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The Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union is frustrated with the Manitoba Government’s decision to close the jail, so on Tuesday, February 4th, they have planned a rally to march to the jail.

Beginning at the MGEU office, the rally will head up Main St. to the jail.

The rally will start at 4:30 in the afternoon, but if you can’t march or make it in time, join them at the jail at 5.

President of the MGEU, Michelle Gawronsky says they are holding the rally to turn around the decision and leave the jail open until a new one can be built as was originally planned in 2013.

For more details, visit mgeu.ca

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The amount of people in Manitoba receiving medical assistance in death (MAiD) has increased substantially in the years since it was legalized in 2016.

After legalization in 2016, 42 people in Manitoba requested MAiD, and 24 people received it. Less than 5 of the people who received it were in the Prairie Mountain Health region.

In 2019, 313 people requested MAiD with 177 people receiving it, including 24 people in the Parkland.

Shared Health, the group responsible for carrying out requests for MAiD, says that only 33 requests have been denied or deemed ineligible.

In other cases, the patient decided to not go through with the procedure.

The Canadian government is launching consultations on medical-assistance in death before it is set to change the legislation next month.

The changes will include removing the ability for someone near death to receive MAiD and making sure vulnerable people can’t be coaxed into receiving MAiD.

As it stands, medically-assisted death is available to patients who wish to end their life due to terminal or serious incurable health conditions.

Other criteria that patients must meet are they must be older than 18 and capable of making health decisions, be in a state of decline that is irreversible, have voluntarily requested MAiD, and be at the point where natural death is foreseeable.

Manitoba is the province to have one health-care team responsible for carrying out MAiD.

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Yesterday afternoon around 3:45 Swan River RCMP responded to an incident where a snowmobile collided with a semi-trailer on a logging road in Duck Mountain Provincial Park.

The initial investigation has determined that two snowmobiles were heading north on the logging road when one of the drivers collided with a semi-trailer driving south.

The 16-year-old male, from the RM of Minitonas-Bowsman, was pronounced deceased at the scene.

The other snowmobiler, a 17-year-old, wasn’t injured or involved.

The 32-year-old male driver of the semi-trailer, from the RM of Swan Valley West, wasn’t injured.

Alcohol doesn’t appear to be a factor in the collision.

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Today, The Dauphin and District Chamber of Commerce held their first breakfast series of 2020.

During the breakfast The Hub in Dauphin held a presentation teaching local business owners and employees how to set and execute goals for their businesses and personal lives.

The breakfast and lunch series is aimed at helping local businesses in the Parkland reach their goals and grow in the community.

Executive director of the Dauphin and district chamber of commerce Stephen Chychota was thrilled with the turnout of the first breakfast of the year.

“I’m astonished on the room size, we had a great turnout for the first one, and it’s usually a little hard on the first one when people are getting off the holiday sort of thing but I think people are getting back into the regular swing of things with business life. It’s awesome to have everybody out here together. Sure, it’s an early morning but it’s a great way to start the day. Good breakfast, good presentation, and it was a great start.”

The next breakfast presentation will be about team building in the workplace.

 Details on the future breakfast and lunch events are posted on the Dauphin Chamber's website 

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So far in January, we’ve experienced some nice warm days as well as extremely cold days.

Meteorologist Matt Grinter with the Weather Network says the overall temperatures are normal in January, but precipitation is another story with the lack of snow in the region.

“I think that's one of the big things, is the amount of precipitation in the Dauphin area and even all of southern Manitoba, has been relatively below normal. We've seen a lack of snow, there's been that little bit of freezing rain, but it's just that, winter's here with some of the colder temperatures, but not much in the way of precipitation.”

Grinter says the reason the weather has bounced back and forth from nice to extreme cold is a lack of a strong Arctic pattern locking in to bring the cold air down to the prairies.

“We've had more of that Pacific air mass, and that leads to parts of BC having a little bit more moisture, so a lot more rain and snow than normal as well. So that air mass has just translated in through the southern prairies, and that's given the warmer temperatures for the beginning and end of January.”

He says the lack of snow in the winter isn’t an indication of what will happen in the summer.

“It's the spring rain that we really keep an eye on for the farmers in the summer. But that's something that we'll just have to keep an eye on as we head through the rest of winter and into the first part of spring.”

The trend of temperatures bouncing back and forth will continue because as we head out of the weekend’s nice warm temperatures, we’re likely to experience colder days again.

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The Municipality of Mossey River is also taking a stance against the closure of the Dauphin jail.

Reeve Ron Kostyshyn says the closing of the facility will have an impact on more than just the City of Dauphin.

“At our meeting on Monday, we anticipated that we have 5 or 6 people that are currently at the Correction Institute,” said Kostyshyn. “It’s a major economic driver for the Mossey River Municipality.”

Kostyshyn added that the closure is taking a mental toll on everyone involved.

“It’s the fear of the unknown, but obviously, a majority of the people employed there have young families,” said Kostyshyn. “When we look at the challenges over the years in the municipality about school numbers dropping, we don’t want to have more students leaving because their parents, unfortunately, are no longer employed there.”

The Mossey River Municipality is taking similar steps to try and fight the closure through a letter and call campaign, and by participating in the town hall meeting next week.

On Monday, a meeting regarding the closure of the Dauphin jail is taking place in the Aspen Lodge in the Parkland Rec Complex at 5:30 pm.

Everyone concerned about the closure is encouraged to attend the meeting.

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Manitoba Justice says that awarding $75,000 to a former employee who was harassed for being gay is “unjustifiable”.

The employee known as T.M. filed with the Human Rights Commission alleging that he was the victim of harassment because of his sexual orientation, including homophobic slurs and sexually explicit comments.

Last year, a provincial adjudicator found that the province failed to provide a safe and respectful workplace for the former corrections officer, and despite being made aware of the harassment, Manitoba Justice did nothing to stop it.

The adjudicator awarded T.M. $75,000 in damages and ordered the government to conduct training on harassment and hire a respectful workplace advisor for staff at the Winnipeg youth jail.

Earlier this month, the provincial government filed an application asking the judge to reduce the amount awarded to T.M.

The Justice Department says that the adjudicator made an error in law “by awarding an unjustifiable quantum of damages for injury to dignity, feelings and self-respect”.

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Over 3000 collisions have occurred this month due to drivers overlooking winter road conditions, according to Manitoba Public Insurance. A total of 10,000 collisions were reported during the first three weeks of January, 2000 of those due to driving too fast for road conditions and 1,300 due to drivers following too close.

“Road conditions contribute to three times as many crashes in January, compared to the rest of the year. It’s at this time of year in particular that motorists need to make adjustments to avoid collisions. This includes keeping safe distances between vehicles, keeping windshields clear, watching for pedestrians and cyclists, and driving to conditions,” said Satvir Jatana, Vice-President, Employee and Community Engagement, Manitoba Public Insurance.

However, the number of collisions in January 2020 has remained lower than the three year average of about 18,000 with 80% of collision claims occurring in Winnipeg.

Drivers are being reminded to take precaution when driving in winter conditions by getting winter tires, leaving more space between vehicles, and checking conditions before driving.

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Cliff Cullen came to Dauphin on Friday to announce that the jail will be shut down.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew says this is a bad move across the board.

“You got 80 families who are going to be losing jobs in the region. That’s going to have a spillover effect in impacting a lot of other businesses. On the safety side, getting rid of this facility and not committing to something new, like a healing centre in the area, that’s going to cause more problems for safety. The overall picture for Dauphin seems to be getting a lot more difficult with news of other cuts and layoffs that have happened in the area.”

Kinew says the NDP will stand up for the people in the Dauphin, Parkland Region.

“What we’re going to do is work with the community, work with mayor and council, and other leaders to put together a new plan to build a facility like a healing centre that would be for the justice system to have a focus on rehabilitation and vocational measures. So we want to see a plan to replace these jobs, to bring these jobs back. This move is a mistake.”

The 67 inmates will have to be moved to one of six other correctional facilities in Manitoba.

The two closest facilities are the Pas and Brandon.

Kinew says that unfortunately means a lot of families won’t be able to travel and see their loved ones.

“What that means is, maybe you’ve got somebody on the edge, you’ve got somebody who’s in a facility, they still have a chance to turn their life around and make our whole community safer. But instead, without the support of family and being shipped further away from their home, it’s more likely, unfortunately, that they’re going to get into more trouble in the future.”

Overall, the main point Kinew wants to get across is that the NDP will fight to get the government to reconsider, and if they don’t they’ll have a new plan ready to get jobs back to Dauphin.

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The City of Dauphin has outlined a list of actions they are going to take to try and fight the province’s decision to close the Dauphin Correctional Centre.

At City Council on Monday, Mayor Allen Dowhan said that he had reached out to the Premier, the Provincial Justice Minister, and local MLA Brad Michaleski urging them to reverse the decision.

The City and Rural Municipality of Dauphin will facilitate a town hall meeting on Monday, February 3rd at Credit Union Place in the Aspen Lodge at 5:30.

Everyone concerned about the closure of the Dauphin Correctional Centre is encouraged to come out.

The Mayor and council are asking citizens to call or write Premier Pallister, Justice Minister Cliff Cullen, and MLA Brad Michaleski to ask for the immediate reversal of the decision.

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On the night of January 24th, Fisher Branch RCMP responded to a call of a house fire on the Peguis First Nation.

While on their way to the fire, officers were notified of a suspicious male walking down Highway 224 and appeared to be burning items and throwing them on the road.

All four people in the house were able to get out. Two were treated on the scene, and two were taken to the hospital.

Further investigation led to the arrest of the male on Highway 224. 22-year-old Danton Flett, of Peguis First Nation, was charged with Arson-Disregard for Human Life and Arson-Damage to Property. He has been remanded into custody.

The two victims sent to the hospital have since been released. The house continued to burn and is a complete loss.

RCMP along with the Office of the Fire Commissioner, continue to investigate.

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