There’s some unsettling talk about the possibility of Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League restructuring and eliminating some teams that they feel aren’t meeting the competitive standard of the league. A competition committee was formed to determine the viability of league and made some recommendations for improvements.
“The hockey community is large, but at the same time small and extremely close-knit,” said The Pas Minor Hockey Association President Kevin Pettit. “Officially, the MB U18 AAA League has commissioned a committee in regards to competitiveness and equity in team formation. Last week, some insiders contacted numerous northern members of the hockey community to let them know that there was a very real potential for negative impact on rural and northern teams. At this time, the league has made no official decisions. Further, any recommendations by the league would have to also pass through Hockey Manitoba. “All hockey leagues flux and make changes. It’s normal for leagues to evaluate how they operate, and know the feasibility of the teams, and overall health of league. We currently have no female AAA U15 or U18 pro grams in the north, and just recently the Central Plains Capitals folded their U18 program. The threat of losing teams in rural areas is very real. “For us in the North especially, we often feel on the fringe,” said Pettit. “We can think of how we nearly lost the Blizzard, and just within the last few years a number of south ern Junior B teams decided to start their own league, leaving the Key “This would definitely have a negative impact to future hockey for northern Manitoba,” said Pettit. “The U18 program allows northerners to play for their home region, so they do not have to go to ex pensive programs in the south. For many in our region, the cost of attending these programs is quite frankly unreachable. This program maximizes the potential of all players that are accepted. It’s one of the biggest feeders to the Junior B program, and quite a number of players who developed through the U15 and U18 pro grams have went on to also play Junior A, College / University Hockey, and even the WHL and NHL. “Many of the impacts would be directly hurtful to our communities. For many youth, especially from our smaller communities and First Nations, the AAA players are huge role models in their com munities. They show the youth that hard work can get you to great places. Socially, physically, men tally, and overall community health - these would all be affected.” Based on data from Hockey Manitoba’s most current registration numbers, Parkland has a total of 698 total registered players, which is the lowest number per region. The committee then analysed data of the last 20 years for Manitoba U18 AAA playoffs by region and over that time span, Parkland had made it to the playoffs four times, which was also the lowest number out of all the teams in the region. Currently the focus has been on Norman and their competitiveness within the league. It has sparked a lot of outrage and concern that recommendations may be made to remove those teams in an attempt to make the league more competitive. Norman’s total number of registered players with Hockey Manitoba is 1,222 and based on the U18 AAA playoffs by region for the last 20 years, the team has made it to the playoffs five times in that span. “I’ve been president for Manitoba U18 AAA for five years now, since 2022,” said Manitoba U18 AAA President Don McIntosh. “I’m not aware of any other reviews, but things have changed quite a bit over the last few years. We started looking into this and doing re search, it’s kind of interesting how things popped out on paper. “We’re the highest league of hockey in Manitoba and the highest level, the next level is Junior hockey. Many of the players in our league aspire to play Junior hockey or in the Western Hockey League. Then those in Junior aspire to get a scholarship to play in the U.S. If a player is successful enough to make the Western Hockey League, the next step to that would be the NHL. Most of the kids playing in our U18 AAA league are aspiring to that. If you’re not participating in a competitive league to improve your competitiveness as a player, then we’re defeating the purpose of what we are in business for.” McIntosh denies any rumour about this being an attempt to remove rural and northern teams, but rather a move to make a stronger competitive No decisions have been made and the committee is not authorized to make decisions, but rather find solutions to remedy the inequity of the current structure. “We have other teams who aren’t competitive either and there are varying reasons for that. The non competitiveness of some teams brings down the competitiveness of other teams. That is simply what this is about. We’re not trying to eliminate all hockey in northern and rural Manitoba; that’s ridiculous.” “This would definitely have a negative impact to future hockey for northern Manitoba” - The Pas Minor Hockey President Kevin Pettit McIntosh says there are other options for teams like Norman and those that are struggling to be competitive in the league. “There is a U17 AAA and a U15 league in Manitoba,” said McIntosh. “Norman has a team in the U15 league, but there isn’t a U17 AAA team, so com bine that with the fact that the team in Thompson historically has not been competitive, the logic to us is that it would make more sense they form a U17 AAA team for the league, the players and everyone. “When the teams aren’t competitive, the argument is that players shouldn’t be expected to leave Norman, but the re “One option for Nor man is that they could join another region and bring their numbers up,” said McIntosh. “That would give them the opportunity to form a stronger team, which would bring up the competitiveness of the league. The other option could be that it would be an open zone and the players could go to wherever another team would take them in the province, so a high-level player would still have an opportunity to play at that level. Then there’s the U17 AAA option. “When we first got into this, we had 13 teams in the league, 12 in Manitoba and one in Kenora. The last three years, Central Plains has not been able to field a team, so now we’re down to 12 teams. The question is should we go down to ten teams and there has been some discussion about going down to nine team, but none of that has been decided; it’s all still being discussed.” No official or final decisions have been made as to the future of restructuring U18 AAA Hockey in Manitoba, as the Competition Committee must present some recommendations and a vote would then take place before going up to Hockey Manitoba. “It’s very important to note that our committee can’t make decisions, we can only make recommendations,” said McIntosh. “Things have to be brought forward at the league level, then if motions are approved, it would have to go to Hockey Manitoba and motions would have to then be passed at that level.” Based on Hockey Manitoba’s registration numbers by region and a 20-year summary of the U18 AAA playoffs by region, the committee feels the data speaks for itself and shows the current structure is not fair or equitable; therefore, players are not being provided the same opportunity to play competitive hockey with and against players of similar ability. The committee denies any rumour suggesting that they are abandoning Norman players or that this is based on travel. The committee feels their discussion is focused on a wholesale solution that would not only increase the number of Norman players who could play AAA hockey in the u18 age category, but also would provide an improved development path way from U15 AAA to Junior. No decisions have been made and the committee has not finalized its recommendations, but when they do, those recommendations will be to be approved by the League’s Board of Directors and Hockey Manitoba. The Opasquia Times reached out to representation from the U18 AAA Parkland Rangers and Norman Northstars and they failed to provide any comment for the story.

We’ve somehow made it normal to allow kids to use smart devices and have access to social media, and now it’s catching up to us. The Manitoba RCMP Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit has seen a drastic increase in the number of investigations involving youth and social media. The apps youth are using remain the same, but they are starting to use them at alarmingly younger ages.
“For the main part, youth are still using the same old kind of stand-by apps, such Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram, so that part hasn’t really changed,” said Manitoba RCMP ICE Unit’s Constable Gord Olson. “What we are really trying to do now is convince the parents that 13 years and older should be the age youth are when they use social media, and that’s by the social media platform standards as well. We’re seeing a ton of kids that are on those platforms for the older teens that are much younger than that. We’re seeing younger and younger kids using social media devices. “Their brain capacity at that age, especially on that younger scale which is 8 to 10 years old, they just don’t have the ability to deal with the situations they are facing on social media or their devices. Even that middle teen age of 12 to 14, they still have difficulties dealing with that just based on how their brains are operating at that time in their lives. We see a lot dealing with these ages right now.” Sending intimate images remains a large part of these investigations as youth still gravitate to sending these out. Now it’s elementary school kids who are taking part in sharing nude images of themselves, resulting in more ICE investigations. “We’re still seeing a lot of investigations around youth taking nude images and videos of themselves and sending it to a boyfriend or girlfriend they just have,” said Con stable Olson. “There’s a perception now that it’s al most the norm to send a nude out, because they feel they have to. There are obviously illegalities to that from having it in your possession to sending it out, and all of those things because it is child pornography. I just don’t think they understand the gravity of what they are doing when they are taking those pictures and videos, and sending them out. They are sending them out to peer age-ap propriate people and relationships they’re in, but they are also talking to strangers right out of the gate and sharing those images right then and there as well. “We’re seeing so many things with the younger crowd as well, between 5 and 10 years old, taking their parents phone, taking naked photos or videos of them selves and uploading it to YouTube or TikTok. These kids are not doing it to be malicious, but think its comical. We are seeing a huge uptake on investigations around this as well. I’m not sure where the thought process of this is coming from other than kids thinking they are being silly.” Many parents think that the RCMP ICE Unit can get that nude photo or video of their children off the internet without any is sues, but that is rarely the case. The more a nude photo or video has been shared and uploaded, it’s virtually impossible to ensure that file will never show up again somewhere at some point in time. “It really is almost impossible for us to delete those kinds of images and videos once they are being circulated through social media,” said Corporal Olson. “If it’s gone from them to that one person, like the boyfriend or girl friend in their lives, we can deal with that by going and meeting with the person or few people it got sent to, talk to their parents, educate them and make sure they deleted the image or video. “But what we are seeing happening now is these pictures and videos are being uploaded to a story and being sent out to multiple people. It may not just be their school mates, but rather people in another country it’s being sent to. It’s impossible to get those deleted or dealt with, because they may pop up again at another time in their lives.” There is a significant rise of young boys being sextorted online through either video game chat rooms or social media. “We’re seeing a major uptake involving kids, young males between 11 and 15 specifically, talking to people online on the video gaming side or their social media apps,” said Constable Olson. “They are sending nude imagery out and being sextorted, then being blackmailed for money. If they don’t pay a certain amount of money to these people, then that specific image or video that was sent to them is being sent out or threatened to be sent out to their friends list on whatever platform they’ve been communicating with the person on. That’s not just in Manitoba, but there has been a major increase and rise in this across North America in these types of investigations.” If you have a youth who has shared an inti mate image or is being sextorted, it’s imperative to get in contact with the RCMP. “If a parent has a youth come forward to say something like this has happened, parents need to contact their local detachment,” said Olson. “An other option is to go through Cybertip.ca. When you use Cybertip, it will generate a police re port to the appropriate jurisdiction. I tell parents to do both of these things so we can get working on that. Cybertip also offers that wrap around care and resources for parents and youth to get help with this type of scenario.

University College of the North (UCN) is hosting its annual Linkages Conference this month, but this time in a new location. This will be the first time UCN’s Linkages Conference will be held in Thompson.
“Linkages Thompson is going to be held this year on February 13 and 14,” said UCN Communications and Events Coordinator Jackie Rechenmacher. “This is the first year for Thompson to have Linkages, and we look forward to hosting the event in both communities in the future.
“The theme of the conference is around skill and development of the trades in the north. UCN and the Mining Association of Manitoba have partnered for the Linkages Thompson conference as there is a strong emphasis in the northern mining economy and the skilled workers that we will need to sustain it.” This year’s line-up of keynote speakers is im pressive and ranges from television celebrities, former sports stars and Indigenous leadership. “Mike Holmes, the television personality and professional contractor, will be presenting on engaging youth in the trades and the importance of trades in any economy,” said Rechenmacher. “We also have Ken Coates, who is a historian focused on Canadian north and Aboriginal rights and Indigenous claims, as well as a leading thinker on the Canadian future. “Our third keynote is JR LaRose, who is CFL Grey Cup Champion and is a member of the One Arrow First Nation. He shares his experiences of facing adversity, resilience, and how he has persevered through the struggles both he and his family has faced. “The Linkages Conferences focus on how reconciliation and reconcili-action are worked into many different industries and sectors across the board,” said Rechenmacher. “The pro gram will have sessions from sector leaders who are Indigenous and will be speaking about how Indigenous communities deal with industry, specifically the mining industry. Additionally, a presentation from Dr. Ramona Neckoway, Vice President of Indigenous Initiatives and Reconciliation at UCN will be providing a presentation on Northern Manitoba Reconciliation, what is in the process and what is coming up next.” Although Linkages will be held in Thompson this year, the overall for mat will be similar to the conferences held in the past. “Conference attendees can expect a similar for mat as the Linkages conferences in The Pas,” said Rechenmacher. “There will be many opportunities to network, learn, and ask questions from leaders in various fields.

Sixteen-year-old Emily Heape has overcome incredible odds and was granted a dream come true through the Dream Factory. Just before Christmas, Heape went on her dream trip to Australia to experience all kinds of adventures with her family.
“We started our journey to Australia on Dec 17, flying to Vancouver after spending the weekend in Winnipeg,” said Heape. “What felt like a billion hours later, we arrived at my aunt and uncle’s house in Noosa, Australia. We extended our stay as a family holiday and in total, we were in Australia for 17 days.
“My thoughts and first impressions of Australia when we first arrived were darn it’s hot here! If I’m not dead by the time we leave, I’ll be a raisin. It was really warm, but beautiful and so different from Canada.” Heape did a lot of sightseeing while in Australia and witnesses some breathtaking views. She also made sure to check out all the animals and sea creatures she could. “While we were in Australia, we did lots of fun things,” said Heape. “We went up this huge 230 metre tower called Q1 at the Gold Coast. From there, we got to see a 360 degree view of the beach, ocean and the city of Bris bane all at once. Then we went to the Australia Zoo, which was my favourite, and we got to see all of the different amazing animals. We visited some markets and mom loved all the different vendors. “We also went to Rainbow Beach, went swimming in the ocean and to the Great Barrier Reef, which was amazing. All of the different fish and creatures you could see, it was incredible. To get out to the reef, we had to take this huge boat that kind of reminded me of a ferry. “While we were at the Great Barrier Reef, we tried snorkelling, but I did n’t like it very much,” said Heape. “There was this glass-bottom boat that my dad and I went on, and you could see everything. It was so cool. Later, while my mom and brother were still snorkeling, my dad and I went in the submersible. That was even better than the glass bottom boat. You could see a lot more in the submersible than in the glass bottom boat. I think that was one of my favourite things we did the whole trip. There was this one fish that they named Wally, since he was al ways around. “Also, we took a glass-bottomed sky rail ride up a mountain at the world's oldest tropical rainforest while in Cairns and visited a 100-year-old town called Kuranda.” Each adventure Heape went on was left a lasting impression and she was really engaged at the zoo, where she saw lots of different animals for the very first time, up close and personal. “My favourite activity in Australia was the submersible,” said Heape. “This was my favourite activity because it was like a whole different world under the water that I had never seen before. It was a whole experience in itself. I enjoyed seeing all of the cool and different sea creatures. “All of the different animals that we got to see were one of my favourite parts of the trip. My aunt and uncle had quite a few different animals in their yard. They have wild turkeys they named Walter and Winne, as well as kookaburras, and wild cockatoos among others. They have lots of different kinds of bugs and spiders. My mom and brother got to see a praying mantis. There was this huge beetle at the B&B that was the size of a palm. “There were lots of different kinds of birds when we went to the zoo,” said Heape. “We went to a bird show and we got to see so many types of birds there. At the zoo, we saw a Komodo dragon, tortoises, and lots of different types of lizards and snakes. We went to a crocodile show, which was pretty cool to see, we saw a cassowary, which sort of looks like a fancy ostrich native to Australia. “We went and saw the koalas, which to be honest were sort of boring, but very cute. One day we went to a koala sanctuary, which I enjoyed much more as we got to pet a koala and see it up close. We got to see some sleep ing dingoes and a binturong, which looks like a bear and a cat combined. We got to see lots of wallabies and lazy kangaroos, as well we got to see some elephants, which made me very happy. We also went and saw a tiger and a giraffe.” This trip to Australia will always be one Heape and her family will cherish forever. Not everything went as smoothly as planned, but the memories made will last a lifetime. “I went swimming in the ocean for the first time when we went to Rainbow Beach,” said Heape. “Unfortunately, one of the medications that I take causes my face to react to the sun and it gets sore and itchy, so swimming in the salt water didn’t make my face feel very good. “I think I’ll remember everything since this trip was my dream trip and a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Finally visiting my aunt and uncle and having them show us where they live, with all the different places and things that are unique to Australia is something we’ll always remember.

The Town of The Pas, like many rural and northern Manitoba communities, is struggling with having adequate numbers of police officers stationed in the community. The cost of policing is rising, as is the cost of everything else, but there are just not enough police officers on hand to deal with the various issues around community safety and crime.
The Town of The Pas has budgeted for the creation of a Community Safety Officer Program. Currently, there is an ad out to hire a Community Safety Manager to spearhead the project.
“The Community Safety Officer (CSO) Program is still in the works, but the hope is to have a Community Safety Manager in place by the end of February 2024, to help role this program out,” said Town of The Pas Assistant CAO Jenn Early. “The plan is that the safety officers will be out and about the community, getting to know people and businesses. They will have a Peace Officer Status. “There will be two CSOs and a manager hired. They will do patrols in vehicles, bikes and walking. The CSOs and Community Safety Man ager will be working closely with the RCMP. We are hoping to have them work shift work and on weekends. The Com munity Safety Manager will be in constant contact with the local RCMP and our CSOs will work closely with the RCMP. If the RCMP need assistance they will contact the CSO’s and the vice versa. “We are working on a LOU with the local detachment to ensure we are on the same page,” said Early. “The CSO program is to help the RCMP so they can deal with more pressing matters; it’s not so the RCMP have less to do. The CSO’s will deal with individuals intoxicated in the downtown area, provide them rides home or to the homeless shelter or the RCMP detachment, if they do not have any other place to go and are a danger to them selves or others. They will also issue parking tickets; assist the RCMP with traffic control for parades; stay with individuals who are at the hospital under the MHA; provide basic community safety such as patrols and presence around town and eventually issue fines for by-law infractions. “Before they deal with enforcing our by-laws, we want them to get the com munity safety side of things started first.” Applicant for the CSO positions will have to meet certain qualifying criteria before they apply and then there is mandatory training to complete before they can act in the capacity they are hired for. “Since the CSOs will have access to cells at the RCMP detachment, they will also have to success fully pass and maintain Criminal Records Check and Vulnerable Sector Checks, enhanced security clearance required by MB Justice and Child Abuse Registry Check,” said Early. “There is a four-week training program through Brandon City Police that the CSO candidates will have to complete. This Level 1 Training is a requirement in accordance with the Manitoba’s Police Services Act (PSA). The Manitoba Safety Officer Induction Training is the minimum training requirement for issuance of a peace officer appointment for safety officers. “The officer course will provide training including, arrests and detention; understanding the system flow of laid charges; Indigenous awareness and community diversity; the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; court testimony; the Criminal Code; criminal investigation; Duty to Act and Duty of Care; elements of a crime; exhibit handling; interviewing; an introduction to law; Manitoba’s Intoxicated Persons Detention Act; legislation around governing peace officers; Manitoba’s Mental Health Act including authorities, forms, etc; Child and Family Services including missing persons matters; note taking and report writing; provincial acts, statutes, and municipal bylaws; radio procedures; restorative justice; search and seizure, along with the authority to search vehicles, persons and dwellings; tactical communications; traffic enforcement training; use of force and officer safety; and Victims’ Services and Social Services Level II Training,” said Early. “They will also have to meet the following requirements that are in accordance with Manitoba’s Police Services Act, such as the minimum physical requirements, vision and hearing requirements.” The cost of policing is beyond any municipality’s control, but the Town of The Pas realizes they need more supports to keep the community safe. The Town of the Pas’ 2024 budget is $308,000 for the CSO program and $3,714,000 for the RCMP policing. There is still more funding needed for this particular project. “We have an agreement already signed be tween the Province, the Town of the Pas and the RCMP,” said Early. “We have a committee of council formed with three members of Council, the CAO, myself, along with the local RCMP Staff Sergeant and Sergeant. We have started advertising for the Community Safety Manager and will be re viewing resumes the second week of February. There is a job description completed for the CSOs, but won’t start advertising until the manager is hired. “There are a few com ponents we are still working on such as the LOU with the local detachment, a vehicle for the CSOs and we’re still looking for funding, as this program is not funding by the Province. We’re working with the communities of Thompson and Ste. Anne, as they are the only two municipalities in Manitoba that currently have the CSO program up and running. We’re in the process of developing policies and procedures for this pro gram, and hoping that once the manager is hired, this person can take this on. “We are hoping to have tow CSOs in place by the end of March be ginning of April, and then hopefully there will be Level 1 Training avail able,” said Early. “We would like to see the pro gram in operation by May. It won’t be fully operational for some time as there will be lots of training and learning curves. We want the community safety aspect side of things figured out before we have them start by-law enforcement.”

Teachers in the Swan Valley School Division participated in training delivered by the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba (TRCM) this past Friday. Teachers from Grades 9 to 12 attended the morning session, while teachers from kindergarten to Grade 8 attended the afternoon.
TRCM’s Treaty Education Lead Connie Wyatt Anderson was the facilitator and is a former resident of the Swan Valley. Her passion for storytelling led to her calling to teach history.
“I grew up in Mafeking and went to high school in Swan River,” said Wyatt Anderson. “It felt like I was related to everyone and my parents still live there. My dad was a real seasoned storyteller, so I think early on I got a love of local stories and history. I attended the University of Winnipeg and when I finished, I ended up teaching in Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN).
“OCN had just built a new school and I was offered a job teaching history. That was just the perfect fit for me.”
Wyatt Anderson taught at OCN for 22 years and then in 2014, left to focus her time on pedagogical writing.
This led her to become part of TRCM developing curriculum and teaching about the treaties and their role in Canada.
“While teaching history back then, I was following the history curriculum and textbook and it was a reflection of its time, and even back then I noticed there were massive gaps in it,” said Wyatt Anderson. “The nice thing about history is that parts of it may be in textbooks, but it’s also in the people, the land, the language and is all around you. The coolest thing about being a history teacher is using the framework from the provincial government and then making it meaningful for the students.
“In 2009, Jamie Wilson became the second treaty commissioner in Manitoba and I knew him personally because he is from OCN. We taught together. When he came in, one of his goals was to begin an education initiative, where students in schools could learn about the treaties. He reached out to me because he knew I had been involved in curriculum development with the Province, so over the years I had been on five different curriculum teams.
I was asked if I was interested in doing it and that is how I got set on this path.
“When I first got started, I’ll admit, I knew just the bare bones of what a treaty was,” said Wyatt Anderson. “I had an understanding as a history teacher, but it was Jamie who really taught me to see it from the perspective of a partnership. It wasn’t just about Indigenous people; it was about factors such as how one’s non-Indigenous great-grandfather accessed land back then and relating that piece to how things unfolded.
“I came in and framed the curriculum. After being a long-time teacher, I knew the project would be successful if it was there to support teachers, not give them extra work. No teacher needs another special project; they have so much already to do. I will refer again to the recipe analogy, but this was like a meal kit, giving teachers the information, they needed to put it together. This was meant to support what they were doing.
“One of the first things I thought in my head, was this cannot be a special project, because those tend to be fleeting and die out,” said Wyatt Anderson. “Our friends in Saskatchewan had done the same thing and they predated Manitoba’s treaty education by a decade. They were excellent supporters to us.
“From there we started off offering workshops on treaty education. I’ve been all around Manitoba and sharing this with teachers.”
Wyatt Anderson encourages educators to use the information they learn about treaty relations and personalize it to suit the area, relevance and audience they are teaching it to.
“I always tell teachers to use the curriculum like a recipe,” said Wyatt Anderson. “There is a reason why allrecipes.com is so popular. The first thing everyone does with a recipe is make it their own, and you can do that in the way you teach history.
Two people can take the same recipe and adjust it for the people they are cooking for, much like teachers can do that with the way they teach history.
“I kind of like the idea of contested history, but when an event happens, not everyone sees it the same way. There are things where two people could witness the same thing and have different takes on it. Everybody tends to think that history is about a regurgitation of facts, it is to some extent, but it’s also about skills too; the ability to weigh evidence and develop critical thinking.
“Nothing in history is random; you have to look at the patterns. Every single thing is connected, except when a tornado hits.
Students are really good if you give them the leeway to find the connections. Dates don’t fall out of the sky and nothing is random.
“Teachers were doing great work already and I knew that,” said Wyatt Anderson. “I think that teachers sometimes aren’t supportive enough and I think by providing something like this, it gives them a little more courage to learn and teach more on something that may be outside their normal scope. This initiative started as a voluntary one and was for an entire decade. A lot of people embraced taking this opportunity to learn about the treaties on their own, while some school divisions totally embraced it. All this stuff predates the calls to action.
“We’re in a different place now, it’s 2024, and when we first started a lot of people were gobsmacked, because they didn’t know any of this. Many said they never took it to school or didn’t understand any of it.
Some people were empowered and felt they could do this and incorporate it into their teaching plans, while others could see themselves in this narrative about treaties as well.”

Municipalities all across Manitoba are looking for more cost-effective ways of doing things, while maintaining a certain standard level of service. Recycling costs have been a topic of discussion for all Manitoba municipalities, as to find out how to recoup the costs of operating recycling services in each community, which has been a growing challenge.
Mult-Material Stewardship Manitoba (MMSM) has a draft plan proposal to spearhead and manage recycling in the province and take it off municipalities’ plates.
“The proposed plan to transition to full Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) would take a minimum of three years once approved,” said MMSM Executive Director Karen Melnychuk. “Communities will have the choice to either become service providers to MMSM or MMSM will put out Request For Proposals (RFP) for residential collection services based on catchment areas. All post-collection will become the responsibility of MMSM.
“Currently MMSM funds up to 80 percent of the costs of residential recycling programs. MMSM works with communities and municipalities behind the scenes. With the transition to full EPR, MMSM would take over full management and responsibility for residential recycling in the province of Manitoba.”

At last week’s Town of The Pas council meeting, members from The Pas Association for Human Development (TPAHD) Board of Directors made a presentation during Citizen’s Period. In that presentation, TPAHD was looking for the town for forgiveness of their property taxes for the next three years, to help them keep operating costs down, while they work on increasing their number of individuals who attend the programs and services, revenue and income streams. TPAHD has an umbrella of services and programs for people with disabilities that are funded through the provincial government, private funding and the New To You thrift store. “TPAHD was established in the 1980s by a group of people and parents that strongly felt it was important that individuals with disabilities could remain in The Pas as adults and access services,” said TPAHD Executive Director Cathy Lipscomb. “Under TPAHD umbrella, a number of programs operate. “The Workplace is a day program that operates Monday to Friday, that supports and provides programs for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It’s primarily funded through Community Living Disability Services (CLDS) under the Manitoba Department of Families. “New To You is a second-hand retail outlet that is completely supported through community donations to create retail and revenue,” said Lipscomb. “SEP is a program of offering services to individual living wage above the minimum individuals with a disability or barrier of some kind that may be hindering them on their life path to education or employment. Funding is providing annually for individuals through Manitoba Education and Training. “The Workplace and New To You are the pro grams that are currently suffering financial hard ships. SEP has a separate funder and has success fully secured adequate funding for this contract year that expires on September 30, 2024.” At the Town of The Pas council meeting, TPAHD Treasurer Darryl Shotton noted that before the pandemic they pro vided services and programming for 12 to 15 individuals, and now that number has reduced to six. TPAHD put great emphasis in keeping staff employed during the pandemic, with hopes it wouldn’t last long and to be prepared to resume services once things re turned to normal. “The Workplace currently employs one direct support worker and the executive director full-time,” said Lipscomb. “Currently there are three individuals working full-time and three part-time. Two part-time workers have indicated they would love to work full-time, but there has not been funding se cured from the Province to make this happen. would be short lived and wanted to ensure that the staff would return, when it was declared safe to do so. When The Workplace was allowed to reopen, it was done under the guidance and direction of the Province. “It was done by stag gearing the return of individuals and keeping the smaller co-hort together,” said Lipscomb. “The funding at the time was reduced again and the per diems were based on actual days of service for each individual. TPAHD maintained full staff at this time, thus draining even more of our rainy-day fund. “After many months of operating at half capacity, we were given clearance to resume to pre-pandemic numbers. Not all individuals re turned to full-time, but TPAHD made accommodations for half-time re turns and made adjustments to the staffing ratio. “New To You was closed down completely, then it was deemed essential and was allowed to re open with limits,” said Lipscomb. “Even with the ability to re-open, the revenue did not rebound, as many surrounding com munities remained on lockdown, with a lot of our customers from these surrounding areas. “Donated good also had restrictions and were required to be isolated be fore handling. Donations continue to pour in and still do.” The majority of the programming and services provided to individuals with disabilities at TPAHD focused on life skills and employability. Funding for these pro grams from the provincial government relies on assessing the individuals’ needs, while profits from New To You allowed it to be a self-sufficient operation. Now, New to You pays individuals with dis abilities working there with store credit, rather than a minimum wage paycheque. “Before the pandemic, individuals worked on life skills such as dish washing, doing laundry, com munity awareness and involvement activities, basic cooking, shopping, peer mentoring, socialization and customer interactions through working at New To You,” said Lipscomb. “Post pandemic, we still maintain our programming, but the com munity awareness and involvement activities have become limited due to opportunities and staff shortages. “The Workplace has a Service Purchase Agreement with the Manitoba government. This is the primary funder of the day program. Funding levels are based on the individual and what their needs are. The way individuals are funded has changed. It takes into consideration the level of support needed by each individual, in all parts of their lives, and what supports are needed for them to be successful. “New To You has no external funding and all revenue is created through purchase transactions,” said Lipscomb. “Before the pandemic, it was a self-sufficient business that was able to cost share the fixed expenses of the building, pay wages to the full-time manager, part time store clerk, as well as pay minimum wages for each hour worked by the individuals in attendance at The Workplace. “After the pandemic, sales have dropped and the income pays the wages of the full-time manager, but is unable to cost share any fixed expenses of the building. Individuals from The Workplace continue to help process items for sale, but are given store credit for their time.” Now TPAHD is in a financial crisis and are reaching out to various levels of government for assistance. “TPAHD is in a financial crisis and our immediate concerns are being able to keep the doors open and to continue to provide services to the individuals we are supporting,” said Lipscomb. “We have reached out to all levels of government for assistance. We have approached the Town of The Pas and have a meeting scheduled with Manitoba Department of Families on February 6. We have for warded a letter to Amanda Lathlin and reached out to Niki Ashton about our Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA) repayment. Since we have repaid CEBA, it has resulted in draining our bank account. “No one has offered any assistance yet.” In Shotton’s letter to town council, he noted that there are 31 students in the Life Skills Program at MBCI that will be graduating in the upcoming years and six from Oscar Lathlin Collegiate that are graduating this year that would be eligible to come to The Workplace. TPAHD is working on adding new services, in hopes to attract more individuals, however, it will require more money for programming and staffing costs to do so. “Our plan is to secure additional funds to pay our outstanding debt,” said Lipscomb. “We’re working on securing more types of services, thus reaching more individuals. This will require an in crease in revenue to have more staff to offer a variety of services.” “Pre-pandemic, The Workplace and New To You were shut down completely. Funding for The Workplace was clawed back to a minimal amount of dollars that wasn’t even adequate enough to cover any fixed expenses. TPAHD Board of Directors made a decision to keep its employees on the payroll, with the expectation that staying home. In a letter to town council, Shotton noted that some of the issues stemmed from reducing sales at the New To You thrift store, a reduction in clients due to the closing of a local group home and increased employee costs while trying to provide living wage above the minimum. The majority of the programming and services provided to individuals with disabilities at TPAHD focused on life skills and employability. Funding for these pro grams from the provincial government relies on assessing the individuals’ needs, while profits from New To You allowed it to be a self-sufficient operation. Now, New to You pays individuals with dis abilities working there with store credit, rather than a minimum wage paycheque. “Before the pandemic, individuals worked on life skills such as dish washing, doing laundry, com munity awareness and involvement activities, basic cooking, shopping, peer mentoring, socialization and customer interactions through working at New To You,” said Lipscomb. “Post pandemic, we still maintain our programming, but the com munity awareness and involvement activities have become limited due to opportunities and staff shortages. “The Workplace has a Service Purchase Agreement with the Manitoba government. This is the primary funder of the day program. Funding levels are based on the individual and what their needs are. The way individuals are funded has changed. It takes into consideration the level of support needed by each individual, in all parts of their lives, and what supports are needed for them to be successful. “New To You has no external funding and all revenue is created through purchase transactions,” said Lipscomb. “Before the pandemic, it was a self-sufficient business that was able to cost share the fixed expenses of the building, pay wages to the full-time manager, part time store clerk, as well as pay minimum wages for each hour worked by the individuals in attendance at The Workplace. “After the pandemic, sales have dropped and the income pays the wages of the full-time manager, but is unable to cost share any fixed expenses of the building. Individuals from The Workplace continue to help process items for sale, but are given store credit for their time.” Now TPAHD is in a financial crisis and are reaching out to various levels of government for assistance. “TPAHD is in a financial crisis and our immediate concerns are being able to keep the doors open and to continue to provide services to the individuals we are supporting,” said Lipscomb. “We have reached out to all levels of government for assistance. We have approached the Town of The Pas and have a meeting scheduled with Manitoba Department of Families on February 6. We have for warded a letter to Amanda Lathlin and reached out to Niki Ashton about our Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA) repayment. Since we have repaid CEBA, it has resulted in draining our bank account. “No one has offered any assistance yet.” In Shotton’s letter to town council, he noted that there are 31 students in the Life Skills Program at MBCI that will be graduating in the upcoming years and six from Oscar Lathlin Collegiate that are graduating this year that would be eligible to come to The Workplace. TPAHD is working on adding new services, in hopes to attract more individuals, however, it will require more money for programming and staffing costs to do so. “Our plan is to secure additional funds to pay our outstanding debt,” said Lipscomb. “We’re working on securing more types of services, thus reaching more individuals. This will require an in crease in revenue to have more staff to offer a variety of services."