91���˵���

MANITOULIN—A MASONICh.I.P. identification event will be held at Community Safety Day and will also serve surrounding communities throughout the region. The event will take place at the NEMI Recreation Centre, located at 9001 Highway 6 in Little Current. The event will run from 10 am to 4 pm and walk-ins are welcome throughout the day. The program is being sponsored by Doric Lodge #455 of the Sudbury-Manitoulin Masonic District.

Ontario Masons offer MASONICh.I.P. Ontario as a free community service that helps families prepare identification materials for missing person investigations. Sponsored by the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in Ontario, it is part of a broader North American Masonic child identification effort. Programs like MASONICh.I.P. were created in response to rising public awareness about missing children in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These initiatives contributed to the development of child recovery systems across North America.

The Expositor spoke with regional coordinator for the Masonic program, Brother Mike Lalonde who explained that it has been some time since the region last hosted one of the identification clinics. “It’s been a little while since we’ve done an event like this in this region,” Brother Lalonde said. “As far as I can recall, it was well before the pandemic.”