Yearly Archives: 2012

(Niagara at large is pleased to post the following media release from the Niagara Parks Commission on this site. It highlights one of the Ontario-based Park Commission’s great annual events – coming to you in January when you might think there aren’t many fun things to do in the Parks. )

 Send your Christmas Tree to the Curb and Give Back to the Environment

 Niagara Falls, ON– What do you do with your Christmas tree once Christmas and New Year’s have passed? Come to the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture on Sunday, January 15 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the annual Project Tree Cycle event.

Get out of the January cold at Niagara Park's Butterfly Conservancy. Photo courtesy of Niagara Parks Commission.

 The Niagara Parks Commission (NPC) invites you to bring your own bag and shovel to collect FREE wood chips recycled from discarded Christmas trees. Christmas trees will be collected on Saturday, January 14 through the Regional Waste Program and NPC staff will mulch the trees on Sunday, January 15. The wood chip mulch will be available in the north end of the parking lot directly in front of the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens and School of Horticulture. Continue reading →

By Mark Taliano

In a world dominated by hollowed-out newspapers, vacuous television, and political campaigns obsessed with sound-bites and banalities, it’s always refreshing to dig deeper and expand the public discourse. 

Entering the Wahgoshig First Nations reservation. Is this another country or is it Canada? Photo courtesy of Mark Taliano.

 This is what John Ralston Saul does in A Fair Country Telling Truths About Canada.  Interestingly, his message resonates with today’s grassroots citizens’ movements (i.e the world-wide Occupy Movement). The underlying message is that if we, as Canadians, find the confidence to be true to ourselves, and to understand who we are, we will be empowered to the benefit of ourselves and the world.  Continue reading →