The Women’s Resource Centre is holding a Christmas Craft and Home Show Saturday.  Their Executive Director Colleen Arnold says they will feature 30 different vendors at 50 tables.  She explains for the past 22 years the Northern Country Crafters ran this craft show and they have given it to them as a fund raiser so they’re going to have the same things they’ve always had such as door prizes, toonie parade, and they’re going to find baking, home made gifts, raffles, knitted articles, jewelry, stained glass and much more.

Arnold adds they will also have coffee, lunch and snacks.  The Christmas Craft and Home Show runs from 10 to 4 Saturday in the Creighton Community Hall. Proceeds will go to the Women’s Safe Haven.

  Friendship Center Housing and Northern Health Authority Housing are holding a landlords meeting Thursday.  Friendship Centre Housing Coordinator Jason Straile invites you to join them for coffee and muffins to share ideas.  He says they’re going to discuss the availability of different options for their citizens who are in need of housing in the community.  He says anyone who is looking at renting to anyone in our community, they have houses, apartments or rooms to rent, should come out to the meeting and get some more information and learn more about housing and what they’re looking at for our community members.

The meeting is being held at the Friendship Center Thursday morning starting at 9:30. You can call 204-681-3046 for more information.

Flin Flon School Division students will be taking part in Take Our Kids to Work Day tomorrow.  Hapnot Collegiate Essential Skills Director Linda Lowe says it involves all of their grade nine students at the Collegiate and the students will be experiencing many different careers such as teaching, administration, banking, retail and various trades just to name a few.  She says it’s more than just a fun day away from school, it is an opportunity to learn and understand the importance of staying in school by seeing first hand the skills required in the work force today.  She adds for the parents it’s an opportunity to prepare the child for the future by demonstrating their experience and skills needed on a daily basis for their job and participating in a shared experience such as this with their child.

Take Our Kids to Work Day is a national program in its 23^rd year supported by the Learning Partnership, Flin Flon School Division and local employers.

  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 to get clients home. He explains what they do is have a group of three, one that drives the clients vehicle, then there’s a second person which they call the navigator who rides with the driver of the clients vehicle and they have a third person in a second vehicle who picks them up after the drop off and in most evenings they need anywhere from three to five teams of three.

Operation Red Nose begins November 24^th and runs most Friday and Saturday nights through December as well as New Years Eve.  To volunteer you can go online to www.operationrednose.com, print and fill out a form and take it to the local RCMP office with two pieces of identification. You can call Ted at 204-687-7450 for more information.

The Flin Flon Arts Council is holding their 37^th annual Christmas Arts and Crafts Sale Saturday.  Their Coordinator Crystal Kolt says they are featuring the usual as well as new local and other Manitoba and Saskatchewan vendors.  She says there’s 70 different tables full of amazing selections of things to buy from interesting foods to crafts and clothing so its going to be the place to be on November 4^th.

The sale runs from 10 to 4 Saturday in the Flin Flon Community Hall.  It also includes Winter Wonderland photos with Santa from 12 to 1 and 2 to 3 and lunch will be available in the Seniors room.

The program is called Partners in Safety and will be available to help children who are out trick or treating tomorrow evening.  Regional Manager for Emergency Services for the Northern Health Region Ken Gurba says when kids are out vehicles from Emergency Medical Services, RCMP and the Fire Department will be there.  He explains they go out in their marked emergency vehicles and the staff are wearing their uniforms and they make a visible presence on the streets and if any child gets either lost or bullied or has any problems whatsoever they can flag down any one of the multiple emergency vehicles that will be cruising the streets on Halloween evening.

The Partners in Safety Program will run from 4 to 7:30 tomorrow evening in Flin Flon and The Pas.

At approximately 8:50 Saturday morning officers from the Cranberry Portage and Flin Flon RCMP responded to a single vehicle accident on highway ten about 35 kilometers north of Cranberry Portage.  Investigators believe a semi-trailer unit being driven by a 34 year old man from Creighton was southbound on highway ten when the semi entered the right hand side shoulder and the driver over corrected causing the semi-trailer unit to flip over on its roof.  The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers from the Cranberry Portage and Flin Flon detachments along with an RCMP Forensic Collision Reconstructionist continue to investigate.

District Governor Helmut Neufeld of the Shoal Lake Lions Club spoke about his priority project, the Lions Foundation of Canada’s Dog Guide Program.  He told them about a family that received a diabetes monitoring dog at no cost for their children with diabetes and the dog sits between the girls and he detects when they go into a low and he wakes the child up and then he runs to the bedroom and wakes one of the parents up.  He says when they got that dog it was the first time in three years that they had been able to sleep through the night and were totally confident that their children were being looked after and when he heard that story he thinks that’s one of the moments when he actually became a Lion adding when you feel that lump in your throat and you realize what Lions accomplish and what they have done for families it is absolutely amazing.

Neufeld also mentioned two new Lions programs in Manitoba, a hearing aid bank that loans hearing aids for children and a kid’s sight program that tests children in schools with 60 of 600 tested referred to an optometrist.

 Flin Flon Parks and Recreation is hosting a Halloween Alley Sunday.  Recreation Director Caitlin Bailey says it’s a family fun event for Halloween and they’re hoping that everybody who comes wants to dress up.  She adds they’ll have trick or treating, lots of different games, bouncy house, a haunted maze up on the stage area, creepy crawlers, lots of different Halloween activities to take part in with your family.

Halloween Alley runs from 1 to 4 Sunday afternoon in the Flin Flon Community Hall.

  The Flin Flon Arts Council is offering their season passes for another week. The Council’s Crystal Kolt says the passes will offer great entertainment and save you money. She explains once again you get to see five great shows for the price of one hundred dollars and so it’s any show that’s happening through the Arts Council’s 2017-18 season.  She adds you can get advance tickets and then see some really great shows at a reduced price.

The Upcoming shows in December include the Community Choir Christmas concert and the Ham Sandwich Theatre Group’s performance of The Christmas Spirit.  The final day to purchase passes will be Saturday November 4^th at the Arts Council Christmas Arts and Crafts Sale.

Joe McCormick, Joe Bradford, Mary Denby, Janice Cassidy, John Kuzub, Debbie Kuzub,Monica Lone.

The Flin Flon Lions Club held their annual awards night last night.

Hope medals from the Lions Foundation of Manitoba and Northwest Ontario which supports the Medical Assistance Program were presented to Mary Denby and Debbie Kuzub.  Life Memberships in the Lions Foundation of Canada which supports the Dog Guides Program were presented to Janice Cassidy, Jim Cassidy, Mary Denby and Joe Bradford.  Centennial Sponsorship pins from Lions Clubs International went to Monica Lone for sponsoring three new members into the Club and to Debbie Kuzub for sponsoring one new member and John Kuzub for also sponsoring one new member.  District Governor Helmut Neufeld presented years of service Chevrons for Stan Curtis for 55 years, Joe McCormick 35 years and Richard French 15 years and his Governor’s pin to President John Kuzub, Secretary Debbie Kuzub and Treasurer Monica Lone.

Business and Ambassador Awards

Volunteer Awards (Missing Denare Beach)

An awards night was held as part of the Infusion Entrepreneurship Conference held yesterday.  The Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce, Community Futures Greenstone and our four area communities presented awards to volunteers and businesses.

Volunteer Awards for Cranberry Portage were presented to Mabel Brewer and Olga Wesner, for Creighton to Ryan Karakochuk and Bonnie Tait, for Denare Beach to Mel Durette and Jen Feuerstein and for Flin Flon Nadine Porter and Mavis Hassel.

Business excellence awards were presented to 102.9 CFAR Radio 590, VA Services and The Hooter and this years Community Ambassador Award went to the Flin Flon and District Environment Council.

All presenters thanked the award recipients for their dedication to their community and its organizations and activities helping our communities to thrive.

In the Legislature this week Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey thanked community members from across the north who participated in the consultation process showing commitment to solving the challenges the north faces.  He says the government’s plan to look north says it all, it’s all looking and no action by the Minister noting he looked north while the railway line was abandoned leaving families in Churchill without affordable access to the rest of the province, he looked north while a construction season disappeared and Churchill hunkered down  for a long expensive winter, he looked north as thousands of workers in The Pas, Flin Flon, Thompson, Churchill and all across the north worry about their jobs disappearing, he looked north as their families struggled to afford rising food costs, he looked north as the Health Minister cancelled plans for clinics and cut the NHRA budget by at least six million dollars and he looked north as communities lost doctors and businesses.

Lindsey concludes by urging the Minister to get to work in the north and start showing a real commitment to our families.

  Flin Flon RCMP report threats were made to a person against an individual at Hudbay.  An adult male was arrested without incident yesterday on four counts of uttering threats and charges are pending.  The RCMP note they are still in the early stages of their investigation so no further details can be released at this time.

Last week Education Minister Ian Wishart was in the community touring the Division schools and meeting with staff. Superintendent Constance McCleese reported to the Flin Flon School Board that he was very impressed with the student designed virtual reality unit at Hapnot Collegiate.  Funding for the project came from the school budget at the end of June and is believed to be the only one of its kind in use at a high school in the province.  The virtual application can be utilized in many areas of school curriculum, including biology class.

It was also reported that all staff will be taking the training customer service accessibility course over the next three to four months.  The course will assist in areas of dealing with the public and their different accessibility needs.

Students at Hapnot have raised 14 hundred dollars in donations for the We Scare Hunger campaign and non-perishable food donations can still be dropped off at the Hapnot office for the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank.

Recreation Director Channa Senyk invites you to celebrate Halloween at a free family dance.  It’s being held Friday night in the Creighton Community Hall and this year it starts at 6 o’clock for the pre-schoolers until 7 and 7 to 9 is for the older children in the family.  She says there’s going to be a canteen available and lots of fun and treat bags for everyone.

The dance is sponsored by the Town of Creighton and the Creighton Community Centre.

The NorMan Jazz Festival is being held in Thompson this weekend.  Music teacher Anna Harrison says they are taking two bands this year one from Hapnot and one from Ruth Betts McIsaac and they travel to Thompson to participate in clinics and workshops all day Saturday and then a couple of workshops on Sunday morning and they do a performance and then head home.  She adds the clinicians come from Brandon and Winnipeg and they are professional jazz musicians and jazz educators so it’s a really great opportunity for the students to learn about jazz music.

All northern students attending will present a public concert to wrap up the weekend Sunday at 1:30 at the R.D. Parker Collegiate in Thompson.

Rockcliff Copper Corporation has optioned its MacBride zinc property to Nevada Zinc Corporation.  The MacBride property is located 45 kilometers north of Leaf Rapids and hosts the near surface historical high grade MacBride zinc deposit which remains open in all directions.

Rockcliff President Ken Lapierre says they are delighted to have Nevada Zinc’s financial capabilities, expertise and knowledge in exploring this high grade zinc copper asset north of their core base metal property portfolio located in Snow Lake.  He adds they look forward to advancing this property and welcome Nevada Zinc to Manitoba.  The MacBride zinc property includes 22 contiguous mining claims totaling 4994 hectares.

Canadian telecommunications giant Rogers has announced that they are now offering better service across Manitoba.

L-T-E- Advanced is now being offered in many communities, including Thompson, Flin Flon, Churchill and Winnipeg.

Colin Bartlett, the Prairies Regional leader for Rogers, says that the company has a long and proud history in the province of bringing continued improvements that help improve connectivity.

The company also announced they will be working to improve service in hard to reach places such as basements and elevators.

  At their 26^th annual meeting yesterday the Lord’s Bounty Food Banks Food Distribution Chair Dennis Hydamaka reported an increase in food distribution during their past year. They experienced a 15 percent increase in hampers distributed and a 19 percent increase in the number of people fed with 1658 hampers to feed 3193 people a new all time record.

Hydamaka reported their food supply is in pretty good shape. Their total income for the year was just over 84 thousand dollars but that includes 62 thousand in grants and donations that were directed to the purchase and furnishing of their new location in the former St. Mary’s Ukrainian Church where they will be able to provide food and services for the community.  They will move once renovations are completed hopefully by mid-November with a grand opening in the new year.

The Food Bank is in desperate need of volunteer drivers with a van or truck who can donate one hour every Tuesday to pick up food from the local grocery stores.  Call Alison at 687-0838, the Food Bank at 687-7262 and leave a message or drop in to the Food Bank behind Burkees Tuesday or Wednesday.

The Rotary Club of Flin Flon is holding their annual dream draw for ten trips for two valued at around 30 thousand dollars. The Club’s Dave Kendall says they have five seven night packages and those are to Hawaii, Jamaica, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba and then they have five three night packages and those are to Orlando, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Las Vegas and New York with a lot of fun in any of those trips.

Kendall adds there are a limited number of tickets left for 100 dollars each at Kendall and Pandya and Kleen All with the next early bird draw Thursday and the final draw November 10^th.

  The Collegiate’s Daniel Dillon says 20 students earned the trip to We Day through projects the worked on last year or committed to work on this year.  He explains the event is a celebration of what the kids have been doing the previous year when it comes to actions in their over community, national and international.  He says they raised money for the Food Bank, they worked on We Scare hunger, they raised money for a school in Kenya and this opportunity is a great experience for them to celebrate and be with 14 thousand other students across the province who are like minded who are making a difference in their community when it comes to change.

Dillon says they usually take students from their Equality and Social Justice/Gay Straight Alliance and there are eight students from the group going but this year they invited them to invite a friend they might like to inspire so they are going as well and they’ve signed on contract to give back five hours to whatever initiatives they want for the school or for the community.

Callinex Mines has announced it has appointed John J.J. O’Donnell as the Company’s Vice-President of Exploration.  They note O’Donnell has over 30 years of experience in exploration for base and precious metal rich volcanic massive sulphide deposits within North America.

In this area O’Donnell served as CEO of Callinex from 2010 to 2013 and was instrumental in the acquisition of the Pine Bay Project. From 1992 to 2005 he held various positions with Hudbay Minerals with experience in four separate mine operations including Senior Mine Geologist at the Triple Seven Mine. They note he played a key role in the discovery, feasibility and development of the flagship Triple Seven Mine.

O’Donnell states he is excited to advance the Callinex projects in the Bathurst and Flin Flon mining districts in the rising zinc market where current prices have already exceeded a ten year high.

Northland Ford is supporting the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank as part of Ford Canada’s We Scare Hunger Campaign.  Sales Consultant Doug Gourlay says it is going very well.  He says people can drop off non-perishable food items at Northland Ford or also at the Bomber game on Friday the 27^th and all schools are involved in this which is great, student councils are working very hard to promote the campaign and the students and the truck will be out on Halloween night from 5 to 7 trick or treating for non-perishable food items.

 Gourlay adds last year they raised about 22 hundred pounds of food and this year they are trying to double that.  The Campaign runs until the end of October.

Flu shot clinics are coming up soon in our area.  Immunize Canada reminds you it’s important to get your flu shot to protect yourself from serious illness but also when you get it you protect the people around you so if you know children under the age of one or people who have cancer or other serious diseases and if you spend time with them you can help protect them from the flu by getting the flu shot.

Flu shots will be available at the Flin Flon Primary Health Care Centre from10 to 4 October 27^th, November 4th and December 7^th and from 1 to 7 November 9^th and 23^rd and at the Cranberry Portage Wellness Centre October 26^th and November 9^th from 1 to 5.  A complete list for the region is available on the Northern Health Region website.

Last year 150 Manitobans diagnosed with influenza were hospitalized and the virus contributed to the death of 12 Manitobans.

The publicly funded flu vaccine will be offered in Creighton starting this coming Monday.   The Creighton Drop In flu clinics will be held Monday from 9 to 5 and Thursday next week from 8:30 to 4:30.  They will continue there at various dates through November and early December. The Flu Clinic will also be at the Creighton Heritage Manor November 1^st from 1:30 to 4 and New Horizons in Denare Beach November 9^th from 10 to 2. You can find a complete list of flu clinics at the health regions website www.mcrhealth.ca or call the Public Health office in Creighton.

Getting the flu shot is especially important for people who are at risk of serious illness from influenza including seniors, young children, pregnant women and people with chronic health conditions and their caregivers.

Stephanie Staples

Community Futures Greenstone still has a few tickets available for their Infusion Entrepreneurship Conference coming up Wednesday at the Flin Flon Community Hall.  Their General Manager Becky Cianflone says it will be a beneficial conference. She says they’ve tried to get in a good range of speakers that’s going to appeal to a lot of folks so they’re going to be talking about everything from tourism to managing money and making financial decisions to how your attitude really affects your life and your business.

The keynote speaker is the Manitoba Women Entrepreneur of the Year Stephanie Staples.  Following the conference at 6:30 they will have the Celebrating Communities Awards Evening at the Unwinder to honor volunteers and businesses in the community.  Tickets for these events are available by contacting the Community Futures office above Pharmasave, call them at 204-687-6967 or find them on Facebook at Community Futures Greenstone.

Crown Services Minister Cliff Cullen congratulates Citizens on Patrol members for their work in partnership with local law enforcement agencies to keep our communities safe.  Flin Flon Citizens on Patrol Chair Sinclair James says the local group has been busy.  He explains the group has been going consistently since 2014 and there’s currently 27 members in the group. In the past year they’ve put in over 900 volunteer hours and 1743 reported kilometers and if you’d like to join as they’re looking for volunteers you can go online to www.citizensonpatrol.mb.ca or contact them at ffcopp@hotmail.com or call 204-271-4881.

In addition to patrolling the community COPP groups display speed reader boards, patrol at school crossing zones, identify impaired drivers and conduct seatbelt and cell phone use surveys.

  As part of small business month RBC in Flin Flon is holding a small business digital day tomorrow.  The Bank’s Mikael Mantyla says small business clients can come in and see how to use their technology to help their business.  He says from online tax filing to employee pay vendor digital technology can help a business owner save time as well as money.  He explains they’re going to be talking about online banking and different ways a business owner can utilize what is available to them in order to pay bills or send money fast or just basically manage their money and bank anywhere when it comes to mobile applications.

Mantyla adds the month celebrates the amazing contribution of small business to our community and the overall economy.

Satori Resources has announced results from their drill program at the Tartan Lake Gold Mine Project 12 kilometers northeast of Flin Flon.

On June 12^th the Company undertook a limited drill program focusing on the South Zone with a total of just over two thousand meters drilled in six diamond drill holes.  The results both confirmed and provided a basis for further exploration on the South Zone portion of the resources model developed in November of 2016.  The most recent drilling intersected gold mineralization both along strike and down dip beyond the existing resource limits including 3.03 grams per tonne over 4.5 meters.

Interim CEO Bruce Reid says these drilling results increase the zone of mineralization and provide the basis for a more focused drill program on the South Zone.

Operation Christmas Child is again underway in the Flin Flon area.  The Baptist Church is the collection center and their Pastor Jim Galbraith is asking you to fill shoe boxes to be delivered to children in countries where there is war, natural disasters and famine.  He explains they like to have one kind of wow item like maybe a deflated soccer ball with a pump or a nice doll or baseball and cap, otherwise it’s your basic school supplies, hygiene items, clothing depending on where it’s going and stay away from scary things and war item kind of things.

Galbraith adds boxes can be picked up at Pharmasave, Dollar Store With More or participating churches and returned there by November 18^th with a ten dollar donation to cover shipping and other program costs.

 Front: Lieutenant Governor and Lauren Fox

Back: Lillian Knutson, Kiana Stevens, Aline Nasselquist, Myles Patterson, Shannon Williamson, Mikayla Larocque. Missing: Kayless Banting at University.

Lieutenant Governor Vaughn Solomon Schofield spoke to students about the importance of leadership.  She presented her Award of Excellence to student Lauren Fox who has shown leadership in her home, school and community. She explained Lauren achieved an average of over 90 percent in many of her subjects and she received the grade nine Alex Oberg Memorial Award for leadership and creative spirit.  She added Lauren loves music and plays the tuba, piano and she sings, she’s part of school choirs and attended honor choirs and choir camp. Schofield also mentioned Lauren’s achievements in golf, hockey and swimming adding she has plans to become an orthodontist.

The Northern Student Achievement Awards were presented for grade seven to Myles Patterson and Mikayla Larocque, grade eight Lillian Knutson, grade nine Shannon Williamson, grade ten Kiana Stevens, grade eleven Aline Nasselquist and grade twelve Kaylee Banting.  A 500 dollars Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall scholarship was presented to grade twelve student Dimitri Morin.

   People met at St. Ann’s Church Hall Sunday afternoon to support diabetes research.  The Junior Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes began at one ‘clock at the Church and went down the boardwalk and back to the Church.  One of the organizers Kerri Wood says it was really good.  They had a good brisk walk with a small but mighty group of 18. She says they raised approximately a thousand dollars on that day with more coming in until the end of the month.

Wood adds they still have the two dollar sneakers available for purchase until the end of the month at Eddies Family Foods and Scorpio Bearing.

At their meeting last night Council passed on first reading an amendment to their standards of maintenance and occupancy for residential property bylaw.  Councilor Bill Hanson explains basically the bylaw is giving the Bylaw Enforcement Officer better tools to deal with people who are repeat offenders for say not maintaining their yard or having loose garbage flying around their yard on an ongoing basis. He adds what this does is a graduated penalty system so your first offence will be a hundred dollar fine and your second offence would be possibly a two hundred dollar fine and because they’re doing it through a municipal bylaw they don’t need to go through the court system if you are fined and don’t pay, the fine will just go on to your taxes.

The amendment requires second and third reading before coming into effect possibly at their next meeting November 7^th.

The Flin Flon Public Library is holding their annual Bomber Halloween party Wednesday, October 25^th.  Administrator Courtney Campbell explains they have invited the Bombers to come and they’re going to host with them so they’re going to have lots of different activities for the kids.  She says they have 30 spots for kids ages four and up so you need to call the Library to pre-register to make sure you get your spot.  She adds they’re going to have a costume parade, lots of snacks and lots of different crafts for the kids to do with the Bombers so just lots of fun.

The Halloween party runs from 4 to 6 pm at the Flin Flon Public Library October 25^th.  You can call them at 204-687-3397 to pre-register.

The Central Canada Film Group will be showing Barbara at the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre Thursday night.  The group’s Colin Davis says Barbara is a German film from 2012 that was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival last month.  He explains it’s about a woman living in East Germany in the 1980s when it was still one of the world’s most notorious surveillance societies.  Barbara is a resourceful pediatrician who has been exiled to a rural underfunded hospital.  She slowly warms to her colleagues but needs to be wary as one of them may be a government informant and she already has a lover in the West who is hatching a plan to spirit her away from the East.

Davis notes as this is an International Film Festival film they must charge ten dollars admission adding everyone is welcome Thursday night starting at 7:30 in the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre.

At their meeting last night it was reported the committee has had a few fund raising events since their last public meeting. They held a mixed two ball and 50-50 draw raising two thousand dollars, the Kinettes donated 700 dollars from their Caps and Gowns Ball, the Ford Drive One for Your Community raised 35 hundred dollars and they’ve sold 12 hundred FlinFlonoply games so they have 155 thousand dollars in the bank and in the new year letters will go out for corporate sponsorships.

Committee members assisted with the Homecoming in July. They bartended with and will share money raised with the Aqua Jets and Aqua Doves at the City Awards Night with supplies donated by Robbie at Ernie’s Wholesale. The Big Island Drive In Theatre will hold a fund raising movie night in the spring and Ann Ross and Doug McGregor are hosting a Local Roots concert at their home November 18^th with a larger event in the spring.

When concerns about the Aqua Centre structure were raised Committee Chair Kara Plamondon replied their goal is to raise interest and money for upgrading the pool and the decision on what that will include will happen when the project gets closer to the construction stage a few years down the road.

General Manager Becky Cianflone, Board Member Cathy Fidierchuk, Board Member Larry Johnson, Business Development Coordinator Krista Lemcke, Board Member kim Stephen

Community Futures Greenstone has received the Community Futures Excellence and Innovation Award for 2017.  Their General Manager Becky Cianflone says it was for their very successful inaugural Infusion Entrepreneurship Conference held last October.  She explains the provincial body for Community Futures Manitoba has an Excellence in Innovation Award where projects are submitted to the committee and they decide on which projects are the most innovative and help to really represent the Community Futures mandate in supporting entrepreneurship and community development.

Cianflone reminds everyone their second Infusion Entrepreneurship Conference is coming up October 25^th and you can register at the Greenstone office, call them at 204-687-6967 or email admin@cfgreenstone.com.

The Primary Health Care Centre will be hosting a couple of telehealth seminars presented by the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba. Their Program Director Norma Kirkby says they are part of Telehealth Family Education for Those Experiencing Dementia.  She explains their Dementia Basics Program that will run on Telehealth on Thursday, October 19th is going to be about understanding the warning signs of the disease and understanding how as the disease progresses those warning signs impact a persons abilities and therefore lead us to learning new strategies in order to care for the person well.

The session is being held at the Primary Health Care Centre from 6:30 to 8 pm Thursday. To register online go to www.alzheimer.mb.ca, email alzmb@alzheimer.mb.ca or phone 1-800-378-6699.  The second session Understanding the Person will be on November 16^th.

The Child Nutrition Council of Manitoba has received 10 thousand dollars from the Canada Post Community Foundation.  The money is used to support breakfast, snack and lunch programs in Manitoba schools. For 2017 funding will go schools across the province including 24 schools in northern Manitoba. That includes Cranberry Portage Elementary School and in Flin Flon Hapnot Collegiate, Many Faces Education Centre and Ruth Betts Community School.  In 2016-17 the Child Nutrition Council funded over 200 child nutrition programs across Manitoba providing 20 thousand children and youth with consistent healthy meals.

The Canada Post Community Foundation’s mission is to have a positive effect on children in the communities that Canada Post serves by supporting registered charities, school programs or local initiatives that benefit children.

 The Women’s Resource Centre is always on the lookout for new fund raising ideas.  The Centre’s Colleen Arnold says this time they are featuring the Montreal Canadians Alumni Tour presented by Canadian Tire on December 3^rd.  She says they’re going to be playing the local Flin Flon Storm and the game starts at 2 o’clock with presentations beginning at 1:30 at the Whitney Forum.  She adds they’re hoping to see all the seats filled with admission 20 dollars and they also have a VIP which is 75 dollars that includes a meet and greet with the players after the game, special seating and much more.

Tickets will be available in the near future.  If you are interested in playing on the local team along with Pat McKenzie, Mike Jones, Rob Hart and Brad Clark you can contact the Women’s Resource Centre or Pat McKenzie.  And as a Thrill of a Lifetime Flin Flon’s Marty Ledoux has signed up to play with the Montreal Canadians Alumni team.

  Soup Days are underway for another season.  Salvation Army Major Debbie Allen says Soup Days started Wednesday and have been well used in past years.  She explains they have had increasing numbers of people using their services. At the end of last year they were averaging about 50 people half of which were children coming for lunch.  She says they run their Soup Days through the Anglican Church on Church Street and they operate Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:30 to 12:30.

Allen adds Soup Days are run with volunteers from several churches in our Community.

Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey told the legislature this week Fire Prevention Week is about raising awareness and educating families about how to reduce the risk of fires and knowing what to do if they occur.  He explained this summer he personally experienced the tragedy that can follow a fire as his son’s house burned in a horrific event that claimed the life of one of his close friends.  He said in a conversation with a Fire Inspector after the fire it was his belief that a potential cause of the fire was the use of a six outlet plug extender that was plugged into a normal dual receptacle wall plug.  They warned him that today these are mainly made offshore where their production can be unregulated and potentially unsafe.

Lindsey added the products that cause these fires are used extensively by families or seniors in older homes and even though they have the CSA and UL labels there is concern that many of these labels could be forged.  He also recognized all fire fighters who fight structure fires as well as forest fires noting how they and affected communities responded to keep people safe during this summers forest fires in northeast Saskatchewan.

The JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes is being held in Flin Flon Sunday.  One of the organizers Bob Wood says they’ll start at St. Ann’s Church Hall on Centre Street with registration at 12:30 and the walk at 1. He says they’re going to walk from St. Ann’s over to the boardwalk and then over to the stairs and back.  He adds the goal of their walk is funding for a cure for type one diabetes as well as raising awareness for type one diabetes.

For pledge forms you can see Kerri at Eddies Family Foods or Bob at Scorpio Bearing and they have mini boots available for 2 dollars. For more information you can call 204-687-0865.

  The Central Canada Film Group is showing The Founder tomorrow night at the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre.  The group’s Colin Davis explains the movie is about the founder of McDonalds Ray Kroc and you might wonder how a man whose last name is Kroc developed a restaurant called McDonalds especially since it was based on a restaurant already called McDonalds that was founded by two brothers named McDonald.  He says the movie is all about how Ray Kroc managed to build an empire on someone else’s work and despite all of the underhandedness that went on the film itself is actually quite entertaining.

The Founder will be shown at the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre tomorrow night at 7:30 and admission is free but there will be a silver collection.

Community Futures Greenstone invites you to be part of their first ever amazing cardboard challenge. Their General Manager Becky Cianflone explains they’re wanting people to build the world that they see in their minds so this is not just an event for children but they’re encouraging all ages to come out and build and innovate and be creative with recycled cardboard from the Recycling Centre.

You can enter as a team of 3 to 5 people by calling their office at 204-687-6967 or just show up for the challenge Saturday from 1 to 5 in the Ecole McIsaac School gym.  The cost is free and sponsored by Community Futures Greenstone, the Flin Flon Recycling Centre and Flin Flon School Division.

The Sam Waller Museum in The Pas has a new exhibit called Terry Fox: Running to the Heart of Canada. Museum Director Sharain Jones explains it’s a traveling exhibit from the Canadian Museum of History and it’s in partnership with the Terry Fox Centre so it consists of a number of panels describing the story of Terry Fox and his run the Marathon of Hope.

The exhibit will be on display from now until December 31^st.

This is Fire Prevention Week.  Flin Flon Fire Chief Chad Cooper reminds you the theme this year is Every Second Counts Plan Two Ways Out.  He looks at local fire statistics noting the Flin Flon Fire Department responded to 53 emergency calls, 1 fire fatality and six major structure fires in 2016. He says 57 percent of their emergency calls in 2016 were at night time.

Cooper adds half of home fire deaths result from fires that occur between 11 pm and 7 am.  Three out of five fire deaths occur in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms and smoking materials are the leading cause of home fire deaths.

Carrie Pockett, Lannie Bosman Leptick, Leah Lemauviel

  The Harm Reduction Committee spoke to the Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce yesterday.  The Committee’s Carrie Pockett for the Play it Safer Network summarized harm reduction by noting it really is knowing that people engage in behaviors that are harmful and may be risky but how can we help to reduce the harms associated with certain behaviors as well.

Lannie Bosman Leptick from the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba says one in five individuals are affected with addictions so using that number around 16 hundred individuals are affected in our region.  She says they work with individuals on how to use more responsibly or how to reduce the harms in their life.

Public Health Nurse Leah Lemauviel says they offer immunization, education programs, sexual health information, needle exchange to reduce HIV and Hepatitis C infections and sharps disposal units, opioid replacement programs, naloxone kits and they engage with their clients to make change.

Pocket adds they have a youth advisory committee to share ideas on getting their message out to the community.

 Kevin Lamoureux at Hapnot Collegiate

Superintendent Constance McCleese reported the recent speaking engagement by Kevin Lamoureux was extremely successful for the staff and students as well as the public in attendance.  Today the Division staff will be meeting for a steering committee to discuss ways to work First Nations education into the teaching curriculum.

A home reading outreach program is taking place Thursday at Ecole McIsaac School for parents.  There will be two free sessions on how you might read effectively to your children.  The first session is from 3 to 3:30 and again from 6:30 to 7 in the Library.

The Board recognized Katie Anderson for her commitment to the Culture Days events which students thoroughly enjoyed.  The Division will be receiving 25 hundred dollars once again this year from the Manitoba Government.  This money will assist with the costs for the students who have earned the privilege to attend the We Day event in Winnipeg on October 25^th.

For access to all school information visit the Division’s website at www.ffsd.mb.ca.

 Town Administrator Paula Muench, Crystal Banting,            

                                                                 Recreation Director Channa Senyk

The official ribbon was cut Friday to mark the grand opening of the Black Bear Bike Park at Collin Park in Creighton.  The ribbon was held by Town Administrator Paula Muench and Recreation Director Channa Senyk and cut by former Assistant Recreation Director Crystal Banting who developed the project. She explains she went on vacation to Frenie and at the bottom of Mount Fernie they had a bicycle park and her boys absolutely loved it and she thought there’s not a whole lot of technical issues to do with it, it’s very simple park but they could always make it bigger and better and she thought if she can get grant money for it why not.

Banting says it took about two years from the idea to applying for grants to building the bike park.  Funding was provided by the Town of Creighton, Community Initiatives Fund, Areva and the Northern Neighbors Foundation.

Marcus Kennedy Paxton

                                                                                                                           Dareichuk

This is Fire Prevention Week and Flin Flon Fire Chief Chad Cooper explains this year’s theme is Every Second Counts-Plan Two Ways Out.  He says the theme re-enforces why everyone needs to have an escape plan.  He explains draw a floor plan of your home with all the members of your household marking two exits from each room and a path to the outside from each exit, practice your home fire drill twice a year with one at night and one during the day with everyone in your home using different ways out, teach children how to escape on their own in case you cannot help them, make sure the number on your home is clearly marked and easy for the Fire Department to find, close the doors behind you when you leave and once you’re outside stay outside.

The Fire Department will be visiting local residents to perform free smoke alarm inspections and installations.  For information you can contact the Fire Hall.

  The Northern Gateway Museum in Denare Beach is featuring a photo and movie night Thursday.  Their Board Chair Penny Morissette explains they’ve got quite a collection of photos and movies on the history of Denare Beach that have been donated to them over time so they’re going to show just a sampling of some of the collections of photos and a little bit of the home movies that depict a lot of the history of their community.

Morissette adds there will be coffee and cookies and a chance to discuss what you’ve seen with the hope some new information may come out on their history.  The event takes place Thursday night at 7 at the Denareplex in Denare Beach.

SAFE Work Manitoba is holding three prevention workshops that provide education to safety and health committee members, workers and supervisors.  The first is SAFE Committee Basics on Tuesday, October 17^th in which participants will learn about the role and obligations of the safety and health committee in the workplace.  The second is Supervisors and SAFE Work on Wednesday the 18^th in which participants will leave with an understanding of the role and obligations of supervisors when it comes to safety and health and how they can influence safety culture in the workplace and the third is Hazard Identification and Risk Control Thursday, October 19th in which participants will learn four methods of identifying hazards, along with how to assess risk and implement methods to control risks.                     

The workshops will run each day from 8:30 to 4 at the Northern Mining Academy, Room 207 – 2 Hart Avenue and you can register and learn more by visiting www.safemanitoba.com/education.  The workshops are free.

Rockcliff Copper Corporation has entered into an option agreement to earn a 100 percent interest in the Berry Creek gold property near Snow Lake.  President Ken Lapierre explains the potential gold targets at Berry Creek are high grade gold with quartz veins and low grade gold in intrusive rocks which has never been investigated historically and their plan is to advance the property through geophysics, geology and drilling in 2018.

One of the drill holes reported intersected 4.7 grams per tonne gold across 4.3 meters starting at 37 meters including 19 grams per tonne gold across .5 meters while visible grab samples assayed from a trace up to 90 grams per tonne gold, trace up to 2.48 percent zinc and trace up to .51 percent copper.

Stephanie Staples

Community Futures Greenstone invites businesses to an Infusion Entrepreneurship Conference on October 25^th.  Their Community Development and Marketing Coordinator John Bettger says the conference is featuring a key note speaker Stephanie Staples who is an author, a columnist and a writer and she’s won the Manitoba Women’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award and they are also featuring workshops that will include the power of tourism, money mindfulness, business growth with social media and a local entrepreneur on our story-northern entrepreneurs.

The conference runs from 8 to 4 Wednesday, October 25^th in the Flin Flon Community Hall followed at 6:30 by an Awards Night at the Unwinder to honor local businesses and volunteers.  You can register by emailing admin@cfgreenstone.com, call 204-687-6967 or at their office above Pharmasave.  The cost is 40 dollars for the conference, 25 for the awards night and 60 for both.

Pre-budget consultations get underway soon that will give Manitoba families the opportunity to share their views on three key issues.  They include sustaining health care, controlling marijuana use and balancing the budget.  The closest town hall meeting to Flin Flon is in The Pas on October 16^th at the Kikiwak Inn from 1 to 2 PM but they have also launched an online survey.  You are encouraged to take the survey and have your say on controlling marijuana use with questions about the legal age of consumption, price, availability and public safety; balancing the budget including questions about the path government should take to balance the budget and ways to reduce government spending; and sustaining health care including questions about how to sustain services and the possibility of introducing health care premiums. You can find the online survey at www.manitobansmakingchoices.ca.

  Northland Ford is supporting the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank as part of the We Scare Hunger Campaign.  Sales Consultant Doug Gourlay says We Scare Hunger is a program from Ford Canada to collect food to support local food banks.  He explains they go to the local schools in Flin Flon and Creighton and get groups together to help raise food items for the local food bank and last year they raised about 22 hundred pounds of food and this year they’re going to try and double that.  He adds they will be at the Bomber game on Friday, October 27^th with their vehicles and people can drop food items off at Northland Ford where they’ll have a truck with banners on it.

The campaign runs until the end of October.

At their meeting Tuesday night Flin Flon City Council heard a presentation on the local harm reduction program. It includes the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, the Northern Health Region and Public Health, and the Play It Safer Network.  One of the presenters Community Health Developer Deanna Johnson explains the definition of harm reduction is a set of strategies and tactics that encourages people to reduce harm to themselves and their community through sharing of relative information, facts and practical material tools that allows them to make informed and educated decisions.  She adds it recognizes their competency to protect themselves.

Examples of local harm reduction given include immunization, addictions education programs, opioid replacement programs, naloxone kits for people using opioids, education and referral for clients with risky behavior, safe needle disposal sites and sterile needle exchange programs to prevent HIV and Hepatitis C infections with around 14 thousand needles provided in the Flin Flon The Pas region and developing awareness, support and education programs with the committee open to ideas on how to get their message out.

At their meeting last night Flin Flon City Council passed on final reading an amended smoking bylaw. The bylaw will prohibit smoking within 5 meters or 16 feet of the doorway of any building open to the public.  It was amended to include provincial legislation that subjects vaping to the same restrictions as smoking products.

Council also received the Fire Chiefs report for September indicating four incidents during the month.

Council approved the use of City Hall as headquarters for Operation Red Nose that runs through December to get people and their vehicles home safely during the holiday season.

Mayor Cal Huntley and Council congratulated all involved in a successful Culture Days weekend.

Mayor Huntley also recognized the passing of Jim Fell noting his contributions to the community that included years on the Library Board, Museum Board and in scouting programs.

And Councilor Karen MacKinnon urged people to purchase 50-50 tickets being sold by the Library as they are in need of funding to continue to provide their services.

The Saskatchewan government’s consultation survey on cannabis wraps up on Friday.

Justice Minister Don Morgan says the legalization of cannabis represents a big change and they want to take time to consult with the people of the province to ensure they implement the parts of this legislation that are under their control in a way that works for Saskatchewan.  If you are eighteen years of age or older and a resident of the province you can complete the anonymous survey at www.saskatchewan.ca/cannabis.

Topics on the survey include parts of the federal legislation left up to the provinces including age limits on cannabis sales, public consumption, taxation on cannabis sales, distribution and wholesaling, potential retail models, locations and rules, regulatory compliance and the enforcement of the modified impaired driving laws.

Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen has officially announced the recruiting of six physicians to work in the Northern Health Region.  Two will work in Flin Flon and four in Thompson.

The Health Region’s Communications Coordinator Twyla Storey says the two female physicians, Doctor George and Doctor Soltani actually started work at the Flin Flon Clinic in September.

Health Region CEO Helga Bryant says they are pleased to welcome these physicians to our region as having them join their team will increase their capacity for patients to experience improved access to medical services.  She adds physician recruitment is an ongoing process that they continue to work on to meet the needs of the region’s residents.  She encourages everyone to make these doctors feel welcome and become an integral part of our community.

This past June Mikylo Odut got 90 percent on his grade ten flute exam resulting in a top award from the Royal Conservatory of Music.  He says this medal is from his exam that he completed in June and he knew he got a 90 percent on the exam and that’s first class honours with distinction category but recently he got an email telling him he got a gold medal basically meaning he got the highest mark in his region of Canada in this particular exam.

The Conservatory explains gold medals are awarded each academic year to exam candidates who have obtained the highest mark for their level, discipline and region while meeting all the necessary requirements.

Creighton and Denare Beach area residents can join other Saskatchewan residents in nominating a volunteer for the next round of Volunteer Medals.  The province’s Provincial Secretary Nadine Wilson explains the Saskatchewan Volunteer Medal is so important to Saskatchewan because they are the citizens who give so much and ask for so little, so any Canadian citizen who is a current or former long term resident of the province is eligible.  She says you can think of someone who is very worthy, who always gives of themselves, as Saskatchewan has a long and proud history of volunteerism, so she imagines there’ll be lots of people that you can think of in your community.

Nomination forms are available on their website www.saskatchewan.ca/honoursawards and clicking on Volunteer Medal.  The nomination deadline is October 18^th.

  Canadian Platinum Corporation has signed a definitive agreement to sell its Peter Lake Property just west of Reindeer Lake in northern Saskatchewan.  The purchaser is American Energy Metals Corporation and the agreement calls for cash payments, issuing shares and granting Canadian Platinum a five percent Net Smelter Royalty on production from the property. The property hosts significant copper, nickel, cobalt and platinum group element mineralization.  Closing of the transaction is expected to occur on or before October 19^th.

President Gary Billingsley states the transaction allows Canadian Platinum, based in Saskatoon, to participate in what they see as the significant upside potential of the project through the Net Smelter Royalty and through share ownership of the company developing the project and allows them to begin exploration work on their Nevada gold project.

The Women’s Resource Centre is presenting The Total Me starting next week. The Center’s Barb Hopkinson explains it’s an eight week group and is an interactive group for women to allow them to get to know other women, to address issues that surface every day, enhance their ability to recognize that we all have special abilities and that we can achieve the goals and expectations we set for ourselves.

The workshop includes self-awareness, social awareness, self management, relationship management and mindfulness as well as related activities.  It starts Wednesday, October 11^th at 6:30 upstairs at the Women’s Resource Centre. To register call them at 204-681-3105.

A large crowd gathered yesterday to celebrate a successful weekend of Culture Days by Dancing Down Main Street.  Organizer Crystal Kolt says they had over 120 events because new ones were popping up over the weekend and it has been just a whirlwind.  She says it’s a joyful community experience celebrating everything from all of our art forms to all of our cultures including fishing, hockey and mining and everything in between so it’s been an amazing Culture Days.

Culture Days began last week with a full day of events on Friday that included the schools continuing through Saturday and wrapping up yesterday.  Kolt adds people are already approaching her with new ideas for next year.

Community Dietician Joanna Ledoux, Public Health Manager Bev Hill, Public Health Nurse Loida Agpalza, Board Chair Cal Huntley, Baby Friendly Manitobas Linda Romphf.

For several years the local Breastfeeding Committee and the Northern Health Region Public Health Staff have been working towards achieving Baby Friendly designation from the Breastfeeding Committee for Canada.  Following an accreditation process that designation was awarded Friday at the Primary Health Care Centre. Baby Friendly Manitoba Consultant Linda Romphf says this is a rare event and it is a prestigious award that’s given to those facilities, community or hospital, that meet certain criteria as well as the international code of marketing for breast milk substitutes.  She says what it means is that they are an example of evidence based best practices, you know that when you come here you are going to get the support and the help you need to make the decisions around infant feeding and that you’ll be supported in those decisions.

              Flin Flon is only the third Centre in Manitoba to receive this designation along with The Pas and                 Steinbach with Thompson expecting a decision soon.