For the first time since 2019 fire chiefs from departments across the province were able to gather in person for the Manitoba Association of Fire Chiefs Annual Conference and Trade Show this year and they did so in Dauphin, June 2 to 4.

“We tried to run some virtual conferences over the past two years, but everybody meeting in little squares, Hollywood Square style, wasn’t the greatest,” said Dauphin fire chief Cam Abrey, who hosted the convention on behalf of the Riding Mountain Mutual Aid District. “The opportunity to bring in important speakers like we lined up this year was something that we’ve missed out on the last few years with our virtual conferences. We were only doing the business side of things, we didn’t have that opportunity to learn with each other and the networking opportunities.”

Whether it is over a meal or on the floor of the trade show, it is the unstructured times that offer the best connections.

“People are talking about their recent purchases, or different training opportunities,” Abrey said. “Do you really pay attention online? Now you have a chance to listen to somebody’s first-hand experiences and then network with each other and share that information back and forth.”

With more than 100 delegates registered, the MAFC offered several information sessions with speakers such as Laura King of the National Fire Prevention Association speaking on cancer prevention strategies and two firefighters from Winnipeg who have both experienced a cancer diagnosis sharing their personal journeys.

“It’s one of the things we want to share amongst the delegates in attendance. What can you do to better protect your firefighters? What can you do for your records maintenance so that if somebody does get a diagnosis in 20 or 30 years that there’s actually records maintenance for your department,” Abrey said.

Other speakers included Vince MacKenzie, chief of the Grand Falls-Windsor Fire Department in Newfoundland talking about how fire departments can recover post-COVID and Lionel Crowther, a Winnipeg firefighter who survived the 2007 fire which killed his colleagues, Captain Harold Lessard and Captain Thomas Nichols.

But the weekend was not all “heavy” as a comedian was hired to lighten things up Saturday night.

“Some nice clean comedy and a chance for everybody to break bread and just sit around and rehash old friendships,” Abrey said, adding holding the annual conference outside of the major urban areas is important. “It’s an extreme honour to be able to host this event . We allow our members to take in some of the sessions, as well, so it’s not just us sending out one or two representatives to bring the information back. More people have the opportunity to hear it,” he said. “We’re not only looking at Riding Mountain Mutual Aid District, our 11 departments, but all the departments of the Swan River Valley Mutual Aid District are able to attend, it’s less travel distance for them. The Lake Winnipegosis Mutual Aid District, those departments are able to attend. So keeping those transportation costs down is beneficial for the municipalities, as well, which is why we try to rotate the conference throughout the province. So each area can catch that same feeling. And bringing 200 people to the community for three or four days it is a financial boon.”

Participants in this year’s MS Walk braved chilly spring temperatures, walking two or five kilometers, to support fundraising efforts for the Manitoba MS Society.
According to this year’s organizer Lorna-Lee Breemersch 12 participants officially registered however, there were more people who came out Sunday morning to walk in support of MS.
“The walk itself was five kilometers, but with the option of 2 kilometers or what you are able to do,” she said of the distance and effort that participants could decide upon.

Amy Jackson has always been the kind of person that pushes the envelope. She is unapologetic, smart, funny and driven and as a result has built a successful business based on all that makes her deadly. Her passion for being who she is and encouraging others to celebrate who they are, combined with an amazing sense of humour has helped her created a business that not only makes you laugh but also makes you think. Native Love Notes started as a way to for Jackson to deal with isolation of the pandemic and has now grown into a success Indigenous business, producing and selling not only stickers but posters, cards, buttons, notebooks, clothing and more
“I’ve always been the kind of person that likes to push the envelope. I like to say controversial things. I like to make people think. I like to make people uncomfortable, well not everyone - but white people - I just feel like I like turning things on their head because for a lot of my life I’ve been made to feel uncomfortable in my body and my community. In places that I go to in town and when I’m visiting in the city, the way I’m looked at in restaurants and you know what, as I got older I’m just like f**k it, I’m gonna turn it over on its head and do it right back, I’m gonna return that energy,” Jackson said,

On a cool, damp Saturday morning (May 28), the Swan Valley 4H Beef Club held their annual show at the Swan River Valley Agricultural Society Grounds. With the help of judge Brennin Jack and ring person Robyn Tibble – along with many other volunteers and sponsors – the members entered the ring one-by-one to show off their animals. 

The Parkland Vipers U16 girls club volleyball team won a silver medal at nationals, May 22 to 24, in Edmonton.

There were 144 teams competed at nationals and they were ranked according to where they finished in their respective provincial tournaments.

The Vipers were placed in Division 3 where they finished first, winning two of three matches.

Teams were then placed in a power pool, where Parkland was a perfect 3-0, losing just one set. This earned the Vipers a spot in the championship side of their division.

The Vipers started their march to the final with a three-set victory over Cats Gold of Brandon in the Round of 16, then defeated Alberta’s Fog White in the quarterfinals and beat Ultimate of Alberta in the semifinals.

In the championship match, the Vipers lost to Sequoia of Ontario, 20-25, 28-26 and 10-15.

It marks the first time the Vipers have medaled at nationals since the program started in 1997.

There's lots more in this week's Dauphin Herald and make sure you tune in to this week's 'A View From The Couch' to hear from Vipers Coach Ted Rea. 

No one knew what to expect when the Dauphin Kings began the 2021-22 Manitoba Junior Hockey League season.

But it proved to be heck of a ride for the players, coaches and fans as the team finished in the top four in the country, reaching the semifinals at the 2022 Centennial Cup presented by Tim Horton’s, in Estevan, Sask., after capturing the eighth Turnbull Cup in team history.

Dauphin finished atop Group B after the round-robin with a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Jr. Senators of the Central Canada Hockey League, a 7-1 triumph over the Maritime Hockey League’s Summerside Western Capitals, a 2-1 shootout loss to the Flin Flon Bombers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and a 6-1 victory over the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Soo Thunderbirds.

By finishing first in their pool, Dauphin earned a berth in the semifinals, where they faced the Ontario Junior Hockey League champion Pickering Panthers, who had beaten the Bombers in double overtime in the quarterfinals.

The Kings’ season came to an end after Zachary Roy made 32 saves in backstopping the Panthers to a 2-0 win.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley was pleased with the team’s play in the round-robin, noting they only allowed five goals against in the four games.

“I think our compete level was outstanding. Our goaltending and back end was very good,” he said.

The Kings have had to rely on a balanced scoring attack all season. The lack of a natural goal scorer proved to be the team’s downfall.

“We have to work hard for every one we get. In the round-robin, we found a way to beat Ottawa. Played a very good game against Summerside and the power play went five-for-seven,” he said. “Game three against Flin Flon could have been anybody’s game. They had two five-on-threes.”

With special teams such a factor, Hedley had little opportunity to use his bench, which was a strength of the Kings all season.

After the win over the Thunderbirds clinched first place for the Kings, Hedley said the team felt good about themselves going into the game against Pickering.

Hedley felt the Kings played well against the Panthers, outshooting them 32-29, and had some great chances. But Roy proved to be the difference, making some big saves.

“They did a great job of defending and took advantage of some mistakes,” he added. “It would have been nice to be in that national final, that’s for sure. But now we know what it takes and, hopefully, it can improve our program.”

Carson Cherepak was named Top Goaltender and MVP of the round-robin, posting a 0.98 GAA and .968 save percentage.

“Carson Cherepak was outstanding. He’s been that way all year. A couple of ups and downs, but for the most part, he’s been our MVP,” he said. “Especially in that tournament off the hop with Ottawa. Even against Summerside in that second game. The first 10 minutes of both games, we didn’t get a great start and he kept us within reach and kept us in the game.”

Hedley will not have any time to rest as the MJHL’s draft goes Saturday.

The Kings did not have any autoprotected players this season, one of four teams in the league who did not protect any local talent.

“There are some kids that we have our eye on in town. We just didn’t think they’d get drafted. So we’re going to definitely work with them and see if we can get them to a level where they can play in our program,” Hedley said.

Although the Kings fell short at nationals, it was still a successful campaign, one the players can be proud of. That was the message Hedley gave his charges.

“We mentioned in the dressing room, we’ve got to keep our heads up. We had a great year. The guys here are champions. They won a ring, won a cup,” he said.

The stay in Estevan was a long one, as the team was there for 12 days. And although they fell short of their goal of appearing in the national final, they should be proud of the way they competed and happy with their performance.

After 50 years of entertaining crowds with their four-part harmony, the Keystone Chorus has been silenced.

Originally formed in the late 1960s, the Dauphin chapter was established by a group interested in barbershop quartet singing, with the intent of joining the international organization.

It wasn’t until late 1971 that the Dauphin chapter reached the required 35 members and was finally recognized internationally, Feb. 28, 1972.

The organization distributed their remaining funds to organizations within the community, recently. Parkland Crossing received $1,000, Dauphin and District Community Foundation received $1,500 and the Watson Arts Centre received $1,000.

“The community has given so much to us. We tried to be part of the community and tried to give them a lot in song. It’s been a mutual thing in the sense that the community and the businesses in the community have given us so much, that we simply wanted to give something back to the community,” said Keystone Chorus president Dale Friesen, adding Parkland Crossing provided a home for the group’s meetings in the past.

There are several reasons, Friesen said, for the barbershoppers shutting down, with COVID-19 being the last straw.

Membership has been dwindling in recent years and the group has been having difficulty finding new members.

“We had too few singers trying to do too much. I guess it’s the story of we’re getting older and we don’t have younger blood coming in,” Friesen said.

All of the current members, Friesen said, are incredibly disappointed in having to disband the group.

“I spoke to every member on the phone before we started to make this decision. Everybody regrets the fact that we have to (disband),” he said. “Every member that I talked to, even past members, they love singing. They love to hear acapella harmony. There’s just something unique about barbershop harmony.”

The Keystone Chorus did not limit their shows to Dauphin, but performed across Manitoba and Saskatchewan and even in the U.S. And the songs they would sing varied from the Beatles to other contemporary songs from the 1950s and 1960s to gospel music.

“We sang quite a variety of songs. And we seemed to have always struck a chord with our audience,” Friesen said.

Don Allen and Larry Love are charter members with the barbershoppers. Allen did not become aware of the group until local businessman Boris Zemchyshen mentioned he traveled to Yorkton every week to sing with a group of barbershoppers there and eventually invited Allen to join him.

“It was kind of good. I just sat at the back for a few minutes. But it wasn’t long until somebody comes down and drags you on stage,” he said. “I had never sung barbershop music at all. I had a lot of experience with church music, quartet singing. So it wasn’t hard to do at all, I found.”

The group often performed at Clear Lake. Friesen said there was a Mini-HEP program in Clear Lake where they brought in award-winning barbershoppers from the U.S. to conduct workshops with local groups, to teach the different aspects of barbershop singing. But it was the friendship and love of music that attracted members to the group.

“Some of us could read music, but there’s lots that couldn’t and they just kind of followed along. It worked out good. Amazingly good,” Love said. “It’s not hard music to sing,” Allen added. “It’s kind of in a very narrow box. That was the only thing I didn’t like about it, was that you were so constrained as to what type of harmony you could sing. But that’s what made it barbershop singing.”

Early in Friesen’s years with the group, a group of members stopped at a local restaurant after returning from a Mini-HEP in Clear Lake. Allen, Love and two others, he said, broke out in song in the parking lot. That, Friesen said, had him hooked on singing with the group.

“I just loved it. I never had the courage to do a quartet. I know they put me in one once in a while. But I loved it. I just loved it the camaraderie,” he said. “We had a great group of guys. That’s a key to it,” Love added.

The group was a broad mixture of society, but it was the love of music that brought them all together.

“Just normal people. You didn’t have a lot of foul profanity or anything like that,” Friesen said.

Friesen, Love and Allen knew their limitations when it came to singing. Allen did not have the range to sing soprano, alto, tenor or bass, but he started as a tenor because no one else in the group could. ‘I’m neither a tenor nor a bass. I’m in there somewhere. Baritones always say they sing in the cracks,” he said.

Friesen, a bass, could not sing baritone because he was not well versed with the music, but his range was baritone and when they were practicing, he would quietly sing with them.

“Because I could get most of the notes. And when the leads were singing, I could get most of the notes there, sometimes a little high, but usually I’d sing with them. And when the tenors were singing, I could somehow tighten up the shorts and get up there, as well. I enjoyed it,” he said.

As much as they all love singing, they all agreed there is nothing better than when they hit the note just right.

“To reach the unreachable star,” Love called it. “If you hit it right, the hair on the back of your neck was guaranteed to stand up.”

“I love those times when they hit the note right,” Friesen said. “That’s what you sing for. You sing for those few times where everybody gets it perfectly right. The spine is tingling.”

At its peak, the Keystone Chorus could number more than 40 members, which lasted for a number of years. Allen was thinking about coming back to the group this winter, but that will not be possible now. But there is some talk about someone starting a men’s chorus, but it won’t be barbershop music. Membership had dwindled to roughly 10 or 11 men, but there was only one strong singer in each of the four parts, which Friesen said, is not enough to continue.

“One guy gets sick, you’re done,” he said.

Performing in front of an audience was a fun experience.

“Some of those audiences, they just enjoyed it. We got a few standing ovations the odd time,” Allen said, adding there was the odd song people would know and sing along with the group. “And then when we sang some of those Beatles songs that have been put to barbershop. You’d have half the audience singing with you,” Friesen said.

Anyone who ever attended a Keystone Chorus show at the Watson Arts Centre will know they always started at 7:59 p.m., sharp, a tradition started by Love, just to be different.

The group’s last show was held in March 2019 and the last meeting was held in March of this year.

A Dauphin woman is in custody following a recent traffic stop, which resulted in the seizure of a firearm and a quantity of drugs.

Britanny Bungay, 34, is facing charges of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm and ammunition in a vehicle, possession of a restricted firearm with ammunition without a licence, possession of a weapon obtained by crime, possession of a firearm with a tampered serial number and possession of methamphetamine.

On May 26, at approximately 7 p.m., West District Crime Reduction Enforcement Support Team (CREST), conducted a traffic stop on Hwy. 10, in the RM of Dauphin.

During the stop the officer noticed a firearm on the floor of the vehicle and the driver and passenger were arrested.

The driver, Bungay, had an outstanding warrant for possession for the purpose of trafficking and was found to be in possession of approximately seven grams of methamphetamine.

The passenger, a 27-year-old female from Dauphin, is facing charges of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm and ammunition in a vehicle, possession of a restricted firearm with ammunition without a licence and possession of a weapon obtained by crime.

She was released with an upcoming court date.

CREST, along with Dauphin RCMP, continues to investigate.

For Aaron Murray, life has come to a place of peace. To a place where he’s giving back to the organization that very well may have saved his life. 

Murray is now the Development Director for Adult and Teen Challenge. His wife Tara is the Program Director for the Women’s’ Centre affiliated with the same faith-based program.

Aaron is a Binscarth kid, who having grown up in the Binscarth Christian Assembly, had a foundation of faith. But like so many, it took him a while to get back to those roots. Roots he found with the Adult and Teen Challenge he and his wife Tara both now work at. 

You can read about Murray in the May 31^st edition of The Russell Banner!

The MBCI gymnasium was beautifully decorated and filled with graduates, family, friends and community members the afternoon of Saturday, May 14th for this year’s Grad Class of 2022 Tea & Fashion show.
The room was bustling with graduates who were busy serving tea, coffee and juice and replenishing the delicious dainties and sandwiches made in the cafeteria by a great group of parents and graduates, while the audience was treated to a fantastic fashion show featuring 16 students from the MBCI Grad Class of 2022.
The models had a lot of fun, showcasing the variety of fashions, kindly loaned by our local businesses and home businesses, ranging from sleepwear to work wear to summer wear to casual wear to a night out and for a grand finale, we had a Blast from the Past where the models raided their family members closets to get some older fashions – some old MBCI jackets were even modelled. The variety of clothing was appreciated by the audience and showed everyone that The Pas, OCN & area can meet all of your fashion needs.