Dauphin’s new city and RM council attended its first Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) convention and city mayor David Bosiak thinks it was a worthwhile endeavour.

Last week’s meeting, he said, provided a needed opportunity for newly-elected officials to network with provincial officials and bureaucrats, as well as other elected representatives new to municipal politics.

“What was most interesting, I’ll be honest, was sitting in and meeting the others in the Cities Caucus. Of that group of 10 of us, six have new mayors. So there’s a fairly significant level, 46 per cent overall this year, of new councillors or mayors, which is one of the highest levels AMM has ever experienced. So there’s a significant turnover of people,” Bosiak said.

Bosiak also found interesting the diversity of election experiences across the province with some municipalities having their entire council acclaimed and others, such as the City of Dauphin which had near record levels of participation, driven by philosophical differences.

“That really struck me, that disparity,” Bosiak said, adding that seemed to drive the overall feel of the convention. “This is my first AMM as an elected person, so I can’t say that this hasn’t happened previously, but there seemed to be a priority from AMM to share information and encourage good behaviour. There was a couple of speakers that were talking about governance and democracy and how to try and maintain good governance and have a democratic process,” Bosiak said. “There was a couple of specific points made about the conflict of interest guidelines that the province has now established that all councillors and elected heads of council have to participate in. So I think that was probably a historic undercurrent of recent disfunctions in some municipalities that is being addressed by AMM. Overall, I think that that’s their message.”

When it came to interactions with the province, Bosiak said there was a good showing of cabinet ministers who were quick to announce new programming, Bosiak said, adding AMM members were more concerned with the seven year freeze on municipal operating grants and the promise of a number of previously announced programs which have yet to be funded by the province, such as the Community Safety and Well-Being Planning Pilot Project on which Dauphin has been waiting.

“There were 29 resolutions at this conference, most passed, and many were about the province loosening the purse strings and helping municipalities,” Bosiak said. “The one thing that I knew before, but it was made crystal clear to me was the federal and provincial governments can run deficits, municipalities can’t. They talk many times about how municipal governments are closest to the people, yet we have very limited abilities to defer expenditures that are imposed upon us or alternate abilities to generate revenues.”

That relates directly to another of the major issues, Bosiak said, which was the debt looming over communities related to the RCMP’s first collective bargaining agreement and the retroactive pay associated with it.

“The real sticky point there for municipalities was we weren’t around the table during the negotiations,” Bosiak said, adding the city’s director of finance, Scott Carr, has indicated the issue is the biggest financial matter facing the community. “If we can get some relief on that retroactive pay amount, our ability to manage is much better. But will be really squeezed if we’re forced to find that retroactive pay and submit it to the RCMP.”

While City representatives did not have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with provincial ministers, Bosiak said meetings with RCMP representatives and provincial bureaucrats, as well as informal conversations with elected officials made him feel as if they are being heard.

All in all, he is pleased with the experience and the fact the entire council, with the exception of councillor Devin Shtykalo was able to attend.

“We did a lot of listening and we met a lot of other council members and leaders from around the province,” Bosiak said. “So I think it was a very worthwhile effort for us.”

Meanwhile, Ernie Sirski, the new reeve of the Rural Municipality of Dauphin, attended his first Association of Manitoba Municipalities meeting, last week as well.

Sirski had no expectations going into the meetings and was hoping to just learn as much as he could.

“I think I know what my role is as a reeve. I think I’ve got that figured out. But it’s more to try and figure out where we sit in the bigger picture of the municipalities of Manitoba and, hopefully, what we can accomplish and how we move this province forward,” he said. “That’s the big one. Because we don’t operate in a vacuum. We operate along with a whole bunch of other people.”

There were some training sessions for newly-elected reeves, mayors and councillors, as well as other information regarding other organizations they have to deal with.

“It was okay. It was alright,” he said.

Sirski was able to re-establish contact with people he has known for years, but hasn’t seen in a long time.

“It’s a really small province that we live in when you add everything up. When I say it’s a small province, I saw people that I’ve known for 30 years, that I haven’t seen for 20,” he said. “And then I met a whole bunch of new people, as well. It was a great opportunity.”

In meetings such as this, Sirski feels, ‘you get out what you put into them,’ so he was out meeting and connecting with people.

“I guess the thing I’m looking forward to is working with staff, whether it’s administration or public works in our rural municipality. I’m hoping that we can move this municipality forward in co-operation and collaboration with other organizations and municipalities in our area to make the Parkland something that people can come visit. That farmers can continue to practice their best practices for farming and to make sure that agriculture remains a strong and vibrant business in this area,” he said.

Winter is nearly upon us and, whether through festive holiday lighting, fireplaces, electrical heating units or cooking for family gatherings, the winter months frequently provide opportunity for exposure to fire hazards.

This week is the Canada Safety Council’s National Home Fire Safety Week, centering on the theme of being proactive and freeze out winter fires.

“One of the big things that we go to on a regular basis with the Dauphin Fire Department are those vehicle fires from your extension cords,” Dauphin fire chief Cam Abrey said. “The continual use of them, people folding them up and crimping the wires and throwing them into the back of their vehicle and pulling them out. We have to watch that we replace those cords on a regular basis. Make sure that you’re checking them, that there’s no bare wires.”

With everyone preparing for Christmas and decorating their homes, inside and out, using CSA approved decorations in a proper application, Abrey said. Inspect those devices for bare or frayed wires and ensure you are not overloading circuits.

“We don’t want to be Clark Griswold of Christmas Vacation, overpowering the home of what it can actually handle,” Abrey said.

Symptoms of an overloaded circuit can include flickering or dimming lights, blown fuses, a tripping circuit breaker and a burning smell. Cooking can be a cause of fires at anytime of the year, but can be an even bigger concern through the holidays with extended family and other guests in the home, Abrey added.

“We’re cooking extra food, more than normal, so keeping an eye on your cooking is important. Don’t leave your cooking unattended,” he said. “It’s the same messages that we promote throughout the entire year.”

Finally, with the colder weather, home heating appliances deserve special attention, Abrey added.

“Whether you have electric heat or natural gas or you’re using wood heat, all of that can also have some incidents if you’re not doing regular inspections,” he said.

For fireplaces and other wood-burning appliances, ensure chimneys are cleaned on a regular basis, Abrey added. For electric and natural gas furnaces, regular maintenance performed by a qualified technician is a must.

“Also remember to have carbon monoxide detection in the home if you do have any kind of a fuel burning appliance,” Abrey said. “It’s more than just the fire safety, it’s people’s general safety that we’re concerned for.”

This heightened exposure to fire hazards during colder months unsurprisingly leads to more fatalities. According to Statistics Canada, between 2011 and 2020, the four highest average incidents of accidental fire-related fatalities by month occurred in January (210), March (195), February (180) and December (165). Additionally, residential properties accounted for 92 per cent of all unintentional fire-related fatalities in that same time period.

Avoid becoming a victim in your own home - ensure your residence is equipped with working tools including smoke alarms and a fire extinguisher, and ensure that you and your housemates have an established and practiced escape plan.

“Never forget that you want to plan and practice your home fire escape plans and make sure that your smoke alarms are actually working,” Abrey said. “And do have a functioning fire extinguisher in the home, as well.”

For Sarah Shuttleworth, the Reduce Impaired Driving Everywhere (RIDE) is just too important to have it not operate for a third year in a row.

So the granddaughter of program founder John Shuttleworth made a point of ensuring area residents have a safe way to get home after celebrating this holiday season

“Obviously we couldn’t do it through the height of the pandemic, but I felt like this year would be a good year to get it going again, so I kind of got my parents and grandparents to agree to do it,” Shuttleworth said. “I thought for the 30th season it would be a good year to start.”

With RIDE celebrating such a long history, the 22-year-old Shuttleworth has had a lot of exposure to the program, but still found it useful to tap into her grandfather’s wealth of knowledge.

“I’ve gone every year since the year I was born, so I’ve learned a lot from him and my grandmother and my mom, of course, about how the program is run and how to run it successfully. So I really asked him a lot about how it started, just with an understanding of why it’s running, how it runs, things like that, she said. “So he shared a lot of his knowledge with me, for sure.”

While RIDE volunteers are committed to being out keeping the streets safe from impaired drivers this year, more help is needed, Shuttleworth said.

“Our last year was 2019, so unfortunately our volunteer list has dwindled quite a bit since then. We are in need of volunteers, the program runs solely on volunteers, we don’t have any paid staff,” she said. “So we’re really hoping that we have a lot of new volunteers, that haven’t volunteered for the program yet, to come out this year.”

Anyone interested in helping out can leave a message on the group’s Facebook page or can call 204-638-1463 and leave a message and someone will get back to them.

“The ideal number would be 20 volunteers a night because it’s teams of two, so that would be 10 teams. but that is quite a bit. We don’t have nearly that for each night yet, but ideally that’s the number,” Shuttleworth said. “Lots of people like to go out and celebrate and may not have a safe ride home, but they have their vehicle with them. So I think it’s really important to have this program running in order to provide everyone with a safe ride home.”

RIDE volunteers will pick you and your vehicle up from a provided location. They will then drive you and your vehicle to your destination, preferably your home residence.

RIDE gets underway Dec. 2, and will run each Friday and Saturday night in December, except for Dec. 24 and 30.

Simon the Scientist is gaining more traction as time goes on. After being a semi-finalist in the Pow Wow Pitch contest, he recently was discussed during a session in the Manitoba Legislature. The Pas – Kameesak MLA Amanda Lathlin read a Member’s Statement acknowledging the work that Simon does through Simon the Scientist.
“Today I am honoured to recognize the truly admirable and scientific mind of a young educator. Simon Monteith, also known as Simon the Scientist, is a Cree youth originally from Opaskwayak Cree Nation, currently living in Winnipeg and attending Lakewood School. At only 10 years old, he has spent almost three years making inspiring educational videos from his kitchen in Winnipeg.

As part of Westoba Credit Unions Community Investment Strategy, they created a charitable fund in partnership with the Brandon Area Community Foundation to create the Inspire Program. Westoba Credit Union employees donated annually to the fund and in 2020, 50 percent of Westoba Inspire projects were funded by staff contributions.
“There are eight Westoba Inspire committee members throughout the province,” said Westoba Inspire Committee Member Cheryl Antonio. “Organizations fill out an application for what they are looking to use the money for.
“We have seen applications focused on things like recreation, animal welfare, senior centres and daycares to name a few. The committee awarded our local spraypark project $25,000 several years ago.

The Valley Stage Players made their grand return last weekend (Nov. 18-20) with a production of Deputy Jan, a play by Richard Gremel produced by special arrangement with Heuer Publishing LLC. Proceeds from the dinner theatre event went to benefit the Swan River Valley Agricultural Society.

On Friday (Nov. 18), the Swan Valley Farmers’ Market brought back their annual Christmas market this year, filling up the Swan Valley Historical Museum hall with local vendors selling various handmade crafts, treats and goodies.

A 6-4 victory over the Winnipeg Freeze, Friday in Dauphin allowed the Dauphin Kings to maintain their hold on second place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

Sunday’s game in Winnipeg was postponed due to the Grey Cup and will be rescheduled to a later date.

Winnipeg took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission and the Kings tied it in the second period. Dauphin took the lead with two goals in the first five minutes of the third and the teams traded goals to round out the scoring.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said it was not one of his team’s best games they’ve played this season.

“But at the same time, we found a way to get two points. Any win is a big win in this league. It’s not easy to do and any time you end up on the right end of the score is a good thing,” he said, adding there are still areas of the game the team has to work on.

“Including our work ethic. But you find a way to get it done and you move on,” he said.

The Freeze only have two wins on the season and are last overall with only five points. But they gave the Kings all they could handle, Friday.

“You have to give the Freeze credit, they played hard. They capitalized on some mistakes we made,” Hedley said.

“But we were on the wrong side of pucks a lot. We were on the wrong side of battles a lot. The back pressure that we’ve been doing consistently lately wasn’t there. Just the hard on pucks and stick battles. We weren’t at our best, but we found way to get it done.”

The first-ever Top Prospects Showcase was held in Portage, last Tuesday and Wednesday, with 12 players from the Kings taking part.

Hedley said all 12 players represented the team well.

“I thought all of guys showed real well and deserved to be there,” he said.

The Kings lineup will be bolstered by the addition of a pair of players from Ukraine, 20-year-old goaltender Dmytro Kubritskyi and forward Havryil Simchuk, who turns 16, Dec. 17.

Simchuk’s older brother Mikhail currently plays for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

Hedley said once their paper work with Hockey Manitoba and Hockey Canada is done, they can start playing, which he hopes will be done by the end of the week.

The Kings were contacted last year by a representative of Canadian Friends of Hockey in Ukraine about Ukrainian-born players joining the team.

“They’re trying to place national team members in North America to play hockey somewhere, because of what’s going on there,” Hedley said.

The Kings will get a good test on Tuesday when the Portage Terriers pay their first visit to Credit Union Place at 7:30 p.m.

On the weekend, Dauphin plays the Neepawa Titans in a home-and-home, beginning Friday in Neepawa, with the rematch in Dauphin on Saturday. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.

A criminal investigation is underway after money was discovered missing from the Gilbert Plains Municipality account.

Reeve Jim Manchur said details of how the $514,571.86 was transfered out of the municipality’s account without council’s authorization are still being determined.

“It happened over a series of time. We’re still getting the final results back from the forensic accounting people that did the investigation for us,” Manchur said, adding the municipality was alerted to the situation by its financial institution and engaged Meyers Norris Penny to conduct a third party investigation.

“There was a number of things happening there and we haven’t got all the details. And a lot of the information from the forensic report has been submitted to the RCMP, so they’re going to be continuing the investigation, as well.”

The employee at the centre of the issue has been terminated for just cause, Manchur said.

In a letter to residents of the municipality, Manchur said councillors take their stewardship of municipal resources seriously and have been making changes to financial controls and procedures to better protect municipal funds.

Those changes include eliminating the ability to etransfer from municipal accounts without dual authorization and requiring council approval on all financial reports.

There have also been increased controls put in place to ensure bank statements are reconciled on a regular basis, as well as requirements for regular and up-to-date audits.

“For a number of months now we’ve changed what we’re doing with our reporting and no single person can now have control of any e-transfer payments out of our accounts,” Manchur said. “And our financial reporting has been vastly improved.”

While the amount of money missing is substantial, the municipality is working on getting reimbursed.

“We’re co-operating with our insurance company. There is, I guess, clauses within our policy that allow us to collect the money from an insurance standpoint,” Manchur said.

The Dauphin and District Community Foundation (DDCF) hosted its Philanthropist of the Year and Giving Challenge Fund-raiser, Nov. 18, at the Aspen Lodge in the Parkland Recreation Complex.

The 2021 Philanthropist of the Year Award went to Myles and Bonnie Haverluck, who moved back to Dauphin in 1979 and have been involved in promoting the community ever since.

Myles has sat on multiple boards and gave much of his time to the betterment of the community, while Bonnie was active in canvassing for charities such as the Canadian Cancer Society and other fund-raising activities. She was also in charge of band concerts and was the treasurer.

The Haverlucks were founding members of DDCF.

Bonnie was proud and thankful for receiving the award.

“I’m proud of my family, my children coming back to Dauphin. Dauphin is home. It was a great town raising children, raising a family, working and just being a part of Dauphin. Dauphin is home in a nutshell,” she said.

Because Dauphin is home, Bonnie feels it is important to give back to the community whenever possible.

“The community is a wonderful place for family and children. And that’s why the next generation keeps coming back,” she said.

The 2022 Philanthropist of the Year Award was presented posthumously to Peter Sklepowich, who died, May 14, 2020, and bequeathed more than $500,000 to DDCF.

DDCF executive director Kit Daley calculated his gift will have granted out $130,000 over the next five years, and more than $250,000 in the next 10 years.

Sklepowich’s friend and lawyer Jason Beyette accepted the award on his behalf and said it was fitting for Sklepowich to receive the award.

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