A Dauphin curler has earned a spot at the International University Sports Federation world games, in Torino, Italy, Jan. 13 to 23, 2025.

Carter Williamson, helped his University of Regina Cougars team qualify for nationals at the Canada West championships, with six teams competing for one of two spots at nationals.

The event was a round-robin format with each team playing five games, with the top two teams advancing to nationals, which were held in Frederiction, NB, Mar. 12 to 16.

The Cougars, which consists of skip Joshua Bryden, third Adam Bukurak, lead Ryan Grabarczyk and fifth Ayden Whittmire, drew the top-ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears on the first day of the competition, losing 7-6 in 10 ends.

It was Regina’s only loss of the round-robin event, with Williamson stating the team went on a winning streak after their loss to the Golden Bears.

“We ended that weekend with pretty high spirits,” he said.

At nationals, the Cougars finished the round-robin with a 4-3 record, qualifying for playoffs, where they got as measure of revenge against the Golden Bears, beating them 7-5 in the semifinals.

The Golden Bears had finished first after the round-robin, with a 6-1 record.

In the final, the Cougars beat Dalhousie University, 8-5, to claim the national title and earn a berth at worlds, next January.

Winning nationals, Williamson said, means everything to him.

“It’s the reason why we curl, is to be called Team Canada one day. It’s the reason my mom and I drove how many hours looking through the windshield just to go to some curling rink in the middle of nowhere just to watch me get absolutely killed out there,” he said. “It’s why we train. It’s why we’re out on the ice every day. All my teammates love the game. So do I. And we’re racing each other to the rink every day it feels like. It’s pretty special.”

The worlds, Williamson said, are basically the university Olympic games. He is looking forward to the trip and so is his mom Jody Romanow, who he said is already looking at flights to book.

Given how well Canada does on the international stage, Williamson is confident in the team’s chances, but he also recognizes that there will also be some pressure on the team to do well.

“It’s a double edged sword, too. Everyone is going to be looking towards us, like, ‘oh that’s Team Canada.’ I curl with Josh and Adam in men’s and we just go there to have fun. That’s really all we do. We show up and we give it our all, but we do it with a smile on our face,” he said. “It really doesn’t matter who we’re playing, when we’re playing at all. It’s all the same four guys out there on the ice.”

The Roblin and District Chamber of Commerce has had an engaging past year with the creation of some new events in the community. A highlight has been the partnerships that were formed to host these new events.

“We had an exciting year,” said Roblin and District Chamber of Commerce office manager Lydia Steciuk. “We hosted a new pop-up craft show during the Rumble Show N Shine. We felt it would give family members another attraction besides the shows.

Find out when in this issue.

The North Western Marquette Festival (NWMF) hosted a wonderfully exciting day of adjudicated dance (March 12), a beautiful day of adjudicated piano and vocal (March 13) and then the weather turned frightful, school buses were cancelled and our planned day (March 14) of school choirs was rescheduled to March 21

With a lot of flexibility and co-operation from many people and organizations the unadjudicated NWMF Choir Fest was delightful.

More in this week’s Review.

The Manitoba government wants you to mark your calendar and start planning your getaway as reservations for campgrounds in provincial parks are set to open on April 8.

Environment minister Tracy Schmidt noted the government has taken steps to streamline the booking process “so Manitobans can reserve their favourite sites headache-free.”

Check out this week’s issue for more information.

Last week Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) held their OCN Youth Gathering over three days for for youth ages 12 to 30 to discuss and engage the Wahkotowin Tawastak, as part of developing new C92 legislation. Some keynote speakers and presenters were brought in to work with the youth and they were Scott Wabano, Jackie Traverse, Adam Beach, Brett Mooswa, Kairyn Potts and James Jones.
Scott Wabano has made a name for themselves as an award-winning fashion stylist and designer; creative director and content creator. Wabano grew up as a two-spirited Cree from the Mushkegowuk and Eeyou Istchee territories and has always had a passion for bringing Indigenous representation to the fashion industry.

Two talented artists from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) are earning international recognition for their work. Rhonda Head and Gabe Constant teamed up together to create a music video called Island Dreams, which represented not only an experience of being in another country, but gave the opportunity to showcase Indigenous people from that area as well.
“I went to Belize for Christmas two years ago, and it’s such an amazing country with beautiful lands and people,” said singer and songwriter Rhonda Head. “I was about seven days into my trip, when I was sitting in my room alone and all these images came to me of my trip. I grabbed a piece of paper and began writing about all the images that came to me. Before I knew it, I wrote a song.

Swan School of Dance held their annual recital last Wednesday (March 20) at the SVRSS gymnasium. Dancing to songs that related to the theme ‘Imagine...’ the performers put
on a spectacular show for the audience who filled the space.

A former Parkland resident has entered the world of publishing.

Chenise Puchailo joined forces with some friends who were writing short stories, which became Debut, the first book published by Spud Pub, an independent publishing company the group started.

“Everybody was writing their first drafts for submission. We had everything kind of hammered out,” she said, adding they were trying to decide how to get the book published.

Puchailo had met a publisher with At Bay Press at a fantasy sci-fi convention in Winnipeg. What followed was a two-hour conversation all about publishing and the ins and outs about it.

“Initially, my questions were about distribution, because we were just going to do the one print run or do it on Amazon,” she said.

Check out the full story in this week's Herald!

On Wednesday afternoon (March 20), the Swan Valley Fire Department (SVFD) was dispatched to a Vehicle Fire on Westwood Road behind Swan Valley Funeral Services. Upon arrival of Incident Command, a vehicle was observed to be fully involved. SVFD crews advanced one attack line to extinguish the fire. Shortly after the first call was cleared, a call came in for a rekindle to the same location. Upon arrival of SVFD units, a small smolder was observed in the box of the truck. The call was responded to in a non-emergency capacity. Crews advanced a trash line (short attack line for small fires and smoldering fires) and inundated the box with water. No injuries are reported.

The Parkland Chamber of Commerce hosted its appreciation lunch, Mar. 19, at the Watson Arts Centre.

The Chamber handed out its milestone achievement awards, recognizing membership tenures of five to 50 years.

Five years - Business Development Bank of Canada, Dawson Logistics Ltd., Duane McMaster CPA Inc., Gilbert Plains Municipality, Grandview Pharmacy, Habitat for Humanity Dauphin Chapter, Hot Shot Entertainment, Liquid Glamour, Mountain View School Division, SciMar Ltd., and Wiebe Building Solutions Ltd.

10 years - Magnetsigns Dauphin, Momotiuk Enterprises Ltd., Mullen Contracting Corp., Parkland Campus Kids Inc., RM of Lakeshore and Winnipegosis and District Residential Services Inc.

15 years - Boulevard Hotel, Dauphin Bible Camp, Dauphin Magical Horizons Daycare, Dauphin Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation, Lorray Manor, (Parkland Living Assisted) McDonalds, Nolan Farms, Seitter’s Construction, SYNC CPA Inc., and Tim-Br-Fab Industries.

20 years - Strilkiwski Contracting Ltd., and St. George’s Place.

25 years - Canadian Tire, Norwex Canada Inc., and Dauphin Lions Club.

30 years - Ready Mix of Dauphin TYM Ltd., and Dauphin’s Countryfest.

35 years - Irwin Law Office, Dauphin Chiropractic Centre and Baker Computers.

40 years - Steiner Plumbing and Heating Inc., Manitoba Public Insurance, Assiniboine Community College - Parkland Campus and Cruise Farms.

50 years - Fusion Credit Union, Dauphin Medical Clinic Inc., and Watson Arts Centre.

The next event hosted by the Parkland Chamber of Commerce will be the State of the District luncheon, Apr. 16.