Floods and shortages add to transportation woes
|

Floods and shortages add to transportation woes

Like the Joni Mitchell song, the agri-food industry sometimes doesn’t know what it’s got until it’s gone. That’s especially true nowadays with the issues plaguing us in transporting our farm products across the country and around the world. While we appreciate the work that truckers and shippers do all the time, lately we’ve had to…

A rare bird, a new word and why I quit my ‘life-list’
|

A rare bird, a new word and why I quit my ‘life-list’

Not being from the UK, I wasn’t exactly sure what a “twitch” was, when I came across it in the following caption recently: “The Long-toed Stint generated one of the biggest twitches seen in Britain in years.” The photo was on a Bird News website, part of a post about a rare bird sighting in…

Post-pandemic, should schools still go all-in on technology?
|

Post-pandemic, should schools still go all-in on technology?

This month report cards will be going home to parents, assessing how well their children have caught up from more than a year of disrupted learning. Now that we’re back in the classrooms, I’m wondering – along with other teachers – about the long-term effects of our virtual education experiment. Anecdotal evidence suggests that during…

A Light to the Lonely
|

A Light to the Lonely

On Thanksgiving Monday, Peter Elgersma and his family rolled up their sleeves to cook for Richmond Hill Community Christian Reformed Church’s second “to-go” thanksgiving dinner. I chatted with Elgersma, a CC board member, about the dinner. Peter and his family, five in total, volunteered to cook and individually package 150 meals for the church’s 28th…

Foster families urgently needed as pandemic lingers
|

Foster families urgently needed as pandemic lingers

“Now, more than ever, we need to be helping our kids. If you have a spare room, consider it,” Trever Elliot says. He’s a foster provider, advocate and care home provider in the UK. “Ultimately, whatever’s going to happen with this virus,” he says, “we’re either going to get through it together or on our…

Trudeau’s gamble
|

Trudeau’s gamble

Canadians are familiar with the procedures. The prime minister visits the governor general – the Queen’s representative at the federal level – and asks her to dissolve Parliament, leading to an election. This could come at the end of the statutory four-year limit to the life of a parliament. Or it might happen after the…

After Roorda’s dismissal, CRC pastors in Canada ask Board to explain, listen
|

After Roorda’s dismissal, CRC pastors in Canada ask Board to explain, listen

,

On July 7 it was announced on the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRCNA) website that Rev. Dr. Darren Roorda had been dismissed from his position as Canadian Ministries Director by the Canada Corporation – the Canadian section of the governing body known as the Council of Delegates (COD). The news release recounts his…

Need a Darth Vader cake pan or a backpack with binoculars?
|

Need a Darth Vader cake pan or a backpack with binoculars?

Over the past year of lockdowns and restrictions, public libraries have figured out countless creative ways to continue serving their communities during a pandemic. In addition to regular lending services, libraries across Canada now offer online programming, news subscriptions and entertainment as well as curbside options such as printing services, free Wi-Fi, activities and community…