Accessibility Tools

Dauphin City Council had its regular meeting Monday evening, where several items were discussed, including the resignation of Councillor Kerri Riehl.

Kerri says that the decision to step down wasn't about the council's recent decision to not have a by-election after the passing of Mayor Allen Dowhan, but about upholding her integrity.

"Over the past three years, at times I've seen the decision of a few outweigh what I believe to be the greater good of the community as a whole. I believe that the City of Dauphin council is in a state of unrest, and I think we need honest and transparent municipal governance especially now. During my years on council, I have never forgotten that I was elected by our citizens, and meant to be a voice for all of our community."

Riehl was elected in 2018.

A motion was passed to request ministerial approval to not hold a by-election to fill the vacancy caused by her resignation. Deputy Mayor Christian Laughland said the council could request this because of health concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Whereas section 105-1 of the Municipal Act states in part that when a vacancy on council occurs greater than 12 months before a general election a council must hold a by-election to fill the vacancy on the council. Whereas on or about September 16th 2021 Manitoba Municipal Relations issued bulletin 2021-49, Temporary Suspension of local election provisions.”

Also in the meeting, Fire Chief Cam Abrey gave a presentation, where he presented the department's emergency response review.

“Our emergency response review from January 1st to September 30th, well we are over that 149 now, but that was to the end of September, and that same time period last year was 120 response, so we’ve had a 24 percent increase in our call volume.”

Cam says 116 of these calls were from the city, and 30 from rural areas.

The next City Council meeting takes place on November 1st.

The person of interest involved in an assault at a residence on the Peguis First Nation last month has turned himself in to police.

On September 21 at about 4:30 a.m., Peguis RCMP received a report of an assault. Officers responded and an investigation began.

The RCMP is thanking everyone for their assistance.

The eligibility for a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is being expanded to include First Nations people living on reserve in Manitoba.

This includes an estimated 7,200 people.

Dr. Marcia Anderson, Public Health Lead of the First Nations Pandemic Coordination Team says that First Nations people are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

“First Nations communities are seeing breakthrough cases of COVID-19 among people who are fully vaccinated. The risk of a severe outcome remains much lower for vaccinated individuals than for unvaccinated people, although we are seeing some severe outcomes in vaccinated people as well.”

The province says the third dose should be given at least six months after the second shot. Manitoba first offered a third dose to immunocompromised people in mid-September. 

Thousands of unvaccinated Manitobans who work with vulnerable populations will now have to get tested regularly.

Public health officials are hoping that the inconvenience of being subjected to a test every 48 hours will convince some Manitobans to get the vaccine.

Under the new rules that came into effect today, certain employees who work with the public will either have to be fully vaccinated or provide proof of a negative test result 48 hours before their shift begins.

Unvaccinated workers in hospitals, schools, and licensed daycares are among those now facing regular COVID-19 testing before showing up for work.

It’s Rotary radio week at 730 CKDM, and today’s featured member is Kathy Bellemare.

Most people know Kathy as a City Councillor, but she also spends some of her time with the Rotary Club of Dauphin. She joined the club in 2007.

“Well I saw a lot of things that Dauphin Rotary was doing around the community and they just seemed like a neat group of people that were making things happen and I wanted to be a part of that.”

Kathy talked about some of the Rotary Club’s initiatives.

“A lot of people know Dauphin Rotary because of the wine tasting and the Mud Run, those are two very successful events, but unfortunately those are no longer events that we will be holding. However, we still have some other great ones. Our book sale has been around for years. We have some new initiatives, most recently we had our first Riding Mountain half marathon, there are some other types of sporting events, there are Moose Knuckle events, and we help out with the Kings games, make pancakes for the air cadets when they have their camp here. It kind of varies from year to year, plus we have some events that happen every year.”

Kathy talked about how people can join the rotary Club.

“One of the things that a person could do is contact a person who is a member of Rotary and see what happens. We also have a Dauphin rotary website.”

Kathy says that anyone can join the Rotary club, and they currently have members of various age groups.

Tomorrow on Rotary Radio Week, CKDM is featuring Jean-Louis Guillas.

The Dauphin & District Chamber of Commerce will have a new look and new name starting today.

The business network will now be known as the Parkland Chamber of Commerce.

Stephen Chychota says the chamber is very excited about the change,

“Over the last few years myself and the board have really been looking at that ‘and district’ part of our responsibilities, and feel like since there is minimal chamber supports in the parkland area and some big gaps in business assistance with all the small businesses in these communities that were central, we are established, and we can be there for these communities. So, really felt like it's more appropriate to shift towards this ‘Parkland Chamber of Commerce’ and get rid of ‘Dauphin and District,’ it just makes things a lot more cleaner and simpler, and I think it’s something everyone in the region can digest.”

Chychota went through how things are going to look going forward,

“It’s a new name, new look to it. We are going to have new colours, a new logo, everything. More or less the same style of work coming out of this office, just going to continue to keep that focus on looking after the businesses in the neighbouring communities around Dauphin and continuing to support the chambers that are closest to us. As things progress, if we can continue to push what the Parkland Chamber of Commerce is and does, that can ultimately change what we do and offer to our business community. Looking forward to bigger and better things.”

The chamber says this decision is the next phase in their continued support for the community in representing more of a regional approach.

There are several walk-in COVID-19 vaccine clinics in the Parkland this week.

Dauphin’s Supersite, located at 304 Whitmore Avenue east is offering Moderna and Pfizer Monday from 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., and on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Walk-ins are also taking place at the Dauphin & District Food Bank from 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. The food bank is located at 220 Whitmore Avenue west.

On Tuesday, people can get the vaccine in Russel at 447 main Street north from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Walk-ins are taking place in Gilbert Plains on Wednesday from 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. at 100 Cutforth Street north.

Mountain View School Division has announced that there have been three COVID-19 cases at Roblin Elementary School during the infectious period.

The date of Exposure is October 6th.

Close contacts have been identified and advised to self-isolate.

Holiday shopping could be more difficult this year due to supply chain issues and labour shortages.

Manitoba’s latest labour market outlook shows that in order to meet the needs of the local economy, the province needs over one thousand new truckers each year for the next five years.

While labour shortages are a big concern, so are supply chain disruptions. This includes shortages of raw material, shipping costs, and the availability of containers.

Assiniboine Community College continues to accept nominations for the 2022 Parkland Alumni Awards.

The nomination deadline for the upcoming alumni awards is December 17th, 2021.

Nominees can be graduates of any Assiniboine campus but must be residents of the Parkland region.

Director of the ACC Parkland campus, Valerie McInnes, says these awards are a time to reflect and celebrate,

"These awards give the alumni association and the college the opportunity to showcase the hard work and talent of the outstanding alumni in our community. Although awards are given to nominated individuals, it's also a time to reflect and celebrate all of our alumni who contribute to building our communities in the parkland region."

McInnes carried on about the importance of these awards,

"Post-secondary education is a building block for strong and thriving societies, and it's important that celebrate the achievements of our graduates and share their journeys to success."

ACC could not give these awards out the last two years due to the pandemic, but Valarie says that as society gets back to some normalcy, she feels like it's time to celebrate again.

For more information about nominations, click here, or email alumni@assiniboine.net

The United States confirmed that Canadian travellers with mixed vaccines will be accepted when its land borders reopen to vaccinated travellers on November 8th.

Non-essential travellers crossing at a land border will be required to show proof of vaccination, and by January the same policy will apply to those deemed essential travellers.

Air travellers will also need to show proof of vaccination on arrival to the U.S., but will still need to show a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of travel prior to boarding.

The Canada-U.S. border has been closed for non-essential travel since March 2020. Canada opened its border to U.S. travellers in early August.