Accessibility Tools

*RCMP say William Loewen has been located

Yorkton RCMP are looking for help from the public in locating 86-year-old William Loewen – who goes by the name Bill.

He was last seen at a rural residence between Saltcoats and Bredenbury, Saskatchewan, this morning around 4:30. Both of those towns are on Highway 16, West of the Manitoba/Saskatchewan border. He told the owners of the residence he was looking for where to purchase fuel and appeared disoriented.

He left the area in his red, 2015 GMC Terrain with Manitoba license plate KXG 477 travelling on Highway #16 towards Yorkton. He is from the Minnedosa/Brandon areas and not overly familiar with the Yorkton area.

Bill is described as 5’8” with grey/white hair, moustache and beard. He is also diabetic.

He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a dark ball cap, red and black fleece vest with a yellow shirt underneath. He also uses a cane.

Police are asking people in Yorkton and surrounding communities to report any information you have about Bill and/or his red, 2015 GMC Terrain by calling Yorkton RCMP (306-786-2400).

The garter snakes that normally occupy the Narcisse snake dens around this time of year are waiting out the weather. According to the province, after weeks of winter storms followed by flooding, the snakes have been forced to wait for warmer weather.

The dens are normally filled with thousands of garter snakes coming out of their winter hibernation to mate around this time every year.

The Dauphin Derailleurs Club has been working hard over the winter to keep the Northgate Trails System up and running after a crazy few months of weather. David Bosiak is a Derailleurs Club Board member and he said it’s an interesting time for the Club and the Trail system as a whole.

It’s that in-between season time that we get prepared for spring. Now with the long winter, that’s been extended and there’s been some extra challenges maintaining the trails both near the end of the winter with all the heavy wet snow we got and then now waiting for it to dry out.

Bosiak said if it wasn’t for all the incredible volunteers they couldn’t do what they’ve been able to and thanks to new partnerships they’ve been able to maintain the trails all winter.

We created a new relationship with the Dauphin snowmobile club and a group of volunteers in town to help us groom the Co-op Family Trail. We had members of the Derailleurs board and Northgate subgroup look after the bike trails and they were out way more than in past years.

The club is in the very early stages of creating a group that will be called Friends of Northgate where they'll get local volunteers and local users to be more involved and help with ideas from programming to how to use the trails and to help the club understand what people want when they go to Northgate.

You can get information by heading to the Northgate Trails website here.

Manitoba Beef is asking producers to continue reporting their losses caused by the storms the province saw during the last few weeks of April. Manitoba Beef Producers General Manager Carson Callum says the situation is really bad across the province.

It's pretty devastating, heartbreaking, and widespread honestly. Those last three systems caused challenges throughout the province whether its too much rain, too much snow, or a dip down in temperature causing pneumonia and other related challenges. It really is heartbreaking to hear what the loss is adding up to.

Producers can report their losses by calling (204) 772-4542 or emailing them at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Let them know where you're from, the name of your farm, how many losses you incurred, and the cattle type. All information given will be confidential.

An investigation by the Manitoba RCMP Internet Child Exploitation (I.C.E.) Unit led to an arrest on Tuesday of a man from Arden, Manitoba.

The I.C.E. unit received several complaints from the RCMP National Child Exploitation Crime Centre regarding the possession of child pornography in western Manitoba. As a result, the I.C.E. unit, the RCMP Digital Forensics Services Unit with assistance from the Neepawa RCMP Detachment, executed a search warrant at a residence on Saskatchewan Drive in Arden on Tuesday.

36-year-old Shawn Buchanan of Arden was arrested at the scene and has been charged with:

Possession of Child Pornography
Accessing Child Pornography
Making Child Pornography Available
Luring x2
Fail to Comply

He was remanded into custody.

Update: Water has been restored to the Village of Ethelbert, however, there is a boil water advisory in effect. Any water that is used for the purpose of consumption should be brought to a rolling boil for at least a minute before it's used.

---

Water has been shut off in the Ethelbert area while crews work to repair a water main break according to Shawna Low, the Administrative Assistant for the Municipality of Ethelbert.

Due to difficulties with the water main break repair in the Village of Ethelbert, water will remain shut off for the better part of the day, we are hoping to have water services restored by this evening. We are sorry for the inconvenience and will keep you informed as that information becomes available.

Water was first shut off at midnight while crews worked, but was turned back on around five this morning before being shut off again to allow crews to continue working.

Nearly 850-thousand dollars is being handed out to several local organizations to support and stimulate the local economy.

Brad Michaleski announced earlier this week that a total of $835,236 is being handed out to 16 local organizations. Dauphin Recreation Services is receiving the most funds with a total of $359,500. 

The Municipality of Mossey River will receive $87,505 while the City of Dauphin is set to receive $50,000. Michaleski says this is great news for Dauphin and the Parkland region.

"I'm really happy with the amount that we received in this region," said Michaleski. "16 organizations are going to benefit from this, it really is great news."

The funding is a part of Building Sustainable Communities (BSC) as a part of the government's 2022 budget. 

The local community groups and projects that will be receiving funding include:

• Dauphin Recreation Services: $300,000 • Municipality of Mossey River: $87,505 • Gilbert Plains Municipality: $12,825 • Ukrainian Folk Arts Centre and Museum: $30,962 • McCreary Community Centre: $10,321 • Rural Municipality of Dauphin: $31,750 • Dauphin Active Living Centre: $68,187 • Gilbert Plains Country Club: $62,500 • Ste. Rose and District Handivan: $47,866 • Hope Lutheran Church: $3,460 • City of Dauphin: $50,000 • McCreary Golf and Country Club: $5,676 • Municipality of Lakeshore: $8,400 • Dauphin Recreation Services: $59,500 • Westlake Community Centre: $26,677 • Dauphin Derailleurs Cycle Club: $20,000 • Municipality of McCreary: $9,607.

"All of these communities and organizations is so extremely important to our local economy," said Michaleski. "It's great to see the money get spread out around the region because when everyone in the region does good, our region does good and the province does well."

April brought a lot of precipitation to Manitoba and the Parkland region which had an effect on water levels in local lakes.

According to the May 5th reading from the province's Hydrologic Forecast Centre, the water level on Dauphin Lake is 856.24 feet. The lake reaches flood stage at 858 feet.

Water levels on Lake Winnipegosis are at 829.98 feet while levels on Lake Manitoba are at 811 at Steep Rock and Westbourne. Lake Manitoba reaches the flood stage at 814 feet.

As well, Lake St. Martin is at 798.38 feet which is very close to the flood stage level of 801 feet.

Click here to access the latest water level readings from the Hydrologic Forecast Centre.

Today is the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. Mountain View School Division Indigenous Education Facilitator, Carole Shankaruk, encourages people to wear red today to show their support.

It's really important that we acknowledge this day, and we all know that the violence has to stop. In our homes and our communities, when we look at the world, it's an important day to stop the violence.

The Dauphin Friendship Centre held an impromptu live art tribute today outside the Centre, to raise awareness for MMIW. They held it over the lunch hour, hoping that people would see it during their lunch break.

The Manitoba Métis Federation is having an election on June 14th, 2022. According to Chief Electoral Officer, David Gray, there will also be advanced poling in a number of communities, including Dauphin, on June 10th and 11th.

The election is for all but one of the members of the Manitoba Métis Federation Cabinet, that is the President, the Vice-President of each region, and two Regional Executive Officers in each region.

Nominations to run for the open positions can be filed until May 13 at 5 pm. All Red River Métis Citizens, that are at least 18 years old are eligible to vote. You can find information about the election, including all the forms needed for a nomination, at the MMF Elections website here.

The Manitoba Summer Fair is back in Brandon from June 8th to 12th this year. It's the first fair since 2019, and Provincial Exhibition Marketing and Communications Coordinator Michele McDougall said they're so excited to host it once again.

At this year's fair, there will be a Market in the Dome, where local small businesses will have an opportunity to sell their 

We are putting a deadline of May 15th for folks to contact us if they want their small businesses to be set up here in our Market in the Dome and then they can sell and showcase their wears to everybody coming to the fair.

Tickets for the Fair go on sale next week, and you can see all that the fair has to offer, and buy your tickets at Provincial Exhibitions Website here.