Over the weekend a fantastic group of unsung heroes in the community met with the high rail trucks during the late hours of the evening to do intake of the animals coming in from the fire zones as well as any surrenders from The Pas.

The Manitoba Animal Alliance (MAA) has been busy rescuing animals that have been left behind as a result of the forest fires that raged in Pukatawagan and Mathias Colomb First nations.

The homeless pets left behind still depend on people to provide food and water, while some of them need medical care and treatment.

MAA has stepped in to transport these animals out of harm. The animals were making their journey on to Winnipeg where they will receive necessary medical treatments, be reconnected with owners if possible or adopted to new homes. The MAA has also been collecting donations of pet foot and kennels for the animals to send up north to feed them and have the necessary crates to transport them out of the area if needed.

Just after the long weekend, the Province signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mosakahiken Cree Nation (MCN) and Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) that will work towards developing revenue sharing that will see up to 45 percent of revenues from timber dues.

“This is a historic day for MCN,” said MCN Chief Vincent Bercier. “We will be the first reserve to have revenue sharing as part of this agreement with the logging industry. The revenue sharing and stumpage fees will differ depending on how much logging is done in the year. It will benefit the community by giving us more opportunities for infrastructure, create jobs and just allow us to do more for our community and people.”

“In the spirit of reconciliation, this is a great first step that allows us to assert our sovereign rights as the OCN,” said OCN Chief Sidney Ballantyne.

“This revenue sharing concept has been talked bout for years with our community and to see this finally come to action gives me hope as a leader. Not only will the added revenue help with improving our services for our people, it will benefit both our community and our neighbours in MCN with added opportunities.”

Results of an Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) member survey shows municipalities are concerned about public safety issues.

According to survey data, 92 per cent of respondents noted that they are concerned about the lack of police presence throughout their communities while 90 per cent believe the province should not be able to replace municipal representatives on police boards with provincial appointees.

In addition, 84 per cent and 77 per cent of respondents noted that property crime and drug crime are likely to occur within their municipal boundaries. As well, 92 per cent of respondents also expressed concern about illicit drug use in their municipality.

“Public safety and crime prevention are top priorities for municipalities,” AMM president Kam Blight said. “Our survey results reaffirm that increased police visibility may help deter crime and make community members feel safer. Municipal officials are very frustrated with the practice of applying a catch-and-release approach to repeat offenders who are contributing to rising rates of crime in local communities. Police officers should be out on the street and in the community, rather than behind a desk filling out repetitive paperwork or waiting to testify in a courtroom.”

The survey was administered in April and 73 responses were received. The AMM was particularly interested in understanding public safety challenges throughout local communities across Manitoba.

The AMM will present the survey’s findings and initial recommendations to the provincial and federal governments while continuing to encourage all orders of government to work together to ensure greater supports are provided to municipalities.

“Moving forward, the AMM will continue to call on the provincial and federal governments to increase support for policing services in order to properly address local public safety priorities and help local governments manage increasing public safety costs,” Blight said.

For more information, a presentation summarizing the survey’s responses can be found at www.amm.mb.ca.

Close to 100 golfers hit the links at the Gilbert Plains Country Club for the annual senior mixed open, Aug. 2.

In the women’s tournament, Pearl Maksymetz’s shot an 87 to give her a one-shot victory over Marilyn Schwitzer, while Lorna Munroe finished third, three back of Maksymetz.

Karen Toderian won the first flight after carding a 118. Pam Hammett was awarded second place on a countback over Donna Campbell after they both finished with a 120.

Darren Graves carded a 75 to win the men’s tournament over runner-up Farron Genaille, who was awarded second on a countback over Kevin Boucher. They each shot a 77.

Don Hudson won the first flight on a countback over runner-up Dean McConnell and third-place finisher Glen Ross after they all finished with an 89.

Countbacks were needed for the second flight, which was won by Doug Cooke, with Murray Kalechyn in second and Darcy Boucher in third. They all shot a 93.

Cal Harrison won the third flight over Reid Birss, both of whom finished with a 95. Tom Monson was third, one shot back.

Jim Demonitgny won the fourth flight over runner-up Don Shumka and Terry Murray. They all scored a 101.

The men’s fifth flight was won by Wayne Manweiller, while John Abrams was second and Curt Pederson was third. They all shot a 108.

Genaille won the closest-to-the-hole contest on nos. 4 and 14, while Jean Sydor won on no. 9. Fred Todoruk and Pam Hammett were the closest-to-the-line winners on no. 5.

The Dauphin Mavericks won their third straight game, Saturday in Brandon, scoring a 26-0 win over the Winnipeg Wasps, to improve their record to 3-4.

Camillus Abatai scored two tries, while Nick Searle and Riley Keith scored one each and Ryan Dreger had three converts. Searle was named Man of the Game for Dauphin.

Dauphin allowed 125 points in their first four games, all losses. In their three wins, the Mavericks have only allowed two tries for 10 points.

When the season started in June, team president Codi Harrigan said the Mavericks were a new team that had never played together.

“We had some new guys and never really knew what we needed to work on or what the other teams would bring to the table,” he said. Once they had a few games under their belts, the Mavericks knew what they had to work on. One of the things that was consistent that we needed to improve on was our defence,” he said. “So we worked on that in practice. Guys showed up to practice consistently. We really improved on our defence and it’s really starting to show. Our scrums, we’re winning those. We’re winning our lineouts. Our defence is really holding teams to a minimum number of points right now. That’s really come to light lately.”

Having players attended practice on a regular basis has really helped the team’s steady improvement on the pitch.

“When guys show up consistently, the more time we get with the ball in our hands, running our systems, it only does good. When we go to a game, it’s like we’re just going to another practice, but with some opposition. It’s definitely helped us,” Harrigan said.

Three players who are new to the sport played their first game on Saturday.

“One guy never played rugby in his life and he picked it up quick,” Harrigan said. “We play a simple system. It’s just straight up rugby and he did great. he enjoyed it.”

Anyone interested in playing rugby with the Mavericks is encouraged to call Harrigan at 204-648-6446.

Dauphin will be home to the Haka Rugby Global Elite Camp, Aug. 18 and 19, at Kin Field at the Vermillion Park Sportsplex.

The camp is open to youth ages seven to 18 and will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., each day.

Harrigan said it is a camp which tours around the world. They have already been to Europe, he said, and are now in the United States before heading north of the border.

“It’s a great chance for youth to develop their skills or come try out the sport,” he said.

One of the instructors, Harrigan added, will be a fulltime New Zealand All Blacks rugby player.

There is only 50 spots available, so Harrigan encourages anyone interested in attending the camp to register as soon as possible.

To register, visit www.hakarugbyglobal.nz/camps. The registration fee is $150 and includes a HRG training t-short and shorts.

Swan Valley residents filled the seats set up inside the Swan River Community Centre on Thursday (Aug. 4) for a one-night only visit from Circus Funtastic, a travelling circus company featuring super costumes
and all of the usual circus fun with clowns, high wires, stunts and bags of popcorn to share with the family.

The City of Dauphin will see its lagoon system finally get upgraded and expanded.

The federal and provincial governments announced more than $34.4 million in funding for 10 wastewater and waste management projects in Manitoba, including $9.1 million for the Dauphin project.

Work will include constructing and upgrading a lagoon reactor system, building a new sewage treatment facility, and installing new pipes and will result in increased capacity to treat and manage wastewater and to accommodate population growth.

The announcement was made Monday by Manitoba Labour, Consumer Protection and Government Services Minister Reg Helwer.

The City’s Director of Public Works and Operations Mike VanAlstyne, said the upgrades will allow the city to continue their current operations and improve the quality of the effluent released into Vermillion River once it has been treated.

“The improvements will also allow for a sustained population growth and industrial growth,” he added. “It’s going to be good. It’s going to improve our environmental outputs to the world and to the surrounding areas and lakes and wetlands. By reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels, you’ll have cleaner waterways that meet environmental conditions.”

Design work is expected to begin this winter, with construction expected to begin in 2024 or 2025.

“It’s a large project that takes some detailed work. We’ll work with the province and the federal government, because the water quality regulations fall with them now. So they’ve output limits to what the water quality should be, so we have to work to meet those.”

After many years of trying to get this project off the ground, Dauphin mayor Christian Laughland said the announcement is huge for the community when to comes to expansion.

“And just overall facility operations, too. It’s really good to see,” he said. “It means a lot just from the expansion side, especially with the fact that the highway on the south side is being updated now, as well. I’m really looking forward to the next, really, five to 10 years in Dauphin. I think it’s going to be a really exciting time to be really open for business and have a lot of different companies, private and public, come to the community and, hopefully, operate out of here.”

Dauphin MLA Brad Michaleski said the federal and provincial governments working together with municipal government was a key to the project coming to fruition.

“The timing is good. We need this type of infrastructure investment for the growth and development of the community and it’s just fantastic that we’re getting this commitment,” he said.

Businesses, Michaleski said, are looking for regions and communities that are developing their infrastructure to attract business.

“It’s a very positive signal from Dauphin to the business world, to the investment world that we’re getting out in front of this, that we’re making the structural investments needed,” he said. “It’s great that the province and federal government are both onside with this.”

The weather was clear and the water was calm, perfect conditions for Wally's Place 3rd Clearwater Lake Boat Parade, held this past Sunday.
According to Cheryl Antonio, 39 water crafts were registered from sea doos to pontoons to motorized canoes. “There was even a sasquatch sighting,” she said. The boats assembled and lined up and were ready to go by 11:00 am at the Camper's Cove boat launch. “Parade marshall and main sponsor, Wes Greenwood, led the amazing site back around and in front of the people-packed beach,” Heading down the shore lines, Greenwood was so pleased to see docks crowded with spectators.

If you ever wanted to try out different art mediums, the Try It Yourself Art Show hosted by Uptown Emporium 53, the Sam Waller Museum and The Pas Arts Council was the place to do so. The event was open to people of all ages and free for participants. It was held last Saturday at the Christ Anglican Church Hall and brought in an excellent crowd.
“There were approximately 80 people of all ages that came through,” said Uptown Emporium 53 Champion Cheryl Antonio. People had lots of different styles of art to try at the Try It Yourself Art Show. Local artists from the area taught all of the various art mediums to participants.
“There were several different art mediums for people to try,” said Antonio. “Anita Genaille showed people how to paint with watercolours, acrylics, and oil. Anisa Eliuk and her daughter Emily Heape taught how to make beautiful, beaded bracelets. Shelly Hanchuk, from Handmade by Shelly, brought in her sewing machine and helped participants to make fantastic hair scrunchies.

It’s time to start thinking about elections across the province for both municipal and provincial bodies. Many provincial candidates are in the process of being announced as running in the 2023 election. The Pas NDP MLA Amanda Lathlin recently held a Meet and Greet last week to reconnect with people in the constituency and hear their concerns.
“One of my main concerns right now is access to healthcare services,” said The Pas NDP MLA Amanda Lathlin. “We’re trying to address the nursing shortages throughout northern Manitoba and I feel there needs to be more collaboration at all levels, including First Nations, especially in regards to recruitment and retention. The First Nation and northern communities need to have input to let the government know what needs are required and necessary in order for them to have the same quality of healthcare as the rest of Manitoba, especially outside of the perimeter.