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The Manitoba government announced earlier this week that it will provide $6.5 million in funding to support students and teachers in the return to in-person learning.

Of that funding, $2 million will go towards initiatives focused on strengthening student learning and supports including:

  • approximately $1 million for the Manitoba Remote Learning Support Centre (MRLSC) to provide after-school learning supports for students in grades 1 to 8;
  • $250,000 for the Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children Survey, which will collect data on the health and well-being, social environments and health behaviours of children and youth for students in grades 6 to 10;
  • $150,000 to Kids Help Phone, 24/7 counselling and crisis supports; and
  • $390,000 for online resources and video-streaming services, including enhancements to support French, French immersion, and French/English program educators through Direction des ressources éducatives françaises (DREF).

“As Manitoba students and their teachers head back to school, our government is continuing to make significant investments to support their mental health and academic needs,” Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Wayne Ewasko says. “This year, schools will offer the full kindergarten to Grade 12 curriculum and all the extracurricular activities that bring the school experience to life. Sports, recreation, tournaments, band and choir are just a few examples of what can be expected for the coming year.”

More information can be found on the Province of Manitoba website.

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UPDATE: Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canada is lagging behind other countries when it comes to booster dose uptake.

He is urging those who haven’t received a third dose to get one ahead of what may be a "challenging" fall.

"Over the next weeks as our children return to school, or we return to the office, making an appointment for a booster dose should be at the top of our to-do lists," Duclos adds.

780,000 doses of Moderna's new bivalent COVID-19 vaccine are expected to arrive on Friday, with more than 10 million expected by the end of September.

The original article follows:

Health Canada has authorized the use of Moderna's Omicron-targeting bivalent COVID-19 vaccine in individuals aged 18 years and older.

The "Spikevax Bivalent" booster dose is an updated version Moderna's original mRNA vaccine, and targets both the original strain of COVID-19 as well as the Omicron variant.

The Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus has been widely circulating in Canada since November 2021.

A technical briefing with Public Health Agency of Canada officials will be followed by an announcement from Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos later today.

This is a breaking news story. More to come.

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The MMF (Manitoba Métis Federation) Manitoba House Local will be hosting a pancake breakfast at the Kinosota Community Centre on Saturday, September 3rd from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Vicky Campbell, the chairperson for Manitoba House Local, says that each plate will cost $5.

"We're [also] going to have french toast, sausages, bacon, coffee [and] juice... After breakfast, then we're going to have a general meeting," she adds.

Campbell says that the proceeds raised will go into the Local's account and then they'll share it with the rest of the community.

"It just helps with people who have medical trips and they need some extra support or different fun activities for our youth in the community or suppers for community gatherings," she adds.

 Vicky Campbell thinks that after two years of not being able to gather, it's great to have the community get back together again.

"We still try and follow a lot of the restrictions as much as we can, but people are starting to feel more comfortable getting together and visiting and sharing stories, which is exactly what everybody used to do," she adds.

Campbell went on to say that since most of the community has been triple-vaccinated against COVID-19, they will not be checking people's vaccination status.

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Lakeshore & Ste. Rose Recreation is looking for volunteers, so that community events can go ahead as planned.

Recreation Director Marie Sorie says that there are many different ways people can volunteer.

"There [are] many upcoming events within the area, so within Ste. Rose, Ochre River and Rorketon, and some of the events require, for example serving staff, so we will have beer gardens where we will require servers. We will have 50/50s  that require some sellers... [We also need] silent auction people that can... sell some tickets for us... These are pretty easy," she adds.

According to Sorlie, the bike rodeo that is coming up on September 11th requires an especially high number of volunteers.

"We will need some people there to help us with the various stations and so that's guiding children in and around the track, making sure they're following the bike rodeo rules, and — you know — having fun..., making sure everyone's got their helmets on and all that kind of good stuff," she adds.

Marie Sorlie went on to say that all of the recreation committees in the area are always looking for volunteers to help make decisions on what activities should be offered.

Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer can reach Marie Sorlie by messaging Lakeshore & Ste Rose Recreation on Facebook or by calling or texting 204-648-4797.

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The Government of Manitoba will be providing residents with financial help to deal with inflation and rising costs.

Premier Heather Stefanson made the announcement today saying that the province will be spending $87M on, what she calls, a family affordability package.

As part of the package, families with children and a household income of less than $175,000 in 2021 will receive a benefit cheque of $250 for the first child and $200 for each additional child.

Seniors with less than $40,000 in family income who claimed an education property tax credit in 2021 will receive a benefit cheque of $300.

Cheques will be mailed to eligible individuals in late September.

More information can be found on the Province of Manitoba website.

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École Macneill is ready to welcome students back for another school on Wednesday, September 7th.

Principal Monique Lefebvre says that the building is in great shape.

"There [weren't] any capital projects that were on the go this summer, so right now the school is sparkling because our custodian, Mr. Taylor, has spent all summer cleaning and buffing and waxing the floors and cleaning the walls... The place just looks really shiny and sparkly," she adds.

According to Lefebvre, COVID-19 wasn't a major factor in this year's back-to-school preparations, since most of the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted earlier this year.

"We're looking forward to kind of a return-to-normal start to the school year," she adds.

Lefebvre says that the ongoing shortage of French teachers in the province won't be affecting the school this year, but could affect it next year.

"We have a good staff this year at École Macneill and within Mountain View School Division we've managed to fill all our French-speaking positions," she adds.

Monique Lefebvre went on to say that even though they will be teaching the same curriculum, as usual, they will be incorporating more technology into it.

"Especially with the Microsoft Office, our students are really getting on board.... We have... [an] educational assistance [with a passion for] technology... She's really come on board to teach the students a lot of skills that were needed during COVID, but we can see the benefits of continuing to teach those... technology skills, even at the younger grades," she adds. 

According to Lefebvre, they're hoping to offer a lot more extra-curricular activities this year, which she says were sorely missed by both students and teachers.

"[We'll be] getting back to running club, flag football, soccer, track and field, volleyball, basketball, badminton... and any other interest that teachers want to share with their students," she adds.

Lefebvre says that the first day of school will be mainly focused on building relationships and reviewing material from last year.

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August 31st is International Overdose Awareness Day, and Peer Connections Manitoba is working to bring attention to the issue. Community Peer Support Worker Eleanor Snitka says Peer Connections is participating in The Purple Chair Project.

"I've painted a chair purple and I'm going to take it to Under One Roof. I'm going to put our poster with it talking about the significance of Overdose Awareness Day, and that chair will always be there for people if they need."

The Purple Chair Project was started by a family in Rochester, who lost their son to a drug overdose. The chair is intended to sit empty to symbolize those who can't be present through their struggle with substance use disorder or the outcomes from it, including death.

Snitka talked about the origin of the project,

"So they set a chair aside, and they said there'll always be an empty chair in our house, so if anybody ever needs to come in, or use the chair, but at least, our chair will always be open for someone."

Snitka says that acceptance, inclusion, respect, and no judgment are all part of Peer Connections values.

"Sometimes there's more stuff going on in their life, that caused them or maybe they found out when they used something for the first time it made them feel kind of better, so I want people to know that we have to get rid of that stigma, and accept people for who they are, and be there when they're ready to get help."

 Anyone looking for more information can reach out to Peer Connections at (431) 345-0353.

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The Manitoba Government has announced that entry to all provincial parks will be free for the long weekend. Vehicle permits won't be required from Friday to Monday, but regular fees will still be in place for campgrounds.

Environment, Climate, and Parks Minister Jeff Wharton made the announcement today.

“This long weekend may mark the start of the transition from summer to fall, but there’s still time to participate in your favourite warm-weather activities and with free provincial park access this weekend, there’s no reason not to.”

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The first block of 10th Avenue Southwest will be closed on and off for the next three to four weeks, according to the City of Dauphin.

Parts of 1st Avenue Southwest will also be closed at times for excavation and base work.

The city asks that people avoid the area if possible.

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Statistics Canada released their July 2022 model-based principal field crop production estimates and it appears that lots of crops are thriving after a down year in 2021 mostly due to drought conditions. A few of the highlights from the estimates are below.

Canola:

Across the country, canola production is expected to increase by 41.7% to 19.5 million tonnes thanks to improved growing conditions on the prairies combined with higher yields than in 2021.

In Manitoba, a 31.5% increase in yields to 43 bushels an acre is expected which will help mitigate an anticipated 3.8% drop in harvested area to 3.3 million acres. Overall, 3.2 million tonnes of wheat are expected to come from the province which means an increase of 26.5% from last year.

Soybeans:

Soybean production in Canada is expected to rise by 1.8% to 6.4 million tonnes with yields of around 45.3 bushels an acre.

For Manitoba, soybean production is forecast to go up by 13.6% to 1.1 million tonnes. Similarily to canola, harvested area for soybeans is expected to go down but will be helped by a 32.5% increase in yields to approximately 35.9 bushels an acre. An improvement in moisture conditions for soybeans is noted as the main reason for the increase in numbers.

Wheat:

Nationally, a 55.1% increase in wheat production to 34.6 million tonnes is expected. This is due to higher than anticipated yields of 51.1 bushels an acre and a large increase in harvested area to 24.9 million acres. Those represent a 41.6% and 9.4% increase, respectively.

Harvested area for wheat in Manitoba is expected to go up to 3.2 million acres while yields are anticipated to grow by 20.5% to 57.7 bu/a. Total wheat production for the province is to rise by 34.2% to 5 million tonnes.

One of the main factors in the crop numbers going up from last year is higher-than-average precipitation in the prairie provinces combined with moderate temperatures. This resulted in much better growing conditions than in 2021 which was characterized largely by drought. Crop conditions in Manitoba have also been much better than in 2021.

Barley and Oat:

Higher yields for barley are expected with an increase of 57.7% from last year which will offset a 14.8% decrease in harvested area to 6.3 million acres. Production is expected to rise by 34.3% to 9.3 million tonnes this year. Oat production is forecasted to see a rise of 59.2% to 4.5 million tonnes. As well, harvested area is to go up by 10.6% to 3.2 million acres and yields are expected to be around 90.2 bushels an acre, representing an increase of 44.1%.

According to the estimates, the only crops to see a decrease in production from 2021 to 2022 are Winter Wheat (-15.7%) and Fall Rye (-4%).

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The Government of Canada announced earlier this month that it will support the development of multi-use trails in Neepawa with an investment of up to $550,000.

Denis Saquet, manager of operations for the Town of Neepawa, says that they're always delighted to see funding come their way.

"It's a great opportunity for us to expand our already existing trail network, so it'll give us the opportunity to expand additional trails. We're always pleased and excited to work with the federal government on these projects," he adds.

According to Saquet, Neepawa's existing trail network contains roughly five kilometres worth of trails and they're looking to expand it by another two kilometres.

Saquet says that they are currently in the process of conducting First Nation consultations as required by the federal government.

"We have some consultations going on now with the Manitoba Métis Federation... just to ensure that we've done all our due diligence with them," he adds.

Saquet went on to say that the consultations have been going well so far and that they're aiming to make the trails available during all four seasons.

"Our target is definitely more of the summer three seasons, there, but we're aiming and targeting to... get a winter season in place. Our facility site's just not as conducive or as friendly for winter use at this time just because it was a borrow pit as part of our construction site, so it's quite barren. [However], a big effort of this will be the revegetation of the site and we're hopeful and optimistic that once the revegetation occurs, we'll see more winter use," he adds.

According to a news release from the federal government, in the summer, the trails will be available for cycling and walking, and in the winter, the trails will be used for fat biking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.

It also says that this project will provide more options for residents of Neepawa and the surrounding area to stay active and enjoy nature year-round and that the Town of Neepawa is also contributing $137,500 towards eligible costs for the project.

Denis Saquet expects construction to begin in 2023.

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