Saskatchewan health reported 191 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 201.  They also reported two additional deaths with one each in Regina and the South West zone.  Of the new cases 98 are in Regina, 20 each in Saskatoon and South Central, 15 each in Central East and South East with lower numbers in other zones including one in Far North East.  As of Tuesday a total of 1673 variants of concern have been identified by screening with 1348 in Regina, 128 in South Central, 109 in South East and 46 in Saskatoon with numbers remaining low in other zones.

All Saskatchewan residents are again asked to keep their Easter weekend safe and abide by the public health recommendations and measures in place.  Consider making gatherings virtual and keep your Easter egg hunt to your immediate family only.

Manitoba public health announced 71 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.8 percent. They also reported one additional death in the Winnipeg region.  Of the new cases 38 are in the Winnipeg region and 24 in the Northern health region with single digits in other regions. They also announced 17 new screened or sequenced cases of variants of concern have been detected with four in the Southern health region and 13 from the Winnipeg region bringing the total to 267 cases in the province.

Medical Lead for the Manitoba Vaccine Implementation Task Force Dr. Joss Reimer says they are looking into the Pfizer announcement regarding using its vaccine in children as young as 12.  She explains at the moment Pfizer is only approved for people over 16 with the other vaccines only being approved for people who are over 18 however if Health Canada were to approve it in younger populations certainly they would start to look at how they can start to roll out a campaign for younger Manitobans as well.

Of the total 34,122 reported COVID cases 1181 are considered active and 32,006 individuals have recovered.

Hudbay Minerals has released its annual mineral reserve and resource update and issued a new three year production guidance. President Peter Kukielski says their project execution, operational optimization and exploration efforts over the past year have been successful in setting up the business for the next phase of growth which sees Constancia’s annual copper production in Peru above 100 thousand tonnes for the next eight years and Snow Lake’s annual gold production over 180 thousand ounces once the New Britannia is  fully operational with ramp-up and first production at the gold plant now expected early in the third quarter of 2021 ahead of original schedule.

They report mineral reserves have increased year over year which resulted in no change to Snow Lake’s mine life to 2037 as the company accelerated future reserves with a higher production rate at Lalor and Stall.  They also noted based on the most recent estimate of mineral reserves there has been no change to the expected mine life of Triple Seven in Flin Flon which is expected to be depleted by the end of the second quarter of 2022.  Hubay has begun its transition planning ahead of closure including preparation for the training and transfer of personnel from Flin Flon to Snow Lake. The company plans to close and decommission the Triple Seven Mine and zinc plant upon depletion of reserves but the concentrator and tailings impoundment area will be kept on care and maintenance should another mineral discovery occur in the Flin Flon area.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe reports current restrictions in place in the province will be extended from April 5^th to the 12^th.  He explains we all need to be very diligent in following these public health orders as they are put forward so we can continue to drive our case numbers down without increasing our restrictions further in our community or extend the already increased restrictions that we have in the community of Regina.  He adds this is very important for all of us to be very diligent and he believes they will be able to get case numbers under control in the few communities where they are increasing but we all need to do our part.

Starting today the vaccine appointment booking system in Saskatchewan is available to residents 60 years or older.

That’s according to the Director of the Prairies for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business Jonathan Alward who says one-in-five businesses have been victimized by fraud.

Alward highlighted some of the types of fraud that small businesses may face including card not present fraud where the potential customer is basically using a fraudulent credit card and getting services picked up that you find out after the fact wasn’t covered.  He adds one of the big issues for small businesses especially is they’re often the ones that are left on the hook to pay even if it wasn’t necessarily their fault.  Anointer one he notes could be directory fraud or false invoicing things like that where a lot of Canadian are caught by these kinds of scams, not just small businesses but certainly something that exists and you also have occupational fraud with things like potential employees falsifying their previous experience or abusing flexible work hours and other things like that or even company assets they’re stealing internally.

For more information you can visit their website www.cfib.ca.

Manitoba public health reported 77 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.3 percent.  They reported no additional deaths.  Of the new cases 43 are in the Winnipeg region and 27 in the Northern health region with single digits in other regions. They also reported 11 new screened or sequenced cases of variants of concern have been detected with one from Interlake Eastern, three from Southern and seven from Winnipeg health region. That brings the total number of screened or sequenced cases related to variants of concern to 250 after they found a correction in Monday’s numbers.  Of the total reported COVID cases 1197 are active, 31,921 individuals have recovered and 150 are in hospital with 31 in intensive care.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan health reported 164 new cases of COVID-19 bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 201.  They also reported one death in the Central East zone. Of the new cases 91 are in Regina, 24 in Saskatoon and 20 in South Central with lower numbers in other zones including one in Far North East.  They also reported as of Monday 1575 variants of concern have been identified by screening with the larger numbers in Regina with 1298, 118 in South Central and 107 in the South East zone. Of the total 33,399 reported COVID cases 1942 are active and 31,023 have recovered.

The Manitoba government is providing a total of 12 million dollars in grant funding to ten municipalities throughout the province to address housing needs of vulnerable Manitobans and help protect them through affordable housing initiatives.  The municipalities receiving funding in the north are Flin Flon, The Pas and Thompson.  Families Minister Rochelle Squires says this funding will enable and empower municipalities to help those who face barriers to housing in their communities.  She explains each municipality will determine how best to address housing affordability in their communities and will still be able to leverage additional sources of funding if desired.  She notes they know some groups are more likely to experience barriers to housing including Indigenous households, single parent families, new Canadians including refugees, youth led households, low income seniors and people with physical or intellectual disabilities.

Flin Flon Mayor Cal Huntley says they have received word they will received 421 thousand dollars and haven’t determined where it will be used yet.  He says they’ve always been looking at seniors housing so this could be seed money as they determine how to make it grow.

Foran Mining Corporation has announced further high grade results from two additional holes drilled as part of its 30 thousand meter diamond drilling campaign at McIlvenna Bay west of Flin Flon.  They report encountering over 16 meters of continuous high grade mineralization in each hole.

Executive Chair Dan Myerson comments their largest drill program to date at McIlvenna Bay continues to deliver far beyond their expectations as high grades and continuous mineralization are core characteristics of a world class asset and they are delighted to report both.  He adds continuous intercepts over ten meters continue to provide them with more flexibility and the potential to mine more efficiently reducing operating costs through economics of scale. 

The winter drill program has been underway since mid January and drilling continues with three drills.  They anticipate the infill drill program will continue until May when the focus of the program will shift to expansion of the deposit with step-out holes designed to expand the resources.

Saskatchewan health reported 202 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 199.9.  Of the new cases 101 are in Regina, 22 in Saskatoon and 16 in South East with lower numbers in other zones including six in Far North East.  Of the total 33,233 reported cases 1978 are considered active and 30,822 people have recovered.

They also reported as of Monday 1474 variants of concern were identified by screening with 1222 in Regina,109 in South Central, 98 in South East, 25 in Central East, 17 in Saskatoon, two in Central West and one in Far North East.

The Government of Saskatchewan has launched a province wide multi-media campaign encouraging residents to stick it to COVID by getting vaccinated.  The campaign features Saskatchewan people sharing their stories of why they are getting vaccinated. Premier Scott Moe says they are asking people to help get back to normal by rolling up their sleeves to stick it to COVID.

Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin announced 53 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.2 percent.  He announced no additional deaths. Of the new cases 27 are in the Northern health region and 21 in Winnipeg region with single digits in other regions. He also reported 136 new screened and sequenced cases of variants of concern have been detected with five from the Interlake Eastern health region, 14 from Southern health and 117 from the Winnipeg region. The total number of confirmed variant of concern cases in the province is now 259. Roussin had a warning about travelling and gathering over spring break and Easter.  He says he knows that this is the time when many of us want to celebrate as per the usual manner but we can see with the growing number of variants of concern seeing what’s happening around us we just can’t do that at this  point.  He notes we saw where that got us over Thanksgiving and we just can’t be in that place again as they continue to roll out the vaccine as that’s the race we’re in right now.

Of the total 33,975 reported COVID cases 1177 are considered active and 31, 864 individuals have recovered.

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Dr. Joss Reimer medical lead of the province's vaccine task force says Manitoba is also limiting the use of the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine to people between the ages of 55 and 64 as more information is being sought around some adverse symptoms in younger people noticed in the United Kingdom.(CP)

Kiddie Korner Day Care in Flin Flon has received a grant.  The Centre’s Erin Cennon says this will allow for additional programming. She explains they will be opening a space above the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank in the old church and that will allow them to open 30 spaces for before and after school programming for children in Flin Flon.  She says as well they will be able to operate full days on the Pro D days and spring break as well as through the summer holidays so parents now will have an option for full time care during the summer months when lots of them have to work.

Cennon adds the grant was received from the Manitoba Early Learning Child Care Program and will be used to do required renovations to their new space and get it operational.  She noted the support they have received from the Flin Flon School Division and Lord’s Bounty Food Bank through the process.

Rockcliff Metals Corporation has announced a Joint Venture with Kinross Gold on one of the flagship gold properties in Snow Lake.  Kinross earned a 70 percent interest in the Laguna, Lucky Jack and Puella Bay properties through spending 5.5 million dollars on exploration activities on the properties. Rockcliff President Alistair Ross reports since 2018 Kinross has completed 48 drill holes totaling about 16,470 meters. He says the results of the program to date have been very promising including the most recent results which included intercepts of 22 meters grading 2.18 grams per ton gold and 2.59 meters grading 8.90 grams per ton.  Ross adds they look forward to working with Kinross Gold as a joint venture partner and delivering results of the on-going 2021 exploration program in which Kinross will follow up on the success of previous programs while also identifying the potential of other targets.

Manitoba public health reported 112 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.9 percent.  They also reported two additional deaths both in the Winnipeg region.  Of the new cases 53 are in the Winnipeg region and 50 in the Northern region with single digits in other regions. Of the total 33,922 reported cases 1179 are considered active and 31,809 individuals have recovered.  On Saturday they announced an outbreak has been declared at St. Anthony’s General Hospital Acute Care Inpatient Unit in The Pas which has been moved to the critical stage. The total number of confirmed variant of concern cases remains at 123.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan health reported 472 new cases over the weekend bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 200.  They also reported three additional deaths with two in the Regina zone and one in South East.  Of the new cases 252 are in Regina, 52 in Saskatoon and 43 in South East with lower numbers in other zones including six in Far North East. Of the total 33,031 reported cases 1950 are considered active and 30,648 have recovered.  Variants of concern are beginning to rise across southern Saskatchewan particularly in the Moose Jaw area. As of Saturday 1365 variants of concern cases have been identified with 1126 in Regina, 104 in South Central. 91 in South East, 25 in Central East, 17 in Saskatoon and one each in Far North East and Central West.

Saskatchewan health reported 213 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 186.  They also reported eight additional deaths with seven in the Regina zone and one in the North West.  Of the new cases 104 are in Regina and 34 in Saskatoon with lower numbers in other zones including five in Far North East.  Of the total 32,559 reported cases 1680 are considered active, 30,449 people have recovered and 155 are in hospital with 24 in intensive care.

They also reported as of Thursday 1155 variants of concern have been identified by screening in the province with 973 in Regina, 70 in South Central, 69 in South East, 24 in Central East, 18 in Saskatoon and one in Far North East.

A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the government of Saskatchewan and Indigenous Service of Canada to coordinate COVID-vaccines in on reserve communities.  The agreement will utilize existing expertise and facilities among ISC, Northern Inter Tribal Authority and First Nations communities to deliver vaccine to residents.

Manitoba Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Jazz Atwal announced 114 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.4 percent.  He also announced three additional deaths with one each in Interlake Eastern, Northern and Winnipeg health regions. He also announced 46 confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant of concern with 44 in Winnipeg and two in Southern health bringing the total confirmed variant of concern cases to 123.  Of the new COVID cases 55 are in Northern health and 51 in Winnipeg with single digits in other regions.  Of the total 33,810 reported cases 1169 are considered active, 31,709 individuals have recovered and 142 are in hospital with 31 in intensive care.

A pop up vaccine clinic will return to Flin Flon on April 9^th in the Flin Flon Community Hall but I’m told those are all booked and to The Pas April 7^th and 14^th in the Roy H. Johnston Arena from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm. Call 1-844-626-8222 for appointments. Eligibility to be immunized at a pop up clinic includes individuals aged 65 or older and First Nations aged 45 or older.

Saskatchewan Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqid Shahab says with COVID-19 numbers still up in the province and with the variants of concern in the south all people should use caution. He explains all of us all throughout Saskatchewan should continue to observe everything we’ve been doing.  Be very cautious even around household bubbles as they’ve had already not just from the south but other parts of the province situations where up to three households made a bubble of ten people and then shared food indoors and there was transmission and eight out of ten, six out of ten people got COVID and so again he thinks we need to be cautious, people who are older at high risk anywhere in Saskatchewan until they’re vaccinated, outdoors is better than indoors, even indoors if you can maintain physical distance and be very careful sharing food even within your household bubble, he thinks that is a message for everyone.

Shahab reminds you to be safe, stay home, enjoy the outdoors and limit all non-essential travel especially to the Regina area as we give the vaccine a chance to protect us not only on the short term but on the long term as well.

Manitoba Premier Brain Pallister has announced the government is investing six million dollars for the creation of a new Arts and Culture Sustainability Fund to provide financial support for Manitoba’s arts and culture sector.  He says it will be administered by the Manitoba Arts Council and Manitoba Film and Music and arts and heritage organizations such as museums, galleries, festivals, cultural facilities, community arts, book publishing, artists and musical groups will be eligible for financial support. He adds the funds will be allocated by the Arts Council and other adjudicators on the basis of those who most need the support.

Additional eligibility criteria, program and application details will be available through the Manitoba Arts Council and Manitoba Film and Music shortly.

Last August 11^th RCMP received a report of an infant in medical distress in Flin Flon.  Officers attended along with EMS and found an unresponsive ten month old girl who was pronounced deceased.  This past January they received further information that indicated the injuries sustained by the girl were not accidental and it was deemed a homicide.  Last Tuesday 25 year old Robert Alexander Bear of Sandy Bay Saskatchewan was arrested at his residence and remanded into custody on a charge of second degree murder.  Arrangements are currently underway to return him to Manitoba for a court appearance.

Flin Flon RCMP along with Major Crime Services continue to investigate.

Manitoba public health reported 105 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.3 percent.  They also reported one additional death in the Winnipeg region.  Of the new cases 53 are in the Northern health region and 46 in Winnipeg region with single digits in other regions. Of the total 33,696 reported cases 1109 are active, 31 658 individuals have recovered and 146 are in hospital with 30 in intensive care.  There were no reports of new variant of concern case so the total number of variants of concern cases remains at 77.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan health reported 168 new cases this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 181. They also reported two deaths with one each in the North Central and Central East zones.  Of the new cases 70 are in Regina, 25 in Saskatoon and 24 in South East with lower number in other zones including three in Far North East. Of the total 32,346 reported cases 1623 are considered active and 30,301 have recovered.  1064 variants of concern have been identified in Saskatchewan with 895 of them in Regina zone.

This year marks the 17^th year for Fraud Month. This year the Competition Bureau is joining forces with the RCMP and the Canadian Anti Fraud Centre to increase the reach of the fight against online fraud in Canada.  They report from Canadian consumers to big corporations everyone is a potential target of fraud noting recent statistics show that last year Canadians lost over 106 million dollars to fraud, 62 million of which was related to online fraud.  The actual impact of fraud they add is likely much larger as the Centre estimates Canadians report only five percent of actual fraud cases. 

Anyone who believes they have been contacted by a scammer, is aware of a scam or has become a victim is strongly encouraged to report it to authorities.  By reporting a scam authorities will be able to warn others which may limit it from spreading.

At their meeting this past Tuesday the Flin Flon School Board passed a motion from the Finance Committee to approve the 2021-22 budget as presented at the public meeting March 23^rd.  The budget will now be forwarded to the Manitoba Education Funding Branch no later than March 31st as required.  Secretary Treasurer Heather Fleming reported the Division has received 89,600 dollars from the government as part of the expanded capital program.  This money will go towards HVAC control upgrades at all the schools as well as new flooring at the entrance and lobby areas at Ecole McIsaac School.  There was also lot of talk regarding Bill 64.  Superintendent Tammy Ballantyne has shared a power point presentation to the Division’s Facebook page if parents have any questions.

Based on feedback from Manitobans, concerns over rising variants case numbers and the need to maintain the stability of the health-care system, the Manitoba government is making minor changes to the current public health orders and will remain at the ‘critical’ (red) level on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System, while continuing to balance the needs of the health-care system, Premier Brian Pallister and Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial health officer, announced today.
 
“At every step of the way throughout this pandemic, we’ve endeavored to reach out directly to Manitobans to get their input and perspectives on a variety of measures and their comfort level with learning to live with this virus. Once again, I want to thank Manitobans for providing their feedback for the next stages of our gradual reopening,” said Pallister. “As more Manitobans get back to doing some of the activities they love and have missed over the past few months, it is crucial that we continue to follow the fundamentals and avoid the activities that are known to cause the greatest risk.”
 
Following feedback from Manitobans, only a limited number of the options proposed late last week will be implemented in the next round of public health orders. The following changes to public health orders go into effect on Friday, March 26 at 12:01 a.m. and will expire on April 15:

• increasing gathering limits at outdoor public places to 25 from 10 people;
• increasing gathering limits at weddings and funerals to 25 from 10 people; 
• maintaining the capacity limits for retail stores at 50 per cent, but expanding the in-store limits to a 500-person capacity, whichever is lower, with other public health measures still in effect; and
• relaxing rules for drive-in events to allow people to leave their vehicles while still observing public health measures.
 
Roussin noted that changes to indoor or outdoor gathering sizes at personal residences or in restaurants will not be introduced, as prolonged contact has a higher risk of transmitting the virus.
 
“We are carefully monitoring our hospitalization data and case numbers of cases linked to variants of concern to ensure that as we gradually reopen, we continue to have capacity in the system,” said Roussin. “That said, we are going to see more cases and more exposures as we slowly reopen. COVID-19 will be here to stay for awhile, and we need to work together to manage its effects and protect our most vulnerable. We can continue to do this by following the fundamentals including mask wearing, frequent handwashing, staying home when sick and getting vaccinated when eligible.”

Additional changes may be considered after spring break, Passover and Easter if data supports making further reopening efforts, Roussin said. 

The new public health orders follow priorities set out by Manitobans in response to the survey launched on March 18 with proposed changes. Nearly 32,000 responses were provided on the proposals and preliminary results indicated:

• 53 per cent of respondents felt increasing gathering limits at outdoor public places to 25 people is an appropriate next step;

• 48 per cent of respondents felt increasing gathering limits at weddings, funerals and other gatherings to 25 people is an appropriate next step;

• 45 per cent of respondents felt expanding capacity limits for retail stores to 50 per cent or 500 people, whichever is lower, is an appropriate next step;

• respondents indicated that their top priority of the proposed public health changes was increasing gathering limits at an outdoor public place to 25 people; and
• 39 per cent of respondents indicated that bigger changes should wait until after Passover and Easter or later to prevent further spread of COVID-19.
 
For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, visit www.manitoba.ca/COVID19.

Public health officials advise one additional death in a person with COVID-19 is being reported today:

• a female in her 80s from the Winnipeg Health Region.

The current five-day COVID-19 test positivity rate is 5.3 per cent provincially and 3.9 per cent in Winnipeg. As of 9:30 a.m. today, 98 new cases of the virus have been identified. However, five cases have been removed due to data correction. This brings the net-new number of cases today to 93 and the total number of lab-confirmed cases in Manitoba to 33,511.

Today’s COVID-19 data shows:

• three cases in the Interlake–Eastern health region; 
• 31 cases in the Northern health region;  
• four cases in the Prairie Mountain Health region;  
• three cases in the Southern Health–Santé Sud health region; and  
• 57 cases in the Winnipeg health region.

The data also shows:

• 1,247 active cases and 31,335 individuals who have recovered from COVID-19; 
• 63 people in hospital with active COVID-19 as well as 79 people in hospital with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require care, for a total of 142 hospitalizations; 

• 11 people in intensive care units with active COVID-19 as well as 14 people with COVID-19 who are no longer infectious but continue to require critical care, for a total of 25 ICU patients; 

• the total number of deaths in people with COVID-19 is 929; and 
• the total number of confirmed variant of concern cases of B.1.1.7 is 63 and B.1.351 is 14, bringing the total number of confirmed variant of concern cases to 77. 

Laboratory testing numbers show 1,575 tests were completed yesterday, bringing the total number of lab tests completed since early February 2020 to 566,327. 
 
An outbreak has been declared at Extendicare Tuxedo Villa in Winnipeg. The facility has been moved to the Critical (Red) level on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System.

Additional data related to COVID-19, including data on outbreaks as well as some downloadable and historic data, can be found at https://geoportal.gov.mb.ca/.

Possible exposure locations are listed online by region at the province’s #RestartMB Pandemic Response System webpage. For up-to-date information on possible public exposures to COVID-19 in regions,

visit www.gov.mb.ca/covid19/updates/flights.html#event and click on your region. 

For up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Manitoba, including information the online screening tool, testing criteria and locations, self-isolation requirements, public health fundamentals and the provincial response level on the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System, visit www.manitoba.ca/COVID19. 

The Manitoba government has put forward a bill that proposes to amalgamate School Divisions across the province including Flin Flon with The Pas, Thompson and part of Frontier and replace School Boards with a provincial authority.  Lindsey says it doesn’t make sense.  He says they have no concept of how the north works, they have no concept of the size of the north, they have no concept of varying communities and community’s interests, it’s just forget about them put them altogether.  He notes imagine what kind of voice people in the north will have at this education authority staffed by people directly appointed by the Premier.

Lindsey adds people can raise their concerns when the bill reaches the public committee stage and with things going virtual people across the province should be able take part and that won’t stop the bill but may lead to amendments to the proposals.

Saskatchewan health reported 174 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 128.  They also reported three additional deaths with one each in Central West, Far North West and Far North Central zones.  Of the new cases 86 are in Regina, 20 in Saskatoon and lower numbers in other zones including three in Far North East.  Of the 31,259 reported cases 1345 are considered active and 29,500 people have recovered.

They also reported 21 new confirmed variant of concern cases bringing the total to 156 confirmed cases with 141 or 90 percent in the Regina zone. There are 508 presumed variant of concern cases with 434 of those in the Regina zone, 30 in South Central, 24 in South East, 13 in Saskatoon, six in Central East and one in Far North East.

Manitoba Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Jazz Atwal reported 91 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.7 percent.  He also reported one additional death a man in his 30s in the Northern health region.  No new cases of variants of concern were reported. Of the new cases 39 are in Winnipeg, 29 in Northern, 14 in Prairie Mountain, 10 in Southern and one in Interlake Eastern region.

Of the total 33,176 reported cases 1127 are active and 31,130 people have recovered.

Vaccine eligibility in Manitoba has expanded to include people aged 69 and older and First Nations people 49 and older.  All appointments at the Flin Flon pop-up clinic are reported to be booked with more details on appointments to be released next week.

Atwal also reported public health officials strongly recommend COVID-19 testing before travel to First Nations and Indigenous and Northern Relations communities and before a resident returns to a community after being away for more than 48 hours.

This Month the Dieticians of Canada are focusing on how healthy eating is different for everyone.

Spokesperson Tamara Sarkisian explains dieticians are just trying to help you find your own healthy so what really works for you so what she tells people is if you’re really busy during the week planning ahead and doing a little bit of meal planning can really save you some time throughout the week and that really depends on your own nutrition needs and it also depends on your cultural habits so really what dieticians are doing is helping you on an individualized bases and trying to help you out with what really works for the individual. 

Sarkisian says that food insecurity is high in Manitoba when compared to the rest of the country as one in seven households face food insecurity.

She adds that the issue affects one in five of Manitoban children,

Manitoba public health reported 89 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.7 percent.  They also reported one additional death in the Southern health region. Of the new cases 42 are in the Northern health region and 33 in Winnipeg health with single digits in other regions. They also noted 12 additional confirmed cases of the variants of concern with nine in the Winnipeg region, two in Southern health and one in the Prairie Mountain health region bringing the total number of confirmed variants of concern cases to 76 in the province.  Case investigations continue.  Of the total 33,085 reported COVID cases 1,089 are considered active while 31,078 people have recovered.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan health reported 115 new cases bringing the seven day average of new cases to 128.  They also reported one death in the Saskatoon zone. Of the new cases 65 are in Regina and 15 in Saskatoon with single digits in other zones.  They also noted there were no new confirmed variants of concern cases reported.  There are 135 confirmed variant cases in the province with 90 percent in Regina.  Of the total 31,085 reported COVID cases 1282 are considered active and 29,392 people have recovered. The cut off age for booking vaccinations in Saskatchewan has dropped to 67.                         

Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr Brent Roussin has announced the province is considering moving the restricted level from red to the orange level.  He says input is needed as they consider loosening restrictions province wide. He explains possible changes include increasing outdoor gathering limits, expanding capacity at retail stores, expanding capacities for religious services, expanding indoor restaurant dining to include a household and their designated visitors, allowing organized team games at indoor sporting facilities, allowing youth to not wear masks while taking part in indoor sporting activities such as hockey and soccer, enabling indoor theatres, indoor concert halls, casinos, gaming centers to open at limited capacity levels and removing the requirement to self isolate for 14 days for interprovincial domestic travelers who travel for business reasons and do not have symptoms.

Roussin adds there is no time frame set for these proposed changes as they wait for public input on both the changes and the timing for making them.  You can provide your input online at engagemb.ca.

Pharmasave in Flin Flon is joining select pharmacies across Manitoba in administering the COVID-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca for Manitobans 50 to 64 years old as well as First Nations people aged 30 to 64 with a high risk condition.  Pharmasave’s Corey Thompson says you can add your name to a wait list.  He explains right now they have a vaccine that’s for a certain population and they have to meet certain criteria so what they’re doing is asking people to join their wait list and after that they’ll be sent a form for them to fill out based on that criteria and once that form is filled out they will get another email telling them when they can book their appointment.

To add your name to the wait list they encourage you to find the link on their Pharmasave Facebook page and if you have any difficulties there you can call them at 204-687-4429.

At their meeting Tuesday night Flin Flon City Council received the Fire Chiefs report for February.  They had three calls to assist EMS with patients on February 3^rd, 9^th and 13^th.  They also reported three false alarms. The first was a call on February 13^th but while en route they were notified it was a false alarm.  On the 15^th .a residential fire alarm on Hill Street had been activated.  Crews responded and found the owner had accidently set off the alarm.  And on the 28^th a call was received from a bystander who saw smoke and flames from a home on Church Street. Crews responded and found that the homeowner had been using a wood stove and was properly venting it outside and no other flame or smoke was present.  The Fire Chief also reported the first group of the Northern Lights Firefighter training arrived and successfully completed training. Groups will be coming in three separate intakes of a week each.

Also at the meeting Council resolved to appoint Mary Wright as Municipal Weed Inspector a position required by the province.  She will assist in the administration of the Noxious Weeds Act on a contract basis. They also resolved that the annual property tax sale be held November 3^rd at 10 am in City Council Chambers.

Saskatchewan health reported 87 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 135.  They also reported one additional death in the North West zone. Of the new cases 27 are in Regina and 20 in Saskatoon with single digits in other zones including five in Far North East.  Of the 30, 970 reported cases 1264 are considered active, 29,296 people have recovered and 139 people are in hospital with 31 in intensive care.

They noted there were no new confirmed variants of concern cases to report.  There are 135 confirmed variant cases with 121 of these cases in the Regina zone. In addition to the confirmed cases there are currently 313 presumptive variant of concern cases with 264 in Regina, 23 in South Central, 14 in South East, six in Saskatoon, five in Central East and one in Far North East.

Eligibility to be immunized in Manitoba has been expanded to include individuals aged 73 or older and First Nations people aged 53 or older. To book an appointment you can call 1-844-626-8222 and specify Flin Flon Community Hall with pop up clinics there this and next Friday.  They emphasize all vaccines being used in Manitoba are safe

Meanwhile Manitoba Public Health reported 93 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.4 percent.  They reported no additional deaths.  Of the new cases 51 are in Northern health and 40 in Winnipeg health with single digits in other regions. Their dashboard map indicates nine active cases in the Flin Flon, Snow Lake, Cranberry Portage, Sherridon district. Of the total 32,966 reported cases 1,035 are active and 31,044 individuals have recovered.  Nine additional confirmed cases of the B.1.1.7 variant of concern have been detected in the Winnipeg region.

Council passed a resolution to enter into an agreement with the Flin Flon Junior Bomber Hockey Club regarding an outstanding account with the city in the amount of 27,492 dollars.  The agreement notes the City will forbear from taking steps to collecting the amount and in the event the Hockey Club sells its Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League franchise it will firstly apply the proceeds of the sale toward the payment of the outstanding account in full and should the Hockey Club annual profits exceed 100 thousand dollars payment will be due on the outstanding balance. Councilor Tim Babcock noted the amount owed is the result of the playoffs being cut short two seasons ago and they had no season this year so the amount will remain on the City’s books until when or if one of the listed provisions is met.

Council passed on final reading three bylaw updates they gave first reading to at their last meeting.  They confirmed the establishment of a Library Board, established standards of maintenance and occupancy for property and adopted rules and regulations for public cemeteries.

They received a request from the Flin Flon Pride Committee to declare the week of July 2^nd to 11^th Pride Week with a flag raising at City Hall at 5 pm July 2^nd depending on provincial restrictions with the Mayor and interested Councilors attending. They also requested permission to re-paint their rainbow crosswalk beside the Royal Bank in June.

The Northern Mining Academy is offering a Food Safe course.  The Academy’s Craig Cowper says the course will be offered Tuesday March 30^th starting at 8:30. He explains it’s called Food Safe Level One and is a food handling, sanitation, worker safety course designed for the food service industry so that’s people that are perhaps dish washers, cooks, servers that’s applicable for them and the certificate is valid for five years.

If you are interested in the Food Safe course you can register by calling Craig at 204-687-7038.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says while COVID-19 numbers are down across the province there is an increase in variants of concern in the Regina zone.  He explains as a result and on the recommendation of Dr. Shahab and his team all of the current public health orders which were set to expired on March 19^th have been extended until April 5^th and in addition to this across the province places of worship are being allowed to expand their attendance to 150 people or 30 percent of capacity whichever is less and that begins this weekend but they’re not able to move ahead with this in Regina and the immediate area.

 All residents of Regina, those who work in Regina and those who are planning to travel there are asked to abide by all best personal protective measures to avoid further restrictions.

Manitoba public health reported 110 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate up to 5.2 percent.  They reported no additional deaths but did reported 13 additional confirmed cases because of the B.1.1.7 variant of concern and one of the B.1.135 variant all from the Winnipeg health region bringing the variant total to 55.  Of the new COVID cases 71 are in Northern health region and 31 in Winnipeg region with single digits in other regions.  Of the total 32,903 reported cases 989 are active, 30,997 individuals have recovered and 151 are in hospital with 22 in intensive care

Meanwhile Saskatchewan health reported 156 new cases this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 138.  They also reported two additional deaths with one each in Regina and Far North West.  Of the new cases 101 are in Regina and 16 in Saskatoon with single digits in other zones including seven in Far North East.  They noted 66 new confirmed cases of variants of concern with 61 in Regina, two in South East and one each in Saskatoon, Central East and South Central bringing the provinces total to 136 as well as 210 presumptive cases.  Of the total 30,883 reported cases 29, 461 people have recovered and 1292 cases are considered active which is lowest since November 9^th.

The Manitoba government is investing eight million dollars for the creation of a new Hospitality Relief Sector Program.  Premier Brian Pallister says the program will provide financial relief to Manitoba’s accommodation and tourism sector.  He explains the Hospitality Relief Program will be administered by the Manitoba Hotel Association in cooperation with the Manitoba Lodge and Outfitters Association and it will be designed to provide support to hotels and to full time licensed resource tourism operators for fixed costs that have not been covered by other relief programs.

Grants will be provided as a reimbursement for a percentage of eligible expenses incurred. More information on the Program and how to apply will be available for eligible applicants shortly.

MP Niki Ashton reports one in five Canadians are unable to afford the medication their doctors prescribe.  She says the solution is clear we need a national universal public pharmacare program now more than ever.  She explains the NDP caucus put forward an Act to Enact the Canada Pharmacare Act which lays out the path to establishing a universal, single payer, comprehensive and public pharmacare plan but the Liberals and Conservatives voted against it while 88 percent of Canadians support pharmacare.  She adds they know that families from coast to coast are struggling to afford their medication and they will continue to fight to make a national pharmacare program part of our Medicare program.

Education Minister Cliff Cullen announced this afternoon the government is accepting the recommendations made in the Manitoba Kindergarten to Grade Twelve Education Review. He says changes will be put forward in a bill as part of the Best Education Starts Today strategy. He says the Provincial Education Authority will be established to oversee the delivery of K to 12 education over 15 regions. This will sse the consolidation of shared services like procurement, investments in information technology, workforce planning and many others.  He adds it further enhances parental involvement by creating a Provincial Advisory Council on education.  These members will be elected by school community council executives within the new 15 regions across Manitoba.  He says this new model will see up to 40 million dollars re-directed to our classrooms where students need it most.

Cullen says Manitoba education will be undertaking public consultations on a variety of areas as it builds a roadmap for the future on topics such as curriculum development, teacher training and learning, and ways to support the most vulnerable students.

Saskatchewan health reported 110 new cases of COVID19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 132.  They reported no additional deaths.  Of the new cases 53 are in Regina, and 11 in Saskatoon with lower numbers in other zones including three in Far North east.  Of the total 30,727 reported cases 1299 cases are considered active, 29,021 people have recovered and 137 are in hospital with 30 in intensive care.  There remains 70 confirmed variants of concern cases in Saskatchewan and 210 presumptive variants of concern cases with 185 of them in Regina, ten in South Central, five each in Central East and South East, four in Saskatoon and one in Far North East.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority Patient Booking System expanded COVID-19 vaccine appointments to people 70 years of age and older.

Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin reported 50 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.8 percent.  He reported no new deaths but did report an increase in variants of concern.  He says a further 18 confirmed cases of B.1.1.7 COVID variant of concern have been detected one of which is from Interlake Eastern health region and 17 from Winnipeg health region and so case investigations are continuing and that brings the total number of variants of concern cases that are confirmed to 41.

Roussin added eight of the new variant cases are related to travel with the others related to contacts so their contact tracing is being stepped up.

Of the new COVID cases 31 are in the Winnipeg region, 16 in Northern Health, three in Southern Health and zero in the other two regions.  Of the total 32,793 reported cases 908 are active, 30,968 individuals have recovered and 151 are in hospital with 23 in intensive care.

Vaccine eligibilty has been expanded to include people 77 and older and First Nations people aged 57 and older.

The Ministry of the Environment reminds you that ice fishing season is winding down.  That means all ice fishing shelters in areas north of Saskatchewan highway 16 must be removed by March 31^st.  They note each spring a number of ice fishing shelters are abandoned on the ice and these can pose a danger to boaters and others enjoying the summer lakes as well as causing environmental hazards when pieces wash up on shore.  All litter must also be removed when the shelters are taken off the ice.

If shelters are not removed owners may be prosecuted and the structure and contents may be removed and confiscated.  They also warn anyone traveling on the ice should take extreme caution and watch for indicators of unsafe conditions such as slush, thermal cracks and pressure ridges.

Lake Winn Resources has been granted a new exploration permit on its Quartz Project 76 kilometers southeast of Flin Flon.  This Project lies near the southern shores in Reed Lake between the Reed Lake and Four Mile Island VMS deposits and contains multiple drill hole intercepts containing gold with the permit allowing for access and drill testing around the known gold mineralization.  A helicopter based V-TEM survey is underway which will provide data that will be used to plan the drill testing.

Lake Winn reports in 1975 a hole drilled by Hudson Bay Exploration and Development intersected 1.28 meters at 19.9 grams per ton gold while targeting a 1.45 kilometer long EM conductor. They drilled 19 diamond drill holes into this gold bearing zone between 1975 and 88 along a 200 meter long section of the conductor which was again drill tested by Tribune Uranium in 2007 with similar gold intercepts.  Lake Winn plans to drill along the entire 1.45 kilometer length of the conductor.

Manitoba public health reported 136 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend bringing the five day test positivity rate to 4.5 percent.  They also reported five additional deaths with four in Winnipeg region and one in Interlake Eastern.  Of the new cases 59 are in Northern health, 52 in Winnipeg region and 14 in Southern health with single digits in other regions.  Of the total 32,743 reported cases 891 are considered active, 30,935 individuals have recovered and 148 are in hospital with 23 in intensive care.  Over the weekend Manitoba passed the 100 thousand mark in vaccinations administered.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan health reported 251 new cases over the weekend bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 130.  They also reported three deaths with one each in Saskatoon, Regina and Far North West.  Of the new cases 91 are in Regina, 41 in Saskatoon and 28 in Central East with lower numbers in other zones including 14 in Far North East.  Of the 30,620 reported cases 1399 are considered active, 28, 814 people have recovered and 131 are in hospital with 29 in intensive care.  Saskatchewan also passed the 100 thousand vaccinations milestone over the weekend.

Saskatchewan health reported 176 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of new cases to 134.  They also announced three additional deaths with one each in the Regina, South Central and Saskatoon zones.  Of the new cases 67 are in Regina and 31 in Saskatoon with lower numbers in other zones including ten in Far North East.  They also reported 77 presumed cases of variants of concern in the Regina zone with a total of 70 variant cases already confirmed in the province.  They are asking all who work in Regina to re-commit to best prevention practices to protect against COVID-19 noting many of Regina’s outbreaks are the result of people going to work and public places while symptomatic urging people with symptoms to stay home and get tested.

Of the total 30,369 reported cases 1437 are considered active and 28,528 people have recovered.

Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin announced 98 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate up to 4.1 percent.  He also announced one additional death in the Winnipeg region. Of the new cases 51 are in the Northern health region and 37 in Winnipeg region with single digits in other regions. He noted one additional confirmed case of the B1.1.7 variant of concern has been found in Winnipeg region related to travel. 

Roussin also reported people in their household group seated at a religious service will no longer have to wear masks if they’re distancing and not singing.  He explained we have such a decreased capacity in venues that if you’re distanced within that family unit and not singing there’s really low risk to remove that mask so they thought it would be appropriate to remove that requirement.

He said they will also allow outdoor dining on patios at restaurants and licensed premises at 50 percent capacity with up to six people from different households at a table.

The Northern Mining Academy is offering both Intermediate and Basic First Aid courses through April.  The Academy’s Craig Cowper explains The Basic First Aid course is a one day first aid course that used to be known as Emergency First Aid and that includes a focus on emergency situations and CPR and Automated External Defibrillator and the Intermediate First Aid that they used to call Standard First Aid for decades is a two day first aid training and it also includes CPR and AED and just more information on first aid scenarios.

Intermediate First Aid is being offered April 6^th and 7^th and April 20^th and 21^st and Basic First Aid April 13^th, 14^th, 27^th and 28^th all from 8:30 to 4.  Some of those dates have been filled but the courses will continue through May and June.  For information or to register call Craig at 204-687-7038 or email crcowper@ucn.ca.

 Creighton Town Council has received a letter from Flin Flon Minor Hockey requesting to have the ice ready at the Sportex for the beginning of this September.  This request has been referred to the Rec Committee. 

Creighton Community School has requested continued support towards the scholarship program which Council approved.

Council also agreed to an offer from the Reminder to publish an ad in this year’s Tourism Guide and a request from CFAR to sponsor Bike Safety Week in May has been referred to the General Government Services Committee.

Manitoba public health reported 88 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.7 percent.  They also report three additional deaths with two in the Winnipeg region and one in Northern health.  Of the new cases 50 are in the Northern health region and 31 in Winnipeg region with single digits in other regions.  Their dashboard shows six active cases in the Flin Flon, Snow Lake, Cranberry Portage, Sherridon district.

Of the total 32,509 reported cases 1204 are active, 30,394 individuals have recovered and 156 are in hospital with 22 in intensive care.  A total of 22 confirmed variant of concern cases have been reported in the province.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan health reported 165new cases this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 139 the lowest since November 13^th. They reported no new deaths.  Of the new cases 51 are in Regina, 24 each in Saskatoon and Far North East and 19 in North West with lower numbers in other zones.  Of the total 30,193 reported cases 1395 are considered active and 28,397 people have recovered.

The Saskatchewan government has announced nearly 29 million dollars in approved funding to support schools during the pandemic with sanitation, substitute teachers, procure PPE and assist schools in ensuring proper supports for students are in place for the fall of 2021.

Funding from the Investing in Canada plan will support 26 infrastructure projects in Saskatchewan.  The government of Canada is investing more than 21 million dollars in these projects with the Saskatchewan government providing over 12 million and recipients of the funding will provide more than 12 million.

Two projects are being funded in this area.  The City of Flin Flon Safe Playground Upgrade will receive just under 32 thousand dollars in federal funding, just over 26 thousand in provincial funding and will provide just over 21 thousand from municipal funding for various upgrades to the South Hudson park including replacement of the playground equipment and rehabilitation of the outdoor rink.  The Northern Village of Denare Beach Community Hockey Bunk Revitalization Project will receive 31 thousand in federal funding, just under 26 thousand in provincial funding and will provide just over 20 thousand from the Village for expansion of the outdoor ice surface beside the Denareplex to create a skating ring around the main skating surface that will allow for both hockey and skating simultaneously as well as replacing boards, a roof and lighting.

At the Flin Flon School Board meeting Tuesday evening each member took the opportunity to voice their decision regarding proposed changes to the K to 8 schools.  Trustees read through all the comments and appreciated the feedback whether it was for or against the proposed changes.  They noted COVID has been extremely difficult for students, parents and teaching staff and unfortunately will still be a factor in September.  The motion for proposed changes was defeated by a vote of five to two.  The Board felt now is not the right time and it was not an easy decision and will need to look at this more thoroughly.  Ultimately all decisions made put the needs of students first. So Ruth Betts remains a K to 8 school and Ecole McIsaac remains K to 8 and the only English and French immersion school.

You can see the results of the Board’s community survey on their website www.ffsd.mb.ca.

Saskatchewan Health Authority CEO Scott Livingston has announced residents 85 and over from across the province canbook their COVID-19 vaccine appointments online or over the phone starting tomorrow.  He say if you are in that group or if you are acting on behalf of somebody in that age group like a parent or grandparent go online or call to book an appointment.  He adds they’ll be opening the booking system to more people in the days ahead by descending in age order.

The online booking system can be found by going to their website www.saskatchewan.ca/covid19-vaccine or call 1-833-SASK-VAX which is 1-833-727-5829 and have a valid health card ready. Those not eligible should not try to book until your age group qualifies.

Saskatchewan health reported this afternoon 111 new cases of COVID-19 bringing the seven day daily average of new cases to 139.  They also reported one death in the Regina zone. Of the new cases 41 are in Regina and 26 in Saskatoon with lower numbers in other zones including one in Far North East. 26 new cases of a variant have been found in the Regina zone.

Manitoba public health reports pop-up clinics will launch next week in rural and northern Manitoba communities for people who meet current provincial eligibility standards.  That includes individuals aged 80 and older or First Nations people aged 60 or older.  Their briefing notes indicate the clinics will be in Flin Flon March 19^th and 26^th from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm at the Flin Flon Community Hall and The Pas March 24^th and 31^st from 10:30 am to 6:30 pm at the Roy H. Johnston Arena. Appointments are required and can be made through the provincial call centre beginning tomorrow at 1-844-626-8222.  Callers should have their health cards available to make their appointment. When you call specifty Flin Flon Community Hall not just Flin Flon. The initial two week schedule is available online at www.manitoba.ca/vaccine and will be regularly updated.

Manitoba public health reported 71 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.8 percent.  They also reported one death in the Winnipeg region.  Of the new cases 36 are in the Northern health region and 24 in Winnipeg with single digits in other regions.

The NorVa Centre is now offering free video tutorials and free supply kits for community members to engage in visual arts from the safety and comfort of your home.  The videos are accessible on their new YouTube channel NORVATV.  Available to view now are Crumple Dye with Jan Modler, Portraiture level one with Rosimeire Anjos and Acrylic Painting with Karen Clark.  Still to come are Level Up your Line Art with Danita Stallard on March 13^th, Watercolour Landscape with Ann Marin March 16^th and Portraiture Level Two  March 20^th.

Free supplies for Crumple Dye, Acrylic Painting and Watercolour can be picked up at the NorVa Centre during their regular hours of 10 to 5 Tuesday to Friday and 12 to 4 Saturday. The other classes only require pencil and paper.

Specific funding for the project was provided by Safe at Home Manitoba and the Flin Flon Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation.  You can find more on their website www.norvacentre.com.

The organization’s Doctor Christopher Love says all ice in the province is potentially unsafe.  He explains they are recommending right now that nobody should be going out on the ice so they’ve issued an ice advisory.  Their concern is that we’ve had above average temperatures in the province over the last few days and it’s predicted that is going to continue for the next week and because of that ice thickness and ice conditions are going to be unpredictable.  He adds there’s a very high chance that the ice could be weakened in places where people are not expecting it and they are trying to avoid any tragedies from occurring out there.

Love says now’s not a great time for parents and caregivers to teach their children about ice safety and an Ice Smart activity book is available on their website www.lifesaving.mb.ca.

Saskatchewan health reported this afternoon 113 new cases of COVID-19 bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 141.  They also reported one death in the North West zone.

With the declining trend in confirmed cases effective immediately individual households may create a bubble of up to ten individuals in a home at any one time noting they should be from two or three consistent households.

Of the new cases 37 are in Saskatoon and 30 in Regina with single digits in all other zones including Far North East with nine. Of the total 29,918 reported cases 1414 case are considered active and 28,104 people have recovered.  They also report the confirmation of 44 variant of concern cases present over the span of two months mostly in the Regina zone with some community transmission although COVID-19 data shows active cases and hospitalizations continue to decline.

Manitoba public health reported 62 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.8 percent.  They also reported one additional death in the Winnipeg region. Of the new cases 36 are in the Northern health region and 19 in the Winnipeg region with lower numbers in other regions. They announced five additional confirmed cases because of the B.1.1.7 variant of concern and eight confirmed cases because of the B.1.351 variant of concern all from the Winnipeg health region with the majority being either travel or close contact related. Officials note most of these B.1.351 variant cases were found through the retroactive screening of samples from February and there is no evidence of widespread community transmission of either variant of concern.

Of the total reported cases 1153 are considered active with 30,290 individuals who have recovered.

Nominations are now open for a by-election to fill two vacancies on Flin Flon City Council for the period of May 2021 to October 2022.  The seats were vacated by the late Colleen McKee and Barry Kreller who is returning to British Columbia.

Nominations will be accepted until April 6^th at City Hall between the hours of 12 and 4 pm.  All nominations will be made in writing and signed by at least 25 of the voters of the authority.  You obtain nomination papers by contacting the Senior Election Official Katy Anderson by calling 204-687-3935 or City Chief Administrative Officer Glenna Daschuk at City Hall or call her at 204-687-7503.

Voters who wish to vote by mail can apply in writing to the Senior Election Official care of City Hall and names of voters can be added or deleted or changes made to the voters list March 19^th from 12 to 4 at City Hall with photo ID or two pieces of identification listing your address. The date of the by-election will be set once nominations are received.

The coordinator of the conservatory’s Music Equals outreach program Domanie Billinghurst-Shadek says the arts community has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and had to pivot to virtual programming. She notes the conservatory took this opportunity to reach communities they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise, including here in the north. She explains all in all they were able to come up with 16 so they have baby programs of 30 minute classes which include movement, singing, dancing, using body percussion, those types of things for parents and their pre-school children and babies.  They have a family music afternoon which is kind of a variety program for families of young children, they have a fiddling program which is taught by Kyle Burghout and he is quite a well known fiddler on the Canadian scene and he’s been giving some programming to learners teaching them traditional music by ear and they just do it online.

Billinghurst-Shadek adds the workshops were funded by the Manitoba Stay at Home grant and they have free workshops available to all ages, from toddlers to adults.

Saskatchewan health reported 97 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of new cases to 144.  They also reported one death in the Saskatoon zone. Of the new cases 50 are in Regina, 12 in Central East and only six in Saskatoon with similar low numbers in other zones including five in Far North East.

The Roy Romanow Provincial Lab is reporting an additional three confirmed cases of the B1.1.7 UK variant with two in the Regina zone and one in North West zone including the confirmation of the presumptive positive case reported February 23^rd.  This brings the provincial total of confirmed variants of concern cases to nine.

Of the total 29,806 reported cases of COVID-19 1463 are active, 27,944 people have recovered and 140 are in hospital with 23 in intensive care.

Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin reported 63 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.5 percent.  He also reported one additional death in the Northern health region.

Of the new cases 36 are in the Northern health region and 25 in Winnipeg region with two in Southern health and zero in the other two regions. They noted there are now six active cases in the Flin Flon. Snow Lake, Cranberry Portage, Sherridon District.

Roussin noted while cases are still quite active in the North things are looking better across the province.  He says they’re seeing that continued down trend and where they are seeing transmissions still for the most part right now with these lower numbers are within household contacts although they see transmission in pretty much any setting where they see prolonged indoor contact.

Of the total 32,288 reported cases 1145 are considered active, 30,236 individuals have recovered and 164 are in hospital with 22 in intensive care.

Manitoba has expanded its vaccination program with the minimum age to book an appointment for the general public being dropped by five years to 60 and up for First Nations people and 80 and up for others.

The Flin Flon Guidance Nursery School is being affected by cuts in funding announced by the Manitoba government.  School Director Rhonda Boyd explains their government funded operating grant is being cut by fifty percent and some parents may not be able to pay the increased fees. She says to adjust for the upcoming loss in their operating grant they need to make cuts to all areas of their program and they are finding this just isn’t feasible.  She noted the Flin Flon Guidance Nursery has been an integral part of our community for over thirty years and it would be a great loss to children and families of our community if they have to close their doors.  She points out for now they will have to rely heavily on donations and fund raising in order to keep them open.

Boyd adds in the hope the government will change their plans they are now accepting registrations for the 2021-22 school year for children aged 2 to 6. For more information you can call 204-687-5117.

Lake Winn Resources has received the assay results for its eight holes, 1683 meter, phase one drill campaign on the Cloud project 40 kilometers north east of Flin Flon.  Highlight results from one hole are 0.69 meters returning 26.54 grams per tonne gold from 179.7 meters to 180.39 meters.  A second drill hole showed 2 meters at 13.75 grams per tonne gold from 142 to 144 meters. They noted these two diamond drill holes are 175 meters apart and the high grade gold intercepts are hosted in bucky white quartz veins.

Lake Winn states they are encouraged by these high grade gold intercepts in the very first phase of exploration and plan to return to the project to conduct a further two thousand meters of drilling once the permit is received.

Manitoba public health reported 122 new cases of COVID-19 over the weekend bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.3 percent.  They also reported three additional deaths all in the Winnipeg region.  Of the new cases 72 are in the Northern health region and 42 in Winnipeg with single digits in other regions. The district map indicates five cases in the Flin Flon Snow Lake Cranberry Portage Sherridon district with public health noting at least one confirmed case in Flin Flon’s Ruth Betts Community School on March 2^nd.  All close contacts have already been contacted. Of the total 32,225 reported cases 1130 are active and 31,188 individuals have recovered.

Meanwhile Saskatchewan health reported 279 new cases over the weekend bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 152.  They also reported five additional deaths with three in Saskatoon and one each in Far North West and North West zones.  Of the new cases 108 are in Regina and 53 in Saskatoon with lower numbers in other zones including 17 in Far North East.  Of the 29,709 reported cases 1518 are considered active and 27,993 people have recovered.

Saskatchewan public health reported 207 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 155.  They also reported two additional deaths with one in Regina and one in Saskatoon region.  Of the new cases 45 are in Saskatoon, 43 in Regina, 23 in Far North West and 20 in North West with lower numbers in other zones including 13 in Far North East. Of the total 29,432 reported cases 1507 are considered active, 27,532 people have recovered and 138 are in hospital with 20 in intensive care.

Saskatchewan will receive over 15 thousand doses of AstraZeneca vaccine next week with it going to Phase One priority healthcare workers under 65 years and residents aged 60 to 64 in selected cities.

Manitoba Deputy Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Jazz Atwal announced 53 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to three percent.  He also reported one additional death in the Winnipeg region. An outbreak at St. Paul’s Personal Care Home in The Pas has been declared over.

Atwal noted one confirmed case in the province to be the result of the B 1.351 variant of concern has been detected in the Winnipeg health region bringing the total reported to nine.  He explains he knows a number of these are related to travel and he believes those cases have been closed already or those investigations essentially and there’s still a couple of investigations pending so if anything comes out of those investigations that the public needs to know about they will provide that information to the public.

Of the new COVID -19 cases reported 33 are in the Northern health region and 14 in Winnipeg region with single digits in other regions. Of the total 32,104 reported cases 1133 are considered active, 30,067 individuals have recovered and 171 are in hospital with 24 in intensive care.

The Public Health Lead for the First Nation Pandemic Response Coordination Team Dr. Marcia Anderson reports widespread first dose COVID-19 immunizations will begin in First Nations communities throughout the province, Northern Affairs communities and remote northern municipalities in mid March.  She noted these communities are more at risk of COVID-19 and at younger ages and many face emergency situations. She explains the sequencing plan takes into account the experiences of outbreaks and death within the communities.  She says we know that communities that have had higher fatality rates, outbreaks and lockdowns may be feeling pandemic fatigue more than others.  As such once the communities that are at the highest risk of evacuations due to flooding or fires are completed they will then move on to communities that have had the higher numbers of deaths and have had community outbreaks.

People living in Thompson, The Pas, RM of Kelsey and Flin Flon will continue to access COVID-19 immunizations at the super site in Thompson or at other mobile or pop-up sites that will be held in the future following provincial age based eligibility criteria.  For more information on the vaccine program visit www.manitoba.ca/vaccine.

The Flin Flon School Board presented their budget plan for the 2021-22 school year at a virtual meeting last night.  The Division has planned a budget of just over 15.5 million dollars up from last year’s just over 14.9 million which is a 3.98 percent increase. The Manitoba government has requested School Divisions hold the 2021 special levy request to the City to the same amount as 2020 so the proposed mill rate is 24.28.  All requests for funding this year dealt with additional student support at a cost of 629 thousand dollars. Total School enrollment at September 30^th 2020 was 948 compared to 987 for September 30, 2019. 

Funding from the province for 2021-22 is up just under 410 thousand dollars or four percent compared to the original budgeted amount for this school year of just over 9.5 million dollars. The budget did not include proposed restructuring with a decision on that coming at their March 9^th meeting.  The budget will then be approved by the Board at their March 23^rd meeting.                                     

Budget information will be posted on the Division’s website www.ffsd.mb.ca.

The Women’s Enterprise Centre of Manitoba and The Hub Flin Flon are presenting a free two part virtual workshop titled Flin Flon Strength in Community for women in business.  The Hub’s Krista Lemke says they have experts ready to talk about running your business.  She explains it’s a two part workshop where you’re going to be doing some one on one and some group problem solving peer support on topics like marketing, your finances, just bring anything that you find challenging to the table and chat it out with these ladies and you’ll get access to some experts that can help your problem solving and what not too.

The workshop takes place on two Saturdays March 13^th and 20^th from nine to noon.  To register email rradmin@wecm.ca.  For more information call Krista at The Hub at 204-687-6967 or go to www.flinflononline.com and click on the square at the bottom of the page.

Saskatchewan health reported 169 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of new cases to 148.  They also reported two additional deaths with one each in the North East and South East zones. 

They also announced based on evidence from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization and its expertise in vaccine science they are recommending jurisdictions should maximize the number of people benefiting from the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by extending the interval between the first and second dose up to four months.  Health Minister Paul Merriman says implementing the new guidelines in Saskatchewan means that all residents should have access to their first dose of vaccine by the end of June speeding up both their administration of vaccines and their return to normal.

Of the new cases of COVID-19 46 were in Saskatoon, 41 in Regina and 27 in Far North West with lower numbers in other zones including 15 in Far North East.

Manitoba public health reported 51 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.2 percent.  They also reported two additional deaths with both in the Winnipeg region.  Of the new cases 26 are in the Northern health region and 22 in Winnipeg health with three in Southern health and zero in Prairie Mountain and Interlake Eastern Regions. Of the total 32,051 reported cases 1143 are active, 30,005 individuals have recovered and 181 are in hospital with 24 in intensive care.  There were no new variants of concern cases reported. High case numbers in Mathias Colomb Cree Nation have prompted the chief and council to ban public gatherings and require people to stay home except for shopping, medical care and work in essential services.

The Minister of Indigenous and Northern Relations Eileen Clarke has responded to issues raised in a letter from Mayor Cal Huntley.  On the issues associated with cottage areas located close to municipalities the Minister pointed out property owners within cottage areas generally pay a cottage levy fee in lieu of property taxes that provide for operational services and support to these areas.  She noted her department is currently undertaking a system wide review of program delivery and applicable legislation impacting Northern Affairs communities including how services are provided and paid for in cottage areas.

Regarding health care she pointed out the Clinical and Preventive Services plan continues to identify innovative ways to improve service delivery systems and ensure northern Manitobans have access to appropriate care as close to home as possible. She agreed with Mayor Huntley that the pandemic has shown the benefits of delivering services virtually and will continue its use in a post COVID-19 world.  And regarding inter-provincial clinical record sharing between Manitoba and Saskatchewan Clarke noted while full and complete access referred to in his letter is not possible at this time there has been and will continue to be progress on this issue.

The World Day of Prayer tomorrow invites you to celebrate the beauty and stories of Vanuatu offered by the women of that country.  You can watch a video of the World Day of Prayer service online at www.wicc.org.  You can also attend a Manitoba wide service by registering at Eventbrite by going to www.eventbrite.ca, click on “Things to Do in Winnipeg then search World Day of Prayer to register.  If you have any problems with it you can email the Women’s Inter-Church Council of Winnipeg at Mileeswicc@yahoo.com.  You can also go to their website www.wicc.org to learn how to make a donation to the World Day of Prayer.  They note our shared prayers bring hope to a world in need of healing.

Saskatchewan health reported this afternoon 121 new cases of COVID-19 bringing the seven day average of new cases to 154.  They also reported two additional deaths with one each in Regina and Saskatoon.  Of the new cases 40 are in the Far North East, 35 in Regina and 17 in Saskatoon with single digits in other zones.  Of the total 29,059 reported cases 1431 are considered active, 27,239 people have recovered and 153 are in hospital with 20 in intensive care.

Manitoba public health reported 50 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.8 percent.  They also announced three additional deaths all in the Winnipeg region.

Medical Lead for the Vaccine Implementation Task Force Dr. Joss Reimer announced they are delaying the second dose of vaccines allowing them to immunize eligible Manitobans sooner. She explained the reason for this decision at this time is based on what they’re seeing in real world conditions about the effectiveness of the vaccines that are currently authorized for use in Canada and around the world.  She noted the vaccines are providing a significant level of protection even after one dose which means there’s more of a clear advantage to getting more vaccine to people sooner.

Reimer added they will be making ongoing adjustments in their program with the next steps to be announced.

Of the new cases of COVID-19 30 are in the Northern health region and 15 in Winnipeg region with single digits in other regions. 

The first update was to the Library Bylaw which confirms the establishment of a Library Board and regulations for its conduct.  It noted the Library Board shall consist of seven members plus one alternate appointed by City Council with one being a member of Council and one each representing the  Town of Creighton and the Village of Denare Beach and four other members plus an alternate selected at large with reference to their fitness for such office.  The second a bylaw to establish standards of maintenance and occupancy for property and the third to adopt rules, regulations and tariffs for the maintenance of order and the proper care of public cemeteries.  One change this year will allow for personal columbariums. These bylaw updates require two more reading before being adopted.

Council also appointed Katy Anderson as the Senior Election Official for the purposes of Municipal and School Board Elections in anticipation of an upcoming Council by-election and appointed Nicole Hartman as Assistant Chief Administrative Officer with the expectation she will move to the Chief Administrative Officer position in the fall.

Work to remediate the abandoned Ruttan Mine in northern Manitoba is underway following the awarding of a 45 million dollar contract to a Manitoba firm.  This is part of an ongoing commitment to protect the environment and to clean up abandoned mine sites.

The Ruttan Mine located near Leaf Rapids has been closed since 2002. The remediation is being undertaken by Dauphin-based Strilkiwski Contracting and involves a collection of contaminated water, improved drainage and a diversion of clean water away from the site. Work is progressing to ensure all contaminated water at the site is directed to the open pit where it will be treated before it is discharged into the environment. The work also includes a covering of exposed tailings in tailings management areas.

Approximately 30 per cent of the entire project has been completed and 60 per cent of the covering material has been hauled and placed. The completion of SCL’s work is scheduled for the fall of 2022.

Saskatchewan health reported 134 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 144.  They also reported two additional deaths with one each in the North Central and Saskatoon zones.  Of the new cases 38 are in Regina, 28 in Saskatoon and 22 in Far North West with lower numbers in other zones including 12 in Far North East.

Premier Scott Moe says the vaccination program has gone well in long term care homes.  He reports they now have delivered first doses to every long term care facility in the province, 91 percent of long term care residents have received their first dose, the other nine percent either refused or were unable to get their shot right now for some other reason such as a health care issue and 53 percent of their long term care residents have now received their second shot and are now considered fully vaccinated.

Moe adds they expect the delivery of vaccine to pick up in April.

Of the total 28,938 reported cases 1492 are considered active and 27,059 individuals have recovered.

Manitoba public health reported 56 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to four percent.  They also reported two additional deaths with one each in Winnipeg and the Interlake Eastern region.  Of the new cases 36 are in Winnipeg and 16 in Northern health region with single digits in other regions.

They also announced one additional confirmed case as a result of B.1.1.7 COVID-19 variant of concern and two confirmed cases as a result of B.1.351variant of concern have been detected.  These cases are all from the Winnipeg health region.  That brings the total number of confirmed variants of concern cases of B.1.1.7 to six and B.1.351 to two.

Of the total 31,950 COVID-19 cases reported 1151 are considered active and 29,901 individuals have recovered.

Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin announced the province is proceeding cautiously with changes as they continue to protect Manitobans lives.  He lists some of the changes including choosing one of two options for households.  They can continue to designate two visitors to their home or households can designate a second household so the two households can visit each other, gathering limits at outdoor public or private places can increase to ten people including for outdoor non-organized sport or recreation activities, capacity sizes at places of worship will increase to 25 percent capacity or 100 people whichever is lower, capacity for retail stores, malls, personal services will increase to 50 percent capacity or 250 people whichever is lower and capacity for restaurants and licensed premises will increase to 50 percent with the requirement for tables to sit only with household members.

Roussin adds these changes come into effect Friday until March 25^th and they will continue to evaluate the measures for further changes over that time.  Complete details on the changes can be found on their website www.manitoba.ca/covid19.

The RCMP are inviting young people across the country to help name thirteen German Shepherd puppies that will be born at the Police Dog Service Training Center.  Spokesperson Kim Mann says the rules are simple. You first have to live in Canada, they must between the ages of 4 and 14 years old, one entry per child and they must begin with the letter”P” and one or two syllables and the entry deadline is March 18^th with the winners to be announced April 28^th.

The thirteen children whose puppy names are selected will each receive a laminated 8 by 10 inch photo of the puppy they named, a plush dog called Justice and an RCMP water bottle.  For information on how to enter online only this year go to your favorite search engine and type in Name the Puppy Contest 2021.  Although there can be only 13 winners names not selected for the contest will be considered for other puppies born during the year.

The Centre’s Cindy Onabigon says their celebration of International Women’s Week will begin online on Sunday when they are going to be having an afternoon of art and music with performers at Johnny’s Social Club but it’s going to be recorded and then Karen Clark is going to be doing an art project at NorVa.  She adds Monday to Thursday every evening at 7 they’re going to have pre-recorded videos of different women in the community.  Monday night it’s Women in Health and Wellness, Tuesday night it’s Women in Arts and Creative, Wednesday is Women in Business and Thursday is Women in Environment for the Earth and on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 at the Rotary Wheel they are hosting a Women’s Drumming Circle and that’s for prayer and pounding drums for all the community.

You’re invited to view next week’s celebrations on the Women’s Resource Centre Facebook page as well as on the Flin Flon Arts Council, NorVa and Flin Flon Friendship Centre websites.  The event is being sponsored by the Flin Flon Neighborhood Revitalization Corporation.

Saskatchewan health reported 154 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the seven day average of daily new cases to 143.  That’s the lowest seven day average since early November.  There were no additional deaths reported. 

Of the new cases 53 are in Regina and 33 in Saskatoon with lower numbers in other zones. Of the total 28,801 reported cases 1551 are considered active, 26,865 individuals have recovered and 151 are in hospital with 21 in intensive care. They also noted to date just over 578 thousand tests have been processed in the province.

Manitoba Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Brent Roussin reported only 35 new cases of COVID-19 this afternoon bringing the five day test positivity rate to 3.9 percent.  They also reported one additional death in Winnipeg region.

Roussin commented on vaccines and eligibility criteria noting appointments can now be booked for supersites in Winnipeg, Brandon, Thompson and Selkirk with eligibility criteria expanding to include individuals born before December 31^st 1930 and First Nations people born before December 31^st 1950.

Beginning this week several northern communities will use Vaxport to access immunizations at the nearby supersite in Thompson.  The first communities participating in this pilot phase include Wabowden, Herb Lake Landing, Snow Lake, Grand Rapids and Misipawistik.  Communities were selected based on their readiness and ability to travel for the vaccine.  Additional information on the strategy for the north will be released in the coming days.

Of the new cases 16 are in Northern health and 16 in Winnipeg region with single digits in other regions.  Of the total 31,894 reported cases 1171 are considered active, 29,827 individuals have recovered and 184 are in hospital with 25 in intensive care.

Manitobans who use needles or sharps as part of their medical care can now safely dispose of these products using specially designed containers available free at their local pharmacy. Examples of sharps include lancets that prick the skin for diabetes testing, needles for home insulin or B12 injections and auto-injection devices such as EpiPens.  Participating pharmacies in Flin Flon include Pharmasave on Main Street, Pharmasave Health Centre on Church Street and the Walmart Pharmacy.

The program was launched by the Health Products Stewardship Association fulfilling regulations that call for province wide convenient collection systems for waste material at no cost to users.  Costs for the Sharps Collection Program are covered by medical sharps manufacturers.

Prior to vaccines arriving in this area people 70 and over in the RM of Kelsey and the LUD of Cranberry Portage can travel to the Thompson Vaxport on a free flight to receive the Pfizer vaccine.  The Emergency Coordinator for the RM of Kelsey Lori Forbes explains they wanted to be able to offer this to the residents of the RM and LUD of Cranberry Portage as an option for them if they choose to noting the vaccine as a whole is still going to be an option for everyone but this is just an opportunity for people to maybe get it sooner than later.

For more information you can call Lori at 204-623-0899 or to register call 204-623-4771 before March 10^th.