Manitoba Hydro recently announced its new chairperson for Manitoba Hydro and it’s a familiar face to the tri-community area. Jamie Wilson was recently announced for the role before the end of the year. Wilson has an accomplished background when it comes to creating movement and change in various sectors.
“I’m from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) in Treaty 5 territory and passionate about building bridges between First Nations and business communities, as a pathway to a strong and prosperous economic future for all,” said Wilson. “With a background as a Deputy Minister, educator, a member of the US Army’s 75th Ranger Regiment and as Manitoba's Treaty Commissioner, I work with innovative organizations looking to tap into Canada’s hidden potential.
“I think my greatest leadership strengths are as a facilitator and relationship builder, where I have been told my calm and thoughtful demeanour enables me to navigate complex and often highly charged situations to positive and successful outcomes. I am currently the Vice President of Indigenous Strategy, Research and Business Development with Red River College Polytechnic in Treaty 1 territory.

The community of Benito has had an excellent start to the new year. While most small town rural municipalities are struggling with infrastructure, dwindling population, services and businesses, Benito seems to be an inspiration.
Earlier this month, the Municipality of Swan Valley West (MSVW) announced it would be reopening the municipal office in Benito. This would allow ratepayers in Benito to pay their water and tax bills, as well as have an in-town point of contact for anything municipal-related.
“This has been on our radar for three years now,” said MSVW Reeve Bill Gade. “After the election, we talked about it and it was put on a list of things we wanted to see happen, but we weren’t sure how. We didn’t want to just open an office for the sake of opening one; we wanted it to be open for a reason. It’s easy enough to hire someone to sit there, but what do they do all day? There had to be more to it.
“We came up with some more work for that person to do, besides the municipal stuff. Water bill and tax payments, building permits and all the other municipal office-related stuff that were in place years ago will come back to Benito. The staff at the Benito office will also spend their time providing support to various committees in the Valley.
“The Swan Valley Planning District has no one to do the administrative work, so this person will be making the minutes and agendas for meetings, doing the bank deposits, checking the mail and paying the bills,” said Gade. “This kind of work will get farmed out to the Benito office to do, as well as assisting residents.
“The time that the administrative staff spends on committee work will be paid by all four municipalities, instead of just Swan Valley West. This means that the whole Valley is supported and I think that is a great thing. It’s easy to spend tax dollars and get nothing, so we want to make sure this isn’t a waste.
“For some people, it doesn’t matter, but for a lot of people in Benito, especially the elderly, they want to pay their bills in person and speak to someone,” said Gade. “We are hearing that people are excited for the return of the municipal office in Benito. Many have expressed that it’s nice not to have to drive to pay a water bill or mail in a cheque.
“The Benito office will be open three days a week. We will start from there and see how it goes. I think this is a doable thing. The hours will be 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and it will be closed over the lunch hour. The person hired is currently undergoing training and we are estimating that the municipal office in Benito will be opened by the end of the month.”
Like other municipalities, Swan Valley West has been battling with aging infrastructure and the rising cost of replacing and maintaining it. Every municipality in Manitoba struggles with utilities, whether is managing or replacing them. All municipalities have been dealing with reading water meters and finding economical ways to collect that data and bill it out to users. The majority of municipalities in the province use Neptune to provide automated meter readings, but the cost of that has also significantly increased, but Gade has found an alternative method.
In the past, Benito, like other municipalities, paid once for the setup of the Neptune Water Meters, and was able to read the meters with no extra cost
“The current system we use to read water meters is not a bad one; it can do a lot of things,” said Gade. “Going back in time, municipalities bought a handheld device that they would use to read water meters and there were no fees or subscriptions bought to use it. A few years ago, there was an upgrade offered and Swan Valley West was hesitant at first. We felt that what we had was working fine and didn’t see the need to spend $8,000 to upgrade.
“Over time, the company was more adamant that we needed to upgrade and that if we didn’t do the upgrade, they would not help us if something went wrong. It was a matter of doing the upgrade or else. We agreed to pay $8,000 for the upgrade, with the hopes that we would get 20 years use out of it.
“The money was paid and we received a paid invoice that stated an expiry date on the subscription,” said Gade. “When we called for clarification to ask why there was an expiry date for a year from now, we were told that it was a yearly fee. Swan Valley West was not told it was an $8,000 yearly fee for this upgrade, so every year we would be paying that amount. The municipality tried to cancel it and the company would not do that. We didn’t want a subscription, so we told the company the moment it expires that our municipality wanted out of it.
“We were told that we would be the only municipality in Canada to cancel this contract because there was no way to read the water meters without this subscription. We just felt there was a more cost-effective method for this. Now the subscription does some wonderful things, such as reporting the water meter reading every three minutes. This would allow one to look at how much water is being used. It would let people know if there was a small leak detected through the water usage, which is pretty cool, but not worth $8,000 a year.”
This led to Gade relying on his background of tinkering with radio frequencies and finding a more affordable and accurate solution.
“We did our own experimenting and found out that for $63, we made our own device that read the water meter readings,” said Gade. “I used an antenna from a software-defined radio and programmed it to read the Neptune meters and have the reading ready for import into Munisoft.
“The way it works is that the Neptune meters have a battery in them that is good for 20 to 30 years, and it transmits a reading, with a serial number, and indicates if there is a leak happening. It always sends that information out through radio frequency. So if you have the equipment to pick that up and are within 1,000 to 2,000 feet of the water meter, you can receive that information.
“We connected this all to a laptop, and the higher I put up that antenna when driving around, the further it will pick up a reading,” said Gade. “I drove around and every time it picked up a water meter reading, it would beep. We were able to come up with a list ahead of time of the places that had water meters, so it would also show me which ones were not read. I would then drive closer to that location and wait to pick up the reading.
“We are getting a 100 percent read rate on the device we built, whereas with the other one, we weren’t getting more than 90 percent read rate with Neptune. Also, with the Neptune system, it was suggested to put their device on and have someone walk every street in town to get a reading. That would take a couple of hours. With this new device we created, we put it in the vehicle and drove around, and it took almost 40 minutes to read the entire town.
“Also, with the Neptune system, you have to tell it everyone’s water meter serial number, otherwise it ignores it,” said Gade. “So if there is a mistake in a meter serial number, it won’t pick it up, but this new one will.
“There is a new radio tower up in Benito and this summer, we are hoping to find a way to use it to report any water leaks. That is phase two. Right now, we just wanted to find a cost-effective way to read the water meters and we have done that.”
This innovative discovery has also caught the attention of other municipalities struggling with the same issue.
“We have had other municipalities reach out to us to borrow our laptop to try it,” said Gade. “There are other companies out there making water meters and systems to read them that are more in the $200 to $300 range, so we will look into those options as well. For now, we will continue use Neptune meters until they die out.”
Benito also caught a media slurry of attention with its proposal to sell the old M & M Café building $1.
“It was a nice restaurant and the problem was the CRA got involved,” said Gade. “Once they put a lien on it, it was pretty hard for anyone to fix that, except for municipalities. Municipalities have the ability to get rid of those leans, which is what we did. This all took some time and over that time span, there was a bit of damage that happened to the building.
“We could have fixed up the damage and tried to lease it to someone, or we could tear it down. Council didn’t want to put money into the building and no one uses it, but the other option of tearing it down would cost around $50,000.
“I asked council if they would allow me to see if I could try something different,” said Gade. “I asked if we could try selling it for $1, rather than the other two options, which would cost us money. Personally, I felt this could be done and I didn’t want to tear down another building in Benito. Council agreed to try it.
“We had to market this concept of selling this building for a dollar and in order to do that, we had to get the Winnipeg media interested. We had almost every major media outlet in Winnipeg publish a story about Benito selling a building for $1. In the promotion of these stories, it was talked about how Benito had a new splash park and new businesses starting up and the potential development of new lots. In each story that was run, it talked about Benito being a nice place to live.
“When I look at the coverage we got from that, we got about $100,000 worth of free advertising from that for Benito,” said Gade. “Plus, we got applications from several places to purchase that old restaurant building for $1. Some were from Winnipeg and all over, and we even had a few come and look at it.
“We had Stuart Matheson from The Pas, come and check it out. He had this idea to do a cricket farm with a pet supply and food store. It would be one equivalent full-time job to run this place. In the end, we have a new business being established, created a full-time job in the community, sold the building for $1 and it will generate revenue and tax revenue for the municipality. This was a win-win-win situation.
“Now we have the media doing follow-up stories on this transaction and saying what a wonderful place Benito is,” said Gade. “I can’t imagine what the cost would have been to put that kind of advertising out there.”

Every year, a local firefighter is recognized for their efforts in serving the community by being presented with the Firefighter of the Year Award. This year’s recipient was Matthew Linnick. Linick is one of the Swan Valley Fire Department (SVFD) instructors and a firefighter who demonstrated active volunteerism in the community and took part in the wildfire deployment to Flin Flon.
Linnick first got involved with the SVFD over three years ago. His interest in joining the local fire department was sparked by his longing to help others in the community.
“I joined the department in the fall of 2022,” said Linnick. “I joined because I wanted to be able to serve my community.”
Over the years, Linnick has done a lot of training to become a firefighter with the SVFD. In this role, he realizes that one must always be willing to learn and train when it comes to emergency response and firefighting techniques.
“You never really complete your training; there are always new skills and techniques to learn,” said Linnick. “When we are not learning new skills, we are training to keep up with our current ones. The most challenging aspects of training can be the physical demands and the amount of information you must absorb in a short amount of time, especially when completing your Level 1 training.
“We have great instructors, officers and senior firefighters on our department to help us overcome any challenges we face. This year, I completed my Firefighter Level 1 training. Additionally, I have taken various courses throughout my time in the department, including Emergency Services Instructor 1, vehicle extrication, and pump operations.”
Linnick stepped up to the call when one of the largest forest fires in Manitoba’s history broke out last summer, up north and in Flin Flon. This has provided Linnick with even more experience when it comes to firefighting and emergency disaster response.
“Late in the spring, I was part of a crew of four members from our department that went to Flin Flon with our pumper truck to assist,” said Linnick. “While there, we worked with Flin Flon and many other departments from around the province. We worked to extinguish hot spots on the fire lines around Flin Flon, and later, when the fire was threatening cabins in and around Bakers Narrows, we worked to protect these structures from the fire.
“It was great to see all the departments from around the province come to assist.”
Linnick enjoys his time with the SVSF for a variety of reasons. The camaraderie and ability to help others are something that he finds personally fulfilling.
“Since joining the department, I have been able to develop and grow my skills as a firefighter,” said Linnick. “This is all thanks to the other firefighters on our department who have taken the time to teach and work with me, and all the new firefighters.
“The thing I enjoy most about being a firefighter is being able to serve my community.”

The new CT Scanner at the Swan River Hospital has been an investment well worth the while. It has been reducing both wait and travel times for people in the Valley to receive diagnostic services. The CT Scanner has been operational for just over a month and has completed over 200 scans.
“The new CT scanner in Swan River scanned its first patient on May 15, 2024, as part of training exercises, with the system formally coming online on June 17, 2024,” said a spokesperson for Shared Health. As of July 8, 2024, 283 patients had received CT scans in Swan River.
“In the first three weeks of operations, approximately a dozen scans per work day have been completed on patients who would have otherwise had to leave the Swan Valley area and travel to Dauphin, Brandon, The Pas or Winnipeg for care.”
Thanks to the local contributions, half of the costs of the CT Scanner was funded from the Valley, with the remainder from the provincial government.
“Community groups raised more than $1 million towards the $2-million-plus capital project, which includes equipment, installation and renovation of the space,” said a spokesperson for Shared Health. “Shared Health assumes ongoing operational costs.
An open house for the Swan River CT Scanner is being planned for the near future.

Swan River’s Tyler Petelski will be representing Team Saskatchewan again at the U18 Women’s Tackle Football Tournament in Fredericton, New Brunswick this summer. Teams from all across Canada will be competing for the championship title.
Petelski started playing football in 2021 with the Moosomin Generals when she was in grade 8 and was part of the team when they won the Inaugural Prairie Girls Football League Championship. Last year, she made the move to play with the Swan Valley Regional Secondary School Tigers Football Team and was the only female on the team.
“It was definitely different being the only female player on the SVRSS Tigers football team this year,” said Petelski. “A lot of teams were really shocked to see a girl on the team. My whole team is very welcoming and inviting. They included me in all the drills and never set me aside or made me feel excluded. They saw me as a player who was just as good as they are and that really motivated me this past season.”
Petelski tried out for the first time for U18 Women’s Tackle Football Team Saskatchewan. At that time, she just made the minimum age requirements to try out and was one of the youngest players to do so.
“At my first tryout for Team Saskatchewan, I thought I did very poorly because I was very nervous going into it,” said Petelski. “The youngest a player could be on that team was in grade 9. There were only a few of us in grade 9 going into the tryouts. The tryouts were overwhelming and had a lot going on.
“When I made the team, it was like we all melted together as a team. We had a couple of days of training camp in Regina. I got to know the rest of the players there really quickly as we were together every second. There were lots of practices out in the heat, meetings and team bonding, before the championship.”
Petelski experienced her first experience competing at a national level with Team Saskatchewan last year. It’s a different level of the game as well and the energy going into it is much more intense.
“Playing at nationals is so energetic and there are so many people there that love football,” said Petelski. “You can tell they love the game. Everyone there is focused on one thing only and you can feel that. This level of tackle football is totally different.
“A player has to be quicker and stronger. You have to be more mentally focused going into it and there is a lot more training to do a month before you go. It’s also more physically draining once you get there to play because the temperature is hotter out there and the level of competition is harder.”
Petelski went to tryouts in May and June of this year and was selected with 22 other female players to be a part of Team Saskatchewan again. She will report to prep camp in Regina on July 16, and then fly out two days later for the championship.
“Last year I was way more anxious when I tried out, as I didn’t know what to expect,” said Petelski. “This year I was way more confident with my skills and had a whole year with Team Saskatchewan already. I had my year with the SVRSS Tigers, so I felt stronger, quicker and more mentally prepared. I wasn’t going to be as hard on myself if I dropped the ball or missed a block during a play as I would have when I first started. I feel more mature as well going in.
“I felt more confident this time around and knew what I had to do to earn a spot again with Team Saskatchewan. I also knew other players and the coaches already from last year, so I knew what they expected from me.
“I’m super competitive, so I don’t mind being one of the boys in that aspect,” said Petelski. “Last season was a really good experience and made me a better player. Making the U18 women’s tackle football team for Saskatchewan again this year was a result of that.”
The U18 Women’s Tackle Football Tournament will be held from July 20 to 28. Petelski is looking forward to taking to the field and showing just how far she and her teammates have come since the last time they were there.
“I’m really looking forward to that atmosphere of game day again. That’s really when a team comes together. There is so much adrenaline and motivation. Last year we didn’t win any of our games, so this year we want to really clinch that one game and build off the momentum from that and continue on from there.