The Joe Brain Children’s Petting Zoo is opening tomorrow for their 20^th season.  Zoo Manager Jessica Campbell says they again have your favorite animals including a donkey, a horse, ducks, chickens, turkeys, the baby chicks from Creighton School, lambs and a cow.  She says their hours will be from 11 to 7 and they open tomorrow.

The Zoo is taking bookings for outings with the animals.  To book an outing or for more information on the Zoo you can call them at 204-687-6910.

Northland Ford is sponsoring Drive One For Your Community Saturday at their dealership.  Salesperson Doug Gourlay says this year they are supporting the Aqua Center Community Committee and their fund raising for Aqua Center renovations.  He explains they’re inviting everybody down to take a test drive in a Ford vehicle and for each test drive Ford of Canada will donate 20 dollars towards the Aqua Center to a total of 6 thousand dollars. He adds they’ve got tablets to sign up this year which makes things go a little faster and you can log on to their Facebook page and pre-register for the event as well.

There’s only one test drive per family and you must be 18 years or older with a valid drivers licence.  The committee will also be holding a barbeque from 12 to 2.

MKO Grand Chief Sheila North Wilson has praise the services who have assisted communities threatened by a series of forest fires and flooding in the north.  She says that includes first responders, Manitoba Red Cross, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, the Province of Manitoba and its water bomber response team, volunteers and most importantly the local leadership.

She explained last week severe flooding affected Tataskweyak Cree Nation and York Landing First Nations on Split Lake and more than 400 northern residents were forced from their homes at Red Sucker Lake due to fire. They are now returning home. In War Lake First Nation residents have been cut off from the rail line due to flooding.

Grand Chief North Wilson says they encourage these efforts to continue and communication maintained to address issues northern First Nations face adding it’s incredibly stressful for those who continue to be displaced and have lack of access to transportation that is vital to their health and basic needs.

The Flin Flon Arts Council is featuring Flipside Opera Saturday night.  The Council’s Crystal Kolt says this is a new, interesting and fun experience for our communities.  She explains it is composed by John Greer who is a Manitoba born composer and it takes its inspiration from the Canadian prairies, from the poetry and Canadian folk music.  She says it’s going to be a twist as its not exactly what you would imagine opera to be so its going to be your regular soprano, alto, tenor, bass, mezzo-soprano and two pianos but the audience is going to be doing some participation in this as well so its going to be a really unique experience.

Flipside opera will be performed at Johnny’s Social Club at 177 Green Street Saturday night at 7:30. Tickets are available for 30 dollars at Northern Rainbows End on Main Street.

Kids First North is holding a special event tomorrow open to everyone in Creighton, Denare Beach, Flin Flon and surrounding communities.  Their Home Visitor Tracy Brown explains they will be hosting a clothing give away tomorrow from 10 am to 3 pm at the green Sherlock storage sheds in Creighton at the corner of 4^th Avenue and Main Street.  She adds they’re also going to have a certified car seat technician on site from 11 am to 3 pm for anyone who wants to make sure that they have their car seat properly installed or if they have any questions regarding car seat safety.

If you have any questions you can call Kids First North at 306-688-6619.

You are invited to the Junior High Spring Band Concert tomorrow night.  Music Educator Anna Harrison says the concert will be centered around the Seven Grandfather Teachings.  She says with the help of Margaret Head, Leslie Power and Erin Dadson they have been working together to build the concert around these themes so they’ve been exploring the different virtues in band class and talking about how being in band teaches you these virtues so there’ll be some students speaking about that experience at the concert and they’ll also have the McIsaac drumming group involved and student art work displayed around the Seven Teachings.

The concert starts at 7 tomorrow night at McIsaac School.  A silver collection will be taken.

Rockcliff Copper Corporation has reported additional high gold grades from previous historical surface exploration at its gold rich Dickstone North Property. They note the Morton Lake Fault Zone on this property hosts high grade gold showings with noted visible gold.  This property along with the Laguna property and SLG property are part of their Snow Lake project.

President and CEO Ken Lapierre says the upside gold potential of their three gold properties within their Snow Lake Project is excellent.  He adds while they remain committed to advancing their core VMS properties they cannot underestimate the primary lode gold potential of their project which includes Manitoba’s first and highest grade former Laguna Gold Mine.  He adds the fact that the present Snow Lake VMS mining camp initially began as a gold mining camp and hosting a plus million ounce gold producer bodes well for the potential of their nearby gold properties.  Lapierre says they look forward to advancing these gold properties through a systematic, scientific summer exploration program followed by a first phase fall drill program.

A community gently used clothing drive is being set up at Ruth Betts Community School tomorrow and Wednesday.  The School’s Community Connector Courtney Lycan explains it’s open to the whole community.  She says people can drop off gently used spring or summer clothing items for men, women and children and they set it all up in the mini gym and people come in and fill a bag taking whatever they need.

The clothing depot runs tomorrow from 1 to 6 and Wednesday from 9 to 2 in the Ruth Betts School Mini Gym and you are asked to use the Terrace Avenue Entrance.

Community Futures Greenstone presents the final in this series of free Lunch and Learn Workshops on Branding and Marketing.  Their Manager Becky Cianflone says their next workshop is Wednesday on Budget Friendly Advertising.  She says this one is all about low cost advertising techniques.  She explains small business people don’t have a huge budget to advertise their business so they want to give them some really concrete simple strategies for how they can advertise and get their message out in a low cost way.

You can bring your lunch and attend the workshop Wednesday from 12 to 1 at the Northern Mining Academy at 2 Hart Avenue.  An RSVP would be appreciated by calling 687-6967 or email admin@cfgreenstone.com but walk ins are welcome.

Denare Beach is holding its annual Community Spring Clean Up Sunday afternoon.  Recreation Director Crystal Banting invites everyone to come out.  She says they’re going to have everybody meet at New Horizons at 2100 Spruce Street at 1 o’clock and garbage bags, gloves and drinks will be provided and everybody can go around the streets and clean up the garbage that has accumulated over the winter and after that they’re going to have a big barbeque.

If you need more information you can call the Recreation Office at 306-362-2050.

Flin Flon’s Inner Wheel Club is holding its annual Boot Sale Saturday, June 3^rd. The Club’s Agnes Mills says it’s a chance to sell what you don’t need while supporting the charities they donate to including the Gift of Life organ donation, the Food Bank, they donate to the Milk Program on a regular basis, senior Christmas lights tour and the Hapnot scholarship.

You can book a space for 15 dollars to sell from the trunk of your car which gives the sale its name or from a table or the back of your truck.  To book a space call Agnes at 687-8204 or Brenda at 687-2993.  The sale runs from 10 to 1 Saturday June 3^rd at the Victoria Inn parking lot.

The Flin Flon Recycling Center is again sponsoring a community clean up campaign.  The Center’s Administrator Deb Odegaard says its called Company’s Coming because of the Homecoming that will bring a lot of visitors to our community.  She says from now until June 12^th residents of Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach and the Lakes areas are encouraged to clean up areas of their neighborhood.  She says they also have two special clean ups planned for the Creighton Freeway Tuesday and Perimeter Highway Wednesday and they’re asking people to come out and help them to meet at 6:30 on the Phantom Lake Road for the Creighton Freeway and 6:30 for the Perimeter when people will meet in the parking lot behind the Community Hall.  She adds they are asking if people have high vis vests to bring them and gloves as well.

Everyone who helps with the community clean up should register with the Recycling Center so their name can be entered into the prize draws on June 13^th. To register email recycled@mymts.net or call 687-6169 and emailed pictures of your clean up would also be appreciated.

  CUPE Local Vice-President Jen Meikle and Pres Christine Lussier

Members of CUPE Local 8600 who work for the Northern Health Region in Flin Flon held an information picket line at Pioneer Square yesterday.  Union President Christine Lussier says they were there to support our health care and stop working short staffed.  She says Brian Pallister made a promise that there would be no cuts to frontline care dropping a six million dollar budget cut and forcing the NHRA’s hand to do his dirty work, dumping an unrealistic workload on them, especially given the fact it is diminishing the quality of our health care.

Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey added one big concern of being short staffed is seniors care.  He says when they’re not replacing people when they phone in sick or are missing for other reasons it just stretches people that are there so thin that they can’t give proper care to seniors and that’s not fair to people who have worked their whole lives and deserve better.

CUPE represents support workers in the hospital and care home in Flin Flon. 

Education Minister Ian Wishart presents the award to Rob Abbott.

Tuesday night the Flin Flon School Board met for their regular meeting and Superintendent Constance McLeese reported the administrative staff has completed the Mamatowisiwin training in Winnipeg.  The three levels include literacy, numeracy and land based learning.  McLeese says the training was useful and hopes to implement the training with the Division staff.

In his report Board Chair Murray Skeavington congratulated Rob Abbott for his recent award for teaching excellence from the Province, noting that six others from the Division were also nominated.  Skeavington noted this shows the dedication of staff within the Division.

The Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce is holding its annual radio auction Saturday in City Hall Council Chambers broadcast on 102.9 CFAR.  Their Fund Raising Chair Rob Mathews says they have a great list of items to bid on from 9 until 1. He says they have 101 item lots which is a little different because before they used to have items listed individually but this year they’ve had such a huge response from local businesses that they’ve made packages in a few cases.  He notes some of the bigger items this year include two tickets to Winnipeg Jets games and  Calm Air flights for two adding there’s also been a response from some of the out of town businesses to their auction this year.

There will be a viewing of items from 5 to 6 tomorrow night at City Hall and new this year along with phone bids they are allowing text bids.  There’s a list of items in yesterday’s Reminder and on the Chamber website www.flinflondistrictchamber.com with a link at www.flinflononline.com.

The Freedom Outreach Program is holding its fifth annual Walk For Freedom Saturday morning. The Walk raises awareness of those affected by drugs and alcohol addiction and will support their programs based in Denare Beach.  The group’s Kandie Lagore says they meet at Jason’s Tire in Creighton at 9:30 and walk at 10 and they’re going to be stopping half way at Pioneer Square for a refreshment break and this year they’re going to be ending their walk at the Alliance Church which is 237 Green Street where they’ll have a barbeque for all their participants and volunteers with rides provided back to your vehicles.  Lagore says it’s a six kilometer walk so anybody can do it and if you don’t have a sponsor but you want to be part of the walk you can sponsor yourself by giving an donation and do the walk with them.

  Pledge sheet can be turned in at the walk or you can continue to collect until June 21^st. Contact Kandie at 271-4403 for more information.

The 25^th annual Run to the Border by the Flin Flon Motorcycle Association will take place Saturday.  The group’s Paul Garrett says they’ll start with the poker derby and toy run leaving the Gateway at 10:30 for Cranberry Portage and they’ll be leaving back from there by about 12 o’clock and hopefully will be doing the parade down Main Street and through town about 12:45. He says after the poker derby is done and they go through town they’ll have a social at the Creighton Sportex with two bands for their 25^th Ferny Turnbull and The White and at 10 o’clock they’ll be drawing for two bikes this year.

The Friendship Center will join the riders at the Gateway when they return to pick up toys from people who want to donate as well as those collected by the riders.

At their meeting yesterday the Chamber reported they are ready to go with their scratch tickets to be sold for five dollars each during Homecoming.  Some of the top prizes include 100 five dollar off certificates from the Co-op, a ten person Coleman tent from Canadian Tire, an LG g pad two from Elite Communications, Ipod classic from Eddie’s Family Foods, a Flin Flon t-shirt from The Design Mine, two ranch jackets from Alexander’s Auto Ranch and Geocache Coins from the Chamber.  Every ticket will win a prize.

The Chamber will invite the Manitoba Chambers President Chuck Davidson to their meeting July 11^th as part of his summer tour.

President Dianne Russell expressed interest in getting together with other northern Chambers to let the Provincial Government know they want them to make health concerns north of 53 a priority.  She also reported the Main Street Committee is bringing Canuck Amusements to Centoba Park this weekend and Saturn Amusements have been booked for Homecoming for Main Street Days and Canada Day in Creighton.                                                        

The Central Canada Film Group continues their Films You Might Have Missed series Friday night.  The group’s Colin Davis says they’ll feature the film Fences in which Denzel Washington plays the role of Troy Maxson who makes his living as a sanitation worker in 1950’s Pittsburgh.  He says Maxson once dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player but was deemed too old when the major leagues began admitting black athletes.  Bitter over his missed opportunity Troy creates further tension in his family when he squashes his son’s chance to meet a college football recruiter.  Davis adds Fences received a lot of attention at this past year’s Academy Awards with Viola Davis winning the Oscar for her role as Troy’s wife Rose, a woman trapped in a helpless situation who stands up to her self-centered husband.

The film Fences will be shown Friday night starting at 7:30 in the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre.  The film is free although there is a voluntary silver collection.

The Cranberry Portage Child and Family Resource Center is hosting a Community Yard Sale Saturday.  Their Executive Director Debbie McLauchlan says there’ll be a lot of opportunities to shop.  She says they have 19 yard sales registered at the current time and people have today to get their name in to get on the map.  She adds as well they have three places operating sales at the Legion Hall and lunch and maps will be available at the Legion Hall.

The sale runs from 9:30 to 1:30 Saturday in Cranberry Portage.

   The University College of the North has announced that The Pas campus will no longer be offering the Dental Assistance course.  UCN Communications Director Jim Scott explains the decision was made probably about a month ago and the reason for the cancellation is really quite straight forward.  He says there are not enough jobs out there to justify a program such as that and there’s just not as many students as there used to be so low enrollment has taken its toll on this program.

Scott adds the program has been around for a long time and it is sad to see it go.

  Bands and soloists will be performing at the annual Jazz Night tomorrow in the Hapnot Collegiate Gym.  Band instructor Kim Jones says there’ll be a variety of jazz at the concert.  She says the night features their ensembles from Hapnot Collegiate, two of their jazz bands and their choir as well as soloists on the solo stage and they will also be having the Creighton Choir over for an ensemble.  She adds the evening starts at 7 and is ten dollars and is a fund raiser for their Flin Flon Creighton Parents for Music Education which is their band parents.

Tickets will be available at the door tomorrow night.

The Manitoba Youth Job Center is open for another year.  Youth Engagement Leader Katlynn Shaitel says they are a non-profit organization that offers a variety of services including helping with the creation of resumes, cover letters and preparation for interviews. She says another service is the Odd Job Squad which organizes events to provide opportunities for youth to learn job skills.  She adds one of their newer services is the First Job Certificate where you can take a course which then provides proof of learned common job skills and then lastly one service they offer is the referral service where businesses and homeowners bring in job orders and she will refer someone who best matches their qualifications.

For information you can call 204-271-1493, stop in at the Center in room 201 at 143 Main Street or attend their open house Thursday from 11 to 3 in the Walmart parking lot.

Denare Beach is planning their annual community wide yard and garage sale.  Recreation Director Crystal Banting says anyone can be part of the sale. She says their big community yard sale has been held for many years and its going to be on Saturday, June 3^rd.  She says to include your yard sale in the free advertising that they’re offering you can call the Recreation Office at 306-362-2050 and leave a message with your address and time of your sale and they hope everybody comes out to it adding they have about 15 so far so its going to be a great day.

The deadline to register is this coming Friday.

Best in Show Boreal Canada 

The 41^st annual Northern Juried Art Show opened in the Flin Flon Community Hall last night. The show features 175 entries from 77 artists representing 8 communities in the north including 18 youth entries with 33 pieces of art.

Best in Show was Greg Tavener from The Pas for his Rustic Barn, Old Barn and Old Church.  The Boreal Canada prize went to Karina Odegaard of Creighton with Northern Lights Over Whitefish Lake.

Other local area winner were Karen Clark first in painting and Ron Watt third, Matthew Enns first in watercolor, Cheryl Hordal second and Elizabeth Fitzsimmons third, Matthew Enns third in Drawing and Printmaking, Lorna Heuchert first in Fibre Art and Patty Evans third, Mike Spencer third in Crafts, Cheryl Tremblay first in Mixed Media, Patty Evans second and Brandy Bloxom third and in sculpture Elizabeth Fitzsimmons first, Doug Dmytriw second and Linda Sonnenberg-Jackson third.

The show is open in the Community Hall today from 12 to 9 and tomorrow from 10 to 4.

At the Flin Flon Creighton and Area SPCA annual meeting Tuesday night the organization honored two volunteers of the year Val Glynn and Heather Walker Lengyel.

Shelter Manager Carmen Ward reported 102 animals were taken in last year down from 147 in 2015.

President Erica Husberg reported donations almost doubled from 2015 with help from the Twin Motors event and the Fire Department’s Boot Drive as well as their dedicated fundraising team as it costs almost ten thousand dollars a month to keep the shelter.  She notes the posts on Facebook about puppies and kittens to be given away and the number of stray dogs running around.  She says their mission this year is to educate pet owners on the spay and neuter program, promote their low income spay and neuter program and are looking into getting in a mobile spay neuter clinic.

  Husberg thanked the board, staff and community for their continued support.

Earlier this week in the Manitoba Legislature Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey recognized the Flin Flon Aqua Doves.  Lindsey told members they are the oldest and only synchronized swimming team in all of northern Manitoba.  He explained they were established not long after the community swimming pool was built in 1975 and 35 years on they continue to carry on the strong tradition of synchronized swimming in northern Manitoba.  He said every Saturday morning at 8 sharp you’ll find the Aqua Doves gathered on the pool deck for the practice and preparing their routines. The program welcomes swimmers of all ages and abilities to promote fitness and fun.  Lindsey noted recently they represented Flin Flon in the Crocus Challenge in Winnipeg with great success.  Their swimmers competed in both the recreational and competitive streams and several swimmers went on to compete in the Canadian prairie synchronized swimming championship held in Winnipeg this past weekend and did Flin Flon proud.

Lindsey adds he would like to recognize all the swimmers and coaching team of the Flin Flon Aqua Doves for their dedication and commitment to the sport.

 At their meeting Tuesday night Mayor and Council complimented the Flin Flon Community Choir on its fantastic and incredible presentation of Grease.  Mayor Cal Huntley added it continues to amaze him to see the amount of talent we have in this community.

In other business Councilor Ken Pawlachuk reported the dog catcher has been busy responding to complaints about dogs noting 22 calls last month regarding loose dogs which were not on a leash as required by the Dog Bylaw.

Council approved an application by Fountain Tire for conditional use of 1 McKeen Lane for a repair shop.  The resolution spells out conditions that have to be followed regarding hours of operation, the noise bylaw and tire storage.

And Council is asking the Association of Manitoba Municipalities to allow representatives of the Northern District to attend meetings and vote using technology. Due to travel issues, distances and inability to get out of some remote communities representatives in the north have difficulty attending meetings in person.

The Flin Flon Aqua Center Community Committee continues to work at fundraising for the Aqua Center renovations.

The committee is looking for volunteers to help with the Drive One 4 UR Community on June 3^rd.  It’s a fund raiser put on by Northland Ford this year supporting the Aqua Center Committee.  For every test drive Ford donates 20 dollars to the committee up to six thousand dollars. They need help with the barbeque and registration tables. They can also use help with the beer garden during Homecoming June 29^th.  Volunteers willing to help the Committee can contact the Aqua Center.

Their big fund raiser is the sale of the FlinFlonopoly game during Homecoming with pre-sales available at Pharmasave until around June 15^th. 

The committee is also preparing forms for personal, family and corporate sponsorship with a variety of levels for donations as well as selling naming rights for the building.  They will be approaching local businesses but will also approach national corporations who do business in the community. It is hoped with one third of the around seven million dollar cost raised locally the provincial and federal governments will share the other two thirds.

Al Capone

Maryn McKee is opening the Flin Flon Juice Joint Escape Room this weekend and next.  She explains it’s a room you go into and you puzzle your way out and it’s just a fun way to get out on a weekend.  She says its back when prohibition was happening and you’re in Al Capone’s office trying to find the money he has hidden there.

The Escape Room is open Saturday, Sunday and Monday and next Saturday and Sunday at 381 Princess Boulevard starting at noon.  You can book a spot to visit the Escape Room for 130 dollars by calling 204-271-4421 or online at www.escapetimeff.com.  If you have any questions you can email escapetimeflinflon@gmail.com.

Vale Thompson announced yesterday the suspension of operations at Birchtree Mine. Vice President of Manitoba operations Mark Scott says the decision was made within the last couple of weeks.  He explains they are looking at the one year annual plan for 2018 for all parts of the business and putting together this years version of their five year and life of mine plans and through that exercise it became evident that given where the price of nickel is at the moment and is expected to be over the next couple of years there was no production scenario in which Birchtree would generate positive cash flow for the business over the near term.

The mine will be placed on care and maintenance as of October 1^st.  Roughly 200 employees will be impacted by the closure.

At the City Council meeting last night Mark Kolt announced his retirement from the position of Administrative Officer for the City effective November 1^st.  He won’t be gone though as he will return to his previous position at City Solicitor under a two year contract.  Kolt says this will allow him more time to spend on his other commitments in the community.  His replacement as Administrator will be current Treasurer Glenna Daschuk.

Also at the meeting Mayor Cal Huntley expressed his disgust at the destruction of the sides of the bridge on the Boardwalk.  He says he would like to get hold of whoever caused the damage and make an example of them.  He added they should be ashamed of themselves and if they have a conscience turn themselves in and offer to fix the damage that was done. Offers have come in from the community to help the Flinty Committee repair the bridge.

The Flin Flon Lions Club has purchased a new Handivan to replace one of the two vans currently on the road.  Rick Hurst who coordinates the Handivan program for the Club says the new van has fewer seats so drivers will now require only a class five driver’s licence.  He says it’s a little shorter and a little narrower that the other ones.  He adds they had to go with reduced seating because of the new wheelchair seating laws so now they’re able to take one person in a wheelchair and five other people at a time.  He notes outside of that it’s a little smoother ride than what the old one is.

The Lion Club is presently holding their annual summer draw to support the purchase of the Handivan and other projects.  Members are selling tickets on a draw with a guaranteed prize of 15 thousand dollars with the draw taking place on July 8^th.

The Freedom Outreach Program is holding its 5^th annual Walk For Freedom Saturday May 27^th.  The group’s Kandie Lagore says the walk will support their programs based at Denare Beach.  She explains the idea is to raise funds for the Freedom Outreach Centre which reaches out to men who are struggling with addictions and helps them to overcome their addictions and it’s a one year program so it helps them to run their program.

Sponsor sheets are now available by calling Kandie at 204-271-4403 or from representatives of the Alliance, Pentecostal, Mennonite, Baptist and Salvation Army churches. This year’s prize for the participant who raises the most money is a weekend stay for two at a Victoria Inn of your choice.

The highest award available to the cadets the Lord Strathcona Trust Medal for exemplary performance was present to Torin Abrahamson.  He also received the Major M.J. Naylor Trophy for dedication and commitment.  The Captain W.A.Sweeney Trophy for general proficiency by a senior cadet went to Jemedie Morris who also received the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 73 Medal for excellence and performance and best attendance at 96 percent, the Chief Warrant Officer Fisher Trophy for general proficiency by a Junior Cadet to Luan Gouws, the Second Lieutenant M. Beauchamp Trophy for Most Improved Cadet to Jerek Osika who also received the best first year cadet award, the Sergeant J.A. Horrocks Trophy for dress and deportment Kaylee Banting, the Lieutenant Colonel F. S. Gira Trophy for citizenship to Tyler Banting and the Ubique Trophy for recruiting to Riley Burroughs.

Creighton Community School is running its annual bike safety program this week.  School Coordinator Carol Sutherland explains the theme for Bicycle Safety Week is Building Safe Bikers One Snap at a Time so reducing the risk of injury by practicing safe cycling behaviors such as wearing a helmet, looking both ways before crossing the street and obeying traffic lights and signals.  She says the annual CCS Bike Rodeo testing day is May 18^th.  If you are interested in assisting with the Bike Rodeo please contact the School at 688-5138.

The bike safety program runs all this week with assistance from the RCMP who did classroom sessions yesterday as well as the school and parent volunteers.

Creighton Community School is holding its annual Spring Community Night tomorrow.  School Coordinator Carol Sutherland says the evening runs from 5 to 7:30 at the school.  She says the School Community Council invites students, their families, community members and staff to an evening of fun. A complimentary barbeque, carnival games and a gardening station will be on site as well as emergency vehicles, a cultural pavilion and they’ll also have some artist stations this year.  Sutherland adds this event is being made possible through funding received from Cameco Creative Kids, Community Initiatives Fund and the local School Community Council.

There will be transportation to and from Denare Beach with pick ups at the Band Hall at 4:30 and at the Alpine at 4:40 with the bus returning to Denare Beach at 7:30.  Children must be accompanied by an adult on the transportation.

Winnipeg’s Kevin Roy will be performing in Flin Flon Saturday night as part of his Mighty River Tour.  Roy is traveling with a full band and promoting his new album Heart Worn Highways as well as his song Mighty River with the proceeds from this song donated to the Red Cross to support those affected by spring flooding.  He says his music is definitely folk music which would be the first genre he would classify, a lot of story songs, a lot of oral history, he sings a lot about where he’s from, places he’s been and people he’s met and ultimately that’s folk music but he’s a sucker for pedal steel guitar and Canadiana and Americana country music, so it’s folk songs set to the style of country music.

Roy will perform Saturday night at 7 at Johnny’s Social Club on Green Street with tickets 25 dollars at the Orange Toad.

Three people were reported missing around 7:45 last night.  Creighton RCMP report they were located around 1 o’clock this afternoon near Mirachi Lake.  They had gone for a drive and became stuck and are reported to be fine.

187 ballots were cast by members in the North of 53 Co-op election for two members of their Board of Directors.  The two Board members seeking re-election Del Ward and Erhart Dzuibak were successful in the election. They were elected to three year terms.  The other candidates were John Moore, Donna Champagne and Richard Dansereau. 

Other members of the seven member Board are Dave Kendall, Rob Schiefele, Linda Clark, Donna Coles and Dennis Whitbread.

The Flin Flon Public Library continues to host their Ore Sample Writers Series Thursday.  Administrator Courtney Campbell says it will start with a free workshop from 5:45 to 6:45 titled Memories The Past at Home in the Present with visiting author Candace Savage.  She explains Savage most recently wrote a book called the Geography of Blood Unearthing Memories from a Prairie Landscape and it won three Saskatchewan book awards and a 60 thousand dollar Hilary Weston Writers Prize for non-fiction and she’s currently exploring the story of the family who built and first occupied her home in Saskatoon.

Following the workshop readings will take place at 7 hosted by local writer and entertainer Kevin Imrie with readings by Candace Savage and local writer Myrna Guymer whose book The Canadian Shield Alphabet is at the Library.  The event is free and everyone is welcome.

  Last week in the Legislature Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey recognized National Mining Week and the importance of the industry to northern communities.  He said people in the north are looking for strategic investment in mining, health and education.  He says all they’re seeing is a government that continues to sit on its hands while hundreds of northerner workers are facing layoffs at Hudbay in Flin Flon and Vale in Thompson.  He adds they know that this government’s cuts are not the key to unlocking the north’s potential.  People in Lynn Lake and Leaf Rapids are looking for this government to show leadership by investing in mining to give these communities a future adding people in the north deserve better from this government.

Lindsey also noted on the heels of the 25^th anniversary of the Westray mining disaster the week also serves to remind us that mining can be a dangerous job and government, unions and management all have an important role to play making sure workplace safety regulations are enforced and upheld.

  Northlands College hosted its fourth annual Northern Visionaries Video Essay Contest.  Student Advisor Brandi Bell says over 60students submitted video essays focusing on a number of issues from leadership to indigenization to motivation on how they want to make a difference in northern Saskatchewan.  She says some of the videos talked about the food shortage in the north, more nurses, housing, poverty, alcoholism, domestic violence but how they could make a difference with their Northlands College education to go back to their home community and be a leader and innovator.

Top prize went to Leah Nagy of La Ronge, Shannon Bear of Deschambault Lake second, La Ronge’s Tim Shaw third, Creighton’s Christie Bartle finished fourth and La Ronge’s Ashley Carlson came in fifth.  All of the finalist’s videos can be viewed on the Northlands College You Tube channel.

Community Futures Greenstone continues a series of free Lunch and Learn workshops on Branding and Marketing.  Their Manager Becky Cianflone says their next workshop is Wednesday on Marketing and Social Media.  She says this one is for people who feel intimidated by social media so they’re going to be giving a basic overview of some of the social media tools you can use for marketing your business.

You can bring your lunch and attend the workshop Wednesday from 12 to 1 at the Northern Mining Academy at 2 Hart Avenue.  An RSVP would be appreciated by calling 687-6967 or email admin@cfgreenstone.com but walk ins are welcome.  The final workshop on advertising will be held on May 31^st.

The Flin Flon Aqua Centre Community Committee is holding a public meeting Wednesday night.  Their Treasurer Corey Thompson invites you to come out for an update on what’s happening with the committee.  He says they are going to talk about what’s going on with respect to fund raising.  He explains they have their Flinopoly game that they’re pre-selling right now and sales are going very well for that and they’ll look at what other fund raisers they may be looking at and just general comments on how they are proceeding.

Thompson adds they are also looking for people to help the committee with projects they are volunteering for during the Homecoming this summer.  The public meeting is being held Wednesday night at 7:30 in City Hall Council chambers.

The second annual Creighton community yard sale is coming up on Saturday, May 27^th from 9 to 1.  Recreation Director Channa Senyk says it is held in conjunction with spring clean up week in the Creighton.  She says they’d like to get the advertising out so the deadline for registration is May 19^th.  She says its free, you just have to call the Rec Office, give them your address and they take care of it from there so they’re hoping to see a lot of people out having yard sales at their homes and letting them do the advertising for you.

Senyk adds as it is held during spring clean up any items not sold in your yard sale can be left out if you don’t want them and they will be picked up as part of the community clean up.

The Flin Flon School Board met Tuesday night and Assistant Superintendent Dean Grove reported the semi-truck simulation has been cancelled this year.  The driving simulator was well received in the past and the Division plans to bring it back.

The Division is recognizing kindness this week as Health, Seniors and Active Living Minister Kelvin Goertzen proclaimed May 7^th to 13^th Kindness Week in the province. Grove also made note of comments made by Theoren Fleury regarding the attentiveness of students at Hapnot Collegiate during his recent speaking engagement.  The Grade 8 band student’s recent trip to The Pas was a success as they received an impressive mark of 93 percent.  The Division also recognized the students who were recently in Winnipeg participating in the Red River Heritage Fair who were rewarded with the School Spirit Award.  The students won 250 dollars worth of books for the Library plus two years worth of tours at a Museum.  Grove stated this shows that great things are being accomplished all over by students from our Division.

At their meeting Tuesday members of the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce discussed plans for upcoming events.  On Saturday, May 27^th they will hold their major fund raising annual Radio Auction on 102.9 CFAR from 9 to 1 with items donated by local businesses and organizations.

The Chamber is planning a five dollar scratch ticket to be sold during the Homecoming with a variety of big and smaller prizes.  Any business interested in donating prizes can contact the Chamber office.

They discussed the free community barbeque being held during the Homecoming. Instead of marking the kick off to the Trout Festival it will be held from 10 to 2 Sunday July 2^nd during the Neighborhood Tent Event sponsored by the City of Flin Flon and Hudbay.

And Chamber President Dianne Russell will attend the annual northern joint council meeting May 25^th in Cranberry Portage where community representatives get together to discuss their issues and concerns.

The Norva Centre is hosting an exhibition titled Baba’s House until June 1^st.  Artist Katie Kozak explains this display includes scanner photography from a year long residency that she and her collaborative partner Lucien Durey did in Creighton.  She says it’s all objects from her Baba’s house so basically anything she had in there they thought they could scan.

The exhibit has been open since May 1^st but a reception to officially launch the display is being held tomorrow night at 7 at the Norva Centre at 177 Green Street.

Local musician Mikylo Odut will be featuring a concert of Music Through the Ages Monday and Tuesday.  He says this is the first in a three part journey of the greatest composers, pieces and stories of classical music.  He says most of the time he will be playing flute and Angela Ishaka will be playing piano accompanying him but sometimes he will play solos on the piano or on the flute.  He adds what they are playing is music from the 16 hundreds and 17 hundreds which is the Baroque Era so most of it is fairly old music but he thinks it will still be enjoyable to most people.

The concert takes place Monday and Tuesday at 7 at St. Ann’s Parish at 163 Centre Street.  Advance tickets are available by calling 204-271-3694 or they will be at the door.  The next concert in the fall will feature classical music and next spring the Romantic Era.

The Flin Flon Kinsmen Club invites you to take part in their 27^th annual mini golf classic Saturday.  The Club’s Vice-President Tim Babcock says golfers collect at least 75 dollars in pledges to take part in this fund raising event.  He says the pub putt is their annual fund raiser for Cystic Fibrosis explaining Kin Canada and CF have had a partnership since 1964 and they’ve raised more than 40 million dollars across Canada.  He says they start at the Legion with registration at 12:30, they do six holes of golf there, six holes at the Royal Hotel and finish off with six holes at Burkee’s closing with prizes and a meal.

Pledge forms are available from any Kinsmen member or call Bob at 688-3572, Tom at 687-6731 or Tim at 271-5160.

Reminder Publisher Valerie Durnin asked the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce yesterday if they believe newspapers are dying. She said while large daily newspapers are struggling because information is available online community newspapers are still an important part of a community.  She explained when it comes to community newspapers and what they print, their stories are about smaller locations and they’re very tightly focuses on the communities that they work in.  She said for her its where optimism comes from, its from the people in communities who are doing things to make the world a better place and the community newspapers are able to go down to the level of people in various small towns and say what is it your doing, what are you passionate about, why are you doing it and so many of those things make the world better.

Durnin added they make sure the community has the information they need noting the top priorities for readers are local news, community news and events and happenings and they provide this information in their paper and website.  She adds with publishing once a week their content is highly focused on the community.

 Winning Display  

Thirteen McIsaac and Ruth Betts School students and their eight projects took part in the Red River Heritage Fair at the University of Winnipeg last week. The students were the top finishers in the local Heritage Fair held in February.  One of the local organizers Susanne Westhaver says the students took four awards in Winnipeg.  She says their big winners were Cassidy Alexander and Nikki Keramydas winning the Manitoba Historical Society Award, the Aboriginal Circle of Education Award and the Manitoba Museum Award and McIsaac School came away with the School Spirit Award.

One hundred and eighty students from across the province took part in the Red River Heritage Fair.

Creighton Community School is accepting applications until Friday for their Pre Kindergarten and Kindergarten programs that start in September.  Vice-Principal Vince Cable says Pre K is for children three and four years old.  He explains when they come they’re going to need a birth certificate, have a Saskatchewan health card and they need to be potty trained for Pre Kindergarten and there’s usually an interview process that goes forward with Pre Kindergarten and those children that would benefit the most are prioritized for it.  He adds for Kindergarten it’s the same criteria except they have to be five years of age on or before December 31^st, 2017.

Registration forms are available at the Creighton School main office, online at www.creightonschool.com or on the School’s Facebook page.

Don Nesbit and Cal Huntley

North American Occupational Safety and Health Week was officially launched in Flin Flon yesterday.  During a ceremony at the Northern Mining Academy Mayor Cal Huntley spoke on the week which has the theme Make Safety a Habit.  He explained since the North American Free Trade Agreement this has formally been the week where we recognize how important it is to eliminate illness and accidents from the workplace, from the community and from the home and this is the 20^th anniversary since that’s taken place.

The Chair of the Board for the Academy Don Nesbit told those gathered the Academy is more than mining as they include other sectors such as health, forestry, first aid and safety programs and work along with the neighboring University College of the North to service the north. In fact yesterday a group from Moose Lake was at the Academy taking a fire training program with the local fire department.

Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey says the Pallister government’s cuts to the rural doctor recruitment program will make it more difficult for rural and northern families to get the high-quality health care they deserve. He says the Pallister government has eliminated a grant program and tax rebates that helped attract doctors to rural and northern Manitoba.

Lindsey explains the grant program was established by the former NDP government in 2001 and helped medical students pay off their tuition fees if they practiced in Manitoba after graduation. In the 2015/16 school year, 217 students across Manitoba received a total of 4 million dollars in conditional grants. In addition he adds the tuition fee income tax rebate provided up to 25,000 dollars to students committed to working in Manitoba.

Lindsey says this latest cut comes on the heels of an order to the Northern Health Region from the health minister to cut 6 million dollars from its budget which is a huge blow to frontline services.

Along with the Manitoba results we reported on Friday Hudbay reported overall a net loss of 2.3 million dollars for the quarter compared to a net loss of 15.8 million in the first quarter of 2016.  President Alan Hair says they had another quarter of positive free cash flow generation allowing for further debt repayment in the quarter. He explains while they generated positive free cash flow during the first quarter of 2017 there were a few items that impacted financial results this quarter. There were a number of one time mill maintenance costs and delays impacting production and units costs, also low opening concentrate inventory and late quarter sales where revenue will be booked later in the year upon delivery affected their financial results in the first quarter.

Hair adds their focus for this year remains on delivering on their operating targets, debt reduction and advancing the high return in house brownfield opportunities at Lalor near Snow Lake and Pampacancha in Peru and they are well on track to deliver on these objectives.

The War Amps are mailing out their key tags to Manitoba residents.  Their Safety Events Coordinator James Jordan says the key tags service has been a success for the past 70 years as a benefit to people who lose keys and as a fund raiser.  He explains all the donations they receive for the key tags go to fund their amazing comprehensive services that they offer child and adult amputees through their Champ program, but its also a very valuable service because they returned 1.5 million sets of keys since they started doing this so it really does protect your keys and acts as a safeguard.

The War Amps receive no government funding so they depend on your donations from their key tag and address label programs.

At approximately 11:43 Wednesday morning the Flin Flon Fire Department was called to a fire at 77 Ross Street.  Fire Chief Chad Cooper reports upon arrival fire crews found smoke visible from the basement.  They deployed fire attack hoses to the rear of the home to attack the fire while crews searched the main floor suites for any occupants.  They quickly suppressed the fire in the basement.

Cooper says basement fires are extremely dangerous for fire crews operating inside the structure adding they burn very hot, have limited access and egress and when fire reaches the floor joists the floor above can collapse on top of firefighters.

Fire crews had the fire declared under control 45 minutes after the initial dispatch.  All occupants escaped and there’s no report of injuries.  The fire damage was contained to the living room in the basement.  There’s no estimate of fire damage loss and the cause is undetermined at this time.

McDonald’s Restaurant in Flin Flon joined others across the country in celebrating McHappy Day Wednesday.  They raised 998 dollars for their charity Ronald McDonald House.  This was up a bit from last year.

A dollar from every Happy Meal, Big Mac, coffee and McCafe beverage sold was donated to the charity along with a dollar from each red heart card sold.

Across Canada McHappy Day raised 4.5 million dollars.

The Northern Health Region is sponsoring an open house in The Pas Monday.  Their Regional Manager for Emergency Medical Services Ken Gurba says there will be reps from the Red River Community College Primary Care Paramedic Program there talk to people interested in their course.  He says the course is a year long as it’s a full collage credit type course which not only involves classrooms.  He explains its filmed in Winnipeg and then video streamed up into the remote sites and then in the afternoon the local instructors do the hands on training.  He says its about nine months of actual classroom and then they go into clinical courses and then get experience.

Gurba adds they hope if training takes place in the north those trained will stay in the north.  The open house is at 6 p.m. Monday at The Pas EMS Station.  For information call 204-623-9558 and if you can’t attend go to their website www.rrc.mb.ca and look up their Paramedic course.

In releasing their first quarter 2017 financial results Hudbay President Alan Hair reported increased production but some lower grades in their Manitoba operations.  He says ore production at the Manitoba mines for the first quarter increased slightly compared to the fourth quarter of 2016 as a result of higher production at the Lalor and Reed Mines.  He says zinc grades at Lalor and Triple Seven were sequentially higher offset by lower copper grades reflecting the areas being mined.

Hair added in support of their plan to grow Lalor’s ore production rates to 45 hundred tonnes per day, substantial operating and capital development work was undertaken during the first quarter of this year and is expected to continue throughout the remainder of the year. He also reported unit costs at the Stall Lake concentrator were 66 percent higher compared to the first quarter of last year as a result of damage to the crusher last December which necessitated the use of higher cost temporary crushing facilities but repairs have been made and the mill resumed use of its permanent crushing circuit last month.

At their meeting Tuesday night Flin Flon City Counil approved the spending of 15 hundred dollars to purchase a square on the Flin Flonopoly board being designed as a fund raiser for the Aqua Center Community Committee.  They also approved the spending of 4625 dollars to again purchase Z cards which are cost shared with Community Futures Greenstone.  The cards contain a map and information on the city and have proved to be very popular with tourists visiting the community.

Council passed on final reading all the bylaws relating to their 2017 financial plan as presented at a public meeting last month.

Council also received the Fire Chiefs report for April indicating 11 incidents with an estimated loss of 95 thousand dollars.  Councilor Ken Pawlachuk noted a couple incidents involved downed power lines warning if you come across downed lines don’t approach them as the may be live wires.  Mayor Cal Huntley noting recent incidents with vehicles advised its time for vehicles and walkers to stay off the ice.

The Rotary Club of Flin Flon is holding its annual Lobster Night Saturday, May 13^th.  The Club’s Glen Smith says they are offering the same choices as they have in the past. He says they’ve got their favorite two lobsters and then the second most favorite a steak and lobster, and some people prefer chicken so you can do chicken and lobster if you like and if you’re not a sea food lover you can do steak or chicken by itself and it always comes with a big baked potato, cole slaw and desert.

Smith adds tickets are going well and are available at Kleen-All and Pharmasave but he suggests you get them soon so the lobster can be ordered.

North American Occupational Safety and Health Week will be recognized in Flin Flon next week at the Northern Manitoba Mining Academy.  Their Safety Training Coordinator Leslie Beck invites you to their open house Monday to kick off the week where nationally they celebrate safety and health in the workplace and to get out and talk about their experiences and chat about what they’re doing to promote safety and health.  She says they are encouraging people to come down to the Northern Manitoba Mining Academy where they’ll be doing an open house from 9 to 12 with dignitaries coming in around 11 o’clock to do the official kick off.

Beck invites everyone to come to the open house at the Academy at 2 Hart Avenue Monday for coffee, muffins and information on workplace safety and health in our community.

McIsaac School Principal Steve Lytwyn and Ruth Betts Vice-Principal Amber Zerbin thanked Flin Flon City Council last night for their support of the Schools Hockey Program.  Lytwyn noted the city supported the Hockey Canada Skills Academy that started last fall with the donation of ice time at the Whitney Forum.  He said they learned a lot about meeting the needs of at risk students.  Zerbin read a letter from a teacher praising the program hoping students will sign up for next year with all the positive comments from students who took part this year. Lytwyn added 35 students took part this year with projections of 40 for next year.

Council referred a letter to their Committee of the Whole from the McIsaac School Playground Committee asking approval to go ahead with plans to upgrade the sliding hill behind the zoo.  The committee would like to remove rocks and some trees and add fill to make it smoother as well as installing tire stairs built into the hill.

The Flin Flon Citizens on Patrol Program is promoting Spotlight on Speed Week all this week During the week the COPP volunteers are operating a speed reader board provided by Manitoba Public Insurance at different locations to raise awareness of posted speed limits in our community and as a reminder about the dangers of driving over the posted speed limit or too fast for road and weather conditions. Data collected will be shared with local law enforcement to help inform their speed enforcement efforts. They report in Flin Flon on average 14 to 17 percent of motorists are driving over the posted maximum speed limit and in some areas it’s as high as 27 percent.

COPP volunteers contributed 14 thousand patrol hours and over 22 thousand volunteer hours to the program last year alone.  If you’re interested in joining or learning more about the local Citizens on Patrol Program contact Sinclair James at 271-4881 or email ffcopp@hotmail.com.

Three of the top local projects.

McIsaac and Ruth Betts School students are in Winnipeg tomorrow to participate in the Red River Heritage Fair.  One of the local organizers Susanne Westhaver says the 13 students are there with their 8 winning projects from the local Heritage Fair held in February. She says they do three sessions of workshops and they have one judging session during the day. She notes the public viewing if anyone’s in the area is from 5:30 to 6:30 at the Axworthy Sportsplex on the University of Winnipeg campus and the awards are handed out at 6:30.  She adds while they’re there they’re taking Friday to go to the Manitoba Museum and the Science Center.

The students will be returning to Flin Flon on Saturday.

Education Minister Ian Wishart presented excellence in education awards to nine Manitoba educators Friday.  Among them was Ecole McIsaac School teacher Robert Abbott. Part of his Teaching Excellence presentation noted Abbott has been a physical education and health education teacher for most of his 15 year teaching career.  He has spent thousands of volunteer hours looking after intramural and extra curricular programs on the local and divisional levels. Through his many efforts he has positively impacted student learning and engagement in the school division.

The award winners are selected from nominations received from parents, students, school trustees, fellow teachers or school division administrators.

School Superintendent Constance McLeese congratulated Abbott on his award as well as others nominated for the awards James Dumenko, Anna Harrison, Colleen Kennedy, Robyne Mansell, Shirley Payne and Penny Shroeder Grove.

The Snow Lake Chamber of Commerce is holding their third annual Spring Trade Show today and tomorrow.  President Gerard Lamontagne says they’ll have a great variety of items including jewelry from Mexico, custom made knives, circus style food like candy apples, fudge, kettle corn, home products, gadgets, cosmetics, purses, business loan companies, government agencies, Tupper Ware, cars, trucks, pontoon boats,fishing boats, quads, side by sides, lawn tractors, lawn mowers and all sorts of other stuff.

The Trade Show is being held in the Snow Lake Arena today from 3 to 9 and tomorrow from 11 to 6.

McDonald’s Restaurant in Flin Flon is joining a national celebration of McHappy Day tomorrow.  Store Manager in The Pas Shelly Gallaugher says they’re sponsoring Ronald McDonald House in Winnipeg again this year as one family from Flin Flon and two families from The Pas have used it and again its with any coffee product you buy one dollar goes towards it or Happy Meals or any Big Mac a dollar goes.  She adds they did the shoes last year and so they’re doing red hearts this year so any dollar donations from that goes right into that charity.

McHappy Day runs all day tomorrow with various community representatives helping out in the resaurant.

The United Steelworkers local 7106 held a ceremony at their monument to mark the National Day of Mourning.  Their Health and Safety Rep Ken Bateman noted the 25^th anniversary this month of the Westray Mine explosion in Nova Scotia and the fight for laws to protect workers resulting in the Westray Law but the fight continues.  He said he hopes today is the reminder of the struggle and the pain up to now that those endured that we can rededicate the fight to make workplaces safe and help educate young people on health and safety so that history does not repeat itself.  He asked for a moment of silence to reflect on those workers who have lost their lives and the family members left dealing with those who have gone to work and not returned.

Wreaths were laid by various union and community representatives with messages remembering those who died or were injured on the job and the need to make working condition safe for everyone.

The Northern Health Region and Hope North are presenting an evening with Theo Fleury Wednesday.  Fleury has incredible life experience both on and off the ice and has written two best sellers after years of recovering from dealing with alcoholism and sexual abuse as a youth. Hope North’s Ebony Trubiak encourages you to hear his message.  She says they’re bringing Fleury here to raise awareness about trauma and recovery from trauma.  She says Theo is a speaker who’s really popular, he’s a former  NHl hockey player and he’s got a story to tell that she thinks a lot of people know about but it’s his life work now to create awareness and to help people get to where they want to go.

Fleury will be at the Public Library from 11 to 1Wednesday for a book signing and will be speaking to students in the schools. He will be speaking on Don’t Quit Before the Miracle at a free public presentation Wednesday night at 7 in the Hapnot Collegiate gym.

Rockcliff Copper Corporation has released drill results from its recently completed phase two drill program on their Talbot property.  The property forms part their Snow Lake project centered in the Snow Lake Mining Camp.

The Company reports the discovery of a high grade Volcanic Massive Sulphide zone termed the North Lens Deep Zone intersected in the last two holes of the drill program. Drilling 250 meters below a previously reported VMS discovery included 1.92 meters grading 1.44 percent copper, 1.66 grams per ton silver, 5.16 percent zinc and 26.5 grams per ton gold.

Rockcliff President Ken Lapierre says this important early stage VMS discovery initially identified as a high priority geophysical conductive plate hosts significant concentrations of copper, gold, zinc and silver.  Further drilling is planned this year to identify the plate’s significant economic potential.