Tag Archives: Kenora

OPP Confirm Body Found In Kenora Is Missing Teen Delaine Copenace

The remains of Delaine Copenace, 16, were found by City of Kenora employees shortly after ‎8 a.m. Tuesday at the end of Water Street, Ontario Provincial Police say. (Facebook)

By Red Power Media, Staff

Body of Delaine Copenace found, OPP confirm

A body found Tuesday morning has been identified as 16-year-old Delaine Copenace, missing since late February.

City of Kenora employees, discovered human remains shortly after 8 a.m. in the Lake of the Woods area at the end of Water Street.

Kenora Daily Miner and News reports, Police restricted access to the waterfront area while the OPP North West Region Crime Unit and the OPP Forensic Identification Services Unit investigated the scene.

Onlookers gather on Water Street as Kenora detachment OPP investigate a report of human remains located in Lake of the Woods, Tuesday morning, March 22. REG CLAYTON/Miner and News

The Ontario Provincial Police confirmed the body was Copenace.

Tbnewswatch reports, the identity of the body was released to the media in the early afternoon.

Police in Ontario have released little information and the cause of death has not been disclosed.

Copenace’s body is being sent to Toronto where the Office of the Chief Coroner and Forensic Pathology Services will conduct an examination.

The investigation, which is being conducted by the OPP’s criminal investigations branch and forensic identification services unit, is ongoing.

Delaine Copenace Search: Volunteers Step Up After Police Suspend Search

‘We need the help, we need the people out there looking,’ says volunteer search coordinator Amanda Freeman. (Martine Laberge/Radio-Canada)

CBC News Posted: Mar 15, 2016

‘When your heart is in it, you’re going to give it your all,’ volunteer coordinator says

Volunteers in Kenora, Ont. continue their efforts to find missing teen Delaine Copenace after provincial police suspended their ground and underwater search on Monday.

Copenace, 16, was last seen in downtown Kenora on Feb. 27.

Dozens of volunteers continue to fan out across city and beyond, looking for the teen, said search coordinator Amanda Freeman, adding she was surprised to hear on social media about the change by police.

“It bothered me,” she said. “I’ve been sitting here really, really frustrated for the last little bit since I found out and I want to know what their next steps are.”

Police said they have thoroughly searched the downtown area and will continue to canvass residences and solicit tips from the public.

Freeman said more volunteers are needed now that the police are less involved in the search.

“We need the help, we need the people out there looking, sweeping areas with us,” she said.

The group has been active for 15 days now, Freeman said and morale remains high even as fatigue sets in.

“It’s definitely hard,” she said. “But when your heart is in it, you’re going to give it your all.”

(Canadian Centre for Child Protection)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/delaine-copenace-volunteers-police-search-1.3491212

Search For Kenora Girl Expands To Winnipeg With Help From Bear Clan

Winnipeg’s Bear Clan Patrol put up posters in the North End on Thursday night. The missing 16-year-old lived in Kenora but was known to visit friends and family in Winnipeg. (CBC/Justin Fraser)

By Laura Glowacki, CBC News Posted: Mar 03, 2016

Delaine Copenace, 16, was last seen on Saturday around 6 p.m. in Kenora

The search for missing Kenora teenager, Delaine Copenace, has expanded to Winnipeg.

The 16-year-old was last seen Saturday around 6 p.m. in downtown Kenora. Since the weekend, the search for Copenace had concentrated in the small Ontario city and outlying areas, including Lake of the Woods.

On Thursday evening members of the Bear Clan Patrol brought the search to Winnipeg after being approached by Copenace’s cousin Anthony Copenace and friend Aaron Paul on Facebook.

Bear Clan out searching for missing 16 year old Delaine Copenace. She is from Kenora but has family in Winnipeg. pic.twitter.com/A18Z6PODWY

— Caroline Barghout (@cbarghout) March 4, 2016

“I knew the best plan of action was to reach out to Bear Clan,” said Paul.

The Copenace family are very concerned for her wellbeing, said Paul. The teen has never gone missing before and has never run away. Her mother, Anida Fisher, describes Copenace as a “homebody.”

“She’s more reserved … more of a quieter, gentler soul,” said cousin Anthony Copenace, who lives in Winnipeg and helped with the search on Friday.

Delaine Copenace’s cousin Anthony Copenace said it’s very unusual for her to go missing. He described the Kenora 16-year-old as quiet and gentle. (CBC/Justin Fraser)

Bear Clan volunteers focused the search in Winnipeg’s North End near Selkirk Avenue, an area Copenace was known to visit when she was in town.

Organizer Justin Brown said everyone has a responsibility to keep an eye out when a young person is missing.

“I think the community effort is very important,” he said. “The effort for example that we made with Cooper [Nemeth] was incredible.”

First Nations communities have raised $8,000 for anyone with information about Copenace’s whereabouts.

Copenace is described by Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) as having a larger build, with brown eyes and long black hair. She was last seen wearing black boots, a black jacket, a “Bullet for my Valentine” T-shirt and black jeans with zippered pockets.

Police are asking anyone with information to call Kenora OPP at 1-888-310-1122.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/search-for-kenora-girl-expands-to-winnipeg-with-help-from-bear-clan-1.3475571

Grassy Narrows First Nation holds logging protest in Kenora

Youth leaders from Grassy Narrows First Nation opposed to clear cut logging rally inside the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry offices in Kenora on Monday. (Alex Hundert/Twitter)

CBC News Posted: Mar 16, 2015

Ontario government has cleared the way for logging to resume near Grassy Narrows First Nation

Members of Grassy Narrows First Nation will be in Kenora, Ont., today to take part in a protest rally being held to show the First Nations continuing opposition to logging in the Whiskey Jack Forest.

Grassy Narrows spokesperson Randy Fobister said the protest will be will be a peaceful one.

“It’s pretty much a rally,” he said.

“We are going to have vehicles and, in each location we are going to walk on the side of the road, back and forth. And there is going to be a drum,” Fobister said. “There is going to be some people speaking. And I will speak as well too.”

About 50 people are expected at the rally.

Fobister said they’ll be making stops at both Kenora Forest Products and the local Ministry of Natural Resources office.

Despite opposition from Grassy Narrows First Nation, Ontario’s 10-year Forest Management Plan for the area includes clear cutting on the community’s traditional territory.

Grassy Narrows has been opposing the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s plans for logging since before the current Forestry Management Plan was initiated, according to a news release from the First Nation.

Youth ‘standing up for the land’

In March of last year, the Grassy Narrows’ youth group released a statement rejecting the plan, as did the community’s chief and council.

“The trees, like the water, are sacred,” stated Brenda Kokokopenace, an Anishinabe Elder from Grassy Narrows. “We have a duty to protect Mother Earth, and that duty is sacred, too. It is good to see the youth standing up for the land. It shows they know who they are and that they can wake up the people who have lost that connection.”

Many of the placards displayed by youth and community members at today’s rallies are expected to display the familiar slogan, “No Logging, No Mercury.

This, according to the release, is a reference to Grassy Narrows’ parallel struggle against mercury poisoning caused by the logging industry, as well as to the connection between clearcut logging and increased mercury content in the water.