Members of the Friendly’s grocery store co-op in Inglis have voted in favour of a move to new premises.

While prep work at the new location – the community’s old curling rink – is already taking place, an official vote was held Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

Wendell Estate Honey has set up a GoFundMe page to raise $18,000 for three of its temporary foreign workers who were robbed at gunpoint in Mexico.

On Sept. 8, eight Wendell employees boarded a plane to return to their homes in Mexico. Three of those eight were women (Isa, Jacque and Monse) from a small city in the state of Veracruz.

Find out more in this week’s Review.

City administrators have decided it is time to review Dauphin’s Zoning Bylaw.

“Our last zoning bylaw is from 2015 and we are approaching the 10-year mark, so it’s definitely time, that is one aspect,” said city manager Sharla Griffiths.

“A second aspect is our city plan or development plan just got reviewed and approved this spring and that’s another good trigger, or another good indicator that says we need to review our zoning bylaw.”

It is important the two planning tools work together, she added.

The recently approved development plan builds at the main corridors in the city - Main Street, Second Avenue Northwest, Buchanan Avenue, River Avenue, Whitmore Avenue and Mountain Road - which connect and define different areas of the community. From the commercial area around Main Street to the surrounding residential and green space areas, it is important that allowed development makes sense, Griffiths added.

“The city plan, or the development plan talks about areas of our community and generally what should happen there. The zoning bylaw speaks specifically about lots,” she said.

“We need to make sure that each lot is zoned appropriately and that the things that one can do on the lot are consistent with the city development plan.

“We find that the  2015 review, our current zoning bylaw has been working reasonably well. But the city plan is a very different format and contains some different concepts than the last City plan. So it makes sense to review them both back to back, so that they work together nicely.”

Urban Systems, the consultant which helped the city with its development plan, has been contracted to assist with the bylaw review.

The process is in its early stages, Griffiths said, with just one introductory meeting held to this point. She does expect the consultants will be in the community this week to meet with City staff and council members.

“So they can gather our thoughts and our local knowledge and say from their perspective what are some of the things that we should look at,” Griffiths said, adding she expects the entire process to take up to one year to complete.

“There will be a public consultation component to it eventually, but there is no time frame set yet.”

There are more players involved than just the City and Urban Systems, she said, which can stretch things out.

“We also have to work with the province, so Community Planning, Transportation and probably Environment. The development plan was circulated through Culture and Heritage. Then it also has to get ministerial approval,” she said.

“They could say here’s some recommendations, or give it back to us and say please consider these issues or these items where we would have to go back and rework something.

“But as long as we make the zoning bylaw support the city plan we should be good.”

While residential lots are likely to remain residential and commercial will remain commercial, there are some current trends to be considered, such as intensive housing, infill housing and tiny houses, which are not adequately addressed in the current bylaw.

“Right now we say that on a single family lot you can build a single family home. If you want to build a two family home, you have to come to council for a conditional use.” she said.

“Sometimes we go through a building season, or leading up to a building season and it’s variance after variance after variance, people looking to build a couple feet closer to the property line. So if council almost always says yes to building it a couple feet closer to the property line, maybe our setbacks can be changed. It’s about seeing where we are in terms of comparables, what fits on a lot and what makes sense for our community.”

The new Zoning Bylaw will be implemented once approved sometime in 2025.

Getting ethnic food in northern Manitoba is no longer a challenge. A new venture has started up in the tri-community by someone who has settled in Canada over 10 years ago. Beatrice Femi-Davies has chosen to make The Pas her home but is now bringing those comforts of home from other countries to the tri-community area.
“I'm from Nigeria and came to Canada over a decade ago, like many newcomers, to seek a better life and more opportunities for myself and my family,” said Beatrice Femi-Davies. “I originally settled in Thompson but moved to The Pas over three years ago for a new job. I have two children and a social work degree through the University of Manitoba.”

Valley resident Beggie Palsson has had an extensive career practicing law in northern Manitoba, between The Pas and Swan River. At first, Palsson didn’t set out to become a lawyer, but fate had opened several doors leading him to law school and taking the bar exam.
“I was working in The Pas as a probation and parole officer,” said Palsson. “My territory included Gilliam, Churchill, The Pas, Moose Lake and the surrounding area. Back then, when you worked in that field, the only way to succeed in that department was to have a degree in social work. People who work in the child and welfare, probations or parole fields were trying to get their Master of Social Work."

Fall time is a busy one for youth to embark on new opportunities to join sports, clubs or organizations to gain some valuable skills for when they get older. The 303 The Pas Royal Canadian Air Cadets held their registration last week to sign up and attract new air cadets to the squadron.
“On average, there about 30 air cadets in the 303 The Pas Royal Canadian Air Cadets,” said 303 RCAC’s Commanding Officer Captain Codie Baker. “We had a total of 16 attend registration night last week, with four new youths joining.

Valley resident Beggie Palsson has had an extensive career practicing law in northern Manitoba, between The Pas and Swan River. At first, Palsson didn’t set out to become a lawyer, but fate had opened several doors leading him to law school and taking the bar exam.
“I was working in The Pas as a probation and parole officer,” said Palsson. “My territory included Gilliam, Churchill, The Pas, Moose Lake and the surrounding area. Back then, when you worked in that field, the only way to succeed in that department was to have a degree in social work. People who work in the child and welfare, probations or parole fields were trying to get their Master of Social Work.
“I just had an Arts Degree at the time, so I applied to the University of Manitoba to study a sociology course. I applied for that and was going to take the summer off to go to summer school. Before I went, the probation officer from Flin Flon was going to Winnipeg and he stopped to talk to me. He told me he was going to pick up an application for law school and asked if I wanted him to get one for me too. I told him they would never accept me in law school and I was thinking of going into social work to advance in the job I had. He told me he would get me a form, so when he came back, I filled it out and sent it in.
“The day before I was supposed to leave my job and take a sociology course, I got the letter from the law school accepting me into the program,” said Palsson. “Going into law was kind of an accident, but believe it or not, one professor I had in law school who taught an introductory course, said he bet half of us were there by accident. So, lots of people went to law school without originally planning to. It was one of the best decisions I made.
“I loved law school and found everything I studied relevant, and much to my surprise, I did very well in it.”
After passing the bar, Palsson started his legal career by articling for a firm in Winnipeg. From there, he went on to work for Legal Aid and focused on the Child Welfare System. Palsson gained a lot of valuable experience from his time working at Legal Aid.
“After law school, I articled with a private firm in St. James,” said Palsson. “They had the Chapman Building just east of Portage and Ferry Road. They were Chapman, Chapman and Chapman. It was a father, two sons and two other lawyers who made up this law firm. I articled for one of the Chapman boys.
“Then once I got my call to the bar, I went to work in the Legal Aid Office in Winnipeg. They were looking for a child welfare specialist. I never wanted to do much court work and there I was going to court four to five days a week because there were so many cases of child welfare in the system. I was taking on Paul Walsh who had been a very good criminal lawyer and became counsel for the Children’s Aid Society, which in some cases was trying to take children away from their parents. I was up against him four or five days a week. It was a good experience for me.
“I recall one day, one of the judges asked me to come to her chambers when there was a break in court,” said Palsson. “She told me that between her and I, we taught Mr. Walsh a little humility today.”
Palsson recognized early in his law career that family and child welfare law was one of the toughest areas to practice. It was apparent to him that the Child Welfare System was overrun based on poverty and some racial profiling.
“It was a hard line of work to be in because I was watching families being broken apart,” said Palsson. “A lot of it was due to poverty and some racial aspects. Unfortunately, those were mainly the clients of the Children’s Aid Society. Even now, 90 percent of the children apprehended are from low-income and Indigenous families.
“I knew of a lawyer in the legal aid offices in Winnipeg, who was very sensitive. Over time this lawyer left practicing law because of the difficult nature of these case types and the stress.”
After gaining some experience in Winnipeg, Palsson returned to northern Manitoba and The Pas to continue working in Legal Aid.
“Back when I worked probations, there weren’t many supports or lawyers working in northern Manitoba,” said Palsson. “There weren’t very many at all. Thompson had a couple of firms, there was a lawyer in Churchill, and Evans Premachuk was working in The Pas. There were some that I knew of, but overall, there was a great shortage of lawyers in northern Manitoba.
“I ended up going back to The Pas to open a Legal Aid Office for the Province in 1975. I was up there for three years before I came to the Valley. We used to fly in for court and back then I could see the ridiculousness of it. The plane would land and the judge, the Crown Attorney, two other lawyers and a court reporter would get off. The local people were kind of laughing because they knew nothing was going to be solved in terms of justice when judges and lawyers were only there for a certain amount of time.
“One of the guys who came up with me, was just called to the bar,” said Palsson. “I had been practising law for a couple of years before coming back to The Pas to work, which was still not a lot. He was a very outspoken fellow and went on to become one of the top-notch criminal lawyers in Manitoba. His name was Norm Cuddy. He was fantastic and a natural criminal lawyer.
“Norm later went on to Winnipeg with a sole practitioner, where he learned a lot about criminal law. Then he joined one of the top firms and quickly became a partner. He did very well for himself, but then got cancer and passed away at a young age. He was a good guy to work with.”
Once again opportunity presented itself to Palsson and he had the opportunity to leave Legal Aid and get into private practice. This started a new chapter for Palsson and a move to the Valley.
“Once again, my move to Swan River was purely by chance,” said Palsson. “The Crown Attorney, Ed Sloane, from Thompson, who I met once or twice, stopped by my home in The Pas. He asked me if I was sick of Legal Aid yet. At that point, I felt I had done it all in Legal Aid and was repeating it over again, doing the same thing. Sloane told me he felt the same about prosecuting. He found a law practice for sale in Swan River that belonged to Florence Matthews. He had made an appointment to speak with the owner and asked me if I was interested in becoming a partner. It had me intrigued and I told him to check it out and let me know what he thought.
“He came back and told me he felt there was great potential in the firm and that there was a very good practice setup. He felt there was room for two people to work there, so we made her an offer and she accepted. Sloane had been an RCMP officer before he went to law school so he always worked with the criminal side of law, then he became a prosecutor, so he hadn’t done any private law. I had articled with a private law firm and had done quite a bit of law in that area. Sloane went earlier and worked under Florence for a bit, then I came down and we opened up our law firm on May 1, 1978.
“I knew at some point I would go into private practice, but it just came a little sooner and unexpectedly,” said Palsson. “I hardly knew Sloane and just a few weeks ago I thought about why Ed Sloane would have stopped in back then and asked me if I was interested in joining him in practice because he didn’t really know me. Then it hit me. The prosecutor in The Pas was from Clearwater and so was Ed. I’m sure he phoned and asked what I was like, and I know the prosecutor in The Pas would have given him a good report on me. This is likely why he asked me to form a practice with him.
“Working in a private practice is different than working in Legal Aid. You have clients coming in who want certain services that you weren’t doing as part of Legal Aid. Legal Aid is limited because the clients can’t afford legal representation. This can lead to a different type of law being practiced with different expectations. I got to do so much different work.”
Palsson was quick to integrate into the Valley community. He found himself joining some local community groups and volunteered to help make the Swan Valley a better place for everyone. Palsson spent a good portion of his time giving back to the community.
“I joined the Swan River Kinsmen shortly after I moved here,” said Palsson. “Then my banker was a Swan River Rotary Club member and coaxed me to join that group too. I aged out of Swan River Kinsmen when I turned 40 and stayed with the Rotary Club until it disbanded this summer. We have no Rotary Club in Swan River anymore, and that’s unfortunate.
“When I worked in The Pas for Legal Aid, they used to have community committees that were supposed to be advisors to the office to let them know what were things in town that needed to be looked at from the legal perspective. One of the committee members in The Pas was a Captain for the Salvation Army. He got me doing volunteer work for the Salvation Army. One year I collected donations from every business in The Pas by myself. Then when I came to Swan River I thought I was done, but the first call I got was from the Captain from Dauphin. He asked me if I would continue doing that in the Valley, so I wound up looking after the Salvation Army Kettle here on my own for a year or two, until the Swan River Rotary Club took it over. We raised a lot of money for the Salvation Army over the years.
“I was part of forming the Community Foundation of Swan Valley said Palsson. “I can’t say I was the head or idea of it, but I did some legal work incorporating it. That was a fun time and project to work on. I was invited to their Spring Granting Meeting earlier this year, and I believe the Community Foundation of Swan Valley has grown to almost $4 million now, with five percent going out to the community every year. It’s amazing to see how that project started and has grown to what it is today.
“When it came to volunteering in the Valley, I had a lot of help and support from good people.”
Palsson’s partner decided to move on from the Valley and this began to cause a shift in not only the law firm itself, but the type of law Palsson practiced.
“After about six and a half years, Sloane had moved on,” said Palsson. “We had an agreement back when we were in practice that he would take the criminal cases and I would handle the civil and family ones. After he left, I had to oversee them all, but eventually, I stopped going to court. I never enjoyed it and was too busy to be out of the office for a week. We’re still very close friends and he is a great guy.
“My first partner after Sloane left was Roger Gregoire. Roger had been my articling student in The Pas with Legal Aid. After he got his call to the bar, he was lured away by a firm in Flin Flon. He practiced with them until I phoned him a couple of years after Sloane left. I asked him if he wanted to move south and work with me. He moved down within a couple of days and worked here until the Province appointed him as a provincial court judge. He too was an excellent partner and that helped.
“After that, I had a couple of different lawyers work with me,” said Palsson. “I went on to do a lot of mortgages, wills, estates, corporations. After Sloane and I bought the practice and by the time I retired, it had grown to represent and establish over 200 corporations.”
Over the years, Palsson refined his law practice and no longer practiced family law. Family law had undergone too many changes and became so complicated over the years, that Palsson felt it was a field that a lawyer should strictly practice to be good at it and he had so many other clients to represent for different matters, that he wanted to focus on that instead.
“I got out of practicing family law because they had changed all the laws surrounding it and how one got to court,” said Palsson. “I just didn’t have the time to focus on that, and with family law, a lawyer needs to be dedicated to it 100 percent of the time, to be any good at it. Things seem to change so much and it has gotten to be a more stressful type of law to practice.
“I didn’t want to give up the other aspects of law that I was working on at that time, so I let go of family law and would refer people to another firm.”
It’s been over a decade since Palsson retired from practicing the law. He was fortunate to find someone to take over his practice in the Valley. The one aspect of practicing the law that Palsson misses the most and still to this day, is getting the opportunity to see his clients regularly.
“By the time I retired from law, I had been acting legal representation for grandchildren of the clients who first came to see me when I started in Swan River,” said Palsson. “It was grandchildren, not children, who were starting to farm and wanted to buy land. It was so much different. In the beginning, I was forced to do court work and that was never my intention to be in the courtroom that much. Law is made up of barristers and solicitors. Barristers go to court and solicitors do paperwork, and my goal was to be a solicitor.
“I retired from practicing law on April 1, 2014. It was hard for me at first, because I missed a lot of the clients. I had lots of really good clients. I was fortunate to turn over my practice to a very competent and good lawyer, Laurie Oakes. She worked with me for a year and then bought the practice.
“Once I retired, I spent time socializing with my coffee group,” said Palsson. “We go to the Legion every day now to have coffee and visit.
“The people were always nice to work with when it came to opening a business or purchasing land or homes. The clients were the most enjoyable part of my career in law. I met some really great people.”
Palsson and his wife Karen are in the process of saying goodbye to the Swan Valley as they are moving to Winnipeg. They will be greatly missed.

Sapotaweyak Cree Nation’s Chief Nelson Genaille was presented with the King Charles’ Coronation Medal at the 150th Commemoration of Treaty 4 in Fort Qu’Appelle, SK. Chief Genaile was one of five people presented this prestigious honour at the event...

Dry conditions and unseasonably warm temperatures have resulted in strong progress when it comes to harvesting the 2024 crop, according to the latest Manitoba Crop Report.

Despite some recent localized rainfall and frost over most of the region, the latest Manitoba Crop Report  shows that overall, harvest in the Northwest is 25 per cent complete.

Unsettled weather events did bring thunderstorms to parts of the region recently, including hail in the Swan Valley area, with varying degrees of damage to some crops.

Pipe Lake station received the most recorded precipitation at 16 millimetres, while the lowest recorded precipitation was at the Swan River station with just under one millimetre of rain. Some areas along the western portion of the region received a light frost, with temperatures close to 0C, but it was not a killing frost. The Swan Valley station had the lowest recorded overnight temperature at 0.5C. High day time temperatures helped crops to move along with The Pas station recording the highest recent temperature of 32.6C.

Yields continue to vary widely and are dependent on early season rains.

Some crops remain lodged from previous high winds and continue to be a challenge for harvest and may possibly affect quality with recent rains and heavy dew. Some post-harvest field operations are also being completed as time allows.

When it comes to early crops, the winter wheat and fall rye harvest is all but complete in the northwest region, and across the province, at 99 per cent.

Yield reports range from 40  bushels per acre to 110  bushels per acre  for fall rye and winter wheat.

Reseeding of the two crops for 2025 has also begun in the area. 

The spring wheat harvest in the region continues its strong progress, with most of the area around 40 per cent complete. Lodged fields have slowed progress for some producers

Yields have been widespread, averaging from  65 bushels per acre to  70  bushels per acre, while some fields have done even poorer at 40 bushels per acre to 50 bushels per acre and some better at up to 80 bushels per acre.

Initial reports of quality have been good, however, there have been some reports of lower protein.

Dauphin is connected to the recent 2024 Paris Olympic games through Abby Dent, a great granddaughter of the late Ted and Alice Dent, who won a silver medal as a member of the Canadian Women’s Eight rowing team. 

Dent was born in Kenora, Ont., to Leanne and Carlton Dent and completed her schooling in that community, attending Saint Thomas Aquinas High School, where she competed for the school’s rowing team. While studying there, she was named the junior women’s athlete of the year in 2017 and the senior women’s athlete of the year in 2018.

At the same time, Dent also competed with the Kenora Rowing Club and the Manitoba Rowing Club. In 2017, she competed for Team Manitoba in the 2017 Canada Summer Games, winning bronze in the women’s quad sculls. The next year, she won gold in both the junior women’s single scull and in the women’s U19 double sculls at the 2018 Royal Canadian Henley Regatta.

Following high school, Dent enrolled at the University of Michigan, where she majored in general studies through the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

While attending University of Michigan, Dent competed with the school’s rowing team, helping to secure fourth place at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championships in her freshman year. In her junior year, she was a member of the crew named Big Ten Boat of the Week for the week of April 11. The following month, she won gold and helped the team win the Big Ten Championship. She also placed ninth overall that year at the NCAA Championships.  In 2023, she was named Big Ten Athlete of the Year and was on the All-Big Ten first team.

Dent was also twice named an Academic All-Big Ten in 2022 and 2023.

During her time competing in the NCAA, Dent also enjoyed a successful international career, including competing for Canada at the 2019 World Rowing Junior Championships in Tokyo, Japan, where she finished sixth overall in the single sculls.

In 2021 and 2022, Dent was part of Team Canada’s U-23 World Championship roster for double sculls and the 8+. In 2021, she finished 12th in the double and seventh in the 8+.

At the 2023 U23 World Championships, she competed in the Women’s Four event, finishing 5th. She also rowed at the 2023 World Cup III regatta, finishing 10th in the Women’s Four.

Later that year, Dent was named to the Canadian Pan American Games Team in the Women’s Eight, Women’s Pair and Mixed Eight events. She placed fourth in the Mixed Eight, won a silver medal in the Women’s Pair, and was part of the first-ever Pan American Games champion crew in the Women’s Eight.