Whose voices are being heard at City Hall?

You’re reading the September 10, 2026 edition of the Peterborough Currents email newsletter. To receive our email newsletters straight to your inbox, sign up here.

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Hi, I’m Currents co-editor Alex Karn. Welcome to your weekly Peterborough Currents email newsletter!

This week we’re sharing some local voices on the issue of council representation, and a story about a local artist’s 10-hour Freddie Mercury tribute concert benefitting Rainbow Railroad. Also this week, news updates from across the city, event listings, and a new mystery photo. 

Let’s get into it!

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Residents question whose priorities shape City Hall

by Alex Karn

Local farmers, vendors, and residents? wandered amidst the market stalls at Quaker Oats City Square in downtown Peterborough on the Saturday of the Labour Day weekend. As shoppers chatted and browsed, Currents co-editor Alex Karn stopped them to pose a question: Do they feel their needs and concerns have been heard by city council?

Dale Clancy, who moved to town six years ago and works as a skilled tradesman, told Currents he sees a city with “good bones” and much to be proud of. However he also believes council has neglected pressing needs while pursuing costly projects, including a proposed sports and entertainment centre.

He compared the city’s priorities to a family buying an expensive television while its home deteriorates.

“You know your roof is falling apart, and you’ve got termites in your foundation and in your framing, and you say ‘you know what this house really needs? It needs an 85-inch flat screen OLED TV,” Clancy said. “That’s what I see on city council sometimes.”

Clancy wants council to concentrate on housing, garbage, vacant properties, and the preservation of existing public spaces and buildings.

Local senior Margie Sumadh shared that she believes Peterborough’s ward system allows councillors to disregard challenges beyond the neighbourhoods they represent. As a Town Ward resident, she said decisions affecting downtown residents can be easily outvoted by councillors who do not understand the poverty, homelessness, and disenfranchisement concentrated there.

“I just wish councilors did care about other wards, and I feel they just do not,” Sumadh said.

Longtime East City resident Gina Proctor said council’s decisions feel disconnected from the daily experiences of residents who rely on public transit or navigate deteriorating sidewalks with mobility devices.

“The bus system is a joke, and we’re not laughing,” she said. As a senior who uses a walker and takes the bus to appointments around the city, Proctor said she is disappointed with councilors’ responses to her complaints. 

Proctor shared that she has repeatedly reported sinking interlocking bricks beneath a bus shelter outside her home, where many residents are seniors.

“Somebody’s going to fall in that hole, and they’re going to sue the city,” she said.

Trent students Laura and Madeline offered a more positive view of downtown events, highlighting Peterborough Folk Festival, First Friday, and Second Saturday. However, they want the next council to strengthen community health services and resist attitudes that push poverty and homelessness out of sight.

“This whole ‘not in my neighbourhood’ mentality is really just skewing the class divide by miles,” Laura said. “It’s very dehumanizing to get rid of  those resources.”

Peterborough voters will choose a mayor, two councillors per ward, and school board trustees on Oct. 26. Eligible residents can confirm or update their registration at www.PeterboroughVotes.ca or at the clerk’s office in City Hall.

Voters may cast a ballot online or in person. Identification must show the voter’s name and Peterborough address, but does not need to include a photograph. Canadian citizens studying in Peterborough may vote here and in their home municipality.

Voting closes at 8 p.m. on election day.  

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Fredathon brings Queen fans together for queer safety

by Alex Karn

Cables, microphones, and instruments filled Dreams of Beans’ rear event space on Saturday afternoon as volunteers prepared to transform the downtown cafe into a stage for 10 hours of Queen songs.

Fredathon returned for its second year on Sept. 5, bringing together local performers and prerecorded contributions from musicians around the world. The concert was organized by Peterborough songwriter and performer Taylor Abrahamse to raise money for Rainbow Railroad, a charity that helps 2S-LGBTQIA+ people escape violence and relocate to safety.

Abrahamse was inspired to create the fundraiser after watching Choir! Choir! Choir! perform Queen songs as part of Peterborough Musicfest last summer.

“I just realized how unifying these songs were, and obviously they’re still very queer rights focused,” Abrahamse said. “I wanted to find some way to give back that lit me up.”

The marathon opened with an hour-long live band performance before moving through solo sets, guest appearances, and pre-recorded videos. Abrahamse estimated the program included between 15 and 20 local performers and approximately 40 recorded contributions from musicians around the world.

Behind the performances was a group of volunteers handling sound, video, promotion, and other work needed to stage the in-person concert and online live stream.

“It’s a big team effort,” the event’s sound technician said while setting up equipment before the show.

Among those helping was Arayah, a local Taylor Abrahamse fan who met the performer while she was distributing Fredathon flyers. Abrahamse recognized her from an earlier concert and invited her to take part.

“It spoke greatly to me being in the community and just coming out as transgender,” Arayah said. “I thought that it would be a good thing to be a part of, and I love Taylor’s talent.”

This year’s Fredathon set a $5,000 fundraising goal. Most of the money will support Rainbow Railroad, which has assisted more than 45,000 people since it was founded in 2006, including more than 2,500 people who were relocated to safety. 

The concert may be over, but Abrahamse said people can still watch the replay and contribute to the fundraiser through www.fredathon.com

“A lot of people have stepped up in a way that gives me a lot of hope,” she said.

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News in brief

by Gabe Pollock

Here’s a catch-up on what’s been going on in Peterborough and the surrounding region, with the support of our partners in local media:

• Curve Lake is bringing in a new water treatment system, an important step towards ensuring consistent, safe drinking water in the community. Though safe drinking water is an internationally recognized human right, Curve Lake was one of the 250 First Nations communities that launched a class-action lawsuit against the Canadian government in 2019 for its ongoing failure to provide it. This ultimately resulted in an $8 billion settlement, with $6 billion earmarked for improving water and wastewater infrastructure, including this current project. As then-Chief Emily Whetung told CityNews in 2021, “When you live in a community that has constant water problems, you sit beside your child the entire time [they’re in the bath] and make sure their face doesn’t go in the water…. Many families in my community and others have to watch for skin conditions.”
  
• Peterborough’s first publicly funded addictions treatment facility is expanding, as Fourcast’s Paddock Wood has added withdrawal management services. The facility includes six beds for a 35-day residential addictions treatment program and now adds six more beds for withdrawal management, a shorter-term program aimed at getting people who are in recovery through the worst of acute opioid withdrawal. While the residential treatment program has a months-long waiting list, withdrawal management still has a “fairly easy access,” Fourcast executive director Donna Rogers told The Peterborough Examiner.
  
• Kawartha Lakes has released a draft 10-year regional transportation master plan, recommending improved inter-city connections between Lindsay, Bobcaygeon, Fenlon Falls, and a proposed Lindsay-to-Peterborough bus. The plan notes that the area’s population is growing and also getting older, and their transit needs are evolving. It recommends redesigned routes, increased bus frequency, and also explores “microtransit” options as a way to serve people in rural areas, using smaller vehicles that operate on demand rather than on a fixed schedule.
  
• Speaking of transit… Peterborough Transit workers have reached a “historic” agreement with the City of Peterborough. The 130 workers of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1320 receive a 21 per cent wage increase over five years and improvements to benefits. This is a far cry from the previous round of negotiations in 2023, when they narrowly avoided a strike with a deal barely 24 hours before the deadline. The union has been very active during municipal election season, where public transit has been a frequent talking point. Multiple candidates (including mayoral hopefuls Keith Riel, Jacob Méthot, and Rebecca Schillemat) have signed an ATU pledge to keep transit public.
  
• The Electric City Culture Council (EC3) is accepting applications for the 2026 program of Grants for Individual Artists. The program offers grants between $1,500 and $3,500 for local professional artists to aid with new and ongoing projects in all stages, from research and development through to production and presentation. Funded by the City of Peterborough, the program is now in its fifth year, and has so far awarded over $197,000 in funding to 89 local artists.

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What’s on this weekend?

Peterborough Currents’ weekly event listings are back to help you plan your weekend. This week we’re highlighting events focused on historical appreciation. If you have an event coming up you’d like to share with our readers, email the details to us at news@peterboroughcurrents.ca

Here are just a few of the goings on in town over the next couple of days:

• The Peterborough Psychic & Crystal Fair will take place from Friday, Sept. 11 to Sunday, Sept. 13 at the Peterborough Curling Club, 2195 Lansdowne St. W. The fair will feature psychics, mediums, palm and tarot card readings, numerology, astrology, intuitive healers, crystal vendors, and singing bowls. Hours are 1 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10 for a weekend pass and free for children 12 and under. Individual services are available for an additional cost.
  
• The sixth annual Guyestock will showcase eight local musical acts on Saturday, Sept. 12 from noon to 8 p.m. at 302 Juliet Rd. Gates open at 11 a.m., with performances ranging from East Coast and country music to classic rock and songs from the 1950s and ’60s. Attendees can bring lawn chairs, coolers, and sun shades, with a food vendor and washrooms available on site. A $20 donation at the gate will be divided equally among the performing musicians.
  
• The seventh annual Big Band Day will bring four local ensembles to Millennium Park on Saturday, Sept. 12 from noon to 4 p.m. The Peterborough Concert Band will open the afternoon, followed by Knightshift at 1 p.m., Electric City Swing Band at 2 p.m. and Revelation Big Band at 3 p.m. Performances will range from traditional jazz and swing to Latin, funk, rock, and pop. Admission is free, with chairs, picnic tables, and shade canopies available. The outdoor event is weather-dependent with no rain date
  
• The eighth annual Peterborough VegFest will take place Sunday, Sept. 13 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Millennium Park. The plant-based food and lifestyle festival will bring together 20 food vendors and community organizations, alongside local live music, a children’s zone and other activities. The volunteer-run festival will proceed rain or shine. Admission is free.

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Where in Peterborough…

This is just one of many nature-focused art pieces painted on this downtown structure. Any guesses at where the photo was taken? Let us know at news@peterboroughcurrents.ca

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