“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
— Psalm 119:105

The Minitonas First Baptist Church (MFBC) Bible Quizzers are gearing up for another fulfilling year of Bible Quizzing competition with the Canadian Midwest District (CMD).
“This year we will be studying the Gospel of John, written by the man self-described as ’the disciple whom Jesus loved’,” said MFBC Bible Quizzers Head Coach Karla Reader. “John tells an eye witness account of Jesus’ life and ministry on earth from the perspective of someone who was very close with Jesus.”
While the first practice of the season has been scheduled for Sept. 3 at 7 p.m., after the catastrophic flooding the region experienced this past June, the location of practice has yet to be determined.
“Like so many others that are in this position of loss, we are looking into a suitable place for the quizzing group to meet until the church is able to rebuild and restore the basement,” noted Reader.
Last Season Reflections
Part of the excitement for the new year also comes from the growth and success of last years’ program.
“This past season we saw our number of participants nearly double from our first year and then settle in with a dozen youth committed to the program,” said Reader, noting last year’s selection was 1 and 2 Corinthians.
In Bible Quizzing, three teams of 3-4 youths compete to answer questions in a quiz-style tournament, and while memorization is a key part of being successful, there is much more to quizzing.
“It is a team sport that includes strategy, team work, performing under pressure and positive comradery amongst all participants,” said Reader. “Similar to a player learning what position they play best in a sport; the quizzer learns their strengths in which question types they excel at and will strive to answer those questions.”
While maintaining weekly practices, the youth had a number of opportunities to compete against other teams.
“They competed in three local one-day meets,” said Reader, indicating they travelled to Yorkton, Sask, and Humboldt, Sask. in the fall, while the group hosted an event in the spring. “Hosting our own small meet the week before traveling for finals served a two-fold purpose. Not all our quizzers were able to travel to finals and this local meet served as a great end of year opportunity to compete on all the material memorized throughout the year. For those going to finals, it was a full day of extra practice that sharpened their skills.”
However, the meet wasn’t just all about competition.
“Several of our youth led everyone in a time of worship,” said Reader. “They (also) got to enjoy time together with the other youth doing activities and games.”
During the winter, the group participated in two district Bible quizzing meets, the first in Saskatoon, Sask. and another in Winkler.
“The weekend kicks off with quizzing on Friday night and then all day Saturday,” said Reader. “Once the quizzing is done, the youth take part in some kind of activity or group event such as roller-skating, go carts, or glow stick capture the flag. By Saturday evening, it’s time for awards and a time of praise and worship with a guest speaker to finish off the service.”
At CMD Bible Quizzing district meets, statistics are kept for teams as well as individual quizzers.
“These district meets bring in approximately 50 teams with close to 200 youth competing,” said Reader.
“At the second district meet, one of the MFBC Bible Quizzer teams consisting of Kenya Thiessen, Chloe McKay and Mark Reger brought home the first-place trophy for the B-Division, while Mark also received a second-place trophy for his individual standings in the B-Division.”
To end the season, quizzers travelled to the CMD Finals, held at Millar College of the Bible in Pambrun, Sask.
“Both our teams narrowly missed getting to the medal round pulling off fourth and sixth places in the A-Con division,” stated Reader. “Kenya Thiessen received third place for her individual standings in the A-Con division.”
MFBC Bible Quizzer Caleb Reader reflected on the past events and the experience of competing.
“At a quiz meet, you are never bored and you are never left out,” he said. “As you are quizzing, your brain is going so hard, you are pouring sweat, just focused in. The cool thing about going to meets is that you make new friends because you get billeted with families within the quizzing community.”
A Challenge Conquered
At the start of each program year students choose which club within the program they would like to participate in – which correlates to the number of verses memorized through the year, 150 verses, 300 verses, or total material.
After memorizing the entirety of 1 and 2 Corinthians - a total of 694 verses - Grade 8 student Kenya Thiessen took on the challenge for Total Material.
“All the verses from 1 and 2 Corinthians are put into a bag and shook up, then 45 are pulled out. I had to successfully quote 15 verses, and then the first four words of (each verse were) given to me for the rest of the 45. And I did that,” said Kenya Thiessen.
What kind of time does it take to learn and memorize so many verses?
“I didn’t commit that much (time), but if you really want to, 20 minutes a day,” she said, noting there were challenges. “When there is 40 verses a week (that is the hardest part), just learning 40 verses.”
“I was blissfully unaware that it was (almost) 700 verses.”
However, receiving her ribbon during the recognition ceremony at the CMD Finals made it all worth it.
“Being a second-year quizzer, it was great to be included with these really good quizzers from the top that have been quizzing for five years,” she said.
Competing in the Club 300 Challenge, Joshua Reader, Mark Reger, and Chloe McKay successfully earned their ribbons after memorizing 300 verses.
“We had to quote 10 verses and we had to finish 20 verses (after getting the first four words),” said Joshua Reader.
For the trio, the achievement came with plenty of practice in perseverance.
“Practicing them at home and then quoting them (each week at practice) was all challenging,” said Reger. “Sometime I have really bad weeks where I can’t memorize. (But) if you memorize them, then the quoting is going to be easy.”
“Finding the time to do it, was challenging,” said McKay. “On average it was 13 verses each week.”
“It gets easier as you go,” commented Joshua Reader. “The more you memorize, the easier it gets.”
And while it wasn’t part of Club 300, McKay also chose to add additional verses to her list, memorizing the entirety of Second Corinthians Chapter 13 as well.
“(I did it) just because at quiz meets I didn’t want to jump on a question and then have it be a quote, and a full content for 2 Corinthians Chapter 13,” she said, explaining the entirety of 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 was included in Club 300. “So, I just decided to learn 21 verses that week.”
Completing the Club 150 Challenge of memorizing 150 verses, William Hunt, Simea Kiefer, and Gylfa Machan successfully quoted five and finished the verse for ten of the fifteen randomly drawn selections.
“It was hard to quote,” said Kiefer. “Some verses I’m not quite good at (and sometimes) you just forget it, but in the end I got it done.”
“For me (the hardest part) was probably matching the verses to the reference,” said Machan.
Overall, each of the youths expressed a positive takeaway from another year participating in the program.
“The quiz meets are really cool (to attend) and it’s cool that you have a chance to earn a prize after quoting each week’s (verses during practices),” said Hunt. “It’s just good to memorize God’s word.”
“For me, it’s being with my friends and earning (the ribbon) because I was proud I was able to earn so many things based on God’s word,” said Machan. “I feel like it strengthens my relationship the more and more I do this.”
“The more I’m in it, every single quiz meet (we attend) I’m just more comfortable with hanging out with people (and making) more friends,” said Joshua Reader.
“Something we hear over and over from graduates is that it is such a great family. Nobody leaves you out. It’s completely different than other sports, they just do things a little differently.”
“People are friendly, even though it’s competitive,” agreed Thiessen.
“It’s awesome,” said Reger.
While the Minitonas First Baptist Church is the host for the group, they also presently have members from Durban’s Valley Evangelical Covenant Church participating, and welcome all youth from within the Valley from Grade 6-12 who are interested in this program based on Bible memorizing and competition.
For more information on the program check out www.cmdbiblequizzing.org or contact MFBC Bible Quizzers Head Coach Karla Reader at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Swan River Centennial Arena is back down to frozen temperatures and skates hitting the ice surface this week. Pictured here, pucks dot the tops of the freshly laid decals as they adhere in place. See more on A9

The Pas has been home to quite a few spectacular murals and now another one has taken up residence on a local community organization’s building. The Pas Friendship Centre has a new look with a mural done by a local artist.
“We wanted to do something like this on the building for years,” said The Pas Friendship Centre Executive Director Rhoda Beardy. “There’s been nothing Indigenous on The Pas Friendship Centre Building. I felt we had to be more visible in the community.
“I used to work as the Cultural Assistant here at The Pas Friendship Centre and was doing that since 1999, before becoming the Executive Director. Through those years, I felt there was a sense of spirituality at The Pas Friendship Centre that did not grab enough of the community’s attention. I wanted something to do that.

Dauphin will have an emergency room department by Labour Day, said Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who made the announcement, last week after touring the Dauphin Regional Health Centre.
“We know that everyone in the community wants the emergency department services back. And that includes the doctors and the nurses, who have been very understanding and very flexible,” Kinew said.
The existing emergency room, Kinew added, will be a big project to get back up and running, knowing people need such a facility close to home.
“So we’re going to set up a temporary facility to deliver that by Labour Day. In the coming weeks you should start to see a lot of activity on site as it starts to take place,” he said.
“And it’s part of the bigger picture, meeting the health care needs of people in Dauphin and the surrounding areas in the Parkland, as well as getting this facility back up and running again.”
The temporary ER will be located on the hospital grounds, although the exact location has yet to be determined.
With the design and details still being worked on, the cost of setting up the temporary ER is still unknown.
Kinew stated they will look at moving other hospital services to other locations within the city. He credits the work of those involved in getting diagnostic services set up in the Provincial Building.
“I think the folks that brought the diagnostics to the Provincial Building did a great job. I’m very appreciative of that. And I think that shows that we can be creative and flexible in meeting people’s health care needs,” he said.
Local physicians, Kinew stated, have been clear about the services they need for the facility to be a fully functioning ER. The next step will be trying to locate as many of those needs as possible.
“You might see a few other locations getting pulled in, as well,” he said.
“And nurses have been also very patient and understanding. We want them to work close to home. Part of this is making sure that those nurses who do need to travel, that we’re going to make sure to the health authority that they’ve got to meet their needs.
“This is not business as usual. We’ve got to support staff, including nurses through this challenging time.”
The challenge now, Kinew said, is to recreate what was in the hospital into a new temporary ER.
“So that, if you show up after Labour Day, you’ll be able to get the doctor to take a look at you, the nurse to assess your vitals, the scans and other tests that you might need and then, of course, whatever treatments. All within a facility that would be up to the highest standard that you expect,” he said.
“It’s pretty big job, but I’m very encouraged by the teamwork and the creativity that we’re seeing from health care experts, engineers, the construction folks, the restoration folks, everybody who is coming together to work on this.”
Kinew toured the hospital, Aug. 14, and saw the damage first hand.
“The flooding was terrible. Huge damage. I think being on site extinguished the last hopes that I had that we could get back into the main building by Labour Day for emergency services,” he said.
“Labour Day has been our internal target and we were talking about how do you get back in there? But once you see condition of the basement and how much electrical and mechanical equipment is damaged, you start to realize how big this project is.”
That said, the needs of the people of Dauphin to get an emergency department, Kinew said, is just as strong, just as concrete as the impact from the hospital.
“Seeing it first hand meant that we had to say, ‘okay, those contingency plans about a temporary facility for an emergency department, that’s the way we’ve got to go. We’ve got to lean into that now.’ So I think that was the big take away from the walk through that we did,” he said.
“Plus the appreciation for all the work that the restoration folks are doing. It’s just a huge job.”
Kinew hopes as people see the work being done to get the temporary ER set up, they will start to feel reassured that Dauphin will have ER services back by Labour Day.

Years of neglect and missed opportunities to improve the country’s criminal justice system under successive Liberal governments has left Canadians vulnerable, Larry Brock told a small crowd assembled at a townhall gathering in Dauphin, Aug. 18.
The Brantford-Brant South Conservative Party of Canada member of Parliament joined local Riding Mountain MP Dan Mazier at Aspen Lodge for the information evening.
“Crime is increasing and it’s more profitable for low risk, bigger reward now these days,” Mazier said in introducing Broack, who was a longtime Crown attorney before entering politics.
“Criminals know we’re very vulnerable. We’re by ourselves at night, especially on rural properties. There’s no one around, so we’re easy to pick off.
“Things are happening here and and this is why I thought it was a pretty important reason to have a a townhall on on crime.”
Political ideology, Brock began, has nothing to do with a desire for community safety. Regardless of of their political bent, he stressed every Canadian wants to live free of fear about home invasions, property thefts, or the safety of their children at playgrounds and community centres.
“That is the reality of most Canadians right now after 11 years of failed criminal justice policy,” Brock said, adding Dauphin is a bit of an outlyer in that regard, the result of the good work of local police and Crown attorneys, who he had the opportunity to speak with.
“I was actually impressed with the things that they are doing to ensure that you are raising your families and living in a peaceful neighbourhood. Now, we’re all going to have some issues . . . but of all the police services I have spoken to across this country and crown attorneys I’ve spoken to across this country, I think you can take credit for the hard work that those two institutions are doing to keep you safe. Because it’s not the case in many places.”
Canadians deserve a federal government which does everything possibile to keep them safe, which Brock said is a federal government’s overarching priority. But that has not been happening.
“Notwithstanding that for the last five years, they have heard an earful from your premier, Mr. Kinew, from your MP, from MLAs, from mayors of Manitoba, other premers across the country and provinces and territories, police chiefs, presidents of police unions and victim advocacy groups that have been coming to Ottawa consistently over the last five years asking the government to do their number one job,” he said.
“Regardless of who’s in government, that is their primary responsibility.”
Recent Statistics Canada data shows that crime is decreasing overall, but when you take a closer look at the numbers, Brock said serious and violent crimes are actually on the rise.
“While the national picture may say we’re becoming a more safer country, when you take a look at the actual specific offenses, it paints a different picture,” he said.
“Violent crime is still on the rise. In Dauphin, according to your Crown attorney, homicides are exploding in Dauphin, attempted murders are exploding in Dauphin, weapon offenses, gun offenses are exploding in Dauphin.”
It is well known that most criminal offenses are committed by a small number of prolific offenders, who are continually treated with kid gloves and easily get released on bail with very few conditions, Brock said.
“Then ultimately breaches those conditions, doesn’t live up to their promise, and ultimately gets sentenced and receives a sweetheart sentence,” he said
“That’s what’s happening. I’m hearing from victims, I’m hearing from police officers that that is what’s happening and that’s why we are losing trust and confidence.”
The problems, Brock maintains, began when Justin Trudeau rose to power and gutted a “tough on crime” system developed under Stephen Harper.
“His mandate was law and order. He introduced a whole host of changes to the Criminal Code of Canada to make us a safer country. In fact, our crime rate was at its lowest in this country under his leadership in 2015,” Brock said.
Then along came Trudeau, Brock said, who oversaw, in his estimation, the most fundamental shift ever in Canada’s criminal justice system.
Brock said Trudeau ushered in the “prinicple of restraint” through Bill C-75, which guided judges to “release the accused at the earliest opportunity on the least restrictive conditions.” That was followed by the elimination of mandatory minimum senternces.
This year, Bill-C14, Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, which came into force last month further eroded the system, despite Opposition efforts to improve the legislation.
“We had close to 35 amendments to Bill C-14 to make it stronger, to make it better, to make it more responsive to make it better, to provide better protections for victims and communities, and it was shot down by the Liberal government,” Brock said.
“I fought like hell, as did Dan, as did our entire party to warn the government.”
While effecting change is difficult in opposition role, Brock said, those improvements will be part of a comprehensive justice strategy when the CPCforms government.
“When we form government, Pierre Poilievre has a plan, a plan that I’m working on right now in terms of policy ideas to implement as a campaign pledge when it comes to criminal justice issues. He’s got a plan for the first 30 days, the first six months, the first year of implementing the suite of changes,” Brock said.
“In fact, what he said very clearly in the 2025 campaign is if he was granted the privilege of being the prime minister of our country, this country would see the biggest sweep of changes that this country has ever seen.
“We need an overhaul. We need a paradigm shift that puts community safety and victims first and not accused. Our job is to ensure that the accused have a fair trial. Our job is not to make it simpler and easy for them to ply their trade and to terrorize communities across this country. That is our plan.”

The annual Tamarack Golf Tournament was held at the Clear Lake Golf Course, last week, with several Parkland golfers taking part.
John Tomlinson lost his match in the men’s fifth flight, dropping him to the consolation draw, where he went on a run, winning three straight matches to win the fifth flight consolation.
Scott McCallum and Riese Gaber won the men’s scramble championship flight, winning four matches in the process.
Dale Murray of Gilbert Plains won three straight matches to win the men’s masters championship flight.
After he was eliminated in the junior fourth flight finals, Brier Odut went on to win the consolation draw.
Christian Laughland qualified for the championship flight after the qualifying rounds, before losing his opening match, dropping him to the consolation bracket, where he was eliminated in the quarterfinal.
Former Dauphinite Jason Yates qualified for the men’s second flight, where he lost his opening match, before he was eliminated in the consolation quarterfinals.
In the men’s fourth flight, Tyler Carefoot lost his opening match, then lost in the consolation quarterfinals.
James Stoesz went head-to-head with Robert Bouchard in the men’s fifth flight, with Stoesz coming out on top. He then made it to the quarterfinals and was eliminated.
Bouchard lost in the consolation quarterfinals.
Competing in the men’s sixth flight, Lawson Yates lost his Round of 16 match and went on to win the consolation, with three straight victories.
Bart Michaleski opened the sixth flight with a win and reached the semifinals before he was eliminated.
Gerald Thiessen won his opening match of the sixth flight, before he was eliminated.
Also in the sixth flight, Noah Wiens lost his opening match to drop to the consolation, where he lost in the quarterfinals.
Anthony Wiens lost in the Round of 16 in the seventh flight. He then won his consolation quarterfinal match, before losing in the semifinals.
After losing in the Round of 16 in the eighth flight, Luke Michaleski won the consolation quarterfinal match before he was eliminated in the semifinal.
Mark Odut and Lance Delamare, as well as Steve Desroches and Jake Wiens lost in the men’s scramble championship flight’s Round of 16, before they were eliminated in the quarterfinals of the consolation bracket.
In the men’s scramble first flight, Mike Sparrow and Jerron Kyle won their opening match, before losing to former Dauphin Kings Brett Piper and Brendan Arnold in the quarterfinals.
In the men’s scramble second flight, Dave Campbell and Chris Todoruk were knocked to the consolation draw, where they won their first match before they were eliminated.
In the men’s scramble third flight, Brad Carefoot and Perry Farnsworth won their opening match, before they were knocked out of contention in the quarterfinals.
Dean Cooley, competing in the masters third flight, lost in the quarterfinals and dropped his semifinal match on the consolation draw.
Dean Murray of Gilbert Plains lost his opening match of the senior men’s championship flight, before losing in the consolation final.
Chris Carefoot and Kathy Farnsworth were eliminated after losing their match in the ladies scramble first flight quarterfinals and consolation semifinals.
Cash McCallum, competing in the junior championship flight, lost his first quarterfinal match, before he was eliminated in the consolation semifinal.
Ethan Zalischuk reached the final of the junior first flight before bowing out.

The Parkland Mavericks’ game against the Winnipeg Assassins, scheduled for Saturday in Dauphin, was cancelled after the Winnipeg squad forfeited the game.
Mavericks captain Jordan Campbell said it was disappointing the game was cancelled.
“We were getting the field ready. We spent some money on the paint. Guys took time off of work making sure they were available. And, yeah, a lot of people were pretty upset. But it happens,” he said.
Campbell said the relationship between the Assassins and the Mavericks has always been a good one and he expects it to be a one-off event.
“I know that they played Thursday and they had 30 guys and they only had nine for the Saturday game,” he added.
Now the Mavericks will shift their focus to their next game, Saturday in Winnipeg against the Wasps.
The Mavericks want to play as many games as possible to be fine-tuned for the playoffs and they will be ready to go against the Wasps.
“We’ll just have to work on some more things and maybe have a little intrasquad game this week,” Campbell said.
Campbell is looking forward to the final two road games as they get ready for the playoffs.
“The boys are excited. We want to have the chance to go to Winnipeg and beat up on some Winnipeg teams,” he said.
The final game of the regular season will take place, Sept. 12, when the Mavericks play the Winnipeg Wombats.

By Terrie Welwood
Russell Banner

“When I see a stray dog arrive at my property scared, hungry, and simply looking for someone to care, I understand that feeling. In many ways, I was there once too. Resurrection Rescue is my way of making sure that neither people nor animals have to face that darkness alone.”
IED: A homemade or unconventional bomb.
It’s an abbreviation that comes up a few times as Steve Stoesz tells the story of his time in the military. And his reasons for starting up Resurrection Rescue and their upcoming Mud for Mutts fundraiser on August 29 and 30.
That story is as interesting as it is important, in many different ways. We’ll share some of it here.
Steve recalls that his first IED experience was on May 25, 2008.
“It was a suicide vehicle that detonated right beside our LAV,” he remembers, adding that he was the gunner standing in the turret, looking directly toward the explosion.
“Up until that moment, the idea that I could be wounded or killed overseas had crossed my mind, but after that blast it became a physical reality. Everything changed.”
Before that day, he said, as the fighting season had not really started, their tour had been relatively quiet.
“The Taliban typically fought during the summer months when the green foliage provided cover. After that day, it was like someone flipped a switch. Gun battles became a daily occurrence across the area we were operating in.”
The first firefight, he said, it hit him hard.
“Two Afghan National Army soldiers fighting alongside us were shot. While our medic treated them, we provided security as rounds cracked past us, some coming frighteningly close. Watching the damage those bullets caused just behind us while hearing them fly all around was a sobering experience. It drove home just how quickly life could change.”
As the tour continued, there were countless gun battles, mortar attacks, and rocket attacks. Then, on July 4, Stoesz hit a second IED.

To read the whole story, pick up a copy of this week's Russell Banner and turn to pages 1 and 2.

The Parkland Chamber of Commerce has set a new date for its Street Fair.
The annual event originally scheduled for July 30, will now be held, Sept. 18, at CN Park and along 1st Avenue NW.
With a lot going on in September with Culture Days just starting, Chamber executive director Kamryn Winters said competing with different events on weekends is not something the Chamber would like to do.
“So the Friday made the most sense for the Chamber to put it on. The issue with kids being in school that day is something that we’re aware of,” she said.
“We’re hoping to have more day care kid-friendly activities during the day and then keep the kid zone open later into the night so that kids that are in school can still come to the street fair after school or on their lunch hour if they’re in high school and just enjoy the street fair into the night.”
With the Dauphin Kings playing their home opener the next night, Winters also wanted to tie the street fair in with that.
“We ideally wanted to do something like a food truck war with the Kings for their home opener. A tailgate party on the Saturday. We even extended an invite to our vendors from the street fair to stay for a second day and come to the tailgate party,” she said.
“Hopefully, we get some taking that. We really just wanted to promote a whole weekend of activities. There’s a lot of Chamber members that are doing things over the weekend.”
The Chamber is now looking for vendors who want to set up a booth at the street fair, as well as volunteers to help set up and tear down.
Anyone interested can visit the Chamber’s website at parklandchamber.ca.
Winters is looking forward to a successful street fair.
“I’m hoping that everybody comes out to enjoy the street fair in fall fashion,” she said.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew announced Monday emergency department services will be restored at the Dauphin Regional Health Centre as a temporary facility by Labour Day.
Kinew made the announcement via a video on Facebook, adding the facility will provide the high quality services expected by Parkland residents.
Prairie Mountain Health CEO Treena Slate announced last week cleanup at the Dauphin Regional Health Centre (DRHC) is almost done and work is now set to begin the restore the facility.
“Since July 1 and the complete evacuation of DRHC, Prairie Mountain Health and Shared Health teams, along with their community and government partners, have worked together to make significant progress on restoring community-based services as close to Dauphin as possible,” she stated.
“Now that cleaning work is mostly complete in the flooded-out areas within the DRHC, they are now in the ‘restoration and rebuild phase’ of the project, with procurement of supplies and equipment underway.”
Additional progress on services to date includes:
• A new temporary Shared Health Diagnostic Patient Service Centre is located in the Provincial Building, Level 1, Room 111, 27 Second Avenue Southwest in Dauphin.
Services provided include lab, x-ray, EKG and Holter monitoring from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Since its opening on Aug. 7, the temporary Shared Health Diagnostic Patient Service Centre has served over 200 patients.
• The Ste. Rose Emergency Department (ED) continues to be staffed to provide ED services 24 hours a day, seven days a week to support the needs of Dauphin and area residents.
The regular staffing complement includes nursing staff trained in obstetrical care and staff to support mental health and addictions.
• The Grandview Emergency Department continues to be open seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• An outpatient treatment clinic is open in the Community Health Services building, which is attached to the hospital.
• The Palliative Care Program will be based out of the Dauphin Personal Care Home starting, Aug. 24.
See next week’s Dauphin Herald for more on the restoration..