Many municipalities have been eagerly awaiting Manitoba Multi-Stewardship Material’s (MMSM) draft of a provincial wide recycling program that would alleviate the responsibility and costs associated with recycling to municipalities. This is not a new topic, but has been an ongoing process since 2021.

Now that MMSM has released a draft of how it will operate, there still seems to not be enough details and information being shared to municipalities on how it will work.

Find out what MOR head of council Robert Misko has to say in this week’s Review.

Celebrating improvements being made to the Dauphin Regional Health Centre, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said it is time to start changing the culture of health care in Manitoba.

“We have to fix the culture on the front lines in our health care facilities right across Manitoba. We have to send that message that help is coming whether you’re a physician, whether you’re a nurse, whether you’re a health care professional, and that we’re serious about improving work life balance,” the premier said during a recent visit to Dauphin.

Find out more in this week’s issue.

A public consultation is scheduled to be held in Dauphin on Feb. 19, to collect feedback about barriers, lack of services, supports, and other key issues with adult disability services.

The Integrated Adult Services (IAS) Pilot Project is seeking feedback as a result of a human rights complaint that was filed against the Province of Manitoba.

Find out how to register for the meeting in this issue.

Growing up with a love of reading and making up stories is a sure path to a career in writing of some sort. That is exactly what fueled the fire for Sonya Ballantyne to become a writer, director and filmmaker.
“When I was a little girl, I loved making up stories,” said Creative Native Writer, Director and Public Speaker Sonya Ballantyne. “When I was in nursery school, I saw this huge book on my teacher's desk and she told me that people got paid to write books, and I knew it was what I wanted to do when I grew up. I became a film director, because in film school there were people who wanted to change my work, so it wasn't about Indigenous people or about the reserve as so to maintain my writing that I decided to pursue directing. I prefer writing though. “I always wanted to leave the reserve. I grew up mostly on the Misipawistik Cree Nation, but spent a lot of time in Opaskwayak Cree Nation and Chemawawin growing up. I always wanted to travel. The best route to get me away from home was to attend university, so I went to the University of Manitoba when I was 17. It was a hard few months, because I hadn't ever been away from home. I was on my own mostly, because my family still lived back home. “I really wanted to at tend this history of film class I signed up for, so I kept making excuses to stay in Winnipeg,” said Ballantyne. “By the time Christmas rolled around, I loved Winnipeg and the university, and decided to stay.” Ballantyne’s first experience with film making happened to be on her own first film. She had a story to tell and audiences were listening, which led her to do more. “The first real project I worked on was my first film,” said Ballantyne. “It was a short film called Crash Site and it was about two Cree sisters who reconcile after the death of their parents with the help of a superhero. “The highlights of making it were how everyone responded to it. It is still shown in university classes and festivals to this day, even though it is almost 10 years old. The challenges were mostly related to how many things had to change. I ran out of time when we were making it so some scenes were changed or left out entirely.” Ballantyne’s list of films and writing projects has been extensive over the last nine years. Every year she has worked on some kind of project. Crash Site was her first short film she did as a director and writer in 2015, and it was the winner of the Gimli Film Festival pitch competition. Nosisim is a short documentary that Ballantyne both wrote and directed 2017, which recently placed in the Indigenous Art Centre of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. Then in 2018, Ballantyne was co-director for My Boy, a short documentary. Eagle Girl was another short film that Ballantyne both wrote and directed in 2019, and it was the winner of the ImagineNative pitch com petition. Ballantyne was also named a Barbie Role Model in 2019, and worked as a sensitivity consultant on the video game God of War Ragnarok. Then Ballantyne wrote The Walking Dead: LAST MILE: video game in 2022. For television, Ballantyne was a writer and story editor for the series Acting Mel and her Kookum. “I love showing the world as I see it,” said Ballantyne. “With my newest film, Death Tour, I wanted to portray northern Manitoba as I saw it. Good, in 2022 to 2023, and was nominated for the Writer's Guild of Canada Award. Another television series that Ballantyne wrote for was Builder Brothers Dream Factory last year. Ballantyne’s more recent film project is The Death Tour, which she was a co-director and wrestling consultant. The film has been screened at Cannes Film Festival 2022 and Slamdance Film Festival 2023. “I enjoyed working on Builder Brothers Dream Factory the most, because it was my first real writing job out of working full time at a government job,” said Ballantyne. “I was so prepared to come in and fight for everything that I wanted to say, and I ended up being embraced by the writer's room. I didn't have to put up a fight for anything or justify why I wanted to tell the story I wanted to tell. “I wrote a story about this little girl Mel finding out her Kookum was a residential school survivor. I remember being asked how we were going to portray residential school in an age appropriate way for a pre school audience, and I think we succeeded. I never thought I would write for a Cree girl that wasn't my own creation and not only did I get to that with Dream Fac tory, but I also had two Cree actresses play Yeah, it can be harsh but it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Our people are dealing with terrible things, but there is so much joy despite the hardship. “I also like that I am contributing to more representation for Cree women and girls. I never had a TV show or movie that showed Cree women or Indigenous women in general, in film genres I enjoyed while I was growing up. When I became an adult and still didn't see the content I wanted, I decided I would have to create it. “I promised myself I would never write some thing about residential school, but my creative juices had other plans,” said Ballantyne. “A lot of my work has autobiographical elements, so sometimes it can be hard to watch or create to the north. Each night, even if we didn't announce a show, word got out quickly that there was one and every kid on the rez would be there. They were so excited for the show and for this one wrestler, The Matriarch, that when she won a match, the kids almost broke the ring in their happiness. things that are about harder aspects of my life. It took me a long time to be able to sit in on screenings of Nosisim, because it felt like relieving the death of my grandma every time, but I find the more open I am about sharing the hard things about my upbringing, the more audiences connect with it.” With the film The Death Tour, it allowed Ballantyne to dive into her love of wrestling and what wrestling matches in northern communities can bring to the people as well as the wrestlers. At one point in Ballantyne’s life, she wanted to become a wrestler. “My family were huge fans of wrestling so WWF was always on,” said Ballantyne. “I really loved how accessible it was. Anyone could be a wrestler. “I seriously looked at becoming a professional wrestler when I was 13, but I came up during the time of WWF's Attitude Era, where the most popular match for women was a bra and panties match. The winner was the woman who could strip the other down to her underwear. “I wanted to be Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels, my favourite wrestlers, but I saw the glass ceiling for myself before I even started,” said Ballantyne. “I was disheartened and gave up on that dream. “Wrestling events brings a lot of joy “I think a lot of people would see something like a wrestling match as not too important in the grand scheme of things, but I saw for myself how happy it made the audience whenever we had a show,” said Ballantyne. “I think anything that makes a person happy is important. “Many of the wrestlers had never been to a reserve, including my fellow director, Stephan. It really opened their eyes to what Indigenous people endure in their own back yards. There were a rash of deaths while we were on the trips and so many shows were cancelled while the community mourned. Despite their grief, one community made sure our group was ok by bringing moose meat stew and pizzas to us. The wrestlers were overwhelmed by how they were welcomed to and embraced by the communities we visited.” Ballantyne is already working on her next film project and for 70s rock music lovers, it’s sure to be one to watch. “I'm working on a film called Six, which follows the friendship of two young girls and how they survive residential school through the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival."

At last week’s Town of The Pas council meeting, members from The Pas Association for Human Development (TPAHD) Board of Directors made a presentation during Citizen’s Period. In that presentation, TPAHD was looking for the town for forgiveness of their property taxes for the next three years, to help them keep operating costs down, while they work on increasing their number of individuals who attend the programs and services, revenue and income streams. TPAHD has an umbrella of services and programs for people with disabilities that are funded through the provincial government, private funding and the New To You thrift store. “TPAHD was established in the 1980s by a group of people and parents that strongly felt it was important that individuals with disabilities could remain in The Pas as adults and access services,” said TPAHD Executive Director Cathy Lipscomb. “Under TPAHD umbrella, a number of programs operate. “The Workplace is a day program that operates Monday to Friday, that supports and provides programs for individuals with intellectual disabilities. It’s primarily funded through Community Living Disability Services (CLDS) under the Manitoba Department of Families. “New To You is a second-hand retail outlet that is completely supported through community donations to create retail and revenue,” said Lipscomb. “SEP is a program of offering services to individual living wage above the minimum individuals with a disability or barrier of some kind that may be hindering them on their life path to education or employment. Funding is providing annually for individuals through Manitoba Education and Training. “The Workplace and New To You are the pro grams that are currently suffering financial hard ships. SEP has a separate funder and has success fully secured adequate funding for this contract year that expires on September 30, 2024.” At the Town of The Pas council meeting, TPAHD Treasurer Darryl Shotton noted that before the pandemic they pro vided services and programming for 12 to 15 individuals, and now that number has reduced to six. TPAHD put great emphasis in keeping staff employed during the pandemic, with hopes it wouldn’t last long and to be prepared to resume services once things re turned to normal. “The Workplace currently employs one direct support worker and the executive director full-time,” said Lipscomb. “Currently there are three individuals working full-time and three part-time. Two part-time workers have indicated they would love to work full-time, but there has not been funding se cured from the Province to make this happen. would be short lived and wanted to ensure that the staff would return, when it was declared safe to do so. When The Workplace was allowed to reopen, it was done under the guidance and direction of the Province. “It was done by stag gearing the return of individuals and keeping the smaller co-hort together,” said Lipscomb. “The funding at the time was reduced again and the per diems were based on actual days of service for each individual. TPAHD maintained full staff at this time, thus draining even more of our rainy-day fund. “After many months of operating at half capacity, we were given clearance to resume to pre-pandemic numbers. Not all individuals re turned to full-time, but TPAHD made accommodations for half-time re turns and made adjustments to the staffing ratio. “New To You was closed down completely, then it was deemed essential and was allowed to re open with limits,” said Lipscomb. “Even with the ability to re-open, the revenue did not rebound, as many surrounding com munities remained on lockdown, with a lot of our customers from these surrounding areas. “Donated good also had restrictions and were required to be isolated be fore handling. Donations continue to pour in and still do.” The majority of the programming and services provided to individuals with disabilities at TPAHD focused on life skills and employability. Funding for these pro grams from the provincial government relies on assessing the individuals’ needs, while profits from New To You allowed it to be a self-sufficient operation. Now, New to You pays individuals with dis abilities working there with store credit, rather than a minimum wage paycheque. “Before the pandemic, individuals worked on life skills such as dish washing, doing laundry, com munity awareness and involvement activities, basic cooking, shopping, peer mentoring, socialization and customer interactions through working at New To You,” said Lipscomb. “Post pandemic, we still maintain our programming, but the com munity awareness and involvement activities have become limited due to opportunities and staff shortages. “The Workplace has a Service Purchase Agreement with the Manitoba government. This is the primary funder of the day program. Funding levels are based on the individual and what their needs are. The way individuals are funded has changed. It takes into consideration the level of support needed by each individual, in all parts of their lives, and what supports are needed for them to be successful. “New To You has no external funding and all revenue is created through purchase transactions,” said Lipscomb. “Before the pandemic, it was a self-sufficient business that was able to cost share the fixed expenses of the building, pay wages to the full-time manager, part time store clerk, as well as pay minimum wages for each hour worked by the individuals in attendance at The Workplace. “After the pandemic, sales have dropped and the income pays the wages of the full-time manager, but is unable to cost share any fixed expenses of the building. Individuals from The Workplace continue to help process items for sale, but are given store credit for their time.” Now TPAHD is in a financial crisis and are reaching out to various levels of government for assistance. “TPAHD is in a financial crisis and our immediate concerns are being able to keep the doors open and to continue to provide services to the individuals we are supporting,” said Lipscomb. “We have reached out to all levels of government for assistance. We have approached the Town of The Pas and have a meeting scheduled with Manitoba Department of Families on February 6. We have for warded a letter to Amanda Lathlin and reached out to Niki Ashton about our Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA) repayment. Since we have repaid CEBA, it has resulted in draining our bank account. “No one has offered any assistance yet.” In Shotton’s letter to town council, he noted that there are 31 students in the Life Skills Program at MBCI that will be graduating in the upcoming years and six from Oscar Lathlin Collegiate that are graduating this year that would be eligible to come to The Workplace. TPAHD is working on adding new services, in hopes to attract more individuals, however, it will require more money for programming and staffing costs to do so. “Our plan is to secure additional funds to pay our outstanding debt,” said Lipscomb. “We’re working on securing more types of services, thus reaching more individuals. This will require an in crease in revenue to have more staff to offer a variety of services.” “Pre-pandemic, The Workplace and New To You were shut down completely. Funding for The Workplace was clawed back to a minimal amount of dollars that wasn’t even adequate enough to cover any fixed expenses. TPAHD Board of Directors made a decision to keep its employees on the payroll, with the expectation that staying home. In a letter to town council, Shotton noted that some of the issues stemmed from reducing sales at the New To You thrift store, a reduction in clients due to the closing of a local group home and increased employee costs while trying to provide living wage above the minimum. The majority of the programming and services provided to individuals with disabilities at TPAHD focused on life skills and employability. Funding for these pro grams from the provincial government relies on assessing the individuals’ needs, while profits from New To You allowed it to be a self-sufficient operation. Now, New to You pays individuals with dis abilities working there with store credit, rather than a minimum wage paycheque. “Before the pandemic, individuals worked on life skills such as dish washing, doing laundry, com munity awareness and involvement activities, basic cooking, shopping, peer mentoring, socialization and customer interactions through working at New To You,” said Lipscomb. “Post pandemic, we still maintain our programming, but the com munity awareness and involvement activities have become limited due to opportunities and staff shortages. “The Workplace has a Service Purchase Agreement with the Manitoba government. This is the primary funder of the day program. Funding levels are based on the individual and what their needs are. The way individuals are funded has changed. It takes into consideration the level of support needed by each individual, in all parts of their lives, and what supports are needed for them to be successful. “New To You has no external funding and all revenue is created through purchase transactions,” said Lipscomb. “Before the pandemic, it was a self-sufficient business that was able to cost share the fixed expenses of the building, pay wages to the full-time manager, part time store clerk, as well as pay minimum wages for each hour worked by the individuals in attendance at The Workplace. “After the pandemic, sales have dropped and the income pays the wages of the full-time manager, but is unable to cost share any fixed expenses of the building. Individuals from The Workplace continue to help process items for sale, but are given store credit for their time.” Now TPAHD is in a financial crisis and are reaching out to various levels of government for assistance. “TPAHD is in a financial crisis and our immediate concerns are being able to keep the doors open and to continue to provide services to the individuals we are supporting,” said Lipscomb. “We have reached out to all levels of government for assistance. We have approached the Town of The Pas and have a meeting scheduled with Manitoba Department of Families on February 6. We have for warded a letter to Amanda Lathlin and reached out to Niki Ashton about our Canadian Emergency Business Account (CEBA) repayment. Since we have repaid CEBA, it has resulted in draining our bank account. “No one has offered any assistance yet.” In Shotton’s letter to town council, he noted that there are 31 students in the Life Skills Program at MBCI that will be graduating in the upcoming years and six from Oscar Lathlin Collegiate that are graduating this year that would be eligible to come to The Workplace. TPAHD is working on adding new services, in hopes to attract more individuals, however, it will require more money for programming and staffing costs to do so. “Our plan is to secure additional funds to pay our outstanding debt,” said Lipscomb. “We’re working on securing more types of services, thus reaching more individuals. This will require an in crease in revenue to have more staff to offer a variety of services."

Dauphin’s Julien Lopez (13) and Raiders goalie Jordan Svaboda watch the puck slide past the goal post in high school hockey action, Saturday at Credit Union Place.

The Dauphin Clippers hockey team lost two of three games over the weekend. With 15 players dressed, the Clippers beat the Birtle Falcons, 9-1, Friday in Birtle.

William Miner led the Clippers with a goal and three assists,while Ronin Mouck had two goals and an assist.

Sully Fox, Jaxon Bodnar, Jackson Buchanan, Josh Yakielshek, Ethan Everett and Tyron Sweetman also scored for Dauphin and Joe Tabin made 41 saves to pick up the win.

On Saturday, with just 13 players dressed, the Clippers fell 8-3 to the Killarney/Wawanesa Raiders. Sweetman scored once and assisted on both of Everett’s goals, while Owen Chubka and Tabin combined to make 31 saves in goal.

Things did not get any better on Sunday as the shorthanded Clippers lost 9-3 to the Neepawa Tigers in Dauphin.

Sweetman again had a goal and two assists to lead the Clippers. Julien Lopez and Mouck had the other goals. Chubka stopped 42 shots in taking the loss.

Last week was one of mixed results for the Dauphin Kings.

Six different players had two points each in a 6-2 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders, Jan. 23, in Swan River, extending Dauphin’s winning streak to seven games.

The streak came to an end, Friday at Credit Union Place when the visiting Blizzard scored a 4-2 victory.

Dauphin rebounded with a solid effort in a 5-2 win over the league-leading Steinbach Pistons, Saturday in front of 1,943 fans on Ukrainian Night.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said good teams find a way to rebound from tough losses and that is what the Kings did.

“Resilience is part of our covenant. We were fast tonight. We played fast tonight. We were relentless on pucks. We stopped on pucks. We won stick battles. Took hits to make plays. It’s just something we didn’t do enough of (Friday) night to start,” he said. “We weren’t on our toes. We weren’t using our speed. We weren’t playing fast. So we got what we deserved.”

Hedley felt the Kings played well in the third period, but failed to play for a full 60 minutes.

The Blizzard, to their credit, played a strong road game and were the better team for most of the night.

“They worked their butt off, just like they did last time, only we found a way to win. This time, I thought their goaltender was really solid. He made some big saves, because we had some pretty good looks there at the end, when it was 4-2 and we got some power plays and had some good looks and some chances and he made some good saves,” Hedley said.

The Kings power play was clicking, scoring three times against the Stampeders and twice against Steinbach.

With changes to the roster at the trade deadline, it meant changes to the power play, with new players stepping into the roles of players no longer with the team.

“When you have changes like that, you’ve got different guys on the power play, you’re trying to get some chemistry. I think we can still get a lot better, especially our top unit. We can get some speed going and we’ll find different ways,” Hedley said. “Steinbach is a good hockey team. They really put pressure on you on the PK and sometimes we didn’t get set up quick enough. But we’ll get better.”

After a tough December, goalie Cole Sheffield made some highlight reel saves against the Pistons and has been a big reason for the Kings success in the new year.

The win against the top team in the league gives a big confidence boost to the Kings. Hedley said Saturday’s game was the best the team has played on Ukrainian Night since his return to the team.

“It was one of our best efforts,” he said.

The league will take a break for the annual MJHL-SJHL Showcase, Jan. 30 and 31, before games resume on Friday.

The Kings will be in Winkler, Friday, to take on the Flyers, before heading to Winnipeg to face the Freeze, Saturday.

Kings court:

Saturday’s win evens Dauphin’s record on Ukrainian Nights at 4-4 and they have won the last three Ukrainian Nights in a row. . . The Kings remain in third place in the MGEU West Division, with a 24-12-1-0 record for 49 points. They sit three back of the Blizzard, with three games in hand.

Speaking at an event celebrating improvements being made to the Dauphin Regional Health Centre, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said it is time to start changing the culture of health care in Manitoba.

“We have to fix the culture on the front lines in our health care facilities right across Manitoba. We have to send that message that help is coming whether you’re a physician, whether you’re a nurse, whether you’re a health care professional, and that we’re serious about improving work life balance,” The premier said,

The local project, which involves development of a larger and more modern space to support cancer patients, construction of a stand alone endoscopy unit and the addition of nine new patient beds, will require as many as two dozen new health professionals to properly staff.

According to Prairie Mountain Health CEO Brian Schoonbaert, the plan is to utilize agency nurses to cover the positions, while a more permanent solution is developed.

“That’s something we have to do, not something we want to do. But we want to make sure that we’re offering the services that are needed and so we will continue to do that as long as we have to,” he said. “Definitely here in Dauphin we have issues with vacancies. However, I have to say that lately we’ve been seeing some improvements in our staffing.”

While leader of the opposition, Kinew was critical of the government when it came to the use of agency nurses across the province. And while his position has not changed, the problem can not be solved through a mandate, Kinew said, adding the number of nurses working on the frontlines in Manitoba will have to be built up gradually by focussing on retention.

Kinew said there are many reasons a nurse will go to work at an agency, such as more control over scheduling or more pay.

“They’re running away from the mistakes of the previous government mandated over time, disrespect from the employer. So these are things that we’re turning the page on. We’re serious about improving culture,” he said.

Citing the new Neepawa Training Centre and additional good work by Assiniboine Community College (ACC) in communities throughout the province to train health care professionals, Kinew said there is a comprehensive approach to training nurses under way. But simply training more nurses is not enough if you can not retain them in the public system.

“If we’re just adding those nurses to the same culture, they’re going to flee the bedside, too,” Kinew said. “So fixing the culture, retention in health care, has to be the first priority. And as we do that, as we strengthen the health human resource capacity, that’s where you’ll see agency nurse use go down. The best way for us to reduce the reliance on nursing agencies is not for us to mandate an end of agency nurse use, it’s for us to make working on the front lines and the public settings like this one so attractive that a nurse would rather choose to work here than for a nursing agency.”

In short, nursing, and other health professions need to be looked at as viable career paths and that can be achieved through partnerships with agencies such as ACC, who are already out in communities doing the heavy lifting.

“The message we want to send to young people across Manitoba is if you’re growing up in Grandview or Tootinaowaziibeeng or Dauphin or Duck Bay or Camperville, you can be a doctor, you can be a nurse, you can be an X-Ray tech, and the path is going to be very convenient and accessible for you to pursue that,” Kinew said. “So we do that, we bring everybody into the front lines, we work together on improving the culture and the working conditions. It’s not going to happen overnight, right, but if we remain committed to that path, I think that’s how we do it.”

The premier added the details of an online bridging program allowing Licensed Practical Nurses to become RNs in conjunction with ACC will be released soon.

“So that they can keep working in their existing settings,” Kinew said. “ACC, you know, they’re doing a ton of good work on this already. We’re going to collaborate with them, to support them and just make sure we can do more to bring people to the front lines.”

Premier Wab Kinew was in Dauphin last week to mark the opening of a new CancerCare Manitoba (CCMB) space at the Dauphin Regional Health Centre (DRHC), which is providing an improved experience for patients and staff alike.

“Today’s announcement is about supporting this regional hospital, the health hub for this part of the Parkland region. It’s about ensuring that there’s more beds for people to be seen, more endoscopy services more CancerCare services,” Kinew said to those gathered at the Community Health Building boardroom. “But when we reduce all that to the base level and we ask ourselves what is this all about, this is about having more people in rural Manitoba - here’s our hope at the end of the day is that more people in rural Manitoba will hear those four magic words ‘you are cancer free.’ We want more families to be able to hear those words, to be able to spend more time with your loved ones and to be able to have a stronger healing journey through our health care system.”

The relocation of the hospital’s chemotherapy unit to the main floor provided the opportunity to construct a unit with five treatment bays which offer more space and more privacy, said Dr. Sri Navaratnam, president and chief executive officer of CancerCare Manitoba. The new unit also improves functionality through better nurse sight lines and enhanced medication preparation area and has two larger exam spaces.

“CancerCare Manitoba is always committed to quality and equitable care to all Manitobans, regardless of where they live or who they are. That is our promise. That is our commitment,” Navaratnam said. “So thank you for your support in making it happen.”

The new unit is already paying dividends according to front line works

“We’ve moved into this space a few weeks ago. It’s only been a few weeks, but we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from patients already, which is very encouraging,” said local physician Dr. Jason Reed, adding the number of cancer referrals to the local hospital has increase by 36 per cent since 2022. “We’re looking to further create additional inpatient and out patient capacity that won’t only benefit Dauphin, but the Parkland region as a whole.”

Improvements such as those being made at the DRHC are important, Dauphin MLA and Minister of Agriculture Ron Kostyshyn said, not only for the personal well-being of those living outside of the province’s major urban centres, but as an indication that they are not being overlooked by their government.

“People here in Dauphin and rural Manitoba work hard and deserve good quality health care that they need. Manitoba understand this,” he said. “We know how important it is to have timely, local access to health care.”

Even more capacity is coming as part of phase 2 of the renovation, which will result in a new endoscopy suite, which includes one new procedure room and six new spaces for pre-procedure preparation and post-procedure recovery. Once fully operational, up to 300 more endoscopies will be able to be performed at the DRHC annually, while also freeing up space in the facility’s operating rooms, increase surgical capacity.

Finally, phase 2 will see the addition of seven new medicine beds and two new general surgery beds on the second and third floors of the hospital and relocation of physiotherapy services from the basement to the third floor space previously occupied by the chemotherapy unit.

“We continue to look for ways to improve health care access and capacity within Prairie Mountain Health,” said the region’s CEO Brian Schoonbaert. “You can see there’s a bit of a domino effect here and it’s all great and we expect that this second phase will be done probably at the end of summer.”

Originally announced in 2021, the project had an initial budget of $5 million. The costs have since risen to $7.8 million mostly due to inflation and “ a commitment to seeing through an important investment here in the Parkland region, in the city of Dauphin,” Kinew said, adding, “our government has taken time to get things right.”

“We’re signaling to the front lines we’ve got your back, we’re going to continue leaning into investments like this one,” Kinew said. “And we are going to ensure that a strong future for health care in Manitoba includes strong rural health care in every region of the province.”

There is a strong divide in the Valley when it comes to the topic of a shelter in the community. There are some who that feel having a shelter in Swan River will only increase crime and encourage more people who are experiencing homelessness to come to the community. There are others who feel that there is a definite need to provide shelter to people who don’t have anywhere to sleep when the temperatures drop down to -30C below or colder.
In the neighbouring community of The Pas, Oscar’s Place is an emergency shelter that has been operating for quite some time. It’s had its challenges over the years with having enough funding to keep the doors open, but it’s also provided a safe place for those in need to keep out of the cold.
Town of The Pas Mayor Andre Murphy feels that having a shelter in the community is the social and morally right thing to do, but also wants more services in the community to help with the other issues that have led people to be homeless in the first place.
“It’s important to recognize that there are a group of individuals in our communities who are having issues with housing needs,” said Town of The Pas Mayor Andre Murphy. “It’s good to have a shelter because we don’t want people to freeze to death, but it has to be accompanied by complete wrap-around services to help with issues of addictions and mental health. Oscar’s Place is designated as an emergency shelter and is only supposed to be used by a person for a few days. Without the services to help people address what had led to the issue of homelessness, there is a possibility of people then treating the shelter as a residence, which then takes away from it becoming an emergency shelter.
“There are just not enough addiction supports for people in our community and there is no quick access to mental health supports either. There’s a definite gap to deal with here. I’ve spoken to people in the community who use the shelter and they’ve shared with me that they are struggling with addictions and want to get help, but there is over a three-week waiting period for them to get into addiction treatment. I’ve also heard others tell me they went for addiction treatment and came back here, which is their home community, and went back into the exact same environment they were in before, with no transitional housing or support to maintain sobriety. There were no supports to access housing, employment and sober living. So how does a community expect to break the cycle of homelessness, if we don’t have all the supports in place?”
Murphy doesn’t agree with the mentality of kicking people out of The Pas who are homeless. Many of the people experiencing homelessness are originally from the area, and Murphy also believes that people have the right to come and stay in a community if they choose to.
“We need to take care of people who are struggling and don’t want to see anyone freezing to death,” said Murphy.
“As human beings, we should have a heart and compassion to make sure no one freezes to death. As for those who say the homeless need to go back to where they came from, well those people who are homeless in our community are citizens of The Pas. They may have come from somewhere else, but if they choose to come to our community and want to stay here, then that’s where they live.
“As the Town of The Pas, or Opaskwayak Cree Nation or the R.M. of Kelsey, we can’t take care of the homelessness situation on our own; we need more support.”
The Pas also runs a soup kitchen through The Pas Friendship Centre. The Pas Friendship Centre is very familiar with the homeless population in the community and believes that Oscar’s Place is a definite need in the area.
“Oscar’s Place saves lives, plain and simple,” said The Pas Friendship Centre Executive Director Doug Bartlett. “The weather in northern Manitoba, being what it is, takes a toll on the homeless population. Oscar’s Place provides up to 26 people, with a warm place to spend the night.
“That being said, I believe the shelter could be twice as big and there would not be enough room for all the homeless population. Another concern was that Oscar’s Place was not open during the day, however, this has been rectified. The homeless population can now attend the shelter from 3:30 p.m., and this will be until the cold snap has ended.”
Bartlett doesn’t believe a shelter is a drawing card for more homeless people to come to a community. There is a lack of affordable housing all across Manitoba, and it gets particularly worse, more north of the province.
“I do not believe having a shelter in our community is the reason so many people are coming to The Pas and find themselves homeless,” said Bartlett. “What has been a major factor in the homeless issue in our and every other community in the north, is the lack of housing. Many people that come to our community are here because there are 12 to 18 people living in the same house in their home community.
“They come to the larger community of The Pas and soon find themselves on the streets. Then the addictions take over. The longer they are on the streets, the harder it is to intervene and provide services. Many of the homeless population have been walking the streets here for many years, and this is their community too.”
The Pas Friendship Centre realized that if people don’t have a place to keep warm in the community, then they also do not have food to sustain them. Recently, The Pas Friendship Centre expanded its soup kitchen from its building into a separate one on LaRose Avenue.
“The soup kitchen provides the homeless population a warm meal once a day,” said Bartlett. “For many of them, this is the only meal they will have that day. While they are at the soup kitchen, there is an opportunity to provide them with information and services.
“These can range from assistance with health information to having clothing provided. We have both a Health Navigator and a Homeless Navigator on staff to assist them. As well, we also have a Homeless Mentor who works directly with the community homeless. One of the impacts on the community is there are fewer people roaming the streets when the soup kitchen is open. We do however have rules such as, if you are intoxicated in any way, you will not be allowed in.”
Bartlett shares many of the same views as Murphy when it comes to the need for wrap-around services in the community to help reduce homelessness, addictions, poverty and crime.
“The staff at The Pas Friendship Centre have a very trying job,” said Bartlett. “ We cannot let our personal biases dictate our actions in how we work with the community homeless people. The staff have developed relationships with our homeless clients on a basic level that understand that they are where they are and can move forward from there.
“To address the homelessness in northern communities, it comes down to providing housing and addiction treatment services that are based in the north. Sending people south for treatment and then returning them to the same situation they left will not bring the client to a place where they are able to stay clean and sober.
“Addiction to substances has been classified as a medical disease by Health Canada,” said Bartlett. “Too often communities choose to ignore this and blame the addict with the age-old adage that if they had a moral compass, they wouldn’t do drugs. It’s this type of nonsense that has been detrimental to addictions for years.
“Even when an addict has gotten treatment, there are so few rental spaces in this community that individuals end up on the streets and after a few weeks, they fall back to old patterns and ways of living. As a community, we need to come to the realization that housing is a major factor in homelessness.”