With the registration period for those seeking council seats in the Oct. 26 general municipal election opening last week, Kirk Dawson has been busy.

The Senior Election Official for the City of Dauphin and the Rural Municipality of Dauphin said inquiries from prospective candidates and requests for registration packages have been brisk.

“There is tons of interest. (In the City) We’ve already got five registered and none of those are incumbents,” Dawson said. “We’ve had a few other inquiries beyond that. So for the first week basically, it’s under a week actually, it’s been very active.”

At this point, registered candidates for city council include Joe Houston, Ted Rea, Michael Winter, Carter Luke and Sharon Riehl while the mayorality is being contested by David Bosiak and Kerri Riehl.

In the RM two candidates have registered with incumbent councillor Tom Gibbs entering the race for reeve while incumbent reeve Ron Ryz has registered to contest for a council seat.

“Again there are a couple of other packages out, where we’re waiting for the registrations,” Dawson added.

Prospective candidates will have an opportunity to get a better feel for the job of an elected official when the City and RM hold prospective candidates forums, at the RM of Dauphin Office, July 13, at 7 p.m. for rural candidates and at City Hall, July 14, at 7 p.m. for city candidates.

At each forum municipal staff will lay out what is involved in being a councillor in terms of duties and time commitments while the two governments have partnered to bring in former Association of Manitoba Municipalities executive director Joe Masi as a keynote speaker each night.

“He’s been around politics for a long time and he’s going to be coming out and talking about what makes good councils and what doesn’t,” Dawson said. “It’s for anybody that’s considering running, to give them a little better perspective on what it might look like if they did put their name forward.”

While he waits for other registration packages to be returned Dawson is busy preparing for polling day. Currently he is hiring voting officials and assistant voting officials. About 30 people will be needed to assist with the city election while another 10 are required to help out in the RM process.

“These are the people that work at the polls on election day and the advanced polls.” he said, adding he already has an extensive list of interested applicants.

Anyone interested in getting on that list can contact city hall at 204-622-3200 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“We’ll probably start phoning next week. We have a list of the people in the past and I’ve got several other people that have mentioned their names, but I can always take more names. It’s sort of a first come, first serve thing,” Dawson said. “We’ll certainly get their names down and as they go down the list we’ll make sure we consider them.”

The nomination period for both head of council and council positions runs Sept. 14 to 20 with Sept. 21 as the withdrawal deadline.

Advance polling runs Oct. 3 to 21, and election day is Oct. 26, with polls open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

With the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth, many are mourning the loss and reflecting back over her time reigning as Queen.

The Queen made several trips to Canada, with a stop in The Pas as part of her nationwide tour in 1970. For local resident June Robertson, it was an experience she has long since remembered.

Robertson was originally from England and later moved to The Pas with her husband. 

“It was kind of a thrill for me to meet Queen Elizabeth,” said June Robertson. “Originally, I’m from England and was a war bride who married a Canadian solider. I moved to Canada a year later in 1946. I was married in England, but my husband was repatriated and discharged from the army. It was quite some time before I could come over as a war bride, because there were so many ahead of me. That was the way it was with all the war brides; they had to wait at least a year before coming into Canada."

Read more in this week's paper!

September has been designated as World Suicide Prevention Month and many communities and organizations across the globe have or are hosting events to increase the awareness of suicide prevention.

In Canada, approximately 11 people die by suicide each day and it’s the second leading cause of death among youth and young adults ages 15 to 34. Suicide rates are three times higher among men. 

Every year 106 million people worldwide contemplate suicide and tragically 800,000 die by it. This means that over 159 million people survived a suicide related crisis every year. Suicide prevention is everyone’s responsibility. 

With suicide being the second leading cause of death amongst youth, there is a big emphasis to watch for changes in behaviour that could be warning signs. 

“Youth go through many normal ups and downs,” said Northern Health Region Mental Health Promotion Specialist Shellie Verville. “If you notice changes in their behaviour or mood, it’s important to ask how they are doing. This is a time that may pass, but it could be something more serious. Youth can develop feelings of depression, anxiety and feel hopeless about the future, which can lead to thoughts of suicide."

Check out more details in this week's Opasquia Times!

A country rock singer songwriter, JR Charron says he grew up in Binscarth on simple straight forward music.

Four chords and the truth. He’s been called the small town boy with the big voice.

While he’s been making music of one kind or another since he was a teen, his art has really come together in a big way over the last few years.

Read the full story in this week's Russell Banner!

Looking at the list of teachers for the three Park West division schools in our area, it’s heartwarming when you realize how many teachers are past graduates who have chosen to come home and share their time and talent with our students.

Christine MacIsaac Ushey and her daughter Zoe Anne, both graduates of Major Pratt, will be teaching junior high students in classrooms next door to one another this year.

Standing at the base of the main stairs in Major Pratt, they’re holding a picture of Christine’s mom Anne MacIsaac who was a beloved teacher of English in Major Pratt for many years.

The family continues to be inspired by Doug MacIsaac who was the superintendent of Pelly Trail School Division throughout the 1970’s.

Get more in this week's Russell Banner!

More than 70 people were on hand to hear Shelley Napier lay out the facts again about what happened when the Emergency Pandemic Plan written by herself and her staff ended up on the Manitoba Municipal Association website with the logo of this municipality and the name of our CAO as the author.

Her story moved some of the audience to tears and ended with apologies from several ratepayers in the audience who were upset at how the much respected emergency services consultant had been treated by the council and administration of this municipality.

The group of concerned citizens who organized the event also touched on the roles and responsibilities of council as well as answered a number of pertinent questions regarding procedural rules of order in municipal government.

Get more in this week's Russell Banner!

From Sept. 9-11 people from all walks of life were invited to Chalk the Walk for World Suicide Prevention Day, which took place on Sept. 10. With chalk available through the local Hero Club and Prairie Mountain Health representatives, community members were invited to beautify our community with images and messages of hope, resilience, suicide awareness and prevention. Every year, 160 million people world wide contemplated suicide and, tragically, 800,000 of them die by suicide. This means that more than 159 million people who survive a suicide related crisis every year. There is no reason that anyone has to die by suicide and, if we all do our part, we can prevent those deaths that do happen and the devastating impact that they have.

It’s decision time for the Dauphin Kings coaching staff.

The Kings ended the preseason with a 1-2-1-0 record as the team prepares for the Manitoba Junior Hockey League regular season.

The Kings lost 2-1 in overtime to the Swan Valley Stampeders, Sept. 6, then beat the Wisconsin Lumberjacks, 6-1, on home ice, Wednesday.

On the weekend, the Kings traveled west to play the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Melville Millionaires, Saturday, losing 5-0.

On Sunday, Dauphin dropped an 8-4 decision to the Yorkton Terriers in Melville.

The regular season opens Friday, with the Kings hosting the Neepawa Titans at 7:30 p.m.

Following Friday’s home opener, the Kings and Titans will meet in Neepawa on Saturday in a rematch at 7:30 p.m.

Dauphin made one deal last week, sending Ben Hackl to his hometown Dryden Ice Dogs of the Superior International Junior Hockey League for future considerations.

Hackl had four goals and 20 points in 40 games last season, adding one goal and two assists in 14 playoff contests in helping the Kings win the Turnbull Cup.

Kings court:

Former Kings defenceman Scott Gillingham is one of 15 candidates running for mayor of Winnipeg. Gillingham was first elected to council in 2014 and was re-elected four years later.

He played for the Kings in the 1987-88 season, scoring five goals and adding 34 assists for 39 points in 45 games.

Dauphin’s Ray Baker skipped his Manitoba team to a gold medal at the 2022 Canada Senior Games, in Kamloops, Aug. 23 to 26.

Joined by Dwight Bottrell, Bob Scales and Keith Pottle, the Dauphin foursome went 5-1 in the round-robin, before winning their semifinal game and beating the host team, 8-1 in the final.

Baker said it was a long week for the team, playing eight games in a round-robin format.

“We were actually down a player for all of the week, because one of our players got injured early on. So we were playing with three,” he added. “It was a one-game-at-a-time thing and we made it through it all.”

The final, Baker said, was a great game and was closer than the score would indicate.

“Really, it was a question of whoever was fortunate enough to get the first deuce in the game. An opportunity came up and we decided to go and we went around a corner guard. We were fortunate to generate a deuce and after that, they were chasing us and we were able to capitalize on it,” he said.

Being a national champion is a good feeling, Baker said, remembering the games four years ago, when they went undefeated in the round-robin only to lose in the final and settle for silver.

“So it was pretty awesome to be able to get back there and play again and actually win both of the playoff games and get the gold. Yeah, it was cool,” he said.

Baker knew they would be contenders going into the competition.

“And we were playing well. We had a good team. But you never know. It was August. We haven’t thrown a lot of curling rocks for a while. And it took us a little while to settle in,” he said. “Once the week went on, we got stronger and stronger and we were probably a little more positive, as well, as we got closer to the end,” he said, adding he enjoyed his time in Kamloops, noting the ice conditions were fantastic.

“Probably the fastest curling ice I’ve ever played on.”

Ecole Macneill principal Monique Lefebvre welcomes students back to the first day of school, last Wednesday.

There was an air of excitement among students, staff and parents at the French immersion school in Dauphin, to be returning to a “normal” school environment, free from many of the public health restrictions which guided education over the last two years.

There will be 193 instructional days in the MVSD 2022-23 school year.