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Students across the Parkland are graduating this weekend.
Five schools in the MVSD are holding their ceremonies this afternoon, including Dauphin, Ethelbert, Winnipegosis, Goose Lake, and Grandview. Gilbert Plains held their ceremony last night.
Dan Ward, Mountain View School Division Assistant Superintendent, spoke with us about how many grads there are in the school division this year.
“We have about 220 graduates this year. It’s a little bit smaller than last year’s grad, last year we had about 240. But the number of graduates does vary somewhat from year to year.”
Ward congratulates all the students who are walking across the stage this weekend.
“I would just like to congratulate the graduates across our division. I know it’s been many years of hard work and lots of support from teachers, the community, and parents. I wish them all the best.”
A survey of the graduation class shows that 60 to 65 percent of students plan to take some sort of post-secondary education, 10-15 percent plan to go into a trade of some sort, and 20-25 percent want to enter workforce or travel.
Ste. Rose School, which is part of the Turtle River School Division, is also holding their ceremony today.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
At the annual Assiniboine Community College Staff Gathering this past week, Gabe Mercier was awarded the Stellar Award for Leadership.
The award recognizes an employee of the college who demonstrates outstanding leadership and who inspires others within the college to excel in their own role.
It’s also given to individuals who motivate and inspire the people around them, who actively share responsibility, authority, information, and credit when working towards the achievement of a goal.
Mercier, Director of Parkland Campus, was surprised that was nominated to receive the award.
“It means a lot. It means that the staff at Parkland Campus believes in my ability. It means that I have worked successfully with staff at Parkland Campus. In fact, I was nominated by the staff and the nomination was sent to a central committee at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon and the committee selected the winner for the year.”
He also spoke with us about how he found out he was even nominated.
“I was elated. I wasn’t expecting it. In fact, I had no idea that I was being nominated for this award. My name was called up and it was the last award for the night. I made a short thank you speech. I think it was a great night and I think it’s a once in a lifetime achievement.”
This is the first time an individual in a leadership role at the Parkland campus received the award.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
One Dauphin business owner expects that the legalization of marijuana will contribute to increased employment in the Parkland.
Allison Beauchamp, the owner of Heads Held High Hemp and Accessory, expects the industry will create opportunities for local residents.
“I think it will bring some jobs to the community and depending on what the corporations are planning to do around the Parkland area; I think it could up employment levels.”
Beauchamp says the main focus right now is on Winnipeg, and not the Parkland.
“I’m not even too sure how far the province has gone, because any time I’ve spoken with the corporations it’s still up in the air as to what’s going to be going on in our area. Right now I think the focus is mostly on Winnipeg, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
She says there are still a bunch of questions that must be answered by the provincial government, to really get a sense for what will happen in the Parkland.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
No one was injured in the single vehicle rollover that took place on Highway 5 just one kilometre east of Gilbert Plains this morning.
After an investigation, RCMP determined the cause as being driver error, when the vehicle hit the gravel shoulder and driver overcompensated.
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Sentencing for former Yorkton gynecologist, Mohammed Haque has been adjourned.
Haque was originally accused of sexual assaulting 16 women going back to 2001.
He was found guilty of only four of the accusations.
This morning in Yorkton’s Court of Queen’s Bench, the defense was granted an adjournment to wait on a report regarding Haque’s personal health.
Sentencing has been scheduled for August 24.
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Temperatures in vehicles can get increasingly hot in a short period of time.
This is why it’s never a good idea to leave your pet in a hot vehicle for even 10 minutes.
If it’s 20 degrees outside, a vehicle will go to 32 degrees in 10 minutes and if it’s 27 degrees outside, a vehicle will go to 43 degrees in 20 minutes.
Dr. Roxanne Neufeld, Veterinarian at the Dauphin Vet Clinic, says just leaving the vehicle window open isn’t enough to cool a pet off.
“43 degrees Celsius in a vehicle is already going to be detrimental to a pet’s health, so its much safer if you’re running some errands, don’t bring your pets with you. If you have to have your pets with you, then park in the shade, leave your vehicle running with the air conditioning on but just cracking a window open isn’t going to be enough to keep the temperature of your vehicle from rising to dangerous levels.”
Pets suffering from heat exposure will seem lethargic and should see a veterinarian right away.
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A single vehicle rollover on Highway 5 just one kilometre east of Gilbert Plains occurred just before 8:00 this morning.
Emergency crews were dispatched to the scene.
We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.
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Low-income families with children on social assistance often have to turn to the Dauphin Food Bank.
In a recent report, it showed that a third of children in the Dauphin-Neepawa-Swan River federal riding lived in poverty.
Robin Gambler, Chair of the food bank, spoke with us about the issue and shares some reasons she thinks families have to turn to the food bank for support.
“I think a lot of it is, the rent is pretty high and for someone on social assistance that has to pay that large rent and they don’t have that in their budget, it takes away from their basic needs budget. A lot of places they have to pay their own utilities which could be very pricey as well.”
She also shares with us how many applications for support the food bank receives.
“We’re serving 90 to 100 applications by-weekly which means it could be 250 people in those applications.”
The report by Campaign 2000 showed that 6,910 children aged 0-17 in our riding live in poverty.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
A new franchise is coming to Dauphin by December or January.
A Dairy Queen is going to be built in the Dauphin Market Place Mall parking lot.
We spoke with the new franchise owner, Pratik Patel who is the owner of the Dairy Queen in The Pas, about when Dauphin should expect the new restaurant to open up.
They are currently just finishing with legal paper work before they can begin building the restaurant hopefully by July.
He says it should take about 3 months after the building is built for them to get set up and ready for business.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
Events are taking place in Riding Mountain National Park today to celebrate National Indigenous People’s Day.
Cal Martin, who is the park's Visitor Experience Manager, spoke with us this morning to share what’s going on.
“We have Daina Warren who is the curator for the Urban Shaman Aboriginal Art Gallery in Winnipeg. She is here as our artist in residence and she is doing a talk and presentation at 7 p.m. at the Wasagaming Art Centre.”
Martin encourages everyone to drive down to Wasagaming this afternoon.
“Here at Riding Mountain National Park, we are located in Treaty Two territory. But we work with First Nations in Treaty Two, Treaty Four, and Treaty One. Coming and taking part in the activities that we have here at the park, and interactions that people can have with Anishinaabe People of the area, gives greater insight and appreciation just our relationship with indigenous people and it’s a great thing to celebrate.”
A teepee raising took place at 1 and there are smaller demonstrations going on until 4 this afternoon.
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- Contributed by Josh Sigurdson
RCMP are looking for a 31-year-old man who is missing from Flin Flon since Tuesday.
Skylar Bighetty was last seen heading towards Creighton, SK.
He is a vulnerable person and it’s believed he may have hitchhiked or got on a bus.
Skylar is Indigenous, with brown eyes, black hair, is approximately 5’8” tall and 190 pounds.
Anyone with information is asked to contact RCMP at 204-687-1423 or call Manitoba Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
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