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Paul died on Thursday, July 30, 2026 in his 86^th year, on his own terms, surrounded by his family, after battling several debilitating illnesses over 14 years.

Paul will be missed by his wife of 64 years, Anne, his daughters, Lise (Vesa), Christina, and Jennifer (Richard), and his grandchildren Emma, Lisa (Jeff) and Eric, he is also survived by his six nephews and their families, as well as his sister, Diane. He was pre-deceased by his parents Russell Cleveland Mollon and Genivieve (Bea) Mollon nee Sine, his sister Marlene and brothers-in-law Brian and Gerry.

Born and raised in Thornton’s Corners (Oshawa), Ontario, Paul grew up on a farm and attended a one room schoolhouse along with his sisters in the 1940s. After graduating high-school, he attended Radio College of Canada and eventually became a computer hardware technician, cutting his chops on vacuum tubes and magnetic tape reels. His early jobs included working underground (the hole) at the NORAD base in North Bay, Ontario, followed by years with Memorex, Itel and then as a client manager for Hitachi Data Systems. Late in his career, he and Anne moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.

While Paul loved his work, he had many other passions. An inquisitive, curious and analytical thinker, he loved to read and this led him to his great avocation, politics. During the 1970s, Paul was a Founder of the Libertarian Party of Ontario and was its Leader for a number of years, including through 1977 provincial election cycle, when his daughters proudly watched him in a televised debate with other candidates. Together he and Anne were instrumental in managing the party for years, meeting many people who became lifelong friends, transcending politics.

Sports was always a passion and Paul was a small but mighty hockey player for years, including in the Metro Old Timers’ Hockey League in Toronto. He was known for his fierce tenacity and inability to put up with any shenanigans from his adversaries (gloves may have been dropped). An avid skier, he and Anne took many trips all over North America with their dear friends Ron and Linda.

Post-retirement, Paul and Anne moved to Owen Sound to join their daughters, Lise and Christina and grand-daughter, Emma. They became active members of the community, enjoying Saturdays at the Farmer’s Market, followed by breakfast at the Ginger Press. They also happily became the best babysitters ever and were always willing to help with pets and home improvement projects.

In recent years, Paul had not been well, but always kept his strength of character, wit, kindness and love of family and life. Even through the years when he was in near constant pain, he still managed several trips to both Europe to visit his daughter Jennifer and the West Coast to see his sister, Diane. Life was difficult, but good. The Leafs and the Blue Jays were a big help (mostly).

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Paul’s memory to Brightshores Health System Owen Sound Foundation.

Private arrangements have been entrusted to Brown Family Funeral Home, 1 – 900 10^th Street West, Owen Sound, 519-376-3710 with memorial online at www.brownfamilyfuneralhomes.com

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Submitted by Brown Family Funeral Homes on behalf of the Mollon family

Happy Friday, Readers.

We begin today as we always do in the run-up to the weekend: by taking a look back at your most-read stories and submissions from this week.

Next, the Ontario Provincial Police have a message for those hitting the road this long weekend. Over last year’s Civic Day long weekend, OPP say unsafe choices resulted in 3,514 speeding charges, 512 seatbelt related charges, 77 distracted driving charges and 204 impaired driving charges on Ontario roadways. There were also nine vehicle related fatalities on the long weekend.

Pay attention, wear a seatbelt, slow down, drive sober and remember to move over for emergency vehicles out there.

Read on for your weather, obituaries, local events, and news updates out of Owen Sound, the Saugeen Peninsula, West Grey, Tiverton and Kincardine, Hanover, Meaford, and more.

Miranda Miller
Editor

Public Notice

• What’s Open and Closed in Owen Sound for the Civic Holiday Weekend 2026 - City of Owen Sound

• Notice of Temporary Closure at Market Square July 31 to Aug 2 - Municipality of Meaford

Local News

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Guelph Owen Sound Transportation will operate through December 31, 2026, the City of Owen Sound said Thursday, extending the regional bus service four months past the August 31 date its current authorizations were set to expire.

Grey Transit Route 2, between Dundalk and Orangeville, will also run through year’s end.

Funding for 2027 has not been approved. The City said money for next year’s operations will be included in the annual budget for Grey County council’s consideration.

Grey County council’s membership changes after the October 26 municipal election, when the heads and deputy heads of council who sit on it are elected. Mayor Ian Boddy, who sits on county council for Owen Sound, is not seeking re-election.

The announcement came the same day the counties of Bruce, Dufferin, Grey and Wellington, together with Saugeen Mobility and Regional Transit, issued a joint statement on interim service across the region. That statement did not give an end date for GOST.

The regional study

The four counties and SMART are working with Dillon Consulting on a draft unified regional transit plan. Dillon is expected to present the draft to the four councils and the SMART board this fall for information. Final decisions on a long-term regional model are anticipated in 2027.

Under the joint statement, GTR Route 5 between Owen Sound and Wiarton returns in the fall. Route 5 ended service December 31, 2024, when its operating funding expired.

A seasonal extension of Route 5 to Sauble Beach will be considered for summer 2027, pending funding approval — a year later than the July 2026 start Grey County staff contemplated in May.

Neither statement explains the change. The City’s release does not mention Route 5 or Sauble Beach.

What the extension rests on is not stated

Owen Sound council approved extending the City’s agreement with 947465 Ontario Ltd., operating as Voyago, on February 9. That extension ran five months, to August 31.

A staff report prepared by the City’s Supervisor of Environmental Services, Heidi Jennen, put the gross operating cost at roughly $176,873.90 excluding HST, including just over $151,000 for contracted transit services and $25,000 for fuel and program staffing, against fare revenue staff estimated at $12,000 to $16,000 a month.

Grey County approved funding for that five-month period on November 13, 2025, on the condition that the City continue to operate the service. The February staff report anticipated Grey County folding GOST into a broader regional system as of September 1.

Licence agreements with the municipalities where GOST stops were extended on the same schedule. Centre Wellington council authorized its amendment, in report PLN2026-15 dated March 23, to run to August 31.

Neither statement issued Thursday identifies who will operate GOST after August 31, what agreement covers September through December, what the four-month extension costs, or which council or councils approved it.

The City of Owen Sound is not among the parties to the four-county statement, but issued its own release and named a City staff member as the contact for GOST inquiries.

Schedule and ridership

GOST connects Owen Sound and Guelph with stops at Chatsworth, Williamsford, Durham, Mount Forest, Arthur, Fergus and Elora.

Buses leave the Owen Sound Transit Terminal at 7:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., seven days a week including statutory holidays, except Christmas Day.

The City, Grey County and Wellington County said in March that GOST carried almost 13,000 unique rides in 2025, with service peaking in summer.

Wellington North reported 4,367 rides beginning or ending in Mount Forest or Arthur in 2025.

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Bruce Power invites you to celebrate the company’s 25^th anniversary at its annual FunFest, being held Saturday, Aug. 1, at the Walkerton Arena, from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

This free event will feature plenty of family fun, including reptile and magic shows, rock climbing, inflatables, face painting, musical entertainment, and a caricaturist, as well as activities with the Nuclear Innovation Institute’s Explore program.

In addition, sno-cones, candy floss, popcorn, and free merchandise will be available, while supplies last.

Following the day’s festivities, fireworks will take place at dusk at both Port Elgin and Kincardine beaches to mark Bruce Power’s 25^th anniversary, which was May 11.

“This will be a fun-filled day for all ages,” said Maggie Tieman, Bruce Power’s Director of Community and External Affairs. “We look forward to this event in the community every year and are excited to continue the tradition in Walkerton this summer. Join us for an afternoon of free food, entertainment, and family activities and amazing fireworks shows over Lake Huron that night!”

Only barrier-free parking will be available on site, so we encourage guests to take advantage of the free shuttle service that will run throughout Walkerton, beginning at 10:30 a.m. For more information on the parking locations, shuttle drop-off and pick-up details, and the schedule of events, visit brucepower.com/funfest.

Submitted by Bruce Power

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The Ontario Securities Commission’s fraud case against BG Wealth Group founder Craig Dunkerley covers $908,000 and four investors out of at least $11.6 million the regulator has said the group raised.

The Commission filed the application on July 22, ending an investigation that ran more than 18 months. The Capital Markets Tribunal, which hears these cases, set the first appearance for August 11 at 10 a.m. The public can watch by videoconference.

Named alongside Dunkerley are four companies: BGRE Capital Corporation, BG Wealth Group Inc., BG Wealth Group Growth Fund LP and BG Wealth GP Inc. Dunkerley was sole director of three of them and the directing mind of the fourth.

Co-founder Claudia Harvey is not named anywhere in the application.

Regulators build these cases on what they can prove, and a narrower application is not a finding that the rest was proper. But the gap is large, and neither the application nor the Commission’s public statements address it.

The buildings BG Wealth owned in downtown Owen Sound were part of the portfolio the Commission says the group could no longer pay for.

None of the allegations has been proven. The Tribunal has made no findings.

What the Commission says happened

Dunkerley created the BG Wealth Group name around 2019 as a brand for himself and the Ontario real estate companies he controlled. The business model was to buy undervalued properties in growing areas, renovate them, rent them and sell at a profit, financed by money raised from private investors.

Between November 2023 and August 2024, the Commission alleges, Dunkerley and the four companies took about $908,000 from four investors: roughly $103,000, $287,000, $400,000 and $118,000.

Most of it came in through promissory notes paying 16%. Two of those investors handed over money with no note issued at all; their investments simply appeared on portfolio statements the group sent them.

By then, the Commission says, the business was failing.

The collapse, month by month

The application sets out how fast it went.

At the start of November 2023, the group had missed payments on three of its 20 mortgage loans. By the start of January 2024, it had missed payments on 14 of 20. By the start of June 2024, 19 of 20.

It had also stopped making property tax payments on two of its properties, and by November 2023 had largely stopped paying the investors it already had.

The group owned about 14 properties at the time, the Commission says, “in areas such as Owen Sound, Wasaga Beach and Tiny, Ontario.” The Current has documented five of them in downtown Owen Sound.

Beginning in September 2024, the group lost eight properties — five sold under power of sale, three sold after being placed in receivership. It sold two more, one for less than it had paid. At least one other is in a power of sale process.

The application does not identify which properties. Three Owen Sound buildings were sold following the November 2024 receivership of the numbered companies that held them.

What investors were told

The promotional material sent to two of the four investors said the private lending program “beats any bank account or institutional investment product,” and that every $100,000 invested would return $16,000 a year in interest.

Dunkerley told another investor there was a “strong flow of incoming new Capital and Cashflow from the properties,” and that in his experience the risks were “very low.”

He told a fourth: “We payout monthly investment partner payments on the 5th of every month.”

None of the respondents told the investors the group had missed mortgage payments, the Commission alleges, or that it had largely stopped paying the people who had already invested.

Trading continued after the ban

On February 6, 2025, the Commission ordered Dunkerley, Harvey and eight companies to stop trading in securities.

Between February 28 and December 31 last year, the application alleges, Dunkerley and the Growth Fund broke that order 20 times by issuing limited partnership units to investors.

The sums were modest. Most of the units were issued when investors reinvested distributions — roughly US$1,900 and C$43,900 across the two periods — with about US$4,200 in new cash.

BG Wealth GP Inc., the fund’s general partner, was dissolved for non-compliance partway through, on May 25, 2025.

Harvey is out of the case

In January, seeking to extend the trading ban, the Commission stated it had found evidence that Harvey is co-founder and President of BG Wealth Group, and that she served as a director of BG Wealth Group Inc., the Fund Manager and the Fund.

That finding stood in contrast to what Dunkerley had told investors in February 2025 — that Harvey “has never been an owner or corporate director” of the company or its affiliates, and that any link between her and the investigation was false.

Six months later, the application does not mention her once. It describes BG Wealth Group as a name Dunkerley used for himself and companies “controlled by him.”

In a motion filed July 24 in the original file, the Commission asked to keep the trading ban on Dunkerley and the four companies until the case ends. It did not ask to keep it on Harvey, BG Wealth Holdings Corporation, BG Wealth Properties Inc., BG Property Holdings Inc. or Blackthorn Investment Group Inc.

The stated reason is that the application “does not make allegations against them.” That order lapses August 6.

The application does not say Harvey was uninvolved; it is silent on her.

The Tribunal has made no finding either way, and none of the public record has been displaced — the 2021 news release describing her as BG Wealth Group’s Co-Founder and President, her billing as a co-founder on business media and in an industry directory, her joint directorship with Dunkerley of BG Equipment Leasing Inc.

Nor was she a distant figure here. City records obtained by a freedom of information request show staff dealt with her directly about the buildings.

What this case reaches, and what it doesn’t

The harm alleged in this application is to investors. Owen Sound appears in it as a place where the group owned buildings it could no longer pay for.

The four investors are not identified, and nothing suggests any of them are Owen Sound tenants. No individual property is named.

The Commission has no authority over landlords, rents, building conditions or heritage properties. Those fall to the City’s property standards and by-law enforcement, the fire department, and the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Nothing before the Tribunal on August 11 concerns the condition of any building in this city.

Seldon House: The building nothing reached

Of the five downtown properties BG Wealth companies held, the Seldon House/Coach Inn is the only one where arrears run into six figures.

1005 2nd Ave. E. was built as a hotel in 1887. By-law 1984-70 designates its exterior facade, lobby and main staircase under the Ontario Heritage Act. The rooms are not covered.

BG Wealth had promised to turn it into a boutique hotel. In September 2024, it was listed for $3 million.

City tax records show the registered owner as 11968017 Canada Inc., which is not a respondent in the OSC case, and $117,258.50 owing as of February 27, 2026, with arrears reaching back to 2023.

When the receiver notified the City in December 2024, staff recorded three affected properties — 950-956, 942-944 and 948 2nd Ave. E. The Coach Inn was not among them.

In October 2023, long-term residents wrote to the mayor and council. In the letter, released to the Current in redacted form, they said seven of the building’s 40 rooms had no heat and that some had gone without for roughly six years; that windows had been painted shut and broken ones left unreplaced for more than three years; and that rent increases varied between comparable rooms.

They wrote that they had been told BG Wealth Properties would not pay for repairs.

The city clerk forwarded the letter to by-law enforcement, noting that many of the concerns were landlord and tenant matters by-law enforcement could not address.

The letter is dated October 19, 2023. The period covered by the fraud allegation begins the following month.

The companies that held the buildings

None of them is named in the OSC case.

Records released to the Current under a freedom of information request (1,195 pages, partly redacted) show City staff dealt with BG Wealth from 2019 to 2024 predominantly through people using bgwealthproperties.com addresses. BG Wealth Properties Inc. is one of the companies the Commission has now dropped. That correspondence stops in mid-2024; after it, staff are dealing with a receiver and lawyers.

The City’s tax collector described the structure in a November 2024 email: BG Wealth Management is an umbrella company with others underneath it, and no City tax roll is registered in that name. One of them, 10603503 Canada Inc., was solely directed by Dunkerley.

Three of those numbered companies went into receivership in November 2024 after Kindred Credit Union went to court — a proceeding separate from the Commission’s, and one that began first.

Most of the arrears have since been paid off. The 9th Street building sold in late 2024 and $126,724.67 was cleared that December.

Title to 942-944 2nd Ave. E. changed hands in December 2025 with $74,917.33 owing, and the account showed no arrears for any year before 2026 by late February.

Payments of $64,663.69 and $27,326.59 on January 8 brought the two remaining 2nd Avenue accounts to within a few hundred dollars.

What investors were promised these buildings would earn

BG Wealth’s promotional case studies, since removed from its website, claimed the company had lifted gross rental income at 950-956 2nd Ave. E. from $28,800 to $187,692 a year, and at 261-281 9th St. E. from $127,000 to $235,290.

Over the same years, City ledgers show those buildings falling steadily behind on taxes, with water bills rolled onto the tax roll and penalties compounding month after month. In 2024 the City hired a contractor to clear the yard at 950 2nd Ave. E. and billed the cost back to the tax roll.

The numbered companies that held the buildings are legally separate from BG Wealth Group Inc., the company whose finances the Commission alleges were misrepresented.

Dunkerley’s position

He has not agreed to an interview at any point in this coverage.

In February 2025, he told investors the Commission’s inquiry came from “a group of dissatisfied investors” and did not reflect wrongdoing, adding: “We remain fully committed to transparency and compliance.”

He has said BG Wealth was not required to register with the Commission because it is a real estate acquisition and management company.

In November 2024 he told the Current by email: “We stay the course and manage our business and properties, and our investors will [be] paid back their investment.”

The application and notice of hearing are posted on the Capital Markets Tribunal website under file number 2026-30. The July 24 motion is filed in the original proceeding, 2025-4.

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We asked readers earlier this week what you would most like to see the City do about household garbage being left in public spaces, and the vast majority don’t agree with a more punitive approach.

We’ve seen that approach play out in several different ways, from warning stickers for fines on public garbage bins to “bylaw blitzes” targeting specific behaviour, and now targeting individuals based on their name potentially showing up on a label in a public bin.

As Dr. Phil would say of the City’s approach: “How’s that workin’ for ya?”

The people of Owen Sound are unlikely to stop producing waste. And with a steady stream of ongoing service cuts dressed up as “efficiencies” and “service review,” it’s become increasingly difficult and expensive for people — especially many who live in apartments, with no outdoor storage space — to get rid of their trash at all.

Of the 130 poll respondents, 57% want to see public trash bins empties more often. Another 22% want to see home pickup made cheaper and easier for residents.

Just 9% think an enforcement blitz is the next best step forward, and 2% support heavier fines.

Here’s what resident Jim Hutton had to say about the situation.

Read on for news, weather, obituaries, and local events.

Miranda Miller
Editor

Public Notice

• What’s Open and Closed in Owen Sound for the Civic Holiday Weekend 2026 - City of Owen Sound

• Notice of Temporary Closure at Market Square July 31 to Aug 2 - Municipality of Meaford

Local News

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dear Editor:

I have no personal involvement in the City’s bylaw prosecution of an Owen Sound resident accused of placing household garbage in a municipal waste bin. However, as a taxpayer, I question whether continuing this case represents a fair or responsible use of municipal resources.

From the information that has become public, the City’s case appears to rely primarily on the discovery of an Amazon shipping box bearing the resident’s address. While an address label may establish where a box originated, it does not establish who placed it in the municipal bin.

It is also understood that the resident has photographs and video showing homeless individuals regularly accessing her household garbage in the past, removing returnable bottles, and using whatever containers are available—including cardboard boxes—to carry them away.

If that evidence exists, it provides a reasonable alternative explanation that deserves serious consideration.

Canadian courts have long recognized that circumstantial evidence must do more than create suspicion. In R. v. Villaroman, the Supreme Court of Canada emphasized that where circumstantial evidence supports more than one reasonable inference, the burden of proof has not been met.

Likewise, in R. v. Sault Ste-Marie (City), the Court recognized that a person should not be held liable when an event occurs through the actions of a third party beyond their knowledge or control.

Whether or not the City ultimately believes it could succeed in court is not the only question. Council and the public should also ask whether pursuing this prosecution is in the public interest.

Every bylaw prosecution consumes staff time, legal resources, and taxpayer dollars. At a time when Owen Sound faces pressing challenges—including homelessness, housing affordability, infrastructure renewal, addiction, and economic development—is this really where those limited resources should be directed?

Residents expect municipal enforcement to be guided by fairness, proportionality, and common sense. Pursuing a case based on a single piece of ambiguous evidence, while credible evidence reportedly points to a reasonable alternative explanation, risks undermining public confidence in the City’s enforcement priorities.

Sometimes the strongest demonstration of good judgment is recognizing when further prosecution serves neither justice nor the public interest. Good government is not measured by how relentlessly it enforces every bylaw, but by its ability to exercise fairness, proportionality, and sound judgment.

Residents expect their elected officials and municipal staff to distinguish between deliberate misconduct and situations where the evidence leaves room for legitimate doubt.

When a prosecution is based on ambiguous circumstantial evidence and a credible alternative explanation exists, the responsible course is not simply to press ahead because a charge has been laid — it is to ask whether continuing truly serves the interests of justice, the community, and the taxpayers who ultimately bear the cost.

In this case, withdrawing the charge would demonstrate not weakness, but wisdom.

I have written members of council requesting that the city withdraw the prosecution of this resident. Hopefully, common sense will prevail.

Jim Hutton
Owen Sound

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Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.

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Heartwood Hall, the wood-lined “treehouse in the sky” that’s become Owen Sound’s premier home for roots, folk, and blues, hosts a very different kind of roots music on Saturday, August 15, when Fin de Fiesta Flamenco brings live flamenco music and dance to its stage.

Founded in 2013 in Seville by Canadian dancer Lia Grainger and guitarist Dennis Duffin, Fin de Fiesta Flamenco has spent over a decade touring the raw, improvisational “tablao” style of flamenco across Canada and Europe.

Onstage, Grainger and Duffin are joined by acclaimed Montreal-based Spanish vocalist Alvaro Echanove. The ensemble has been celebrated by the Toronto Star, National Post, Vancouver Sun, and The Georgia Straight, which called their performances “passionate, intense, emotional.”

With its warm, all-wood room interior and community vibes, Heartwood Hall has built a reputation as the spot in town to see fabulous touring acts intimate and up close. It makes it an unusually good fit for Fin de Fiesta’s “tablao” flamenco, a style of flamenco built to be experienced in small rooms, where you can see the faces and feel the emotion of the artists.

“After more than a decade of touring, I still think the best flamenco happens in small rooms, not big theatres. Heartwood Hall is exactly that kind of room – where the audience can get close enough to feel the floor move,” says Grainger, the ensemble’s co-founder and lead dancer. “It’s going to be an intimate, thrilling evening.”

Owen Sound is the third stop on Fin de Fiesta’s six-city Ontario tour, which runs from Waterloo to Ottawa this August.

Event details:

Heartwood Hall, 939 2nd Ave E (upper floor), Owen Sound
Saturday, August 15, 2026, 8:00–10:00 p.m.
Tickets: https://heartwoodhall.ca/events/fin-de-fiesta-flamenco/

Fin de Fiesta Flamenco is a Canadian music and dance ensemble founded in 2013 in Seville, Spain, by dancer Lia Grainger and guitarist Dennis Duffin. For more than a decade, the group has toured Canada and Europe, bringing authentic tablao flamenco to North American audiences alongside Montreal-based vocalist Alvaro Echanove. All three members are internationally recognized, award-winning artists whose mandate is to make flamenco — a truly inclusive, multicultural art form — accessible to Canadians.

Submitted by Lia Grainger

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We kick things off today with the latest in the ‘Our Town’ series from David McLeish. In this column, he examines Owen Sound’s rising crime severity, and why the numbers need careful reading.

And don’t forget that yesterday, we asked readers: What would you most like to see the City of Owen Sound do about household garbage being left in public spaces? You can still weigh in here.

Read on for news and updates out of Saugeen Shores, Meaford, Owen Sound, Oxenden, Kincardine, Durham, and more.

Miranda Miller
Editor

Public Notice

• CORRECTION: The River District Member Engagement Session set for July 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the last board meeting has been rescheduled, with invites sent for August 5, 6:00 p.m. session start

• Notice of Temporary Closure at Market Square July 31 to Aug 2 - Municipality of Meaford

Local News

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Owen Sound Police have charged a 24-year-old Owen Sound man after an attempted arrest Sunday afternoon ended with a marked cruiser being struck and a pickup truck driven onto a sidewalk, according to a police release.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. Kurtis Miller faces multiple Criminal Code and Highway Traffic Act charges. Police have not said which ones, or how many.

Police described the incident as a dangerous series of events. They say officers tried to arrest Miller at about 4:50 p.m. on July 26 after finding him driving a pickup truck while allegedly breaching release conditions.

According to the release, he resisted, started the vehicle and drove off, striking a marked cruiser and coming close to hitting officers.

Police say the truck was then driven onto a sidewalk, and that several pedestrians — including a young woman and a family with a child in a stroller — moved to avoid it. No one was physically injured.

While officers searched, police say they were told the GPS ankle monitor Miller was required to wear had been deliberately removed and discarded. The truck was found abandoned a short time later.

Police say he was arrested with help from the OPP, including canine and aviation units, after allegedly attempting to break into an occupied home.

Police say Miller was on bail at the time, facing outstanding drug and weapons charges and subject to several court-ordered conditions including electronic monitoring. Those charges have also not been proven.

The release states Miller was referred to the Intensive Serious Violent Crime Bail Program because of what police describe as the serious risk he poses to the community.

Asked what the program involves, Police Chief Craig Ambrose told the Current it is an enhanced bail package prepared by police and provided to a specific Crown attorney who handles these matters.

The additional information, he said, gives the Crown a better opportunity to keep an accused in custody where the allegations are serious and the accused has a history of failing to comply with release conditions.

The name traces to an Ontario initiative announced in April 2023, when the province committed $112 million to bail compliance measures. Of that, $26 million went to establishing Intensive Serious Violent Crime Bail Teams — units of dedicated prosecutors and subject-matter experts working with police to prepare for complex bail hearings, with priority on repeat accused and those facing firearm charges. The province proposed legislation in 2025 to make the teams permanent.

A referral does not place an accused into a program or impose anything on them. It is a step taken by police to strengthen the Crown's case at a bail hearing. The decision on release rests with the court.

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In my last Our Town column, we looked at the factors that contributed to population growth in the surrounding townships fat outpacing that in the City of Owen Sound. Today, we’re exploring Owen Sound’s rising Crime Severity Index and its link to low household income.

Both individuals and communities suffer the consequences of poverty. Obviously, individuals bear the highest burden, but the circumstances in which they find themselves provoke behaviours that affect the community.

The topic of crime always solicits a broad range of opinions on social media. Some note that they are afraid to go downtown, others argue that they visit the downtown regularly and have never felt unsafe, while others point out that the perception of safety is personal, contingent upon one’s personal circumstances and history.

Regardless of one’s perspective, crime rates in Owen Sound are relevant to any discussion regarding the City’s future.

In this article, Statistics Canada’s Crime Severity Index (CSI) for Owen Sound is assessed through the lenses of time and comparable municipalities. Statistics Canada notes the Crime Severity Index (CSI), developed in 2009, “takes into account not only the change in volume of a particular crime, but also the relative seriousness of that crime in comparison to other crimes.”

In other words, the number of police-reported incidents (i.e. charges) for a given type of crime is multiplied by the crime’s weight (based on standardized information from court sentencing data over the previous five years) to give a measure that combines both the number and the severity of crimes.

For example, a murder has a weight of over 8,200, while property theft has a weight of 29. As such, the impact of one murder on the CSI is approximately 280 times greater than one property theft.

Owen Sound Current is the city’s only independent, locally owned, ad-free news source — in your inbox five days a week.

It must be stressed that interpreting crime statistics is challenging and the author is not an expert. As such, the reader is cautioned when interpreting the information provided.

The following chart illustrates the overall, Violent, and Non-violent CSIs for Owen Sound from 1998 to 2024.

As can be seen, Owen Sound’s overall CSI declined from the late 1990s until about 2005, after which it was followed by a period of relative stability — that is, until 2014, after which it increased until 2023.

Rates for all three dropped in 2024, so it will be particularly interesting to see what 2025 looks like when those numbers are released.

Violent Crime rates have fluctuated widely with peaks every several years followed by a substantial uptick after 2016.

The recent increases in the CSI have been driven largely by charges under the Criminal Code, both for violent crime and to a lesser extent non-violent crime.

Perhaps more importantly, not only has the number of charges increased from an average of 91 per year prior to 2017 to 129 per year since then, so too has the degree of violence.

Assault Level 1 (the least serious form of assault, includes pushing, slapping, punching, and face-to-face verbal threats) traditionally accounted for about 80% of all assault charges. This changed after 2015, to the point that it decreased to 58% of all assault charges in 2024.

In contrast, as can be seen in the following chart, Assault Level 2 (assault with a weapon or causing bodily harm), which previously hovered around 20% of all assault charges, increased to 39%, almost double, by 2024.

Assault Level 3 (wounding, maiming, disfiguring or endangering the life of someone) increased very slightly, from 2.3% to 2.8% of all assault charges.

In summary: the number of assault charges has increased, the proportion at Level 1 has decreased, while the proportion at Level 2 has increased.

Non-violent crime also increased after 2014, but it did not rise as sharply or by as much as violent crime. While not as low as it was in the decade from 2005 to 2015, it is currently similar to levels seen in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

In order to provide additional context, the Owen Sound CSI is compared with the average of seven other Southern Ontario municipalities — Brockton, Brockville, Cobourg, Collingwood, Orillia, South Bruce Peninsula, and Strathroy-Caradoc — as well as the CSIs for Ontario and Canada.

Owen Sound’s CSI was well below the national figure and generally similar to the other communities and Ontario from 2000 to 2014. After 2014, however, the City’s CSI is conspicuous by a startling increase relative to the other municipalities, the province, and the country. It will therefore be particularly interesting to see the indices for 2025.

As noted above, the assessment of crime statistics is complicated. Recall that the CSI is based on charges, not convictions.

Police Services report the number of incidents (i.e. an occurrence that requires follow-up action, such as a General Occurrence (GO) report). An incident does not necessarily result in a charge, but a proportion do.

In Owen Sound, the proportion of incidents that resulted in charges increased from 25% in 1998 to 47% in 2009, then fell to 30% in 2017 before increasing to 45% in 2024. Since charges affect the CSI, these changes have also contributed to the observed changes.

Furthermore, a charge does not necessarily result in a conviction. In fact, a 2024 CBC investigation revealed, “the majority of criminal cases in the province [Ontario] have ended with charges being withdrawn, stayed, dismissed or discharged before a decision at trial since 2020. In 2022-23, the latest fiscal year for which data is available, 56 per cent of criminal cases ended that way — a 14 per cent increase since 2013-14 when guilty decisions still made up most outcomes.”

Finally, even if the case proceeds to trial, the proportion of cases in Ontario that result in a conviction has dropped from 56% prior to 2014 to 42% from 2015 to 2024.

In summary, the City of Owen Sound Police Services find a crime being committed or respond to a complaint, they investigate, prepare an Occurrence Report, lay a charge, prepare a Crown Brief, and then depending upon what the prosecutor decides, either prepare for court or walk away, if the charge is dropped.

Even if the case proceeds to court, the charge could be withdrawn, stayed, dismissed or discharged, or it might proceed to trial.

This could be caused by many factors that go beyond the scope of this article.

But in short, in Ontario, the police can lay a charge only to see it dropped if the Crown determines that there is no reasonable prospect of conviction.

In 2023, a Committee comprised of Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General was tasked with examining the implications of pre-charge vs. post-charge screening and the differing Crown screening evidentiary thresholds in Canada.

This group recommended that consideration be given to “some form of Crown pre-charge screening” and that the “evidentiary threshold should consider adopting the higher “reasonable likelihood of conviction” evidentiary threshold.

The adoption of this higher threshold would enhance the administration of justice and would complement any transition to Crown pre-charge screening.” This could reduce the amount of time the police spend on cases that never go to court.

Peter Kitchen previously documented this same assertion in a 2006 Department of Justice Canada report. He observed “a strong relationship between crime and socio-economic status” in lone-parent and low-income families, which were considered “particularly vulnerable segments of the population.”

Other factors included “significantly lower levels of educational attainment, poorer quality and older housing and higher unemployment.”

It seems that Owen Sound has several of these elements in spades.

As noted previously, many of our neighbours are lone-parent and low-income families, local wages are skewed to the low end of the spectrum, and high quality, affordable, rental housing is in short supply.

The following chart illustrates the relationship between the percentage of households in low income and the Crime Severity Index (CSI) for Owen Sound relative to 12 other communities. As can be seen, communities characterized by low incomes experience higher CSIs.

To be clear, this is not to say that everyone with a low income is a criminal.

The reader is therefore cautioned against broad generalizations, as they bear no relationship to fact. Rather, one needs to recognize that those struggling to survive under very difficult conditions can find themselves in uniquely challenging situations.

Faced with the need to meet basic needs, the desperation caused by a lack of adequate housing, a precarious food supply, and little to no hope of any improvement, people can experience survival behaviour and desperate risk-taking to meet their needs.

Peter Kitchen noted that policies to ameliorate these conditions should include “social upgrading in disadvantaged communities with high rates of crime and programs should be designed to reflect the social characteristics and meet the needs of the residents living in these areas.”

The study recommended that additional policy efforts should focus on factors such as:

1. housing quality and affordability,

2. education and training,

3. youth programs and services.

Thank you to sponsors of The Owen Sound Current Writers’ Fund, who make these community contributions possible. Contributions from the community do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.

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Owen Sound council agreed Monday to give Georgian College $100,000 over four years, beginning in 2027.

The motion was not on the agenda. Mayor Ian Boddy brought it under additional business near the end of a meeting that ran to 8:53 p.m., without a staff report and without a financial impact analysis.

He asked council to waive notice first; that is, the requirement that a motion be introduced at one meeting and voted on at the next. His reason: July 27 was the last scheduled meeting before council becomes restricted under section 275 of the Municipal Act, which caps what an outgoing council can commit the next one to ($50,000) once the restricted period begins.

Council waived notice, with six in favour.

Boddy said he met the college’s president and senior staff in June. Georgian has closed two campuses and cut programs under frozen tuition, falling international enrolment and provincial underfunding, he said, and Owen Sound was spared.

He cited economic impact figures he dated to 2023, and a recent college labour market study he said he had been unable to find a copy of.

Barrie has pledged $7.5 million to its Georgian campus, Boddy said — $750,000 a year, or about $5 per resident. Matching that here would mean roughly $100,000 a year, which he said the city cannot afford. The motion works out to $25,000 a year. He called it a drop in the bucket and symbolic, and said he hoped future councils would give more.

Councillor Jon Farmer cast the only vote against. He said one municipality cannot backfill a provincial system, that $25,000 a year is less than the cost of a single employee, and that nothing in the agreement requires the college to keep operating in Owen Sound.

The city has no granting program, he said, and has told other organizations seeking money to approach community foundations. He argued for lobbying the local MPP and offering in-kind support instead.

Councillor Suneet Kukreja declared a conflict of interest as a Georgian College employee.

Councillor Marion Koepke asked how the pledge differed from money council has given the hospital. Boddy said $250,000 a year for three years toward an MRI. Staff recalled $50,000 over two years. A third figure, $25,000, came from the floor. Council voted without settling it.

The motion carried.

The wording read aloud — $100,000 payable in instalments over the next four years — could be read as $100,000 annually, though Farmer's reference to $25,000 a year indicates council took it as the total.

And whether council will in fact be restricted under section 275 depends on nominations, which close August 21. The restriction applies only if fewer than three-quarters of members return.

Boddy is not seeking re-election.

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Owen Sound council approved up to $30,000 in city grants toward Safe ‘N Sound’s new emergency shelter Monday, and agreed to write a letter supporting the organization’s bid for provincial money to restart its Neighbourhood Response Team.

Neither decision came out of the two deputations Executive Director Annette Pedlar delivered that evening. The grant approval came later in the meeting, when council adopted the recommendations of its Community Services Committee.

Three grants, a $13,000 budget and a $17,000 reserve draw

A report from the city's senior planner asked council to approve three grants under the city's 2020 Community Improvement Plan for 612 2nd Avenue East, the former daycare Safe 'N Sound is converting into a 24-bed shelter.

Each grant covers 50% of eligible costs to a maximum of $10,000 — a Vacant Building Conversion and Expansion Grant, an Accessibility Improvement Grant and a Landscaping and Property Improvement Grant.

The city’s 2026 Community Improvement Plan budget has $13,000 remaining. To fund all three at their maximum, the report directs staff to draw $17,000 from the program’s reserve fund. It also directs a further $25,000 draw from that reserve to cover applications the city may receive between August and December.

The money is not paid out yet. Council directed staff to bring forward a by-law authorizing a Financial Incentive Program Agreement with the property owner, and the senior planner told the Community Services Committee that funds are not issued until the work is complete and proceeds according to the plans filed with the city.

The senior planner also told the committee the accessibility work proposed goes beyond what the building code requires for the change of use.

The committee carried the recommendation July 22 after questions to the senior planner on zoning, the scope of the accessibility work and the conditions of payment. Council adopted it as part of the committee minutes.

What the outreach pilot cost, and what council agreed to send

Pedlar’s first deputation reported on the Neighbourhood Response Team, a four-worker street outreach pilot that ran in the River District from November 1 to the end of March.

Her presentation puts the pilot’s cost at $152,000 in flow-through funding, and the cost of running the program for a full year at $285,000 — $225,000 for frontline staff, $35,000 for supervision and $25,000 for expenses including bike maintenance and warmth supplies.

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The team logged 1,639 interactions and 2,226 individual supports over the pilot, according to the deputation materials. Those included 495 supports to River District businesses, 326 street outreach contacts, 191 instances of winter gear and 111 agency liaisons.

Pedlar told council the ask was a letter of support for an Ontario Trillium Foundation application, not city funding. She said she would seek the same from Grey County, and that if the Trillium bid failed she might return to council.

Councillor Carol Merton moved that staff write the letter.

Deputy Mayor Scott Greig spoke against it. He said residents have raised the idea of a moratorium on downtown service provision, and that expanding services risks drawing people from outside the community. He also said the claim that the team reduced police call volume needs to be substantiated with data.

Councillor Jon Farmer asked how the Neighbourhood Response Team differs from the Supportive Outreach Service run through the United Way. The chair declined to take the question, citing the length of the agenda.

The motion carried. The mayor counted seven votes in favour. It was not a recorded vote. Brock Hamley declared a pecuniary interest arising from employment with the Government of Ontario and did not participate.

24 beds, rising demand and pressure over neighbourhood consultation

Pedlar’s second deputation covered the facility at 612 2nd Avenue East: 24 beds in a dormitory layout, plus space for five more people to remain awake, open 10 p.m. to 9 a.m., 365 nights a year. A basement room will hold desks for partner agencies, including the hospital’s Assertive Community Treatment team, CMHA and M’Wikwedong’s housing program.

Overnight demand has risen sharply. Pedlar’s figures show average nightly stays climbing from a peak of 24 in the 2024 season to 48 last March. Total stays across the period reported were 6,060.

Indigenous people make up roughly 2.4% of the local population but accounted for 1,666 nights — 27% of the total, which Pedlar described as being more than 11 times more likely to need the service.

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Safe ‘N Sound has been admitting people under 18 overnight. Pedlar said a rule barring under-18s after 10 p.m. was reversed within two nights after a young person came to serious harm downtown. She told council the new facility will not accept minors, and that Bruce Grey Child and Family Services has been informed it must pay for motel rooms instead.

Asked what happens when demand exceeds 24 beds, Pedlar said people will be turned away, and that housing people is the county’s responsibility rather than Safe ‘N Sound’s.

Councillors pressed her on neighbourhood consultation. One noted that Safe ‘N Sound told a Grey County committee in May that surrounding neighbours had been consulted, and said a neighbouring resident and business owner emailed him June 15 with strong concerns. He asked what accountability the organization would accept.

Pedlar said the organization has met with immediate neighbours, is forming a neighbourhood committee and will hold two work bees, an open house and a grand opening. She said Safe ‘N Sound lost its communications manager in January for lack of funding. She also said the only death threats she has received in the job have come from community members, not participants.

No public meeting was required for the conversion because the zoning did not change. Safe ‘N Sound has received its building permit.

A licensing by-law in the fall, and a lease already granted

The city is developing regulations that could affect the shelter. City Manager Tim Simmonds told council staff are not proposing a standalone emergency care by-law, but are looking at revisions to the business licensing by-law that could include emergency care provisions.

Staff will consult Owen Sound Police Service, Safe ‘N Sound, the United Way and the county over the coming months and report back in the fall.

Council also approved a request to lease city land west of 612 2nd Avenue East at its July 13 meeting, as part of the consent agenda. The report, from the director of community services, was not discussed.

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We open today with a letter to the editor, followed by a community poll.

Opinion

This letter was written in response to news released yesterday after our daily went out. If you haven’t yet seen that piece, you’ll find it under Local News and can come on back here to read Sasha Fernando’s response.

Poll

Of course, your answer might be ‘none of the above’ or a combination of these, in which case we invite subscribers to share your thoughts in the comments.

Miranda Miller
Editor

Public Notice

• CORRECTION: The River District Member Engagement Session set for July 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the last board meeting has been rescheduled, with invites sent for August 5, 6:00 p.m. session start

• Temporary Road Closures in River District for Cross-Street Banner Removal on July 28 - City of Owen Sound

• Notice of Temporary Closure at Market Square July 31 to Aug 2 - Municipality of Meaford

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

“This is ridiculous.” In this case, it really is.

Whether Sherry, the nursing student facing a bylaw charge the City is taking all the way to trial, is ultimately found guilty or not is for the court to decide.

But taxpayers should be continuing to ask questions. Why has a teenie-tiny, itsy-bitsy single cardboard box escalated into a full court trial?

Every hour spent by by-law officers, prosecutors, court staff, and judges is funded by taxpayers. Is this really the best use of those resources when our community faces more pressing challenges?

Sherry is representing herself because there is no duty counsel for provincial offences and Legal Aid does not cover matters like this. The City is represented by paid professionals. She is not. Regardless of the outcome, that imbalance, and the burden of preparing a defence while completing nursing school, should give pause.

Can no one just cut her some slack? She is a student!

Good government requires good judgment.

Just because enforcement is possible does not mean prosecution is always the right choice. Every day, officials exercise discretion. Police do not issue a ticket for every rolling stop. By law officers do not prosecute every overgrown lawn.

The public expects common sense, fairness, and proportionality.

Meanwhile, there are larger issues demanding attention. Public garbage downtown? Litter remains a frequent complaint, and residents continue to raise concerns about the City’s overall approach to waste management. Rather than investing time and money prosecuting a cardboard box, perhaps those resources would be better spent addressing the problems that affect the community every day.

I have personally observed what appeared to be City staff dumping personal garbage into public bins. If I had known this case was coming, I would have documented it. If that practice is permitted, residents deserve to know the policy. If it is not, then the rules should apply equally to everyone.

Whatever the court ultimately decides, this case is obviously more than just a cardboard box.

It is about proportionality, discretion, and whether our municipal government is using its authority and tax dollars with common sense.

Again, to reiterate what Sherry said… “This is ridiculous.”

Sincerely,

Sasha Fernando
Owen Sound

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Letters to the Editor do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.

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The Bruce County Museum & Cultural Centre will run a free 10-week creative arts workshop for adults 55 and older this fall, ending in a public performance of work the participants create themselves.

The program, called “I’m Not Done Yet!”, meets once a week for hands-on work in storytelling, theatre and music. Joan Chandler leads the acting, theatre and improvisation components and david sereda leads singing and songwriting, both with Sheatre, a community-engaged arts company based in Grey-Bruce. Guest artists will also take part.

Participants will collaborate on original scenes and songs over the course of the series and present them at the end.

“These workshops are open to anyone over the age of 55 who wants to try something creative,” sereda said. “Perhaps you’ve always wanted to sing or try acting — we believe you are never too old to try something new and have fun doing it! Why should kids have all the fun?”

Museum director Cathy McGirr described the program as an opportunity to explore creativity while connecting with others in the community.

There is no cost to participate and a light lunch is served each week. Space is limited and the museum is asking those interested to pre-register.

The closing presentation runs November 24, 2026, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Bruce Power Theatre. It is free and open to the public, with light refreshments, though the museum asks attendees to register in advance.

The museum has not announced a start date for the workshop. Registration and further details are available at brucemuseum.ca or by calling 519-797-2080.

The project is funded in part through the federal New Horizons for Seniors Program, which supports community projects aimed at seniors’ social inclusion. The museum did not disclose the amount of the grant.

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Grey Bruce Public Health has joined public health units across southwestern Ontario in calling on the provincial government to raise social assistance rates, saying inadequate income is the root cause of household food insecurity in the region.

The statement, issued July 27, cites Public Health Ontario data showing that one in four households in southwestern Ontario experienced household food insecurity in 2024, meaning they lacked reliable access to enough food because of financial constraints.

Rising housing and living costs are pushing households to choose between rent and groceries, the units say.

The units’ central figure concerns a single adult receiving Ontario Works. Comparing 2024 local food and rent costs against that income, they report a monthly deficit of between $301 and $859 depending on the community — the amount by which income falls short of covering food and shelter alone, before transportation, utilities, child care, clothing or medication.

The range draws on 2024 food costing reports from seven health units, including Grey Bruce Public Health. Many households with low and modest incomes face the same squeeze, the units say, with little left after rent and other essential costs.

The statement puts forward three measures: increasing social assistance rates, including Ontario Works; improving income supports for low- and modest-income households; and policies that reduce the cost of housing and essential living expenses.

It points to a resolution passed in June 2026 by the Association of Local Public Health Agencies, which recommends the province enhance the Ontario Works benefit — for example, by raising the amount of employment earnings an Ontario Works recipient may keep before benefits are reduced, to match the higher exemption available under the Ontario Disability Support Program.

“In Grey-Bruce and beyond, some households are forced to choose between food costs and meeting their other basic needs. This can negatively impact health,” Dr. Brittany Graham, acting medical officer of health for Grey Bruce Public Health, said in the statement. “Income-based solutions that address household food insecurity also support health and well-being.”

The units link food insecurity to poorer physical and mental health, higher chronic disease risk and added pressure on the health-care system. Among children and youth, they say it affects concentration, memory, mood and motor skills, making school harder.

Dr. Mehdi Aloosh, medical officer of health for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, put the framing more bluntly. “Food insecurity is not about budgeting or food skills, it’s about income,” he said in the statement. “When people don’t have enough money, they cannot meet their basic needs, which directly impacts their health and well-being.”

The statement asks residents to raise income-based solutions with local elected officials and to support community organizations through volunteering or donations — while stating that food programs alone cannot solve the problem. That is a pointed line in a region where food bank demand is the most visible measure of the issue and the most common local response to it.

The units say addressing household food insecurity requires coordinated action at the municipal, provincial and federal levels.

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A Georgian College nursing student charged under Owen Sound’s Waste Management By-law will go to trial after the City’s representative told provincial offences court on Monday that the matter could not be resolved.

Sherry, whom the Owen Sound Current is identifying only by her first name, said she left the courtroom disappointed, having hoped the appearance would end the matter.

But the charge was not withdrawn.

“Disclosure is complete, we have not been able to resolve this matter,” Valerie Hawkes, appearing for the City, told the court at the 10 a.m. appearance. “We are prepared to send this matter to trial.”

Asked by the justice of the peace whether she would like to call any witnesses at trial, Sherry named the by-law enforcement officer. She was told the prosecution was already calling him. She had no one else.

Neither, on the record disclosed to her, does the City. The disclosure package the Current has reviewed lists no witness beyond that officer, contains no photographic or video evidence of how the box got to the public trash bin, and gives no indication that anyone was spoken to as part of the investigation.

The City’s case rests on the parcel’s shipping label.

Sherry said she had spent hours preparing a written response to the charge. Monday’s appearance ran to set a trial date, and offered no opportunity to present it.

The student told the Current she had arrived early and was surprised to learn there is no duty counsel to assist people in provincial offences court.

She was not able to get assistance through Legal Aid Ontario, either. Provincial offences fall outside the areas of law it is set up to fund, and outside the trigger that unlocks a certificate.

“I think it’s important for people to know, if the city summons you, you are quite literally on your own against them,” Sherry said.

She was charged in May under section 10.5.1 of the Waste Management By-law after a by-law enforcement officer found an Amazon parcel bearing her name inside a public garbage receptacle several blocks from her home.

She says she did not put it there, that it was taken from outside her home, and that no one from the City contacted her before the summons arrived.

Sherry told the Current she expected the charge to be dropped once she explained she had not put the box there; that it was a simple mistake, easily corrected. She said she contacted members of council, the mayor and the city manager. Each told her they could not do anything about the charge.

A June 11 early resolution offer from the prosecutor gave her two options: plead guilty and pay a $500 fine plus costs, or go to trial, where on conviction the prosecution would seek the $1,000 set fine plus costs.

An early resolution meeting took place by telephone June 25. In a July 13 follow-up email, the prosecution said it would reconsider if Sherry produced photo or video of the waste in question being removed.

Sherry has provided the Current two videos: a hooded figure rummaging through her recycling at the front of her property, and two people walking away from her home carrying what appear to be bags of scavenged recyclables.

Both are from early June — what she was still able to retrieve once she learned there was a charge.

She said that people rifling through the garbage and recycling bins outside her apartment building has been an ongoing issue. Her landlord recently installed a small shed to store materials until pickup day, but it has not deterred all scavenging activity. Further, the cameras are not trained directly on the waste storage.

“My landlord has already spent so much time going through the cameras,” Sherry told the Current. “The parcel was taken from the back of the house… Our back cameras face the parking lot, and the front camera faces the door.”

That means neither video shows the parcel at issue, which the officer found in May, leaving her property.

The prosecution’s condition requires footage of the specific box they found in a public waste bin being removed.

City Manager Tim Simmonds told the Current it may not matter whether Sherry put the box there herself or not.

He said the bylaw “may apply in circumstances where a person did not personally deposit the waste,” and that responsibility for the storage, placement and disposal of waste “rests with the individual who generated or controlled the waste.”

He declined to say whether a name on an item inside a public bin is enough on its own to support a charge.

The officer proceeded by Part III summons, which compels a court appearance, rather than by Part I ticket. Section 10.5.1 has an approved set fine, and at trial the prosecution seeks the same $1,000 amount a ticket would carry. Simmonds confirmed the City has no policy governing which route an officer takes.

Council enacted the by-law. A City by-law enforcement officer laid the charge. The prosecution is run by SV Paralegal Professional Corporation, a firm the City pays hourly with no formal agreement and no competitive procurement. Both Simmonds and Mayor Ian Boddy have said the matter rests with the prosecutor.

The trial is now set for August 31, where Sherry intends to represent herself. She will have the opportunity to cross-examine the by-law enforcement officer who laid the charge.

“I’m just so glad school is over by then,” she said after learning she’ll need to appear in court again, noting that she had to miss class to attend the approximately two-minute hearing on Monday.

Sherry also expressed frustration that it seems everyone else involved in the charge and proceedings was being paid for their time while the paperwork and court appearances have become a burden on top of her course load.

“I am so upset,” she said just after court, adding, “This is ridiculous.”

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Welcome back, Readers.

A quick look ahead at what we’re working on this week: the Ontario Securities Commission has announced the allegations stemming from its investigation into Craig Dunkerley and BG Wealth Group, and we’ve received at least a partial disclosure of records from the City in response to our third FOI request involving the company’s dealings in Owen Sound.

The college student accused of improperly disposing of an Amazon box in a City garbage bin is in court this morning.

Owen Sound has a regular council meeting, a public meeting on a rezoning application, and the River District Member Engagement Session for businesses and property owners all happening this week. Municipal councils are meeting in Northern Bruce Peninsula and Meaford, as well.

Before we get to the news, two contributions for you:

Community Column

Opinion

Keep reading for news and updates out of Owen Sound, West Grey, Meaford, Kincardine, Tiverton, Southampton, Blue Mountain Village and more.

Miranda Miller
Editor

P.S. What’s happening in your service club, sports team, or other community organization? Send us your photos and reports — email is best, owensoundcurrenteditor@gmail.com

Public Notice

• Grey Road 14 between Southgate Road 8 and Southgate Sideroad 3 will be closed for paving starting Monday July 27/26 through to Wednesday July 29/26 - Grey County

• Secure Your 2026 Salmon Spectacular Camping and Boating Permits Now - City of Owen Sound

• Notice of Temporary Closure at Market Square July 31 to Aug 2 - Municipality of Meaford

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COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTION

Continuing on with our theme of garden safety, let me share with you how I gardened too hard and wound up at the Doctor’s office…

When we do any task that requires the same motion repeatedly, we become at risk of repetitive strain injuries, which is when the body is strained by a motion and does not have sufficient time to recover.

Pulling a weed is usually done with gripping and twisting. It doesn’t hurt to do this a few times, but if you do this thousands of times per day, the result is pain and inflammation. The same goes for things like squeezing pruning shears or holding hedge trimmers.

I used to be a gardening weekend warrior. I had a desk job during the week and then tried to cram all my gardening into big chunks of time on the weekend.

After one particularly intense pruning session, my entire forearm swelled and I could barely use my hand. If I bent my wrist, I could hear an audible squishy-grinding sound in my forearm.

Alarmed, I took myself to the Doctor and was diagnosed with tendinitis. It took several weeks of strict rest and anti-inflammatories to get that under control.

Now that I garden professionally, it is critical to my business that I don’t injure myself, so I employ a few different strategies.

Change it up

Each garden task requires a different type of motion. We can take advantage of this by moving between them to engage different parts of the body.

If you have been weeding for a while, switch to some edging, or move on to some watering. If you notice strain or fatigue in one part of your body, that’s your clue to give it a rest.

Learn to be ambidextrous

I used to be a one-handed weeder and pruned everything with my dominant hand. It’s how I ran into trouble with repeated injuries on the same side of my body.

Learning to do tasks with both hands is especially helpful because they share the load. It’s also great for your brain to make some new connections, even if it feels awkward at first.

Let your tools do the work

Sharp tools pass more easily through plants and soil than dull ones, transmitting less of the force to your body. Keeping your tools sharp is also good practice for reducing damage to plants during cutting.

In dense soils, it can sometimes be easier to use a rocking movement with a shovel or edge rather than trying to stomp your way through.

Look for ergonomic tools

Acquiring geared loppers was a game changer for me! The gearing system allows me to cleanly cut much larger limbs with much less effort.

A variety of modified tools exist with features such as longer handles for less bending, special handle shapes for improved leverage, or spring-loaded to help with grip strength.

I encourage you to skip learning about repetitive strain injury the hard way.

Some soreness following movement can be a normal part of the recovery process but experiencing pain while doing an activity is a great big red flag that you shouldn’t ignore.

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Thank you to sponsors of The Owen Sound Current Writers’ Fund, who make these community contributions possible. Contributions from the community do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of The Owen Sound Current and its editor or publisher.

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