Sarnia news

• Costs mounting for Pat Stapleton Arena repairs

  10-04-2025 23:05 via theobserver.ca
  
  Sarnia has a decision to make when it comes to its oldest arena. After an 18-month review, city officials recently estimated it’ll cost about $10 million to fix failing walls, the roof, boiler, electrical, and chiller systems, and the crumbling concrete underneath the ice at Pat Stapleton Arena. Sarnia fixed leaks in a north wall last year, and made emergency repairs to the chiller and electrical, said facilities manager Tom Burnard. “Any critical items that come up we are repairing
  
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• Sunset gathering planned in Point Edward Saturday

  15-07-2026 21:20 via theobserver.ca
  
  Tanya Tamilio is hoping for clear skies around sunset Saturday, and for hundreds to join her under the Blue Water Bridge to witness the day’s end.The centre communautaire Francophone de Sarnia-Lambton board chair recently signed Point Edward up for The Great Canadian Sunset Moment, a part of the national Everyone Outdoors Together initiative through the non-profit Canadian Parks and Recreation Association, encouraging communities to gather, connect, and enjoy nature.Hopes are more than 40
  
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• Pipeline talks have begun with Sarnia First Nation: Ontario energy minister

  15-07-2026 19:52 via theobserver.ca
  
  Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s minister of energy and mines, says he has spoken with the chief of Aamjiwnaang First Nation about a proposal to build a new 3,300-kilometre oil pipeline from Alberta to Sarnia.Lecce spoke Wednesday morning in Sarnia about the proposed Northern Shield Energy Corridor pipeline , unveiled last week by the premiers of Ontario and Alberta.Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey told those gathered at Kel-Gor, an industrial contractor in Sarnia, that Lecce had spoken earlier with
  
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• MTO study won't hold up Wellington Street extension work in Sarnia: city GM

  15-07-2026 19:27 via theobserver.ca
  
  Construction can start on Sarnia’s Wellington Street extension project while a provincially required traffic study for the city’s Development Area 2 proceeds.“The MTO has allowed the construction to move ahead while that study is completed,” said city engineering and operations general manager David Jackson.“We can’t open the road until the study is completed,” but both the $9.42-million road extension, and the study, that could cost Sarnia $300,000, ar
  
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• Sarnia to consider $1.45 million green bins contract

  14-07-2026 22:03 via theobserver.ca
  
  The bids are in to outfit Sarnia with green bins for organic waste collection.Sarnia city council decides Monday whether to approve IPL North America Inc.’s $1.45 million low bid to provide 120 litre curbside and seven litre indoor containers to residential properties in the city.The price is for about 25,000 bins, said city operations and engineering general manager David Jackson, noting they’ll likely arrive next March, with collection starting in April.“We’ll finalize
  
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• Sarnia to consider $1.45-million green bins contract

  14-07-2026 22:03 via theobserver.ca
  
  The bids are in to outfit Sarnia with green bins for organic waste collection.Sarnia city council decides Monday whether to approve IPL North America Inc.’s $1.45-million low bid to provide 120-litre curbside and seven-litre indoor containers to residential properties in the city.The price is for about 25,000 bins, said city operations and engineering general manager David Jackson, noting they’ll likely arrive next March, with collection starting in April.“We’ll finalize
  
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• Industrial development eyed with St. Clair Township wastewater plant upgrade

  14-07-2026 21:14 via theobserver.ca
  
  Wastewater infrastructure in St. Clair Township is getting a nearly $50-million upgrade, which could mean more investment and jobs in the border community south of Sarnia.“What we have is a series of industrial customers who are interested in coming to the area,” said public works director Brian Black.There’s been battery plant, data centre, and natural-gas power plant interest, but no building, he said, because “we just simply didn’t have the wastewater capacity t
  
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• Top Ontario court rejects Sarnia man’s appeal

  14-07-2026 20:33 via theobserver.ca
  
  Ontario’s top court has rejected a Sarnia man’s appeal.In a recently released decision, a three-judge panel from the province’s Appeal Court dismissed the man’s attempt to have part of his sentence changed.The man was sentenced last year in a Sarnia courtroom by Justice Mark Poland to a year and three months in jail for assault, uttering death threats, and theft. He was also sentenced to three years probation.“His primary concern is with restrictive probationary te
  
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• Road construction, detours, prompt heavy truck restrictions in Warwick

  13-07-2026 22:29 via theobserver.ca
  
  Warwick Township has banned heavy trucks from some residential side streets, after roadwork was leading big rigs along potentially dangerous detours.“Some of them blowing through stop signs,” said Mayor Todd Case.The recent parking bylaw update prohibits heavy-truck traffic where signs are posted.The move follows the start of construction projects along Churchill Line, and at the busy intersection of Nauvoo Road and Confederation Line in late June, said township chief administrator
  
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• Black Gold Fest happening Saturday at Oil Springs museum

  13-07-2026 21:37 via theobserver.ca
  
  Black Gold Fest, featuring free admission to Canada’s national oil museum, along with live music, and historical demonstrations, is back Saturday.The annual showcase of local oil history at the National Historic Site – home to the first commercial oil well in North America in the mid-1800s and where oil continues to be pumped from the ground today – first started in 2012.This year’s includes the return of hands-on activities and demonstrations like rope making, blacksmit
  
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• Sarnia painter addresses situation in Gaza in show at Lawrence House

  12-07-2026 21:27 via theobserver.ca
  
  Painter Rabia Rizvi says she wants her show at Sarnia’s Lawrence House Centre for the Arts to inspire others to research what’s happening in Gaza and speak out.Her solo exhibition at the downtown arts centre, We Bear Witness 2, runs through July 31.“It’s a social political show,” based on what is happening in Gaza, Palestine, Rizvi said.In 2023, Hamas killed some 1,200 people in Israel, and took another 250 hostage, including several Canadian citizens, and since th
  
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• Sarnia painter addresses Gaza in Lawrence House show

  12-07-2026 21:27 via theobserver.ca
  
  Painter Rabia Rizvi says she wants her show at Sarnia’s Lawrence House Centre for the Arts to inspire others to research what’s happening in Gaza and speak out.Her solo exhibition, We Bear Witness 2, runs at the downtown arts centre through July 31.“It’s a social political show,” based on what is happening to Palestinians in in Gaza, Rizvi said.TheIsrael-Hamas war between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an
  
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• 'More tools in the toolbox': Area fire, towing crews train together in Sarnia

  12-07-2026 15:26 via theobserver.ca
  
  Accident scenes were set up in the parking lot at Sarnia’s Preferred Towing in Sarnia Saturday so Southwestern Ontario firefighters could practise their skills alongside tow truck operators.The training session saw firefighters rotate through four scenarios involving freeing mannequins from transport truck crashes, with help from Preferred Towing and Woodstock Tire Service towing crews.“It gives the fire departments a chance to see a lot more tools in the toolbox . . . (and) how we
  
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• Firefighters and towing crews train together in Sarnia

  12-07-2026 15:26 via theobserver.ca
  
  Accident scenes were set up Saturday around the parking lot at Preferred Towing in Sarnia so firefighters from around southwestern Ontario could practiced their skills alongside tow truck operators.The training session had firefighters moving between four scenarios involving freeing mannequins from crashes involving transport trucks, with the help of crews from Preferred Towing and Woodstock Tire Service.“It gives the fire departments a chance to see a lot more tools in the toolbox”
  
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• Brigden Fair board 'a bit in limbo' over 2027 International Plowing Match

  11-07-2026 21:08 via theobserver.ca
  
  The president of the Moore Agricultural Society, owners of the Brigden fairgrounds, says the fair board is waiting for clarity about the 2027 International Plowing Match and Farm Expo.“We’re a bit in limbo . . . not knowing exactly what’s going on,” John Scott, president of the Moore Agricultural Society, said Saturday.Lambton County was awarded the 2027 plowing match in April 2025 by the Ontario Plowmen’s Association with plans for the event to be held at and near
  
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• 2027 International Plowing Match: Brigden fair board 'in limbo' awaiting clarity

  11-07-2026 21:08 via theobserver.ca
  
  The president of the Moore Agricultural Society, owners of the Brigden fairgrounds, says the fair board is awaiting clarity on the 2027 International Plowing Match and Farm Expo.“We’re a bit in limbo . . . not knowing exactly what’s going on,” John Scott, president of the Moore Agricultural Society, said Saturday.Lambton County was awarded the 2027 plowing match in April 2025 by the Ontario Plowmen’s Association (OPA) with plans for the event to be held at and near
  
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• FireFit regional competition returning to Lambton College

  11-07-2026 19:07 via theobserver.ca
  
  Firefighters will again test their skills at Lambton College when the Sarnia school hosts the Western Ontario Regional FireFit Championships July 17 to 19.“This is the fourth time we’ve hosted a regional,” said Sue Patrick, co-coach with Shane Bettridge of the student FireFit team at the college’s fire school.In 2023, the college hosted the national and world championships for the competition billed as the “toughest two minutes in sports,” in which firefighte
  
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• On your mark, get set, eat: Sarnia Rotary Mackinac Race breakfast returns July 18

  11-07-2026 14:47 via theobserver.ca
  
  The Rotary Club of Sarnia is getting ready to have up to 2,000 sailboat fans over for breakfast July 18.The service’s club’s 44th annual pancake breakfast is set to run 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. that day in Point Edward’s Waterfront Park next to the Blue Water Bridge as boats in the Bayview Mackinac Race make their way from Port Huron into Lake Huron.“We’ve been doing it a long time,” said Myles Vanni, chairperson of the club’s breakfast committee.Volunteers wi
  
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• Care event for spouses of first responders offered at Lambton County respite cabin

  10-07-2026 21:04 via theobserver.ca
  
  A cabin built in Dawn-Euphemia Township to support the mental wellbeing of first responders is offering a free half-day of care for their spouses.First responder spousal support day includes a nutritional workshop, yoga, “forest bathing” and a meal during morning and afternoon sessions July 18 at Three Oaks Respite Cabin near Florence.Built by the family of Dalles Bergsma, a farmer and volunteer firefighter who died of suicide in 2020 at age 27, the cabin provides respite stays for
  
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• 'Difficult decision': Cash-strapped charity calls off Sarnia affordable housing plan

  10-07-2026 18:00 via theobserver.ca
  
  With donations down and costs rising, Sarnia’s Inn of the Good Shepherd says it can no longer afford to proceed with plans for an affordable housing project on a former church site on Exmouth Street.The board of the charity operating a soup kitchen, food bank, shelters and other programs for those struggling financially, said in a release Thursday it has made “the difficult decision” not to proceed with a plan, announced in 2024, to build an affordable housing project on the s
  
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• Crime Stoppers sign missing in Thedford: police

  10-07-2026 15:47 via theobserver.ca
  
  Somebody call Crime Stoppers: Its sign in Thedford has gone missing.Lambton OPP are asking for the public’s help investigating the theft of a sign with a value estimated at $800.The large Crime Stoppers sign, posted near Highway 79 and Arkona Road at the entrance to the Lambton Shores community, was reported stolen July 1, police said.Police ask anyone with information about the missing sign, suspicious activity in the area or who may have dash camera footage, to call them at 1-888-310-11
  
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• Sarnia-area home sales climb in June

  09-07-2026 19:58 via theobserver.ca
  
  Homes sales warmed up in June in the Sarnia-area, just as April Barnard expected.The president of the Sarnia Lambton Association of Realtors said last month local home sales cooled during the early weeks of May but were showing signs of increasing as the weather warmed as the month went along.That turned out to be the case with June’s 170 local home sales registering a five per cent jump from the same month in 2025.“I like it when I’m right,” Barnard said. “It was
  
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• Sarnia-raised hip hop artist and author named to Order of Canada

  09-07-2026 17:36 via theobserver.ca
  
  When The Amazing Race Canada asked Duane (D.O.) Gibson what his hometown is, he didn’t hesitate.“I said my hometown is Sarnia, Ont.,” Gibson said.The rapper, author and newly named member of the Order of Canada was born in Saskatchewan to a family with Cape Breton roots, grew up in Sarnia before heading to Toronto two decades ago for university and then a career as a motivational speaker and hip hop artist.“Sarnia, the community, is what made me into the person that I am
  
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• McFadyen Scholarships grow at Sarnia's Great Lakes secondary school

  09-07-2026 14:57 via theobserver.ca
  
  The number and the value of scholarships awarded this year to Great Lakes secondary school students in memory of a Sarnia judge have grown.The Anne McFadyen scholarships were established in 2025 by George McFadyen to honour his late wife who was the first woman to be president of the Lambton Law Association and was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice bench in 1998. She died in February 2024.The scholarship fund, established with the Sarnia Community Foundation, awarded five $12,000 schola
  
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• No-show trucker gets 15 years in $7.5M Sarnia drug-smuggling case

  08-07-2026 22:06 via theobserver.ca
  
  A Brampton truck driver found guilty of smuggling $7.5 million worth of drugs into Canada over the Blue Water Bridge has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.But Charanpreet Singh, 29, isn’t behind bars because he allegedly cut off his GPS tracker while out on bail and fled Canada days before he was to be sentenced at the Sarnia courthouse, sources say.Stephane Marinier, a veteran prosecutor who handled this case, said it’s uncommon for an accused person to flee the jurisdiction bef
  
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• Provincial association 'committed' to 2027 International Plowing Match in Lambton

  08-07-2026 20:12 via theobserver.ca
  
  The Ontario Plowmen’s Association (OPA) says it remains committed to holding its 2027 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo in Lambton County following the local committee’s decision to withdraw from the event.Lambton County was awarded the 2027 plowing match in April 2025 by the provincial association with plans for the event to be held at and near the Bridgen Fairgrounds, but last Friday, a local committee that has been putting plans in place and recruiting volunteers issued
  
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• Sarnia cycling programs outgrow storage shed after only three years

  07-07-2026 22:15 via theobserver.ca
  
  Cycling programs for seniors and youngsters in Sarnia have been growing quickly in recent years.That led to a recent extension of a storage shed the city built for local cycling programs three years ago next to the Strangway community centre on East Street.It stores bikes for the youth program and several “trishaws” volunteers use to take seniors for rides around the community.“Since we started the cycling-without-age program and youth program, the need has increased way more
  
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• Blue Water Bridge drug-smuggling trial: Brampton trucker will learn his fate July 30

  07-07-2026 20:27 via theobserver.ca
  
  A Brampton trucker who denied knowing there were about 300 kilograms of cocaine in his trailer when he crossed into Canada via the Blue Water Bridge will learn his fate later this month.Border officers on the Canadian side of the twin-span bridge between Michigan and the Sarnia area found 281 bricks of cocaine, which weighed 333 kilograms in the packaging, while inspecting a truck late on March 5, 2025. The drugs would’ve been worth between $5 million and $34 million, depending on how the
  
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• Fatal collision closes section of Confederation Line in Sarnia: police

  07-07-2026 18:44 via theobserver.ca
  
  One person has died and another was injured in a collision late Monday evening in Sarnia, say police.Sarnia police said officers and other emergency services were called out shortly after 11 p.m. to a report of a collision on Confederation Line between Modeland Road and Blackwell Sideroad.Police said two individuals went to hospital, and one was later pronounced dead. Police described the other individual’s injuries as life-threatening.A section of Confederation line was expected to remai
  
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• Pride in the Park set for this weekend in Sarnia

  07-07-2026 16:23 via theobserver.ca
  
  Pride in the Park returns this weekend to Sarnia’s Canatara Park.It’s the second year for the celebration in the park by Queer Joy Canada, a Sarnia-based organization founded by Jessica Baker.The event is free, including drag shows Friday and Saturday evenings at Refined Fool on London Road, Baker said. Doors open at 8 p.m. both nights.Events in Canatara Park run noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday with vendors and music, including a concert Saturday at 1:30 p.m. by Sarah Smith.&l
  
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