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Manitoba is set to change from red to orange on the Restart Manitoba Pandemic Response System.

The change is taking effect tomorrow, as new public health order restrictions come into effect across the province.

Deputy Chief provincial public health officer, Dr. Jazz Atwal made the announcement today.

“These reduced restrictions move Manitoba from level red critical, to level orange restricted.”

The move from red to orange does not mean that restrictions will be lessened even more.

Winnipeg has been in level red since October 30th and the rest of the province since November 12th.

After the cancellations of all major events since the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in 2020, the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba has announced that it’s moving forward with the planning of Manitoba Ag Ex 2021.

Manitoba Ag Ex is the largest all-breed cattle show in the province, which includes breed-specific shows, a Jackpot Heifer Show, Bull Show, and Junior Show.

The Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba President, Greg Crisanti says planning has been underway for quite some time now, but due to the loosening of restrictions, things are looking promising.

“We’re really excited to get back to seeing everybody and finally being able to host a live event at the Keystone.”

Although the announcement is recent, Crisanti says it’s already received a positive reaction.

“We’re still optimistic that we can some sort of summer fair this coming fall as well, and we already have started planning for our Royal Manitoba winter fair in 2022.”

Manitoba Ag Ex is set to take place at the Keystone Centre from October 27th to the 30th.

Earlier this week, Manitoba RCMP released its monthly report on crime statistics.

In the report, the Western District, which Dauphin and the Parkland reside, crime saw a 19% leap in May 2021 as opposed to May 2020.

CKDM spoke with the RCMP Media Relations Officer, Tara Seel.

On the topic of crime being up this May in comparison to last, Ms. Seel pointed out multiple factors,

“Anecdotally, as the weather warms up, we do see an increase in certain types of calls, such as mischief and noise complaints. So, that could account for some of it. Also, we are seeing numbers increasing due to easing of restrictions.”

Even with the factors, Ms. Seel listed above, she says it’s tough to project how people will act in the following months and how that will translate to the statistics.  

“It is really hard to say what we are going to see. Of course, with the really nice weather we’re anticipating as well as the lifting of restrictions, we do expect more people to be out and about. What those people choose to do, we’ll wait and see. We’re hoping that people will be respectful and kind and all those things and that we won’t see an increase (in crime.) But it wouldn’t be unexpected if we did.”

The report mentions that the Western District reported decreases in all crime categories, except for the "Crimes against the Person." Category. Which refers to a broad array of criminal offences, usually involving bodily harm.

On that same note, Seel wanted to highlight a positive piece of the report for the western district, stating that although there was an increase in crimes against persons, it did have the lowest percentage of all the three districts for that category.

The complete report of statistics can be found here.

Manitoba’s education minister, Cliff Cullen says the plan is for all students to return to in-class learning by the fall.

Cullen says the government has set aside money for students who can’t return to in-person learning due to medical reasons.

“Given that there will be some students required medically not to return, we have set aside $5 million for a remote learning support center to support those students.”

Cullen says a priority for the next school year will continue to be on the health and safety of students and staff.

“Final decisions about what measures may need to be in place will be announced in August based on public health considerations in place at that time. We will continue to work with school divisions over the summer.”

The province has said that it anticipates some level of public health measures in the fall.

All Manitobans will be eligible to receive their second COVID-19 vaccine dose starting tomorrow.

Medical and Operations lead of the province’s vaccine implementation task force, Johanu Botha made the announcement today, saying that he wants Manitobans to be able to get their vaccine as soon as possible.

“Announced earlier this week, Manitoba hit its immunization target earlier than expected which means additional opportunities to get back to the things we love sooner. We want it to be your turn to be immunized.”

Anyone who has received the first dose is eligible for a second dose as of 11:45 a.m. tomorrow as long as at least 28 days have passed after their first shot. 

Dauphin’s supersite is taking more walk-ins, on Sunday, June 27th, and next Tuesday and Wednesday, the 29th and 30th.

First dose clients are prioritized and will be able to get their shot from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and second and first dose clients can get the jab from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Cowessess First Nation, 95 km south of Yorkton, has announced the finding of 751 unmarked graves at a cemetery near the former Marieval Indian Residential School.

Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme made the announcement today.

“In 1886, the Roman Catholic Church arrived on Cowessess First Nation, and that is when the gravesite began. In 1898 the Marieval Residential School opened its doors, and it closed its doors in 1996.”

Delorme adds that this is not a mass grave but rather unmarked gravesites.

“Those that lay here are 1 meter by 1 meter apart in some cases. We cannot affirm that they are all children, but there are oral stories that there are adults in this gravesite as well.”

Cowessess started using ground-penetrating radar to locate graves earlier this month.

The Maverick Party of Canada is a political party that was officially formed last year and wants to represent the best interests of Western Canada.

On May 12th, the Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa Electoral District Association for the party was formed.

CKDM sought additional information, speaking with two representatives from the party to further understand their policies and rhetoric.

Don Armitage, the President of the EDA, spoke about the party:

"We consider ourselves to be the western equivalent of the Bloc Quebecois. We are exclusively representing the interests of western Canadians."

 Mr. Armitage cites that the west has all but been forgotten on a federal level.

"The conservatives that use to be the best representative of western interests have pretty much abandoned the west under their new leader Erin O'Toole."

Armitage says the abandonment from the west is tied in with the carbon tax policy that O'Toole has seemingly flip-flopped on.

"It was not a policy passed at their policy convention, but he is now advocating for a carbon tax which he said he would not do. In fact, he signed a specific pledge with the Canadian taxpayers federation saying that he would not endorse the carbon tax."

Meanwhile, Deputy Leader and founder of the party, Allan Kerpan, spoke furthermore about the parties' intentions.

"What we set out to do is to get a fair deal for the west.  We have been hard done by since confederation."

Kerpan spoke of consequences if the Maverick party's needs are not met

"If we do not get the deal we want will have to look at further measures."

If it does come to it, the Maverick party plans to persuade governments at provincial levels to hold a referendum on western independence.

The party has an interim leader, Jay Hill, but the party hopes to finalize an official leader by the end of August, as the potential for a federal election is growing by the day.

For more information about the party, visit their site here.

The splash park at Vermillion Park is opening this morning.

Dauphin Rec Services made the announcement yesterday, saying that it will be open daily, from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Public health orders allowed for the splash park to open earlier this month, but Dauphin Rec Services waited so that they could work on some repairs.

Dauphin Rec Services reminds those using the splash park to respect the current public health orders.

Dauphin’s Supersite is still taking Moderna walk-ins for first and second-dose clients until 4:30 p.m. today.

The Supersite will also offer limited walk-ins on Thursday.

First dose clients are prioritized and will be able to get their shot from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Thursday, and second and first dose clients can get the jab from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Today, individuals who received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on or before May 31st are eligible to book their second dose.

Second dose eligibility will expand tomorrow at 11:45 a.m. to include people who received their first dose on or before June 6th.

A total of 1,202,971 doses of vaccine have been administered in Manitoba.   

Last Saturday morning, on June 19th, employees discovered a break-in at the Roblin Leisure Aquatic centre.

The public was not able to enter and use the facility until a police report was filed. The scene was thoroughly cleaned up around 2:30 pm later on that day.

If anyone has more information about this break-in at the Roblin aquatic centre, please notify the RCMP by calling them at 204-937-8054