The Waterloo Undergraduate Student Association (WUSA) has relaunched its WalkSafe pilot program for fall 2026.

WalkSafe lets students walk with a trained student volunteer to any destination on the main campus after dark. Students can request to be accompanied by a WalkSafe volunteer through WUSA’s WalkSafe request form. The program runs Monday to Friday from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The fall 2026 pilot is the second trial of the service, which was originally proposed through WUSA’s Change Engine in 2024 by Katie Traynor. Following the first trial in winter 2026, the WUSA Board received a report at its meeting on June 18 outlining student feedback and proposed changes to better meet the program’s expectations .

Majdalen Azouz, WUSA’s vice-president of student experience, said that the re-launch came from limited engagement during the first pilot. “We did a pilot back in April and March, which wasn’t as successful as we hoped it would be, but it was successful in terms of marketing interaction,” Azouz said. “A lot of undergrad students knew what WalkSafe was, what WalkSafe does, and how it does benefit the undergrad population. But there was not really as much use. Just [from the] winter term, we didn’t feel it was feasible enough to know if we were successful in running a programme to combat student safety.” WUSA decided to extend the pilot because of the timing and location of the first trial. Azouz mentioned that shorter daylight hours and inclement weather during the winter term meant that students left campus earlier, resulting in less participation than expected.

WUSA is now using the number of walks requested as one metric to evaluate the pilot’s efficacy. While WUSA received some requests during the first day of the fall pilot at the carnival, Azouz said that one of the biggest challenges is volunteer recruitment. “So we’ve decided to flip our marketing strategies a little bit differently,” she stated, by emphasizing the benefits of volunteering for the program. “I remember when we were talking about WalkSafe, I told them …[that] in my undergrad, if WalkSafe was an option, then I would volunteer for it, because my mentality is, ‘I want to go to med school’; I’m thinking about what med school wants, or what medical schools essentially want to see. So WalkSafe would be great [for that],” Azouz shared.

The WUSA Board approved $15,000 in funding in June to fund the second pilot. A fee increase to continue funding Walksafe will be contingent on votes at a future Annual Members Meeting.

Start off the term right and get out this weekend!  Here are some picks for fun events happening this weekend that won’t break the bank.

Princess Cinemas Outdoor Movie Screening

Celebrate the 41st anniversary of this Waterloo institution with a free outdoor screening of Buena Vista Social Club.  The 1999 documentary, which follows renowned guitarist Ry Cooder, will be screened at 9 p.m. on Princess St. W.  Find out more at the event webpage here.

Warriors Homecoming Football Game

Come show off your Warrior spirit at one of the biggest sports events of the year.  Cheer on the Waterloo Warriors football team as they face off against the Windsor Lancers this Saturday at 1 p.m. Before the game, there will be a Parking Lot Party at 11:30 a.m. in Lot W, involving food trucks, giveaways, and live music.  You can also try recreational classes for free at the Warrior Rec Open House between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., happening in PAC and CIF with classes including yoga and rock climbing. All events are free for students with a valid WatCard, but advance reservations are recommended as tickets go fast. More information can be found here and tickets can be reserved here.

Lumen Festival

Spend your Saturday evening at Waterloo’s beloved annual Lumen Festival, which takes place from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.  throughout Uptown Waterloo.  Experience the intersection of art, light, and tech with installations and live performances at the festival. This event is free and open to the general public. You can find out more here.

Royal Medieval Faire

Get dressed up to attend the 29th annual Royal Medieval Faire in Waterloo Park West, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. this Saturday. You can witness dramatic sword play, explore vendors selling period-accurate food, and participate in the event’s interactive plot, set in the fictional kingdom of Mearth.  Admission is $10 for individuals aged 14 and up, $20 for families, and $5 for children 13 and under.  You can find out more at the website here.

46th Annual Waterloo Terry Fox Run/Walk

Come out for a good cause this Sunday at the 46th Annual Waterloo Terry Fox Run/Walk, hosted at Waterloo Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. This is a non-competitive event with free entry where you can run, walk, or bike. Register online at the event page here or in person the day of between 8:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

GUELPH/ERAMOSA – Grand River Conservation Authority (GRCA) officials are urging Guelph Lake users to take precautions after recently spotting blue-green algae on the lake.

"The presence of a suspected small blue-green algae bloom has been observed at the northeast shoreline, and near the dam," GRCA officials stated in a Sept. 17 press release.

They added a Sept. 1 algae notice about Belwood Lake remains in effect.

Blue-green algae is discovered pretty much every summer at Belwood, Conestogo and/or Guelph lakes, as hot weather creates conditions for it to grow in large bodies of water.

"There is permanent signage at these locations advising visitors of the potential for blue-green algae blooms and precautions that should be taken," the GRCA stated.

Officials say Guelph Lake visitors, recreational users and cottagers should take the following precautions:

• keep children and pets away from the algae;
• avoid contact with the algae;
• don’t eat fish from the lake;
• don’t use the water for drinking or any other purpose;
• boating is allowed, where permitted, but boaters and recreational users should avoid touching the algae; and
• don’t swim in areas “where you see scum, or it is accumulating along the shoreline.”

The GRCA has informed officials with the environment ministry and Wellington Dufferin Guelph Public Health, the press release stated.

Anyone with health-related questions can contact public health.

“Blue-green algae thrive on nutrients from fields and lawns that find their way into local waterways and reservoirs during heavy rainfall and spring melts and cause their populations to grow rapidly, forming blooms or scum on the surface of the water,” states the GRCA release.

“Some varieties of blue-green algae can produce toxins that are harmful to both people and pets.”

Officials say when blooms start to grow, “a noticeable green or brown scum will form on the surface of water bodies and the water look like green or bluish-green pea soup.

“Once blue-green algae are in full bloom, it may look like spilled ‘paint’ along the shoreline.

“A new blue-green algal bloom often smells like fresh cut grass, while an older bloom can smell like rotting garbage.”

For more information visit the GRCA website.

Looking to meet demand for homes, a Breslau developer wants to change designated employment land to residential use.

Guelph-based Thomasfield Homes is seeking official plan and zoning amendments to some 43 hectares (106 acres) of land in its Hopewell Crossing subdivision. That would allow for more than 600 new homes on land at Victoria Street and Greenhouse Road.

The changes apply to a large block of land at 2699 Victoria St. N. – approximately 43 hectares – and a one-hectare plot on the east side of Greenhouse Road.

The farmland across from Martin Grove village in Woolwich Township has been in the spotlight over the past couple of months.

The owners of the land on the north side of Bridge Street, CRA Lands Ltd., want to rezone the property for industrial use. Currently, the land is zoned for agricultural use, though it is a former gravel pit.

The core controversy is that the land sits opposite the countryside line – a Waterloo Region demarcation zone designated to manage urban growth, curb urban sprawl and protect farmland.

When deadly floodwaters barrelled through dozens of settlements along the Trishuli River in Nepal at the end of August, bodies were strewn across hundreds of kilometres – some ending up in neighbouring India. The scale of the disaster was horrific, claiming at least 1,300 lives and leaving more than 5,000 people missing.

Now, as international relief organizations scramble to help those who survived the cataclysm, the Mennonite Central Committee is already uniquely positioned within the country thanks to the work it has been doing there for the past 70 years. For instance, they deployed a multi-million-dollar response following earthquakes in 2015.

Pumpkins, which are famous for being carved into jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween or being baked into pie for Thanksgiving, are now going to be the topic of conversation for the new Waterloo 4-H Club starting later this month.

After the success of the domestic duck club, leaders Maria Bushey, Pam Woodhouse and Helen Martin decided to carry the momentum forward with another club, one that was “timely for the season.”

“Pumpkins are seasonal right now, everyone loves a pumpkin, whether decorative or food form,” said Bushey of the orange gourd that is classified as a fruit. 

What should a teacher do after retirement?

Not only have they lost their routine, their classroom, their students and their co-workers – quite often it feels like they’ve lost their purpose, too. It can be a difficult transition, but for retirees from Elmira District Secondary School there’s something to look forward to: membership in the Fleetfooters hiking group, which turns 25 this year.

The founding trio is Betty Dyck, Barb Carter and Susan Brooks, who all retired from the local high school in 2001.

“When the three of us retired, we decided to walk on Monday mornings. Sometimes we walk an hour out, an hour back. And then as more people retired, more ladies from EDSS joined us,” Dyck told The Observer.

While flowers and vegetables often take the gardening spotlight, trees will be the focus of the Elmira and District Horticultural Society’s (Woolwich Gardeners) next speaker event. 

Serena Soucy, a local arborist, will discuss the vital importance of tree maintenance in her upcoming talk, Arboriculture: Lessons Learned from the Canopy. Scheduled for September 21 at 7 p.m., the event will be held at St. James Lutheran Church in Elmira. The public is welcome to attend free of charge, though donations are gratefully accepted.  

“I’m going to be talking a little about what brought me to the industry, how I found arboriculture, what arboriculture is,” said Soucy.

Waterloo Regional Police are warning the public about an ongoing fraud scam involving suspects posing as representatives from banks and credit card companies.

In reported incidents, victims receive phone calls from individuals claiming to be from their bank or credit card provider. The caller advises the victim that a suspicious or compromised transaction has been detected on their account and requests that they verify their card information, police say.

To make the call appear legitimate, suspects are using spoofing technology that causes the phone number displayed on the victim’s caller ID to appear as though it is originating from their financial institution.

Somebody was bound to sound the alarm eventually. In this case it was a young British artificial intelligence researcher called Jacob Coxon, who quit his job at the AI company Anthropic to warn the world that “if we don’t slow down the current rate of progress, there is a strong chance that we could all die in the next two years.”

“It’s not at all an exaggeration to say that the people who are involved with both founding these companies and building the tech believe there is a possibility of human extinction,” Coxon said. And the floodgates opened.

On September 8, Coxon posted his message on as many sites as possible (and also got ten friends to retweet them), but he probably needn’t have gone to all that trouble. The AI community was ready to hear that news, and four days later his former boss Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, tacitly agreed.

The Wellesley Applejacks opened the season with a split last weekend – starting with a loss against the New Hamburg Firebirds and then dominating the Hespeler Shamrocks the following evening.

Saturday’s nail-biting 4-3 Battle of Nafziger Road at home was a classic tit-for-tat affair, what assistant coach Ryan Yantz called an “interesting game.”

Sunday’s 4-1 road win saw the Jacks essentially sew things up by the end of the second period.

The match against New Hamburg started off relatively quickly, with Firebird Tate Davison getting things rolling at 4:41 to put the visitors up 1-0.

Brendan Gerber’s hat trick, including the eventual game-winning goal, paced the Elmira Sugar Kings to a 6-2 win over the London Nationals September 13 at the WMC.

The Kings also got goals from Thomas Chan, Nate Gravell and Nolan Shaw to open their 2026-27 Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOHL) season.

“Brendan Gerber had a few goals in the exhibition season, so he kept that going through game one and picked up three goals [Sunday]. That certainly helped us offensively, and we picked up some goals from Chan and Shaw, which helps our depth a little bit, which is great,” said head coach Cory McRae.

I think it is widely accepted that we hunters and anglers notice strange things that others do not. For instance, last week I saw evidence that the herd of firearms in my gun cabinet had reproduced. The proof was a new addition – a cute, little bolt-action .22 calibre rifle, complete with scope, just like his daddy. It reminded me of that time last spring when the fly rods in my collection spawned.

This week, however, I saw something that I had never witnessed before. No, it was not the top shelf. It was even more unlikely than that.

Young hockey phenom Caitlin Kraemer has been on the ice this past summer instead of soaking up some rays.

The 20-year-old with Elmira roots was recently selected for Hockey Canada’s U22 Development Camp, but earlier was invited to the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers practice.

From August 2-16, Kraemer explained it was Hockey Canada’s summer series in BC.

“So, we did a week of tryouts, and then if we got to make the team, a week of a three-game series against the U.S.,” she said of the development camp, in which Canada did beat their southern neighbours.

Locals might not recognize Schaner Park in St. Jacobs after its recent makeover by the Township of Woolwich Environmental Enhancement Committee (TWEEC).

Earlier this month, the committee transformed a previously overgrown grassy patch on Isabella Street into a vibrant habitat filled with native pollinator gardens and spruced-up trees.

Above, Tricia Brubacher, Susan Bryant, Adrian Miltenburg, Connor Ehrlich and Julie Shark planting in one of the gardens at Schaner Park.

The project was made possible by the Waterloo’s Community Environmental Fund. TWEEC received $6,500 for the project.

“Absolutely everything is native it’s all plants for bees and butterflies, but also there are plants with berries and these dogwoods from before,” said Janet Cox, a TWEEC volunteer, landscape designer and landscaper at John’s Nursery.

For those watching the numbers at the pump, the digits may be ticking down in coming days thanks to the continued suspension of the federal gas tax through to the end of the year.

In the midst of international uncertainty surrounding conflicts in the Middle East and the escalating tariff war with the United States, Ottawa last week announced the suspension first introduced on April 20, which led to an 11-cent decline per litre, would be extended.

That should translate into relief at the service station, says Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis.

Waterloo Region’s watersheds are among those listed as at risk in a new report by the Ontario Headwaters Institute.

The list, released last week by the charity promoting water security in the province, highlights the erosion of environmental protections as the province prioritizes facilitating development. That includes the likes of Bill 56 and Bill 60, which critics warn reduce protection for drinking water and watersheds.

Bill 56, the Building a More Competitive Economy Act, allows ministerial moves to rewrite and approve local drinking water rules faster, meaning local committees have less power to set their own water rules. Bill 60, the Water and Wastewater Public Corporations Act, lets the province move local water services into separate corporate bodies. 

Disney’s 1989 musical The Little Mermaid makes it to the local stage next week in a Drayton Entertainment Youth Academy production at the Hamilton Family Theatre in Cambridge.

Among the 60 students drawn from 30 different schools are Wellesley’s Valentina Dixon-Scirgalea, St. Jacobs’ Taya Nero and Heidelberg’s Paisley Quickfall.

Under the direction of Elmira’s Jackie Mustakas, the musical tells the classic story of a rebellious 16-year-old mermaid named Ariel (Sophie Appoo) who is fascinated with life on land.

GUELPH/ERAMOSA – Passersby rescued the driver of a sinking vehicle that drove into Guelph Lake on Wednesday.

Emergency crews were called to the lake, just off Wellington Road 124, on Sept. 16 at about 10:30am.

Wellington County OPP officials say a guard rail was damaged and the driver was trapped inside a vehicle that was submerged in the lake.

"Numerous good Samaritans from nearby stopped vehicles were observed already in the lake assisting the trapped driver," police stated in a press release.

"The driver was safely brought to shore, where they were assessed by EMS and subsequently transported to hospital with minor injuries."

Police say a guard rail was damaged but no other vehicles were involved. 

This is the second vehicle to drive into Guelph Lake in the past six weeks. A 54-year-old driver from Guelph, was not injured but was charged with making an unsafe manoeuvre into the lake on Aug. 2.

Anyone with information can call the OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS or 8477.

ERIN – Heritage designations – more specifically their impact on the cost of home insurance – has been a popular topic inside the town council chamber over the past several months. 

Erin council elected to indefinitely defer the designation of 2 and 4 Spring St. in Erin village following delegations from the property owners during a Sept. 10 meeting. 

“We did not buy a heritage property, my husband and I, we bought our home,” said Maria Legare-Taylor, owner of 2 Spring St.

Legare-Taylor said the designation notice has put immense strain on her and her family, including insurance issues, a financial burden and possible impact on resale value, all of which has led to lost sleep and difficult-to-manage stress. 

“How much do you think I’ve been enjoying my property knowing that I’m being bullied into a designation  that, quite frankly, I can’t afford,” said Legare-Taylor. “A heritage designation will hurt us.” 

Michelle Quinn, the owner of 4 Spring St., shared similar concerns.

“We embrace the history of this town and the culture. We recognize the value of its older buildings and we’ve put 12 years of hard work, care and money into preserving our home,” said Quinn.

“Maintaining an older home is already considerably more expensive than maintaining a newer one and we accept that responsibility because we love our home and respect its history.

“However, we did not agree to carry an unlimited financial burden on behalf of the town.”

Quinn noted the designation of the Century Church Theatre in Hillsburgh was deferred and asked how her situation was different.

The designation of the theatre, located at 72 Trafalgar Rd.,  was deferred by council in July after the property owner told council the designation would put unnecessary constraints on theatre productions and cause “economic hardship” due to inflated insurance costs. 

“I have said before when we’ve dealt with heritage designations, that it’s not our intention to put anyone through the ringer or to make their life miserable or more expensive,” said councillor John Brennan. 

“That’s why in [the] past when these sorts of situations have arisen, I’ve always moved to defer them.”

He added, “Heritage is good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s not as important as the people.”

Councillor Cathy Aylard agreed with Brennan, stating that she couldn’t “support a decision that forces people out of their homes.”

Councillor Jamie Cheyne, also a member of the heritage committee, agreed to defer the two properties “if there is a timeline that is suitable.”

Earlier in the meeting, Cheyne explained the designation process.

“Being on the Heritage Committee prior to Doug Ford’s proclamation, this was never our intent,” said Cheyne. 

“We have properties that are listed as heritage. There were 600 originally. We graded them, A, B, C, D and Mr. Ford gave a proclamation that anything on any heritage list had to be deemed designated or we lose that possibility.

“And so, we certainly would want to do designations that everyone loves, but we went through a process where we deemed the buildings that were most desirable, the most treasures or the most lost if they were gone.” 

Council ultimately voted unanimously to defer the designation notice to properties at 2 and 4 Spring St. 

Two other properties were briefly discussed during the meeting, however no formal objections were received and therefore the owners of 98 and 156 Main St. will receive a notice of designation in the coming weeks.