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The future of Dauphin will be the focus of the upcoming State of the City Address.
Mayor David Bosiak, as well as representatives from the Dauphin and district community foundation, the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce, will be meeting on May 9th at the Aspen Lodge in the Parkland Rec Complex.
Mayor Bosiak is looking forward to making the most of his time in office, and this meeting is a great opportunity to make a road map for the coming years.
"We’ve got a new council, I’m a new mayor, and we’ve got a 4-year window of opportunity to do some things in the community"
Mayor Bosiak says that Dauphin is in an ideal situation to make some big moves for the city's growth.
"The timing is right for us as a community to be taking some actions, and that's not just the community itself, or the municipal government taking action, but a collective action of moving forward to address all of the issues and ideas and opportunities that are in front of us."
The Address will be taking place over the lunch hour, from 11:45 to 1:30 on May 9th.
If you are looking to attend the State of the City meeting, registration is through the Parkland Chamber’s website, or for more information, contact Stephen Chychota of the Chamber Group at 204-622-3140
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- Contributed by Michael Brossart
The Manitoba Government and the Association of Manitoba Municipalities(AMM) met Wednesday, to discuss proposed amendments to the Police Services Act.
The amendments would provide rural and urban municipalities with additional options to address their unique safety concerns. Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen says they know that rural crime is a concern across the province.
"There are unique challenges in rural Manitoba, particularly when it comes to the staffing of policing positions. Local municipalities need more options and more control to improve community safety," said Goertzen in a news release today. "Municipalities have long asked for the ability to have community safety officers enforce additional provincial laws."
Goertzen says they're making progress toward ensuring that municipalities will have the ability to address their specific safety needs.
"We've spoken to the federal government about doing more training and making sure we're getting our portion of RCMP officers, but there's still a significant vacancy rate, and that impacts on communities that have that contract policing arrangement with the RCMP."
Goertzen says the right programs can make it better for both the RCMP and the communities.
"So we've been working at how do we have layered policing options so that municipalities can find a way to have other type of enforcement, and then maybe relieve some of the pressure off the RCMP on more traditional forms of policing."
Goertzen also noted that he and municipal relations minister Andrew Smith have renewed calls to the federal government to fund the back pay it unilaterally negotiated for the RCMP. He says that unexpected additional cost could severely affect a lot of municipalities.
"Municipalities were not consulted nor were they involved in the negotiation of the back pay that the federal government negotiated in the RCMP contract. Simply handing the bill to municipalities isn’t good enough and will significantly impact local municipalities and their residents."
Goertzen says the AMM has mirrored that message to the federal government.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
The Northwest Metis Council(NWMC) is getting ready for Red Dress Day on Friday, which is also known as the National Day of Awareness for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People on Friday.
To help others get ready to spread awareness on Friday, the NWMC is hosting an Art Night at the Metis Community Centre from 4 to 6 tomorrow afternoon.
Tammy Chief, the Gender-Based Violence Project Coordinator for the NWMC says it's an opportunity to bring people together.
"We want children, youth families, Dauphin residents, and outlying communities, to come and join us as a part of reconciliation. Come and join us and then that way they can create those artworks, and bring them back and display them proudly on Friday, May the fifth."
Chief says they'll be making red dress pins, faceless dolls, and paper red dresses at the event.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
One person is in custody after they tried to rob a Swan River business with pieces of a broken CD.
Police were called to an armed robbery at a business in the 1200 block of Main Street in Swan River late Sunday morning. They were told that someone had come into the business to try and buy cigarettes but didn't have anything to pay for the items.
The man left but returned soon after with sharp shards of a broken CD. He threatened the employee and demanded cigarettes and the keys to the employee's vehicle.
The suspect fled the store empty-handed once he found out that police were on the way, but officers were able to identify him thanks to security footage.
Police located the suspect walking in the community soon after.
47-year-old Frank Keewatin from Cote First Nation in Saskatchewan was arrested and charged with Robbery with Other Offensive Weapon. He was remanded in custody, where he remains.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
The Dauphin RCMP is asking for the public's help to identify these people, who were captured on surveillance video.
Police want to speak to the individuals about an assault with a weapon that happened Friday at around 9:45 am, at a business on Main Street South in Dauphin.
Anyone with information, including the identity and contact info for the individuals, should call Dauphin RCMP at 204-622-5020, call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, or submit a secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
The Manitoba NDP has announced a plan to "fix rural healthcare" that they'll put into place if elected this fall.
The plan includes five steps to try and address some of the biggest issues facing healthcare in rural communities across the province.
NDP Leader Wab Kinew says healthcare is the biggest challenge facing rural communities right now.
"I think everyone in rural Manitoba has been so concerned with the increase in closures and the cuts. We've heard time and time again from people who say, we want healthcare in our communities, and we need better than what we're getting right now."
The plan includes a large focus on rural healthcare recruitment says Kinew.
"We know so many communities are being forced to step in and offer these resources directly, so we think the province should get involved."
On top of recruitment, the NDP is also committing to reducing rural ambulance wait times, increasing nurses and other allied health professionals, expanding access to specialists, and improving rural senior care.
The NDP also plans on reintroducing a grant program that would give medical students $12,000 in each of their four years of medical school. In return, those students would have to work for six months in an underserviced part of the province for each year they received the grant.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
Two Winnipeg men are facing a number of charges after the Russell RCMP caught them with drugs and cash.
The RCMP received the report at 7:20 pm on Saturday, April 29th, that a suspicious vehicle was parked on Baker Road in Vista, Manitoba.
Officers searched the vehicle and found approximately 17 grams of cocaine, cannabis, a replica air pistol, more than $5000.00 in cash, and drug paraphernalia.
Tal Tufeld, 25, of Winnipeg has been charged with:
- Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking
- Obstructing a Peace Officer
- Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose
- Failing to Comply x3
- Possession of Cannabis for the Purpose of Selling (LGCA)
- He was remanded into custody.
Colin McMillan, 36, of Winnipeg, has been charged with:
- Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose
- Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking
- Possession of Cannabis for the Purpose of Selling (LGCA)
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
A 5-year-old child died in a car accident along Provincial Road 272 Friday Afternoon.
Police were called to the scene of a single-vehicle rollover, six kilometers south of Duck Bay around 4:25 pm on April 28th. Officers report that a pickup truck was traveling northbound when it left the road and collided with a row of trees before rolling.
The 38-year-old driver and a 32-year-old passenger, both from Pine Creek First Nation, were not injured. The child, who was not properly restrained, had been ejected from the vehicle and pronounced deceased on the scene.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
The Public Service Alliance of Canada announced overnight it has reached a tentative contract agreement with the Treasury Board covering more than 120-thousand federal government workers.
The nearly two-week-old national strike is over for public servants within four bargaining units, who are to return to work at 9 o'clock Eastern Time this morning or their next scheduled shift.
The union says the four-year deal includes wage increases totalling over 12 per cent.
It also claims it achieved significant new protections around remote work and contracting out.
But the strike is not over for members of the Canada Revenue Agency.
P-SAC says negotiations for the unit representing 35-thousand C-R-A workers continue.
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- Contributed by Alec Woolston
The Education Administration Amendment Act, also known as Bill-35 has received a less-than-passing grade from Manitoba teachers.
The bill looks to create a registry system to log cases of misconduct in school systems in a transparent and structured way.
The Manitoba Teachers Society raised some criticisms, noting that some of the terms in the bill are loosely worded, and could be detrimental to teachers, as reports could be filed leading to possible false allegations and incorrect punishment.
MTS states that performance should be under the purview of employers. Connecting these standards to the framework of misconduct and child safety could have the consequences of teacher suspension or removal of certification.
MTS' Nathan Martindale says that factors of the bill could cause harm to teachers, and to the students who look to become teachers.
"Why would university students, or those looking to get into this profession want to become teachers if they have this hanging over them, especially with the possibility of a complaint being lodged that's not really a complaint, and then their name gets dragged through the mud? So, we're a strong advocate for student safety, but we have to protect teachers in the process."
Martindale also noted that hearing panels around this bill are not composed of people who would be well-informed on the inner workings of the education system.
"It would be more useful if the panel that would be adjudicating this process was made up of teachers so they're familiar with what's happening in schools, and what teachers' jobs are, rather than the minority being teachers and the majority of the folks being from outside the school system."
In order to rectify the issues with the bill, MTS looks to get clear ideas of the wording in the bill, including definitions of "significant emotional harm", ensuring hearing panels have a majority of teachers and the right for a teacher to have representation during investigations.
Martindale stresses the importance of protecting students, and MTS agrees wholeheartedly with that fact, but the phrasing of Bill-35 had them describing it as "anti-teacher".
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- Contributed by Michael Brossart
The Manitoba Association of Crown Attorneys(MACA) has filed a grievance with the province after rejecting the final contract offer last week.
MACA members voted down the province's final contract offer, with 88% of members voting, and an overwhelming 94% of those that voted to reject the offer. The situation will not move to arbitration, which MACA says can take several months to start.
MACA President Erika Dolcetti says the province is falling behind when it comes to wages for crown attorneys, and because of it, many are leaving for other provinces.
"We are losing senior crowns at an exponential rate, we are unable to recruit, we have failed after failed competition, we have a number of vacancies, fairly fluid, but right now I think it's around 15 crown prosecutors that we are unable to fill, and we are just getting to a critical juncture."
Dolcetti continued, saying that it's feeding into a bigger issue.
"We are concerned that the public is going to be less safe with experienced prosecutors working out of the province right now."
Dolcetti says the province hasn't truly been fully staffed with crown prosecutors since there were 75 added by the province in 2009.
"A file today is very different than a file in 2009. A homicide in 2009 did not often involve hundreds of hours of video that we have to review, 20 thousand pages or more of phone dumps that a crown needs to review, and quite frankly they've just become more complicated."
With Manitoba setting a record number of homicides in 2022, with 93, and pay not reflecting the workload, Dolcetti says burnout is also becoming a major issue.
"We do not have enough crown prosecutors right now to do the amount of work that's coming through our doors, are crowns reviewing the 20 thousand pages of phone dumps, are crowns reviewing the hundred-plus hours of video? There's not enough time in the day to do that. What happening is files are going to be prosecuted as thoroughly as the public would want, and we don't want very serious criminals on the street."
Dolcetti says that MACA is looking for a fair contract, as the province is falling behind provinces like Saskatchewan, which used to be the most comparable province, while smaller provinces are starting to catch up to Manitoba.
"Nova Scotia, which we've always traditionally been ahead of, will be leapfrogging where we are. Nova Scotia in 2021, had 24 homicides in their entire province, I can tell you right now I'm carrying about 12 myself."
Dolcetti says crown attorneys do the job because they love it, but they don't have the resources to do it properly.
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- Contributed by Sam Brownell
