Dauphin will receive the lion’s share of 1,670 new child-care spaces in the two phases of the ready-to-move child-care project, a $94-million total investment from the governments of Canada and Manitoba.

A total of 148 child-care spaces - the only ones announced for the Parkland - will be created in a brand new facility in the city as part of Phase 2 of the program.

The new daycare will be constructed on a piece of city-owned land which lies along Whitmore Avenue East between Lorray Manor and the Manitoba Hydro office.

When we submitted an expression of interest with the province we had to commit to two things. We had to commit to offering a piece of land and we had to commit to maintaining the building for 15 years,” Economic Development manager Martijn van Luijn said, adding a daycare operator will also have to be selected.

“I’ve since learned that we’re also responsible for the process, what we call the RFP process where we select the organization that is going to be running the facility.” van Luijn said the City is still waiting for clarification on a few points before it goes looking for a provider.

“Most likely our first invitation to apply would go out in existing daycares. We have four major daycares right now and they could all be very good candidates, but we haven’t talked to them about it,” van Luijn said. “We’re hoping to be able to appoint the organization very early in the process, because they need to be involved in the design. Because as you know, every daycare has their own way of doing things.”

Based on the success of the first phase of the project, the second phase was expanded to increase to an additional 1,004 spaces in 14 facilities for a project total of 1,670 new spaces, and total of 23 new centres as a whole.

The 148 spaces planned for Dauphin are much needed as the city, while preparing its application for the program, estimated the local day care shortage at approximately 240 spaces.

“That’s the number I submitted when they asked us what is your shortage. I don’t think that we were looking for that, but as a result of that we did get the highest allocated spaces from all the selected sites,” he said. “I think that’s going solve a big issue.”

New facilities approved in the second phase of the project will be built as ready-to-move structures by a builder selected by the province and are expected to be operational before the end of this year. van Luijn believes those timelines might be a little tight.

“I don’t know how quickly they’re going to be able to build all these units. We’re not in that much of a hurry. I understand this is a very urgent problem that we would like to solve right away, but we want to do it in the right way,” van Luijn said. “So if that means that we’re later on the list we’re okay with that. We just would rather do this right.”

The ready-to-move child-care project is a partnership between the governments of Canada and Manitoba, municipal governments and First Nation communities to develop new child-care facilities in less than a year in areas with a demonstrated need for child-care spaces.

The child-care spaces being developed with this investment are part of the Manitoba government’s commitment to develop 23,000 new, regulated not-for-profit child-care spaces for children under age seven across the province by 2026.

For more information about the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child-Care Agreement, early learning and child-care development supports, and child-care services in Manitoba, visit gov.mb.ca/education/childcare/.

Roblin’s Senior Curling Club and the Municipality of Roblin’s Rec Department hosted the community’s first ever Two Person Stick Bonspiel Wednesday at the curling rink, attracting 16 rinks to town. The game features two curlers per rink who stay at one end of the sheet and throw three rocks each per end. Sweeping is only allowed after a rock reaches the hog line and the games go for six ends.

Points are awarded at the end of each end of play and at the end of a game and the rink with the most wins wins the bonspiel.

Find out who won in this week’s Rec Report

The Municipality of Roblin is proceeding with a borrowing by-law to cover the costs of four new graders and the construction of a new cell at the Roblin WDG (Waste Disposal Ground).

Council gave first reading to the bylaw at its regular Jan. 24 meeting after holding a public hearing.

Find out what council’s been up to in this week’s Council Briefs.

Manitoba has historically had higher levels of radon than the national averages. Health Canada has estimated about seven per cent of Canadians are living in homes above the radon guidelines, while about 19 per cent of Manitobans are facing that same challenge.

Radon is a colourless, odourless radioactive gas found naturally in the environment and comes from uranium, as it breaks down in soil and rocks. Radon can enter homes through cracks in basements or foundations and poses a health risk when people are exposed to it long-term, especially when the levels are greater than 200 bq/m3.

Read the rest of the story in this week’s Review.

Every year at the Grammy Awards there are always highlights that are featured, usually of mega-famed super star artists, but this year some of the attendees in the crowd were highlighted as well. Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) singer, Rhonda Head, attended the 2023 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 5.
“This is my third time attending the Grammy Awards,” said Head. “It’s a great event to network and meet musicians from all over the work. It’s fun, and awesome to watch the show, with one amazing performance after another. Also, it’s very inspirational.
“I go to represent Indigenous musicians. It’s important that we are recognized and that they make space for Indigenous musicians.”
Whether one is watching the Grammy Awards from home or in the audience, each viewer walks away with a highlight from each awards show. For Head, this year’s awards had many different highlights for her.

The times are changing and we’re starting to see more and more women embarking upon trades than ever before. The demand for carpenters, electricians and plumbers is high, so there are countless opportunities for women to get into this line of work. In a joint partnership, Opaskwayak Cree Nation Education Department and University College of the North (UCN) offered a nine-month OCN Home Builders Course for Indigenous women to pick up on the carpentry trade.
“The OCN Home Builders Program started on May 18, 2022, with Pre-employment Trades Communication skills a week prior to the start date,” said Red Seal Vocational Education Carpenter Annette R. Head. “There were 12 women that enrolled in the program and all were Indigenous. They had some carpentry experience and this was new to the rest of the ladies.

Local musher Donny Poulin recently competed in the Pedigree Stage Stop Race in Wyoming this past month. Poulin grew up with dog sled racing and has been in the sport since he was a young boy.
“I was born into this sport,” said Poulin. “My dad had dogs since he was 15 years old and was into dog sled racing, which led to me getting into it as well. He taught me everything from a very early age.
“I ran junior races when I was eight years old and been racing for over 40 years now.”
When it comes to sled dogs, many people have the misconception that the ideal breed are the huskies that have long hair and distinct markings. Poulin has a type of husky that is bred typically for racing. Although he participates in the sport, to him, his sled dogs are like members of the family.
“Pretty much every dog we have, we’ve raised ourselves,” said Poulin. “We have some that we’ve purchased from different kennels over the years, but for the most part, we breed and raise our own dogs.
“We mostly have Alaskan Huskies and they’re not the type of dog that people like to associate in the movies. These dogs have short hair and are more of a race type looking dog. A lot of people think the dogs would be massively huge dogs, but that’s not the case. These dogs are known for speed and endurance.

Just outside of The Pas airport is a beautiful snow sculpture that both residents and visitors can take in. Calm Air came up with the concept of commissioning an artist to design a snow sculpture to both celebrate the community and the upcoming Trapper’s Festival.
“At Calm Air, we are beyond excited to get back to travelling and one thing we missed most was celebrating our communities, especially in winter,” said Calm Air Director of Marketing and Brand Management Amanda Camara. “So we thought, what better way to celebrate The Pas than joining in as a Northern Lights Sponsor for the Trapper’s Festival and what can we bring to the table to really celebrate who we are, which was a beautiful work of art with snow. It was fitting for it to be located at the airport.”
A Manitoba artist, who lives in Swan River, came highly recommended to Calm Air by organizers at the Festival du Voyageur. This artist dabbles in a variety of different mediums and his snow sculptures in the past have always caught attention

A number of people across Canada were selected and presented the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal commemorating the seventieth year of the monarch’s reign, before her passing last year. NDP MLA for The Pas-Kameesak, Amanda Lathlin, was able to honour and recognize 10 constituents for their outstanding achievements by presenting them with the medal.
“Each MLA was given the opportunity to present ten Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals to their constituents,” said Lathlin. “I chose Dr. Alex Wilson, Edwin Jebb, Tara Munro-Manych, Edie Turner, Murray Harvey, Ovide Mercredi, John Morriseau, Dr. Cathy Cook, the late Ray Mason, and Gordon Landriault.”

Last Friday night (Feb. 10) was Hockey is for Everyone night at the Swan River Centennial Arena. Presented by Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, the night was intended to provide awareness and a positive environment for players, families and fans of every race, religion, national origin, gender, age, sexual orientation or ability. To mark the occasion, the Swan Valley Stampeders wore a custom jersey as they faced off against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines...