An Indigenous Grandparents’ Rights Walk will be taking place starting on July 3, at Opaskwayak Cree Nation. The walk is to raise awareness of the rights of Indigenous grandparents and their need for support in raising their grandchildren.
“Off and on I raised my grandchildren and then in 2006, I was going through the court system and was told by a judge that I did not have rights in the courtroom, because there were no grandparents’ rights,” said Indigenous Grandparents’ Rights Walk Organizer Marlene Carriere. “I couldn’t talk on behalf of my grandchildren, and it was so frustrating, because every time I left the courts, I was so emotional. At the very last court hearing I said, ‘well you wait and see what I can do. I’m a kookum’.

The Kelsey Watershed District hosted their annual water festival on June 13 at Moose Park. It was a full day event with approximately 180 students in attendance from surrounding schools in the tri-community, participating in a series of interactive and educational stations.
“The Kelsey Watershed Water Festival is a group of volunteers that run stations, which are fun and educational in an environmental way to school kids,” said Kelsey Watershed District Manager Stephanie Jordan. “We invite grade 4s from all the surrounding schools to attend. They get to go to ten different stations where they learn about sturgeon; zebra mussels; tomato planting and gardening; wildlife and furs; bear safety; fishing techniques and real fishing on the Saskatchewan River; Ducks Unlimited; critter dipping; fire fighting and as well as play some fun games.

Cleaning up sharps has become a concern in the tri-community. As the snow melted this spring, people were finding discarded sharps left behind on the street, in parks and even in playgrounds. The Pas Bear Clan Patrol has been diligently responding to all calls received about discarded sharps being found and needing to be disposed of.
There are times when The Pas Bear Clan Patrol receive multiple calls a day to come pick up discarded sharps left in public areas. These calls have been coming in steadily.
A troubling and recent incident that The Pas Bear Clan Patrol responded to involved a four year old child running around with a used and discarded sharp that had blood and was chasing other children in an attempt to try and poke them with it. The post indicated that it was reported the child had also been sucking on part of the sharp.
“Lately we’ve been getting an influx of calls to pick up sharps found in the tri-community,” said The Pas Bear Clan Patrol Member Linda Michelle.

The Town of The Pas held a regular council meeting and a public hearing on a variation last Monday. The public hearing was on an application for a variation for the Manitoba Metis Federation’s (MMF) new daycare build, to accommodate a bus garage.
“Council is supporting the variation in the Public Hearing with the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF),” said Town of The Pas Mayor Andre Murphy. “The variation is to change the maximum height. In our current zoning there’s a maximum height of 12 feet for buildings in the community. The variation is asking to move that to 19 feet to accommodate a smaller bus garage for the daycare. That’s the only variation they’ve asked for. It’s a minor variation and we still expect that they will ensure the building will be suited and compliment the neighborhood.”
The BIizzard hockey team has been in the works with the Town of The Pas on a three-year agreement and to host the team at the Roy H. Johnson Arena.
“The agreement is a three year one and from our understanding the Blizzard and Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) have ended their agreement,” said Murphy. “We were asked if we would be interested in hosting the team at the Roy H. Johnson Arena. We’ve had discussions over the last month to see if this would make sense and how it would impact the community. I believe the council and our administration have come up with a good license agreement to ensure that the Blizzard is staying in the community.

Opaskwayak Cree Nation’s (OCN) Madison Moore has made headlines when she announced she would be competing in this year’s Miss Universe Canada pageant. This isn’t Moore’s first time taking the stage and competing in a pageant; she has done work modelling for various events.
“I’m 21 years old and from OCN where I currently work as a youth support worker, and I have two beautiful twin nieces,” said Moore.“I did my first pageant when I was 14 years old, for Miss Teen Canada in 2016. I didn’t place, but I enjoyed the experience and meeting new people.

If you have the problem of too many cucumbers, tomatoes or any garden produce at the end of the year, the 4H Helping Hands has created a program to help with that very problem.
“We started the Garden Rescue program before COVID-19 from an idea that stemmed from a presentation by Winnipeg Food Harvest at a 4-H Leader's Conference,” said 4-H Helping Hands Leader Cheryl Antonio. “What we do is, if you have any food that you are unable to get to, for whatever reason such as being too busy, can't reach it, don't know what to do with it, don't want it, let us know and we will come harvest it for you.”

Another historical and noteworthy presentation was also held at the Manitoba Metis Federation’s Extraordinary General Assembly at the beginning of this month. Some more Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals were presented and MMF The Pas Vice President Judy Mayer was presented with one.
“It was an honour to receive the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, but it was also very humbling for me,” said Vice President Judy Mayer. “I feel very honoured that my name was put forward, because we don’t do the things that we do for recognition, we do it because we love to do it.

It’s been an exciting and eventful NHL season for local hometown boy and Minnesota Wild’s Connor Dewar. Dewar has had quite the introduction to his first full season in the NHL and it’s experience that he hopes will take him further along in his career.
“Personally, it was my first full season in the NHL,” said Dewar. “I went in and tried to be humble knowing that I was going to find a lot of things that I would need to improve on and really learn what my strengths and weaknesses are. That’s what this year was about for me; was to find a role on the team, try to fit in and contribute as much as I could.
“It was really exciting to head off the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I wouldn’t say I felt pressured going into the playoffs. I feel like all of us NHL players thrive on pressure, and made it through the ranks by performing well and rising up to the moment. Although the team didn’t feel a lot of pressure going in, the Stanley Cup Playoffs is one of those things where everything has to go right. Obviously, it didn’t go our way and we were disappointed, because we were definitely hungry for more. The team wasn’t satisfied the way it ended, by any means.

With the demand and need for more nurses in Manitoba, it’s nice to see some are eagerly choosing the profession. Lyz Tritthart knew all along they wanted to be a nurse, so it was no surprise that they entered into that field of studies at UCN.
“I grew up wanting to be a nurse but moved to The Pas with my husband at the end of 2017,” said Tritthart. “Due to a misunderstanding on my part, I opted towards a Bachelor of Arts degree. When I realized it would be possible to transfer to the Bachelor of Nursing program instead, I jumped at the opportunity.
“I have been learning at UCN since 2018, and was able to use courses from BA as my year 1 BA, with nursing intent. I have studied for since 2018, but the past three years have been solely BN classes.”