Many people only dream they could fly, but for local pilot Kim Ballantyne, she’s made it a reality.

Ballantyne knew at an early age she wanted to be a pilot and when she shared that with her family, they helped foster and nurture that goal. 

“I was four years old when I shared with my grandpa, Malcolm Crane, that I wanted to become a pilot when I grew up,” said Ballantyne. “He encouraged my dream right from the beginning.” 

It wasn’t an easy road to becoming a pilot. There were a lot of steps Ballantyne had to go through before she could start training. 

“I wanted to finish high school and university before I started with pilot training,” said Ballantyne. “After completing my education, I started my professional career. I had to get a medical done by a doctor first in order to be cleared to fly. Once I had enough resources to begin pilot training, I started researching different flight schools and their programs."

Read this story and more in this week's Opasquia Times!

There’s a young Internet sensation hailing from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) and he’s getting quite famous for his take on science. Simon Monteith, better known as Simon the Scientist, is only nine years old, has been creating experiments and tutorials on video, and uploading them on to social media to help reach other Indigenous youth and kids in an effort to get them to understand and appreciate the world of science. “I’m going into grade 5 at Lakewood Elementary School,” said Simon. “There isn’t any really specific thing that I love about science, I just have interest in all types of science. I started Simon the Scientist when I was seven years old, just as the pandemic started. It was a slow start at first, but then it grew.

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.

When a RCMP officer meets with tragedy on the job, they leave behind family, friends and colleagues who mourn their loss. A newly formed foundation has created an annual fundraiser called Move to Remember Challenge, to help provide support to those RCMP members’ families who have lost a loved one serving in the line of duty.
“The National Police Federation Benevolent Foundation (NPFBF) is an organization’s sole purpose is to support the families of fallen RCMP officers,” said NPFBF Chair Kevin Halwa. “It was recently designated by Royal Canadian Mounted Police Federation as the sole charitable foundation that collects donations for the families of fallen RCMP officers.
“When one of our members is tragically killed in the line of duty, it’s not just devastating to the community, their colleagues and the force, but it’s unbelievably overwhelming to the family. We’re there to provide immediate financial and other support for the member’s family as needed.
“We also provide some post-secondary funding for bursaries for students across the country,” said Halwa. “Those bursaries are open to all students that are going into any kind of public safety field for post-secondary learning.
“The Move to Remember Challenge is for the month of September. Members register and collect pledges for any kind of physical activity that allows them to reach a goal of 246 km. The reason for 246 plus km is to represent the number of fallen officers in the line of duty, as well as those members whose work-related injuries led to suicide. Those circumstances are incredibly tragic and this is a way we can keep those colleagues and their loved ones in our hearts and minds.”
Swan River RCMP Detachment Constable Briana Blencowe is more than taking the cause to heart; she’s stepping up to the challenge.
“I personally did the Move to Remember Challenge on my own last year, but because of my involvement with Ride for Refuge, I didn’t seek community support,” said Constable Blencowe. “The NPFBF raises money to help support those families in different ways. This challenge helps us as RCMP to also remember and honour those members who we have served with that are no longer with us as a result of a tragedy on the job.”
The cause is personal for Blencowe for she feels the potential that tragedy could befall any of her previous or current co-workers on the job. For Blencowe, those co-workers are a form of family.
“I’ve been in Swan River for four years and in that time, I’ve worked with so many amazing members and got to know the community,” said Constable Blencowe. “Most, if not all of us, have come from across Canada to serve in Swan River and to become members. We have left our extended families and close friends to become part of a new community.
“I don’t know if the general public realizes how much a member sacrifices personally when it comes to that. Because we leave our extended families, we develop a bond with our co-workers and their families and it means that much more if something were to happen to them. Just knowing that the Benevolent Fund is there to help take care of those families, should a tragedy befall their loved one on the line of duty, means a lot to me.”
Although Blencowe has participated in Move to Remember before, this time she’s enlisting a team consisting of members from the Swan River Detachment and has set a fundraising goal along with a personal physical activity goal to raise funds.
“I’m hoping to get our full detachment together to do the Move to Remember Challenge,” said Blencowe. “There’s going to be a couple of ways people can donate to our team’s involvement for the Move to Remember Challenge. Next week there will be donation sheets at some of the local businesses. We also have a QR code that will connect directly to our online donation page for our team. I’m hoping we can raise $3,000.
“The Move to Remember Challenge goes from Sept. 1 to 30, and the idea is to get as many kilometres as possible over the 30 days with a minimum being 247 km, which represents the 246 plus fallen members. Personally, the goal for myself is to swim 247 laps, bike for 247 minutes and aqua run 247 loops. My hope is as a team we can surpass my combined distance of 680 km from last year or at least get to 247 km as a total.”

The aurora borealis lit up the skies across the province this past week with a show happening on varying levels every single night.

Training camp is over and done with and now the players trying to impress the Dauphin Kings coaching staff will have four opportunities to show what they can do in game situations this week.

Camp ended with Team White scoring a 4-3 win over Team navy in the annual JoFo Cup intrasquad game, Sunday afternoon.

Madden Murray scored twice to lead Team White to the victory. Tyson Pauze and Anthony Tudino had the other goals, while Keaton Woolsey and Kristjan Johnson combined to make 39 saves in goal.

Nolan Wickham, Ethan Williment and Aiden Brook had the goals for Team Navy. Cole Sheffield and Nathan Braun teamed up to make 18 saves in goal.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley liked what he saw throughout the weekend.

“The guys that we brought in, we knew they were good. I think we’ve got some decent speed. Our backend is mobile,” he said.

The Kings will embark on a busy week with four preseason games in six days, beginning tonight in Swan Valley against the Stampeders at 7 p.m.

On Wednesday, Dauphin plays its only home game of the preseason when they host the Superior International Junior Hockey League’s Wisconsin Lumberjacks at 7:30 p.m.

The Kings will then head west for a pair of tilts against Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League opponents in Melville, first against the Melville Millionaires on Saturday at 6 p.m., followed by a Sunday contest against the Yorkton Terriers at 2:30 p.m. These four games, Hedley said, will be key for a lot of players, noting there is competition for every spot on the roster.

“It’s going to be a good battle. I’m looking forward to some good intensity, good compete in practice and games this week,” he said.

Hedley felt each of the three teams had a really good work ethic and compete level in their practices.

“The speed that they had and the compete in the drills was very good. I think there have been times in the games where they got a little bit tired. But at the same time, overall, I think the compete and the speed and the intensity has been okay,” he said.

Hedley hopes to see a willingness to battle in the preseason games and play within a structure.

“We’re going to do some teaching this week and, hopefully, we can get guys buying in. The sooner we do that, the better we’re going to be,” he said.

Last season, the Kings relied on scoring by committee and this season will be no different.

“There are guys here that we think have potential to be some top end guys as far as scoring. But until we get the combinations together and get the right guys in the right places, it’s probably going to be scoring by committee,” Hedley said.

Like last year, Hedley expects the blueline to lead the way when it comes to producing offence.

“I think our backend is going to be one of our major driving forces again, with guys like (Nicholas) Hatton and (Anthony) Bax that can jump in the play. And (Rhys) Maksimow, (Ryan) Kieber and those kinds of kids that can jump in the play and create some until we get our feet under us up front and try to spread out,” he said. “But I think the biggest thing is probably our depth. The fact that we can throw speed out on every line. We might not be top scorers, but we’ve got guys that work by committee and hopefully, will score the same way.”

Dauphin opens the season, Sept. 16, when they host the Neepawa Titans at 7:30 p.m.

Sully Fox leaps to knock down a pass right before the quarterback is sacked as the Dauphin Clippers beat the Winnipeg Falcons, 33-20, in an exhibition game, Friday.

The Falcons and St. Vital Mustangs are playing a series of exhibition games against teams in the Rural Manitoba Football League as a means of gauging their competitiveness before joining the league next season at the earliest.

The Clippers open the regular season, Thursday, when they host the defending RMFL champion Swan Valley Tigers in a rematch of last year’s final. Game time is 4:30 p.m.

Editor’s note: In an effort to help city of Dauphin voters make an informed decision when choosing a new mayor this fall, the Herald provide an opportunity for candidates David Bosiak and Kerri Riehl to share their platforms, priorities and plans in their own words through a series of questions and answers.

The first question, answered here this week was “What do you see as the biggest issue facing Dauphin and how would you like to see it addressed?”

David Bosiak

On the campaign trail I’ve asked voters the same question posed to me by the Dauphin Herald: “What is the biggest issue facing our community?” The responses I received were varied to say the least. When I thought about each and every (different) response, I realized there was a critical theme relating to each one.

All issues presented to me could be addressed by following through on a well-developed plan. The City does not currently have a fully complete strategic plan. A completed plan will allow us to tackle problems and issues transparently, proactively and move us forward together.

As you can imagine, I received a multitude of responses. There were common themes, like community safety and crime, the lack of affordable housing and the condition of Main Street (and other streets and back lanes for that matter). I was also told the biggest issue was a lack of big box retailers, a lack of development in our industrial park, and a lack of new housing sub-divisions. I also heard about our incomplete trail and bike path system, the wavering strength of our relationship with other levels of government and the lingering impacts related to the closing of the jail.

The lack of incentives and barriers to industrial and business development were common among those looking to develop property in our community. I was told more than once that Dauphin needed good paying jobs that would attract and keep young people here.

What I found was that it was hard to pinpoint the one “biggest” issue facing Dauphin. What I did conclude was that the biggest issue wasn’t a singular issue at all – but a lack of a collective vision for our future.

What this means to me is this, our community needs a clear and concise plan that identifies, quantifies and prioritizes all the “biggest” issues presented to me by the public. Our last Council developed a strategic plan in 2021. That plan identified five major goals, with the third being public engagement and awareness. However, the planning process used by the City did not actually engage the community to include their input, or provide them with any awareness of their activity, thus it is incomplete.

If elected Mayor the first step I will take is to bring Council, staff and the public together to revise and complete our strategic plan. This will be achieved by holding a community consultation meeting where Council hears and engages the public. As a new Council, prioritizing community initiatives should be our primary focus.

The current plan outlines the City’s vision, mission and mandate but it does not include specifics on how any of the objectives would be achieved. Newly elected Council members will hold their own beliefs of what should happen in the next four years, but I believe it is equally important that public input be included to validate future actions we take together as a community.

We need a completed strategic plan that clearly outlines what we want as a community and how we are going to achieve it. Elect me on Oct. 26th and I’ll make sure it happens.

Kerri Riehl

The biggest issue facing Dauphin is the lack of efficient and principled municipal governance.

The City of Dauphin is an incorporated business. Municipalities are bound by laws and legislation. Under the Manitoba Municipal Act, councils are democratically accountable to the citizens they serve despite any differences of opinions, beliefs, or their socioeconomic status. All citizens are equal stakeholders in our community.

A role of council is to listen and engage with the public while considering the best interests of the entire community. Nepotism has no place on councils.

All councillors must have the opportunity to have an equal voice, and only all of council can make decisions for the municipality.

Council is the decisionmaker of policy while administration implements the policies decided upon by council. In other words, “council steers the boat and administration rows.”

Realistically, this is a system closest to the people where citizens can have the greatest impact. I believe the system and the Act to be efficient and effective. My experience, however, having served on Dauphin city council, was not as described above.

There is a historical stagnant culture of saying “this is the way things are and the way it’s always been done.” I believe this is often a justification for doing little or nothing. Those councillors who do not engage have abandoned their responsibility to advance real change. In 1986 when I went to the U of M to study Criminology, Dauphin’s population was 8,875. In 2016 the population was 8,457. In 2021 our population was 8,368. The data is quite clear. The status quo has not worked.

How would I address this?

My council experience, my term as deputy-mayor, and filling in for the mayor during his absence has given me the experience and understanding necessary to lead our city.

I have studied to become proficient in the Manitoba Municipal Act and will promote accountability, transparency, and guarantee efficient and principled politics.

I will set regular office hours at city hall ensuring accessibility to the public. Quarterly town hall meetings will be held. The citizens of Dauphin will have many opportunities to become involved in the decision making process.

Council will receive orientation training. Ongoing training opportunities will be provided to ensure competency. My expectations are that all of council will have an equal voice without exception.

Advocacy to gain funding at the provincial and federal levels will be sought at every opportunity.

My goal is to achieve effective services, financial stewardship, and use of resources.

I have a long-term vision for our community and am committed to seeing that vision become a reality as mayor of Dauphin.

I believe good governance increases Dauphin’s chances of “effectively meeting the needs of its people thereby creating conditions where all citizens can lead meaningful, prosperous and happy lives.”

Set to embark on a school year that will more closely resemble a prepandemic environment, there is no shortage of excitement among the educators at Mountain View School Division (MVSD).

“It’s such an air of positivity that’s out there amongst staff and amongst administrators,” MVSD superintendent, CEO Stephen Jaddock said. “I just met with our admin council group yesterday . . . we had lots of optimism surrounding the type of startup that we’ve got going this year.”

Students return to MVSD classrooms tomorrow (Sept. 7) and Jaddock said everything is in place to ensure a smooth start to the school year.

“We’re at more relaxed COVID-19 protocols. So we’re not under a mask mandate nor are we under any sort of distancing requirements,” Jaddock said. “So we’re hoping that it’s probably one of the most normal startups we’ve had in the last number of years.” Jaddock added their will be some health measures left in place such as opportunities for frequent hand washing, hand sanitizer placed strategically throughout schools and frequent cleaning of high touch surfaces.

As well, school staff will work closely with parents to ensure children who are displaying symptoms stay home. “The kind of things that we’ve had in place through the pandemic, some of those will not be disappearing,” Jaddock said. “And I think that extra vigilance on making sure that everyone was healthy at school had an effect on the overall numbers of colds and flus that we had. We saw a reduction in that.” Jaddock added the early part of the year will be used to evaluate where there might be a need for MVSD to invest some extra money received from the province to support needs surrounding post-pandemic academic needs. The division received a share of $11 million allocated by the province at the end of the last school year, as well as a yet-to-be-determined share of an additional $6.5 million announced last week.

“We’ve got some ideas as to how we might spend that and we shared that with our board of trustees. We’re just now waiting to see what happens when startup actually is occurring in all of our schools,” Jaddock said. The second allotment, Jaddock added, is more focused on students who left the public school system during the pandemic and are now returning and the need for additional staffing which might be required. Weight was also given to the social economic status of families based on Statistics Canada data. “What they were recognizing there is those families that had lower SES, had more struggles even when we were in the remote learning phase,” Jaddock said. “Maybe some of them didn’t even have the luxury of having a computer, or if they had a computer, they didn’t have internet access. I think this was more of an attempt to bring equity to the allotment that was going out to school divisions.”

A third factor in determining the allotment is considering children in care.

“Again recognizing that those children were more challenged to accomplish the learning goals that they’d want to accomplish in the last two-and-a-half-years,” Jaddock said. “Part of this, too, is to look at student well-being and mental health. It’s not a huge amount of money.

“I guess what we’d really like to do is just look at where we’ve got some hot spots and where we’ve got some additional challenges that we would like to address through that additional funding.”

Did you know that communities that participate in recreation and sport develop stronger social bonds, are safer places to live, and the people who live in them are generally healthier and happier?

My goal is to keep this community all of the above; strong, safe, healthy and happy!

REConnect in this week’s Rec Report.