When Melissa Taylor found out “Ted the Barber’s” house and detached barber shop were up for sale, she made an offer on the property as soon as she was able to.

Taylor had been living and working in Edmonton – Covid forced her to quit her eyebrow microblading business in Roblin and head out west to find a job – and had been looking for a way to “come home” and start up her shop again.

Read the rest of the story in this week’s Review.

The Manitoba government, joined by community leaders from across the province, laid out its plan Tuesday to work together, strengthen health care, lower costs for families and grow the province’s low-carbon economy in the speech from the throne.

“Today is a new day in our province,” said Premier Wab Kinew.

Find out what the NDP government is planning in this issue.

The Smellie Block in Russell – the home of Gambler First Nation’s admin offices – was the setting of a historic announcement Nov. 10 as Gambler First Nation announced a million-dollar donation to its newly inaugurated John James Tanner Legacy Foundation through the Potash and Agri Development Corporation of Manitoba.

The foundation was created to provide crucial educational, financial, social and psychological support to the children and families of missing and murdered indigenous women, girls, men, boys, two-spirited, and LBGTQIA individuals during times of crisis.

Want to know more? Check out this week’s paper.

Nothing says Christmastime like a Santa Claus Parade and The Pas Community Renewal Corporation (TPCRC) is about to bring some Christmas Cheer to the tri-community. This year’s theme for the parade promises to be a fun one that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.
“The theme this year is ChristmaZoo,” said TPCRC Community Engagement Coordinator Holly LaJambe. “TPCRC has been collecting and brainstorming themes for all the years we’ve been organizing the Santa Parade into a big secret list and it continues to grow.
“We choose themes that are inclusive, open to interpretation so everyone can be creative with them, and fun for all ages. Every year, we select a few choices from this list that are different from the past few years and then our staff have fun debating these until we settle on one.”

With many people about to start holiday shopping, along with searching for that perfect gift comes find deals or bargains on those top-demand items on peoples’ wish lists. Stores started the whole Black Friday bonanza of deals, by copying our American counterparts, but now retailers have taken it to another level with the Pre-Boxing Day sales strategy, which is get a deal before the big sale hits.
There are good portion of rural Manitobans who do shop local when it comes to buying gifts for the holidays, but for those who are looking to buy gifts that are not carried locally, they tend to rely on shopping online.
Shopping online can provide the convenience of doing so from home and not having to worry about travelling treacherous highway conditions only to stand in long loud lineups at the mall.
The majority of holiday online shoppers tend to scour the Internet looking for advertised deals or sales. With Meta (Facebook) being so ad-driven, a lot of these retail giants are using this platform to advertise specials or sales online. This may seem like a great way to keep informed about sales, but it’s now becoming a great way to become a victim of fraud.

Town of The Pas held a regular council meeting on November 13 in council chambers and due to some technical difficulties, the meeting could not be streamed online.
Destination Marketing Committee followed up and provided council with some Terms of Reference for their organization.
“It gives us a better idea of the Destination Marketing Committee’s structure and how it operates,” said Town of The Pas Mayor Andre Murphy. “It also ensures there is a fair process in terms of intakes, as well it helps them to plan out their budget to grant funds throughout the year. It helps us, as well as those applying for grants, to see the entire picture and what is required.”

The Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) Inc. has reiterated MKO’s earlier call for Canada to commence an investigation of the Indian Residential School system as a crime against humanity under the laws of Canada. MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee presented MKO’s renewed call for action during a meeting with federal Justice Minister Arif Virani at the Permanent Mission of Canada in Geneva, Switzerland on November 9, 2023.
MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee and MKO officials were in Geneva last week to participate in the 4th Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Canada before the Working Group of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The UPR of Canada took place at the United Nations in Geneva on November 10, 2023. MKO is an NGO in Consultation with ECOSOC and is accredited to the United Nations duty stations in New York and Geneva.
Grand Chief Settee said, “I reminded Minister Virani that MKO’s first response after the announcement by Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc of the discovery of the 215 children at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School was to call on Prime Minister Trudeau and former Justice Minister David Lametti to investigate the Indian Residential School System as a crime against humanity pursuant to Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.”

Opaskwayak Detachment - Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Manitoba: Police are investigating an assault & forcible confinement involving an adult female in the Opaskwayak Cree Nation.
On November 13, 2023, the Manitoba First Nations Police Service (MFNPS) received a report from an adult female who said that she was held against her will and assaulted in Opaskwayak Cree Nation. Officers of the Manitoba First Nation Police Service attended to the victim, who reported that she was assaulted and held against her will for several days.
Police also discovered that her infant child appeared to be the victim of an assault by the same suspect. Both victims received medical attention at the local hospital and were held overnight for observation.
Police are investigating this matter and have issued a warrant for the person responsible for the assault. The victim and suspect are known to each other, and this was not a random act. An arrest warrant for Kavika Reeves CONSTANT has been issued for the following offences: Assault with a weapon; Assault while choking; Assault; Being unlawfully in a dwelling house; Forcible confinement; Utter threats against a person; Mischief under $5000; Fail to comply with Probation and Fail to comply with a release order.
If you have any information that could assist investigators, don't hesitate to get in touch with MFNPS Opaskwayak Cree Nation Detachment at 204-623-8200 or MFNPS TIPS line anonymously at 1-833-978- 0048 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. The MFNP TIPS line is accessible 24/7, 365 days a year, and monitored regularly.

A physician who got his start in the Valley has recently been recognized by Doctors Manitoba as one of the Top 40 Under 40 in Medicine. Dr. Rafiq Andani established his start as a rural family physician in Swan River, before moving on to Winnipeg. Since his time in the Valley, his portfolio has grown significantly.
“I was born in Edmonton and raised just north of Toronto,” said Dr. Rafiq Andani. “I was an undergraduate at Sir Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, ON. I attended Medical School in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, then I completed my residency through the University of Manitoba in the Northern and Remote Family Medicine Training Program. My first job out of residency was in Swan River for Prairie Mountain Health.
“I never planned on being a physician. Originally, I wanted to do web design and software engineering. In high school, I started a company that made websites. I always joked that I had the idea for Facebook, long before Zuckerberg did. When I was growing up, my dad was pretty explicit that I didn’t have the resolve needed to survive in business. He said I was too kind and wouldn’t have the ability to fire someone when needed. He encouraged me to pursue something that was better suited to my demeanour. It was my father’s influence that led me to medicine over entrepreneurship.”
Dr. Andani’s time in Swan River gave him the diversity he needed to expand the scope of his practice.
“The reality is when a physician works in a community like Swan River, they will have the opportunity to do everything,” said Dr. Andani. “There isn’t an oncologist or addictions specialist on site; it’s the family physician that patients see in the ER that will manage every aspect of that patient’s care, from clinic to home. This is the same work any rural family physician encounters on a regular basis that adds to the scope of their practice. This all just came with the job, for me.
“So, when I left Swan River, I tried to recreate my practice to model what I had done there, to here in Winnipeg. It’s still not quite the same, because it’s a revolving door of new patients and you never get to build that relationship in caring for or treating a patient like you would in a rural community. Now, I do a bit of addictions medicine, a bit of oncology and emergency medicine, which I all started out doing in Swan River, and it’s evolved.”
Dr. Andani has written a chapter for the Manitoba Opioid Agonist Therapy Practice Manual. He knows the issues surrounding addictions and realized there needed to be more resources out there for practicing physicians.
“A lot of the literature around addiction medicine is sparse or limited, so it’s hard to find good resources around managing addiction medicine,” said Dr. Andani. “Because it’s becoming more prevalent and an issue, a small cohesive group of providers teamed up together to help create this manual.
“I didn’t have the desire to author a chapter in this manual, but it was out of my involvement with this well-supported group of like-minded individuals, that were asked to take on a small task of this relatively bigger issue.”
Dr. Andani currently serves as a medical consultant for the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch (FNIHB). This came from his work in Swan River, being part of a group that established some medical resources in a local First Nation community. That experience grew when the pandemic hit.
“That opportunity was from work I helped during the waves and peaks of the pandemic,” said Dr. Andani.
“Early into the pandemic, we learned from influenza and other outbreaks that had occurred in remote and isolated First Nation communities, there was a concerted effort from Indigenous leadership, in partnership with Indigenous organizations and government to help mitigate the impacts COVID-19 would have on these communities.
“My role through the partnership included the federal and provincial governments and the university. We had rapid response teams that would assist First Nation communities with COVID-19 outbreaks. One of the instruments in the public health response was to help facilitate testing. That involved me becoming more aware of those arbitrary jurisdictional boundaries that exist between Indigenous communities, the provincial and federal partnerships and the health systems. I think we did an okay job of expanding the testing and public health interventions through that work.
“From there, there was a recognition for the FNIHB to expand testing and diagnostic capacity within the nursing stations,” said Dr. Andani. “I was asked to join FNIHB in this medical consulting to help oversee and support lab diagnostic expansion. Now we’re expanding it to actual acute and emergency care, and lab diagnostics.
“If it was for my experience working in Swan River, I wouldn’t have been provided the opportunities to do this kind of work. The reason is that Swan River Hospital was one of the first pilot sites for point-of-care diagnostics in our lab as part of the Shared Health DSM Point of Care Project. It was serendipitous that I was learning point-of-care diagnostics in Swan River and then it would eventually come full circle to become part of my portfolio of work.
“A group of doctors I was working with in Swan River, started up a clinic in Sapotaweyak Cree Nation,” said Dr. Andani. “Part of that work not only involved expanding access to physician and nurse resources, but expanding the lab diagnostic capacity as well. I still feel like a lot of the work I am doing now still replicates the work that we started in Swan River, just on a different scale.”
Dr. Andani is also the first Associate Chief Medical Officer for Shared Health.
“This gives me some latitude to work on some projects without being the face of big decisions,” said Dr. Andani. “Shared Health has been a bit of a hot topic when it comes to the recent election, the discourse around healthcare, and what is the right way to manage, fund and incentivize our existing healthcare resources and expand them.
“Shared Health as an organization has a very important role in maintaining a provincial macroscopic perspective on resource allocation, distribution and maximizing efficiency while minimizing risk throughout the province. That coordination we saw during the peak parts of the pandemic really demonstrated the need for that type of superstructure.
“At its core, the problem then becomes, especially for providers in communities that are not in Winnipeg, how much of that voice and perspective is reflected in the organization,” said Dr. Andani. “Having trained in Swan River and in the Northern and Remote Family Medicine Program, the advantage of bringing in someone like me to fill the role as the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Shared Health is to provide that perspective to ground decisions and strategic planning around a perspective that is not exclusive to urban Winnipeg. I think that is primarily why the role was created and how I bring a unique lens to the Shared Health structure.”
Being named one of Manitoba Doctors’ Top 40 Under 40 in Medicine is quite an honour for Dr. Andani, but he knows there are some very important people who helped him get to where he is today, and for that, he wishes he could give them the spotlight as well.
“It was a nice experience,” said Dr. Andani. “I always think of these accolades as not a personal achievement, but more of a recognition of all the effort and sacrifice that people around me have contributed to my success. Although, it’s nice to see my name and picture, what it doesn’t capture is all the family and support that has allowed me to be recognized in this way. I think I could have 40 people as my top 40 that were the ones responsible for me receiving this award and it’s hard to capture that.”

The Community Foundation of Swan Valley hosted their annual fundraising gala on Friday (Nov. 17) at the Veteran’s Community Hall. A multi course meal catered by Johnny and Jenna Catering supplemented the evening’s program followed by a special performance by comedy magician Matt Gore