Local artist Karen Clark will have a display of her work at the Norva Centre through March.  She says these are paintings she has done over the past five years titled Kayak Details and all the paintings are based on sketches or small studies that she’s painted while floating around in her kayak in various lakes around here, so she’s displaying about 12 of these paintings.  She adds she’s also showing five pieces of her mother’s work just to show kind of the influence her work had on the way she paints and creates.  Clark notes her artists talk is on March 3^rd at 7 o’clock and she’ll be talking a bit about that generational kind of hand me down that happens sometimes within families.

You’re invited to Clark’s artist talk Monday at the Norva Centre at 177 Green Street.

As part of the Bust the Winter Blues Festival a craft sale is being held next Saturday March 7^th.  The Committee’s Chana Senyk says they have 40 tables gathered together at the Creighton Community Hall and they have some groups from out of town and have food, clothing, sewing, knitting, soaps, Alpaca, a little bit of everything so it’s sure to be a good sale.

The sale runs from 10 to 4 Saturday March 7^th in the Creighton Community Hall.  A series of family events will run that afternoon at the Hall as well and we’ll have more on the full weekend of events next week.

Treaty Commissioner Loretta Ross of the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba says it’s important to educate Canadians about treaties made with Indigenous communities. She says they are working towards ensuring that schools start teaching students about treaties.  She explained treaty education has been the biggest body of work for the most part because there’s not a lot of treaty knowledge out by the general public so they’ve worked in that area through a Treaty Education Initiative and it was to take treaties to the classroom so kindergarten to grade 12 and they’ve developed over the past number of years the curriculum support resource material for teachers to teach in their classrooms.

Ross hopes treaty education will become mandatory in Manitoba schools. You can learn more about the commission at www.TRCM.ca.

Earlier this month Rockcliff Metals Corporation reported their 2019 drill program on their Tower Property has discovered a copper bearing extension to the existing Tower Deposit near Snow Lake.  Results include 3.95 percent copper equivalent across 11.39 meters and 4.06 percent across 8.23 meters.

Rockcliff President Alistair Ross says the extension of the mineralized zone by 200 meters to the south and towards the high priority Tower South anomaly, especially finding thicker intersections near surface, bodes well for an updated resource estimate currently underway.  He adds the infill drill also continues to confirm their previous understanding of the deposit and they look forward to completing the technical reports on the Tower, Talbot and Rail deposits later in the first quarter of this year.

A total of 26 holes totaling just over 11 thousand meters were completed in late 2019.

The Board met this past Tuesday for their regular meeting.  They passed a motion to approve the 2020-21 budget that was presented earlier this month at a public budget meeting.  They agreed to forward the budget to the city by March 13^th.

The meeting also saw the Trustees acknowledge a report of the task force on school bus safety.  A motion was passed to further discuss the matter in the near future.  The Division’s bus drivers have reported an increase in the amount of vehicles passing them while students are disembarking.  This is extremely reckless and illegal. 

Superintendent Tammy Ballantyne thanked parents and community members for their input for the 2020-21 calendar survey which is due to the Department of Education by May 1^st.  Visit the Division’s website around that time for more details.

The Central Canada Film Group is presenting a fun film tomorrow night.  The group’s Colin Davis says it’s a film you may have missed Monty Python’s The Life of Brian. He explains poor Brian of Nazareth just wants a normal life.  He was born one stable down from Jesus on the same night and gets confused for the Messiah repeatedly.  How can you convince people that you’re not the Messiah especially when they tell you that’s exactly the sort of thing that the Messiah would say.  He notes the film was extremely controversial in its day although it really should not have been.  He invites everyone to come by this Friday to make their own minds up for themselves.

The Life of Brian will be shown tomorrow night at 7:30 in the Hapnot Collegiate Dorothy Ash Theatre and Davis adds as with all their Friday films admission is free.

In his review of 2019 operations at Hudbay President Peter Kukielski had praise for the sustainability efforts of their Manitoba team.  He reported in 2019 Hudbay’s Manitoba operations received the Mining Association of Canada’s Towards Sustainable Mining Leadership Award for achieving a Level A ranking in their results across all of the six areas of performance.  He noted the performance areas are aboriginal and community outreach, crisis management, safety and health, tailings management, biodiversity conservation management, and energy use and greenhouse gas emissions management.

Kukielski added this achievement further demonstrates the company’s commitment and successful track record of strong environmental, social and governance performance.

The Flin Flon Ski Club is holding their 45^th annual Val and Ivor Hedman Centaloppet Sunday afternoon.  The Club’s Dave Price says it’s a community event for all ages and they gather on the Beaver Pond outside the Chalet for the start at 2 o’clock on Sunday and everybody is welcome.  He says there’s no charge, prizes for all sorts of amazing categories like the best dressed, the fastest and the slowest, the biggest family that sort of thing, so it’s a big fun event and once a year they like to have a whole lot of people on the trail at once.

Price adds they’ve had skiers taking part ranging in age from a two year old riding on her father’s back  to those in their 70’s and every skier has a chance to win the Centaloppet Cup.  Registration takes place at the Ski Chalet basement between 1 and 1:30 with the event starting at 2.

Health Minister Cameron Friesen has announced a new family medicine residency program in Thompson will allow medical residents to experience northern and remote health-care service delivery and encourage physician recruitment and retention to underserved areas across the large and diverse region.
 He said providing a program that lets physicians experience life in the north and how people in the region access health care is an excellent way to prepare them for a career in northern medicine   He added this new partnership between the University of Manitoba and the Northern Health Region will support stronger recruitment and retention efforts across northern Manitoba.

While the program is based out of Thompson, trainees will complete core training rotations across the region, preparing residents to provide care across diverse environments including community hospitals, health centres, nursing stations and care homes in First Nation, rural and remote communities.

Northern Health Region CEO Helga Bryant says they believe this program will help physicians better understand the opportunities they can find while practising in northern Manitoba.

The Hudbay 4^th quarter report we reported on yesterday also includes Manitoba developments.  President Peter Kukielski says they continue to move forward at their Snow Lake deposits. He explained in early 2019 they announced a significant increase in reserves and an updated mine plan for Lalor which is projected to more than double the annual gold production for the mine.  He added through the refurbishment of the nearby New Britannia gold mill and related infrastructure upgrade in Snow Lake Lalor’s annual gold production is expected to increase to approximately 140 thousand ounces at sustaining 450 dollars per ounce starting in 2022 noting he believes Lalor is on track to become one of the best gold mines in Canada.

Kukielski also mentioned the discovery of the new 1901 deposit in the Snow Lake area last year.  He also noted Hudbay continues to implement improvements to the legacy Flin Flon tailings impoundment area in line with higher industry wide standards for tailings dam safety following the failure of other tailings dams in recent years with spending of approximately 20 million dollars a year from 2020 to 2022.

The Flin Flon Public Library is celebrating Freedom to Read Week with a display of banned books this week.  Administrator Elizabeth Andres says this is an annual event that encourages all Canadians to think about their commitment to intellectual freedom and intellectual freedom is guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that freedom can never ever be taken for granted.  She notes even in Canada books and magazines are banned at the border, they never make it into Canada.  Andres adds her favorite banned book is The Lorax and that’s because when people look at that they think of Dr. Seuss what a funny little guy, he’s speaking to the trees but actually back in 1971 people saw that as a dangerous piece of political commentary and they said it was propaganda and they banned it in many places.

Freedom to Read Week runs all this week through Saturday.

The government has announced residents in central and northern Saskatchewan will soon have improved access to magnetic resonance imaging or MRI services.  The Saskatchewan Health Authority has awarded a contract to Mayfair Diagnostics to deliver publicly funded community based MRI services in Saskatoon and to continue to provide MRI services in Regina.

Health Minister Jim Reiter says expanding community based MRI services in Saskatoon will benefit thousands of additional patients in central and northern Saskatchewan each year and help meet the growing demand for MRI exams across the province.  Mayfair Diagnostics will provide a minimum of 45 hundred exams per year in Saskatoon with services expected to begin in August.

Unusually warm weather added to the success of the 41^st annual Denare Beach Winter Festival over the weekend.

Some of the event winners included for turkey curling team Poultrygeist made up of Brendley and Hayley Feiber, Phil Cardell and Shakey with twelve teams entered in the competition.  Denare Beach Village Council won the turkey curling challenge against Creighton and Flin Flon Councils.  86 adults and 31 kids entered the fishing derby with no fish caught so draws were made for the prizes. Boot Hockey was won by the team of Shay McCullum, Paxton Dareichuk, Greg Morin and Hendre Gouws.  First in Kids Got Talent was singer Charlene Custer, Second gymnast Cora Anaka and third singer Hallie Norman.  In the trapper events the winner for girls was Easter Dubinak and for boys Glen Campbell.

Co-op Community Spaces has provided 8.5 million dollars to 115 projects since 2015.  Social Responsibility Supervisor Lindsay Arnott says they are accepting applications for projects that help protect, beautify and improve spaces across western Canada.  She explains they provide funding for capital projects that really are designed to bring people together and bring communities together so they fund projects in three different categories including recreation, environmental conservation and urban agriculture so things like playgrounds or skate parks, nature centres, community gardens, community kitchens that’s a lot of the type of projects that they fund.

Between 25 thousand and 150 thousand dollars of capital funding is available per project with application forms available online at www.communityspaces.ca until March 2^nd.

Hudbay reports a net loss of 1.5 million dollars in the last quarter of 2019 compared to a loss of 3.5 million in the same quarter of 2018.  President and CEO Peter Kukielski says overall 2019 saw solid results due to their efforts on continuous improvement in mine performance while implementing various improvement initiatives across the business.  He explains the Constancia Mine in Peru achieved record mill throughput and record copper recoveries in 2019 and they are seeing the benefits of several metallurgical enhancements at the mill while the Lalor Mine in Snow Lake achieved record output in 2019 due to the successful mine ramp up to 45 hundred tonnes per day early in the year and the Triple Seven Mine in Flin Flon significantly increased mine output from successfully implemented efficiency initiatives.

Kukielski adds they are on track to deliver their next phase of growth including mining the high grade Pampacancha satellite deposit in Peru in 2020 and completing refurbishment of the New Britannia gold mill in Snow Lake by 2022.

Local Program Coordinator Krista Lemcke for Manitoba Entrepreneurial Hubs told the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce Tuesday they offer help to women at any stage of business.  She explained basically they have two things that they do at the Hub.  One is that it is going to be a co-working space, they’re going to have events, pop up shops, they have a small office for rent so if you’re freelancing or if you’re from out of town, you want to meet clients, they have some space to work in a private office you’re welcome to rent and it’s free to rent until April 1^st and then they also have the second half of the program which is specific to the women’s entrepreneurship program and they provide support, the programming and learning and all that good stuff for rural entrepreneurs.

Lemcke adds they are a one stop shop for business so they can help with path finding, business coaching and develop and deliver business training and they’re looking for input, ideas, support from entrepreneurs and referrals of anybody who could gain from their programs.  Their office is located in the former Co-op building on Main Street and you can call 204-687-6967 or email Krista@thehubs.ca.

The 41^st annual Denare Beach Winter Festival takes place this weekend.  Recreation Director Mel Durette says it starts tonight with the Mushers supper at the Denareplex at 5:30 followed a penny parade, kid’s events, turkey curling and fireworks at 8. She adds on Saturday they’ll start the day off with the pancake breakfast followed by the family fishing derby, unfortunately they don’t have the horse drawn wagon rides as the guy backed out and they haven’t been able to find anybody, there’s a concession with hot dogs and stuff, at 12:30 the Bingo starts, there’s boot hockey at 1 o’clock, a penny parade all day, there’ll be a Freezie mountain at 12:30, a crib tournament at 3:30 and there’s a King and Queen Trapper at 1:30.

The Festival wraps up Sunday with the Sno Drags at the Beaver Lake Day grounds with registration from 11 to 12 and races start at 1 with a concession available.

Hudbay has announced the community of Chilloroya has formally approved a surface rights agreement with Hudbay for the Pampacancha satellite deposit located near the Constancia mine in Peru.  With the completion of this agreement the company expects to be mining ore from the deposit in late 2020.

Hudbay President and CEO Peter Kukielski says Pampacancha adds high grade copper and gold ore to the Constancia mine plan lowering future cash costs for the mine and increasing operating cash flows at Constancia.  He adds Constancia is one of the lowest cost open pit copper mines in South America.

Hudbay expects growth capital expenditures associated with project development and acquiring the surface rights for Pampacancha to be approximately 70 million dollars in this year.  Some additional capital costs remain outstanding in recognition of current uses of the land by certain community members and the company intends to enter into agreements to address these matters prior to commencing mining activities.

The Flin Flon School Board presented their budget plan for the 2020-21 school year at a public meeting last night.  The Division has planned a budget of just over 14.9 million dollars for the year an increase of .30 percent from this year’s budget.  Direct provincial funding for the Division for 2019-20 was just under 9.4 million dollars and will increase by 1.36 percent or just under 128 thousand dollars for 2020-21. 

The Division is requesting a zero percent increase from the city noting due to the substantial decrease in property assessments, a one percent decrease in the Hudbay grant in lieu, the reduction in the provincial Tax Incentive Grant the proposed mill rate is 24.34 up from 21.46 last year but because of the mentioned changes the Division is not asking the city for any more money than last year at just over 4.9 million dollars.

The top two categories in costs are regular instruction at just over 8.2 million and just over 2.6 million for student support services.  Several requests were removed from the proposed budget but 105 thousand dollars will go to student support services for three educational assistants.

At Tuesday night’s Flin Flon City Council meeting new Library Administrator Elizabeth Andres spoke on their plans for this year.  She noted Saturday opening has proven to be very successful with 80 people in during their 4 hours being open. Saturday openings and Monday closing will continue during their winter hours moving back to Saturday closing and Monday opening for the summer.  She noted their goal is to increase circulation numbers this year with 20 new members signed up in the past week alone and they are planning to bring in more types of books people are looking for.  They also plan to increase the programs available including inviting groups to come in and provide information on the programs they offer.  They will soon wrap up their logo contest and will begin a rebranding process so people know the library is about more than a place to get books.

Andres added due to the number of books not returned in past years a new library policy will require you to show your library card whenever you take out books and you will be responsible to return all books on your card or for the cost of books not returned.  She urges everyone to visit the library and get a card which can also be used to borrow audio and ebooks using the Libby library app.

At last night’s City Council meeting Mayor Cal Huntley announced Councillor Guy Rideout has resigned from Council effective the end of this month for personal reasons.  Huntley praised him for the work he has done on Council adding he will be missed.  Council appointed Katy Anderson as the Senior Election Official for the purpose of holding a by-election on a date to be announced.

Council also confirmed the departure of Treasurer Lynn Brown who will be leaving soon for Saskatoon.

Councillor Karen MacKinnon reported since the announcement of the permanent closure of the Aqua Centre last Friday people have been asking how they can help so she noted the Community Committee will need help moving forward in raising funds for the new pool.  Mayor Huntley reported the present building is sealed off because it is unsafe and will have to be demolished as the cost of repairing the damaged infrastructure would be substantial.

And Mayor Huntley added the Flin Flon flag has flown over Thompson City and Hudson Bay Saskatchewan Town Halls due to wins by Flin Flon in the SnoRiders Sledtown Showdown with Flin Flon now up against McBride, BC in the competition.

Kylie McKinnon from the University College of the North spoke to the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce yesterday about LYNK, Linking Youth Entrepreneurs with Networks and Knowledge.  She explained basically they’re trying to boost entrepreneurship and get it on the youth’s radar.  She says a lot of youth today don’t see entrepreneurship as an option leaving school or while they’re in school or they don’t really understand all the concepts around being an entrepreneur, they’re not seeing the value in buying a business that is pre-existing, becoming partner of an existing business, maybe it’s something as small as staring a business selling crafts at local markets and craft shows.

McKinnon noted as part of that they will be holding a LYNK event for youth during the day Monday followed by a gathering from 7 to 8:30 at the Community Futures Greenstone and Hubs location in the former Co-op building on Main Street open to local business people and others interested for discussions with urban organizations from Winnipeg who want to support northern entrepreneurs.  She would also like to hear from local business people willing to mentor young people interested in business.  You can get more information by emailing Kylie at kmckinnon@ucn.ca or call 204-687-0117.

The President of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals Bob Moroz was in Flin Flon last week as part of this northern tour.  His union represents all health care professionals who are not doctors or nurses with about 300 in the north and he says staffing is the big issue. He explains it’s really really difficult to recruit folks to towns like Flin Flon or even smaller towns and when they do recruit, people stick around for a little while gain some experience and want to move onto a bigger centre down to Brandon, Dauphin or Winnipeg if they can so it’s a real problem with places like this so we’re chronically short staffed.  He says people come in and when they talk to them you can see the weariness in their eyes and it’s important for people to understand the work that they do and how hard they work and when there’s not enough of them they have to work harder as people still need those tests, people still need that physiotherapy, they still need the community programs that their members provide.

Moroz adds the Health Regions have things in place to attract people to the north but it’s difficult to keep them here while those who are from the north tend to stay.

The Women’s Resource Centre held their annual Women’s Memorial March and Red Dress Project Friday evening.  The Centre’s Brodie Hooper explained this marks 29 years Canadians have marched to honor the lives of murdered Aboriginal women and girls and the Red Dress Project was started by Jamie Black in 2014 and she described it as an aesthetic response to the issue of violence against women and girls.  Hooper noted the visual impact of the empty dress is to remind us of the staggering number of women who are no long with us.  She thanked those who marched with them in solidarity to mourn the loss of our sisters and to remember those who are still missing adding we stand together and ask for action, we ask for answers and we ask for justice.

Marchers made their way from Pioneer Square down Main Street and back to the Community Hall for refreshments, entertainment, a round dance and messages of support for the event.

In January local resident Gail Baker sent a letter to Northern Health Region CEO Helga Bryant regarding the departure of Physician Assistant Jan Drutz from the Flin Flon Clinic. Bryant replied explaining he no longer had a physician supervisor and was thereby no longer licenced by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba. 

In a follow up letter last week Baker again requested Bryant attend an information meeting to discuss this issue and noted a petition circulated in Flin Flon against his departure obtained 900 signatures in two weeks.

Baker is forwarding information to the Region’s Board of Directors, the Premiers and Health Ministers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Mayor and Council and MLA Tom Lindsey asking them to investigate this situation as well as other issues she raised about staffing in local health care facilities.

City Council has announced they have made the emergency decision to close the Flin Flon Aqua Centre permanently and immediately.  An engineering review has revealed critical safely issues with the pool’s infrastructure that pose an immediate risk to employees and the public.  Repairing the issues would require significant overhauls of the existing facility at substantial cost. Therefore Council has made the decision not to re-open the Aqua Centre until a new facility has been built.

They add an application was submitted in September to the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program regarding funding for a new Aqua Center and recreational facility.  Council will focus on seeking a positive result from the funding request in order to move the vision of a new recreational facility forward.

Anglers will be able to fish without a licence province wide except in national parks where a federal licence is required.  Conservation limits apply to those fishing without a licence. Anglers should be sure conditions are safe before venturing onto the ice.  It’s important to let someone know where you are fishing and to wear appropriate clothing so the ice fishing experience will be enjoyable.

The province is also offering free park entry for the entire month of February.  Vehicle permits are not required in any provincial park.  For more information on fishing regulations view the Manitoba Anglers Guide at www.manitobafisheries.com.

University College of the North in partnership with the Manitoba Tourism Education Council is offering selected courses from the Administrators, Retailers and Business Series. UCN’s Craig Cowper says these are offered by video Zoom conference with different topics each day from February 24^th to 26^th.  He says students can register and come to the Mining Academy and attend a class, the instructor will be in Winnipeg presenting to us in Flin Flon.  He says there’s a variety of topics including Instagram for Business, Business Etiquette, Fundamentals of Human Resources, for the most part half day classes that students can attend.

The cost for the half day courses is $78.75 which includes GST and for information or to register you can call Craig at 204-687-7038 or email crcowper@ucn.ca.

The Alpha Course is starting a new session at the Flin Flon Alliance Church at 6 Tuesday evening.  Pastor Reg Friesen says Alpha has a lot to offer.   He explains if you’ve ever wondered if there’s more to life than just the day to day the Alpha Course is a great way to discover there’s so much more to be experienced so they just want to invite folks to join them.  He says it’s going to be a lot of fun, the perfect evening to find out more about Alpha, enjoy a great meal, some music and a video.  He adds if you decide you want to do Alpha the film series starts the following week, each Tuesday dinner is served, there’s a short video, time to talk about things noting Alpha really does create a great environment where we can explore the Christian faith, ask questions and share points of view.

To register or for more information you can call the Church at 204-687-8498.

University College of the North in Flin Flon is offering free computer classes.  The College’s Craig Cowper says they start next Tuesday and these courses are free, no cost to attend, they cover the basics and most of them run Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday evenings from 6 to 9 pm.  He notes next week they’ve got Intro to Computers and it’s an introductory type course getting the basics for people who perhaps haven’t had a chance to work with computers much so don’t be shy about coming out, if you don’t have any experience this is the time to come learn.

From March 10^th to 12^th they will offer Introduction to Microsoft Excel and from the 17^th to the 19^th Introduction to Microsoft Word.  For information or to register for these or other courses such as Food Safety February 19^th and First Aid on February 27^th and 28^th contact Craig at 204-687-7038 or email crcowper@ucn.ca.

A light agenda and no presentations made for a brief meeting Tuesday night for the School Division’s Board of Trustees.  Trustee Amy Sapergia Green reported for Superintendent Tammy Ballantyne that students in grades ten and eleven participated earlier this week in a domestic violence session with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  Some classes at Ruth Betts will be taking part in the Red Dress Walk Friday and all schools will be closed this Monday for Louis Riel or Family Day.

Board Chair Murray Skeavington thanked senior administration for work done on the budget as well as community contributions.  The public is welcome to attend the budget meeting Wednesday night at 6:30 in the Division office at 9 Terrace Avenue.

The Women’s Resource Centre is holding their annual Women’s Memorial March and Red Dress Project Friday evening.  The Centre’s Brodie Hooper says they will meet in Pioneer Square to honor the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous Women and all women’s lives lost.  She explains older students from local schools will be gathering at the Women’s Resource Centre to help them hang the dresses from 10 to 11 am and then in the evening February 14^th at 5:15 sharp they’ll be marching down Main Street and then back to the Community Hall to gather for refreshments and then they’ll be having local drummers and singers performing as well as a round dance for our community.

If you need more information you can call the Women’s Resource Centre at 204-681-3105.

The Communities Economic Development Fund encourages local Chamber of Commerce members and local business owners to complete their online survey.  Their CEO Oswald Sawh explains their main question is have you tried to access capital in the last 12 to 24 months and when they say access to capital its asking for loans or any source of funding relating to either expanding your business or starting up a new business, so its geared towards just questions relating to or around that whole access to capital issue that they talk about a fair bit.

You can complete the survey conducted by Leger Marketing online at legerweb.com/CEDF2020 with a deadline of 11:59 pm February 19^th.

You can learn more about CEDF and starting a small business at their Flin Flon office located in the Community Futures Greenstone office in the former Co-op building on Main Street.

A Local Roots Aqua Center Coffee House Benefit is coming up Saturday.  One of the organizers Ann Ross says it’s a family friendly night of music.  She says they will have Colin Davis, John Taylor, Marylou Spooner, Reimer Reason, Harold Romo, Holly Freeborn, Ron Burwash, Kevin Allen with Megan Reimer and Syd Tippet.

The Coffee House gets underway Saturday at 7 in the Flin Flon Community Hall. Tickets are at the door at 10 dollars for adults and 5 for children 12 and under. Ross adds coffee, tea and juice will be provided and if you wish you can bring your own apps, desserts or snacks. There will also be a penny parade and the FlinFlonopy game can also be purchased.

Churchill Keewatinook Aski Member of Parliament Niki Ashton spoke about the level of child poverty in our region.  She said 63 percent of children in our region according to a recent Campaign 2000 report live in poverty and it’s directly due to the poverty of their mothers.  She stated the federal government must change course and take on the factors that lead to this poverty from making healthy food accessible to tackling the housing crisis, from ending gender based violence to funding child care, from expanding employment and training to building all weather roads, from creating gainful employment to ensuring First Nations consent to development on their territories.  She stands with the many women in our north and across the country who are demanding better for themselves, their children and our collective futures.

Ashton says these current poverty conditions are unacceptable in a county as wealthy as Canada.

Education Minister Gordon Wyant has proclaimed this week Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week in Saskatchewan.  He says it’s a chance to recognize the many teachers and staff from bus drivers to education assistants to caretakers who embody this year’s theme of Bringing Learning to Life in supporting more than 190 thousand Prekindergarten to grade 12 students across the province.

The week is organized by the Saskatchewan Association of School Councils and their Director Joy Bastness says they appreciate the skills and creativity that teachers and staff have in bringing learning to life for students, learning that is engaging and relevant to students and meaningful in their personal lives enabling them to apply and retain knowledge that goes beyond the classroom into the wider community.  She adds these real world experiences enrich student learning and they become lifelong learners equipped for life.

The 41^st annual Denare Beach Winter Festival is coming up February 21^st to 23^rd.  Recreation Director Mel Durette says they have early events underway including the kids coloring contest which has been handed out to the schools kindergarten to grade three but if you have younger ones you can stop at the office and pick up an entry and that’s due February 13^th for judging.  She says they also have the ice sculpting competition so anybody can do an ice sculpture in their yard and they’ll drive around and judge and that will be on February 19^th and they have the Musher’s Supper that will be on Friday, February 21^st at 5 o’clock at the Denareplex.

Tickets for the Mushers Supper are available at Di’s Confectionary and the Village Office.  We’ll have more on Festival events for you next week. You can volunteer to help with the Festival by calling the Village Office or call Mel at 306-362-2050.

On Thursday the Government of Saskatchewan announced financial literacy will be available across all high schools in the province.  The CEO of the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce Steve McLellan says it’s a huge step forward for students.  He explains the people who are going to benefit from this are the generation of students who are going to take the program, know more about credit card use, know more about budgeting, know while they can still spend their own money as they choose if they spend it wisely and with knowledge they will have greater control over it and that will help them in their early years if they want to save for post secondary, it’ll help them in their years of buying cars and homes and it will help them in their retirement years.

McLellan adds it’s going to be perhaps the most transformational change opportunity for kids since we taught them how to read.

Players from Hapnot Collegiate’s curling team in Flin Flon brought their city’s flag up to Thompson.

Mayor Colleen Smook explains she and Karen MacKinnon and Cal Huntley from Flin Flon had a challenge. When it came down to the final four it was Thompson, The Pas, Snow Lake and Flin Flon so when they ended up in a position against Flin Flon they thought they’d make a challenge for the north and Thompson didn’t quite get enough votes to get it so they decided to fly the Flin Flon flag.

According to the SnoRider’s website, Flin Flon has consistently gotten the most votes out of any of the destinations across the western provinces.

However, Thompson proved to be strong competition, as Flin Flon edged out the Nickel City with 54 per cent of the vote.

In round five, Flin Flon is taking on Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan, and voting closes on Sunday.

Community Futures Greenstone and Visions North are hosting a day of learning and networking for women on April 2^nd with men invited as well.  Visions North Executive Administrator Jean Powell says it features two speakers from Saskatoon.  The first one is Katrina German and her presentation will be on how to make social media and tech tools your best friend and it can be for business women, for homemakers, she makes the workshop suitable to everybody.  Powell adds their second speaker is Jami Young and her workshop is the art of connection, how to inspire, influence and impact and it’s how to cultivate more dynamic relationships within life and business so you don’t have to be in business to attend these workshops, they can be for everybody.

The workshop takes place all day April 2^nd in the Creighton Community Centre with ticket available at the Creighton Town Office and Community Futures Greenstone in the former Co-op building for 25 dollars which includes a soup and sandwich lunch.

This year is the 70^th anniversary of the Flin Flon Trout Festival.  At their annual meeting Wednesday night they put out a call for people to join their executive and committees.  Sheena Reed agreed to continue as Vice-President and parade chair, Laurence Gillespie continues as Secretary and Dave Osika agreed to be Treasurer while continuing with the fishing derby.  The Presidents chair remains open and they are looking for chairs for Main Street Days, the Fish Fry and Volunteer Coordinator.  Anyone interested can go to the Trout Festival web page or find the link at www.flinflononline.com.

Plans are being developed for the fishing derby to run from June 10^th to 30^th, Main Street Days on Friday and Saturday June 26^th and 27^th and the parade July 1^st with a theme based on the 70^th anniversary.  The meeting tossed around a variety of ideas for events but also noted they are open to ideas from the community and schools on events they could put on as part of the Festival.

Colleen Arnold reported a couple of highlights from their recent survey with 100 people responding with most comments positive and 80 percent strongly or somewhat supporting the Festival and 65 percent rating events as good to excellent.

Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living is warning you of a possible phone scam involving Manitoba health cards.  A member of the public received a call from an automated service asking for their personal information related to a problem with their health card. 

They remind you Manitoba Health, Seniors and Active Living does not use automated calls to contact the public about their health card.  If you receive such a call do not provide any personal information and report the call to your local law enforcement agency.

The RCMP have released few details other than it was in response to a still ongoing criminal code investigation.  They add no charges have been laid in the matter as yet and no further details will be released while the investigation continues.

The Women’s Resource Centre has several events underway this week leading up to the Women’s Memorial March and Red Dress Project.  The Centre’s Brodie Hooper explains they have a coloring contest going out to grade 3 and up throughout Flin Flon so one winner per class will be chosen and gift certificates from local businesses will be awarded, various classes are also doing ribbon ties on the chain link fences around the schools to represent missing and murdered Indigenous women  and, they’re also doing felt pin workshops in classrooms from grades 6 to 7 led by Elder Margaret.  She adds they’re also doing a beaded pin workshop with Rachel Roberts this Saturday from 6 to 8 pm at the Women’s Resource Centre upstairs, it’s a free workshop for mature students and adults but spots are filling up really fast so phone 204-681-3105 to register.

We’ll have more next week on the Memorial March and Red Dress Project which will take place Friday, February 14^th at Pioneer Square.  The Centre is asking anyone travelling to Prince Albert and back before the 14^th to contact them at 204-681-3105 about picking up red dresses at Value Village.

At the Flin Flon City Council meeting Tuesday night Council agreed to submit a project titled Safe Playground Upgrade for grant funding.  This is through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program Community, Culture and Recreation Infrastructure Stream Saskatchewan as well committing its share of just over 21 thousand dollars to the project.  The city is looking at upgrading playgrounds and this funding will go towards upgrading the South Hudson playground including more child friendly equipment.  The city’s share will cover 25 percent of the cost with the grant from the Federal and Saskatchewan governments if approved covering the remainder.

Council also received the Fire Chiefs report for January indicating three incidents, a call to Ruth Betts School January 7^th where a false alarm was sent in by workers testing the system, a two vehicle collision at highway 10 and Green Street with no injuries and a false alarm at a residence on Phelan Avenue January 30^th.

And a City of Flin Flon Flag will fly in Thompson.  Flin Flon won the provincial final of the SnoRiders Sledtown Showdown over Thompson so the Flin Flon flag will fly over Thompson City Hall for a week.  Flin Flon is now in the Inter-Provincial competition against Hudson Bay, Saskatchewan.

 There is renewed talk of shipping western oil through the port in Churchill, Manitoba, but any such project could meet with a lot of opposition.

The Saskatchewan government this week raised the idea of supporting efforts to build a pipeline to Churchill.  (A map of the proposed pipeline shows it coming through the Flin Flon area on its way to Churchill.)

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the idea of exporting energy products through the port is worth considering and would help ensure the port's future.

Eric Reder (REE'-dur), Manitoba director for the Wilderness Committee, calls it a terrible idea for the environment.

Reder says the boggy terrain in northern Manitoba shifts and heaves, which increases the chance of a rupture or spill.

An idea to ship oil by rail through the area was floated in 2013, but was criticized by the Manitoba government and many area residents.

The head of Churchill's chamber of commerce says there would be big economic benefits to a pipeline, but people would have to be persuaded that it would not harm the area's polar bears, beluga whales and other wildlife.

The Aqua Centre continues to be closed due to damage to the ceiling. Mayor Cal Huntley reported at last night’s City Council meeting the area where the problem with the ceiling is has been identified and they are now getting people with the qualifications to determine what the remediation is for that and the scope of work attached so they’ll have a better idea of what they are doing by the end of next week.  He noted they have determined that the roof is sound and wasn’t leaking so there wasn’t moisture coming in from the outside but obviously with a pool you have moisture conditions on the inside. He added the date of reopening will depend on the scope of the work to be done and the cost to fix it.

The Manitoba Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts will be providing information on arts grants Monday night.  Executive Director for the Manitoba Council Randy Joynt says they will provide three free sessions on accessing their programs.  He explains from 6 to 7 pm is specifically focused on their Indigenous arts programs so that would be appropriate for Indigenous artists, Knowledge Keepers and folks involved with Indigenous arts organizations.  He continued then they have a meet and greet from 7 to 7:45 and that’s a more casual sort of chat with them and folks from the Canada Council of the Arts which is their federal counterpart and then from 7:45 to 8:45 they’re going to be speaking about their programs generally.

Joynt adds any artists, people associated with arts organization or anyone interested can attend any or all of the session Monday night at the Norva Centre at 177 Green Street.  It’s free with refreshments during the meet and greet.

Manitoba NDP Leader Wab Kinew says the government should build the first provincial Healing Lodge in Manitoba to replace the soon-to-be-defunct Dauphin Correctional Centre.

Kinew says the proposed healing lodge would support the 80 workers who will have to look for other placements once the correctional centre closes in May, and would adhere to one of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.

Kinew adds that the proposed healing lodge in Dauphin is just the first step in this plan, and they would like to see it expand further north if the proposal goes through.  He explains in the initial stages people would be travelling however they know it benefits rehabilitation if people are closer to family, friends and community so if they get the Dauphin Healing Lodge up and running they’d like to look at other provincial facilities in other regions across Manitoba so that people could be closer to family and friends if they are in need of rehabilitation so that they could see other opportunities to bring employment and services to other regions including the north.

Kinew says this is a major priority for the NDP and they will be bringing it up once the new session begins in Legislature next month.

Youth Alpha is again being offered by the Alliance Church.  One of the organizers Kayla Kemp says the course is a place for youth to explore the Christian faith with others.  She explains it’s a series of sessions focused on questions of life, faith and leadership, each session has food, games, a talk and space for discussion and questions.  She says it runs for nine weeks and includes a weekend retreat in the middle of the series adding it’s for everybody no matter what background, religion or viewpoint, all youth ages 11 to 18 are welcome, there’s no cost to attend and it’s just really a great way for youth to explore faith in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.

The Youth Alpha Course starts Thursday night with a supper at 6 at the Alliance Church at 237 Green Street.  For information you can call Kayla at 204-271-5357 or check Facebook at impact youth ff.

The Primary Health Care Centre is hosting a telehealth session next Tuesday evening presented by the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba.  The session will be conducted by Terri Bowser who is the Regional Educator for Rehabilitation, Healthy Aging and Seniors Care for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.  The session is titled Refusing Medications: Why, What and How and will give you the opportunity to learn tips on cueing people to take their medications, questions to ask health providers about medications along with other issues and considerations around medications and dementia.

The telehealth session will be held at the Primary Health Care Centre from 6:30 to 8 next Tuesday evening.  To register online go to www.alzheimer.mb.ca, email alzmb@alzheimer.mb.ca or call 1-800-378-6699.

The Day is a global initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control which aims to save millions of preventable deaths yearly by raising awareness about the disease sparking more action.  Dr. Donna Turner from Cancer Care Manitoba says they are highlighting cervical cancer which is the second most common type of cancer in the world and how it is completely preventable because they realized in the last 10 or 20 years that the Human Papillomavirus or HPV is responsible for all cervical cancer and so this is something that Cancer Care Manitoba wants to get the word out about that here we actually have an opportunity to eliminate one kind of cancer, cervical cancer, because we know of the role with HPV and people may be aware that kids can get a vaccine at about grade six in Manitoba, both boy and girls, for HPV and that is designed to be part of their strategy to totally eliminate this kind of cancer.

Turner goes on to encourage women whether or not they’re vaccinated to get a pap test every three years to screen for the disease.

The Flin Flon Trout Festival Committee is holding their annual meeting Wednesday night.  Committee member Colleen Arnold invites everyone with ideas to come out.  She says the Treasurer is going to go through the financials for the past year and the executive will also do a recap on how last year went.  She explains this year they are looking for many people to come out to volunteer, not necessarily to sit on the committees and even if they can’t volunteer just to bring their ideas to the table would be great as this is the 70^th anniversary for the Trout Festival so they’d like to make it a big one.

Arnold adds they will also be accepting nominations for the new executive.  She also thanks everyone who filled out their recent survey noting they got some ideas from these as well.

The meeting starts at 7 Wednesday night at the Victoria Inn.

The Manitoba Historical Society is accepting nominations for the Lieutenant Governor’s Award.  The Society’s Gordon Goldsborough says nominations are open to anyone who has done work in some form of historic preservation and promotion of the province’s history and it can be really quite wide ranging, maybe it’s involved with the development or the operation of a museum, maybe it’s the development of a history book, there’s so many ways it could be used. He adds there’s also additional supplementary material that should accompany the nomination noting there should be for example letters of reference, people who are prepared to support the nomination, newspaper clippings or some other documents.

Previous recipients have included Flin Flonners Don Peake and Gerry Clark who received this award for their work in preserving and promoting the history of Flin Flon.

Nomination forms and more information are available on the websites of the Manitoba Historical Society www.mhs.mb.ca or the Lieutenant Governor at www.manitobalg.ca.  The deadline is February 28th.