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Sharla Griffiths, an author originally from Dauphin and alumni of Barker Elementary, MacKenzie Middle School and the DRCSS, is set to release her second children's book.

Six Saskatchewan Bunnies, her first book, was released in February 2019 and has been well received, posting a 4.5-star review on Amazon.

Onto to her next journey, Griffiths is gearing up to release 'Mark the Manitoba Moose.'

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She shared her insight into writing another book,

"Mark the Manitoba Moose, is my second children's book that I've written, and it's about, as the title suggests, it's about Mark the Moose and he travels around Manitoba and visits a bunch of really cool places, and one of those places, of course, is Dauphin."

Griffiths says her inspiration for this book stems from her 2019 book,

"Two years ago, I wrote my first book called Six Saskatchewan Bunnies, and it was about Saskatchewan, the same idea, the bunnies travel around the province and see a bunch of different places. I just loved the idea of having a book like that, that's like about where we live. There's a lot of really neat things on the prairies that people don't really know about, and that book was really well received. A lot of people had a lot of good things to say about it, and that was really encouraging, so I always knew if I did another one, it would be about Manitoba, the same idea, just kind of sharing some of the cool things we have in the province."

Griffiths said she had a lot of fun working on this book, and now that's it's ready, she's filled with excitement to share it,

"I'm really excited to be able to share this book with the world; I look forward to hearing everybody's response's when they get to read it."

Sharla now lives in Saskatwhen, but a piece of her heart remains in Dauphin, as shown in the book.

Mark the Manitoba Moose is available for pre-order on her Esty page and available for shipping on Amazon starting November 1st.

Thursday is Miracle Treat Day across the country and Dairy Queen in Dauphin is taking part once again.

Every dollar from each Blizzard purchased throughout the day will be going to the Children's Hospital in Winnipeg.

CJ Patel is the owner of the Dairy Queen in Dauphin and he said the restaurant is looking forward to taking part.

"We're hoping to raise a big chunk so we can help as much as possible," said Patel. 

The hospital will use the donated funds to buy new equipment to treat kids that are in need. 

The restaurant will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Thursday. 

On Wednesday the Watson Arts Centre was presented with a plaque for their contribution to the preservation of chimney swifts.

The large chimney on the art centre’s building is now a habitat to chimney swifts.

Amanda Shave, Coordinator of the Manitoba Chimney Swift Initiative presented the plaque.

“There are various volunteers in Dauphin who have volunteered with our program for a number of years and this is one of the chimneys that they watch, and when they watch they fill out a data sheet and send that to our organization. We compile and keep track of the trends of chimney swifts in Manitoba. Chimney swifts are a species at risk – they’re threatened both by the province and federally, so it’s a very important species to be keeping track of to see what their populations are doing.”

Yvonne Lillie, Director with the Dauphin & District Allied Arts Council says the chimney is a neat feature of the Watson Art Centre.

“It shows how tall they had to make this chimney and if you saw the room below it that’s another whole story in itself. Anything we can do whether big or small that is going to keep heritage and culture alive in Dauphin is to keep this whole spot where it’s at.”

The Chimney Swift population has declined in Canada since the 1960s, and they are now listed at risk both provincially and federally.

In September of this year, Ray Miller drove his wife Karen, who was having a cardiac event, to the Roblin ER, but they found the doors locked when they arrived.

A voice intercom told them to drive to Russell or Grandview for emergency care, a 40-minute drive away.

Ray, caught in a moment of panic, chose to drive towards Yorkton, Saskatchewan instead.

The couple called 911 once within cell service, and an ambulance from Yorkton met them on the highway, where they took Karen to the hospital.

From when the couple left their home, it took an hour and a half for Karen to be admitted to a hospital that wasn't even in her own province.

This was the consequence of the PC's closing the Roblin ER without consulting the communities that surround Roblin.

Yesterday, Kinew visited with the Millers over a cup of coffee to discuss this matter and check in with how Karen and Ray have been doing.

Kinew spoke with CKDM about the visit,

"In spite of what they have gone through, they don't necessarily want to point fingers or assign blame. What Ray and Karen are looking for is some better communication. If the Roblin ER does have to close, to let people in the area know when those closures are going to be, and I think probably the biggest thing is, can we get the staffing necessary just to keep this emergency department open when people need it."

Preaching about how bad of a representation of Manitoba this was, Kinew carried on,

"It's potentially your loved ones life is at stake, and you're being told we can't help you at that this hospital, you got to drive the better part of an hour to go somewhere else. I think any of us would feel very upset by that. Thanks to some quick thinking on behalf of the husband, they actually decided to drive to Saskatchewan for urgent medical care, and I just think that's a shame that people in Manitoba are actually going to another province because the health care system isn't working for them here at home."

Wab says that because of this experience, the Millers have serious doubts in regards to the next time they will need emergency health care.

He outlined some possible solutions,

"The best-case scenario for me is if the investments happen so that we can guarantee everybody access to health care at the Roblin Emergency Department when they need it. And then, of course, if there ever is a situation where there needs to be a closure or something like that, I would hope that Prairie Mountain Health and the government could communicate that clearly to people, because people shouldn't show up on the doorstep of the hospital to be turned away."

Wab added that rural communities need to keep fighting to have their voices heard,

"Folks in the Parkland region, folks in Roblin, Grandview, Dauphin I think have been very good at letting the government know that health care is a priority in rural Manitoba, and I think we really just have to keep the pressure on until these sorts of investments happen."

Lastly, Kinew noted that he hopes the Millers story will open the government's eyes to continue funding and focusing on improving rural health care.

The government of Manitoba is expanding the eligibility for third doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Residents of congregate housing for seniors will now be able to get a third dose.

The province said in a release that there are 500 sites across the province, and regional health authorities will be working with them in the coming weeks to implement the new recommendation.

A 29-year-old man has been arrested and will appear in Dauphin court later this year after a search warrant was executed in the city on Friday. 

On October 22, the Manitoba West District Crime Reduction Enforcement Support team along with assistance from the Dauphin RCMP executed the search warrant at a residence on 7th Avenue NE.

The search of the residence resulted in the seizure of cocaine, methamphetamine, anabolic steroids, illicit pills, firearms and drug-related paraphernalia.

The man faces charges of Possession for the Purpose of Trafficking, Possession of a Controlled Substance, Possession of Weapons Contrary to Order as well as three counts of Failing to Comply with an Undertaking.

He has been released and will appear in court on December 21.

After the cancellation of all major events since the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in 2020, the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba is hosting Ag Ex 2021 Wednesday until Saturday in Brandon.

This is the first time that the province of Manitoba has hosted a large scale, in-person event since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Manitoba Ag Ex is the largest all-breed cattle show in the province, which includes breed-specific shows, a Jackpot Heifer Show, Bull Show, and Junior Show.

A full schedule and more information can be found here

Some Manitobans will be paying significantly more for natural gas starting next month.

The Public Utilities Board has approved a rate hike for Crown-owned Centra Gas that will see prices go up 17 percent.

The impact on an annual bill will be 124-dollars for the average residential customer. The increase does not affect people who have fixed-price contracts with Centra Gas or third parties.

The regulator says the biggest increase in many years reflects rising market prices for natural gas, driven in part by the impact of Hurricane Ida.

Hearings have begun in a lawsuit alleging the Manitoba government misappropriated more than $250 million meant for Indigenous children in care.

Indigenous child welfare agencies claim the province started clawing back money from the federally run Children's Special Allowance Act in 2006 and did not stop the practice until 2019.

A civil trial between 19 Manitoba child welfare agencies and Indigenous groups and the province of Manitoba started in Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday morning. The proceedings are being heard virtually.

Lawyers for the child welfare agencies say the case is a dispute between Indigenous peoples and the province.

The hearings are expected to go on for four days. The judge may order the government to repay the funds at the end of this week.

After not being able to have their Annual General Meeting in person last year, the Dauphin Ag Society is hosting it in person this year.

President of the Ag Society, Jamie Damsgaard says they want to welcome everyone back at this year’s meeting.

“We need to elect a new board as well as the directors that are in chard of all of the different events that happen at the fair. On the agenda, we are also going to be presenting the volunteer award that we have issued this year. It’s brand new for us.”

Jamie feels like people have been missing the fellowship they got from being able to meet in person.

“Honestly our main focus is to just visit. We are so excited to have an in-person meeting. Everybody knows what those online meetings are like - they're tough, they're hard to run and be a part of, so I'm just looking forward to communicating with everyone face to face."

The Dauphin Ag Society Annual General Meeting is on Thursday, November 4th at 7:00 p.m. in the Aspen Lounge. Those interested can call 204-638-4428 for more information.

Assiniboine Community College hosted a walk-through graduation event this morning at the Parkland Recreational Centre.
 
The event was an overdue opportunity to give graduates a chance to celebrate their accomplishments.
 
Director of the ACC Parkland campus, Valerie McInnes, touched on the ceremony,

"This is a really important day when we can acknowledge all of the work that students have put in. it's a little different from the usual, but it's given a really nice chance to see family and be kind of intimate with students and talk to them. We have about 84 students that are graduating; unfortunately, only about 15 were able to make the ceremony today. But it's really nice to see those accomplishments and to see the smiles on families' faces, even behind the masks."

Valarie thanked all the families who could attend and congratulated all students who could come and weren't able to come.

Moving forward, McInnes says the college is looking towards bigger and better graduations.

acc 2022