The Pas Handi-Van is preparing for their annual radio pledgee show to help raise money for their operations this year. Along with raising operating funds, they are looking at raising money to purchase a new handi-van unit.
“We have our radio pledge show coming up on March 7 and 8,” said The Pas Handi-Van Office Manager Val Miron. “The community has always been beyond generous with their donations to support The Pas Handi-van; it simply amazing. The radio pledge show provides more ongoing operational support to The Pas Handi-van. Anything over that will go to the costs of a new van.

Canada Post is still struggling to provide consistent service to residents in the tri-community area. A letter of complaint was sent to Canada Post by a long-term resident of the area, who is beyond frustrated at the delays and lack of service.
In a letter written to the Churchill-Keewatinook Aski MP Niki Ashton and Manitoba NDP MLA Amanda Lathlin the following was stated, “I’m a long-time resident of The Pas with a considerable concern about the abysmal service from Canada Post in our community. I ask as elected representatives for the people in The Pas and surrounding area that you look into this matter and advocate for us for immediate improvement.
“Aside from the lack of access to the wickets in the post office during business hours, to the lack of timely delivery of parcels and mail that as a community we hear is due to staff shortages and inadequate space at the local post office; this has led to unreliability and limited access to a service we used to trust.

This year Louis Riel Day is going to be given more recognition in terms of celebrating. This past November, Premier Wab Kinew set in motion a law to right a 153-year-old wrong and declared Louis Riel as Manitoba’s first premier through the Louis Riel Act. The Louis Riel Act will come into force on the day it receives royal assent.
“This is significant because it reaffirms what we have always said, that Louis Riel was our first premier and should be acknowledged as such,” said Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) The Pas Region Vice President Judy Mayer. “This has been coming for over 153 years now and we’ve always known this. It’s historic for us and for the Premier to reaffirm that for us has been huge too.

The Town of the Pas held their council meeting on February 12, in council chambers. Val Berscheid, President of the Opasquia Agricultural Society did a presentation on the organization’s activities and goals for the future of their event. Their mission is to provide agricultural events for the community.
In 2012, the Opasquia Ag Society built the 500-seat grandstand that cost approximately $200,000. The Town of The Pas was the first investor and then others followed. In 2018, opened their RV Park with 20 sites, that included water, electricity and 30-amp service. It’s been fairly busy and there have been long term stays booked as well.
Last year, the Opasquia Ag Society upgraded the track. Before, If it rained, the events would be cancelled, and originally the track was built on the railbed, so rocks come up and people had to pick the rocks off the track every year. Initially, they had just enough money to do a little bit of the track, but Strilkiwski Construction gave them enough to do the whole track. Now it is an all-weather track that allows the events to happen rain or shine.

Taking care of pets is a huge responsibility and judging by the number of stray and unfixed animals, more has to be done. The Pas and Area Animal Shelter (TPAAS) is now offering a Low Income Spay and Neuter Program to assist with the issue of pets not being spay or neutered in the tri-community.
“People apply to the Low Income Spay and Neuter Program that we offer here at The Pas and Area Animal Shelter,” said TPAAS Secretary Lynda Geswin. “Forms are available online through our Facebook page, at the vet clinic and at the shelter. This is a program that is subsidized both by the shelter and the local vet clinic. We are trying to support pet owners who want what is best for their pet but can't financially do it. There are only a handful of spaces per month. “The cost is $100 per cat neuter. $125 per cat spay and $170 per dog spay or neuter. Those costs include vaccinations. Animals must have their vaccinations before their spay or neuter, so people should start the application process early. “This program was pets have a longer life expectancy. only launched a couple of months ago,” said Geswin. “We have spayed two dogs, and have a few others going through the process.” Getting your pet spay or neutered alleviates a lot of problems that TPAAS is seeing with the overpopulation of stray animals. The benefits to getting your pet spay or neutered, far outweigh any negatives aspects, if there are any. “There are so many reasons to have your pet spay or neutered,” said Geswin. “In Manitoba, we are facing a cat and dog overpopulation crisis. There are so many dogs, and not enough homes for them all. There was a time when we were fairly successful finding placement for dogs with Winnipeg based rescues, but that time is over. Rescue placements are hard to come by, and the amount of animals in need seems to be in creasing instead of de creasing. “On a more personal level, spaying your pet can reduce difficult behavior such as aggression, marking territory, running away, and fighting are all common in unaltered pets. Spaying and neutering reduce the risks of some cancers, and as a result, “Some of the other challenges in pets who are not spay or neutered that we see are unneutered dogs packing up when there is a female in heat,” said Geswin. “Not only is it a challenge to keep un fixed animals at home, but they can also become aggressive in these situations. Female cats yowl and are very annoying when they are in heat. Male cats mark their territory by spraying on things. “Also, we get a lot of messages where people tell us they are over whelmed caring for a litter of puppies. Puppies are a lot of work.” TPAAS is fundraising to keep shelter operations going as well as looking for sponsors for the new Low Income Spay and Neuter Program. “We are currently looking for people who are interested in sponsoring a spay or a neuter in the month of February,” said Geswin. “Sponsor ship amounts range from $50 for a partial spay or neuter, to $485 to sponsor the full cost of a dog spay. “We are always looking for volunteers and foster homes. Specifically related to spay and neuter month, we are looking for volunteers who are willing to drive people to vet appointments. Many of our applicants do not have vehicles, and getting to appointments is difficult.” There are still lots of pets looking for their for ever home at the TPAAS. All adoption fees help cover costs of the first rounds of vaccinations and help offset some expenses the shelter has in keeping animals. “In the shelter, and in foster homes combined, we have 26 dogs, and 36 cats up for adoption,” said Geswin. “Adoption fees are as $230 male cat; $275 female cat; $325 male dog and $400 female dog. Costs include first vaccination series, which includes rabies for dogs, deworming and spay or neuter. “Adoption fees only partially cover the costs incurred by the shelter to do the basic vetting of an animal- vaccinations, de worming and spay or neuter. Almost all of our animals come needing all of those procedures done, and it is not unusual for us to have additional health related costs for an animal as well. “The shelter is open most Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.,” said Geswin. “People are welcome to come by and see the animals. We are hosting an open house during NMTF, on Saturday from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m."

An incredible opportunity came to Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) last week that gave youth a chance to come up with a way to do business and pitch it in front of an audience. Bears’ Lair Youth Camp made its first stop in Manitoba to offer a free youth entrepreneurship camp for Indigenous youth ages 11 to 18. The concept of Bears’ Lair started out with a vision to encourage entrepreneurs.
“I was the Economic Development Officer for the Squamish Nation in British Columbia, for 13 years and provided grants for entrepreneurs of the nation through a trust grant,” said Bears’ Lair Creator and Executive Producer Geena Jackson. “I started teaching classes on how to be an entrepreneur at night and provided a catered dinner and daycare for youth from toddlers to young teens, so the parents could learn, while the youth played in the gym, played video games and were entertained outside the classroom. After two out of six classes, the youth started sitting beside their parents, participating in the class and answering questions faster than their parents. A light bulb went off in my head. “These youth are absorbing the information faster than the adults, they are more technical savvy, and they do not have the barriers or triggers of being an entrepreneur like adults. They don’t know the hard work it takes yet; they are a sponge of positivity and possibility for the future. It is amazing. “I held the first Entrepreneur Youth camp in 2015, for the Squamish Nation and it was a huge success,” Jackson. “Now that TV show Bears' Lair is a huge success and up lifts Indigenous Entrepreneurs, it was a natural progression to educate, elevate and inspire Indigenous youth all over Canada. They are the future leaders and decision makers.” Bears’ Lair facilitated their camp at Oscar Lathlin Collegiate (OLC) and had several activities to enhance the students’ knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship. “There were 22 OCN youth that participated, all 11-19 years of age,” said Jackson. “We created five teams and they gathered at the high school, OLC, from February 2 to 5, to learn about business. The youth learned about team building, social confidence, financial literacy, public speaking, media training, constructive comments, feedback and stepping out of their com fort zone. We also played icebreaker and team building games, and the youth developed strong relation ships with each other and new friends. “Goals for the youth are set throughout the camp using our curriculum of five team challenges. Those consist of building a brand, which involves choosing a busi 24023gm0 ness type, creating a name, motto, design a logo and determine core values. Then there is the target market component where youth create products and services to solve a problem and determine who their audience and market is. “With the marketing strategy, youth decide how to advertise and reach customers, and from that create a marketing plan,” said Jackson. “Then they work on a budget and financial plan and youth have to determine their start up and operational costs, and how they will use their budget and any revenue for the future. Finally, the youth pitch their business by using the business model created. The youth film and deliver a five-minute business pitch that is premiered at the graduation and community celebration event. They work together in their teams with the guidance of a coach to create their business, and learn each factor of entrepreneurship.” The youth were mentored by local mentors in the community, each one had diverse background that brought forward different learning perspectives. “The mentors and coaches for the camp were Bears’ Lair team members, as well as OCN leadership and local business owners,” said Jackson. “This included Holly Chartrand, who is a local entrepreneur and award winning author; Savanna Sayese, who is a teacher with OCN; Dean Montgomery, the executive Producer of Bears’ Lair TV and president of Indigenous Initiatives; Jay Falkus, the director of operations for Bears’ Lair Dream Camps and head videographer and myself. “The judges for the graduation and celebration event were also an inspiration for the youth, as they were community and business leaders themselves. The judges were OCN Chief Maureen Brown; Darryl Bauer, OCN Eco nomic Development Officer; Courtney Hester, OCN Councillor and Dan Quesnel, who is the Scotiabank Manager. They were all excellent judges.” Several incredible entrepreneurial ideas were born as a result of the Bears’ Lair camp. Al though all presentations were solid, only one winner was chosen. “There were five groups who came up with amazing ideas,” said Jack son. “Bannock to go was the concept of a bannock cafe. Spirit Outdoors was a facility for youth that has programming for after school to encourage kids to do something active and away from video games and spending more time with each other. Maskwa Café was a proposal to set up a cafe that serves coffee, bannock, treats and a bookstore. OCN Attracts was an outdoor play ground for summer, fall and winter with activities for families and youth to be entertained. Dancing Raven Event Planning was a party event planning business for weddings, graduations, etc. “The team that created Dancing Raven Event Planning won. The judges were so impressed by all of the youth, but Dancing Raven had a small team of two people and the judges liked that they took on all of the roles of the business. The two-team members, Layne Nabess and Alzena Lajambe, persevered. They had a really good business idea and presented it very well. The winning team won $250 each and all other participants received $100 for at tending. All of the students also received matching hoodies and backpacks. “The kids came out of their shell, developed new friendships, all improved with public speaking and social confidence and most importantly everyone showed up and supported their team members,” said Jackson. “ It’s been said that 95 per cent of success in anything is showing up and the 22 youth did. They were in credible and our team can not wait to come back again.

There’s some unsettling talk about the possibility of Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League restructuring and eliminating some teams that they feel aren’t meeting the competitive standard of the league. A competition committee was formed to determine the viability of league and made some recommendations for improvements.
“The hockey community is large, but at the same time small and extremely close-knit,” said The Pas Minor Hockey Association President Kevin Pettit. “Officially, the MB U18 AAA League has commissioned a committee in regards to competitiveness and equity in team formation. Last week, some insiders contacted numerous northern members of the hockey community to let them know that there was a very real potential for negative impact on rural and northern teams. At this time, the league has made no official decisions. Further, any recommendations by the league would have to also pass through Hockey Manitoba. “All hockey leagues flux and make changes. It’s normal for leagues to evaluate how they operate, and know the feasibility of the teams, and overall health of league. We currently have no female AAA U15 or U18 pro grams in the north, and just recently the Central Plains Capitals folded their U18 program. The threat of losing teams in rural areas is very real. “For us in the North especially, we often feel on the fringe,” said Pettit. “We can think of how we nearly lost the Blizzard, and just within the last few years a number of south ern Junior B teams decided to start their own league, leaving the Key “This would definitely have a negative impact to future hockey for northern Manitoba,” said Pettit. “The U18 program allows northerners to play for their home region, so they do not have to go to ex pensive programs in the south. For many in our region, the cost of attending these programs is quite frankly unreachable. This program maximizes the potential of all players that are accepted. It’s one of the biggest feeders to the Junior B program, and quite a number of players who developed through the U15 and U18 pro grams have went on to also play Junior A, College / University Hockey, and even the WHL and NHL. “Many of the impacts would be directly hurtful to our communities. For many youth, especially from our smaller communities and First Nations, the AAA players are huge role models in their com munities. They show the youth that hard work can get you to great places. Socially, physically, men tally, and overall community health - these would all be affected.” Based on data from Hockey Manitoba’s most current registration numbers, Parkland has a total of 698 total registered players, which is the lowest number per region. The committee then analysed data of the last 20 years for Manitoba U18 AAA playoffs by region and over that time span, Parkland had made it to the playoffs four times, which was also the lowest number out of all the teams in the region. Currently the focus has been on Norman and their competitiveness within the league. It has sparked a lot of outrage and concern that recommendations may be made to remove those teams in an attempt to make the league more competitive. Norman’s total number of registered players with Hockey Manitoba is 1,222 and based on the U18 AAA playoffs by region for the last 20 years, the team has made it to the playoffs five times in that span. “I’ve been president for Manitoba U18 AAA for five years now, since 2022,” said Manitoba U18 AAA President Don McIntosh. “I’m not aware of any other reviews, but things have changed quite a bit over the last few years. We started looking into this and doing re search, it’s kind of interesting how things popped out on paper. “We’re the highest league of hockey in Manitoba and the highest level, the next level is Junior hockey. Many of the players in our league aspire to play Junior hockey or in the Western Hockey League. Then those in Junior aspire to get a scholarship to play in the U.S. If a player is successful enough to make the Western Hockey League, the next step to that would be the NHL. Most of the kids playing in our U18 AAA league are aspiring to that. If you’re not participating in a competitive league to improve your competitiveness as a player, then we’re defeating the purpose of what we are in business for.” McIntosh denies any rumour about this being an attempt to remove rural and northern teams, but rather a move to make a stronger competitive No decisions have been made and the committee is not authorized to make decisions, but rather find solutions to remedy the inequity of the current structure. “We have other teams who aren’t competitive either and there are varying reasons for that. The non competitiveness of some teams brings down the competitiveness of other teams. That is simply what this is about. We’re not trying to eliminate all hockey in northern and rural Manitoba; that’s ridiculous.” “This would definitely have a negative impact to future hockey for northern Manitoba” - The Pas Minor Hockey President Kevin Pettit McIntosh says there are other options for teams like Norman and those that are struggling to be competitive in the league. “There is a U17 AAA and a U15 league in Manitoba,” said McIntosh. “Norman has a team in the U15 league, but there isn’t a U17 AAA team, so com bine that with the fact that the team in Thompson historically has not been competitive, the logic to us is that it would make more sense they form a U17 AAA team for the league, the players and everyone. “When the teams aren’t competitive, the argument is that players shouldn’t be expected to leave Norman, but the re “One option for Nor man is that they could join another region and bring their numbers up,” said McIntosh. “That would give them the opportunity to form a stronger team, which would bring up the competitiveness of the league. The other option could be that it would be an open zone and the players could go to wherever another team would take them in the province, so a high-level player would still have an opportunity to play at that level. Then there’s the U17 AAA option. “When we first got into this, we had 13 teams in the league, 12 in Manitoba and one in Kenora. The last three years, Central Plains has not been able to field a team, so now we’re down to 12 teams. The question is should we go down to ten teams and there has been some discussion about going down to nine team, but none of that has been decided; it’s all still being discussed.” No official or final decisions have been made as to the future of restructuring U18 AAA Hockey in Manitoba, as the Competition Committee must present some recommendations and a vote would then take place before going up to Hockey Manitoba. “It’s very important to note that our committee can’t make decisions, we can only make recommendations,” said McIntosh. “Things have to be brought forward at the league level, then if motions are approved, it would have to go to Hockey Manitoba and motions would have to then be passed at that level.” Based on Hockey Manitoba’s registration numbers by region and a 20-year summary of the U18 AAA playoffs by region, the committee feels the data speaks for itself and shows the current structure is not fair or equitable; therefore, players are not being provided the same opportunity to play competitive hockey with and against players of similar ability. The committee denies any rumour suggesting that they are abandoning Norman players or that this is based on travel. The committee feels their discussion is focused on a wholesale solution that would not only increase the number of Norman players who could play AAA hockey in the u18 age category, but also would provide an improved development path way from U15 AAA to Junior. No decisions have been made and the committee has not finalized its recommendations, but when they do, those recommendations will be to be approved by the League’s Board of Directors and Hockey Manitoba. The Opasquia Times reached out to representation from the U18 AAA Parkland Rangers and Norman Northstars and they failed to provide any comment for the story.

We’ve somehow made it normal to allow kids to use smart devices and have access to social media, and now it’s catching up to us. The Manitoba RCMP Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit has seen a drastic increase in the number of investigations involving youth and social media. The apps youth are using remain the same, but they are starting to use them at alarmingly younger ages.
“For the main part, youth are still using the same old kind of stand-by apps, such Snapchat, TikTok and Instagram, so that part hasn’t really changed,” said Manitoba RCMP ICE Unit’s Constable Gord Olson. “What we are really trying to do now is convince the parents that 13 years and older should be the age youth are when they use social media, and that’s by the social media platform standards as well. We’re seeing a ton of kids that are on those platforms for the older teens that are much younger than that. We’re seeing younger and younger kids using social media devices. “Their brain capacity at that age, especially on that younger scale which is 8 to 10 years old, they just don’t have the ability to deal with the situations they are facing on social media or their devices. Even that middle teen age of 12 to 14, they still have difficulties dealing with that just based on how their brains are operating at that time in their lives. We see a lot dealing with these ages right now.” Sending intimate images remains a large part of these investigations as youth still gravitate to sending these out. Now it’s elementary school kids who are taking part in sharing nude images of themselves, resulting in more ICE investigations. “We’re still seeing a lot of investigations around youth taking nude images and videos of themselves and sending it to a boyfriend or girlfriend they just have,” said Con stable Olson. “There’s a perception now that it’s al most the norm to send a nude out, because they feel they have to. There are obviously illegalities to that from having it in your possession to sending it out, and all of those things because it is child pornography. I just don’t think they understand the gravity of what they are doing when they are taking those pictures and videos, and sending them out. They are sending them out to peer age-ap propriate people and relationships they’re in, but they are also talking to strangers right out of the gate and sharing those images right then and there as well. “We’re seeing so many things with the younger crowd as well, between 5 and 10 years old, taking their parents phone, taking naked photos or videos of them selves and uploading it to YouTube or TikTok. These kids are not doing it to be malicious, but think its comical. We are seeing a huge uptake on investigations around this as well. I’m not sure where the thought process of this is coming from other than kids thinking they are being silly.” Many parents think that the RCMP ICE Unit can get that nude photo or video of their children off the internet without any is sues, but that is rarely the case. The more a nude photo or video has been shared and uploaded, it’s virtually impossible to ensure that file will never show up again somewhere at some point in time. “It really is almost impossible for us to delete those kinds of images and videos once they are being circulated through social media,” said Corporal Olson. “If it’s gone from them to that one person, like the boyfriend or girl friend in their lives, we can deal with that by going and meeting with the person or few people it got sent to, talk to their parents, educate them and make sure they deleted the image or video. “But what we are seeing happening now is these pictures and videos are being uploaded to a story and being sent out to multiple people. It may not just be their school mates, but rather people in another country it’s being sent to. It’s impossible to get those deleted or dealt with, because they may pop up again at another time in their lives.” There is a significant rise of young boys being sextorted online through either video game chat rooms or social media. “We’re seeing a major uptake involving kids, young males between 11 and 15 specifically, talking to people online on the video gaming side or their social media apps,” said Constable Olson. “They are sending nude imagery out and being sextorted, then being blackmailed for money. If they don’t pay a certain amount of money to these people, then that specific image or video that was sent to them is being sent out or threatened to be sent out to their friends list on whatever platform they’ve been communicating with the person on. That’s not just in Manitoba, but there has been a major increase and rise in this across North America in these types of investigations.” If you have a youth who has shared an inti mate image or is being sextorted, it’s imperative to get in contact with the RCMP. “If a parent has a youth come forward to say something like this has happened, parents need to contact their local detachment,” said Olson. “An other option is to go through Cybertip.ca. When you use Cybertip, it will generate a police re port to the appropriate jurisdiction. I tell parents to do both of these things so we can get working on that. Cybertip also offers that wrap around care and resources for parents and youth to get help with this type of scenario.

University College of the North (UCN) is hosting its annual Linkages Conference this month, but this time in a new location. This will be the first time UCN’s Linkages Conference will be held in Thompson.
“Linkages Thompson is going to be held this year on February 13 and 14,” said UCN Communications and Events Coordinator Jackie Rechenmacher. “This is the first year for Thompson to have Linkages, and we look forward to hosting the event in both communities in the future.
“The theme of the conference is around skill and development of the trades in the north. UCN and the Mining Association of Manitoba have partnered for the Linkages Thompson conference as there is a strong emphasis in the northern mining economy and the skilled workers that we will need to sustain it.” This year’s line-up of keynote speakers is im pressive and ranges from television celebrities, former sports stars and Indigenous leadership. “Mike Holmes, the television personality and professional contractor, will be presenting on engaging youth in the trades and the importance of trades in any economy,” said Rechenmacher. “We also have Ken Coates, who is a historian focused on Canadian north and Aboriginal rights and Indigenous claims, as well as a leading thinker on the Canadian future. “Our third keynote is JR LaRose, who is CFL Grey Cup Champion and is a member of the One Arrow First Nation. He shares his experiences of facing adversity, resilience, and how he has persevered through the struggles both he and his family has faced. “The Linkages Conferences focus on how reconciliation and reconcili-action are worked into many different industries and sectors across the board,” said Rechenmacher. “The pro gram will have sessions from sector leaders who are Indigenous and will be speaking about how Indigenous communities deal with industry, specifically the mining industry. Additionally, a presentation from Dr. Ramona Neckoway, Vice President of Indigenous Initiatives and Reconciliation at UCN will be providing a presentation on Northern Manitoba Reconciliation, what is in the process and what is coming up next.” Although Linkages will be held in Thompson this year, the overall for mat will be similar to the conferences held in the past. “Conference attendees can expect a similar for mat as the Linkages conferences in The Pas,” said Rechenmacher. “There will be many opportunities to network, learn, and ask questions from leaders in various fields.