In the expansive realm of education, every role contributes significantly to molding the future of our youth.

Among these roles, there exists a group of unsung heroes who play a pivotal part in the daily lives of students – the school bus drivers.

Read this week’s Mountain View Matters to find out more.

It was a year marked with celebrations and wondering what could have been when it comes to sports in 2023.

Dauphin Kings

The Dauphin Kings finished the 2022-23 season in fourth place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division, with a 32-21-3-2 record, just nine points out of first place, which was occupied by their Parkland rival, Swan Valley Stampeders.

The two teams met in the quarterfinals, where the Stampeders needed six games to dispatch the Kings and advance to the semifinals.

This season, the Kings started strong, but began to fade as the new year drew close. They enter 2024 in third place with a 16-11-1-0 record.

Parkland Rangers

With a 12-25-7-0 record, the Parkland Rangers missed the playoffs in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League.

This season, the Rangers are in the midst of the playoff race, sitting in 10th place with a record of 9-11-2-1, but they are only one point out of a playoff spot and sit just seven points out of sixth place.

Check this week's Dauphin Herald for more!

2023 is a year that will be looked back on by many as a difficult one from a global perspective. While good news grabbed its share of the headlines, the year was marred by major armed conflicts, unprecedented weather events and natural disasters, all of which exacted a tremendous toll of lost lives, destroyed property and damaged infrastructure.

In Dauphin, as it was everywhere, we had our share of good and bad news throughout the past year.

Here is a recap of some the people and the events which made local headlines in 2023.

January

Dauphin Regional Health Authority welcomed its first baby of the year early on with Major Donald Franklin Beardy arriving at 5:18 a.m., Jan. 1.

Dauphin and District Community Foundation hit a special milestone when it added a $4.75 million sticker to its thermometer at the corner of Main Street and First Avenue North.

Public Works and Operations director Mike VanAlstyne had to go back to city council for more money after the purchase price of a new, previously ordered garbage truck jumped by more than $74,000. Council approved the increased expenditure.

Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit launched a probe following the death of a 29-year-old man after an interaction with RCMP in Ste. Rose du Lac.

A group of Parkland residents were presented Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals. Receiving the honour were Kay Slobodzian, Michelle Mazurkewich, Tony Safronetz, Bev Harvey, Carole Shankaruk, Alex Lytwyn, Al Gray, Rodney Juba, Brian Damsgaard and Jim Perchaluk.

City council slightly changed the makeup of the local RCMP detachment removing an officer assigned to the Crime Reduction Enforcement Support Team (CREST) and reassigned them to general policing duties.

February

A review of Dauphin Fire Department operations began as part of the province’s Municipal Services Delivery Improvement Plan. The work, done in partnership with a third-party consultant, aimed to find operational improvements which did not raise taxes or reduce front line services.

Read the full year review in this week's Dauphin Herald!

Even though the amount of snowfall has been less than normal this year, Swan River resident Ed Maga was still able to construct a snowman as tall as his house in his front yard, collecting as much snow as he could from his property and his neighbour’s property on Sixth Avenue North. While the warm weather and rain has caused some shrinkage on the dimensions, the frosty giant stands strong as ever.

Dauphin city council has identified recreation as one of its priorities. And with discussions concerning the 2024 financial plan well underway, the City is hoping it’s partners at the Rural Municipality of Dauphin join them in addressing a longstanding funding shortfall to the system.

The Dauphin Joint Recreation Commission was formed in 1992 through an agreement, based on population, which called for 78 per cent of recreation funding to be provided by the City, with 22 per cent coming from the RM.

In 2017, the RM of Dauphin pulled out of the original agreement, which over the years, mayor David Bosiak said, has resulted in about a cumulative $650,000 shortfall in recreation funding.

“We’re talking to them and we’re inviting them to revisit the original funding agreement when the DJRC was formed in 1992. We’re just asking them to consider that,” Bosiak said.

That is not to say the RM has not contributed to recreation over the years. Intially the council of the day set the contribution at $250,000 and it has increased annually with cost of living adjustments with this year’s funding expected to be around $300,000.

RM of Dauphin reeve Ernie Sirski said recreation is a topic of discussion at his council table and it is a subject the RM takes seriously.

“Recreation is important, not just for the City of Dauphin, it’s important to our citizens, as well, and that’s why we’ve continued to fund them. It’s not at the level that it was in 2017, but we’ve continued to fund it and we’ve continued to allow for inflation in that funding so it’s not as if we’ve been stagnant in our total funding,” Sirski said.

“We still contribute to the capital x, to the repairs and maintenance. That’s a nonissue. It’s the operating procedures that we’re talking about. “What it boils down to is, is this where we stay? If no, then, where are we going to go going forward? That’s the issue and we haven’t come to that conclusion yet.”

The RM has requested information on Dauphin Recreation Services operations and will take the time needed to digest that information. The cutback was put in place by a previous council, Sirski said, and the current council is working to understand why that decision was made.

As a result, he is unsure of when RM council will make a final decision on the City’s request.

“It’s not going to happen this year. We’ve got one more meeting this year and we’re going through all the information that we’ve been provided. It’s such a big file that we have to give it due diligence,” he said. “What we’re looking at is usage. We’re looking at who uses the facility and we’re trying to get a feel of all aspects of the organization.”

Even so there will be around a $100,000 shortfall in programming money in the DRS’ nearly $2 million budget this year, Bosiak said, adding he would like to see the RM reconsider its level of participation in the system, hopefully getting back to the original agreement, which would ease the burden on urban taxpayers.

“Because, in addition to contributing our 78 per cent of operating capital based on the rec commission’s annual budgets, we’ve also, since 2017, made up a majority of that RM shortfall,” he said. “It’s really crimped the rec commission’s ability to operate the way they’d like to. To provide recreation services for all citizens and to provide a lot of free or easily accessible recreation opportunities for our citizens.”

As the community’s recreation director at the time of the DJRC’s formation, and having worked 11 years as a private recreation consultant, Bosiak confidently calls the existing agreement “very, very fair.”

“We were viewed by many in the province and the provincial government at the time, as the best recreation commission in Manitoba, because of that relationship,” he said. “I saw how many communities constantly struggled when they were trying to negotiate municipal partnerships. Some based on taxation, some based on land, some based on other agreements that were very, very difficult to determine. It caused annual angst and discussion. So we had a great situation.”

Just last week, Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute (MBCI) held a special recognition for some of their staff that are retiring and have hit milestones in terms of years of service.

With the coming of a New Year just around the corner, one can’t help but also be thinking about Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival (NMTF). The NMTF Arts and Craft Show is open for vendors to register online. There are a few different things to be aware of with this year’s NMTF Arts and Craft Show, one in particular is its new location.
“The biggest change for the NMTF Arts and Craft Show is that this year we will be at UCN,” said NMTF Arts Craft Show Director Leah Yelland. “Also, we're doing registration for $15 a table. Another new addition, is that we received upgrades to our website, which allows us accept online payments easier.”      
The rules and regulations for the NMTF Arts and Craft Show are the same as last year.

The Town of The Pas held a council meeting on December 5 and a Special Meeting for the Budget and Strategic Plan on December 11. Members of council participated in the Association of Manitoba Municipalities’ (AMM) Fall Convention at the end of November. Council had the opportunity to meet with the new provincial government and discuss some of the issues in the north.
“Our key goals for being at AMM’s Fall Convention were to address some of our challenges in the north and some potential solutions,” said Town of The Pas Mayor Andre Murphy. “We were able to talk about the housing, infrastructure, taxation, community safety and funding issues with the appropriate ministers. It was great and allowed us an opportunity to network and get to know this new government, which was very positive. “I came away from there with a really good feeling about cooperativeness, working together and collaboration. It was a really strong message coming from our current government. I’m optimistic about where we’re going to be going in the future and working closely with the current government.

Multiple homes in Swan River have been shuttered in the last month due to reported health and safety violations, which has forced the people living there to be abruptly evicted with a questionable future of where they are going to be able to live next.
One such resident was Brenda Cook, who was living in the white house at the corner of First Street South and Seventh Avenue South before she and everyone else in the building were unceremoniously told to leave following an investigation from Manitoba Justice that determined the house was an unsuitable habitation.
Cook was one of three people on the lease for the rental property, all three paying $500 each every month. Some of the people living there with her were her adult children and her niece.
“When I stayed in there I fixed that place up with my son Matthew helping me,” said Cook. “I had a group of friends that were helping me with everything, food, blankets, dishes.”
When Cook was told to leave, she was given 20 minutes to gather what she could and leave. Most of her belongings were left behind.
“I only took the jackets, the socks, the sweaters, my blanket and my pillow,” said Cook, noting she didn’t even take the blankets of her children.
“I went to my cousin’s because I feel safe with her. But I don’t really like staying there because there’s no heat or running water.”
Cook added that on the night after they got evicted, people were walking around all night and she was worried somebody would freeze. The night following the eviction on Nov. 23 was one of the coldest overnight periods in the last month.
“I even kind of forgot I was evicted because I said to (my son) Matthew, I just want to go home,” she said. “Oh wait, we don’t even have a home.”
Cook has struggled with addiction and substance abuse since 1999, but said she has been clean for three years now.
“I was using because of my common law husband running in and out with other women,” she said. “I started drinking.
“When he started leaving me longer and longer, I started using bad. And my mother taught me how to use these drugs. I was getting them from her.”
While she has since learned how to budget the disability cheque she does get, when she was living on harder times while in Brandon, she would stand on the street corner and sell herself to get by.
“I did everything for drugs and money and alcohol just to get by,” said Cook.
Cook also mentioned that her childhood wasn’t easy as well, having to take care of her parents and her brothers and sisters when she was only six years old because her parents were busy drinking every night.
“I blame my dad for my mom’s death because she got cancer from second-hand smoke and my mom wasn’t a smoker,” said Cook.
Cook had her first child when she was only 12 years old and more after that. However, she did end up pursuing an education and achieved her certification in Early Childhood Education Level 2.
“I wanted to work in Wuskwi Sipihk and wanted to become a homemaker there,” she said. “I can still have a job there, but I don’t have a way to get there.”
Though there were only three people on the lease for the White House, several others lived there and many more were present at the time the Department of Health did their inspection.
But, Cook insisted that the home was a safe and welcoming place.
“People thought we were cooking drugs in this house and I was thinking, ‘What? Come look around the house and check for yourself,’” she said. “(I would tell them) ‘If you think that’s what’s going on here, I don’t want you to come back.’”
Cook added that her son Matthew had to resort to throwing people out a couple of times.
Cook also noted her efforts to maintain the property, mowing the lawn and doing her best to fix windows that were broken, always being as resourceful as she could be.
The house was one of the places she could feel safe. While she generally isn’t bothered having to walk around Swan River, Cook explained how she has been harassed by others in town before and feared for her safety, having to defend herself.
One of the local blessings was having Meet Off Main when it was still funded and open, as it helped feed everyone.
“It helped a lot,” said Cook. “On weekends I had to cook for these people that come in and out to eat. I’d make bannock and soup, coffee and tea. We were trying to help each other.”
Despite hot meals no longer being on the menu, she added that the current CMHA supports in their new facility on Seventh Avenue North are good as well.
It remains to be seen what solutions will come for Swan River residents with vulnerable housing situations.

The Christmas break could not have come at a better time for the Dauphin Kings.

The Kings enter the break on a three-game losing skid and remain in third place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

Dauphin suffered its second straight loss, Friday, when they dropped a 3-2 decision to the Selkirk Steelers.

Owen Weihs, Joel Purdom and Rocco La Cara scored for Selkirk while Anthony Bax had both goals for Dauphin.

Jack Hodgins made 54 saves to record the win. Austin Seibel took the loss after stopping 32 shots.

On Saturday, Dalton Andrew scored three times to lead the Winkler Flyers to a 7-4 win over the Kings in Winkler.

Mike Svenson, Tanner George, Brady Craik and Blake Matheson also scored for Winkler, while Aidan Brook with two, Logan Walker and Caden Glover replied for Dauphin.

Liam Ernst earned the win in goal with 34 saves.

Cole Sheffield started for Dauphin and had 16 saves before giving way to Seibel, who stopped all six shots he faced.

The Kings enter the Christmas break with a 16-11-1-0 record for 33 points. They sit seven back of the OCN Blizzard for second and 11 behind Virden in first. They are also only two points ahead of the Neepawa Titans.

The Kings come out of the break with a game, Jan. 5, when they host the Winnipeg Freeze.