further expansion. “MAID in Canada already accounts for more than 1 in 20 deaths, and that rate continues to grow,” said Zekveld. “Parliament must not offer death as a solution for mental suffering or encourage hopelessness. Canadians suffering from mental illness need care and support, not easier pathways to death. ARPA Canada calls on Parliamentarians to protect Canadians with mental illness and stop the scheduled expansion of MAID by voting in favour of Bill C-218 at 2nd reading.”
Weaver, SimmonsLLP congratulates ALEX F. ROSSINI on the successful completion of his Articles of Clerkship at Weaver, SimmonsLLP and call to the Bar of Ontario. Alex joins the Civil Litigation Department at Weaver, SimmonsLLP, where he will focus his practice on Civil Litigation matters for clients in Chapleau, Sudbury, North Bay, and throughout Northern Ontario. arossini@weaversimmons.com 705.671.3260 (Direct) www.weaversimmons.com
Brady Square ● Suite 400 ● 233 Brady Street ● Sudbury, Ontario ● P3B 4H5 Birnie Building ● 116 McIntyre Street West ● North Bay, Ontario ● P1B 2Y6 (by appointment) Civic Centre ● 20 Pine Street West ● Chapleau, Ontario ● P0M 1K0 (by appointment) 705.674.6421 (Sudbury) ● 705.497.1900 (North Bay) ● 705.864.1505 (Chapleau) ● 705.674.9948 (Fax)
CHAPLEAU EXPRESS, October 8, 2026 - Page 6
Last weeks solutions MOMENTS IN TIME
On Oct. 19, 1216, England's King John (younger brother to Richard the Lionhearted) died of dysentery at Newark Castle during a civil war with his barons and was succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Henry III, just over a week later. The boy was crowned with a simple golden band belonging to his mother because the royal crown had been lost.
Chapleau Moments
Dakotah "Number 66" with Remparts (Gordie Woods photo) Cont’d from P.3 two years. It is an annual Summer hockey program for aboriginal hockey players ages 1619. Only 15 from across Canada are selected each year, and he was named team captain by the other players this past Summer Dakotah also attended the Oshawa Generals camp and played in several exhibition games. In effect he has now played in games in the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Major
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CHAPLEAU EXPRESS, October 8, 2026 - Page 7 member of the Quebec Remparts: "What a Junior Hockey League. Chris Dawson of Bay Today explained feeling. So proud. Watched him come out of in an article that Dakotah was a free agent invite dressing room and seeing the smile on his face this summer to the Oshawa Generals Main was priceless," Gordie wrote. On a very personal basis, I am so very Camp. Mr Dawson quoted Dakotah: “Because proud too. I have known Gordie for over 30 I was overlooked (in drafts), I became a free years, and even though I now live in British agent which is the best thing for me because Columbia, we have remained friends, and over nobody owned my rights, I was able to go skate the past few years he has kept me posted on with a bunch of different teams and give myself Dakotah's progress. As Dakotah told me in our interview, a good chance at making that step into leagues "It's a family thing", and he is right. He is also like the OHL, QMJHL or WHL.” (Western right that we can make "dreams a realHockey League out in my part of the country) After Dakotah signed with the ity".Dakotah and his family are proof positive Remparts, Carl Tardif of Le Soleil newspaper of it. My most sincere congratulations to all wrote that he had become a new member of the of you. Happy Birthday Gordie, and, to my team not a tryout player. "We intend that he good friend, Carol (Woods) Byce, Dakotah's remain with us," he quotes head coach Philippe grandmother, all the best and thanks for being Boucher as saying. "The Quebec team had an eye on this my friend too. It was great to see Carol and player since the beginning of the summer, but Gordie when I was home in Chapleau. This column was done entirely with the its rights belong to the Oshawa Generals exception of a phone call, using texting, tweet(OHL)" but was released by them so he would ing and facebooking with links to Internet sites have chance to play with a major junior team for information. An historic moment in my this season," according to Mr. Tardif. Dakotah, 17, is six feet four inches tall lifetime of journalism LOL and weighs 205 pounds. His National Hockey League draft year is 2016. Summing up all that has happened with his hockey career, Dakotah paid tribute to all who have helped him especially his Parents Located on the Chapleau Cree First Nation Gordie and Isabelle. "It is a family thing. "I'd like to thank SUMMER HOURS both my parents for pushing me and making me will be from 7 a.m. - 10 p.m., 7 days the person I am today. Also family and friends a week for being behind me throughout this journey, all Drop by and check out our line the money they put in the game of hockey for of Authentic Native Crafts, me is just crazy, all the fees, new equipment, Unique Gift Ideas, Jewellery, travelling all over ontario, all the time they have and Gift Certificates TOO! put in for me. I can't thank them enough for what they've done for me since I've started," We also carry road trip snacks, which Dakotah said in a text messag e. includes Subs, Chips, Pop, plus a whole lot more. I think Dakotah's father summed up the feelings of his mother Isabelle, his sister Cedar Your Propane Refilling Station and younger brother Hunter, in a Facebook message as Dakotah came on the ice as a
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CHAPLEAU EXPRESS, October 8, 2026 - Page 8
National Newspaper Week Asks Canadians Who Is Really Behind the News 2026 campaign reminds Canadians that credible journalism starts with real people.
Meet Al Gorithm. He looks like a person. He sounds like a person. But he isn’t a journalist. Al is the face of this year’s National Newspaper Week campaign, running October 4–10 across Canada. This fictional character was created to make a simple point: as AIgenerated content becomes more humanlooking and human-sounding, it can be harder to tell whether a person is actually behind the information we see. The campaign presents Al as a real person to encourage Canadians to look more closely at who, or what, is behind the news and information they see. “Al Gorithm looks like a real person for
a reason,” said Kelly Levson, Director of Marketing and Research, News Media C a n a d a . “ We w a n t people to stop and ask: Who reported this? Who checked it? And who is accountable for it?” That distinction matters: 78% of Canadians are concerned about fake news and disinformation. “Technology can generate copy in seconds, but journalism is about more than producing words on a page. The human work is what gives credible journalism its value,” said Paul Deegan, President and C E O, News Media Canada. Every day, journalists across Canada attend council meetings, cover local events, talk to residents and business owners and follow stories as they develop. Much of that work happens long before a story is published. The recently released 2026 Canadian C o m m u n i t y N e w s m e d i a Aw a r d s (CCNAwards) put that work on display. The winning reporting, photography and storytelling reflect the kind of locally rooted journalism that keeps readers informed, connected and engaged with their communities. Newspapers continue to connect with a broad audience. News Media Canada’s
Newspapers 24/7: 2026 research found that 83% of Canadians read newspaper content each week, in traditional or online formats. Canadians can support local journalism by reading their local newspaper in print or online, subscribing where possible, sharing trusted reporting and supporting businesses that advertise in local media. National Newspaper Week runs October 4–10, 2026, and in Canada recognizes the journalists and newspapers that keep communities informed, connected and engaged. This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada. For more information, visit nationalnewspaper week.ca.
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