The 60th Annual Opaskwayak Indigenous Days (OID) Princess and Reigning Court consists of OID Senior Princess Lexi Bercier, 1st Princess Jersey Young and 2nd Princess Kimberly Flett.
“It was such a surreal experience,” said 2025 OID Senior Princess Lexi Bercier. “Throughout the week, it never really hit me that I was actually doing it. From the fashion show to pageant night to the judges’ interview, it still didn’t feel real. Even in the moment when they were about to announce the crowned princesses, I couldn’t believe I was sitting there, because normally I would be on the sidelines, watching and dreaming of that moment.
“But what made this experience even more memorable was running alongside all the amazing, beautiful girls. I’ll never forget the time we shared together! Given the chance, I’d do it all over again without a second thought.

Snow isn’t on the ground yet, but that isn’t stopping the Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival (NMTF) from planning for their upcoming events. The NMTF Fur Queen Pageant is putting out a call for local young women to enter to be crowned the next NMTF Fur Queen.
“You must be between 18 to 24 years old, not be married and not have a criminal record to submit an application,” said NMTF Fur Queen Director Krista Tooley. “Something else to note that I would consider a requirement is that each contestant is required to find a sponsor, but they are not required to have a sponsor to submit an application.”
There is a time commitment one must be aware of before deciding to run in the NMTF Fur Queen Pageant.

If you are interested in a rewarding career that involves working with your hands, Manitoba Hydro has some excellent trades-related careers they are training and hiring for. Manitoba Hydro Trades and Technology Hands-On Day will be held in The Pas next week and give people an opportunity to try a trade as a Power Electrician, Mechanical Technician and Power Line Technician.
“Hands-on days are recruitment-led events,” said Manitoba Hydro Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisor Erica Jacobson. “This means we are opening our doors to the public to provide an opportunity to try out some of the trades we recruit for and looking for qualified candidates to apply for. This is an opportunity to try the tools, meet the technicians and experts in those trades areas, to try out regular daily tasks and have conversations about what the trades look like.

Editor’s note: Last week, the Star and Times ran part one of Suejee Quon’s story. This is a continuation of that story.
Life for the Quon family had changed as they started a different business venture in the Valley, and for Suejee, she embraced her independence.
“In 1966, I left Swan River to go to Winnipeg for university,” said Quon. “Shortly after, my dad started the Sporting Goods Store. My sisters tell me that they took turns working the till. The tiny shop was packed from ceiling to floor with everything sports-related. Dad was an avid fisherman and hunted every year. He knew all the hot spots and the newest hooks that were biting.
“People would come in to just find out the latest. He often took all the kids after work to go fishing; that was how we survived. Our freezer was always filled with fish. A few of us would pile into his 16-foot yellow boat with him, and the rest of us would just wait on shore, along with mom and her food offerings. It was easy to occupy ourselves in those days.
‘In Swan River, we lived a tight family life, all five girls crammed into one room with a bunk bed for three and a large bed for two others,” said Quon. “We had to make everything and then share it among the growing family. So, arriving in Winnipeg, I still remember that emotion, free to be myself. What typified this emotion was the first night in Winnipeg when I ordered a pizza. I still feel that awe. I could eat this pizza all by myself and not have to share with anyone.
“My first year was at United College. It was the last year before it became the University of Winnipeg. I spent that first year in residence, Spence Hall. I shared a room, but it seemed spacious and liberated compared to what I always had.
“It was in 1976, when mom and dad made that decision to sell the Sporting Goods Store and move to B.C.,” said Quon. “He had an offer to buy his store and thought it was a good time to move to a bigger area.”
Suejee found a passion for photography and turned it into a fine art. It led her to explore more of her creative side.
“My passion for photography has continued to grow over 45 years,” said Quon. “I bought my first enlarger when my daughter was born in 1978. Back then, night was the best dark room. My love for photography grew in the small bathrooms with small trays and a tiny enlarger, watching the miracle reveal itself in the developer.
“My photos are diverse and span from inanimate objects to anything in a garden to beautifully lit people. However, the style I relish is my work in digital layering. My 1993 Giclée prints from the China Exhibit look like the digital prints of 2023. Back then, I produced the layers by printing layers of large-format negatives. Even then, I was seeing stories within stories within stories.
“Shooting professional theatre, weddings and corporate portraits was not fulfilling enough, and I looked to grow further,” said Quon. “At the age of 40, I entered and completed a degree program in Commercial Photography and Business at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California. As a professional photographer, my life evolved from corporate photography into business marketing.
“After over 30 years of marketing, I have returned to my original passion and the love of producing large format digital imagery. I’m committed to speaking through my photos, art with a message. I am looking forward to publishing books and a return to exhibiting.
“I also published a book last year, Laugh Often,” said Quon. “It is filled with my photography and also many stories that I hope will put a smile on people’s faces. One of the stories is of my mom and how she turned a Kmart in B.C. around. She worked in the cafeteria there, hired to just clean. She changed the whole place and became the best employee during her ten years there. The story tells of her time in Swan River and how she learned to cook at the C.V. Café under the tutelage of Mrs. Soloway.”
Suejee, her mother and sister, Sue Ying, returned to Swan River during the time of the Northwest Round Up and Exhibition. It was a perfect time for them to reconnect with people they once knew and look at how Swan River has changed since they resided there and ran a family business.
“My dad, Chuck, died last year,” said Quon. “We talked often that this was the year he wanted to go back and retrace his steps and see the changes. In a way, we are honouring his wish. However, his passing also made me realize that mom was the last of the Quons who still had memories.
“My mom and dad have never returned to Swan River. This year’s visit would be the first time back for my mom. My last time back was for my class reunion, which was in 1998, the same year as the 100-year centennial celebration of Swan River.
“I was astounded that Swan River has advanced so much,” said Quon. “There is a McDonald’s, a Tim Hortons and an A&W. Many buildings have changed, and the town feels like it has grown. I drove around and around and tried to remember, but too much has changed. The town feels like it has come into the 21st century. Stores are larger. In place of the Cycle and Sporting Goods store now stands a new building housing a Dollar Store, which is so popular today.
“Mom and I sat on the street in front of where the C.V. Cafe once was. It was nice to see Lloyd’s Jewellers was still there. Dairy Queen has now replaced the C.V. Cafe. The moment I walked through their front door, I knew it was the same building. The front till, where I spent lots of time looking out at Main Street, was right at the front.
“I hope to have a new book based on our Quon stories,” said Quon. “This return is to document every memory I can find, hoping that mom will tell me more. Swan River would activate more memories for her. It was also the 50th class reunion for my sister Sue Ying. That was what started the whole idea.
“I placed an ad in the Star and Times, hoping to find other people who would have memories. Several people did contact me, and I have new friends and discovered old ones. We met with a few friends who connected with me through the ad. We wanted to pay homage to my grandfather, King Quong. The Town of Swan River found his spot at the cemetery. I brought incense with me to burn, my grandfather’s grave site. Mom said some prayers.
“While there, I connected with Robert Barrow, who has been trying to organize the archives of the town,” said Quon. “A good day was spent with Gordon Hornbeck touring the history museum. When Henry Rasmussen offered to take us fishing at Wellman Lake, I could not say no. I have not caught a fish since I left Swan River. I spent time at the library and Rosemary was very helpful. I gifted some of my books to the library, so they can sell them and use it to help with funding.
“I think of the people I knew in Swan River, the ones who are gone now and the ones who are still with us, and I feel warm and wonderful. They were an integral part of my life and may have shaped who I am. I’m proud to have spent my younger years in Swan River.
“I remember the teachers, Mr. Majeski, Mr. Yarrow, Mr. Orchard, and Mrs. Erickson,” said Quon. “I would have to say that I enjoyed the people of Swan River the most. After this trip, I can say that it is still the feeling. I really like the small community ties, the ability to know everyone and offer assistance because you can. Living in a large city most of my life, I have still not found that communion of a community.”

Swan Valley School Division students enjoyed an ever-so-slightly longer summer break compared to the rest of the province, with most getting back into the swing of things on Monday (Sept. 8) for the first day of classes.

A change in leadership  at Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP) is being heralded as a good first step in restoring a positive relationship between Parks Canada and the communities surrounding the national park.

Parks Canada announced last week that  Field Unit Superintendent Leane Cooper is being replaced in her roll at RMNP, efffective Sept. 11 and will move to a similar position with the agency in the Northwest Territories.

Cooper is being replaced by Tom Sheldon, who most recently was a policy manager with Parks Canada.

The move comes amid backlash over a unilateral decision Cooper made to ban motorized boats on Clear Lake, announced just one day before the summer opening of the park on the Victoria Day long weekend.

It was a move to slow the spread of zebra mussels on the lake, which was made without any consultation, blindsiding cottagers and business owners. It also spawned formation of the group  Fairness for Clear Lake (FFCL), a coalition of community members, organizations, and businesses united by a shared commitment to the long-term health and prosperity of RMNP to provide a stronger, collective voice and to advocate for inclusive, transparent decision-making. 

“While today’s announcement changes a nameplate on a door, it does not on its own change a culture of secrecy and unaccountability,” said Riding Mountain MP Dan Mazier, whose riding includes RMNP, one of two national parks in the province.

“The culture of secrecy must end. So must the divisive practice of conveying different information to different parties behind closed doors. Parks Canada is a public agency that is supposed to serve all Canadians.”

For the full story, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

Editor’s note: This story will have a continuation featured in next week’s Star and Times.
Long-time former resident Suejee Quon made a trek back to Swan River, where her childhood in Canada began. Many will remember her father, Chuck Quon, who took over the C.V. Café from his father and later on, owned the Sporting Goods Store.
“My father had returned for an arranged marriage with my mother in 1947,” said Suejee Quon. “In those years, Mao Zedong’s Communist Party was taking over the country and the family perceived this as an imminent threat to his returning to Canada, so he returned before I was born in 1949. I never met him till we landed in Winnipeg in 1955.
“My grandfather and his two brothers stayed together during their time with the railway. They chose to stop when the line stopped in Swan River. They worked at Minitonas Cafe first. Then my grandfather built the C.V. Cafe. He had several other Chinese men who worked there. Among them was Lyn Tip’s father, Wing Tip, who was the cook. Dick from Dick’s Cafe started at the C.V. as well.
“We drove up directly to Swan River, where Chuck, my dad, was to work at the C.V. Café,” said Quon. “My mother was a young 25-year-old with a 5-year-old in tow. My grandfather King Quong was one of three brothers who built the cafe, but he passed away in 1953 before we could meet.
“We lived in a two-story white house with a large, enclosed yard surrounded by trees and a short wire fence. This house was on the corner of what is today the parking lot of the Coop. The roads were all gravel and rough. I remember being colder than I have ever been. The kitchen had a water pump and every day it was our chore to pump up the daily water. The outhouse was down a lane, far from the house.
“In those days, the Chinese were not welcomed or understood,” said Quon. “It was a Canadian national effort to prevent Chinese immigration. I have memories of kids chasing me, throwing rocks and calling me names. In the same breath, Mary Snelgrove, who was the grade two teacher then, recounted how she watched out the window of Taylor School and saw how children fussed over this small Chinese girl.
“After 1955, when we arrived in Swan River, mom had a couple of difficult pregnancies, but after that, they had more children, with Sue Ying, who was born in 1958. Then Don Chan was born in 1959, Sue Len was born in 1960, Sue Shirley was born in 1961, Kerry was born in 1962 and the baby of the family, Sue Fawn, was born in 1965. All of them were born in Swan River.”
Growing up in Canada was different for Suejee, as she was tasked with keeping her Chinese traditions alive, but learning to live life as a Canadian. The C.V. Café played a huge part in her growing up and was the centre hub for the family.
“My mother was very strict, and she was always concerned with teaching us to be Chinese and to not lose our culture,” said Quon. “When we were not at school, we were kept busy in the restaurant. All of us worked. My younger sisters waited on tables.
“My task was to do laundry every Saturday. Downstairs was an old ringer washer. Every week, there were always loads and loads. Never an idle moment, as I waited for the cycle to complete, I also cut potatoes in the chip slicer for the French fries. We all had different tasks. Since we did not participate in sports or after-school activities, working was all we knew.
“The restaurant business was everything, and it was the priority in our lives, so we were there all the time,” said Quon. “In the very early days before the C.V. was rebuilt, we would hold a big banquet every year. I think it was for the New Year’s Eve celebration. It was all the Chinese food you could eat. Everyone came, the mayor, the police chief, the store owners and all their wives. There was a lot of laughter.
“Then there were some favourite customers that I remember. Mr. Gold came in every day for his lunch. His first name was Stewart, but we called him Mr. Gold because he worked at the jewelry store. He was a quiet, gentle man and always had a smile. Whenever he came in, we made sure he had something special added to his order.
“It may sound like hard times, but we never complained or thought of not complying,” said Quon. “Today, I am grateful for those days. I believe my work ethic evolved from these family commitments. I have lots of good memories.
“I made very good friends with Linda Cox and Ruth Card. Although we were the wallflowers of our high school group, the three of us had a fabulous childhood. We drove Mr. Card’s old Dodge down country roads. A bit of freedom, random activities unsupervised, was a great feeling.
“My parents and Bill and May from Dick’s Cafe would play Mahjong at the Sporting Goods Store,” said Quon. “They would play day and into the night.”
Suejee remembers her time in school and cherishes those innocent childhood memories of growing up.
“My memories of Duncan School consisted of an old building with kids running up and down the stairs,” said Quon. “I remembered that we learned to print and write cursive with the MacLean method of cursive writing. The best memories are sliding down the hill behind the cottages every winter. Recess was never long enough. We slid on everything, and cardboard was the best and easiest to glide down. The trick was to get as many runs as possible before the bell rang. We never knew the cold; the adrenaline kept us warm.
“Attending high school was another change. It’s hard to believe that I walked to school every day, even in the blinding snow of winter. I was lost in the larger population, but thankfully, we had home rooms, so being part of a group before dispersing to different classes seemed less strange.”
Suejee left the Swan Valley area to pursue her post-secondary studies in Winnipeg.

Bikers and hikers that wander up to Thunderhill have an opportunity this summer to take a few throws at the disc golf course set up at the bottom of the hill near the Co-op Chalet. With plenty of trails to enjoy at Thunderhill, the new seasonal course provides a different recreational activity for those in the area. The temporary 6-hole setup will remain until mid-October.

The dream of turning Second Avenue Northwest into a pedestrian destination in downtown Dauphin took one step closer to reality recently with the awarding of a design contract.

Dauphin Economic Development manager Martijn van Luijn said Urban Systems was chosen to lead the preliminary and detailed design of phase one of the Craft District Corridor Revitalization project at a cost of $69,839 plus GST. The 2025 City financial plan budgetted $85,000 for the

Van Luijn said Urban Systems has been involved with the project for some time, having completed a preliminary vision study for the project. The consultants have also completed other projects for the City.

In order to make the process fair and not rely on that past relationship, van Luijn said applicants were scored against a set of criteria involving overall proposal suitability, proposed schedule, service quality and reputation.

“Urban Systems was not only the most affordable one, they also scored the highest,” he said, adding the request for proposals drew one other bid from JRCC Engineering, which was close in both cost and score.

“So, we’re going to continue working with Urban Systems on getting this priced out and they’ll do all the technical drawings.”

This part of the process is the costing out of the vision for the district, which includes enhancements such as wider sidewalks, creating bumpouts, mid-block crosswalks, murals and lighting.

“We want to really make this a destination that is pedestrian friendly,” he said.

“We’re kind of taking a part of First Street towards the train station as part of that, as well, to create this really new entrance to our downtown where people can gather.”

Working towards a deadline of  Dec. 31, Urban Systems will produce a class A estimate complete with cost estimates and technical drawings.

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

Most often, when a parent coaches their children in a sport, they foster a love of the game that they pass on to the next generation. This is something that Keith Guay Sr. has done with his sons. Back in Keith Guay Sr.’s time, he coached two teams that won two Manitoba Provincial A Championships back to back. Now his son, Keith Guay Jr., has coached a team to win provincials as well.
“I coach a team out of Winnipeg, which is the Strikers, who play in the AA level,” said Keith Guay Jr. “We played in two provincial tournaments. The one we went to back in June is called the Double A Showcase and it brings all the AA teams across the province, which was around 12 teams.
“I played fast pitch up in The Pas as a youth and my dad, Keith Guay Sr., was my coach. I played up until I was 19 years old. Then I moved to Winnipeg when I turned 18, to attend university, but I came back when I was 19 years old to play another year of ball because I just loved the sport.