Tri-Community Pride is getting ready for its biggest event of the year, the annual Tri-Community Pride Parade and Festival. The event takes place on June 7 and welcomes everyone to attend and be a part of the celebrations.
“This is going to be our fourth annual Tri-Community Pride Parade and Festival,” said Tri-Community Pride Member Derrick (Nadia) Sanderson. “Since we started, we’ve almost seen a doubling in size, in terms of the number of floats and people walking. We've seen a really good turnout for the pre-parade, parade, festival and market. We’re happy to see the amount of people taking part in all of that.

The Opasquia Trails has faced some unforeseen hardships after completing some improvements to the trail system. The spring conditions led to some damage being done to the observation platform when the ice melted and moved towards the shoreline.
“The damage was actually done to the original platform in the Kelsey Watershed District office parking lot, at the head of the boardwalk on April 29 around 1 p.m.,” said Opasquia Trails Board Member Megan Molin. “Considerable damage was done to the observation platform when it was pushed off its supports and moved further inland a few meters.

There have been rumblings about cuts to Indigenous services, particularly Jordan’s Principle funding, but nothing official was released. Instead, many school divisions and organizations that were assisting Indigenous youth who are living out of their First Nation communities lost Jordan’s Principle funding to help those who needed services.
The story of how Jordan’s Principle was formed was in honour of Jordan River Anderson, a young Indigenous child from Norway House Cree First Nation. He was born with a rare medical condition that required him to be hospitalized for the first years of his life. He remained in the hospital long after the medical team recommended he be discharged because neither the provincial nor federal government would take responsibility for funding his out-of-home care.

The Valley has once upon a time been home to many who have written and published books. Award-winning journalist, freelance writer and now author, Rosalie I. Tennison, has launched her memoir Naomi’s Houses. The story talks about Tennison’s experience growing up in the Valley, under less than ideal circumstances.
“It wasn’t until I moved to Winnipeg, about seven years ago, that this memoir popped into my head,” said Tennison. “I have a half finished novel that I’ve abandoned, because there is so much focus now on lived experience instead of the creativity of one’s imagination. I felt that readers wouldn’t appreciate it because it was not based on my lived experience.
“Even though I have written some short stories and never published them, I found myself reading a lot of memoirs and liked the genre. I had an idea for a memoir, but even then, it wasn’t this exact idea. Although this is my memoir and it is all about me, in the end, it really also is about my mother.
“I once recall hearing a writer being asked why they chose to write about a particular character and make them the focus of their book when there were three other strong characters to choose from,” said Tennison. “The author explained that sometimes when writing a book, a character can come out more than others and the book becomes focused on that character. This is what happened to me. I was writing my memoir, but it became a tribute to my mother. It’s not what I thought when I started out.”
Tennison added a personal touch to her memoir and included entries from her mother’s diaries that spanned over several years. It took her some time to finalize the creative process of incorporating her mother’s diary entries, but she felt it was an important part of the book.
“I used my mother’s diaries in the book to introduce the various chapters,” said Tennison. “Originally, I put Naomi’s Diary and then the date before each chapter. That was how I did the whole book. I had four drafts of the book before it went to a publisher. Then I hired an independent editor to help me with the structure and layout. I honestly can’t see it being any other way now.
“The publisher, Heritage House, had asked me for ideas of what I would like to see on the cover and I shared those with them. In the end, the cover was nothing like I imagined, but I quite like it. I had to trust the experts when it came to this.
“We are in a different world today,” said Tennison. “Back when I pitched a story, you had to sit down, type out a letter and mail it. Maybe two weeks later, you would receive a letter indicating whether or not they were interested in your story. Now there are all these tools such as the Internet, email and form letters. All publishers have to do is type in an address, and they don’t even do that anymore. It should be so much easier to politely reject people’s submissions, but it’s not. Instead, publishers take the stance that if a writer hasn’t heard from them in six months, they can assume they don’t want the book.
“I had to create a table with all the publishers that had the date I submitted, what their criteria were for submissions, and when they stated to respond. I would go back to check and once it got to six months, I would assume they didn’t want the book.
“Heritage House only accept submissions in January and the only reason I didn’t submit to them earlier was because I missed the deadline,” said Tennison. “Eventually, I did send them my memoir, and they came through for me.
“It took a year before they said they would publish it, so I think it wasn’t so much what I learned about myself, but instead this whole process confirmed who I am. I’m not a quitter, and I come from some pretty sturdy farming stock who plotted along and did what they could for survival. I had a mother who instilled that in me.”
Tennison’s story is one that reflects on what it is like to grow up in poverty and the struggles that come with it.
“My family’s experience growing up in the Valley was very difficult,” said Tennison. “We were very poor, but I had good parents. My maternal grandparents were heavily involved in the community. My maternal grandmother was a leader in the Women’s Institute and my maternal grandfather started the local branch of the Farmers’ Union. They were highly and well-respected people.
“My paternal grandparents didn’t stay in the Valley very long. They left and also left my father to stay in the Valley. From there, my parents met and married. They struggled with poverty and then my father died.
“We were plunged into deeper poverty,” said Tennison. “We had to leave the farm we lived on outside of Bowman and move to Swan River. We ended up in a rundown house in Swan River and our family continued to struggle. Due to our financial circumstances, a lot of the time we felt unwelcome and it was really hard growing up.
“My mother did the best she could given her circumstances. Her focus was to ensure that her children did not end up in a similar situation that she had. She pushed us to get educated and find good jobs, to get out of poverty. It certainly wasn’t a life that she had pictured for herself. The truth of the matter is, one never knows when their circumstances might change. Poverty doesn’t play favourites and it’s colourblind.
“We were a family experiencing poverty,” said Tennison. “We were invisible. We had a really tough time. Fortunately, there were some people in Bowsman who helped us out from time to time, and I’ve never forgotten that.
“I did a book signing in Calgary in the middle of April, and a woman I grew up with in Bowsman and our parents were family friends, had her daughter drive her from Carstairs, Alberta, to see me. I was shocked and burst into tears. This woman told me how she remembered our family and that when her family was getting ready to head into Swan River on Saturdays, her mother had them fill a cardboard box of produce from the garden to give to my family to survive.”
Looking back at Tennison’s story and life experience of growing up in poverty, she feels that although she has survived this chapter in her life, poverty still impacts many people today in ways that most people can’t imagine until they have gone through it.
“The book touches on how people think we’ve come a long way and things have changed since then, but in essence, they really haven’t in the last 50 years,” said Tennison. “There are still people living in poverty and struggling, but the difference is that there are more social safety nets now than there were back then.
“We didn’t have a lot of those tools growing up.”
Tennison has matured and lived other life experiences that have helped shape the person she has become, but writing this memoir also helped her to gain a better understanding of just how much her mother did for her family despite having the odds stacked against her.
“I think it’s not so much that I learned much about myself when writing this memoir as it was about how it reinforced who I am, because I’ve always struggled with imposter syndrome at times and a lot of self-doubt, but I had a mother who said I could do whatever I want,” said Tennison. “That has always been at the back of my mind. So, when the going gets tough in life, which it often does for all of us, I hear her voice and think to myself that I can do this.
“Writing a book has always been something I wanted to do. I didn’t have a type of book defined at that time, but it ended up being one that was a memoir and a tribute to my mother. That positive reinforcement of being able to do this floated through the book as I wrote it. It took five years from the time I started writing to almost the day when I was standing in front of a crowd at McNally Robinson launching the book.
“A lot of people would be deterred by that length of time, but I kept persevering through dealing with different editors and maintaining my voice,” said Tennison. Then going through the submission process can be very off-putting and demoralizing. I was just about done, and only had three Canadian potential publishers left who may be potential possibilities, and then Heritage House wanted to publish my memoir.”
Tennison will be in the Valley for the Swan River Museum’s Heritage Day in August to promote and sign her memoir and to take a photo with her father’s car that was donated to the museum. Naomi’s Houses is available to purchase online from McNally Robinson, Indigo Chapters and Amazon.

The Swan Valley Historical Museum opened its doors this past Sunday (May 25), putting on a show with various sights to see and experience from the past of the Swan River Valley. 

A Christ-centred, family-focused independent K-9 school is set to open its doors in Roblin this fall.
Founded in 2023 as the Harvest Homeschool Co-op running out of Roblin’s Evangelical Mission Church, it is transitioning for the 2025-26 academic year into the Harvest Hill Christian Academy.
Read all about it in this week’s issue.

Dauphin city councillors marked special days with proclamations as they gathered for their regular meeting, May 12.

May 15 was proclaimed as Moose Hide Campaign Day, recognizing the  “Indigenous-led, grassroots movement of men, boys, and all Canadians standing up to end violence against women, children, and all those along the gender continuum.” Founded along the Highway of Tears in British Columbia, the Moose Hide Campaign is a  response to the injustices and violence faced by many women and children in Canada, particularly those who are Indigenous.

May 17 was proclaimed as the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia to draw attention to the 2SLGBTQI+ community and the discrimination and prejudice that is often directed at its members. The proclamation also recognizes the City of Dauphin’s support of diversity and that homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia are not welcome in the community.

Finally, May 25 to 31 was proclaimed as Access Awareness Week, highlighting the fact that  accessibility will improve the health, independence and well-being of people disabled by barriers.

Added to taxes

Councillors opted to added three outstanding receivable accounts to the tax rolls in the amount of $4,044.31. That total is comprised of $119.24 owing for quarterly garbage pickup at 18 4th Avenue SW, $2,617.43 related to 417 2nd Avenue NE for yard clean-up, tipping fees and fines for unpermitted burning and leaving a fire unattended, and a fine of $1,307.64 for two false alarms unpaid at 95 1st Avenue NE.

Councillors also voted to add an outstanding water account to the tax rolls in the amount of $463.21 owing at 210 6th Ave. NE after the previous tenant did not pay the final utility bill.

Pride

Council was informed plans for an upcoming Pride event on June 13 are progressing well with  a parade set to end in Vermillion Park, where food, activities and entertainment will cap the day. The City will show its support for the celebration by:

• proclaiming June as Pride Month at its May 26 regular meeting;
• changing its social media logos in June to reflect the Pride colours;
• posting on social media to affirm the City’s support for an inclusive and respectful community where everyone can live, work, and play in a safe and secure environment;
• flying the Pride flag at city hall from June 13 to 16;
• featuring two slides in celebration of Pride in Dauphin on the electronic sign at city hall; and
• purchasing 150 pride sunglasses to give away during the parade.

Read the full story in this weeks Dauphin Herald.

May 10 marked World Lupus Day, a time to bring awareness to a complex and often misunderstooddisease that affects many Canadians. In recognition of this day, Lupus Canada issued a national challenge from May 1 to 10, encouraging Canadians to complete 1,000 repetitions, whether it’s running, cycling, swimming, or another physical challenge, to raise awareness for lupus. Why 1,000? Lupus is often called the Disease of 1,000 Faces because it affects everyone differently.
Kelly Petryk, a dedicated coach with The Pas Roadrunners, has been living with lupus for 14 years. Determined to raise her voice and make some waves, she took the challenge to heart with a goal to swim 1,000 laps over 10 days.

All good things must come to an end. And, while the Blizzard wanted to be the Centennial Cup champions, they bowed out of the national tournament last Friday, falling 4-0 (EN) to the Rockland Nationals in the quarter-final round, thus settling on being the reigning Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions.
The Nationals, who would lose to the host Calgary Canucks in overtime in the semifinal round, (and the Canucks in turn would win the national championship on Sunday) scored once in the first and second and twice more in the third to officially eliminate the Blizzard, who may have simply run out of gas.
“For the first three games we had lots of energy,” said Blizzard Head Coach and General Manager Eric Labrosse. “But when we hit our fourth game of the round-robin, I felt our guys started to get the heavy legs. We just didn’t have the same energy, and I think that caught up to us.

Canada Post has received strike notices from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), for both Urban and RSMC (Rural and Suburban Mail Carriers) bargaining units. The notices indicate that CUPW intends to begin strike activity on Friday, May 23 at midnight local time.
Our operations continue as usual at this time.
A labour disruption would affect the millions of Canadians and businesses who rely on the postal service and deepen the company’s already serious financial situation. It is critical that both parties focus their energies on resolving issues to reach negotiated agreements.
In the event CUPW initiates rotating strike activity, Canada Post intends to continue delivering in unaffected areas while working to reach negotiated agreements. Canada Post will work to minimize service disruptions, but customers may experience delays.