Budget season is upon many municipalities, school divisions and other organizations. The Town of The Pas has been working on establishing the upcoming fiscal year’s budget through a series of special meetings. Last week council held both a regular and special meeting to discuss matters.
The 2021 utility operating deficit was discussed as well as the impact of water main breaks.
“The utility operating deficit of $479,179.00 is for 2021 and going to be applied against capital assets to cover the cost; it won’t be added to people’s utility bill,” said The Town of The Pas Mayor Andre Murphy. “This is how it’s done every year and doesn’t impact taxation directly. Where people are going to see rate increases on utility bills is around the new lagoon. The new lagoon is going to be added to people’s bills, not based on an actual tax levy to pay for that fee.

There have been many Valley residents who received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal this year for various activities and volunteer efforts. Valley resident Connie McKay was one who received the medal and was nominated by MLA Rick Wowchuk. McKay has volunteered and helped at various community functions for many years.
“All my life I’ve done things for people and the community,” said McKay. “I taught sewing in 4H for young girls for many years and curled lots, which led me to helping the school-aged kids learn to curl in the Valley. I volunteered to work at the Monster Bingos in Bowsman and did lots of other volunteer work.”
McKay now does a lot of stuff through the senior centre and still continues to not only keep active and socialize but volunteer and help out as well.
“I just love doing stuff for other people and helping out,” said McKay. “Now I’m involved with the senior centre. We were closed for a couple of years due to the pandemic, but now it’s reopened and we got things going, which is really nice.
“We have floor shuffleboard and cards, and I work at bingo every other week. There are over 83 new members coming to the senior centre and they’re a really fun bunch. Since the pandemic, very few of the seniors, who came before COVID-19 hit, have returned. Instead, we’re seeing a whole new group of seniors coming.
“I love to go to the senior centre, it’s a great way to socialize and keep busy. In the summertime, I love to golf and used to curl in the winter. I curled for over 50 years, but haven’t done so in the last 10 years.”
It was quite a surprise for McKay when she learned she was going to be a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Medal. Fortunately, she was able to make it to the reception in Brandon to receive the medal, despite the cold weather.
“When I received the Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee Medal I was trying to think of what I did to deserve this recognition and it was hard to pinpoint because I was always doing things,” said McKay. “I was pretty thrilled to receive it.
“At first I wasn’t going to go to the presentation to receive it, because it was in Brandon, but Rick Wowchuk encouraged me to go. I’m not one to be in the limelight and prefer to be more in the background, so this was a bit out of my comfort zone. On Jan. 17, Darin and Della (McKay) took me, so I did go to Brandon to the award ceremony. I believe there were over 80 people who were to receive the medal at that presentation, so it was really nice.
“I’m really glad I went,” concluded McKay. “At first I was unsure because it was wintertime and not the best time to travel, but it all worked out.”

A group of art driven and minded people met at the Northern Arts Workshop held last week at Bakers Narrows. It was a collaboration of different art organizations on a local, provincial and national level.
“The Northern Arts Workshop, sponsored by UCN, was held to bring people in the professional and volunteer fields of the arts together to discuss what they have in common, what their goals are, barriers, funding opportunities, networking and more,” said Cheryl Antonio. “Jesse Wente, Chair of Canada Council for the Arts; Rose-Anne Harder, Director of the Manitoba Arts Network; Thom Sparling from Creative Manitoba; along with representatives from PrairiesCan, Canadian Heritage, and MB Film & Music were in attendance to listen, learn and collaborate.

Northland Ford is celebrating a milestone anniversary this year as today marks 30 years in business in The Pas. It was a venture that Northland Ford Dealer Principal Dale Bigelow decided to take a chance on and it paid off.
“The former dealership, Northgate Motors, went into receivership in 1992 and there was an empty building left,” said Bigelow. “At the time I was working for Trail Motors GM dealership. I was a journeyman mechanic and had spent 10 years in the shop, then got into sales. I decided it was time for me to make a move, so I called a Ford of Canada representative in Winnipeg and five months later we opened the doors to Northland Ford on March 29, 1993.
“There were huge changes from working in the shop to running a dealership. It was a change for me to manage staff and daily business operations.”

Electric vehicles are becoming the future of transportation and in order to meet that demand and shift, communities will need EV chargers and infrastructure to accommodate this change. The Town of The Pas and The Pas Community Development Corporation (TPCDC) are working together to install an EV charger in the community for the near future.
“Electric vehicles can become very important to economic development and tourism, with it being quite new in the local community, we don't know exactly what impacts will happen, but we do know there is an opportunity to advance alongside the rest of the country,” said TPCDC Economic Development Coordinator Jackie Rechenmacher. “With the popularity of EV and the requirements from federal government over the next 10 years, this is an opportunity to work towards that goal and ensure The Pas is an option when it comes to EV tourism.

If you wanted to learn more about Indigenous culture, Swan Valley Regional Secondary School (SVRSS) is offering two free sessions for people to partake in. The first is learning Ininimowin, which is one of the most widely spoken Indigenous languages in Canada. Ininimowin has five major dialects, Western/Plains Cree, Northern/Woodlands Cree, Central/Swampy Cree, Moose Cree and Eastern Cree.
The second session allows participants to make their own ribbon skirts.
“These Ininimowin and Ribbon Skirt Making classes were part of our Indigenous Education goals for 2022-2023,” said Swan Valley School Division Indigenous Academic Achievement Coordinator Lorna Jean Munro. “We meet annually to review and discuss what goals and activities we’d like to do each year to promote Indigenous Education in the division.”
“Everyone is welcome to participate,” said Munro. “The language class is an introductory Ininimowin class for all ages. Participants will be introduced to the syllabics chart and learn how to enunciate, read, write and speak in the language.
“I will be instructing the Ininimowin class and the classes are free, with no registration required. They are held every Tuesday from 6 to 6:30 p.m. in the SVRSS Resource Centre. These classes run from March 14 to May 16, 2023.”
Ribbon skirts have different meanings according to the people who wear them. It’s mainly to honour First Nations heritage, and to express history, resilience and character while reclaiming identity and matriarchal authority.
“In short, ribbon skirts are worn by Indigenous women to celebrate their culture, their strength, and their connection as women,” said Munro.
“Jan. 4 is National Ribbon Skirt Day, a day where all women are encouraged to wear their ribbon skirt as a symbol of resilience, survival and identity. There’s no experience necessary to make a ribbon skirt, just a willingness to learn about a way of knowing and doing from an Indigenous perspective.
“The Ribbon Skirt Making sessions are held on Thursdays in the SVRSS Family Studies Area at SVRSS,” said Munro. “Elder Marilyn Pohlmeier is leading classes and there’s a limit of 10 participants per session. Participants will need two meters of cotton fabric in terms of supplies.
“The class is held from 6 to 8 p.m. and the sessions are ongoing with these classes running from March 20 to May 25. Participants must register with me to book their session.”

Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) is being recognized in the tourism sector by having two nominations for the Manitoba Indigenous Tourism Awards this year. Jade Richards, Assistant General Manager for the Kikiwak Inn was nominated for the Outstanding Staff Person Award and OCN was nominated for the Leading the Way in Business Development Award.
Richards worked her way up to her current position at the Kikiwak Inn. All of her experiences through different positions, combined with her education proved to be a real asset.
“I started working with the Kikiwak Inn in July 2019,” said Richards. “It was actually my first job when I first started working in 2003. I started off as a busser, and then later moved up as a server. Sue Johnston was my supervisor and was a great. I learned a lot from her. I worked on and off as a server for quite a long time until I got an office job. I later went back to school for my Business Administration at UCN, went back to an office job and seen the position at the Kikiwak Inn posted, so I took a chance.

It has been mentioned time and time again about the how the conditions on Highway 6 need improving. Over the years, there have been several accidents and fatalities along this stretch of northern highway. An action group was formed to lobby the provincial government for a plan to be developed to make Highway 6 safer for road traffic.
“The intent of creating the Safer Highway 6 Citizen’s Action Group is to create a safer Highway 6 corridor to the North and reduce accidents and deaths,” said Safer Highway 6 Citizen’s Action Group Member Volker Beckmann. “In May 2022, our action group submitted a brief that we gave to the Minister of Transportation with 6,000 names on a petition calling on the provincial government to improve safety on Highway 6.”