Hayley Murdoch-Fyke would never turn someone away on a night like this.
The executive director of the John Howard Society only has 18 beds to offer people needing to get off the streets in the minus 25-Celsius degree temperatures.
"I would bring them in and try to divert them to another shelter," said Murdoch-Fyke Friday afternoon as she scrambled to ensure they had enough staff to open early at 2 p.m.
Murdoch-Fyke is allowed to open for 45 nights per year on Simcoe County's dime until the end of March.
"So far, I think we've used 10 nights," she said.
But the Arctic blast that blew in Friday with a wind chill forecasted to dip down to -35 to 45 overnight, has warming shelters all across the region making up beds for their frigid guests.
In Barrie, the new Rose Street Shelter has 50 beds available, and the Busby Centre has another 50 on Mulcaster Street.
"We were not full (Thursday night), and we didn't have to turn anyone away," said Sara Peddle, executive director of the Busby Centre.
She said that the Busby also has a few flex beds and a motel voucher program if required.
In Barrie, there is also the Elizabeth Fry Society, serving women and gender-diverse people. The Salvation Army Bayside Mission serves men, and Youth Haven, serves youths aged 16 to 24.
Farther south, the Town of Innisfil and the Innisfil ideaLAB & Library also opened warming centres to pull people in from the cold until 5 p.m. The three library branches are also open Saturday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
In Orillia, the Orillia City Centre is open Friday until 4:30, and the public library on Mississaga St. is open until 6 p.m. and will be open again on Saturday until 5 p.m.
Liam McEwen, a student placement worker at Orillia's Lighthouse shelter said they had 40 guests Thursday night but can fit 50 in a pinch.
"We're normally closed 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. but we're open today," McEwen said. "Community members aer staying here and helping out."
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the vote later today on the Conservative motion calling for a new study into foreign interference will not be a confidence vote.
Gwyneth Paltrow is scheduled to stand trial on Tuesday in a lawsuit filed by a retired optometrist who said that the actress-turned-lifestyle influencer violently crashed into him in 2016 while skiing in Utah at one of the most upscale ski resorts in the United States.
March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day and to mark the occasion a Canadian organization launched a campaign showcasing older people living with the condition.
A 31-year-old neuroscientist is believed to be among the six people missing after a massive fire in Old Montreal last week. An Wu was staying at the heritage building on Place d'Youville to attend a conference, according to friends and family.
Two staff members and a student -- who is also the suspect -- have been injured in a stabbing at a high school in Bedford, N.S., according to the Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE).
New Brunswick's finance minister is scheduled to table a provincial budget Tuesday as the government grapples with problems in health care and housing and the effects of a population surge.
Front-line nurses who are working for publicly-funded employers in Nova Scotia will receive a bonus of up to $10,000, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced Monday.
A 31-year-old neuroscientist is believed to be among the six people missing after a massive fire in Old Montreal last week. An Wu was staying at the heritage building on Place d'Youville to attend a conference, according to friends and family.
Rescuers have yet to recover any additional bodies from the wreck of a fire in Old Montreal last week. As of Tuesday morning, there were still six people missing. The body of one victim, a woman, was extracted on Sunday.
Mayor Valerie Plante said Monday she requested a meeting with an Airbnb executive after a building in Old Montreal — a short-term rental hot spot — was destroyed by a fire that has left six people missing.
A member of the city of Ottawa's board of health is speaking out about body shaming after receiving a letter that said she shouldn't serve on the board because of her weight.
Several parents are questioning the filtering process of eBooks available to students at the Waterloo Regional District School Board (WRDSB) after they say their children were able to access eBooks that are not age appropriate.
About 10 people have been displaced and damage is estimated at $1-million after a fire in Aylmer on Monday. John Street in Aylmer, Ont. has reopened in both directions following a fire on Monday night.
An 81-year old property owner tells CTV News he’ll do the work himself without machinery, if that’s the method directed by city council. Three years after John McLeod demolished the historic barn on Halls Mill Road without a permit, a plan to remove the pile of wooden debris is taking shape.
The Old South Community Organization (OSCO) is expressing concern about city staff’s failure to consult with stakeholders before recommending that Thames Pool be decommissioned.
Elliot Lake has cancelled the Northern Shore Drag Race, which has been going on for the past two decades and typically draws hundreds of vehicles and a thousand people.
It’s been a little more than a year since the week-long protests that blocked the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont. A special report was presented to council Monday night by Jennifer King, the lawyer who represented the city and police at the commission.
Students and community members will gather in protest outside the Calgary Board of Education Centre Tuesday morning, calling for the removal of the Sir John A. Macdonald name from a northwest junior high school.
A Wheatland County sanctuary that cares for abandoned and surrendered farm animals faces an uncertain future after having a permit application to keep operating denied.
A woman who lives across from the apartment where a 16-year-old shot and killed two Edmonton police constables has multiple bullet holes in her door, with a couple piercing her doorframe.
After a large fire spread from tents to a shuttered theatre on the city’s Downtown Eastside, Vancouver’s fire chief told reporters she was “incredibly frustrated” that more isn’t being done to prevent daily fires breaking out in the area.
Vancouver council will soon vote on a policy that could slow development in the Broadway Plan, one of the most significant long-term projects underway in the city.
