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Statistics Canada reports a rough month for Canadian jobs as 1 million jobs were lost in the wake of COVID-19.
This pushes the jobless rate in the country up to 7.8 per cent.
Stephen Chychota says the job loss is pretty devastating.
"It's unbelievable, the impact that this has all had in such a short amount of time and it's kind of devastating. It's not a good thing that you want to hear, that a lot of people are out of jobs and the economy is changing the way it is. But, on the other hand, the reasons why people are losing jobs are for the benefit of the health and safety of everyone in Canada."
The 1 million jobs lost is double what experts had been expecting.
Even if Canada lost the 500 thousand jobs expected, it would have been the worst month for job losses ever recorded.
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- Contributed by Isaac Wihak
Danielle Van Den Bosch lives in Dauphin and her message is pretty simple. She and her daughters, Makallah and Averie are staying at home for the people who are continuing to work during this COVID-19 pandemic.
Through April 14, the province of Manitoba has a health order that has all non-essential businesses closed. That means essential services are continuing to remain open at this time. That includes grocery stores, health care services, gas stations, and many other businesses that we heavily rely on in our day-to-day life.
Danielle, Makallah, and Averie are staying at their home practicing social distancing and they decided to get creative to say thank you to workers at essential businesses.
They created a poster and it reads "You've Stayed at Work for Us, We'll Stay at Home for You". The poster now is hanging on their window for the public to see.
"I was scrolling through Instagram and I saw some people were creating signs like this," said Van Den Bosch. "I thought to myself that I would love to do something with my kids, we love doing things like this."
"I just want everyone to know that we're thinking about everyone," she continued.
Their original idea was to create a different poster for each business they still visit; however, they decided to just make one.
"We all sat at different corners of the table while we did it," concluded Van Den Bosch. "We all had a blast, it wasn't anything big, but we just want people to know that we're thinking about them."
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
With Manitoba schools now suspended indefinitely, many families in the community are dealing with uncertainty.
This is especially true for those who rely on in-school lunch programs, and so the Church of Christ Dauphin is stepping up to help address food insecurity.
Minister Wayne Olsen tells CKDM the church started delivering meals three times a week as soon as Manitoba schools K-12 were suspended. Over the past three weeks, that's worked out to about 170 meals every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
He says this kind of food program is totally new to them, costing about $1,000 a week to run. Going forward, Wayne says his church is looking to start delivering meals only twice a week in order to extend the amount of time the Church can fund this great initiative.
Wayne also commends the great work being done at the Dauphin and District Food Bank through this time, and says the food bank has been doing things a bit differently because of COVID-19. As a safety measure, food is being prepackaged into boxes.
As for church services, Wayne tells us they are still on hold as a result of social distancing guidelines from public health authorities.
Many congregations have been using Zoom and Facebook Live as a way for people to congregate, see each other, and communicate online.
Wayne points out the silver lining of the situation, as he’s noticed people from California, Texas, British Columbia and Alberta able to join the online church services; something that would not have been possible before.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Official opposition leader Wab Kinew realizes our agriculture producers have been experiencing a tough stretch.
That’s why the provincial NDP leader is calling on the Manitoba government to implement $100,000 interest-free loans for farmers to cover the cost of inputs.
Kinew knows it won’t be a complete solution, but hopes it could help stabilize some producers coming off such a tough year, that are heading into more uncertainty this season.
We also learned today that premier Brian Pallister is calling for Manitoba legislature to resume next Wednesday, April 15th. Although the premier is focused on legislating enforcement measures for social distancing, Kinew says he plans to make sure agriculture producers are also top of mind.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
DRCSS is providing instructions to students regarding out-of-class learning next week.
Students will have all of next week (9:00-3:30) to drop off their homework packages. In order to alleviate congestion at the school, Grade 12’s will have Monday (April 13th) to drop off their packages and to pick up any new learning materials not sent by their teacher electronically.
The same process for Grade 11’s will occur on Tuesday (April 14th); Grade 10’s Wednesday (April 15th); Grade 9’s Thursday (April 16th).
Students with any questions can contact Mr. Casavant by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
DRCSS wants you to ensure your child’s name/class/teacher are clearly labelled on the homework package during drop off. They're also asking you to include contact information (phone number, email address) for parents/guardians.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Public health officials have announced 4 more cases of COVID-19 in the province.
The total number of cases is 221.
Sixty-nine people have recovered from the virus.
Twelve people are currently being hospitalized, and the total number of deaths remains at 3.
We're also learning today, Health Minister Cameron Friesen has announced a $500 million research program for COVID-19.
Part of this fund is supporting a new clinical trial to determine whether or not the drug Hydroxychloroquine can treat the virus.
This is an addition to the funding the government has already made available for research projects.
If you are worried about having COVID-19, you can call health links at 204-788-8200 or toll-free at 1-888-315-9257
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- Contributed by Tess Kovach
A 16-year-old male has been arrested and he's facing a number of charges as a result. On April 5 at about 6:00 p.m., Gypsumville RCMP was called to a residence on the Lake St. Martin First Nation.
Upon their arrival, officers located several loaded firearms and drugs. They seized four firearms, ammunition, 60 grams of cocaine, 210 grams of prescription medication, and a machete.
The 16-year-old male is facing the following charges:
- Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking x 2
- Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose
- Careless Use of a Firearm x 2
- Unauthorized Possession of a Firearm x 4
- Possession of a Loaded Prohibited/Restricted Firearm x 2
- Possession of a Firearm with a tampered serial number
The RCMP continue to investigate.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The provincial government is announcing that many of the events planned for Manitoba 150 will be paused for the time being.
The Manitoba 150 Host Committee has worked to organize many events that would celebrate the past, present and future of our province on the 150th anniversary of Manitoba joining Confederation.
That means the Unite 150 concert planned for June 27th at the Manitoba Legislative Building will be rescheduled in 2021.
“We know this pandemic will end, and when it does, we’ll be ready with a celebration like no other.”
Committee co-chair Stuart Murray says Manitoba 150 celebrations may be on hold for now, “but we know this pandemic will end, and when it does, we’ll be ready with a celebration like no other.”
Questions about Manitoba 150 programming can be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and organizations with questions about events and funding should email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
You can see a full list of what events were planned by clicking here.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
It wasn't the normal Spring Break that you come to expect, but Dauphin Rec Services still spiced things up during a time of social distancing. They went "virtual" and they invited the community to get involved with several prizes being up for grabs.
"It was pretty awesome. We probably had over 100 submissions through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram," said Tamara Kolida. "There were a lot of different families on different days taking part. It was great to see and we had a lot of fun with it."
Made it Monday went to Carma Wiebe-Bankert. Her creation is the photo just above. Her prize was a pool party package at the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre
Here is a list of the remaining winners:
Time to read Tuesday: Kirby Murray.
Prize: Children's book package and free family swim pass.
Work out Wednesday: Kelli Gancher.
Prize: Three-month walking track pass.
Theatre Thursday: Josee Bartram.
Prize: 10 punch card for an adult at the Kinsmen Aquatic Centre.
Fresh air Friday: Paige Pogany
Prize: One free kid zone rental at Parkland crossing.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The front door may be closed, but MNP’s accounting office in Dauphin remains open for business.
Business Advisor Tere Stykalo says MNP is still here to serve their clients, but with some operational changes to ensure the safety of staff and clients.
Tere says they’re encouraging customers to use their drop slot, and anyone with more bulky records can arrange to hand those over to staff with minimal contact.
If you have questions about financial support measures being offered by the government during this time, the MNP website has useful resources explaining what kind of financial support is available to you right now as a Manitoban, at www.MNP.ca
Tere is recognizing the great effort of front line workers in our community. From the hospitals, to senior homes, grocery store workers, and everyone else that’s putting themselves in risks way to serve us.
“We just need to give them a tremendous amount of congratulations for their effort. That’s something as a community we need to be very proud of.”
MNP’s telephones are still open; their number is 204-638-6767.
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- Contributed by Matt Hamel
Hanne Jensen is in her third year at the University of Manitoba and she's in the Asper School of Business.
The first two and a half years have gone by just as expected. She'll report to classes, stay late to get her work done and when she gets home, it's about resetting, recharging and getting ready to do it again the next day.
Things have now changed because of COVID-19. U of M has shut down its in-person classes which means everything is done online now. For some people with strong internet connections, it is business as usual without the in-person component of being in class with other students and in front of a professor.
For Ochre River's Hanne Jensen; however, things have certainly been trickier during this process. She doesn't have a reliable internet connection in Ochre River which means she's had to add some extra kilometres on her vehicle to get her work done.
"I'm sure everyone is going through challenges. With having four classes online, it's been different, that's for sure," said Jensen.
So Hanne has made several trips into Dauphin to download all of the notes as the service in town is very good.
"I know some of my friends that live in the country have moved back to Winnipeg so they can do the work in their apartments," continued Jensen. "I'm just staying here and making the extra trips, I'll do that for now."
As if this whole COVID-19 situation wasn't stressful enough, now Hanne has to go through it while finishing her studies and no deadlines have been extended.
Most of her assignments are group projects as well which at times, means she spends an extended period of time in Dauphin to get the work done.
"It's pretty different like we're all trying to keep up our grades with the new social distance guidelines. It's stressful, but I know so many other people are going through it as well," she continued.
Jensen also adds that her routine that she was used to has now been thrown out the window and at times she doesn't get the space she's used to, but her family has been extremely supportive during this tough time.
"My parents do everything they can for me, they're so supportive," she concluded. "It's been nice to spend more time with them."
Hanne will have completed her third year at the Asper School of Business at the end of exams which are coming up soon.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
