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.”

March is known as Fraud Prevention Awareness Month and with the amount of online and romance scams that lead to fraud, its best to stay on top of how to protect one’s self from being scammed. There have been a lot of complex scams that have defrauded people out of money, while some may seem obvious; others are definitely trickier to spot.
“Some common types of fraud we see deal with theft of debit cards and theft of cheque books,” said Westoba Credit Union The Pas Branch Manager Asia Melnick.  “We often stress to be vigilant with your belongings. Don’t leave your wallet unattended, don’t leave your cheque book in your vehicle. If your belongings do get stolen, please contact your financial institution right away so steps can be taken to protect your personal information.

A group of avid snowmobilers have embarked on a cross-country snowmobile journey from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Fairbanks, Alaska and will be passing through Swan River and The Pas on their trek. Rob Hallstrom is the youngest rider in the group at age 65, Paul Dick is 72 and Rex Hibbert will turn 70 while on the trip. Hallstrom, Dick and Hibbert refer to themselves as 3 Old Guys and they’re always up for a challenge.
“We’re always up for some kind of adventure,” said Hallstrom. “We went to Churchill in 2019, and at the end of that trip, we were already kind of talking about what we could do that would be bigger than that. We had a really good time on that trip and that sort of started the rumblings for us to go to Alaska.”

A big portion of the Opasquia Trails project has been in the works and it’s got lots of people excited for the finished product. The boardwalk component of the trail has been laid out over the ice and now the Opasquia Trails Board is putting all the pieces of the trail together.
“We’re really excited about this newest development for the Opasquia Trails,” said Opasquia Trails Board Member Alan McLauchlan. “Our contractor, Dave Uffleman, has been busy all week installing the boardwalk pieces over top the ice. People can now see where the boardwalk is going to go and can visualize how things are going to look.
“I recently had someone tell me they are excited to take photos from the boardwalk once it’s completed. This is going to allow people to see the lake from a different angle and I think that’s really important.”

Winter tourism is a market that northern Manitoba can really capitalize on and for the most part has. Now The Pas can boast another tourist attraction, this one drawing in all snowmobilers. Recently The Pas received a Sled Friendly certification that will help promote not only snowmobilers to the area, but general traffic and tourism as well.
“The Sled Friendly certification means that we are visible to the snowmobiling community and it notifies the snowmobilers that the municipality is dedicated to ensure their safety and enjoyment of the local trail networks,” said The Pas Community Development Corporation Economic Development Coordinator Jackie Rechenmacher. “The designation was provided through SledMB53, which is a project managed by Community Futures North Central Development and many partners such as Community Futures Greenstone, our very own local Community Futures Cedar Lake, Travel Manitoba, and four organized snowmobile clubs in Northern Manitoba.

It looks like there’s a new candidate coming out of the gate for the next provincial election. Alan McLauchlan recently announced that he is running as the PC Candidate for The Pas-Kameesak riding. McLauchlan is no stranger to politics and has a few different reasons for running in the provincial election.
“I have a couple of reasons for entering the provincial political ring,” said McLauchlan. “My first reason, is pretty much the reason why do a lot of different things, is to give back to the community. When I came here to The Pas 47 years ago, I knew no one. I came here when I was 18 years old. The north really embraced me, allowed me to learn and taught me. I want to give back to the riding in that way. I feel I have a lot of skills and abilities that I can give back to the area on this level.

A group of avid snowmobilers have embarked on a cross-country snowmobile journey from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Fairbanks, Alaska and will be passing through Swan River and The Pas on their trek. Rob Hallstrom is the youngest rider in the group at age 65, Paul Dick is 72 and Rex Hibbert will turn 70 while on the trip. Hallstrom, Dick and Hibbert refer to themselves as 3 Old Guys and they’re always up for a challenge.
“We’re always up for some kind of adventure,” said Hallstrom. “We went to Churchill in 2019, and at the end of that trip, we were already kind of talking about what we could do that would be bigger than that. We had a really good time on that trip and that sort of started the rumblings for us to go to Alaska.”
All three of the snowmobilers have extensive experience in long-distance riding, but this may very well be the longest journey yet. Each of them will tow sleds with supplies that include spare snowmobile parts, gasoline, a hot tent, sleeping bags and essentials.
“We’re coming from Minnesota and we’re estimating it will be about 4,500 miles to make the journey,” said Hallstrom. “When we went to Churchill, that was about 3,000 miles, but that was a round trip.
On this trip to Alaska, we will be snowmobiling there, and then flying back.
“We’ve done quite a few trips and I’ve done even more on my own. My partners, Rex and Paul, have been in the Iron Dog Race in Alaska and all three of us have been in the Cain’s Quest in Labrador. We’re all getting a little older, so instead of racing, we’re doing some touring.
“We riding 8000x Arctic Cat Norseman snowmobiles with all three of us riding the same model,” said Hallstrom. “We have a general plan that the entire trip will require 22 riding days. I’m sure there will be times when we want to take a day off or need to stop and do some repairs or due to the weather. There are quite a few unknowns in this, but we have a route planned and figure it should take about a month depending on what we find on the trail.”
The 3 Old Guys are a bit daredevil, as they embark on this journey without having someone following them in a vehicle along the way.
“We’re not planning on having someone follow us with a trailer on this journey, because from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to Flin Flon, Manitoba, there’s a good trail network, even though that would work for that portion of the trip,” said Hallstrom. “After we leave Flin Flon, we’re going to be going through such remote areas, that it will be extremely difficult to have someone follow us closely with a chase vehicle, so we’re basically going to be on our own.”
They have their route charted with much of it being in remote areas across northern Canada. They will have a few different satellite communicators that will allow them to send text messages and let a few people follow their journey in real-time. This also allows them to call out for assistance in case of an emergency.
“We’re going to take the trail up to Flin Flon, then we going to take the old Cat trails to Sandy Bay, then go on to the south end on Reindeer Lake,” said Hallstrom. “From there we’ll head to Wollaston Lake and cut across to Lake Athabasca and cut across it. Then go up to the Great Slave River to the Mackenzie River and all the way up it to the Arctic Ocean. Then we’ll cross by the Richardson Mountains to the Porcupine River and take that down to the southwest part of the Yukon River. From there we will follow the Yukon Quest sled dog trail into Fairbanks. It’s quite a route and pretty remote, so it would be hard to follow by vehicle.
“We’re trying to stay in hotels along the way, wherever we can. There are a few places where we may stay in a trapper’s cabin and we have a tent with us for those places where we have to camp out. We’re prepared for that and definitely think we will have to do that a few times.”
As the 3 Old Guys make their journey into Manitoba, they have plans to stop in Swan River and will be passing through The Pas as they head into Flin Flon.
“We’ll be entering Canada close to Falcon Lake, go through Gimli and Lake Winnipeg,” said Hallstrom. “Then head west to Swan River and follow the trail north to The Pas and Flin Flon.
“If everything goes according to plan, we hope to be in Swan River and The Pas on Wednesday or Thursday. We are planning to make a stop in Swan River before heading north to The Pas and Flin Flon.”
The group was more than ready to get on the trails and blaze across Canada to Alaska. They started their journey on Monday and are looking forward to experiencing friendly Manitoba once again.
“We’ve been raring to go and at this point, we’re super ready to go on this trip,” said Hallstrom. “We’ve been talking about it enough and we’re ready to get going.
“The last time we were in northern Manitoba was our trip to Churchill and we really enjoyed it. We went through a lot of northern communities and stopped in The Pas. Everyone was so nice to us there and when we had some minor problems on the trail, people bent over backwards to help us get going again. It was just a great experience overall and we’re hoping for that again this time.”