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This afternoon the province of Manitoba announced the launch of their new Manitoba K-12 action plan. Manitoba's Education and Early Learning Childhood Minister Wayne Ewasko made the announcement today and spoke about the plan.
All children deserve a high-quality education and our government is committed to strengthening and improving education in the province, this action plan redefines our focus on actions that improve educational outcomes with student achievement and well-being at the centre of all planning and decisions. Based on public feedback to date, work is not proceeding on three of the commission recommendations including changes to the school trustee model and other governance changes.
The action plan is being launched after there were 75 recommendations put forward by the Manitoba Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education.
The plan is focused on ensuring access to high-quality, equitable education which will, in turn, prepare students for their future, support excellence in teaching and leadership, and strengthen the public education system in Manitoba.
The newly announce action plan will have 4 pillars for student success involved:
- High-Quality Learning: to improve learning and outcomes for students through responsive and relevant curriculum and learning experiences in safe and inclusive learning environments.
- Student Engagement and Well-Being: to respond to diverse life experiences, engage students, promote well-being, support successful transitions and leverage inter-sectoral partnerships.
- Excellence in Teaching and Leadership: to ensure teachers, school staff and leaders have the knowledge, skills and tools to support student achievement and well-being.
- Responsive Systems: to ensure an equitable, aligned and effective public education system that focuses on engagement, inclusion and planning for provincial and local needs.
Minister Ewasko said that the work on many of the priority actions is either already underway or has been completed while the work on the remaining ones is scheduled to begin over the next 2 years.
Back in January of 2019, the Manitoba government established the Manitoba Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education to undertake the largest and most comprehensive independent review of the kindergarten to Grade 12 education system since 1959.
The commission that was formed was tasked with making recommendations to improve student outcomes, ensure long-term sustainability and enhance public confidence in Manitoba’s education system.
In total, there were more than 2,500 written submissions and briefs, over 10,000 survey responses from teachers and the public, as well as close to 1,900 participants in public- and student-focused workshops.
Minister Ewasko noted that the Manitoba K to 12 Education Action Plan reflects the spirit and intent of the commission’s finding, as well as the follow-up engagement since the report was released in March 2021.
This includes numerous sessions with advisory groups made up of educators, students, parents and caregivers, the findings from the parent engagement task force, as well as meetings with student service leaders, school division administrators and education stakeholder organizations.
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- Contributed by Eric Fawx
With the avian flu now present in Manitoba, chicken producers need to be more vigilant than ever. According to Jake Wiebe, the Chair of Manitoba Chicken Producers, they're reminding producers it's important to stick to the basics.
We don't want to track it into our production facilities...Cleaning up feed spills outside the barn if there are any so as not to attract any of the wild birds, and then of course the footwear changes that we have been doing for years already, just continue to pay attention to that and make sure that we don't track anything into our barns.
The province is asking for the public's help to identify cases in wild birds, Manitobans are asked to contact the toll-free TIP Line at 1-800-782-0076 if they find any of the following:
- Clusters of six or more dead waterfowl (e.g., ducks, geese) or other water birds
- Any number of dead raptors or avian scavengers (e.g., ravens, crows, gulls)
- Large groups of dead birds, such as more than 20 of any species.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
Avian flu is now in Manitoba according to the provincial government. Provincial officials tested several samples from snow geese in the Waskada area, as well as one from a Bald Eagle in the Dauphin area.
One sample from each location came back positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), subtype H5N1. To date, no cases of avian influenza have been detected in poultry flocks in Manitoba.
The risk of avian influenza to human health is low, and there are no known cases of transmission of this strain of the virus from birds to humans in North America. The province is asking for the public's help to identify cases in wild birds, Manitobans are asked to contact the toll-free TIP Line at 1-800-782-0076 if they find any of the following:
- Clusters of six or more dead waterfowl (e.g., ducks, geese) or other water birds
- Any number of dead raptors or avian scavengers (e.g., ravens, crows, gulls)
- Large groups of dead birds, such as more than 20 of any species.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
UPDATE: Power has been restored in the area
Manitoba Hydro has announced that there's a planned outage happening in the Fork River area right now.
According to their outages map, the outage started at 9 am this morning and they expect hydro to be restored by 12 pm today.
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- Contributed by Eric Fawx
Today is April 20th, a day celebrated as “420 Day” by advocates of legalized marijuana use. Since cannabis was legalized in Canada in 2018, it could be assumed that the relevance of 420 days has disappeared.
Dauphin podcaster Kirk Nyquist recently spoke to Steven Stairs, chair of the 420 movement in Winnipeg, who disagrees:
“420 will still be here. It's just a matter of what it changes into… and we'll have a protest event still to it. I think continually until we reach a point where cannabis legislation throughout, not only Canada but throughout the world is much more equitable towards societal benefits than it is detriments.”
Steven Stairs tells his fascinating story of the controversy he faced as leader of the Winnipeg 420 movement, in Reefer MEDness Episode 82, which you can find on their website here.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
Chief Byron Bitternose of George Gordon First Nation, west of Yorkton, will be releasing the details of a ground search at the site of a former residential school. The George Gordon Indian Residential School was founded by the Anglican Church in 1888 and ran until 1996.
The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation called the school one of the worst runs in the entire residential school system, and say they have 49 student deaths on record. A spokeswoman for the First Nation, Sarah Longman, says the search has been challenging for the community and for those who attended George Gordon Indian Residential School.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
The Dauphin Agricultural Society is hosting its annual fair from July 1st to 3rd this summer at the Dauphin Fair Grounds. President of the Ag Society Terron Stykalo says they're excited to have the fair for the first time in years.
People are ready for us to get back to normal, they're ready for the fair to be around again, and they're ready for that experience with their family and friends.
Terron says planning has been going well thanks to the great people they have organizing the event.
It's always a challenge putting an event like this on. It takes time, and it takes a team of dedicated people and we're lucky that the Ag Society is blessed with those dedicated people.
You can stay up to date with what's happening with the fair here.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
Municipal elections across Manitoba are taking place on October 26th, with a couple of exemptions. Registration to run for Mayor or Reeve in all cities and municipalities runs from May 1st to September 20th.
Information on how to register, and what requirements there are to register will be sent out by officials closer to the May 1st opening date. The City of Dauphin hasn't had a contested Municipal election since 2010 when the late Eric Irwin won by just 36 votes.
Registration for all council positions across the province opens on June 30th and will run until September 20th as well.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
This week is a very special week in the Eastern Orthodox religions including Ukrainian Orthodox with it being holy week that leads up to the celebration of Pascha, Orthodox Easter, on Sunday.
The Orthodox Easter Holy week will be filled with services taking place at St George’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Dauphin every day starting Wednesday and running through Paschal Sunday.
The holy week starts off with the Holy Unction service on Wednesday evening at 7 pm and Father Brent Kuzyk explains what the Holy Unction is.
That is a service where the priest will bless holy oil in the church and then all the faithful come forward and are anointed on the forehead with that holy oil to signify that their sins have been remitted.
Then on Thursday evening at 7 pm, the church will host the reading of the 12 passion gospels of Christ.
On Friday evening at 6 pm, there will be the service of the Holy Shroud.
We journey through with Christ and the apostles the taking down of Christ’s body from the cross, wrapping it in a shroud and carrying it to a tomb.
On Saturday Father Brent will be journeying through the district blessing baskets in different parishes around the Parkland.
The holy week will wrap up on Sunday and Father Brent explains the services on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning at 7am we greet the newly risen sun with the words that the son of righteousness has arisen, that Christ has resurrected from the dead. Travelling down death by death and upon those in the tombs bestowing the gift of life. Then of course journeying through the Divine Liturgy at 8am.
Father Brent said that this year’s holy week and Pascha will be an extra special one with the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
We are standing with our brothers and sisters in Ukraine and throughout the world who are suffering, never to be silenced but to sing loudly with the angels in heaven that Christ has resurrected from the dead. Therefore life, even in in the midst of all chaos, life reigns over everything.
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- Contributed by Eric Fawx
Grain futures prices continue to increase for a number of reasons according to LeftField Commodity Research Market Analyst Jon Driedger. During the Dauphin Ag Society Farm Outlook in March, Jon spoke about some of the factors causing the price increase.
According to Driedger, the effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that were early concerns at the time of the Farm Outlook, have now become realities.
Some of those concerns about how much of the crop gets planted, what potentially gets exported, it goes from a what if, to becoming increasingly more of a long term problem.
Other issues that would affect prices in a normal situation are also being compounded by the continued uncertainty around the situation in Ukraine according to Driedger.
The winter wheat crop in the southern US is in poor shape, concerns about dryness in parts of western Canada and too much moisture late seeding in others, concerns about the winter wheat crop in China. The war on its own is a big deal for grain markets because Ukraine and Russia are such huge exporters for certain crops, but it's adding on to what were already concerns elsewhere.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
Shopping local has always been important but perhaps more now than ever.
With the price of basically everything from gas to food and everything in between rising, local shops are relying heavily on people in the Parkland to shop in the region.
Angela from the Winnipegosis Meat Market says when you want a great cut of meat, her welcoming staff will be there.
"It's very important that people shop local because we support other local functions and we donate back to the community," said Angela. "So even though at times you're going to see higher prices, we give back to the community."
Winnipegosis Meat Market recently shared this on their Facebook page.
So whether you're right in Winnipegosis or find yourself elsewhere, Angela says come on down.
"While we may not carry as many items as larger stores, we will do our best to help you out to get you what you need," she ended. "We're always here for you and it's definitely worth the drive."
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
