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Manitoba Blue Cross (MBC) is getting set to celebrate its 50th anniversary and the Parkland will be a part of the celebrations.

On Tuesday, May 14, MBC will be in town at the Aspen Lodge on 200 1st Street SE from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. It will be a come-and-go function and will include games, snacks, and prizes. You can also pick up a free gift at the three-hour event.

Nikki Makar is with Manitoba Blue Cross and she says next Tuesday will be a special day.

"We are coming to Dauphin to say thank you for allowing us to be a part of the community for the last 50 years," said Makar. "50 years for Manitoba Blue Cross means we have been here as fellow Manitobans providing coverage that is amongst the best in the industry."

MBC also isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"We're going to continue being in the community," ended Makar. "We come out and visit whenever we can and we always assure that we're giving back to the community. This visit, we will be donating to the Dauphin & District Food Bank."

So from 2 to 5 next Tuesday, make sure you head to the Aspen Lodge in the Parkland Rec Complex to celebrate 50 years strong for Manitoba Blue Cross. 

After a controversial presentation at a school board meeting in the Mountain View School Division, the board of trustees has made further statements.

In a recent release, Board Chair Gabe Mercier welcomed a Governance review announced earlier by the province's Minister Of Education.

Mercier offered the board's full cooperation in sharing any information regarding this review, though a date has not been named for when this review is to take place.

A trustee by-election was slated to take place at the end of June, but due to the pending review, it has been pushed back to the start of the 2024-25 year.

For our previous coverage of this developing situation visit, Our Previous Article Here.

You may have seen the pop-up on the south end of town, work is about to begin on the new Petrocan Gas station.

This station is owned in partnership by the Pine Creek and Ebb & Flow First Nations.

The land titles were officially signed over last summer at city hall between Chief Wayne Desjarlais of Ebb and Flow, Chief Derek Nepinak of Pine Creek, and Mayor David Bosiak.

The Groundbreaking ceremony will take place May 15th at 11 am, and everyone is invited to attend.

The Anishinaabe Aki PetroCan gas station is slated to open sometime this fall.  

Open-season fishing is coming soon across Manitoba, and some changes are coming with it this year.

Size limits and amounts are the most notable changes that could land you some fines if you're caught exceeding them.

Walleye limits are capped at four, and no fish over 55 centimeters may be kept.

The pike limit is also four, with a 75-cm size limit. The smallmouth bass limit is now four, with a 45-cm size limit, and you may only keep one lake trout, which can be no larger than 65 cm.

The Manitoba Anglers guide lays out some clear guidelines as to what it might cost if you're caught breaking the rules:

  • Using barbed hooks: $52
  • Fishing without a license: $298
  • Over limit: $102 plus
  • Transport live fish away from the water: $486
  • Unattended line: $52
  • Failure to carry your license while fishing: $174
  • Possession of crayfish: $102 plus
  • Bringing into Manitoba live bait: $202
  • Possession of AIS (e.g. zebra mussels): $1,296
  • Failure to dispose of bait used in an AIS Control Zone: $672
  • and Littering: $204

Some local restrictions are important to note as well.

Dauphin Lake, including that portion of the Mossy River to municipal road 107 west and all inflowing tributaries will require all walleye over 48 cm to be released.

Keeping these big fish in the lakes can help preserve populations, and knowing these limits and laws can keep you off the hook for some serious fines. 

Be sure to check out the 2024 Angling Guide to stay informed, and avoid getting tangled up in these preventable issues.

Expressing one's self through art and using it for therapeutic benefits are the goals of a pair of special events planned for this week.

The local Mental Wellness Suicide Prevention Committee is hosting "Express Yourself" events tonight at the Dauphin Friendship Centre from 7-9, and on Wednesday at the Primary Health Centre in Ste Rose from 6-8 pm.

Anyone wanting to learn more info about these events can contact Melanie in Dauphin at 204-622-2243, or Ashley in Ste Rose at 204-447-4395. 

The events are being held in conjunction with this week being Mental Health Week, as designated by the Canadian Mental Health Association. 

The Dauphin Hero Club is holding a special fundraising dinner this Wednesday to recognize a significant anniversary for the group in our city.

A special lasagna lunch, catered by Irivng's, will be held from 11 until 1 at the DNRC building.

Dauphin Hero Club Activity Director Lori Bogoslowski says it is the 30th anniversary for the club, which was formed in 1994. 

"Swan River was developed the year after, and then we had one in Roblin and there is one in Binscarth as well.  So Dauphin was the first and it is thriving.  Here in Dauphin we are building more members and reaching more people in the community which has been a great need for  the community."

Bogoslowski says the club was formed as part of an incentive called Mental Health Reform.

"The closure of the Brandon Mental Health Centre was part of the incentive, and people who resided at BMHC were asked where they would like to live, and the individuals asked to transition back into their hometowns.  Therefore the Hero Club was developed to assist in meeting the needs in those areas, in recreation, education, vocational, and for mental health."

Some of the programs offered through the Dauphin Hero Club focus on budgeting, cooking, and how to live off a garden. 

Tickets for the lunch are $15. 

Meals can also be pre-ordered for pick up by calling 204-638-7014. 

Proceeds from the lunch go towards programming and outings for members. 

Bogoslowski thanks the community for the support they have given the Dauphin Hero Club over the past 30 years. 

We will find out later this week where Dauphin ranks with regards to sales during the latest Tim Horton's Smile Cookie campaign.

The campaign wrapped up on Sunday, with Dauphin selling over $65,000 worth of cookies in the past week, according to local franchisee Greg Crisanti. 

He says that is the highest total that the Dauphin restaurant has ever recorded, with those figures not including proceeds of special Smile Cookie pins that the Dauphin restaurant was also selling. 

Over the last four years, the Dauphin restaurant has finished number one in Manitoba and number two across the entire country for Smile cookie sales, and Crisanti says we will find out later this week how we ranked this time around.

Money raised through the Smile Cookie Campaign will stay locally and go towards the Smile Zone project at the Dauphin Regional Health Centre. 

The city of Dauphin is proposing a 3.5 per cent property tax increase for the 2024 budget year.
 
"We looked at other municipalities in the province and other provinces that were having double-digit (tax) increases, and we were very fortunate and with the good work of our staff and administration on figuring out ways to pay for it."  said Dauphin Mayor Dave Bosiak.   "And we did two things with the budget this year - a modest tax increase, but we also dipped into our reserves again."
 
Bosiak describes it as a modest tax increase, more falling in line with cost of living increases. 
 
"We are fortunate that a lot of the work that is being done and that we are paying for, people are seeing and I think they can appreciate that we have to pay for this.  So we have been very fortunate that we got a significant additional contribution from the provincial government on the Highway South project.  So that helps us with the looming new infrastructure project which will really come on the books next year, which is our lagoon upgrade."
 
Other items in this year's budget include around 2 million dollars towards public safety and a further 2 million on recreation and culture. 
 
Dauphin residents will have a chance to review the budget and ask questions or make comments to council and staff during a special financial plan public hearing on Monday night.
 
The public hearing is set to take place at 5 pm at City Hall.

If the clouds clear up for Sunday night, people watching the skies could see a beautiful natural event.

the Eta Aquarid meteor shower will be taking place May 5th and 6th, originating from chunks of debris will from Halley's comet.

This Meteor shower will be more prominent in the southern hemisphere, but keen eyes could see several shooting stars streak across the sky if they're looking to the south horizon.

We're expecting a new moon in this time frame, so any of these meteors will be easily visible to the naked eye.

For best viewing results, keep your eyes trained on the south horizon a few hours before sunrise.

The wait is almost over for residents of the Swan Valley.

The government announced this week that a new CT scanner at the Swan Valley Health Centre in Swan River will officially go online as of next month. 

Long championed for by residents in the Valley, who previously had to go to hospitals in Dauphin, Brandon, and Winnipeg for CT scans, the new machine arrived in Swan River in early April. 

Two existing X-ray technologists from the hospital have been trained to operate the new scanner with final training and testing of the machine scheduled to begin later this month.

Besides being a much-needed and highly anticipated piece of equipment for the hospital, Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Uzoma Asagwara says the equipment and renovated space will also create a better experience for hospital staff and support ongoing local staffing recruitment and retention efforts.

The province provided more than $2 million in capital funding towards both the purchase and installation of the new CT scanner, as well as renovations of a space at the hospital.

Town of Swan River and surrounding communities contributed over $1 million towards the project, while the province will also provide funding for the operating costs of the CT scanner, expected to be around $400,000 per year.

Jordon's Principle is a child-first legal obligation that looks to ensure that First Nations children get the services and health care they need when they need it.

This Principle came to be in 2007 to honor Jordan River Anderson, a young boy from Norway House Cree Nation in Manitoba who was born in 1999 with multiple disabilities.

Due to conflicts of responsibility between the provincial and federal governments, Jordan passed before his family could ever receive the resources to care for him at home.

This boy passed away in hospital at the age of 5.

Next week on May 10th, Bear Witness Day will be hosted in Dauphin by West Region Treaty 2 & 4 Health Services to educate people on the Legacy of Jordan's Principle.

From 10:30 am to 1:30 pm, visit CN Park and learn about this last effort to further support healthcare and human rights for children.