Upgrades To Fusion's Dauphin Branch

You may have already spotted the renovations happening at the Fusion Credit Union branch in Dauphin.

Fusion’s CEO Darwin Johns explains the revamping of their Dauphin location will provide a space that can meet the needs of employees, members, and the community.

“We really see it as a positive project and contribution to the Dauphin community as well. We see it as positive that we’re having these conversations during difficult times — and really see that we will be involved in Dauphin long term.”

Johns says about 25% of the financial cooperative's employees work out of the Dauphin branch, and these updates to the interior will help create more office space and enable them to offer more services to members.

Fusion Credit Union has a total of 18 branch locations, as well as 5 insurance agency and real estate locations.

Details: Contributed by 730 CKDM; Published: Jun 5, 2020 - 5:59 am

Today is World Environment Day — where we have an opportunity to reflect on what we all need to do to improve our environment.

This year's theme is “biodiversity”, which comes at a time where 1 million species are facing extinction.

Also happening today is a small climate change awareness event outside of City Hall, hosted by the Citizens' Climate Lobby - Dauphin Chapter.

The event will run this afternoon from 12:15 p.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Co-chair Rebecca Van Otterloo says the event will follow public health guidelines, with respect to physical distancing and the province's 50 person limit for outdoor gatherings.

“The ongoing issue of climate change remains just as real and urgent as ever. We just welcome people to join us and explore those solutions and be apart of building a liveable future together.”

The group has invited Dauphin City Council to take part.

Details: Contributed by Matt Hamel; Published: Jun 5, 2020 - 5:45 am

Dauphin Rec Services will be opening up more of its facilities on Monday.

The Dauphin Clinic Walking Track and the Rec office will open up to members only, starting next week.

The Kinsmen Aquatic Centre will also be opening- but only to complete swimming lessons that were interrupted because of COVID-19. The pool will open up to more programming on June 22^nd.

Dauphin Rec Services Operations Manager, Wes Carnegie says there will be strict health guidelines in place.

"We will only have one door open, that's our South entrance right off the main parking lot. When you come in you have to go to the front desk, and it's kind of like other businesses in town. We have to sign you up at the front and make sure you have no COVID symptoms because if you do, we'd rather you not be in our facility. We also have hand sanitizer there waiting for you."

Wes adds that there will be a limit to 25 people in each area, and visitors will be assessed using the online COVID-19 screening tool.

Looking ahead, we can expect to see the Vermillion Sportsplex open up for baseball, softball, and soccer on June 15^th.

The Vermillion Campground will be closed until at least July 1^st.

For more information, you can go to dauphinrec.com, or call Dauphin Recreation Services at (204)-622-3150.

Details: Contributed by Tess Kovach; Published: Jun 4, 2020 - 4:04 pm

The City of Dauphin has announced its Canada Day fireworks display has been postponed.

They say the decision is a response to evolving provincial restrictions surrounding COVID-19.

A release from the city reads “it’s not the fireworks that make us Canadian, but the compassion and strength we show in the face of adversity.”

The City will review the possibility of holding a fireworks celebration later this year.

Details: Contributed by Matt Hamel; Published: Jun 4, 2020 - 1:34 pm

DRCSS students will now be graduating in a couple of weeks. June 20^th is the new date for graduation and Norm Casavant, principal of the DRCSS, says the date is being changed from September 4^th.

“The premier announced recently that school may very well start at the end of August. So we chose to likely move our grad to August 29^th, and then we realized that things probably aren’t going to be that much different when we start the fall. So, it was then determined that if we’re looking at having to cancel again in the fall, let’s run a hybrid event on June 20^th and do our best to make this event as positive for our graduates as possible.”

The details of what grad will look like are still being worked on, but students will get their diplomas, MC’s will be announcing scholarships, baby photos will be shown, the day will be recorded and the students will receive a disc of the graduation, the guest speaker and Casavant will have messages recorded for the video as well.

A graduation parade has been organized by the grad parents. After all the private convocations have finished, graduates are invited to participate. Graduates must pre-register for the parade and can do so by clicking here. Any graduates without access to a vehicle are asked to contact Mr Bennet at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by calling (204) 638-4629

Casavant is pleased with the new date.

“To get it done now, so grads can move on and do what they need to do, versus us not sure what the fall will look like and try to plan an event that may have to be cancelled anyhow. In my mind, this is significantly better for everyone involved.”

Casavant says they know how difficult this time is for the community and grads and hopes the day will bring some sunshine for everybody.

As plans are finalized, more information will be shared to the DRCSS website.

Details: Contributed by Isaac Wihak; Published: Jun 4, 2020 - 1:14 pm

There have been no new COVID-19 cases identified today; the total number of cases remains at 298.

There is still no one in the hospital, and there have been no new deaths in Manitoba since early May.

Manitoba has 7 active cases and 284 people have recovered.

For more information, you can click here.

Details: Contributed by Tess Kovach; Published: Jun 4, 2020 - 1:14 pm

A 23-year-old woman has died of her injuries following a single-vehicle crash north of Eriksdale.

Shortly after 4 a.m. on Saturday, May 30th, Lundar RCMP responded to a collision on Highway 6 — about 4 kilometres north of Eriksdale.

An investigation determined the vehicle driven by a 23-year-old woman from the RM of Coldwell was heading southbound when it lost control, entered the ditch, and rolled.

The driver suffered serious injuries and was transported to hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries.

Police continue to investigate.

Details: Contributed by Matt Hamel; Published: Jun 4, 2020 - 12:52 pm

Restrictions concerning visitation at personal care homes were loosened in Manitoba last week.

While outdoor visits are now allowed, Ada Husak, Director of Acute and Personal Care Homes for PMH North, still encourages virtual visits, such as video calls, phone calls, parades, and window visits.

“But we are excited to enter a new phase of visiting for residents and families. Recently, with our public health officers and Dr Roussin relaxing some of the restrictions on personal care home visits, we’ve been able to begin onsite, outdoor visits at our personal care homes in the region. Prairie Mountain Health is in the early stages of implementing our outdoor visits throughout the region. These have been positively received by residents and families.”

Husak says so far, most of the feedback from families and residents has been positive, adding that families have been very happy and thankful for the visits.

“One visitor shared, seeing her husband, how she felt the excitement of the anticipation of the visit, as it got closer that excitement was building. She shared that she felt like when they were young again and were visiting. So that’s very exciting.”

Each personal care home has specific plans for outdoor, onsite visits. The areas vary because of the different layouts and needs of residents and families.

In Dauphin, St. Paul’s has two spots socially distanced apart for visits. Their visits started last week.

Dauphin PCH has a larger area to work with and they’ve been able to set up 4 or 5 areas for visits within their outside patio in the courtyard. Their visits are due to start this week and they’re in the process of booking them.

Husak says appointments are required for visits.

“We can’t accept drop-in visitation at this time. Each resident or their primary contact that’s listed for them will have received or should have received a letter by now, advising them of the outdoor visits. The letter will also give them instructions on how to go about booking their visit. There should be a name and a contact number for them to call if they have any questions, concerns that come up in the coming days or weeks.”

There are still some restrictions to be followed. The primary contact is asked to provide the names of 4 essential visitors per resident. The limit is 4 in order to continue to limit the circle of contacts to the resident, thus decreasing the risk of COVID exposure. Children under the age of 14 should be accompanied by an adult.

All visitors should expect screening to ensure they don’t have any symptoms or exposure to the coronavirus. If visitors have cold, flu, or coronavirus-like symptoms, they won’t be allowed to visit. Husak asks that all visitors comply with the infection prevention and control measures, such as strict hand hygiene and maintaining social distancing. Visitors will be greeted by the screener, screened, and showed to the area of the visit. The resident will be brought to the visit by the staff.

Indoor visits remain suspended at this time except on a case by case basis for compassionate, end of life reasons.

Details: Contributed by Isaac Wihak; Published: Jun 4, 2020 - 5:00 am

The Lake Manitoba First Nation was set to host its powwow from June 19-21 alongside their Treaty Days.

However, after deliberation and talks with the council, Chief Cornell McLean has confirmed with CKDM that they have postponed their powwow for one month.

The new date is now July 24-26; however, McLean says "that's not written in stone", especially if a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hits the province.

"I went and met with my community members and I talked with the powwow community about this," said McLean. "Our committee was split, so we decided to air on the side of caution."

McLean said last week that they would be running the powwow in late June and that they had a plan that would make it doable. The decision to postpone was to make sure the community isn't divided.

Cornell adds that there was some criticism from community members and people from outside the community that the powwow would be run in late June.

"I would say the people that support outweigh the people that don't support," concluded McLean. "We just didn't want to divide anything. We've worked really hard to bring this community together in the past few years."

Their Treaty Days will still run June 19-21.