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Excellence in teaching, research, and service will be recognized at Brandon University’s two-day Convocation celebration this week.
In addition to diplomas being handed out to about 460 new BU graduates, an important element of Convocation is the presentation of awards to deserving faculty and staff over the course of four ceremonies on Thursday and Friday.
This year’s award recipients include Dr. Nancy Stanley, Professor in the Faculty of Education, who will receive the BU Lifetime Achievement award.
The Senate Award for Excellence in Teaching will be presented to Dr. Kathryn Chachula, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health Studies, while the BU Alumni Association Award for Excellence in Teaching will be presented to Dr. Steven Robinson, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts.
And the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Community Service will be presented to Dr. Christopher J. Schneider, Professor in the Faculty of Arts.
In addition to these awards, three outstanding educators from Manitoba’s K-12 system will be recognized with Distinguished Teacher Awards.
They include Benita Shwaluk of Shoal Lake School, Christine Tournier-Croft of West Valley School near Manitou, and Jacqueline Tabios of Meadows West School in Winnipeg, who will receive their awards during Thursday afternoon’s ceremony.
The ceremony for the Faculty of Science and the School of Music will begin on Thursday at 10 a.m., followed by the Faculty of Education at 2 p.m. that afternoon.
The Faculty of Health Studies ceremony will take place on Friday at 10 a.m., followed by the Faculty of Arts ceremony at 2 p.m.
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
The Dauphin Regional Health Centre has been working on making its spaces more comfortable.
These recently installed Smile Zones are decorated with colorful wildlife paintings that brighten the Health Center's Lab and Imaging waiting areas, among others.
Smile Zones have also been added to the Dauphin Palliative Care Family Room and two treatment rooms in the Emergency Department.
This past weekend, a work crew from the Smilezone Foundation installed gorgeous murals, comfortable chairs, and projectors in these freshly renovated spaces.
A grand opening event will take place on the 14th of June to highlight all of these new smile zones, which received massive funding from the recent Tim Hortons Smile Cookie Campaign.
A total of $65,580 worth of cookies were sold during that campaign, all of which went to the Dauphin Regional Health Centre and this new Smile Zone development.
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The Canada Border Services Agency may be seeing strike action after a 96% in favor vote.
Much like the rail strike discussed previously, this could have severe effects on agriculture and trade in the nation.
Job action by CBSA personnel in 2021 nearly brought commercial cross-border traffic to a standstill, causing major delays at airports and borders across the country and a marathon 36-hour bargaining session to reach an agreement.
The union says workers will be in a legal strike position in June, which is also when mediation sessions are scheduled to begin.
CBSA workers have been without a renewed contract for over 2 years.
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It was another competition and another set of awards for Dauphin's local brewery.
Marcos Bardelli, Brewmaster at Obsolete recently attended the Canadian Brewing Awards, bringing home 2 awards.
"yeah, we ended up bringing some hardware home. we got a gold award for our imperial stout "The Calvary Soldier", a maple imperial stout, and we also got a silver award for the "Balloon Race", a Belgian Tripel."
A huge thank you to the Canadian Brewing Awards! Was awesome! Congratulations to all the winners, especially our...
Posted by Obsolete Brewing Company on Sunday, May 26, 2024
A third award also came their way, as the brewery was also entered into a Montreal-based international beer competition "Mondial De La Biere" with their "Music Machine" sour beer also impressing judges.
Bardelli is no stranger to awards, as Obsolete's shelves are quickly being lined with trophies for his amazing brews.
"More than 10 I would say, man. With these three awards, counting my own as brewer of the year we have 10. And if we include the Parkland Chamber Of Commerce Award, that makes more than 10, that's pretty exciting."
It promises to be a wild year for Obsolete, as Bardelli is working on many new recipes, and the brewery is getting set to open its patio for the summer season.
Bardelli will be off to Winnipeg this weekend for the Prairie Beer Awards, a competition Obsolete has seen success at previously.
Between the awards and the big plans for the summer season, there's certainly a lot brewing behind the minds of Obsolete's Craft Beers.
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In the courts, two of the four people arrested after a February weapons and drug bust in Dauphin have been given new court dates.
40-year-old Roland Klyne from The Key First Nation will be back in Dauphin Court this Thursday, while 39-year-old COdy Genaille of Brandon returns to court in that city on June 10th.
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The Rossburn Subdivision Trail Association has announced a pair of events for this Saturday in Erickson to coincide with both Manitoba Trails Day and Trail Care Day.
The first will be an inaugural 4.5 km walk along the Rossburn Subdivision Trail and the new storybook trail at the Viking Boat.
The first storybook being profiled through this work is The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson.
That will be followed by the introduction and ribbon cutting at the new water tower rest stop, located at the intersection of Highway 10 and Road 107.5 North.
Provincial Environment and Climate Change Minister Tracy Schmidt is scheduled to speak at that event, along with local MLA Greg Nesbitt, and representatives from the Anishinaabe ROlling River First Nation, Trans Canada Trail, and Trails Manitoba.
There will also be a BBQ as part of this event, which is slated to begin at 1 pm.
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Assiniboine Community College's Parkland Campus is inviting the public to join them this Thursday for a Parking Lot Party and Program Showcase.
Stacy Purdy is an administrative assistant at Parkland Campus and says there will be plenty to do at that event.
"Starting at 4:30 we invite everybody to join us at the campus. We will have a barbecue, some kids activities, some different draws to enter for prizes, as well as our program showcases which include some great activities such as planting seeds with our horticultural instructor, and experiencing the heavy equipment operator simulator."
There will also be entertainment to wrap up the event.
Instructors from the Parkland Campus as well as faculty from ACC in Brandon will be in attendance to answer questions as well.
Director Carole Stewart is encouraging everyone that has never been to Parkland Campus to come join them on Thursday.
"This is a really fun, informal way to meet us and get to know us. To come through the campus and to see all the great facilities that we have that people may not even know exist, such as our amazing trade shops, our classrooms, our child care centre. And to do all of this is a fun and relaxed manner."
Stewart also hopes alumni of the Parkland Campus will also come back with their families.
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In the courts this week, an Easterville man charged after a stabbing in January of this year in The Pas has had a new court date set.
33-year-old Pierre Young has been charged with Manslaughter and remains in custody until his next appearance in The Pas court on June 10th.
Manslaughter charges were also laid against a 16-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl, who can not be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice act.
And Jory Rowe has had another new court date set.
The 33-year-old Winnipeger, who was charged with Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking in connection with a March 2021 traffic stop in the R-M of Dauphin was back in Winnipeg court this week.
His matters were put over until May 28th.
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Contract negotiations between CN rail, Canadian Pacific/ Kansas City, and the Teamsters Canadian Rail Conference are currently at a standstill.
It threatens to bring the entire rail system to a halt.
These Negotiations have been taking place since last December when a collective agreement between these parties expired on December 31st.
Strike action of the 9000 union members could cause devastating effects on the producers in the nation, as Wheat Growers of Canada President Gunter Jochum explains.
"Shutting both railways down basically shuts down grain transportation, fertilizer transportation, and other industries that rely on grain transportation, it shuts that completely down."
Wheat Growers of Canada are now lobbying the federal government to create back-to-work contingencies for a strike to mitigate these effects.
For the full conversation With Jochum stay tuned for Monday's noon-hour edition of Agri-view.
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- Contributed by Michael Brossart
The city has awarded a contract for engineering services on their sewage lagoon expansion.
Stantec Consulting Ltd was selected among five proposals for the work earlier this month by city council.
At a cost of $1,114,136.96, Stantec's proposal was not the lowest, but it was the most comprehensive according to city officials.
The first step for them is to take a lagoon study completed eight years ago and make sure the design for the expansion is still relevant today.
Stantec will also develop the tender documents and provide consulting services during the construction phase.
That tender is expected be issued next year, with construction slated to start next summer and take anywhere from 14 to 16 months to complete.
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A bill introduced by the Manitoba government might make it harder for some landlords to raise rents above the annual provincial guideline, which is tied to inflation.
Landlords can currently apply to a residential tenancies director for a higher rent increase for any reason and make their argument.
The bill would limit such applications to cases where landlords face a sharp rise in taxes, utilities, and security costs, or where they invest in capital projects such as plumbing and heating.
The legislation would also give a residential tenancies director the power to order rent increases to be phased in over years instead of taking effect immediately.
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- Contributed by Jeff Henson
