Healing and Wellness Counsellor

Dispensary

Prairie Mountain Health (PMH) has recruited eight new physicians to the region through the Medical Licensure Program for International Medical Graduates (MLPIMG).

The recruitments were made in collaboration with the Province, Shared Health and community partners. The MLPIMG Program assists foreign-trained doctors in obtaining their medical license to be able to practice as a family physician in Manitoba.

“During the past year, the region sponsored eight physicians to participate in the MLPIMG program” said PMH CEO Treena Slate.

“After much consideration, physicians that successfully graduated from the program were placed at various sites within PMH communities that require additional sufficient physician resources.”

The newly-recruited physicians are Dr. Uche Adediji, Dr. Toyin Oluwatuyi and Dr. Oghenekevwe Ekrebe in Swan River, Dr. Louis Eleche in Neepawa, Dr. Anahita Yousefiadib and Dr. Zoia Khattak in Roblin,  Dr. Sylvia Oranika in Virden and Dr. Rilwan Azeez in Souris.

In return for regional sponsorship, MLPIMG doctors agree to practice in their respective communities for four years.

The placements come on the heels of five MLPIMG physicians placed in the communities of Deloraine, Grandview, Russell, Ste. Rose and Virden in 2024 and six placed in Glenboro, Hamiota, Russell, Swan River and Virden in 2023.

During the next rotation, which is already underway, PMH is sponsoring seven  physicians who commenced their training in June. If successful, they will be able to commence practice in the health region next fall.

Manitoba’s Auditor General, Tyson Shtykalo, released a report late last week examining allegations of wrongdoing involving several of the province’s municipalities, including two in the Parkland.

The report confirmed allegations that a former head of council at the Municipality of Ethelbert acted unilaterally, violating governance norms and conflict-of-interest rules.

Shtykalo indicated documentation provided by the municipality showed several instances of improper governance by the person in question, most of which involved circumventing the policies and procedures of the municipality and The Municipal Act.

The report included three examples:

• The former head of council purchased a vehicle through an online auction from Alberta, then travelled there to pick it up. The individual was reimbursed for their travel without any knowledge or approval of council.
• When the municipality offered surplus property for tender, the former head of council’s son was one of the bidders. Conflict of interest rules would require that the former head of council excuse himself from all discussions and council decisions of the sale. The former head of council refused to excuse himself from the discussion. Ultimately, the property was sold to his son.
• The former head of council ordered water and sewer lines for a project on his own instead of involving Public Works. He ordered the wrong size lines, resulting in an expense of several thousand dollars.

In another investigation, allegations that the Municipality of Swan Valley West purchased fire trucks without tendering, violating the municipality’s purchasing policy, were examined.

Shtykalo concluded the allegations were partially confirmed as two of the three fire trucks were not purchased in accordance with the Municipality’s purchasing policy. Additionally, one of the fire trucks was purchased without a council resolution until several months after the purchase.

The main focus of the report, requested by the Minister of Finance under Section 16 of The Auditor General Act, a cybersecurity incident involving the Municipality of Westlake-Gladstone.

Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

Donna Davidson and Shelley Love shot a 75 to win the championship flight at the Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy Ladies Open Two-person Scramble, Saturday, at the Dauphin Lake Golf Club.

Three shots behind the winning duo was the team of Lane Prokopowich and Linda Kitching, while Marilyn Schwitzer and Pearl Maksymetz were third after shooting an 82.

Ally Warkentin and Kayla Hagenson were fourth after carding an 83 and Colleen Johnson and Verna Vanrobaeys shot an 86 to finish fifth.

Deannie Boraskavich and Noella Kilimnik won the first flight on a countback over Barb Hrehirchuk and Lori Mathieson after both teams finished with a 90.

In third place were Melissa MacQuarrie and Nadine Soloway, while fourth place went to Jill Watt and Lois Bednarski on a countback after they tied with Karen Todorian and Morgan Kropelnicki with a 92.

A 95 put Donna Campbell and Marie Sawyer in first place in the second flight, one shot ahead of runners-up Colette Robinson and Terri Rampton.

In third place, with a 97, were Amber Tarrant and Beth Tarrant and in fourth place, with a 99, were Evelyn Beyette and Jean Geiser. Eleanor Snitka and Tesse Memme were fifth with an even 100.

The Canadian Red Cross response to 2025 wildfires is the largest  operation in the organization’s recent history.

Since May, the Red Cross has been providing humanitarian assistance to people impacted by wildfires across the country with operations in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada, surpassing operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year’s wildfire response includes operating a mega-congregate shelter with capacity for more than 3,000 people, deploying 1,200 personnel, registering 52,000 people, securing 815 flights for 10,000 people, and securing 200,000 hotel nights.

Data collected from this year’s wildfire season reveals a new threshold for both the size and complexity of response operations in Canada, and it is critical to prepare for future events, the organization said in a press release.

The Red Cross recommends the need for:

• strengthened capacity to respond to all-hazard events in Canada;
• a permanent investment in a civilian operational response capacity such as that of the Red Cross Humanitarian Workforce; and
• enhanced co-ordination across government and whole-of-society response actors.

This year’s rise in response operations demonstrates a year-over-year trend in rising emergencies across Canada.

Continued investments in pan-Canadian civilian response capacity, such as those made possible through the Government of Canada’s humanitarian workforce program, are critical to maintaining the response capacity needed to respond to rising events and must be maintained.

“We have reached a critical tipping point this response season, with more than 1,200 Red Cross personnel deployed to support fire operations in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Atlantic Canada. This represents the largest volume of domestic response operations in our modern history, with needs continuing to rise,” said Conrad Sauvé, Canadian Red Cross president and CEO.

“We continue to surge our response with specialized expertise to meet rising demands. Continued investment in our Civilian Response capacity is critical as we can no longer treat these events as exceptional.”

Quick facts

During the wildfire response, the Red Cross:

• deployed 1,200 personnel to support response operations –including 630 volunteer deployments contributing more than 88,000 volunteer hours;
• secured 815 flights carrying more than 10,000 passengers requiring evacuation from their communities;
• operated 45 reception sites across four provinces; and
• operated 11 congregate shelters, including a mega-shelter with capacity for more than 3,000 people in Winnipeg.

Minegoziibe Anishinabe (Pine Creek) hosted a four-person scramble golf tournament, Friday at the Dauphin Lake Golf Club.

The team of Peter Genaille, Stacy Genaille, Faron Genaille and Tristan Genaille won the championship flight, finishing with a 51.

In second place was the team of Darcy Malcolm, Rene Hunter Jr., J.C. Houle and Eric P., with a score of 54. One shot back in third place were Darryl Lacquette, Elvis Nepinak, Tyler Lacquette and Jose Lacquette.

Winners of the first flight on a countback, with a score of 59, were Marvin Traverse, Koby Shorting, Faron Shorting and Darren Summer. In second place was John North, Braden North, Cody North and Johnny North.

Larry Nepinak Jr., Earl Thompson, Ian Moosetail and Brent Moosetail were third with a 60.

The second flight was won by Nelson Kematch, Sean Cook, A.J. Cook and Ivan C., finishing with a 62. Calvin Campeau, Nelson Leaske, Able Gott and Dennis Chartrand were awarded second place on a countback over John Sinclair, Lou Shorting, Albert Shorting and Kyle Sinclair as both teams shot a 63.

Bert Mekish, Pat Mekish, Stacey Mekish and Joseph Nepinak won the third flight on a countback, shooting a 65, the same score as runners-up Nelson Nepinak,  Henry Nepinak, Fred Nepinak and Larry Nepinak Sr.

In third place were Chief Derek Nepinak, Keewatin Nepinak, councillor Kevin McKay and Shawn Woods.

Closest-to-the-pin winners were Nelson Leaske on no. 2, Dave Contois on no. 6, Kyle Sinclair on no. 9, Faron Genaille on no. 11 and Johnny North on no. 14.

Skins winners were John North, Darryl Lacquette, Peter Genaille and Darcy Malcolm, while Jeffery Roulette won the longest drive contest, Lou Shorting won the putting contest and Dayce Roulette won the shoot-out.

The Dauphin Kings’ top scorer from the last two seasons will take his talent to the Niagara University Purple Eagles of the American Collegiate Hockey Association, a Division 1 school.

Cayden Glover joined the Kings early in the 2023-24 season from the Western Hockey League’s Prince George Cougars.

He led the team with 48 points in 50 games, including 20 goals. This season, Glover led the Kings with 33 goals and 52 points in only 38 games, missing the final six weeks with an injury.

The Kings continue recruiting for next season, with Quebec City’s Emrick Gagnon being the latest player to sign a letter of intent.

Gagnon played for Nichols School in the United States High School Preparatory, where the 19-year-old scored 19 goals and added 29 assists for 48 points in 66 games.

Registration is now open for the Kings’ development camp, which runs, Aug. 25 to 28, for ages seven and up.

Instructors will include former Kings Aidan Brook, Carson Cherepak, Brayden Dube, Riese Gaber, Nakodan Greyeyes, Grady Hobbs, Owen Wareham and Cole Sheffield, as well as current players and coaches.

Battle for the Belts

Spots are still open for this year’s Battle for the Belts.

The sixth annual two-person scramble is set to return, July 20, at the Gilbert Plains Country Club and will feature a $10,000 hole-in-one prize.

The entry fee is $160 and must be prepaid by contacting the Gilbert Plains Country Club at 204-548-3030, Dan at 204-572-7552, or Chris at 204-648-7989.

There will be equal flights, closest-to-the-pin contests, a meal and prizes, with all proceeds going to improvements at the golf course.

Track provincials

cancelled

The Manitoba High School Athletic Association’s track and field provincials, scheduled for early June, were cancelled due to poor air quality as a result of the wildfires throughout the province.

There were athletes from Dauphin who were going for the first time, but also repeat athletes. Some of their ranked times for the 100-m were in the top eight and for the 400-m in the top four in the province.

The Rural Municipality of Dauphin council held its regular meeting, June 24.

Accounts and finances

Council approved 20 cheques, as well as payroll and online payments in the amount of $249,938.02.

Committee reports

Assistant CAO Tyral Solski informed council that Dauphin Recreation Services general manager Ryan Vanderheyden had responded to a question from the June 10 council meeting which he attended regarding the value of the assets at DRS.

When asked about the Association of Manitoba Municipalities June district meeting, Solski said it was a good meeting with only two resolutions discussed.

Transportation

Public Works foreman Ryan Jenkins reported the graders were out maintaining the roads.

The gravel program is progressing with trucks hauling out of the Chute Pit and Tardiff Pit.

Dust control has been applied to all ratepayer applicants.

Crews have been installing approaches with some having been completed.

Sign maintenance is ongoing with damage being done by big equipment  to one of the largeRM of Dauphin signs.

Crews have also been out with the brusher, cleaning up some road allowances for access to property and visibility issues.

Crews will start to mow some main roads as part of the summer road maintenance program.

There was another collapsed culvert, which crews have repaired.

Drainage

Crews were out repairing and replacing culvert markers as part of the spring ditch clearing maintenance.

More surveys for drainage licensing were done as time allowed and crews were moving pipes to more locations.

Meetings

Councillor Ken Plustwa volunteered at the Inter-Mountain Watershed District water festival in Ethelbert. He also attended interview sfor the CAO position and an IMWD board meeting in Ste. Rose, which were also attended by councillor Ken Shewchuk, who also attended a Dauphin and District Handivan Association meeting.

Councillor Ron Ryz attended a Riverside Cemetery Board meeting, as well as the CAO interview meetings and the June AMM District meeting.

CAO hired

The RM of Dauphin has hired Grady Stephenson as the new CAO, effective, July 28.

Grass cutting

Upon reviewing proposals for grass cutting municipal lands, council approved the proposal submitted by Conquest Property Management.

Ste. Rose RCMP have arrested three men in connection with multiple incidents.

On June 20, Ste. Rose du Lac RCMP received a report of an abandoned pickup truck located on PR 278, near Road 127N, in the RM of Alonsa.

The vehicle had been stolen on June 13 and was reportedly driving erratically in and around the Ebb and Flow First Nation earlier in the evening. Information was also received that the suspects may be armed.

Officers responded and while enroute, received another call stating that several men had exited from the vehicle and ran into the woods, heading towards the lake.

With the assistance of officers from Dauphin, Amaranth, Winnipegosis, Police Dog Services and RCMP Remotely Piloted Aircraft System, two suspects were tracked for nearly four kilometres by Police Service Dog Marook in the wooded area before being located and arrested without incident.

Later that morning, police received information that a third suspect, involved with the stolen vehicle earlier in the morning, was now walking along Kinosota Road.

Officers attended to the area and located the 28-year-old man who was arrested without incident, however, once taken into custody, began to utter threats towards the officers and damaged the police vehicle.

RCMP have charged Mathew Kakewash, 31, Shawn Francoeur, 26, and Brady McKay, 28, with numerous offences including uttering threats, possession of property obtained by crime, flight from police and operating a conveyance in a dangerous manner.

All three were remanded in custody.