Ontario & Quebec

The temporary border checkpoint in Cornwall will remain in place another year. Canada had said it wanted a permanent solution by now. The port of entry was moved last year when Akwesasne Mohawks protested border officers being armed. As David Sommerstein reports, a return to the original checkpoint on Cornwall Island seems unlikely.

Ottawa's Central Canada Exhibition was established back in 1888. Except for a break during World War Two, every year it returned as the largest fair in the area, remembered by generations as a last, happy gasp of summer.

Some things changed: September dates were moved to August. Agriculture now plays second fiddle to mid-way rides. And the event was re-branded as the SuperEX. But the location stayed the same. For 122 years, fair-goers flocked to Lansdowne Park, alongside the Rideau Canal, a site that eventually included a football stadium and hockey rink.

Plans are well underway to redevelop that prime urban space, generating considerable public debate about Lansdowne Park's best use. SuperEX was one of the losers. It must move - or die.

The most likely sanctuary lies some ten miles away, near a rural race track-casino. Lucy Martin went to SuperEX earlier this week looking for impressions and memories. And to ask what, if anything, regular folks want preserved.

Some trades change all the time: new tools, new techniques, new materials. Others hardly change at all. That's something Robert Vaughn likes about being a blacksmith. He's pretty sure he could trade places with a smith from Roman times, and neither one would get lost working at the other's forge. Lucy Martin spoke with Vaughn as he hand-pumped double bellows to heat coals at a heritage event in Ottawa.

The duties of the head gardener at Upper Canada Village, a living history museum in Morrisburg, Ontario, are many...and varied. Brian Henderson “lives” gardening as it was in the mid-1800s. It’s a full time commitment, from seedlings, through summer, and the harvest. Brian Henderson uses “period” tools and methods...and wardrobe, as well. He's today's Heard Up North.

Henderson told his story to Jill Breit, of Traditional Arts in Upstate New York. TAUNY is our partner in the Garden Plot, and you can find more about Jill’s trip to the Upper Canada Village gardens at the Garden Plot blog.

Kingston, Ontario has a number of claims to fame: a brief stint as a colonial capital, the home of prestigious universities, and a massive, limestone penitentiary that opened back in 1835.

Wind is another resource - one that brought windmills to near-by Wolfe Island in the last few years.

Each August, sailing enthusiasts from around the world come to Kingston for something called CORK: Canadian Olympic-training Regatta, Kingston. Top-level races that create lovely views of sails gliding back and forth across Lake Ontario.

Last year, Lucy Martin spent an overcast day at CORK and got a taste of what that's like, with or without wind. More...

The Thousand Islands Playhouse, in Gananoque, Ontario is hosting a series of recitals and conversations with musicians on Tuesday nights (8 pm) this summer. It's an opportunity to listen to classical music as the sun sets over the St. Lawrence River. Todd Moe spoke with pianist Gilles Vonsattel about his favorite music and composers. Vonsattel is a rising star in the classical piano world and has performed solo recitals and chamber concerts from San Francisco to Warsaw. He's preparing for a recital on August 31st in Gananoque that will include music by Beethoven and Debussy.

Up the River is running at the 1000 Islands Playhouse in Gananoque through September 4. Resident theatre critic Connie Meng was at a recent performance hand has this review. More...

Scottish emigrants ended up in nearly every corner of the world, so highland games featuring all things Scottish have also become widespread. A number of specialized vendors follow this busy summer circuit, bringing goods to throngs of their most likely customers. At this year's Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario one such booth included a compact tailor's shop. Industrial sewing machines sat ready for serious stitching, with crisp fashion displays out front. And what was on the manikins? Kilts, of course. But not Great-granddad's scratchy plaids. Innovator Robert Pel told Lucy Martin the always-evolving garment is going mainstream.

The Canadian government announced Tuesday it will begin building a new bridge between Cornwall and Cornwall Island next spring. The lower, shorter span will open up acres of land along the St. Lawrence River. City of Cornwall and Mohawk officials applauded the project, which will cost $75 million.

We’ll have more next week on what the new bridge could mean for the ex-paper mill town of Cornwall. Construction was to have begun last summer.

But a standoff between Canadian border officials and Akwesasne Mohawks delayed the project and led to the closure of the customs checkpoint on Cornwall Island. The dispute over arming border agents shut down the international bridge between Cornwall and Massena for six weeks.

Today, Canada still operates a make shift checkpoint in the city of Cornwall. Locals report delays of up to two hours. Canadian and tribal officials haven’t met in months. And Mohawks on Cornwall Island say they’re stuck in a netherworld between two borders. David Sommerstein reports. More...

Save the River, an environmental group based in Clayton, NY, wants a three-year delay in development of more wind power along the St. Lawrence River.

A spokesperson for the group says there are proposals for some 400 wind turbines in the Thousand Island region. Preliminary numbers from a study at an 86-turbine wind farm on Wolfe Island, a Canadian island near Kingston, Ontario, show higher than usual mortality among birds and bats. Martha Foley has more. More...