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The government of Manitoba has introduced a new app that will allow people to request and access their immunization card.
The Manitoba Immunization Card app will allow people to access their digital card when not connected to Wi-Fi or cellular data services.
The app will only show the person’s first and last names and a QR code.
When scanned by the Manitoba Immunization Verifier app, the QR code will confirm that the person is fully vaccinated.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
Manitoba has officially signed onto a Canada-wide plan to provide parents with $10 a day child care spaces by 2025-26.
The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, and the Honourable Rochelle Squires, Manitoba’s Minister of Families announced an agreement that will support an average of $10 a day for regulated child care spaces in the province in 2023, significantly reducing the price of child care for families.
Hussen says every child deserves the best possible start in life.
“Today’s historic agreement with Manitoba is another important step on the path to ensuring all families have access to high-quality, affordable, and inclusive child care.”
Squires says Manitoba negotiated an Early Learning and Child Care Agreement focused on the specific needs and circumstances of Manitoba working families.
“It builds on our own government’s increased investments for more spaces and better access by low-income families to needed child care. This historic new agreement will lead to 23,000 more child care spaces in our province.”
By the end of 2022, Manitoba families will see a 50 percent reduction in average parent fees for children up to six years old in regulated child care.
The federal funding of more than $1.2 billion over the next five years will also fund critical services for Manitoba families and children and grow a strong and skilled workforce of early childhood educators, including through the creation of a wage grid to support the attraction and retentions of early childhood educators.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
Mihir Patel is the new owner of Dauphin's McDonald's; he officially took over ownership of the restaurant on August 1st.
Mr. Patel is new to the community, but he plans to live and stay in Dauphin as he tries to grow his roots here,
"I am going to be staying in Dauphin because I believe that if I stay in Dauphin, I will be able to connect with my community people and support them any way I can. Certainly, it is a busy town. We do serve a lot of traffic in Dauphin for sure and being the owner of the McDonald's, I do see how much people support the McDonald's, so that is certainly awesome to work there."
Patel pointed out some of the changes coming to the restaurant under his leadership,
"There are certain changes we are going to be making. The first thing we will be doing is the whole dining area with a new look. We are changing our kitchen station and our drive-thru to provide customers with better and effective service."
Patel notes that he aims to hire 30 more staff as one of his first priorities as owner.
Mihir is a family man. In fact, on his first day of taking over McDonald's ownership in the city, his wife had a baby boy to join his two other sons and German Shepherd.
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- Contributed by Noah Fuchs
The COVID vaccine clinic in Russell has a new location, and it’s offering Moderna and Pfizer walk-ins on Tuesday.
Walk-ins are taking place from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The clinic is located at 447 Main Street North in Russell.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
Keep an eye in the sky because the Perseids meteor shower has begun, with its peak coming next week.
The Perseids meteor shower is considered the best of the year as it produces nearly 100 meteors an hour at its peak. And this year, its peak is during the night.
As astronomer, Gary Boyle, explains, the Perseids hit its peak in the late hours of August 11th and August 12th:
“The complete shower lasts from July 14th to August 24th so of course there’s a peak for everything and that’ll come on, a little over two nights from August 11th into the morning of the 12th, and then again the next night. The night of the 12th into the morning of the 13th.”
With weather conditions expected to be perfect during the shower's peak, Boyle says that people should get out and watch the Perseids:
“So people can head out to the countryside, safely of course, and you’ll be rewarded with the beautiful Milky Way or two of our gas giant planets, which are Jupiter and Saturn in the southern sky. They’ll be about an arm’s length apart with Jupiter on the left. And again, just meteors dashing through the sky.”
Boyle also says that this year is the best year to watch the Perseids:
“The moon will have set a couple hours after sunset, and we’ll not be seeing that glow in the sky. So it’s a good year that the moon will not be out and there should be a lot of meteors.”
The meteor shower started on July 14th and will go on until August 24th.
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There will be walk-ins at Dauphin’s vaccine supersite next week.
On Monday Pfizer and Moderna Walk-ins are taking place from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Saturday the 14th.
The supersite is located at the Ukrainian Orthodox Hall at 304 Whitmore Avenue east.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
The Rural Art Mentorship Program application is now open for Indigenous artists.
In partnership with Mentoring Artists for Women's Art, the Rural Art Mentorship Program is a 10-month online program that will pair five emerging northern and rural artists with Lita Fontaine, a professional artist, and mentor.
Lita Fontaine is a mixed-media artist of Dakota, Anishinaabe, and Métis descent with roots in Long Plain and Sagkeeng First Nations. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Regina and has exhibited her textile works, paintings, and photographs in solo and group shows nationally.
Fontaine says it’s important to share knowledge.
“I carry some knowledge in regards to making art, so I think some of my responsibility as an Indigenous woman is to share that knowledge with other First Nations people, and that’s my everyday job.”
Fontaine says making art is a way to be productive, learn, and understand more about yourself, your community, and culture.
“Connecting with our people, our culture, making art together, healing together, and understanding each other. It’s actually a good approach for reconciliation as well. So that’s the way I’m looking at it.”
Fontaine hopes to cover a lot of ground in the 10-month program.
"I'm hoping to have the students understand the process of making a piece of art. There's also art literacy, I would like to share knowledge that with them. Also knowing what line is, what form is, what texture is, what colour is, sharing that knowledge that way I hope they can be better artists for carrying that knowledge."
Applications for the mentorship program are open, and those interested have until September 9th to apply.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
The Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba (IIU) is investigating the death of a male that occurred in police presence in the Sandy Bay area.
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The governments of Canada and Manitoba have agreed to increase the 2021 AgriStability interim benefit payment percentage from 50 percent to 75 percent for Manitoba producers.
Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Marie-Claude Bibeau and Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development Minister Ralph Eichler made the announcement today.
Bibeau says they’re working closely with provinces to get farm families the support they need.
“By unlocking more AgriStability funds through interim payments and invoking late participation, we can get more cash in hand for farmers who are making tough decisions in a difficult situation."
Eichler says he’s been working closely with Manitoba producer groups.
“We are looking for every way we can help in these challenging times. We have taken this additional step to provide our producers with support and this increase allows producers to access a larger portion of their final AgriStability benefit early.”
The interim benefit allows producers who are enrolled in AgriStability to access a portion of their benefit early, to help support losses and cover costs. With this increase, Manitoba producers can apply for an interim benefit to receive 75 percent of their estimated final 2021 benefit, before completing their program year.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
The NDP Opposition is calling on the province to support livestock producers facing drought-induced feed shortages.
NDP Agriculture Critic Diljeet Brar says producers need real support, with programs that actually help them to avoid financial disaster.
“A crisis like this deserves real action.”
Severe heat conditions, an extended drought, and a grasshopper infestation throughout the summer decimated feed supply for livestock. Many ranchers have had to auction off parts of their herd earlier than usual, many of them at a financial loss.
The Manitoba NDP says after consultations with cattle producers, they’ve identified a targeted support package that would help them mitigate financial losses and stabilize their business operations.
The NDP urged the PC Government to offer a zero percent interest lending program with a 15-year payback to help cattle producers continue to breed their herds and to ensure beef prices remain affordable for Manitoba families, work with the federal government to offer a Freight and Feed Assistance Program that would subsidize the cost of feed supplies, and to temporarily reduce lease payments for Crown lands by 50 percent.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
The Grandview Town-Wide Yard Sale is taking place tomorrow.
Those participating will have their sales identified with signs or balloons and are on the sale map that was distributed throughout Grandview and neighboring towns.
Grandview Rec Director, Jill Wiebe says the yard sale received a good response this year.
“This year I guess we’ve had some bad luck with not being able to have any yard sales, so now that everything is open we’ve had some good response. I think we have over 17 registered sites in town.”
Wiebe says the amount of participants has increased this year.
“In previous years we only have about a dozen, so this year we’re up a few.”
Wiebe hopes that people stay safe and mindful of COVID, but she wants people to have a good time.
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- Contributed by Trillian Reynoldson
