Opasquia Times News
Town welcomes new museum director
The Town of The Pas is thrilled to warmly welcome the new Sam Waller Museum Director, Jaxon Baker! Jaxon possesses a Master in Museology from the Université de Montréal and a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in History from the University of New Brunswick. He has also completed Fleming College's Museum Management and Curatorship Program.
Pride celebrations held
On June 10th, the community gathered for the second annual Tri-Community Pride Parade and celebration. The event, held Saturday afternoon, saw a variety of floats as well as community members walking to celebrate and show support for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.
The event was the culmination of Pride week activities held by the Tri-community Pride committee. Starting things off on Tuesday evening was Prairie Invasion Drag Night. The drag show was the second one in the commuinty and saw a packed house enjoy fabulous drag entertainment. In adidtion to Tri-community Pride Week events, other groups also held activities including the MBCI GSA as well as the Girl Guide hosting a Pride dance for grades 4, 5 and 6. The Pas Friendship Centre also held a Pride Brunch this past Saturday.
The Tri-community Pride was followed by an Pride Festival. Included in the festival were vendors, a bouncy castle, hot dogs and drinks as well as music by DJ Derek Dick. Pride Parade and Festival images were captured by photographer Andre Brandt and can be found on the Tri-community Pride Facebook page.
The Pas Arts Council holds Volunteer Appreciation event
Monday, June 5, was Volunteer Appreciation for The Pas Arts Council. Forty-five members of the community were welcomed by Andrew Legeny, The Pas Arts Council Chairperson, and thanked for all their volunteer work for the Arts Council and the community.
"Just wanted to say a big thank you to all of you for all of your contributions over this past year in the Arts Council. I think our group accomplished quite a lot of things over the course of the year! We finally got back into doing more activities in our community and it was great to have all of our live events back!"
UCN launches two innovative IT programs
University College of the North is pleased to announce two new IT programs that will help to address the chronic shortage of skilled technicians in northern Manitoba.
UCN President, Doug Lauvstad said a new IT Support Technician and Technology Readiness Program will be delivered on The Pas Campus starting in the fall of 2023.
“We thank the Government of Manitoba for the new funding; skilled IT technicians are needed in every community and every sector of the north,” said Doug Lauvstad, UCN President.
Red River Métis vote to ratify modern-day treaty
In the largest Red River Métis event of all time, 4,000 Citizens gathered to unite in a historic vote to unanimously ratify the Red River Self-Government Treaty, which protects our governance rights in Canada’s constitution.
Our assemblies have always been crucial in Red River Métis collective and democratic decision-making and action-taking. The vote was part of the Manitoba Métis Federation’s (MMF) Extraordinary General Assembly (EGA) at the Assiniboia Downs on June 3-4. In addition to virtual participation, Citizens had the opportunity to vote from satellite locations in Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver, Thompson, The Pas, Dauphin, and Selkirk.
During his State of the Nation address, MMF President David Chartrand called the assembly a “day of reckoning” for our people.
“Let’s never forget that this country made a promise that they would settle a treaty with our great leader Louis Riel. That they would settle the treaty with your families, my families. They did not fulfill that promise,” said President Chartrand.
Arts Council hosts Songs For Trees
The Pas Arts Council will be teaming up with KB Coffee to offer a concert and coffeehouse in The Pas called Songs For Trees. Jacob Harvie will open up for the main act, which consists of Norine Braun and Alice Fraser.
Braun was born in Ottawa, raised in Alberta, and is now a Vancouver-based Metis singer, songwriter and recording artist. Norine Braun is on a Prairie Circle Tour this June, alongside partner Alice Fraser, who plays keys and does the harmony vocals.
UCN announces oficial launch of Computers for Schools
University College of the North (UCN) is proud to announce the official launch of the Computers for Schools (C4S) Manitoba location in The Pas, Manitoba. In partnership with UCN's Information Technology Readiness North (InTeRN) Program, funded by the Future Skills Centre, this ground-breaking initiative aims to support education, skills development, and environmental responsibility through providing affordable technology.
C4S Manitoba is committed to providing refurbished computers to eligible clients, including schools and non-profit organizations. UCN students recently tested and refurbished 30 computers. The units will be donated to local Kelsey School Division and Opaskwayak Educational Authority schools. This work ensures more community members and students can access affordable technology in the north.
"We have always had historical challenges in serving the northern region due to geographical constraints," said Justin Menard, Executive Director, Computers for Schools Manitoba,
Sign advocates to stop the spread of Zebra Mussels
The Citizens for Protecting Our Northern Waterways Inc. (CPONW) is a coalition of local citizen and business volunteers committed to the protection of pristine waterways in northern Manitoba.
There are representatives from The Pas, Clearwater Lake, Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN), Rocky Lake, Cranberry Portage, Sherridon, Snow Lake, Thompson and Chemawawin First Nation.
The group’s focus has been preventing the spread of invasive zebra mussels, which can be transported to lakes by watercraft that have been in infected waters.
CPONW has three primary focus areas that include awareness, outreach and advocacy, resource material and government liaison.
“We work closely with the provincial government’s Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Unit,” said CPONW President Chris Smith. “Our group determined very early on that it was important to collaborate with them to work together, rather than doing something counter-productive. The AIS Unit monitors quite a number of lakes in Manitoba and in that, they have a group of lakes in an area that we’re interested in."
Read more in this week's edition of the Opasquia Times!
Fire consumes two downtown businesses
The Pas Fire Department responded to multiple issues over the long weekend including a vehicle accident and structure fires in The Pas and on Opaskwayak Cree Nation.
According to The Pas Fire Chief Cody Langlois the department started the long weekend by responding with EMS and RCMP to a pedestrian vs. car of Fischer Avenue, Friday, Sept. 2nd.
During the early hours of Saturday, Sept. 3rd the department responded to vehicle fire west of The Pas. “The Pas Fire Department were dispatched approximately 20 kilometers west of town for a semi-trailer carrying wood chips on fire, the fire was contained to the rear of the lead trailer.
An extensive overhaul was performed to ensure there was no spread,” Langlois said, adding no injuries resulted from this fire.
Highway clean-up gang back at it
On Tuesday, July 19th members of the Hwy 10/60 gange were back at the junction and the truck turn off south of town.
This was our third trip this year. In June we collected 17 bags of garbage and 11 bags of recyclables. A month ago it was considerably less and this time only seven bags of garbage and two recycle bags were collected, so we are definitely noticing an improvement and urges everyonet to keep a container for garbage in your vehicle and dispose of it at home.
Let’s all do our part to preserve and protect Mother Earth. Our next scheduled clean up is September 1st. Mark it on your calendar and join us 9 am at the A&W parking lot.