Local News Archives for 2015-11

A New Organization is Looking For Help.

 

The Northern Refugee Sponsorship Committee had its first public meeting on Thursday evening.  The group introduced their project’s objectives of bringing in up to two refugee families to our community.  Committee head Laura Sparling appreciates the enthusiasm that is being shown for this project.  She says there were between 60 to 80 people in attendance with a lot of enthusiastic questions from the crowd, the whole plan went over well with the crowd and everybody seemed pretty positive and motivated in whatever way they’re able to support it.             

The meeting featured a skype uplink with Arisnel Mesidor from Hamilton the Mennonite Central Committee who the group will be working with as they have experience and government authority to bring refugees to Canada.  The NRSC has members that will focus on housing, community outreach, fundraising, bookkeeping and English language training. The goal is to have the refugees here by March of 2016 at the latest.  Even with the federal government mandate the refugees could be, but may not necessarily be from Syria.  Anyone with questions or looking to help can visit Northern Refugee Sponsorship Committee on Facebook.

The Quarter Century Club Continues to Grow.

 

 

Membership in Hudbay’s Quarter Century Club climbed to over 31 hundred Friday night with the presentation of watches to 13 employees who have completed 25 years of continuous service with the Company.  Vice-President of the Manitoba Business Unit Rob Winton spoke on this year’s centennial of the Flin Flon ore discovery in 1915 praising the many generations that have worked there and looking to the future.  He said 2015 presented many challenges to them in Manitoba and 2016 promises to be no easier given the environment they’re operating in today but they have a hundred years of overcoming enormous challenges in this part of the world so with the dedication and assistance of everyone sitting in this room and everyone in their organization he’s very confident they will exceed their objectives and collectively take the company to a better place.

            

  Safety awards were presented to 23 employees with 25 years, 13 with 30 years, 18 with 35 years, 4 with 40 years and one Tony Smida with 45 years without a lost time accident.  Bruce Gulliford was also recognized for 33 years as part of the Mine Rescue Service in Leaf Rapids and Flin Flon.

 

Tony Smidawatch recipients

A Family Has Moved Into Their New Home.

 

At a special ceremony Saturday morning the first Habitat family in Flin Flon received their new home.  The Habitat 53° Chapter of Habitat for Humanity’s Family Support rep Bunny Burke presented the keys to the home at 189 Steventon Boulevard to Angela Bennett and her son Austin.  Bennett says it’s a day they’ve been waiting for.  She told those attending thank you doesn’t seem enough on a day like today but thank you to everybody.  She added they’re so excited to be there and so excited that they have a home and somewhere safe and warm to sleep so thank you again.

             

Vice-President of Regional Development for Habitat Manitoba Steve Krahn called it an awesome day for Angela and Austin congratulating the committee, local and provincial sponsors and the over 200 volunteers who helped out over the three year project.

            

  Habitat Humanity builds homes for low income working families to purchase at market value with a no down payment no interest mortgage with payments based on 25 percent of their income.

 

Austin and Angela Bennett, Bunny Burke, Steve Krahn

A Local Committee Can Use Your Help in Sponsoring a Family.

 

The Northern Refugee Sponsorship Committee invites residents of Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and surrounding areas to a meeting Thursday night.  One of the organizers Laura Sparling says the meeting is to discuss plans to put together a team to sponsor one or possibly two families to come to Flin Flon.  She says they will discuss what the plan looks like, what the minimum requirements are for them to sponsor a family, monetary requirements but also volunteer people to meet the family at the airport to bring them here, to help support them in their English language acquisition if they don’t already speak English, to help them be integrated into the community, find jobs and eventually be able to support themselves after one year.

             

The meeting is being held Thursday night at 7 in Council Chambers at Flin Flon City Hall.

Your Response to The Bells Will Support Christmas Hampers.

 

The Salvation Army’s annual Christmas Kettle Campaign is getting underway.  Major Debbie Allen says they’ll be out ringing bells beside the kettles soon raising money to support their Christmas hamper program. She says they start on Friday the 27th at Walmart where they’ll be out from 12 to 6 and then on Saturday they’ll be at Walmart from 12 to 6 and the Co-op from 10:30 to 4:30 and after that they continue Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays until the weekend before Christmas and then the week of Christmas they’ll be out Wednesday, Thursday and Friday which is Christmas eve.

             

Major Allen says they still need volunteers to be out with the kettles especially on the Fridays.  If you can spend an hour with a kettle call the Salvation Army at 204-687-7812.

Financial Solutions were Discussed Tuesday.

 

RBC Small Business Banking Advisor Cheryl Hilts spoke to the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce Tuesday about financing solutions for your business.  She talked about short term financing which is for day to day needs for your business for one year or less and long term financing which is for one to five years for large purchases. She explained short term options can offer businesses over draft protection or offer a business line of credit and long term financing will cover the cost of big ticket items or services removing the strain on their short term cash flow.  Hilts also noted commercial appraisals are very expensive since an appraiser has to come from Winnipeg and she suggested the Chamber establish a list of businesses that are seeking loans so the financial institutions can contact the Chamber and those businesses can share the cost of bringing in an appraiser.

             

Information on the options can be found by contacting an RBC advisor or any financial institution.

 

Your Shoe Boxes Will Help Make Childrens Lives Better.

 

Operation Christmas Child has wrapped up in the Flin Flon Creighton area.  It’s a program to collect shoe boxes filled with gifts and other items for needy children around the world.  Local Coordinator Heather Lowe says boxes were packed Sunday and they had a very good year this year. She says they had a total of 307 boxes packed and there was lots of community effort this year and a lot of people came out to their movie night and enjoyed watching the children receive boxes from past years.

             

Boxes collected locally are delivered to children in South and Central American countries as well as parts of Africa.  This year’s collection topped last year’s total when they collected 274 boxes.

Attending a Big Sale This Weekend Will Support Youth Programs.

 

The Cranberry Portage Child and Family Resource Center is holding their annual Cranberry Christmas Arts and Crafts Sale Saturday to support youth programming in the community.  The Center’s Debbie McLauchlan says they have over 55 vendors with 108 tables in two gymnasiums where people can pick up their Christmas specialty food items as well as some of your all time favorites.  She says they have baking, pyrogies, appetizers, preserves, wild rice, Forest Finds which is a variety of unique handcrafted items from local artisans, crafts and crafting supplies, quite a few tables that are offering quilts, blankets, knitting and other sewn items.

             

McLauchlan adds they will also have tickets being sold to support local and regional organizations.  The sale is open Saturday from 9:30 to 3 in the Frontier Collegiate and Cranberry Portage Elementary School gymnasiums with lunch available in both facilities.

 

Seniors Are Invited to Celebrate the Christmas Season Sunday.

 

 

The Rotary Club of Flin Flin is holding their annul Seniors Christmas party Sunday afternoon.  Chairperson Bill Pauley says they have a fun afternoon planned with the usual entertainment and they have the Community Choir participating, they have their gift draws and all the seniors that come will get a gift.  He adds there will be the dainties and the usual tea event that goes on and there might even be a special visit from Santa Claus with a sing a long to end it.

             

Pauley invites all seniors and their spouses to attend the party Sunday afternoon from one to three in the Flin Flon Community Hall.

 

It is a Service Designed with Your Safety in Mind.

Rotary President Kory Eastman and Rob Hart

 

Operation Red Nose starts this coming weekend sponsored by the Rotary Club of Flin Flon. 102.9 CFAR’s Rob Hart has been named this year’s Honorary Chairperson and says it’s an honor because it’s such an important thing in the community.  He says the Rotary Club does so many wonderful things and this has been a vital service to get people and their vehicles home safely for many years and not only is it a great service to keep people safe but they get proceeds that go to local events that help out kids and people in our community.

             

Operation Red Nose gets underway this Friday and Saturday and continues every Friday and Saturday in December except Christmas and Boxing Days as well as New Year’s Eve.  You can call them on those nights at 204-687-7331.

 

You Are Invited to Support Women in a Walk Wednesday Evening.

 

The Women’s Resource Center invites everyone to be part of Take Back the Night.  Executive Director Colleen Arnold asks you to join them Wednesday to say enough to all forms of violence against women and girls. She says it’s an annual event that began and remains a form of protest against the violence women experience while walking in public a night.  She says the purpose is to raise community awareness of this violence in order to prevent it from happening.  Arnold says it has grown to not only include violence women face at night but rather the fear of violence in general.  She says they chose November 25th as it is the International Day Against Violence Against Women and the first day of the international campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.

            

  Arnold adds they also take this time to honor and remember our own young women who lost their lives to violence, Raylene Grant and Natasha Moar.  The walk begins at 5:15 Wednesday evening at Pioneer Square and will go up Main Street to Angel Avenue and down Hapnot Street back to Pioneer Square.

Foran Mining is Moving Forward at their Hanson Lake Camp.

 

 Foran Mining Corporation has announced positive results for initial metallurgical test work on their Bigstone deposit. The deposit is located in the Hanson Lake Camp about 25 kilometers southwest of their McIlvenna Bay deposit and 85 kilometers west of Flin Flon.

             

The program was conducted on composite drill core samples from each of three main styles of mineralization at Bigstone.  President and CEO of Foran Patrick Soares says their winter 2015 infill drill program exceeded their expectations with broad intercepts of high grade copper and/or zinc in all holes drilled.  He says the positive metallurgical results demonstrate that mineralization at Bigstone is amenable to the production of saleable copper and zinc concentrates using a conventional flotation circuit adding based on these results Foran will review the next steps to maximize the value of the Bigstone deposit.

A Program to Help You Have a Safe Holiday Season Benefits Local Sports.

 

 

The Rotary Club of Flin Flon kicked off Operation Red Nose for another season at their meeting yesterday. Chair Ted Hewitt says the idea is to get people and their vehicles home safely when they’re out celebrating the Christmas season.  He says although the service is free they accept donations that go to children’s activities and organized sports programs in the community averaging about 13 to 14 thousand dollars a year.  He explains almost every playground in the community has received funding, Camp Whitney has received funding, the new Skateboard Park received substantial funding as well as the Soccer Club.

             

Hewitt adds they also receive substantial funding from corporations like Manitoba Hydro, MPI, MTS and many local enterprises.  Operation Red Nose starts next Friday and Saturday.

 

There Will Be a Special Memorial.

 

 As part of the memory candles service this year a special memorial is being set up to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks in Paris last week.  The service is supported by Flin Flon’s Anglican parish and the committee’s Jean Hyska explains they have planned the lighting for 3:30 Sunday. She says they thought they would put out 129 ice molds at East Hillside cemetery where there’s an area that’s not developed and they’d make a display for the Paris people that have died.  She says they would light them this coming Sunday weather permitting but if the weather doesn’t co-operate they would do it the following weekend.

             

Hyska adds once their candles burn out the ice molds will remain and people can come out and put in new candles to keep the memorial going.

A Craft Sale Will Help You Shop for Christmas.

 

 

The Creighton Community Center is holding a craft and home business sale tomorrow.  One of the organizers Dianna Goulet says there’ll be a variety of items including Pampered Chef, Bleached Glass, Scentsy, soups, lots of clothing, Watkins, Steeped Tea, Rebekah Lodge baking and you can also stop in for soup and a sandwich.

            

  The sale opens tomorrow from 10 to 4 in the Creighton Community Hall.  They will also be collecting winter clothing including coats, mitts, toques, scarves and snow boots.

 

 

A Hapnot Collegiate Student Received a Special Youth Award.

Tiffany, Natasha, The Youth Center's Loretta McDermott

 

As part of National Addictions Awareness Week a young person is recognized with the Healthy Youth Role Model Award sponsored by CADAC and the Community Youth Resource Center.  CADAC’s Tiffany Ealey says this year’s winner is Hapnot student Natasha McDermott of Flin Flon.  She explains Natasha was nominated through the Youth Center and her form highlighted her mentorship that she does there with the younger girls and she’s also developing a program for the younger girls to address issues such as self esteem, body image and healthy relationships.

             

McDermott receives a gift basket, a 50 dollars gift, a personal plaque and a plaque to hang in her school.  There were eight nominations for the award.

You Can Start Preparing for the Ski Season.

 

The Flin Flon Ski Club is holding their annual open house on Sunday.  The Club’s Dave Price says it’s a chance for people to learn more about what’s available for skiers.  He says they’ve got allsorts of programs going on and they start them young with the Moms and Tots on Friday mornings, they’ve got their Bunny Rabbits and Jack Rabbits on Saturday afternoons for the kids and then they’ve got their Junior Races for the more sportingly inclined folk.  He says they’ll also tell people about the ski rentals they can do, the ski tours and socials.

             

Price adds Fresh Air Experience will be in from Prince Albert with their latest gear and you’ll be able to purchase your membership and register your kids for the junior programs. The Ski Club open house runs from 11 to 4 Sunday at the Ski Chalet.

 

There Will be a Lot of Christmas Music For You to Enjoy.

 

The Flin Flon Arts Council is presenting a Vintage Christmas Saturday night.  The Council’s Crystal Kolt says it will feature special guest Jesse Peters who has invited the Flin Flon Community Choir to be part of it and they’ve also hired his whole team to be part of it so it’s going to be that great kind of Christmas concert where you have the pop favorites as well as some of the sacred, but it’s going to be the Santa Baby, Jingle Bells and all those great Christmas songs.

             

The concert takes place at 7:30 Saturday night in the Flin Flon Community Hall with tickets at Northern Rainbows End and at the door.

 

Efforts are Underway in the Northern Health Region to Stop the Spread of an Old Disease.

 

This year already the region has seen 15 cases of syphilis while previous years saw only zero to four.  Medical Officer of Health for the Northern Health Region Dr. Michael Isaac says they have an outbreak response they’re following.  He says it involves communicating with their clinicians providing some education for them because many clinicians haven’t seen syphilis in the past so it’s a very old disease that they haven’t seen and is now back in our communities so bringing in some clinician education, public education and they’re doing some enhanced surveillance, gathering more data and they’re analyzing it in different ways than they would have in the past.

             

Isaac says practicing safe sex is one of the best ways to prevent the disease from spreading.

The Throne Speech Will Be Good for the North.

 

 Flin Flon MLA Clarence Pettersen says this week’s Manitoba Throne Speech is ambitious but very is very inclusive as it ensures indigenous people, newcomers, children, seniors and families all have the opportunity to contribute and belong.  He says it’s strategic in it promotes steady growth, creates good jobs and builds critical infrastructure as you see in the roads being done, it makes life better improving the quality of life and builds on the thriving culture theme to attract new tourism dollars and will protect the water quality of our lakes and parks.

             

 Also affecting the north Pettersen says they’ll launch a new growing communities fund to build roads, bridges, water and sewer infrastructure and recreation centers which may be an opportunity to improve our Aqua Center and they’ll partner with local communities to expand cell service and broadband across Manitoba.

 

 

 

Another Toronto Film Festival Feature is Being Show in Flin Flon.

 

As part of their Films Up North Series the Central Canada Film Group has the Toronto Film Festival pre-release viewing of Leaning to Drive tomorrow night.  The group’s Collin Davis says it features Patricia Clarkson and Sir Ben Kingsley and Clarkson plays the role of Wendy who needs to learn to drive after suddenly being left by her husband. He says Kingsley plays the role of Darwan a cab driver who has an impending arranged marriage soon approaching who agrees to teach Wendy how to drive.  He adds the film is about the unlikely friendship that develops between Wendy and Darwan as they both face uncertain futures.

             

The film will be shown tomorrow night at the Hapnot Theatre with the doors open at 7 and the show at 7:30.

Flin Flon Will be Represented at a Provincial Conference.

 Hapnot St and Fifth Ave

 

At last night’s Council meeting it was reported Mayor Cal Huntley, Councilors Leslie Beck and Karen MacKinnon and Administrator Mark Kolt will be representing the city at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities meeting in Brandon this week. One issue Mayor Huntley would like to see raised is when provincial dollars are being spent in our area or community there should be consultations with the community on where those dollars are best spent. Councilor Beck will also be attending the upcoming Mining Conference.

             

Dennis Hydamaka approached Council about issues he has raised in the past.  He says it has been two and a half years since a walkway along Fifth Avenue was approved and about four and a half years since a disintegrating sewer box that dumps sewage on Hapnot street was to be replaced.  Council noted there have been personnel changes since then so they will have to provide an update.

             

Council passed on first reading an amendment to the traffic bylaw that will reduce parking in spots designated for handicapped parking from 12 to 2 hours since these spots are being abused by those using them.

             

And Mayor Huntley expressed the concerns of the community over last week’s events in Paris.  He said our prayers and condolences go out to the people affected adding these kind of incidents shake the world and they have to end.

The RCMP Have Issued a Warning About Thin Ice.

 

 

The RCMP have received numerous calls about children playing around the lakes and creeks so they urge parents to talk to them about the dangers of thin ice. They also ask anyone seeing children in what could be a dangerous situation around the lakes to call their office.

 

It is Time to Bring in Your Filled Shoe Boxes.

 

 

This is the week to turn in filled shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  Local Coordinator Heather Lowe says they can be dropped off downstairs at the Lutheran Church.  She says they will be there Thursday from 5 to 8, Friday from 5 to 8, Saturday from 1 to 5 and then Sunday evening they will be there at 7 o’clock for their final gathering of boxes and their video night and again this year Pharmasave will be collecting boxes for them up until the 22nd.

             

Lowe says you can still donate items in a shoe box you have or a plastic container the size of a shoe box.  They will be delivered to countries where there is war, natural disasters or famine.

 

You Can Be Part of a Team That Gets People Home Safely.

 

The Rotary Club of Flin Flon is still looking for volunteers to help with Operation Red Nose through the Christmas season.  It’s a program to get partiers and their vehicles home safely.  Chairperson Ted Hewitt says they need volunteers for several jobs.  He explains they have teams of three and they need to put two people into each guest vehicle so that there will be a driver and a second person called a navigator and then they have an escort vehicle.  He adds once they drop off the guest vehicle and the guest at their destination the escort vehicle picks up the driver and the navigator and goes for the next call.

            

  Hewitt says they may need a few people to add to teams up to Christmas but they really need volunteers for New Years Eve.  The easiest way to volunteer is to go on line at www.operationrednose.com, print a form and take it to the local RCMP office with two pieces of identification.

Callinex Has Set Out its Plans for Next Year.

Callinex Mines has announced a fully funded 2016 drilling campaign.  It consists of approximately 10 thousand meters at the Company’s Pine Bay project located near Hudbay’s Triple Seven mine and processing facilities in Flin Flon.  The campaign will consist of a winter and summer phase and is expected to begin with two drill rigs in January.  The program is anticipated to follow up on success from the 2015 exploration campaign which included a VMS discovery adjacent to their Sourdough deposit.  Callinex says the objective of the 2016 campaign is to identify additional high grade VMS mineralization rich in copper, zinc, gold and silver that has potential to be associated with a large deposit.

 

You Can Learn More About a Pre-Kindergarten Program.

 

Flin Flon School Division will again be running their Kindervention program starting in January.  Assistant Superintendent Dean Grove explains it prepares four year olds for school as it gives parents and students a chance to become familiar with the surroundings that they’ll be in as kindergarten students and gives them a chance to meet some of the staff and some of the local clinicians that offer extra support services that are needed for students.  He says they’ll be having information sessions on these coming up in each of the schools and they ask parents to go to the session at their local catchment area school.

             

Information meetings are being held at McIsaac School tomorrow evening from 7 to 8 in the school library and at Ruth Betts School Wednesday afternoon from 2:30 to 3:30 in their school library. If you have any questions contact one of the schools or call Dean at 204-681-3415.

The Christmas Lights are on on Main Street.

 

The Christmas season arrived on Main Street Friday evening with the lighting of the Christmas tree in Pioneer Square.  As they prepared for the lighting Councilor Colleen McKee on behalf of Mayor and Council welcomed everyone to the special event.  She explained it’s the start of the Christmas season that may be celebrated differently by each of us and mean something a little different to each of us but the important thing is we are all here united in celebration.  McKee added as we say goodbye to 2015 whether it was a good or bad year we welcome 2016 filled with hope and anticipation of good things to come and the hope is we continue on a united path with each other and are blessed with community prosperity.

             

Pioneer Square was packed with people for the lighting enjoying carols by the Community Choir, a visit from Santa and hot chocolate.

Two Emergency Medical Services Personnel from the Northern Health Region have Received the Governor General Exemplary Service Medal.

Darren Baker, Gary Davis, Kim Rumak, Ken Gurba 

 

The Medals for thirty years of service were presented by Health Minister Sharon Blady.  The first was to Kim Rumak who is a Paramedic in Flin Flon Cranberry Portage.  She started her career in Grand Rapids as a First Aider and became an Emergency Medical Responder, Emergency Medical Technician and recently retired at the Paramedic level in Cranberry Portage. She has also served countless hours with several community groups.

             

The second award went to Gary Davis who started as a volunteer Emergency Medical Responder with the Town of Snow Lake ambulance and is now employed with the Snow Lake Emergency Medical Services with the Northern Health Region.  He has volunteered countless hours with the Mine Rescue Team with Hudbay in Snow Lake and believes in community relations and public education.

             

Also on hand for the presentation were the Region’s Emergency Medical Services Manager Darren Baker and Regional Manager Ken Gurba.

You Can Support a Local Foundation This Weekend.

 

Endow Manitoba is holding a 24 hour giving challenge that will support the Flin Flon and area Northern Neighbors Foundation.  The Foundation’s Dave Kendall says the challenge happens for 24 hours tomorrow and what you do is go to the website www.endowmanitoba.ca where you make a gift to the Winnipeg Foundation but you ask for it to be towards the Northern Neighbors Foundation in Flin Flon and District and the money goes into their account and the dollars you donate are matched one to five by the Winnipeg Foundation up to two thousand dollars.

             

Kendall adds there are even more benefits to donating now since the Northern Neighbors Foundation is also into a challenge with the Thomas Sill Foundation where they will match donations 1 to 2.  The Northern Neighbors Foundation supports a wide range of local charitable projects with the interest earned from donations received and invested.

 

You Can Have Fun While Learning More About Addictions.

Next week is National Addictions Awareness Week and the local committee has several events planned.  The committee’s Tiffany Ealey explains the week is kicking off with a free family movie on Sunday at the Creighton School gym where there will be a cash concession and they’re asking people to remember their chairs.  She says next is Monday night at Ruth Betts Community School there’s a family game night where the doors will open at six, a coloring contest has already been circulated to the schools, hockey night in Flin Flon is Friday November 20th at 7:30 with free tickets for students to be given out at the schools and the week ends with a family fun skate on Saturday the 21st at the Sportex from 4:30 to 6 with free admission with a non-perishable food item for the Food Bank.

             

They will also have placemats at local restaurants, the presentation of the Healthy Youth Role Model Award and displays around town.

Our Member of Parliament Will be Focused on Jobs.

 

Churchill Keewatinook Aski NDP Member of Parliament Niki Ashton has been appointed to the party’s economic critic area of Jobs, Employment and Work Force Development.  Ashton who was critic for Aboriginal and Northern Affairs in the last Parliament indicates that this critic area is of great importance to her riding and across Canada.  She says there are many regions like northern Manitoba that face high rates of unemployment and they need to make sure that the new government acts now to create good jobs and real economic opportunities for Canadians.

             

Ashton says she will be working with NDP leader Tom Mulcair and fellow NDP MPs to fight the unfair Trans-Pacific Partnership that will cost Canada thousands of jobs.  At the same time she adds they will be putting forward positive progressive ideas to create jobs ranging from infrastructure to social enterprise with the key area of focus on apprenticeships, training and employment insurance.

 

The Heart and Stroke Foundation is Trying to Raise Awareness About Sugar Sweetened Beverages.

 

 

The Foundation’s Community Nutrition and Northern Outreach Manager Amanda Nash says youth in Northern Manitoba have a high intake of sugary beverages. She explains they did a short study in Manitoba last May looking at northern Manitoba.  She says in nine communities across northern Manitoba they surveyed about 500 students in grade 5 to grade 8 and found that 70 percent of those students were consuming sugar sweetened beverages at least three times a day.

            

  Data shows that across Canada one third of children and youth consume at least one sugary sweetened beverage a day.  Nash says eating too much sugar is linked to a variety of health complications including heart disease, obesity and cancer.

 

Applications Will Soon Be Taken For Christmas Hampers.

 

The Salvation Army in Flin Flon will be accepting applications for Christmas Hampers starting next week.  Major Debbie Allen says anybody who is on assistance or who is working at minimum wage or is unemployed and having difficulty making ends meet can apply.  She says anybody who needs a hamper needs to apply in person at the Salvation Army at 3 Hemlock Drive next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday between 10 am and 3 and during that week they’ll also have a free clothing give away.  She says then they’ll have a second week on three days Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the 24th, 25th and 26th.

             

Allen adds you must bring ID for all people in the family.  If you need more information you can call the Salvation Army at 204-687-7812.

 

Its Time to Celebrate the Christmas Season with a Parade.

 

 CFAR and The Reminder are encouraging anyone interested to take part in the annual Santa Claus Parade of Lights being held November 27th. CFAR Manager Dianne Russell reminds you now is the time to enter.  She says they’re looking for businesses, groups, anyone in the community who’d like to decorate a float.  She explains decorating a float in this parade is actually easier than it seems, you just get one of those converters and put lights all over your vehicle because it’s not a regular float it’s lighting up your vehicle for Christmas.

             

The parade is sponsored by CFAR, the Reminder, the Tire Shop, the Main Street Committee and Hudbay.  It will travel down Main Street and up Church Street starting at 6 Friday, November 27th.  You can register to take part by contacting CFAR or the Reminder.

 

A Flin Flon Man Has Been Found Guilty.

 

  Mitchell Whitbread had entered a plea of not guilty of second degree murder in the stabbing death of John Kelli Eyres of Flin Flon in May of 2012 when his trial started in The Pas last week.  When the trial wrapped up Tuesday afternoon the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty of second degree murder but guilty of manslaughter.  Sentencing will take place sometime in the spring.

Plans Are Set For The Year at McIsaac School.

 

 Last night Principal Steve Lytwyn and Vice Principals Sylvie Dufour and George Trevor presented the Flin Flon School Board with their plans for Ecole McIsaac School this year.  Each had the opportunity to speak on the strategies in place to achieve their goals and to further speak on current and extra curricular activities in place.

             

Superintendent Blaine Veitch reported that a handful of Hapnot students have earned We Day in Winnipeg November 16th.  Over 15 thousand students from across Manitoba will be gathered at the MTS Center for the event.

            

  Report Cards will be sent home Monday from Hapnot and Many Faces.  Parents are encouraged to contact the school to schedule teacher meetings that will take place November 19th.

           

 Ruth Betts Parent Council is looking for parents interested in joining the group.  Meetings take place on the third Monday of the month at 4:30 pm in the Family Room.  If interested feel free to drop in and see what it’s all about before committing to be a member.

The Christmas Season Is Getting Underway on Main Street.

 

 Flin Flon’s Christmas tree will be officially lit up for the holiday season Friday evening.  Deputy Mayor Karen MacKinnon encourages everyone to attend this celebration.  She says last year it was such a success with so many people there so they’re hoping to have everyone uptown again.  She says the Community Choir is going to be there singing, there’s going to be hot chocolate and this year they’ve heard they’re going to have a special visit from Santa so the Mayor and Council are inviting everybody to show up and be part of this start of the Christmas season.

             

The tree lighting takes place Friday evening starting at 6 in Pioneer Square on Main Street.

The Deadline is Close for Entering Your Christmas Decorating.

 

The 9th annual Festival of Trees is coming up in the Creighton School gym November 27th and 28th sponsored by the CADAC Center.  Committee Chair Laurel Mackie says right now they are looking for a commitment from people, organizations or individuals who are interested in entering a tree, wreath or center piece into the Festival.  She says they always request that they name their tree and all that kind of stuff but right now they’re just looking for a commitment that says you are going to participate.

             

Mackie adds the deadline to let them know you will have an entry is Friday and they are still looking for volunteer help for the Festival.  You can contact the CADAC office at 306-688-8291.

 

The Red Cross Wants You to Pick Your Favorites Pink Day Design.

 The Canadian Red Cross has launched its Pink Day T-shirt design vote for 2016 with three unique options in support of bullying prevention.  For the second year in a row children and adults across the province will choose what everyone will wear for their Pink Day next year in Manitoba.  The three designs reflect the message of respect that the Red Cross is promoting through its Beyond the Hurt bullying prevention programming.  Two of the designs include the word respect in six different languages.

             

All Manitobans are encouraged to go to www.redcross.ca/PinkShirtVote to look at the three designs and vote. The winning design will be announced at the official Pink Day Launch on November 19th with Pink Days being celebrated on February 24th and April 13th.

 

New Plans for Lalor Mine Will Come Next Year.

 

 Hudbay President David Garofalo in commenting on their third quarter 2015 results which we reported yesterday said plans continue to be developed for the Lalor Mine near Snow Lake. He says during 2016 they expect to publish their expansion plans for Lalor incorporating the recently acquired New Britannia concentrator and an update mine plan with the anticipated construction of a paste fill plant.  He adds they are also continuing their planned 85 hundred meter drill program at Lalor which consists of 15 to 20 exploration holes targeting the lower portion of the main copper gold zone and down plunge potential.  He says they anticipate the initial phase two drill results will be published with their fourth quarter earnings release in February.

             

Garofalo adds for the third quarter of this year ore processed at their Manitoba operations was relatively consistent compared to the same period of 2014.

 

 

Area Residents Will Pause to Remember Tomorrow Morning.

 

 Remembrance Day will get underway in Flin Flon tomorrow with the annual parade and service.  Poppy Committee co-chair for the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 73 Bunny Burke encourages members and others to come to the Legion for the parade.  She asks everyone to muster at the Legion on Hapnot Street by 9:30 am and the parade will form up around 10 and will move out, go down Hapnot Street up past the Cenotaph down to the Community Hall where the Remembrance Day service will be held and following the service people are invited back to the Legion where they’ll have drinks for the kids and a light lunch for the adults.

             

The service begins at 10:45 at the Community Hall and will be broadcast on 102.9 CFAR.

             

This year’s Parade Marshall is Morley Naylor with Sergeant at Arms John Muench.

 

 

Local History Hits the Stage in Snow Lake Friday.

 

 

The Aurora Borealis Arts Council in Snow Lake is holding a Dinner Theatre Friday.  The Council’s Sylvia Zamzow says they have a play about a very colorful character Kate Rice.  She says Kate was a pioneer prospector who came to the north in the 1920s and spent about 50 years prospecting from The Pas all the way up to Thompson but mostly a lot of her time was spent prospecting in the Snow Lake area.

             

Zamzow says the story was written by one of their members and features local actors Brooke Davies as Kate and Annette Lamontagne Dawson as the Diamond Queen who operated a boarding house on the line from The Pas north.  Along with the play they will have a pickerel dinner starting at 7 Friday night at the Snow Lake Motor Inn with tickets at the Inn, at The Second Glance, from Arts Council members or call Sylvia at 204-358-2520.

Federal election results in the Churchill-Keewatinook Aski riding are closer than originally thought.

 

Election night results saw NDP candidate and incumbent Niki Ashton receiving 46.3% of the votes, and Liberal candidate Rebecca Chartrand receiving 41.3%, but new results put the two candidates much closer. 

The validated results from the Returning Officer came in last week, giving Ashton 45% of the votes, and Chartrand 42%. The results show the two candidates were less than 1,000 votes apart.

The validated results include the earlier missing 7 polls.

We Should Always Remember.

 

Members of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 73 in Flin Flon held their annual Remembrance banquet Saturday night.  Guest speaker Father Paul Bringleson praised the Legion for what they and veterans represent in our community.  He says our relationships influence our lives and we should remember the influence of our veterans and when we pause on November 11th at 11 o’clock that’s our collective willingness to acknowledge that our lives have been influenced and changed by men and women that we may have never known but we are able to enjoy that which has been given and provided for us because they believed that the needs of their neighbors were more important than their own.

             

Bringleson says the mystery of Remebrance Day is how do we explain how thousands of men and women leave home and lay down their lives for people they don’t know adding we should remember that sacrifice.

             

Service pins were presented with the top award going to Fred Williamson with 50 years.

 

High Production Rates Benefited Hudbay in the last Quarter.

 

Hudbay reports their net loss in the third quarter this year was 11.8 million U.S. dollars compared to net savings of 46.2 million in the third quarter of last year.  President David Garofalo says Constancia in Peru together with their Manitoba operations enabled them to achieve significantly higher production rates in all their metals.  He explains operating cash flow increased 559 percent to approximately 80 million dollars compared to the third quarter of 2014 due to significant growth in production and sales of most metals at a low cash cost.  He says cash flow would have been even higher if they’d sold all of the metal produced in the quarter but at the end of the third quarter they had approximately 100 thousand tons of copper concentrate in inventory between Manitoba and Peru.

             

Garofalo adds the operating cash flow was partly offset by lower realized prices for all metals and net earnings decreased by 58 million primarily as a result of a 34.5 million dollar impairment charge associated with equipment inherited in the acquisition of Augusta Corporation.

Events are Taking Place to Make You More Aware of Domestic Violence.

 

This month is National Domestic Violence Prevention Month. The Women’s Resource Center’s Colleen Arnold says they have displays with information boards and purple ribbons around Flin Flon and Creighton and they’re doing presentations in the schools and to various community groups to draw attention to violence.  She explains domestic violence is not a one time event, it’s an escalation of violence that needs to be stopped before it reaches a danger point.  She says no one deserves to live through an oppressed cycle of violence, people should be able to live freely and relationships are about loving each other not making the other persons life miserable. Arnold adds the effects of domestic violence can be long lasting so they encourage all citizens to join the purple ribbon campaign that’s now underway. She asks you to show support and awareness by wearing a purple ribbon to send a strong message that there’s no place for domestic violence in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces or schools.

 

Flin Flon is Number Nine out of Ten.

 

 A recent Canadian Federation of Independent Business report ranked Manitoba’s 26 largest municipalities by their operating spending growth in relation to their population growth.  Manitoba Director of Provincial Affairs Elliot Sims says Flin Flon ranked 9th among Manitoba’s 10 largest cities and towns but Flin Flon fares better when it comes to spending growth.  He says their spending growth has been zero over the last six years so they’ve done a good job but unfortunately they’re dealing with population decline which means that even they are starting to come into trouble for the level of operating spending.

             

The report states in Flin Flon from 2008 to 2013 inflation adjusted spending growth was stagnant while population declined by 2 percent. It adds sustainable spending growth saved Flin Flon residents 4.4 million dollars over six years adding our spending growth is driven by labor costs which account for 39 percent of the municipal operating budget. Inflation adjusted labor costs in the city increased nine percent.

 

A Juno Award Winning Band is in Flin Flon Tonight.

 

 

The Leaf Rapids Lucky Stars tour will be at Johnny’s Social Club on Green Street tonight.  The concert is presented by the Flin Flon Cranberry Portage Folk Music Society and organizer Mike Spencer says you’re going to hear a fantastic new sort of alternative folk Indie band called Leaf Rapids.  He says the two major song writers in the band are Devin and Keri Latimer who are one half of the former Juno award winning band Nathan also out of Winnipeg so it’s going to be a fantastic night of music.

             

Spencer says tickets have been going fast and are available at the Orange Toad.  He says if any are left they will be available at the door. Doors open for the show at 6:30.

 

 

 

You Can Learn How to Update Your Work Skills Monday.

 

The Employment Links Development Center is beginning a new session of EWIN or Entry to Work in the North program on November 16th.  The Center’s Barb Link explains they offer life skills, upgrades in your essential skills such as numeracy, reading and communications, computer work, thinking skills, working with others and they do certificate programs such as first aid, WHMS, CPR and safe foods as well as a six week job placement.

             

Links says you can come into their office at 51 Main Street for an information session Monday morning at 10 and for further information you can call them at 204-687-8791.

 

You Can Shop for Crafts and Christmas Gifts in Creighton Tomorrow.

 

 Northern Country Crafters will be holding their 21st annual craft and home business sale tomorrow.  This year they have 33 vendors with 55 tables booked that will include baking, homemade gifts, knitted articles, jewelry, stained glass and a lot more. The group’s Jeri Holmes says they also hold door raffles and a toonie parade with the proceeds going to assisting the Northern Lights Manor and Personal Care Home.  She says they gave the Personal Care Home the blinds for their TV center dining room area and last year they gave them a 58 inch TV and a fire place media center and for the Northern Lights Manor they gave them five iPad Shuffles so they can download some music to help them relax when they need to.

             

The Northern Country Crafters craft and home business show runs from 10 to 4 tomorrow at the Creighton Community Hall.

 

Two Timeless Comedies Will be Featured Friday.

 

The Central Canada Film Group is featuring two silent films Friday as part of their Films You Might Have Missed series.  The group’s Collin Davis says first is Buster Keaton in The General filmed in 1926 and ranked among the greatest films ever made.  He explains it takes place during the American civil war and Buster plays a railroad engineer rejected by the Confederate army so he sets out to single handedly win the war with the help of his locomotive.  He adds for their double feature they are also seeing the return of one of the other great silent geniuses of the 1920s Harold Lloyd starring in 1922’s Grandma’s Boy in which he plays the local coward who through the help of his loving Grandmother finds the strength to face up to the local bully.

             

The films are being shown Friday night at 7:30 in the Hapnot Collegiate theatre with a silver collection as admission.

An October Food Drive Was a Success.

 

 During October Northland Ford and Hapnot Collegiate teamed up to support the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank as part of the International Free the Children Campaign.  They collected non-perishable food items as part of the We Scare Hunger campaign.  Northland Ford’s Nikki McConnell says it went awesome.  She says they figure they have donated about 1780 pounds of food to the Food Bank in town here.

             

McConnell also thanks the students and the community for their support.  The campaign included Northland Ford, Hapnot Collegiate, Ruth Betts Community School, McIsaac School and Creighton Community School.

 

You Can Do Your Christmas Shopping Saturday.

 

The Flin Flon Arts Council is holding their 35th annual Christmas Arts and Crafts Sale Saturday.  Their Coordinator Crystal Kolt says they have 70 tables of arts and crafts by artists from across Manitoba and Saskatchewan. She says there’ll be Christmas decorations, sewing and knitting, jams and jellies, art, knives and a lot more.  She says in addition to that they’ll also have Winter Wonderland on the stage with photos with Santa.

             

Kolt adds there will also be lunch available in the Senior’s room.  The sale runs from 10 to 4 Saturday in the Flin Flon Community Hall.

The Future of the Boreal Forest is a Concern in the North.

 

 

Councilor Colleen McKee reported to Flin Flon City Council Tuesday night she attended the Boreal Forest Summit in The Pas.  She says it’s a group of stakeholders representing northern municipalities and First Nations who hope to put together a document that will unite the voices of the north to be presented to candidates in the Provincial election.  It will ask that if any plans for development in the vast tract of forest and wetlands are being developed they want the north to be consulted.  She says they asked if council would like to receive a presentation on the document and it was referred to their Committee of the Whole.

             

In other business Council approved the Whitney Forum rate schedule noting rates at the Forum will remain the same as last year.  Mayor Cal Huntley also mentioned RCMP Staff Sergeant Shayne Smith who has left the community noting he was a pleasure to work with and had good engagement with the community.

 

We Live in a Busy Community.

 

At last night’s Flin Flon City Council meeting Council had praise for the Flin Flon Arts Council and the whole community for their support and involvement in the Contact Showcase and the circus Vague du Cirque  hosted here.  Councilors Colleen McKee and Karen MacKinnon had praise for the Alliance Church in hosting the Global Leadership Summit noting the many benefits in attending.  Councilor MacKinnon also mentioned the Northern Health Region Summit and annual meeting held in Flin Flon.  Mayor Cal Huntley said the community has been very busy and it looks like it will continue until the end of December.  He said visitors have been amazed at the community’s involvement in arts, culture, sports and other events and wish they could make it happen in their communities.

              Mayor Cal Huntley official proclaimed November as Domestic Violence Prevention month and Council accepted the Fire Chiefs report for October indicating 13 calls with several being for burnt food.

The Chamber is Set For Another Year.

 

Dave Kendall swears in Dianne Russell

 

 

 The Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce accepted their slate of officers at their annual meeting yesterday.  Dianne Russell was elected to a two year term as President, Tom Therien Past President, President Elect Karen MacKinnon, Vice-Presidents Laurel Mackie, Twyla Storey and Mary Dwernichuk, Treasurer Bunny Burke, Secretary Kory Eastman and Directors Doug O’Brien, Rob Winton, Dave Kendall, Cindy McLean, Randy Daneliuk, Laurence Gillespie and Colleen McKee. There is one Director position still open.

             

Past President Tom Therin in his annual report reviewed the events of the past year noting the Chamber has very active committees who work at everything from trying to increase membership, funding ideas and looking for guest speakers as just some of the ways they work to make the Chamber as strong as it can be, always with the idea the Chamber can be a stronger voice for our communities.

 

 

Dave Kendall swears in Mary Dwernichuk, Karen MacKinnon, Twyla Storey, Laurel Mackie

Connections Across the North are one Priority.

        

 

Dave Kendall swears in Dianne Russell

 

At their annual meeting yesterday the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce elected Dianne Russell to a two year term as President.  Russell says it’s difficult to have a complete plan on day but one of the things she would like to see is creating more connections among the northern Chambers in The Pas, Snow Lake and Thompson.  She says she’s hoping to reach out and share with their meetings and possibly come back here.  She says she’s like to find a way to unify the northern voice of Chamber to see if they can have more influence in the province and in northern Manitoba.

             

Russell adds she would also like to see separate committee work done to get more things happening on the local Chamber level.

 

Your Address Labels Can Help Children.

 

 

The War Amps are conducting their annual address label campaign in Manitoba and across the country starting this week.  Their Public Awareness Officer Jamie Lund says the address labels are their thank you for donating to the War Amps and helping many of their programs.  She says they have many programs for amputees across Canada and many programs for child amputees as well such as their CHAMP program.  Lund adds they are able to provide artificial limbs and emotional support to child amputees to help them live an active life.

             

The War Amps receive no government grants so their programs are funded solely by public support of their key tag and address label services.  For information you can visit their website www.waramps.ca.

 

A Special Prayer Service is Being Held Friday.

 

The Salvation Army and St. Peters St. James Anglican Church are co-hosting the Fellowship of the Least Coin celebration Friday night.  Salvation Army Major Debbie Allen says it’s open to all churches and everyone interested.  She says it’s a service that is prepared by the Women’s Inter Church Council and goes along with the World Day of Prayer held in March.  She adds all the churches get together and they are praying for peace, justice and reconciliation around the world.

             

The celebration takes place Friday night at the Anglican Church on Church Street starting at 7.

 

A Group of Students Will Be on the Job Tomorrow.

 

 Flin Flon School Division grade nine students are taking part in Take Our Kids to Work Day tomorrow.  Hapnot Collegiate Counselor Sandra Garinger says around 40 students are going to work with their parents.  She says the idea was started by an organization called the Learning Partnership and it was designed as an opportunity for students to get out and get a chance to see what type of work is out there, mainly what their parents are doing.  She says they see things at home but they don’t always know what’s going on in the other part of their parent’s lives so it’s a chance for them to go out and also get a chance to see what some options are for their future plans.

             

Those who don’t go out do work in class related to career choices.

             

Take Our Kids to Work Day is a national program in its 21st year sponsored by the Learning Partnership.

An Arena Will Have Better Lighting.

 

A project is underway to upgrade the Cranberry Portage Arena.  The Committee’s Debbie McLauchlan explains this year they are focusing their attention on replacing the ice surface lights.  She says they’ve been very fortunate to get a helping hand from the Flin Flon Lions Club and as well they have a fund raising committee that’s been working to help raise the necessary funds as they operate on a pretty tight budget where the arena is concerned.

             

McLauchlan adds they will also be benefiting from the Manitoba Hydro rebate program. She says the arena has natural ice so its operation depends on the weather so it usually opens in mid to late December.

It is Time to Fill Shoe Boxes With Gifts.

 

Operation Christmas Child is again underway in the Flin Flon area.  Local Coordinator Heather Lowe is asking you to fill shoe boxes with items to be delivered to children in countries where there is war, natural disasters and famine.  She says they are looking for toys, school supplies, things like soap and tooth brushes but not toothpaste, anything that a little child would like. She says they would suggest that you do not include any type of candy or war toys or anything that would be scary to a child.

             

French adds they only have a small supply of boxes on hand so they recommend you use a shoe box you have or a plastic container the size of a shoe box.  You can drop boxes off at Pharmasave or downstairs at the Lutheran Church November 19th and 20th from 5 to 8, the 21st from 1 to 5 and on Sunday the 22nd at 7 they will have a video and the final count of boxes.

You Can Remember With a Candle.

 

Flin Flon’s Anglican parish is again offering memory candles for the holiday season.  The committee’s Yvonne Fawcett explains the candles appear in the community just before Christmas and the idea is to honor your loved ones before the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season.  She says this is the tenth year that they have done it adding the candles can be placed anywhere in our cemeteries or columbariums in the Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach area.  Fawcett notes mass lighting will take place at all cemeteries on November 22nd weather permitting and the best time for viewing is at dusk.

             

The candles are ten dollars and can be purchased at the craft show at the Creighton Community Hall Saturday from 10 t 4 or at Nasselquists, Big Dipper, Candy Bar, Northern Rainbows End or call Yvonne at 687-7463.

 

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