After launching the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund with a $25,000 donation last year, Don Tarrant continued his strong support for the organization and the Ukrainian immigrants it sponsors with a further $25,000 gift last week.

When things began last March, Tarrant said the idea was that two or three families might come to the Parkland, fleeing the war in Ukraine.

That goal was realized quicky, he said, and the target was moved to 10 families. The fund is now sponsoring more than 30 families with more to come.

The group has scaled back its offer to new families but with the war now in its second year, more help is needed, Tarrant said.

“The fund still needs money to fulfill a commitment to the existing families, as well as to give some level of support to the new families arriving,” Tarrant said, explaining his motivation to make another substantial donation to the fund. “Probably the biggest component is the single mothers with children that are here. They’re going to need a bit more support beyond the 12 months. So it really was maybe geared towards shoring up the fund, as well as making sure that there is money coming in towards the unforeseen costs and helping these single mothers make it work going forward.”

The project has been a success, Tarrant said, with all of the newcomers expressing appreciation for the support and an affection for their new home. Most of the newcomers have found work and their children have settled nicely into school, Tarrant added.

“The people that are here are very, very happy to be here. They are setting down roots,” he said. “The very first ones that came in are actually making some purchases like vehicles and are looking to buy rather than rent housing. So I believe they are going to stay and I think that it’s a great use of the funds.”

And while the community has been good for the immigrants, the immigrants have been equally good for the community, Tarrant said.

“We’re looking at over 100 people that have come in. There’s places they just couldn’t fill jobs and the thing with that, business, when they can’t fill a job, then they look at starting to scale back hours. They look as possibly having to eventually shut down,” he said. “But if they start scaling back hours and people want to buy something, but they’re closed, they start to buy elsewhere out of Dauphin. So just the effect of having no people becomes very, very negative and snowballs.”

Tarrant encourages anyone who is able to continue to support the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund with a donation.

Two federal legislators were in Dauphin last week for a conversation about crime.

Specifically, Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Dan Mazier and Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo were in town to highlight two private member’s bills focused on bail reform.

“We’re going to have a conversation around bail reform, what that actually means and what we as legislators, as MPs can do and how Parliament works,” Mazier told the crowd before introducing Caputo, who is a member of the Standing Committee for Justice and Human Rights, as well as a former Crown prosecutor, parole officer and a former instructor at Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law.

“So he has a wealth of knowledge.”

Crime is a problem across the country, Caputo said, and there are no easy answers.

“I’ll tell you right now we can’t fix this overnight,” he said. “Sometimes when difficult things happen in the community, when we have matters that are unsustainable . . . when the toothpaste comes out of the tube it doesn’t go back in as quickly as it came out. This is a complex problem that we’re talking about today, so I’m not going to stand before you and put my integrity on the line by saying I have all the answers because I don’t.”

Violent crime has increased by 32 per cent since 2015, Caputo said, while gang-related murders have doubled in the same time frame. And while those kinds of crime have historically been associated with large urban centres, they are becoming more common in smaller communities such as Dauphin, Caputo said.

“And that makes it difficult because number one, we’re not used to it, but number two, we don’t always have the resources or the knowledge to tackle these things,” he said.

Check this week's Dauphin Herald for more!

For the three parties involved, there is hope the signing of a special document Apr. 14 at Dauphin City Hall is a milestone in a long, prosperous and respectful relationship.

Minegoziibe Anishinabe (Pine Creek First Nation), Ka Ka Kwe Ke Je Ong (Ebb and Flow First Nation) and the City of Dauphin entered into a Municipal Development and Services Agreement centered on Anishinaabe Aki, a piece of land located on Main Street South in Dauphin.

The agreement outlines the services the city will provide for a fee to the land and clears the way for the parcel to receive reserve status through the Addition to Reserve process.

“It’s certainly a milestone in this process where we re-establish ourselves as the original people in this territory and partake in some of the economic opportunities that present when we decide to work together in a peaceful way,” said Minegoziibe Anishinabe Chief Derek Nepinak, “We are the safe keepers of the treaty. The Treaty 2 and 4 people that are represented here in the room, we will work to maintain that harmony and that peace that we agreed to many, many, many generations ago. I believe that this agreement is an expression of that commitment. This is the living treaty that we’re talking about now and I believe that there’s prosperity on the horizon for all of us. I think it is going to benefit everybody once this land is converted. The city is going to prosper, we’re going to bring new prosperity to our communities together and the treaty will move forward for the next generations in that way. So today is a milestone. It’s not so much the pen to paper that counts, it’s the spirit that we take from this and it’s the spirit that we work within as we move forward in the development of the site.”

Discussions surrounding the agreement began in December 2019 and Ka Ka Kwe Ke Je Ong Chief Wayne Desjarlais said the process, as well as the Addition to Reserve process, has been a positive one.

“I think it’s been positive throughout for everybody that’s involved, the two First Nations and the City of Dauphin. You know we’ve had issues with many different topics throughout our lives, but with reconciliation, it’s very important that we work with the towns and cities, the urban areas that we’re joined to,” Desjarlais said, adding the two First Nations will be signing papers with the government in Winnipeg in the near future to finalize the Addition to Reserve process.

“Obviously, before we can do Additions to Reserve, we need to make sure that everybody’s on board including the municipality, the City of Dauphin. So this service agreement affirms that everyone’s on board, which is a major hurdle for a lot of processes,” Nepinak added “I’m very happy that everybody’s in line and we can now get this across the finish line.”

Dauphin mayor David Bosiak said it is an honour to be a signatory to the agreement, but he credits past municipal leaders and City staff for forging this important new partnership.

“I personally believe very strongly in relationships and relationship building and I think that this first historic step for us as a City in developing these new relationships with your two communities are truly instrumental in us moving forward for our current generation, but for the future,” he said.

Get the FULL STORY in this week's Dauphin Herald!

According to Farmer 4.0, a new RBC report, the country could be short critical skills – data analysis, robotics and global sales, among them – that will be needed to transform the sector across a projected shortage of 123,000 agricultural workers by 2030.

However, with the correct skills mix, agriculture could add another $11 billion to Canada’s GDP and make the sector more productive than auto manufacturing and aerospace combined.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

t’s a situation one can imagine being addressed by a classic infomercial.

When using a fuel can, it’s hard not to get gas or diesel on your hands as you pull the spout out from the can, grab the business end of the spout to feed it through the screw cap the other direction.

Read all about Betta Cap in this issue.

The Manitoba government is investing $3 million in two housing programs that will allow more Manitoba seniors to safely age in their homes and communities as long as they choose.

The new home modification grant program will have an annual budget of $1.5 million, and provide financial assistance to seniors over the age of 65 and/or family members who have seniors over the age of 65 living with them with a household income of $60,000.

More in this week’s Review.

Writer’s note: It is with great gratitude that I am gifted with working closely with our seniors to ensure they are all doing okay. When I started working here a few years back, we were approaching Remembrance Day and at that time we had three World War 2 Veterans living in our home. I decided to sit with each individual and ‘interview’ them about their life story. I eventually turned those interviews into a written story. I was so amazed to see what this did for the resident. To have someone be curious about their journey was such a gift for them. I had one Veteran tell me it helped him with healing in what he experienced in the War.
From that point on, it was my mandate to continue being curious with our seniors and to continue writing stories! These stories need to be heard and told as they contain in them powerful medicine.
We have a couple residing here currently named Sam & Mina Kublick. They lived in the Swan River and Minitonas areas. I have written Sam’s story and thought it would be a lovely piece for your newspaper. In the past, there have been some lovely reconnections of friendships due to the stories being shared in the communities where our seniors once lived.
A man of many trades and talents, Sam Kublick led an adventurous life, never allowing fear to get in his way of pursuing new business adventures. An inventor, council man, mayor, entrepreneur, talented construction tradesman, auctioneer, and more, Sam did everything with his whole heart invested.
Sam is one of six children and was born on the family farm in Minitonas, Manitoba on February 8, 1934.
His parents, Helen and Edward Kublick arrived in Manitoba from Poland in 1930 just as the Great Depression swept through. Although money was scarce, they were able to find themselves some farmland on highway 366. The property held a number of small rundown buildings, one of which was used as a granary in the years prior. The farmland itself consisted of a lot of slough and low land which wasn’t drained and not very much open land. Helen and Edward would work very hard, including scrubbing out the big trees, cutting the roots on one side and waiting for a strong wind to blow them over. They would then burn it over the next 3-4 years in order to eliminate the large fallen wood. In 1940 a steel-wheeled tractor and breaking plough was purchased and wisely used to earn an income. Sam recalls his dad charging out at $2.00-3.00 per acre! His father wanted to build a family home and at that time, the municipality allowed households to collect 3000 feet of timber per year. Edward harvested the timber and built the family home out of 4” by 4” timbers, on end, which was very rare, but kept the home warm and secure!
Due to no road maintenance during the winter months and with growing children, the Kublick family chose to move into the Town of Minitonas. Sam learned a lot from his father growing up, however, as he gained work experience and through trial and error, Sam seemed to exceed in his ability to farm, build, or do whatever job was in front of him.
He recalls his first job working on someone else’s farm and bringing home only $4.00 per day!
That winter, National Mills was cutting pulp and so at 16 years of age, Sam learned to fall logs. This would open the door to many more work experiences to come including, but not limited to, painting grain elevators (with no safety harness), and running heavy-duty equipment. In 1951, Sam started working in a garage, thinking he would be a mechanic, however, that only lasted one month due to another opportunity to work in the bush in BC.
Sam endured and experienced a variety of jobs along the way. In 1952 Sam went to work at Pioneer Gold Mines located in the community of Bralorne and a year later he had his shortest work experience ever where he joined 3 other fellas from Creston and worked for Natural Resources in Radium Hot Springs. Sam chuckles as he shares that when the guys got to the job site, they found themselves with no tools, no outhouse, NO NOTHING!! Off to the next job, they would go! Moving on, in 1954 Drayton Valley would welcome Sam! Here he would work on a survey crew, run heavy equipment and work on the oil rigs. Because of the booming oil industry, there were few accommodations in the area.
This resulted in six strangers coming together and sleeping in a local barn where they had no running water or plumbing, so the river nearby was the ‘bathtub’! In 1955, the Hudson Bay Company in Winnipeg hired Sam. It was here that he was connected to an elderly man named Al Kelly who taught him more than he could have ever wished for in the carpentry industry. They were building all the displays for the store, which kept them quite busy.
In the fall, Sam heard that they were hiring on the DEW line and that the wage was far greater than what he was currently making.
So, at $2.87 per hour, Sam thought, why not! Off to the Arctic, he went where he would be involved in building copper line modules that would not be detected on radar. Fascinated and inspired, Sam was intrigued and went on to build his very own gyrocopter while he was residing in the Arctic!
There would be other opportunities for Sam while living in the north such as grader operator, heavy equipment foreman and carpenter foreman. Overall, Sam gained much valuable work experience as well, and he was able to participate in some cultural events, playing his harmonica for the locals and watching as they danced.
There would be other stops along the way, however, in 1957, Sam landed in Fox Creek, Alberta where he would once again run the equipment. This would be a short stopover before going to northern Manitoba in 1958. It turns out that Sam would be recognized as a hard, wise worker and asked to join a team on a coffer dam. Not knowing exactly what a coffer dam was at that time, his colleague would show him the way. Sam soon became the man in charge of this dam, and he claims this to be the most challenging and exciting work he has ever done! But a challenge was always an invitation for Sam, so, he gladly leaned into this opportunity! “We would build these coffer dams and sink them in 96 feet of water! It was unbelievable; you almost have to live it to believe it”, says Sam! The coffer dam was built on 9 feet of ice which was no easy task, but, he was offered a $4000.00 bonus if he could complete the coffer dam before the ice went out! Needless to say, it was a success!
In 1959, Sam went to work for a construction company where he was sent many miles away to a community called Snow Lake. He was sent there to build a service station and found himself, one more time challenged as he had to improvise many things such as the scaffolding which was made of ‘timber’ from the bush!
Life has a funny way of preparing us for the next chapter. Each job that Sam took on gave him the skills and experience he needed for the next job and the next, until finally the development of his very own company - Kublick Construction. Sam joined a partnership with a fella from Winnipeg and together they formed a company called K & S Construction. The business built as many as 17 homes in only one year! The company grew and Sam was able to make a decent living up to the early seventies. During this time, Sam was also farming and acquiring more land. The decision needed to be made, ‘do I want to stay in construction, or do I want to farm?’
Farming pulled on his heartstrings and the decision was made.
Backing up, let us not forget to mention one of the most important dates of Sam’s life – his wedding day! It’s funny how things unfold without us even knowing it! Sam first noticed Mina at a young people’s meeting, but, his pursuit of her did not happen right away. At that time Mina was working as a telephone operator and Sam had his eye on another gal whom he would try to call on the phone. “Every time I would ring this girl’s number, Mina would tell me the line is busy”, says Sam with a chuckle. I guess God had another plan for Sam! Before they really began to get to know each other, Sam had to go up to Cambridge Bay in the Yukon for work. While he was away, he began to write letters to Mina. The mail system was extremely slow at that time, and several months passed. Sam did not receive any letters back and so he thought she must be interested in someone else.
But, much to his delight, upon his return to Swan River in Manitoba, he received a large bag of mail. Mina had written 2 letters every single week, but they failed to reach him in the Arctic. Her quietness and the sound of her voice is what stirred within Sam’s heart and after a short courtship, Sam and Mina would get married on April 3, 1961, and begin their life together! They went on to have three children, Kandase Joy, Lonna Jane, and Glen Samson.
In 1962, Sam built their first family home in Swan River from the ground up where the family would reside for a short few years. In the fall of 1967, they moved out to the farm that adjoined the homestead that Sam grew up on. Initially, they would purchase a quarter of land near the family farm in Minitonas RM for $7000.00, which was a bit more expensive than the going rate because it was wide open land, but the next quarter they purchased was $6400.00. Many, many hours were spent operating and maintaining the farmland, and yet, Sam managed to find time in 1969 to become the acting councillor for the local Rural Municipality. He served on council and many boards, including but not limited to, bringing in the ambulance service. Sam devoted the next 14 years of his life to this position. Life became very busy between travelling around Alberta to auctioneer, farming, building and serving on council. Sam realized it was time to let something go, so he resigned from serving on council and carried on with his passion for farming. This only lasted for a short time; Sam would run for Reeve of Minitonas and win! He served for 9 more years as acting Reeve and enjoyed every minute of it.... except public speaking! Sam was never a fella to not have his hand in many pots which explains why he was always on the lookout for prime land to rent and farm. Sam did things a little differently than most farmers, he would pay upfront rather than wait on the crop to come in. Sam’s reputation in the farming community was held with much respect due to his passion and diligence in how he farmed.
“I was very particular in how I seeded and harvested my crops,” says Sam. Sam went on to say with a chuckle, “Every row was just so!”
It was a very busy time for the Kublick family with Sam busy multi-tasking with different jobs and Mina raising the children and keeping the home. Despite the busyness, however, the family values remained intact with spending quality time together and this generally occurred during the Christmas holidays and in the summer when the kids were younger they would go camping at Madge Lake.
Let’s talk about Texas!! Sam got to know some people while he was auctioneering and there happened to be a gentleman with the last name of Gallagher.
Well, this fella happened to be travelling through Texas and on his way through he happened to come across a property for a really good price in a place called Canyon Lake. Soon after, he purchased a bunch of land, sublet it, and sold it off. One of Sam’s friends who were connected to Gallaher told Sam about this land that was for sale. So, as mentioned earlier, Sam Kublick could not sit still for too long and was not afraid to take a risk. Off he went to Texas to view these properties! A phone call to Mina and it was done! Sam bought 23 acres of land and a five-bedroom home in Texas. “Our first year in that house we only had one weekend to ourselves,” laughs Sam.
People were coming out of the woodwork wanting to come to Texas and tour the Alamo. Sam and Mina lived down there in the winter months and rented it out in the summer months. The Kublick’s were hardworking people who like to give people a hand when they could. The home would eventually sell for a profit, but not before Sam and Mina helped the purchase along by carrying the buyer.
Eventually, the Texas land was sold off and so was the farmland in Manitoba.
While they were living in Texas they had their home built in West Kelowna overlooking Okanagan Lake just above the Kelowna Marina. With the kids now grown and out on their own, Sam and Mina would make out on their next adventure – moving out to West Kelowna! Retirement would be an odd thing for Sam as he was always so busy, but, his retirement did not involve sitting in a recliner chair and enjoying tea and cookies! Oh no, Sam Kublick would soon get busy advertising his carpentry skills and being hired out on an hourly rate to build basements – 4 in total! When that was completed he went to work for the Ericksons. “We almost bought the golf course”, says Sam, but after gathering more information, he chose to not go down that path. Instead, Quails Gate would hire Sam on for the next 7 years doing everything under the sun with maintenance and upkeep! Whatever they wanted, Sam made for them and made it with great pride. Life never got boring for Sam as he always found ways to stay busy. There is a quote that goes, “wholehearted people cultivate creativity and meaningful work!” And this describes Sam very well. He is a man of integrity and honesty. He creates and builds things that bring joy to himself and others.
His work ethic and value system have served him and his family well! “Sam is just one of those guys that you will never forget, he has a way about him that draws people in,” says Carrie O’Neill.
“Mina too, she is a gem! Just a solid, true, caring and compassionate woman!”
A man of his word, Sam shares a few beliefs he lives by, “the most important thing that business people can do is be honest. Be a team player in your marriage, and be kind”!
And so the story goes on, and Sam and Mina would find themselves faced with some health challenges which contributed to their next move to Armstrong, BC.
It was decided that they would move into Heaton Place Retirement Residence which is a short distance from their daughter Lonna’s home. Sight unseen, the couple arrived at Heaton Place on Dec. 18, 2020 and settled into a lovely one-bedroom suite. It took some time, but Sam would eventually set himself up a little shop where he could spend his days puttering, creating, and building with wood, all of which filled his heart up again! “He even created special wooden bowls for me to take to a retreat that changes lives,” says Carrie. It was such a labour of love and we are so very grateful for Sam and his handiwork.
Sam and Mina have been such a beautiful addition to our home here in Armstrong, however, we are now faced with saying farewell. The couple has made a decision to return to West Kelowna to be closer to friends from way back and also to have peace of mind knowing that should their ability to drive be affected, they would be within walking distance of the amenities they need and desire.
We will miss them so much, but as the saying goes everything in life is temporary! We were given the gift of their presence for a short while and now God is leading them to bless another home.
We will send them off with gratitude in our hearts for having the privilege of being of service to them in their first experience living in a Retirement Community!
To conclude, I asked Sam if he had any advice that he would like to leave you all with and here are his words: “Follow your dreams! There is nothing in this world that is too big, or too challenging that you cannot accomplish if you believe in yourself!
Thank you for sharing your story with us Sam! Farewell to you and your beloved Mina.

The Elbert Chartrand Friendship Centre held their Easter Egg Hunt where nearly 150 youth came out to hunt for eggs and for prizes.

Members of the Parkland Pirates youth rugby program had the trip of a lifetime, recently, when they traveled to Ireland where they played three exhibition games against Irish teams.

According to program coach Aaron Miner, the team left Dauphin at midnight, Mar. 23, chartering a bus to Winnipeg. They flew out of Winnipeg at 7 a.m. for Toronto where, what was supposed to be a six-hour layover turned into a nine-hour wait before flying to Dublin.

“We landed in Dublin, hopped on a bus, drove across the country to Galway and had our first practice,” he added.

The boys and girls teams each played three games over the course of nine days. The girls did well, winning two of their three games.

“In the one game they lost, it was still very tight,” Miner said. “Girls rugby in Canada is very strong right now. We’re ranked in the top three in the world, almost at all times. So going over to Ireland, we knew we had a good chance with the girls. But they showed very well. We were just so strong. Good, old fashioned Parkland girls coming through strong, bullying through, pushing their way through rucks and mauls. It was beautiful to see.”

Miner feels the girls opened some eyes with their strong play, noting rugby in Ireland is like hockey in Canada.

“It’s their national sport,” he said, adding the men’s national team is ranked number one in the world. “I think they underestimated us by a long shot on the girls side. So happy for us to see, disappointing for them, for sure.”

The boys team lost all three games, but two were extremely close, Miner said, while the other was a blowout.

“The team had brought the captain of the under-18 national team to play on their side, not knowing what we had brought. And this kid was a phenom. He was like the Connor Bedard of Irish rugby,” Miner said. “He really showed us a thing or two. Rugby in Ireland is different from rugby in Canada, too. We have a bit of a hockey morale when we play rugby. You get tackled here, you take offence to it. You might swing or get upset. Over there, when you get tackled, it’s part of the game. There is no getting upset about a good tackle or things like that. It’s part of the game and they play like gentlemen over there from start to finish and even after the game.”

It reminded Miner of when he started playing with the Dauphin Mavericks. Road trips to Shilo or Winnipeg, ended with a dinner for the opposition team, with speeches.

“It was such a beautiful thing to see, the culture of the game that they were showing us, that we sometimes don’t get to see here because of our geography. The culture was amazing,” he said.

Besides rugby, the teams had the chance to do some sightseeing when they weren’t on the pitch.

They got to visit the Cliffs of Moher, Islands of Aran, as well as kissing the Blarney Stone.

“We took all that in, but there was always a practice or a game after a tour or before a tour. Parents and players alike were all made very aware that we’re going there for rugby and rugby is our primary thing. Anything else we get to do in between is bonus,” Miner said. “Our tour guide, George from Irish Rugby Tours, didn’t leave us a spare moment, which was good. It kept the group of 14 to 17-year-olds very busy. It didn’t leave them a whole lot of time for them to get into anything other than the culture and spirit of Ireland, which was great. It’s what we went for and we got more than we bargained for. It was fantastic.”

Many of the players play for the Dauphin Clippers high school teams and they began practicing for the trip at the end of January. So they will be in midseason form by the time the season gets underway, since most other teams haven’t started practicing yet.

“So we’re looking forward to this season. We feel as if we are very strong and we are going to be top contenders, not only in our league, but in the province,” Miner said. “The hope that all this hard work and dedication that the kids have put into it so far does pay off and we are provincial champions this year. Both on the girls and boys side. We’re feeling quite confident that the things that we’ve done will benefit us.”

Miner wishes to thank all the sponsors for their support in making the trip possible.

“The community of Dauphin stepped up once again. Dauphin is such a giving community that none of this would be possible without the community stepping up,” Miner said.

Unforeseen issues are threatening to delay the start of the Main Street South reconstruction project.

The city needs to purchase land to construct its drainage structures prior to the project kicking off, mayor David Bosiak said.

“There are still details that we still have to work on as a community to finalize a landowner agreement, which gets us ready for the actual construction, which has to be tendered really, really soon,” Bosiak said, adding he discussed the matter with Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation (MIT) Minister Doyle Piwniuk and Municipal Relations Minister Andrew Smith at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities convention, last week.

“So we’re behind the eight ball on a couple of issues related to that, but it sounded like the province was willing to discuss possibly helping.”

The original plan called for a project extending over two construction seasons with the bulk of the construction work taking place in year one and the finishing touches being added early in the second year.

“The initial plan was to have this tendered probably by now or by April, so that construction would begin in June, go through the summer and have most of the work done before freeze up in the fall,” Bosiak said. “And then have the contractors return next May or June to finish paving so that all would be complete by the summer games.”

While that remains the plan at this point, Bosiak said unless there is some movement soon, there is a chance the schedule will shift.

“We’re just risking that the final paving and painting and everything that needs to be done to finish it will probably be occurring later into spring and summer of next year. Maybe it doesn’t make us look as beautiful for the summer games, but the project is not in jeopardy. It’s just a timing thing,” he said.

Having worked for the provincial government, Bosiak understands that projects involving the province can move slowly as they work through the checks and balances to ensure no one is unfairly benefitting personally or professionally because of the contract.

“All of those checks and balances do have a tendency to slow things down. Because this is a project that involves MIT, there’s provincial jurisdiction, as well, and that is the complicated part,” he said, adding he hopes things will progress steadily now that he has been able to make the ministers aware of the situation.

“They’re saying, ‘you get your stuff done, we’ll get our stuff done and everything will be good.’”