Starting Friday, September 18, the Prairie Mountain Health region will be lowered to the COVID-19 yellow caution level, according to the #RestartMB Pandemic Response System. This is in response to an improved situation in the region.
Masks will still be strongly recommended in public places, but not required. Public gatherings will be bumped back up to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors, the same as the rest of the province. Public health officials continue to monitor all the regions with increased cases closely to determine if additional restrictions are necessary.
The province had elevated PMH to code orange on August 24 after a rash of cases in the area.
Everything might not be back to normal, but another part of the community will soon be moving in that direction.
The coronavirus pandemic has been lasting longer than many imagined, and has for a time intensified in our health region. One of the questions on people’s minds was whether youth and adult recreation activities would be able to get going this fall, particularly hockey and figure skating. These sports were cut short last spring and some were wondering if and when they could resume this fall.
In Boissevain-Morton, it will not be too much longer. Head of Council Judy Swanson said they had sat down with Boissevain Minor Hockey, while Recreation Director Sam Dyck had been in discussion with other arena user groups like figure skating and senior hockey. They referred to a larger document from the provincial hockey authority in making decisions.
Deloraine-Winchester is putting any controversy in the past and looking at a new future when it comes to their popular park.
A decision was made earlier this year to take the Nygard out of Nygard Park. The destination point has become a little too tied to its now questionable namesake and so local council and community has decided to move forward into a new era.
“We have probably been communicating about this for about a year,” explained Deloraine-Winchester Reeve Gord Weidenhamer. “There were people who came forward concerned about the controversy and we all thought it was time for something new.”
The park was named after former Deloraine resident Peter Nygard. Nygard came with his family to Deloraine in 1952 from Finland. They only lived in the community for a short while before moving on to Winnipeg, although he would still have some ties to his old hometown. After growing up and going to university, Nygard started working in the fashion industry, eventually taking his life savings and a loan to purchase the company he was working for and changing its name to Tan Jay. He eventually became a major fashion icon, with the name Nygard being associated with numerous products and the man himself becoming one of the 70 richest Canadians. He was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal in 2012.
A project that seemed “in the future” for a long time, is now taking shape before the organizers’ eyes.
Construction of the assisted living facility just south of the Boissevain Health Centre on #10 Highway continues unabated. The form of the structure has jumped from the blueprints onto the site, and according to George Heide of the organizing group, Southwest Seniors Housing, everything is moving in the right direction.
“It’s going really well,” Heide explained. “We have a great general contractor in Gordon Turner and we have pretty much everything working spot on. There have been a few hiccups, but everything is good and moving well.”
