Winter is here and with that comes the joys of plugging in one’s vehicle to ensure it will start in the winter. One thing that is overlooked is fire prevention when it comes to plugging in vehicles during the coldest winter months.
“Faulty or improperly maintained heaters can overheat, leading to fires,” said The Pas Fire Department Fire Chief Byron Shangraw. “Exposure to cold temperatures can damage vehicle wiring, increasing the risk of short circuits and fires.”

The search for an executive director for the Aurora House ended early this fall, as a candidate was hired. Jean Clearwater is new to both the position and the area but comes with lots of experience with helping women escape domestic violence and providing support.
“I’ve worked for many years with various organizations in this field before accepting this position with Aurora House,” said Aurora House Executive Director Jean Clearwater. “I started this position on October 1, and it was also my first introduction to The Pas. I moved from Teulon to The Pas for this position. The people here have been wonderfully welcoming and very friendly.”
Clearwater is all too familiar with the challenges that women facing domestic violence have when living in rural or northern areas. There just aren’t the resources that there are in the urban centres.

Once Christmas and New Year’s pass, the community will only get a brief pause before they start up for the Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival (NMTF). This year’s Fur Queen Competition has more candidates running than it has seen in a while.
“There are eight Fur Queen candidates this year, which is more than last year,” said NMTF Fur Queen Director Krista Tooley. “It is also more than we've had in a few years, which is exciting!

The Opaskwayak Cree Nation Chief and Council have ordered a semi-lockdown of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation effective as of November 30, 2024, directly due to the recent increase in criminal activity we have been experiencing.
The Opaskwayak Cree Nation has been dealing with the escalation of gang violence, drugs, assaults, suicides and high-speed chases for quite some time. Crime is extending to all corners of our community and surrounding areas and escalating to outside of our jurisdiction. Statistical data has shown that some numbers have stabilized but also become more serious and violent in nature.

A local service club celebrated a milestone recently and has developed quite a history in the area.
“The Bowsman Lions Club started on December 7, 1984, and our 40th Anniversary celebration was held exactly 40 years to the date,” said Bowsman Lions Keith Behrmann. “The Swan River Lions Club sponsored us. Lion members Wayne McGimpsey and Garry Mills were instrumental in making this club happen. I believe there needed to be a minimum of 22 people signed up to form a Lions Club in the community. They approached members of the community to form the Bowsman Lions Club.
Behrmann was not a part of the original formation of the Bowsman Lions Club, but he transitioned to the club once another Lions Club in the area had folded.
“I was not a chartered member of the Bowsman Lions Club at that time,” said Behrmann. “First, I wound up being a member of the Birch River Lions Club, which was sponsored by the Bowsman Lions Club. Because of rural depopulation, the Birch River Lions Club folded. At the time, I was away working and when I came back, I was approached by Bowsman Lions member Ken Sutherland to join their club, and so I did.
“I don’t believe you can live in a community and not contribute. I’ve always been active in the community and still am to this day.”
The Bowsman Lions are deeply rooted in the history of the community. A major event that happened in the community, which put the town on the map, also became the inspiration for their logo.
“There is a lot of history for the Bowsman Lions,” said Behrmann. “When you take a look at our logo, it’s based on an event that happened in January of 1967. All the biffys in Bowsman were gathered up and burned because a water and septic system was installed in the community. It even wound up on CBC, so we fashioned our logo after that. Lion member Tyson Boychuk was part of creating the design.”
The Bowsman Biffy Burning made headlines across Canada and some news stations in the U.S. On New Year’s Eve in 1966, a crowd gathered near the new water and sewage treatment plant to watch the burning of approximately 26 biffys in the community.
The Bowsman Lions Club has been active in fundraising, both independently and as a joint effort with the other Lions Clubs in the Valley.
“One of the bigger events was the Bull-a-rama and the catalyst behind it was Lions member Outhwaite,” said Behrmann. “Over the years, that event sort of played itself out and it ran its course. Most of the money raised from that specific event over the years went to medical purposes for purchasing equipment to stay locally. We purchased equipment for eye surgery, maternity equipment and beds.
“We partnered with the golf course and split the proceeds 50/50 and did that a couple of times. Some of the money raised went to the Bowsman Daycare Centre. When the Ukraine-Russia War broke out, the Bowsman Lions put on a Ukrainian supper at the Veterans’ Hall. We were able to raise and contribute $18,000 to the relief fund.
“Last year, we put on another fundraising dinner and raised $16,500 that went towards the new CT Scanner in the community,” said Behrmann. “In 2025, it will be the actual 25th Anniversary of the Billy Beal event that raises funds for medical assistance. This year, we’ve contributed over $18,000 towards Valley residents through each Lions Club in the Valley. Everyone pitches in to make this happen.
“If it weren’t for the Lions Clubs in the Valley, we wouldn’t have cataract surgeries available in Swan River. We also banded together for Kids Sight, which is a handheld machine that goes into the classrooms and can tell if children need glasses or not. Every year, they go in and test this, and about 20 percent of children tested every year need glasses. This early recognition allows them to get a referral to an optometrist to get glasses.
“Other things we do to raise funds are recycling batteries, hosting pancake breakfasts and barbeques,” said Behrmann. “The Journey For Sight has been another big event we raise funds for and we have two members dedicated to that event. There are other things that our club has been in the background doing. It’s a matter of community service and if there Is a need there, we band together to help. There have been some instances where a traumatic event has happened to a family in the Valley and we’ve helped them in any way we could. The Valley community has always stepped up to fill in a need.
“It’s all part of the Lions mantra ‘We Serve’. It requires community-minded people who want to do community-minded things. There are just under 1.3 million Lions members in the world in over 180 countries and all started from the mindset of one individual, Melvin Jones, back in 1917, and has grown into what it is today.”
The Bowsman Lions are still looking to recruit members to keep the club going for more years to come.
“We need some younger members to join,” said Behrmann. “We did have a membership drive last year and had a few new members sign up.”
The 40th Anniversary celebration for the Bowsman Lions had some dignitaries come out for the event and welcomed some new members as well.
“The event was held on December 7 at the Bowsman Legion with a catered supper,” said Behrmann. “We had the District Governor in attendance and two members from Minnesota that were in attendance. We dedicated the evening to former Lions member Mel Brelinski who passed away.
“Lions members Corinna Medwid and Darcy Parsons were inducted as Lions members at the anniversary celebration.

The North West Regional Library, Swan River Branch welcomed Mrs. Claus to their building this past weekend, Dec. 7, reading books with all the children that came to visit. Grayson Moshenko (left), Jesse (centre) and Jackson Rooks (right) all stand with Mrs. Claus for a photo.

Goose Lake High students and staff gathered in the gym Wednesday for a banner unveiling ceremony for the Junior Varsity Raiders volleyball team, the 2023-24 A/AA provincial champions.

It was GLH’s first provincial banner since the 2018-19 school year.

Read all about it in this week’s issue.

The benefit to Dauphin brought by the community’s two major festivals and the economic potential of the new Northgate Trails development are widely known . . . anecdotely.

But thanks to the City of Dauphin’s Economic Development (ED) department, there is now some hard data to back it up.

Utilizing some of the proceeds of last year’s accommodation tax, this past summer Dauphin ED, in partnership with Sport Tourism Canada  and The Data Jungle, conducted an economic impact assessment of Dauphin’s Countryfest, Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival and Northgate Trails.

The assessment looked at three factors: the spending of out-of-town visitors while they attend the events; the expenditures of the organizers in producing the events; and capital construction costs directly attributed to hosting.

Those numbers were used to extrapolate the impact on the regional, provincial and national economies.

That data was presented to the groups involved at a special meeting at city hall last week.

And the results are not surprising with it being revealed that through its $3,081,632, 2024 operational budget, Countryfest generated $5,577,610 worth of economic activity locally, $6,073,512 provincially and $9,453,100 nationally. The results are based on 452 responses to a survey conducted by ED staff and volunteers.

Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival, with a 2024 budget of $520,200, based on 200 survey responses, was shown to generate $2,579,557 of economic activity locally, $3,103,922 provincially and $4,481,878 nationally.

The numbers are not insignificant ED manager Martijn van Luijn said, when you consider that together, the total economic activity of Dauphin’s major festivals impact the local economy by $8,157,167, Manitoba’s economy by $9,177,434 and Canada’s by $13,934,978. You cannot forget that they also generate $2,490,000 in federal, provincial and municipal taxes, he added.

These numbers can be used to demonstrate the value of the festivals, while supporting funding and sponsorship programs, guiding strategic planning, advocating for community investment and promoting local engagement.

“The primary reason we did this was to help these organizations lobby for future funds and to help them build some evidence and data around how important this is to our community, so they can use that for future planning and for grant applications, etc,” van Luijn said.

“The cost of these studies was $15,000 and that’s probably something that they would not have done on their own. But after meeting with them, this was something that they needed.”

While the study of Northgate Trails did not follow the same format, user data collected through geo-fencing data with permission from user smart devices through Trails Canada Propulso Data Collection was used to create character profiles.

The results of the less than 1,000 user sample size showed that between January 2021 and December 2023, the facility has more than 600 visitors monthly, with October and January being the peak months.

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

Kelsey School Division held its regularly scheduled meeting on November 18. The division has been busy with programming for students and recently had students engaged in another successful bison harvest.
“We just had another bison harvest again,” said KSD Superintendent Trevor Lane. “The students love it and we work with Around the Bend Farms to put this into our Indigenous learning. Myrna Ducharme and some elders in the community take about 20 students out to do this. They go through the entire process of how to honour the animal, go through some Indigenous ways of life and culture. They are shown how to skin the hide, harvest the meat and cook it. It’s a full two-day harvest process. We have three of these scheduled. It always goes over really well and the students enjoy doing it.”

Regular bus service is resuming between Winnipeg and northern Manitoba with some major improvements. Kasper Transportation, the largest bus operator in northwestern Ontario, will be offering scheduled bus service from Winnipeg to The Pas starting this week. The news comes just in time for the holiday season.
“There was a void and I realized how many people were stranded in terms of bus transportation,” said Kasper Transportation Owner/Operator Kasper Wabinski. “The way people came together, under the right circumstances, showed me this was meant to be.”