After a two-year absence, provincials for minor hockey are returning to Manitoba.
Another casualty of the COVID pandemic, the end of the year tournaments for different age groups in youth hockey disappeared after the coronavirus hit in the spring of 2020. When hockey returned in the fall of that year, there were questions as to whether or not tournaments and provincials would occur that season. This all turned out to be moot once everything was shut down in November of 2021. However, this season, with restrictions, hockey was able to continue throughout and now it is time for the big show.
In Boissevain, this means the 2022 Under 11 Rural B Hockey Manitoba Provincials will be held in the arena March 4-6. According to the Boissevain Host Committee and Boissevain Minor Hockey Association, they are expecting ten teams to come for the weekend, with around 12-15 players per team, from the different regions of the province. It will make for a busy time.
For anyone interested in outdoor winter activities, this is the year for fun in the snow and Turtle Mountain Provincial Park is the place to do it.
Although it has been a chilly star in the new year, this winter has not been short of snow. The provincial park south of Boissevain has plenty of places to visit, from a skating rink and toboggan hill, to trails for a variety of adventures. The park is being used more now than in the snow-challenged 2020-21 season, and in a growing variety of ways.
Doug Gray and Steve Cann are examples of this. One sport that has been growing over the years is fat biking – using bikes with larger tires to ride in the winter. They are part of a group of new enthusiasts who are taking advantage of the changed trails in the park to get exercise and enjoy the winter.
“Yesterday was about as good as it gets,” Gray said, speaking of the warmer day on January 30.
As Gray explained, the parks staff now creates different lines in the trails. There are different tracks for skiing, hiking and biking. Everyone is supposed to be kind and respect each other so everyone can enjoy their time.
Mobile clinics are a major weapon in women’s fight against breast cancer.
A mobile breast clinic was last in Boissevain in November of 2021. According to Naiomi Lu, Health Educator with CancerCare Manitoba Prevention and Screening, the mobile clinic was created in 1998 and was created to provide access to screening for women across the province.
“It provides access to over 90 communities throughout Manitoba and visits them on a two year cycle,” Lu explained.
Prior to the creation of the mobile clinic, there were three fixed sites in the province which were open year-round to provide screening mammograms. BreastCheck, part of CancerCare, was established in Winnipeg and Brandon in 1995, and in Thompson in 1997. A fourth fixed site was opened in Boundary Trails Health Authority (Winkler) in 2003.
Best friends Blair Bolduc (rhythm guitar) and Ron Murias (drums) were junior high students at Deloraine Collegiate Institute when they formed a rock band in the late ‘70’s. The duo played at the fair and school dances.
Murias said around that time some “older guys” (senior high students) Al Manshreck, Dand (keys, vocals), Clark Combs, Deloraine (bass guitar, alto sax, vocals) and Guy Grierson (vocals) of Medora approached them to team up and form a band.
“And soon after that Clark brought in a ‘whiz kid’ from Hartney, Don Calverley (lead guitar), and in 1977 we had a band that would become Sentinel,” said Murias.
Fast-forward to 2022 and Sentinel will release its first EP on January 26.
They got together in February 2020 at Grierson’s place in Scottsdale, Arizona for an intense weekend of creating songs.
“Scottsdale was meant to be a fun trip to go hang out and also to see what would happen if we just got together with the intention of creating new music. When we finished that trip, it was clear we had enough to record, so why not?” said Murias.
The waiting is over. Ashton Bell learned on Tuesday, January 11 that she was named to the Canadian Women’s Hockey team roster for the Beijing Olympics.
Bell, captain of the University of Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs was one of 29 athletes centralized in Calgary since July 23, 2021. The Deloraine native was a member of Team Canada’s gold winning team at the World Championships in August 2021.
She said waiting to hear the last three names to be named to the Olympic roster was definitely challenging and stressful at times.
If all goes according to plan, work on a new recreation facility will start in 2022, and be completed for summer of 2023 in Boissevain-Morton.
Head of Council Judy Swanson announced the municipality would be putting a new swimming pool into the community. She said the province told them the present pool, located on the northwest side of Boissevain, would only be usable for the upcoming summer.
This means work will start this year on a replacement. Swanson said there is money available, so unlike many projects, there will not be a debenture for the pool or any borrowing of any kind.
“We’re very happy about that,” Swanson stated.
The new pool will be in the same vicinity as the existing one, to the north. They will be able to use the existing buildings, with some work. The new facility will be accessible to all from a mobility standpoint. Plans are for some newer equipment like slides to go along with the development.
“It’s exciting and it’s time.”
Although the longtime train museum in Boissevain is closed, the final future of the building has yet to be decided.
The Boissevain Model Train Museum has been a destination in the community for several years, located right by Tommy Turtle on the south end of town. The building was once the tourist booth and at one time housed the economic development office. However, recently the building has had problems. Boissevain-Morton Head of Council Judy Swanson said there was a breakdown of the water supply to the small building. As this was how the building, which is not insulated, was heated, this has had a larger impact on the situation. In order to keep running in the winter, they would have to switch over to natural gas or another type of heat, which would be quite expensive. Swanson added the building was never originally intended to be open year round.
Despite changes due to the ongoing pandemic, the fund dedicated to the memory of an exceptional hockey person will have an official kick-off on December 18.
On August 31, 2020, hockey in the area lost one of its most dedicated volunteers when Grant Moffatt passed. The Carroll native had been a key to the youth sport in particular, and there was a desire among those associated with him to honour the man in a permanent fashion.
Ken Pringle of Boissevain has been a member of an organizing group dedicated to this. He said they have been working to create a Grant Moffatt Memorial Fund, and are ready to get the ball rolling with an upcoming event in Souris.
“The first fundraising event will be a hockey game on December 18 at 7:30pm with the Southwest Cougars against Brandon,” Pringle stated. “Originally, we were going to have a social after, but because of COVID we decided not to do that right now.”
Despite closures, the thrift store in Deloraine survives.
The thrift store at the Deloraine United Church was first started in 1980 by the United Church Women. The last number of years Mrs. Ollie Kirkwood and Mrs. Mary Perry spent countless hours volunteering at the thrift store.
Since being established the store has been closed a couple of times. The first closure was when the elevator was being installed. At that time items were taken to Brandon to Value Village and the Westman Women’s Shelter.
Despite the upcoming closure of the longtime hardware store, Pembina Co-op is still committed to its presence in Minto.
According to Minto Manager Terry Campbell, the co-op has been investigating the situation at the store located in the middle of the village for some time. The decision to close comes down to practicality.
“We have been looking at our hardware for the last several years,” Campbell explained. “The amount of business is not sustainable. To have one part of the operation that loses money for us in today’s business world does not work. Even members using the store would not appreciate operating a business that is not sustainable.”
The Souris Daycare has been facing significant challenges offering programming and care due to staffing shortages. Whether this is the result of COVID or not, Director Becca Brolund cannot say for certain. During lockdown the Souris-based daycare continued to pay staff wages in hopes of retaining their employees. Brolund speculates that some staff chose not to return due to concerns around health safety.
To operate a daycare at full capacity the requirements are 67% of the staff be trained as Early Childhood Educators (ECE). If this quota is not met, then the government can halt certain programming. Souris Daycare has had to close the nursery program and divert the ECE in order to address the staff shortage in the daycare. The half-day nursery program was available to children between the ages of three and five. Parents could enroll them for a few sessions per week or the whole week. Because of COVID they had planned to run four sessions this year when normally they would run six.
Reconciliation involves connection and a willingness to come together as friends and allies, explained a First Nations elder who visited Minto School on November 2.
Winston Wuttunee, with his wife Geri, spent the day with students and staff at the K-8 school. He is a well-regarded speaker and musician who has visited schools around the country to share Aboriginal songs and culture.
Wuttunee taught the students songs, talked a little about the many Native treaties as well as many different parts of their identity.
“I talked to them about what we are, how we think, how our education is,” Wuttunee explained. “How we treat our relatives, what is an elder, how the children went to school long ago and how that was so rough. They weren’t like they are today. The teachers now are wonderful, they work with the children, they are very, very kind. It is healthy. Long ago, it wasn’t like that. We talked a little bit about that, not too much, but it happened all over the world, and it happened here in a bad way.”
The scarlet flower that has been the most recognizable symbol of remembrance hit its 100th birthday in 2021.
The poppy pin has been stuck in lapels for a century, after being adopted on July 6, 1921. What began as a remembrance of the “war to end all wars” has become the sign of sacrifice for all of our veterans and will likely be for all time. Its beginning goes back farther than many realize, however.
It is hard to know for sure how far in history the poppy was connected to the battlefield. They have long been used as a symbol of sleep, peace and death, and in ancient times, were used as offerings to the dead. In ancient Greek myths, poppies flowered along the banks of the river Lethe that flowed to Hades, from which the dead must drink to forget their former existence.
Our old friends still come in the spring and fall, there are just fewer of them.
We know winter is coming as the geese gather and begin to fly south. It is simply a part of fall for those of us in the Prairie Provinces, and it is happening according to plan in 2021. It will not be too long before they are gone again, leaving us waiting for their spring return.
Many of us have felt there are fewer of our feathered friends than there used to be. Veteran Boissevain guide Ritchie Barwick said it is not a feeling, but a fact. He said the waterfowl flyway is shifting over to the west. There are different reasons for this. Barwick explained the change in farming patterns over the last decade or so has played a role. Producers here have shifted a little away from cereal crops the birds eat, and have become more efficient in their farming, which leaves a little less for them on the field.
Navigating the pandemic has been a challenging experience. That is how Souris Legion Board Member Mark Gillis describes the last two years. The Legion did its best to keep up with the protocols opening when they could and closing when they had to based on Provincial Health Orders. At one point the Legion tried opening when meals were required to serve alcohol but that was not a successful venture.
With what looked like a long-term closure it was understandable that the manager at the time left to find other work, remarked Gillis.
The Legion itself has been fortunate during COVID. There were no big expenditures and the Legion qualified for government grants, which helped the organization to maintain status quo. However now it faces the challenge that many businesses have faced, finding staff to open again.
“We were very happy that Jason was willing to come work for us.”
David Rourke admits he does not have all of the answers, but he feels he knows the questions and that farmers will have to play a big role in helping alleviate the climate change dilemma.
The founder of AgQuest recently completed a book “A Road to Fossil Fuel Free Farming: An Example and a Challenge”. It is a combination of wake up call, personal agri-biography and path forward that he hopes will get people in general, and farmers in particular, thinking about their role in the environment and how to help heal the planet.
Rourke, who came from Winnipeg and moved out with wife Diane and started farming in the Minto area in 1980, said the experience originated from what he and his family had been doing. He founded an experimental farm of AgQuest in 1983 and was involved in many innovative practices over the years. One concept they had worked on was an ethanol plant. Several years ago, he was asked to speak on the topic of biofuels. He agreed on the condition he could also speak on zero carbon farming. In order to do this, Rourke had to find out what it was.
For 30 years, Souris has celebrated the autumn season with a popular outdoor event, Scarecrow Days. For three days, with above average temperatures, from October 1 - 3, the streets of Souris were filled with scarecrows of all shapes and sizes combined with many community events.
“The level of participation in the activities and promotions offered by organizations and businesses met or exceeded our expectations,” said Chair Pam Whitfield.
The Scarecrow Competition theme was “30 years: Party like it’s 1992”, which did bring some flash backs of Michael Jackson, Prince and Elton John.
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The last veteran of World War II living in Boissevain has reached her 100th birthday.
On Thursday, September 30, Minnie Pearce celebrated making the century mark. A resident of Evergreen Place personal care home, she had a special birthday celebration, which included a parade in her honour. Her son Rick said the parade came about when the family wanted to do something to mark their mother’s big day that others in Evergreen could enjoy as well. A few days before the parade, he said they were planning to have a few animals involved, as his mother always liked them, with the idea she could be outside if the weather was good.
“Mom always liked parades,” Rick said. “It started as a little parade and grew a bit, and as something the other residents could see too.”
Souris community members got behind the idea of delivering a spellbinding event to residents and visitors. Gossip in the Graveyard was part of Heritage Days 2021 and it sold out very quickly.
“We had three gossip performances at capacity of 75,” explained Eleanor Thompson, a volunteer who coordinated the event with other volunteers from the Souris-Glenwood Chamber of Commerce. “We were able to donate $710 to Hillcrest Museum.”
According to Thompson, due to the popularity of the event, encore performances are in the works for October 3 during Scarecrow Days.
Not only were organizers of the Boissevain-Morton-Whitewater Grow Project able to harvest a good crop for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, but also they were able to share the day with friends for the first time in two years.
Volunteers hit the field outside of Fairfax on September 11 to bring in the crop of wheat. According to Darren Peters of the committee, the rain held back and they were able to have a successful outing.
“It went great,” Peters said. “We had a good turnout and a great crop. I mean, I think we have all been surprised, the farmers in the area are generally surprised with the quality of the crops and that field was better than the others.”
They were able to get over 56 bushels to the acre with a total of more than 16,000 bushels of #2 Red Spring Wheat. They hit the field after lunch at about 12:45pm and everything was finished by about 4:30. Eight combines, two grain carts and 11 trucks participated and everything was at the Viterra terminal outside of Boissevain, with a little patience from the staff, by the end of the day.
Peters said it is always hard to tell how many people will participate as the harvest date always has a last minute quality, but they were happy with the turnout.
