Saskatchewan Government Insurance is partnering with the ministries of Justice and Corrections and Policing to invest 250 thousand dollars into the expansion of the Northern Alcohol Strategy. This investment will expand the Strategy to Creighton, La Loche, English River First Nation and surrounding communities.  The funding will provide for Northern Alcohol Strategy personnel and resources in these communities in the 2019-20 fiscal year.  These personnel will support local leadership in the development of solutions to reduce the impacts of alcohol misuse in these regions.

Medical Health Officer Dr. James Irvine says initial successes reflect the collaborative efforts of community agencies and organizations in working toward healthier communities through supporting moderation in alcohol use, enhanced support in addictions treatment and expanded family and youth alcohol free activities. SGI Minister Joe Hargrave adds this Strategy aligns with the government’s goal to reduce the number of impaired driver injuries and fatalities across Saskatchewan.

The Women’s Resource Centre is holding their annual Christmas Craft and Home Show Saturday.  Their Executive Director Colleen Arnold says they will feature 30 different vendors.  She adds they’re going to have door raffles, a toonie parade and you’ll also find some baking, homemade gifts, some knitted articles, jewelry, stained glass and so much more and coffee, lunch and snacks are going to be available.

The Christmas Craft and Home Show runs from 10 to 4 Saturday in the Creighton Community Hall.  Donations to their silver collection will be appreciated.  Proceeds from the Show will support the Women’s Safe Haven.

The Central Canada Film Group is presenting a really fun film Friday. The group’s Colin Davis asks an easy question: So what movie is this from….”We are the knights who say…..NI! adding if you guessed Monty Python and the Holy Grail you would be correct and if you take part in all of the fun with all of the other Python fanatics you could stop by the Hapnot Theatre at 7:30 pm.  He explains they are presenting this film as part of their Films You Might Have Missed Series.  He noted chances are that you have seen this classic before but you probably have never watched it in a theatre full of Python fans which is a completely different experience.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail will be shown Friday night at 7:30 in the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre and admission is free.

The Flin Flon Arts Council is holding their 39^th annual Christmas Arts and Crafts Sale Saturday.  Their Coordinator Crystal Kolt says they are featuring 70 tables with local and other Manitoba and Saskatchewan vendors so they’re going to have everything under the sun there. She says they have vendors in the lobby leading people to the Seniors Christmas Brunch as well as the photos with Santa that starts a little earlier at 11:30 on the stage and then they have vendors with everything from soaps and bath bomb to art work, knitting, crafts, pottery, woodworking, everything you could possibly imagine for your Christmas shopping.

The sale runs from 10 to 4 Saturday in the Flin Flon Community Hall and is also your last chance to purchase an Arts Council season pass.

The program is called Partners in Safety and will be available to help children who are out trick or treating tomorrow evening. When kids are out vehicles from Emergency Medical Services, RCMP and the Fire Department will be there. As in past years they go out in their marked emergency vehicles and the staff are wearing their uniforms making a visible presence on the streets. If any child gets 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 around 4:30 to 8 tomorrow evening.

Big Island Drive In

Urban Trends

Ped's Threads

Rubi's Outdoors

Reminder

The Flin Flon and District Chamber of Commerce in partnership with Community Futures Greenstone presented this year’s business awards yesterday.

This year’s recipients of the Business Excellence Awards presented by Chamber President Karen MacKinnon and Past President Dianne Russell were Urban Trendz owned and operated by Randi-Lynn Anderson, Big Island Drive In owned and operated by Dawn and Dan Hlady and Ped’s Threads owned and operated by Cindi Pedwell for their contribution and commitment to our community.

Alannah Skot owner of Rubi’s Outdoor is the recipient of the Emerging Entrepreneur Award.  She has been involved in tourism initiatives and working as a mentor to other young entrepreneurs.

The joint committee of Greenstone and Chamber members also selects a recipient for the Community Ambassador Award for an organization that contributes to the betterment of the community and this year’s recipient  is the Reminder newspaper.

The presentations were part of the Infusion Entrepreneurship Conference.  Greenstone’s Becky Cianflone reports they had 85 attendees from Winnipeg, Thompson, The Pas, Cranberry Portage, Creighton, Denare Beach and Flin Flon along with eleven entrepreneurship students from Northlands College in Creighton and four guest speakers under the theme Retrain Your Brain.

District Governor Dwayne Moncur is from the Birtle Lions Club.  He spoke on the theme of International President June Yul Choi from South Korea We Serve Through Diversity.  He explained President Choi’s programs and initiatives will focus on four key elements of Lions International that are essential to their mission of service.  He said they’re strengthening membership through diversity, expanding service impact globally, supporting our global foundation which is the Lions Clubs International Foundation and empowering every Lion as a leader adding he truly believes this and you just can’t help but get swept up in his enthusiasm and the passion he has.

Moncur noted 2020 marks the 100^th anniversary of Lions in Canada having started with a club in Windsor, Ontario sponsored by a club in Detroit.  He congratulated the Flin Flon Lions Club on their 66^th anniversary and on being the sixth longest serving club of the 50 clubs in the province.

Opaskwayak Cree Nation has made many investments in the cannabis industry since the drug was legalized for recreational use last fall. According to Chief Christian Sinclair the community is now the largest legal cannabis holder in the world.

OCN made their first investment with META Cannabis which is the first time that a First Nation became a majority share holder of a publicly traded company.

Making investments in the cannabis industry has put OCN in a strong financial position allowing them to pay off some debts and make investments in other community needs.

With about 2.5 Million dollars remaining, a strategic planning exercise is expected to be held next month to determine how the money should be used in the community.

The Denare Beach annual fall supper is coming up Sunday November 17^th starting at 5 pm.  Recreation Director Mel Durette says they provide a great meal including turkey, ham, stuffing, perogies, salad, vegetables, mashed potatoes and there’ll be wine and beer available on November 17^th at the Denareplex.  She notes adults are 15 dollars and youth is 6 dollars.

Tickets are available at the Denare Beach Village Office and Di’s Confectionary in Creighton.   At the supper they will also be picking the winning name from their Name the Beaver contest.

The Flin Flon Lions Club held their annual Charter and Awards Night Saturday.

The highest award from Lions Clubs International the Melvin Jones Fellowship Award was presented to Club Secretary Debbie Kuzub for her dedication to the Club.  The Judge Brian Stevenson Award from the Lions Foundation of Canada that supports Dog Guide Programs was presented to Lisa Tower, Neal Dimick and Jan Nikkel.  The three also received Life Memberships in the Lions Foundation of Canada.

Diamond Centennial Membership Awards from Lions Clubs International were presented to Monica Lone, Debbie Kuzub and John Kuzub for sponsoring new members during the Lions centennial year.

 District Governor Dwayne Moncur presented his Governor’s Award Pin to club members serving on the executive as well as committee chairs.  He also presented Chevron attendance pins to Melissa Wasylciw for 10 years, Andy Wasylciw for 15 years and Ken Mansell for 30 years.

Rockcliff Metals Corporation has announced that its ten thousand meter drill program is now fully underway near Snow Lake.  A total of eight drills have been mobilized on their three advanced stage Volcanic Massive Sulphide deposits at the Talbot, Rail and Tower properties.  They report this extensive drill program is currently focusing on enhancing these advanced stage deposits to allow for preliminary economic assessment studies to be completed on each property.                                      

Rockcliff President Alistair Ross explains their geological team and drill contractors now total over 50 people to support the 8 rigs on the three properties.  In addition he says good progress has been made with advancing their positive relationship with First Nations from Moose Lake and Norway House as they begin employing First Nations Members and finalizing service and supply contracts.

Creighton Mayor Bruce Fidler, Denare Beach Mayor Carl Lentowicz and Flin Flon Mayor Cal Huntley signed a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday.  Mayor Fidler explains it’s a very important occasion for our communities as well as being the first ever inter municipal, inter provincial entity of this kind.  He explains what they are doing is formalizing an agreement between the three communities for working together on building a strong sustainable future for our region.  He says they’ve been working together for a couple of years on this but he thinks with the formalization of this it will hopefully be just the beginning of the many things they can do together to move forward.

Mayor Huntley added the agreement gives them a strong united voice as they approach economic opportunities or the Manitoba and Saskatchewan governments.  He added municipal councils do change and this agreement will ensure in the future the three councils continue to work as a formalized unit.

Each party will provide a minimum of three representatives comprising the Mayor, Chief Administrative Officer and one elected official to the Regional Economic Commission which will meet at least once monthly.

Flin Flon Toastmasters will be holding their annual open house Monday evening.  The Club’s Harry Hobbs says it will be a chance for you to see what happens at a Toastmasters meeting.  He explains they will have an example of what they learn at Toastmasters so people will be able to see an impromptu session of public speaking where they learn to speak on a subject at a moment’s notice, there’ll be a prepared speech form their Toastmasters program and answer question on how the program works so it’s a great opportunity for people to come out and see what Toastmasters is about and what it can offer them in terms of being a better communicator.

The open house is being held Monday evening at 7 in the Community Adult Learning Center on the lower floor of the former Co-op store on Main Street.

Creighton, Denare Beach and other Saskatchewan residents have a week left to nominate someone for the Saskatchewan Order of Merit.  Saskatchewan Chief of Protocol Major Jason Quilliam explains the Saskatchewan Order of Merit is essentially the province’s highest honor, it’s the highest honor that the province can bestow on somebody and it’s the prestigious recognition of the excellence, achievement and contributions to the social, cultural and economic wellbeing of Saskatchewan.  He adds any long term Saskatchewan resident can be nominated for the Order of Merit.

The deadline for nominations is November 1^st. For information or to nominate someone for the award go to their website www.saskatchewan.ca/honoursawards.

Work continues at the heating plant at the bottom of Ross Street Hill at Third Avenue.  Director of Works and Operations Charles Boulet explains the many delays in opening the road.  He say the contractor at the bottom of the hill is later than what was expected to complete the work but they’re working on it as we speak, it’s just that they’re later than anticipated so they think in another two to three weeks things should be pretty much cleared up there.

A detour around the construction has been in effect all summer as work is being done to upgrade the heating plant to provide better redundancy and serviceability to the city.

The Flin Flon School Board met Tuesday evening.  Superintendent Tammy Ballanyne reported the enrollment numbers for the current year with 398 students at Ecole McIsaac School, 245 at Hapnot, 102 at Many Faces and 244 at Ruth Betts.  Ballantyne said these numbers have been pretty consistent over the past six years.  The Board also received updates on building projects.  The roofing continues at McIsaac and Hapnot and work will continue into the winter months.  Work continues on the grooming rooms at Ruth Betts and McIsaac and could be complete by mid November, while AC units at Hapnot are complete.  The McIsaac shop renos are complete while work continues on a variety of other projects around the Divison.

Board Chair Murray Skeavington congratulated the Flin Flon Band students who recently were in Thompson for the Norman Jazz Festival.  The students enjoyed working with others and performing different types of music.  Skeavington said the students represented Flin Flon with honor.

The Chamber’s President and Director, Raj Thethy and Volker Beckmann, went down to Winnipeg recently to meet with provincial government officials to talk about the benefits and progress of this industry in the north.

The Thompson Chamber has been involved with winter weather testing in the city over the past two decades, however after Thompson Unlimited stopped their services in 2014 because they lacked funding, the city began to slip from the industry.

The Chamber says having international manufacturers flock to Thompson to conduct winter weather testing could bring exciting opportunities to the city, such as economic development and tourism.

It goes on to explain that testers would bring in new revenue to the region and create new jobs and investments, and that the Chamber is planning a tourism event next year that would bring in electric vehicles to Thompson during Manitoba’s 150^th anniversary.

The Recycling Centre is reviewing its red bag curbside pickup recycling program in Flin Flon.  Administrator Deb Odegaard sys there’s not enough usage to cover their costs so people who are interested should contact the Recycling Centre before the end of the year so it can continue.  She says the advantage of the red bag is that you don’t have to haul it anywhere, they will pick it up at you house so it’s really great for people who don’t have vehicles, it also just makes it easy to put it on the curb on a Wednesday morning and they’ll pick it up and take it away as long as you bought a red bag for $3.50 and that $3.50 covers the costs for doing the pickup service.  

Odegaard adds anyone interested can find information on their website www.flinflonrecycle.org and give them a call so they can make sure you’re on the route they are doing pickups on.

The annual Denare Beach Winter Festival is coming up in February.  Recreation Director Mel Durette says they are holding a planning meeting tomorrow afternoon.  She says it’ll just be any people that want to put out any ideas and just basic planning for Winter Festival this year.  She notes the Winter Festival will be February 21^st, 22^nd 23^rd, 2020.

Durette invites you to the meeting tomorrow afternoon at 1 in the Denareplex.

Ashton won her seat for the Churchill Keewatinook Aski riding with 50 percent of the vote. She defeated Liberal Judy Klassen, Conservative Cyara Bird, Green Party Ralph McLean and People’s Party of Canada Ken Klyne.  Aston says her re-election sends a message to the government about issues pertaining to northern Manitoba.  She says they sent a strong message that it is the NDP that fights for us, it fights for us because it speaks to the issues that matter to us, housing, health care, education, roads, infrastructure, support for our young people, support for our teachers and taking on climate change and we need to make sure that the government whatever it looks like acts on the priorities of our north, on the priorities of First Nations, Metis and northern people.

New Democrats won two dozen seats in the House of Commons.

Conservative Gary Vidal won the Desnethe Missinippi Churchill River riding in Monday’s federal election with around 42 percent of the vote.  He says he is overwhelmed by the win and is grateful for the tremendous support he received and will work for all people in the riding. He explains he didn’t run on anything where he has a specific issue list of things so he’s going to learn the job the best he can and make sure that he’s a great voice for northern Saskatchewan adding his job is representing everybody in the north and that’s what he’s going to set out to do.

Vidal replaces incumbent NDP MP Georgina Jolibois in the House of Commons.

Grade 12 student Shannon Williamson has been named a member of the Provincial Youth Council.  It consists of 12 grade 11 and 12 students from different School Divisions and will work directly with the Minister of Education Gordon Wyant to identify issues and topics important to them and their peers.  Williamson says they held their first meeting with the Minister over the weekend and discussions included what is important for students in their everyday life and what will help students be prepared for their futures so they talked a lot about mental health culture and more teacher one on one experiences in schools and they talked a lot about how they have a lot of teacher cuts in schools and they will continue to meet with more face to face meetings to discuss these further.  She adds she always wanted to do something like this and now that she has the opportunity she want to use it to her full advantage.

As we reported earlier Williamson also received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award of Excellence last month in a presentation by Lieutenant Governor Russ Merasty at Creighton School.

The City of Flin Flon is holding a Share the Scare contest.  Recreation Programmer Caitlin Bailey says they want you to share Halloween decoration experiences so you are welcome to send in a photo of your own home, somebody in the neighborhood, a place that you recognize in town that’s decorated really well and really shows off the Halloween spirit.  She says that way they’re going to post the photos on their social media pages and have the community vote and they can award a winner.

You can send your photos, street address and contact name and number to cbailey@flinflon.ca by Monday the 28^th and voting will take place on their Facebook page until midnight October 31^st.

Bailey adds they are also holding a free Halloween spooks swim at the Aqua Centre Halloween evening from 6:30 to 8 and you’re encouraged to wear your best Halloween costume.

In the northern Manitoba riding of Churchill Keewatinook Aski Member of Parliament Niki Ashton was elected to another term.  She was well ahead of the other candidates all night finishing with 11,133 votes with 151     of 155 polls reporting. Liberal Judy Klassen was second with 5125, followed by Conservative Cyara Bird with 4648, Green Party Ralph Mclean with 1109 and Peoples Party Ken Klyne with 296 votes.

In the northern Saskatchewan riding of Desnethe Missinippi Churchill River it was a close race early in the results before Conservative Gary Vidal jumped ahead finishing with 10,816 votes with 171 of 173 polls reporting.  He was followed by the NDP incumbent Georgina Jolibois with 7504, Liberal Tammy Cook Searson with 6899, Green Party Sarah Kraynick with 500, and People’s Party Jerome Perrault with 205 votes.

Sustainable Development Minister Rochelle Squires has announced the recipients of the 2018 Manitoba Excellence in Sustainability Awards. 

The Education for Sustainability Award goes to William Bill Taylor at Frontier Collegiate in Cranberry Portage.  Taylor has been a teacher in northern Manitoba since 1989 and over the course of his career has led his students on a number of environmental and social initiatives.  He says he considers himself very fortunate to be able to influence the youth he teaches and adults alongside noting the earth is in a fragile state and it is up to each of us to plant the seed that will help future generations witness the beauty and avail themselves of the natural resources.  He therefore encourages everyone to do their small part to reduce the stressors that our planet is facing.  He adds he uses a sustainable development or global goal as his guide and believes our actions always speak louder than our words.

These awards honor people, projects and ideas that successfully turn the province’s principles and guidelines of sustainable development into concrete lasting achievements.

The Women’s Resource Centre is holding a special presentation as part of National Domestic Violence Prevention Month.  The Centre’s Laurie Sealey invites anyone interested to help with the presentation.  She explains the Centre is hosting A Memory, A Monologue, A Rant and A Rave in November which is an evening of performers reading monologues around the topic of ending domestic violence so they’re looking for men and women to be part of the production. She says there’s no memorizing lines, no acting experience needed so you can call and let them know you’re interested and they can let you know what scripts are available to read and sign up by October 30^th.

Any men or women interested are asked to call the Women’s Resource Centre at 204-681-3105.

You are urged to get out and cast your ballot today.  Polls are open from 8:30 this morning until 8:30 tonight.  In Flin Flon polling stations are located at the Flin Flon Community Hall, Northminster United Church and St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church, in Creighton at their Community Hall and in Denare Beach at the Denareplex.

Candidates in Manitoba’s Churchill Keewatinook Aski riding are the NDP’s Niki Ashton, Conservative Cyara Bird, Liberal Judy Klassen, Peoples Party Ken Klyne and Green Party Ralph McLean.

Candidates in Saskatchewan’s Desnethe Missinippi Churchill River riding are Liberal Tammy Cook-Searson, NDP Georgina Jolibois, Green Party Sarah Kraynick, Peoples Party Jerome Perrault and Conservative Gary Vidal.

When you vote you must have photo ID such as a drivers licence or other government issued card with a photo your name and address or two other pieces of ID with your name and one showing your address or have someone vouch for you.  Complete information can be found online at www.elections.ca.

The Square Foot Art Exhibition and Auction wraps up Sunday at the Norva Centre.  People purchased a 12 by 12 inch canvas and returned it with their art work or other items on it.  The Centre’s Cindy McLean says a silent auction is underway with a live auction Sunday.  She says it is open now with over 50 artists with a wide variety of styles including Monique Rainville, Karen Clark, Lois Pederson, Ron Watt noting there’s too many to mention. She adds they also have an Arts Council season pass and a one night stay at the Victoria Inn, there’ll be over 92 pieces to bid on, you can also purchase a ticket on their raffle so come on down to Norva anytime before Sunday to place your bid on a silent auction and you can come Sunday afternoon to either revisit your bid or bid on something else.

The live auction gets underway at 2 Sunday afternoon with auctioneer Raphael Saray with the doors open at 1.  This auction is a fund raiser for programs at the Norva Centre at 177 Green Street.

The Manitoba Government recognized the International Day of the Girl Wednesday by supplying nine Women’s Resource Centres with free period packs for the girls that access their services.  Flin Flon’s Women’s Safe Haven received around 50 hand purses filled with supplies.

 Minister Responsible for Status of Women Rochelle Squires stated the government values the important work and supports these community led organizations provide to women and girls in need including access to feminine hygiene products that many women take for granted.  She added she hopes the gesture will begin a movement of others in providing support and discussing this important topic.

It was noted all women should have equal access to feminine hygiene products as this is a basic need that many participants in these centres ask for and often do not have the financial means to buy and hopefully this donation will encourage others to consider donating as well.

The NorMan Jazz Festival takes place in Thompson this weekend.  Band Director Anna Harrison says Flin Flon School Division will be sending 25 students.  She explains they take the grade 8 to 12 jazz students so they are student from all three schools and they are going to Thompson to participate in a learning festival so they all come with some material prepared.  She says they spend all of Saturday working with clinicians who are coming from Brandon and Winnipeg this year so they’re jazz players and jazz educators from those areas so they work with them for a whole day and a little bit on Sunday morning and then they have a concert at the end where they share what they’ve learned.

Harrison adds the NorMan Jazz Festival is an annual event that is hosted each year by Flin Flon, The Pas or Thompson.

Kids First North is holding a clothing give away tomorrow open to anyone needing them.  Their Supervisor Shelly Vancoughnett explains they’ve been in Creighton for about 18 years and they take families with children from pre-natal to age four and it’s a home visiting program and they really promote child development and parenting skills and two or three times a year they do a clothing give away because they know that clothing is a need, children are growing and items are needed by families.  She notes they have a very generous community and they donate items so they put these items out for the community to come and pick.

Vancoughnett adds they have clothing of all sizes, household items, books and toys. It runs from 9 to 4 in the Kids First board room at 430 Main Street in Creighton and all items are free.

The Manitoba Government announced yesterday the establishment of a new fund that will help jump start mineral and economic development initiatives in the north and throughout the province.

The fund will be administered by the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce with Manitoba providing 20 million dollars to establish the fund with an additional annual infusion of up to six percent of revenues to be provided under the Mining Tax Act.

Under the new agreement communities and businesses including Indigenous groups, municipalities and the not for profit sector will be eligible to apply for funding.  Financial assistance from the fund could include one-time grants for activities that help advance new mining opportunities and outreach to First Nations for collaborative resource development.  Manitoba Chambers will have final decision making over which projects will be supported and will report annually to the province about the fund’s activities, results and financial health. The new fund replaces the Mining Community Reserve Fund.

The Central Canada Film Group is presenting a Toronto International Film Festival film tonight as part of their Films Up North Series.  The group’s Tim Heine says they will be showing Stan and Ollie which is about Laurel and Hardy the famous comedic duo that was really popular in the 50s and it’s a bit of a view of their life especially in the latter years.  He notes it’s got some really critical reviews and some of their people have already seen that it’s just a terrific movie so they certainly encourage people to come out and see something perhaps a little different, not completely comedic but he’s sure they’ll be presenting a good show for all.

Stan and Ollie will be shown tonight at 7:30 in the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre.  Because this is a Toronto International Film Festival film admission will be ten dollars.

At the Flin Flon City Council meeting last night Chief Administrative Officer Glenna Daschuk introduced our new Fire Chief.  Jason Kuras comes to Flin Flon after serving as a Fire Paramedic in Thompson for ten years. Daschuk reports he just arrived and is already busy with the Fire Department.

Council received a letter from Manitoba Lieutenant Governor Janice Filmon thanking them for the wonderful hospitality shown during her recent visit to Flin Flon.  She noted she and husband Gary were touched by the warm welcome and kindness show to them by everyone from organizers, teachers, students, volunteers and residents of the community.  She adds the excitement in the air was a reminder of the rich history Culture Days held not only for residents of Flin Flon and surrounding communities but Manitobans and visitors from afar concluding it was a truly memorable trip.

In response to a question local Citizens on Patrol Chair Sinclair James reported they continue to patrol the community with 21 volunteers adding they are always looking for more volunteers.

And Council approved the attendance of Councillor Ken Pawlachuk at the Central Canada Mining Exploration Conference in Winnipeg in November.

The Chamber will be holding their annual Radio Auction this Saturday.  It will run from 9 to 1 Saturday in City Hall broadcast on 102.9 CFAR.  This is a major fund raiser for the Chamber. Any members or older teenagers interested in helping out are urged to contact the Chamber office at 204-687-4518 or Michelle at 306-688-0838.

The Chamber will be holding their annual general meeting Monday November 4^th from 12 to 1 at the Victoria Inn lounge.  Committees will submit their reports and a slate of officers will be elected.

President Elect Becky Cianflone reported the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce Economic Development Tour brought 19 delegates to Flin Flon from the Winnipeg area last week many of whom were visiting for the first time and it was a great success with two days of activities, tours and meetings with community and business leaders to learn more about what is available in this area with a lot of positive feedback. 

And Cianflone introduced Stephanie Johnson the Look North Economic Development Advisor for this area.  Johnson said her job is to determine what community needs are, to help coordinate and find business opportunities and promote tourism in the north.

Around 8:30 Friday morning the RCMP responded to a robbery at a business on Highway 10A in Flin Flon.  A female entered the business with her face covered and holding a can of bug spray.  She demanded money from the employee but left empty handed.  She then entered a second business also on Highway 10A.  She threatened to spray the employee with bug spray, attempted to grab money from the till but was unsuccessful and then fled on foot.

The RCMP have arrested a 22 year old Flin Flon woman and she has been charged with two counts of Robbery and disguise with intent to commit an offence.  She has been remanded into custody and was to appear in court yesterday.  The RCMP continue to investigate.

The Flin Flon Arts Council presents Woody Holler and His Orchestra Saturday night.  The Council’s Crystal Kolt says it’s going to be a very entertaining show.  She explains he is a country singer so the classic country but it’s kind of eclectic so he has a wider range of music that he plays as well and he comes with his band which is the bass and the guitar and he’s also know for extreme yodeling so you get a little bit of everything with Woody Holler and he’s one of the best musicians in the province so we’re really excited to have him coming.

Woody Holler and His Orchestra perform Saturday night at 7:30 in the Flin Flon Community Hall. Tickets are available at Northern Rainbows End on Main Street.

(POSTPONED TO APRIL 18TH.  REFUNDS AT NORTHERN RAINBOWS END.)

Northland Ford and local schools are supporting the Lords Bounty Food Bank as part of the We Scare Hunger Campaign.  Manager Allison Cooper says We Scare Hunger is a program from Ford Canada started six years ago to support local food banks. She explains they collect all non-perishable food items along with paper towels, toilet paper, anything that somebody may need for day to day living and everything will be donated to the Lord’s Bounty Food Bank.  She adds they can be dropped off at Northland Ford anytime this month and Ruth Betts and McIsaac Schools are taking donations as well so the kids are going to start collecting and they can win a pizza party from Northland Ford and they will be collecting at the Bomber home game Saturday October 19^th.

We Scare Hunger runs until the end of October.  You can also drop off gently worn winter clothes as part of the Coats for Kids program.

The Canada Safety Council is a not-for-profit organization that provides safety through information and education.

Lewis Smith, the Manager of National Projects says they have National School Safety Week running in mid-October from the 17^th to the 23^rd.  He explains when they were deciding on the theme and on a topic they landed on bullying pretty quickly because it’s a pretty pervasive issue.  He adds they realized as much as they want to talk about bullying in the context of workplaces or day to day life statistically speaking the majority of bullying does tend to happen in schools.

Smith says stats also show that 75 per cent of people say they have been impacted by bullying, either as a victim, a bystander or aggressor.

Rumors that the 5^th floor at Flin Flon General Hospital is being closed are not accurate.  Communications Coordinator for the Northern Health Region Twyla Storey explains what they have noticed in the past few months is that the bed utilization has been out of sync for a number of months and now they’re taking steps to correct that and they’re doing that by transitioning patients and staff from the 5^th floor to the 3^rd floor and in addition to that they’ve also identified an opportunity to achieve some efficiencies which are expected to better balance the work load amongst nursing staff on the units and thereby enhancing their patient care in the hospital.

Storey adds the 5^th floor is not closed as they continue to provide day surgeries and those patients are admitted to the 5^th floor.

Soup Days get underway for another season next week.  The Salvation Army’s Nellie Brown says Soup Days will start Wednesday.  She explains they usually start right after Thanksgiving weekend and they run Soup Days Monday and Wednesday so twice a week from 11:30 to 1 and that takes place out of the hall at the Anglican Church and everybody is free to come and participate, have a meal and there’s no cost for that.

In the past they have averaged between 40 and 50 people including children each day for Soup Days.

Yesterday Churchill Keewatinook Aski candidate Niki Ashton along with other federal NDP candidates across the country announced the party’s Indigenous People and northern platform.

Ashton spoke of reconciliation and the failure of the Trudeau government to bring about effective change explaining reconciliation is meaningless unless we are talking about ending the housing crisis on First Nations and in northern communities, unless we’re talking about proper funding for health care that is badly needed across our north, unless we’re talking about fully supporting education not just K to 12 but also post secondary for people coming from First Nations, Metis and northern communities.

Ashton said the NDP are committed to improving infrastructure, especially in northern communities where there are no airports and those that can no longer rely on winter roads due to climate change. Other candidates in the riding are Liberal Judy Klassen, Conservative Cyara Bird, Peoples Party Ken Klyne and Green Party Ralph McLean.

Camp Director Darrell Janzen reports the camp was broken into and a number of things were stolen.  That includes some outboard engines, a generator, air compressor, a chainsaw and jerry can with fuel.  There may be more he hasn’t found yet.  They have a detailed list and pictures on their Facebook page Facebook.com/simonhousebiblecamp.  If anyone has any information on this theft you are asked to contact the Cranberry Portage RCMP.

In her report Superintendent Tammy Ballantyne gave a review of the recent visit by several dignitaries during Culture Days.  The students were quite curious and engaged and were great representatives of our School Division. 

The Division has received a email from a Canadian teacher currently teaching in Abu Dhabi who was quite impressed with Hapnot student Jarek Osika who has returned from participating in the Expo-Science International Science Exhibition.  Board Chair Murray Skeavington congratulated Jarek stating it’s always a pleasure when a member of the Division is asked to represent our community.

At Ruth Bets the new and improved breakfast snack program is a success with students eating healthy and loving it.  Grade 8 jazz band students at both elementary schools are getting ready for Norman Jazz Band in Thompson October 18^th to 20^th and at Many Faces all students can receive optional credits led by experts in baking, art and photography.

Re Uz It accepts donations of gently used items they sell to support local groups and organizations.  Manager Kathy McCormick has presented cheques to seven organizations from the three thousand dollars in grants available this year.

The Flin Flon Guidance Nursery received 600 dollars for needed art supplies.  500 dollars each went to the Flin Flon Creighton and Area SPCA towards an isolation area at their shelter, the McIsaac School Lego Club to purchase Lego and Norman Community Services to purchase a salt and sand bin for their Boam Street residence.  400 dollars went to the Flin Flon Aqua Jets for equipment needed to host a Swim Manitoba meet, 300 to the Flin Flon Skating Club to help with expenses to keep their fees low and 200 dollars to 2328 Army Cadet Corp towards education programs such as hunter, snowmobile and watercraft safety.

At their meeting Tuesday night Mayor and Council congratulated everyone involved in the Culture Days weekend.  Councilor Ken Pawlachuk hosted Governor General Julie Payette and Lieutenant Governor Janice Filmon and talked about their visit to Cranberry Portage and their time spent at many events at Culture Days adding it was an exceptional experience. He says it was amazing that this little city of Flin Flon in northern Manitoba could have this, the Lieutenant Governor come and her guest was the Governor General which was unprecedented anywhere, this has never happened anywhere else and it was amazing with the positive attitude and the Governor General and Lieutenant Governor saw that, the hard working people in town and the positive attitude.

Pawlachuk added they had nothing but praise for the whole community, the dedication people have for this community and the warmth of the people here.

Mayor Cal Huntley noted it was great to have them here in Flin Flon and the way the community reacted made him proud.

Creighton Community School is holding their annual seniors lunch Tuesday.  School Coordinator Marlee Salamondra extends an invitation to all Creighton and Denare Beach seniors to attend.  She says this is just a great opportunity for their students to engage with the seniors in their community and they’d like to provide them with a lunch and it’s just a time for everyone to kind of get together.

The seniors lunch is being held Tuesday at 11:30 in the Creighton School gym.

The Freedom Outreach Program in Denare Beach held their 7^th annual Walk For Freedom September 28^th.  The group’s Kandi Lagore says the Walk went well as this year they raised just over 73 hundred dollars so they just want to say thank you again to all the participants and all the businesses that provided food and this year Joanne Sturley won the prize of a two night stay at a Victorian Inn of her choice.

The Walk is a fund raiser that Freedom Outreach runs to help raise funds for their Centre that is about helping men struggling with addictions who want help to live a life of Freedom.

Moms and their babies are invited to join a breastfeeding celebration being held tomorrow morning.  Northern Health Region Public Health Nurse Ruth Unrau invites all breastfeeding mothers, the kids and anybody wanting to learn more about breastfeeding because breastfeeding is important, its benefiting families, the environment and our community so they want to celebrate that and during the celebration they’re going to have a chance for breastfeeding moms to participate in the annual breastfeeding challenge because it’s a fun event to see which geographical area has the most breastfeeding babies as a percent of the population and that’s a worldwide thing and they want Flin Flon to be part of that.

The breast feeding celebration takes place in the Ruth Betts Community School Family Room tomorrow morning from 10:30 to 12.  Unrau says there is no cost and there will be snacks, cake and prizes.

Conservative candidate in Churchill Keewatinook Aski Cyara Bird was in Flin Flon on Orange Shirt Day Monday.  She says she decided to run as concerns in her community of Little Black River and surrounding communities were being ignored noting her community was without water for two weeks.  She added there’s a lot of issues, there’s the lack of mental health services, the lack of addictions services, the natural resource development projects that are shutting down so we need to make sure that those people stay employed as our natural resource development in northern Manitoba is incredible, we’ve got something really good here and we need to make sure we’re strongly supporting the people who work for those projects.

Bird adds there’s a lot that needs to improve in our Indigenous communities and she wants to be the voice that brings these issues to the attention of the federal government and ensure that something is done.  Other candidates in the riding are Liberal Judy Klassen, NDP Niki Ashton, Peoples Party Ken Klyne and Green Party Ralph McLean.

The Central Canada Film Group is presenting the film U-571 tomorrow night.  The group’s Colin Davis invites you to an exciting film.  He explains during World War Two the allies were having trouble against the Germans especially their U-boats because of their highly sophisticated cipher machines and being able to capture one of these enemy U-boats along with this enigma machine was indeed one of the Royal Navy’s main goals during the war.  He adds it’s an exciting sit on the edge of your seat kind of film and they’re sure you will enjoy it.

 U-571 will be shown tomorrow night at 7:30 in the Hapnot Collegiate Theatre and admission is free.

Flin Flon City Council introduced the city’s new Public Relations and Community Engagement Manager at their meeting last night.  Nathaniel Boucher says he will work on promoting The Water and The Wild brand among his other long term goals which are to update the website, to ensure that we increase tourism in the area and to streamline communications between Council, Administration and the public as well.

Boucher comes here from Timmins Ontario where he received training in Public Relations with his latest involvement at Northern College where he assisted with recent branding and marketing initiatives.

Also introduced was the new Aqua Centre Supervisor April Dayton who is from Flin Flon.

Community Futures Greenstone invites businesses and others interested to an Infusion Entrepreneurship Conference on October 28^th.  Their General Manager Becky Cianflone says it will feature speakers and workshops. She explains this year’s Infusion Conference is talking about Retraining Your Brain so how you might approach challenges differently or how you might reframe the way you think about things that you think you already know.  She says all of the information is on their Facebook page and they also have a website at www.infusionflinflon.com.

The conference runs from 8 to 4 Monday October 28^th in the Flin Flon Community Hall.  Cianflone adds the early bird registration deadline is October 11^th where you can save five dollars but you can still register at 55 dollars until a week before the conference. You can attend just the Business Awards Luncheon for 25 dollars.

Liberal Candidate for Churchill Keewatinook Aski Judy Klassen was in Flin Flon for the Culture Days weekend.  She comments on the main issues she sees in the riding for the upcoming Federal election.  She says health care is one adding being an MLA for Keewatinook was very eye opening as there are numerous issues that need to be addressed.  She notes of course there’s the mine closing in the next couple of years in Flin Flon in particular and she hopes to hear more when she’s going door to door to see what people would like, she wants to hear from them as its okay for her to summarize but that’s not how she operates, she’d rather hear from the people what they’d like her to address.

Klassen adds we have not had a good voice in the north and she wants to make sure that’s no longer the case.  Other candidates in the riding are the NDP’s Niki Ashton, Conservative Cyara Bird, Peoples Party Ken Klyne and Green Party Ralph McLean.

The Flin Flon Fire Department held their annual Boot Drive on Third Avenue earlier this month. Acting Fire Chief Darren Romo says it was a great success reporting that from the Boot Drive itself they raised 10,900 dollars and then Scotia Bank who they have been partnering with for this also donated another 3 thousand on top of that so in the end they got 13,900 dollars that will be split among the Aqua Jets, the Aqua Doves and the Blueberry Jam Festival.

This was the 23rd year for the Fire Department Boot Drive.

On Saturday a dedicated local volunteer was added to the Wall of Honor at the Flin Flon Station Museum.  Board Chair Tom Heine announced Gene Kostuchuk has been a long time resident and builder of the local community.  He noted among many other things Gene was instrumental in installing the first four sided scoreboard in the Whitney Forum, building the current city campgrounds, establishing a proper tourist bureau, designing and building the Rotary Wheel, moving the Flinty statue and welcoming arch to the tourist bureau as well as the former train station. He explained realizing the importance of preserving the original CN station Gene and the Chamber of Commerce decided to undertake the ambitious project of dismantling and moving this building to its current location where it became the home of the current Flin Flon Station Museum. Heine added he was also instrumental in installing some of the infrastructure required for the exterior museum artifacts.

Kostuchuk had moved to Flin Flon from Island Falls in 1966, was a member of the Chamber of Commerce for 20 years.