Creative Common Inc. is set to begin work on its planned makerspace thanks to a recent grant from the province’s new  From the Ground Up - Safe Healthy Communities For All Program.

Up to $80,000 was awarded to the group to help with renovations to the main floor of its building on Second Avenue Northwest.

“It’s a $100,000 project to get the upstairs open, which is where the 3D printers are and the soldering stations and the classroom and a wood shop,” said Creative Common spokesperson Martijn van Luijin.

“So we are now going to be able to do all that, because we have enough to match the funds. We were a little bit short, but that’s why we were fund raising.”

van Luijin added two new bathrooms will be added to the space, while the building’s owner is planning to add a new facade and upgrade the electrical panel.

While it seems as if the project has been stalled, van Luijin said the group is ready to execute its plan in short order.

“We have already started the plan. We’re already getting contractors to come in and take a look at it and electricians,” van Luijin said.

“So we’ve been waiting for this, because we’ve been sitting on our hands. For about six months we just talked about it and now we are  hitting the go button.”

The project’s schedule will depend on how quickly tradespeople can begin, but the group is not resting on its laurels as planning is well underway to the develop the basement space with further amenities.

Plans already include a podcasting studio and a sewing lab, but there is additional space available

for other disciplines.

“We are tossing around some ideas, but we are at the beginning stages,” van Luijin said.

“We’re thinking about a VR room where you can wear virtual goggles and do programming and stuff like that, but we haven’t really talked about that very much. That’s expensive, so we’ll see.”

He added there are also code issues to consider such as egress. With just one set of stairs currently leading to the basement, a second exit will need to be incorporated.

The group is also exploring some strategic partnerships and is in discussions with the local library to increase accessibility.

“So, say you don’t have the money to get a (Creative Common) membership, but you still want to try 3D printing,” van Luijin said.

“If you have a library membership you could borrow a membership card for say three weeks and get introduced to it and get to meet other people doing it.”

The same kind of partnership is being worked out with Community Futures Parkland.

“For new entrepreneurs that want to maybe work on a prototype of something,” he said.

“But nothing is firmed up yet. We’re just all trying to figure this out.”

In the meantime van Luijin said the fund-raising will continue in an effort to make the space as special as possible.

“I have another grant program application in for some green initiatives around the building, but that hasn’t been decided yet,” he said, adding you can never have too much money.

“There’s no such thing.”

Calico Corners kicked off the Christmas craft markets at the Veterans Community Hall on Nov. 1, allowing people to get in their holiday gift shopping and raising money for the Association of Community Living.

The Swan River community held the annual Remembrance Day Service at the Veterans Community Hall yesterday (Nov. 11), recognizing and honouring the men and women who have fought, served and died for the sake of our freedoms...

There will be some new faces, and one familiar one, around the Mountain View School Division board table following a byelection, last Wednesday.

Floyd Martens will return to the MVSD board as a trustee for Ward 1 along with newcomer Conrad Nabess, while Ward 2 will see Scott Lynxleg take the empty seat and Jarri Thompson will represent the City of Dauphin as a Ward 4 trustee.

Martens, who earned 203 of the 420 ballots cast in Ward 1, was one of three trustees to resign in June. He is looking forward to getting back to work.

“Every time there’s an election and you have people coming to the table. It’s a new board in lots of ways, so we’ll see what happens, what takes place,” Martens said, adding his initial focus will be on the budgetting process and ensuring what is happening in classrooms is benefitting students.

“Things within schools that are happening, that obviously are going to need to be the focus. For me that’s my priority.

“We need to focus on the things that are really significant. The province has been looking at a funding model and may have shared that information with the board, I don’t know. 

“Obviously we’re at budget almost now, so it needs to get in place relatively soon. My thought is where’s that at and what does that look like and what does that mean for Mountain View?”

For Lynxleg, the election was a learning experience that he is looking forward to continuing at the board table.

“My first priority was to get on the board, which is done and now it’s to attend first meetings, catch up on housekeeping of what a board member does. I’d like to hear from all board members now that we have a full board, to hear everybody’s thoughts on what we’re going to do as a board going forward. It’s time for some change, and good change, I think we need it, obviously we do,” he said, adding his goal is to bring the focus back to the children whose education should be the board’s main priority.

“My priority is the kids, all the kids. We kind of lose sight of that and I think somewhere along the road that was lost. What I’m going to be focusing on is working with the board, parents, staff, anybody that wants to contribute, and getting things focused, I guess back where they’re supposed to be.

“First of all we need safe schools and respect for everybody and inclusion and then you go from there.”

Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

 The Royal Canadian Legion Br. 39 organized and paid for banners of local War Veterans to be displayed on the streets of Swan River, specifically the ones that were Killed in Action that the Legion has photos of. In the future, Swan River’s Legion
branch hopes to expand the list of banners to include all Veterans, and hopes families will be willing to sponsor the banners and supply the Legion with a good quality photo and information on their Veteran. 

Children and their parents and guardians enjoyed their evening dressing up and going home to home collecting treats on Halloween (Oct. 31).

Dauphin city council took an opportunity to honour Brenda Gregory as they gathered for its regular meeting, Oct. 21.

Gregory is one of four inaugural winners of the City’s new Sunshine Award, but was unable to attend the Oct. 7 presentation of the awards to co-winners Jerry Joss, Clayton Swanton and Carla Wolfenden.

In presenting the award, mayor David Bosiak referred to Gregory’s commitment to the community spanning decades and continuing to this day.

“In the early ‘90s when she was on the rec commission, she was a sports mom, an activity mom involved with her kids in the community and doing a lot of great things in our community. I saw her yesterday at Northgate with the next generation, with her two grandsons, still being up there and caring a great deal,” he said, adding all of the Sunshine Awards winners are similar people in the way they contribute to the betterment of the community with no expectation of acknowledgment or reward.

“Brenda in particular has marshaled the Dauphin Derailleurs Cycle Club since its inception in 2017 and has been like the mother hen of the organization and has nurtured it and supported it. The only other thing I’ll say is that for the last couple of summers in particular, she’s been out on the trails in plus 35 degrees working with the green team with a leaf blower backpack or a weed eater or running kids back and forth on the trail system just making sure that we have this tremendous asset up there at Northgate.”

Read the full story in this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

A Canadian author with local ties to the Valley has transformed her mother’s life story into a National Best Seller. Roxana Spicer is the daughter of Eric and Agnes Spicer and started out as a documentary filmmaker and former CBC investigative journalist. She has travelled to various parts of the world to track down a story, but the greatest story she’s ever uncovered was that of her own mother. She knew from an early age, her mother had a story to tell.
“It seems I’ve been a storyteller all my life,” said Roxana Spicer. “I did my first public reading of original work when I was ten years old, a budding playwright in the village of Netherhill, Saskatchewan. I would take over our family veranda, rig up blankets for stage curtains, and even charge 25 cents a show.
“One new kid arrived on opening night, stayed for the performance, then left without paying. I shot her with my brother’s BB gun loaded with grain. A couple of minutes later, her mom showed up on the doorstep. ‘I understand Jewel owes you 25 cents,’ she said, reaching into her purse and pulling out two quarters. ‘Here’s fifty cents. The second quarter is for you to promise never to play with my daughter again.’ I probably should have been sent to reformatory school for that! But fifty years later, Jewel arrived at this week’s Saskatchewan book launch in Kindersley near Netherhill, laughing about the incident. In fact, she paid for everyone at the table, including my three Spicer relatives who’d made the trip from Swan River.
“In the half-century between these two stage performances, my career has primarily been that of a documentary filmmaker,” said Spicer. “I have travelled the world for all the major Canadian television networks. The story of my mother remains the most compelling story I have ever undertaken.”
This is the first book Spicer has written and published. The story of her mother’s experience in WWII has captivated readers and critics alike.
“The Traitor’s Daughter is my debut into the literary world,” said Spicer. “Since its Canadian launch in late August, my memoir about Mom and our story has remained on the National Best Sellers’ list as one of Canada’s top ten non-fiction books. It has also been included in the Globe and Mail’s Fall book preview of 62 new titles to read this season.
“I first told my mom I was going to write a book about her right around the time I was packing heat in the 80-person village of Netherhill and performing little plays on our veranda in 1965. Mom was a Russian combat soldier fighting Nazis on the Eastern Front during World War Two. She could pitch a handful of kitchen knives across the room and form a perfect pattern around a frying pan hanging on the wall.
“She was the most fascinating woman I ever met. How could I not write a book about her?” asked Spicer. “The Traitor’s Daughter, however, began as a documentary idea for Canadian television audiences shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. It grew into a rich, complex, multi-layered story of a mother-daughter relationship as well as a war story, told through a woman’s very specific point of view.
“Writing a book enabled me to share all those layers with readers. I travelled to ten countries and three continents over thirty years to write this book.
“The Traitor’s Daughter is published by the largest, most prestigious publishing house in Canada,” said Spicer. “Penguin Random House also publishes Margaret Atwood and several other brilliant Canadian voices. It is beyond my literary abilities to describe what a thrill it is to run into Ms. Atwood recording her audiobook in the booth next to mine on the 14th floor of the head office in Toronto.
“The last two years of working with my brilliant executive editor Lara Hinchberger has been the highlight of a fifty-year career. I only wish Lara had been able to join me this week on our book launch in Saskatchewan, back to Netherhill, Kindersley, and Saskatoon, where The Traitor’s Daughter pulled in standing room only crowds. Every book was sold before I stepped onto the stage to read.”
The experience of writing a book, especially one so personal, has been a remarkable endeavour. One that has brought a lot of hard work to life but also something to be proud of, for it was no easy task.
“I have been writing this book one way or the other since I was ten years old,” said Spicer. “The actual full-time writing took seven years; however, I did eight drafts before I was satisfied I’d found the voice’ of the book. It’s a woman’s story, a war story, and the story of Canada’s only officially registered war bride among 47-thousand European women who fell in love with Canadian soldiers and followed their new husbands back to Canada after the war.
“There were two enjoyable experiences in writing this book. My twin brother Victor wrote it was the most profound experience of his internal life to read this gripping, largely unknown story of his mother.
“Then my older brother Harold flew from Calgary with his wife Diana, to be at the national book launch in Toronto, and when I scanned a packed house of book buyers, literary agents, television executives, and Canadian cinema directors, former war correspondents, and a real who’s who of Canadian literati,” said Spicer. “It was the sight of my brother’s eyes welling up and his grin as he stood to join a standing ovation that will remain a real transcendent moment.”
“However, to write a book is to live it. Every minute I was writing about details of my mother’s capture by the Nazis, imagining her terror at the hands of knife-wielding German captors on the Eastern Front during World War Two, relying on her cleverness and resolve to survive, took me into the darkest corners of my imagination. Then, to take these scenes, fleshing out the context of what was happening all around her while resisting the temptation to stray beyond what I knew to be true, to find the right words and to bring the highest standards of journalistic rigour to every sentence, that was a minute-by-minute challenge that lasted seven years.”
Spicer’s novel has been gaining momentum and popularity. Not only is it a best seller, but it has become the topic for many radio and television shows, giving Spicer and her mother an opportunity to talk about it.
“The Canadian public has fallen in love with my mom,” said Spicer. “The Traitor’s Daughter hit number two on the National Best Sellers’ List the first weeks after it landed in Canadian bookstores in late August. The momentum continues.
“The highest-rated CBC Radio program, The Current with Matt Galloway, gave Mom and me half an hour on prime time radio, describing the book as compelling, a page-turner. Zoomer Magazine did a multi-page spread with photos, echoing Penguin’s words: A masterful narration. I appeared on the CBC National, as well as the Bell network radio show, hosted by Richard Crouse.”
Writing this book has been a dream come true for Spicer and the support she has received from people purchasing the book has been overwhelming. The Traitor’s Daughter can be found on bookstore shelves as well as be ordered online.
“The Traitor’s Daughter is now available in all major bookstores across Canada, including Costco,” said Spicer. “Look for it on the Best Sellers’ shelf at Indigo Chapters, as well as McNally-Robinson in Winnipeg and Saskatoon. It’s also available to purchase on Amazon and Penguin Random House Canada.
“Every single book sale keeps Mom’s story alive. This was the promise I made to my Russian mother in Netherhill, Saskatchewan, during the Cold War. Today, it is readers in Swan River and beyond who help me keep that sacred word.”

The Swan Valley Fire Department was called out to a pair of structure fires in quick succession early Monday morning (Oct. 28). Here, the remains of a structure of a residential property on the 200 block of Fifth Avenue South in Swan River is taped off after firefighters worked diligently at keeping it contained. More information to follow in an upcoming edition.

The City of Dauphin is weighing its options under a new provincial government program supporting critical infrastructure.

The Manitoba Growth, Renewal and Opportunities for Municipalities (Manitoba GRO) program kicks off with an investment of $42 million for projects which focus on community renewal, disaster mitigation, climate resiliency and recreation.

Municipalities outside of Winnipeg can apply for grant funding for up to 50 per cent of total eligible costs for capital projects under the following investment categories:

• public safety, which includes disaster prevention, flood mitigation and climate adaptation (such as drainage and flood water control), and fire stations and related capital items (such as trucks to enhance public safety);
• roads, bridges and active transportation (such as multi-use trails, airports and renewed road infrastructure);
• recreational infrastructure; and
• solid waste management and organic diversion (including garbage collection sites or recycling infrastructure).

“We are evaluating all the projects that we could apply for and then we’ll apply for two because it appears that we can only apply for two,” city manager Sharla Griffiths said, adding there is one project in the pipeline the City is seriously considering.

“There’s a new fire truck in the budget for 2025. That fire apparatus is one of the big ticket items,  just about $900,000. So if we can get a portion of that paid, that would be awesome. But we still have to evaluate all the other things that we want to consider.”

With a Nov. 15 application deadline, there is still time for the City to consider its options.

The City was awaiting word on its application to the From the Ground Up - Safe Healthy Communities For All program, formerly known as Building Sustainable Communities to make a final decision on which of its projects to promote. The province just announced the recipients of that program on Friday.

That aside, Griffiths is excited about the potential of the new program

“We are excited about this because of all of the categories that are possible,” she said, adding she is hopeful the program is not just a one-time funding opportunity and will continue in future years.

“With the new government we’re uncertain. We’re unsure if this is something that we can count on in the future, so we will try to get as much as we can.”

In announcing the program. Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Ian Bushie said the program is about making sure municipalities have the resources they need after years of being shortchanged by the previous government.

“We committed to resetting the relationship with our municipal partners and we are pleased to support strategic infrastructure projects that will support municipalities in their efforts to protect their towns and cities from potential disaster and build strategic infrastructure projects that promote growth and sustainability,” Bushie said.

The province’s commitment to co-invest in strategic infrastructure projects is an approach welcomed by the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM).

“We also appreciate this renewed collaboration with the province and look forward to being actively involved in reviewing and providing feedback on applications, ensuring projects align with the interests and growth ambitions of municipalities across Manitoba,” said AMM president Kam Blight.

Funding for this program is sourced from the $73.8-million rural strategic infrastructure basket delivered under the Strategic Municipal Investment Fund.