The City of Dauphin is weighing its options under a new provincial government program supporting critical infrastructure.

The Manitoba Growth, Renewal and Opportunities for Municipalities (Manitoba GRO) program kicks off with an investment of $42 million for projects which focus on community renewal, disaster mitigation, climate resiliency and recreation.

Municipalities outside of Winnipeg can apply for grant funding for up to 50 per cent of total eligible costs for capital projects under the following investment categories:

• public safety, which includes disaster prevention, flood mitigation and climate adaptation (such as drainage and flood water control), and fire stations and related capital items (such as trucks to enhance public safety);
• roads, bridges and active transportation (such as multi-use trails, airports and renewed road infrastructure);
• recreational infrastructure; and
• solid waste management and organic diversion (including garbage collection sites or recycling infrastructure).

“We are evaluating all the projects that we could apply for and then we’ll apply for two because it appears that we can only apply for two,” city manager Sharla Griffiths said, adding there is one project in the pipeline the City is seriously considering.

“There’s a new fire truck in the budget for 2025. That fire apparatus is one of the big ticket items,  just about $900,000. So if we can get a portion of that paid, that would be awesome. But we still have to evaluate all the other things that we want to consider.”

With a Nov. 15 application deadline, there is still time for the City to consider its options.

The City was awaiting word on its application to the From the Ground Up - Safe Healthy Communities For All program, formerly known as Building Sustainable Communities to make a final decision on which of its projects to promote. The province just announced the recipients of that program on Friday.

That aside, Griffiths is excited about the potential of the new program

“We are excited about this because of all of the categories that are possible,” she said, adding she is hopeful the program is not just a one-time funding opportunity and will continue in future years.

“With the new government we’re uncertain. We’re unsure if this is something that we can count on in the future, so we will try to get as much as we can.”

In announcing the program. Municipal and Northern Relations Minister Ian Bushie said the program is about making sure municipalities have the resources they need after years of being shortchanged by the previous government.

“We committed to resetting the relationship with our municipal partners and we are pleased to support strategic infrastructure projects that will support municipalities in their efforts to protect their towns and cities from potential disaster and build strategic infrastructure projects that promote growth and sustainability,” Bushie said.

The province’s commitment to co-invest in strategic infrastructure projects is an approach welcomed by the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM).

“We also appreciate this renewed collaboration with the province and look forward to being actively involved in reviewing and providing feedback on applications, ensuring projects align with the interests and growth ambitions of municipalities across Manitoba,” said AMM president Kam Blight.

Funding for this program is sourced from the $73.8-million rural strategic infrastructure basket delivered under the Strategic Municipal Investment Fund.

A newly formed community organization is celebrating its second anniversary in the community. The Pas Guest List was formed through a group of close-knit friends who wanted to bring some more experiences to the area and bring more to The Pas.
“The Pas Guest List was born from a shared vision among a small group of friends who wanted to bring fresh, exciting events to our community,” said The Pas Guest List Board of Director Emily Doucette. “Our first group success came from a Halloween murder mystery party. Our guests loved it, and it confirmed that people in The Pas were hungry for unique experiences. Seeing this enthusiasm, we recognized the potential to continue hosting fun events and build something lasting that could uplift our community. With the profits from that first event, we filed for non-profit status and started planning what we could do next.

The art of Ukrainian dance has started up again for the year with the Vesselli dancers enrolled in Ukrainian dance classes. The Benito Vesselli Dance Club has been fortunate to have strong and dedicated instructors to ensure that the art of Ukrainian dance continues in the Valley. Amanda Bulycz and Austin Spencer are both former students of the Vesselli Dance Club and are now instructors.
“I started Ukrainian dancing with Benito Vesselli Dance Club at the age of three,” said Bulycz. “My mom and her siblings danced with Vesselli, and my grandmother was active in the club by sewing costumes, pinching perogies, and volunteering her time with anything else that was needed. My mom later became Vesselli’s instructor, so I guess you can say it was our family tradition to celebrate our culture by joining Ukrainian dance. As I got older, I fell in love with performing on stage, learning more about my culture, and just the overall dance community and dance family with Vesselli.
“As a child, I loved everything about Ukrainian Dance, from performing on stage to getting together with my dance friends every week for practice. I also loved learning new combinations and dance regions. But my absolute favourite part was celebrating and sharing my culture. Ukrainian Dance has this power of emotions and pride behind it that when you experience it, you just want more.”
“I started Ukrainian dancing when I was six years old,” said Spencer. I can’t recall what made me go to my first practice, but I’m sure it had something to do with my mom pushing me to go.
“My favourite part of Ukrainian dance was probably the same as most kids, the competitions. I can remember looking forward to dancing on the big stage at the end of the season. Even though we all got very nervous waiting backstage to go on, the feeling of excitement and pride we felt after a great performance was always an awesome feeling.”
There are so many different styles of Ukrainian dance that can be appreciated. Each style of dance comes from and represents a certain region in Ukraine.
“Every region of Ukraine is so unique and I could list many things from each region that I love,” said Bulycz. “For example, I love the energetic steps, jumps and high kicks from the Volyn region or the fast movements and unique music of the Hutzul region. Every region has its style of steps and music, which keeps not only performing these dances fun but choreographing and instructing each region keeps classes new, interesting and exciting.
“My favourite style of dance would be Hopak. This dance is not only an honour to perform, but I love creating new choreography and instructing Hopak dances. This is one of the main reasons I started my Ensemble: to continue challenging, creating and sharing Hopak with the community. This dance allows dancers to showcase their unique tricks and steps. “You often see male dancers performing incredible acrobatic moves and the female dancers spinning incredibly fast. All dancers move at high speeds, all while being graceful and moving delicately across the stage. Not only is this dance fun to choreograph and perform, it is amazing to experience from the audience as well.”
“For most of my childhood, I enjoyed performing Poltava dances,” said Spencer. “These dances are always high energy with many jumps and kicks thrown into the mix. As I got older, I was always most excited to perform our Hopak. Hopak dances are usually made up of a large group that shows off all the tricks they’ve worked so hard to perfect.”
For both Bulycz and Spencer, the decision to further their Ukrainian dance skills were apparent as they moved on from being the student to becoming an instructor.
“I loved Ukrainian dancing and when I was approached at 16 years old to instruct alongside my uncle with the Hudson Bay Cheremka Dance Club,” said Bulycz. “I knew I wanted to share this love with others. Ukrainian dance is so special to me, and I knew my career wouldn’t and couldn’t end after high school graduation, I wanted and needed to continue to share this love and passion.
“I’m proud to say I have been with Vesselli, whether that’s as a dancer or instructor, since I was three years old and never missed a year. I’m also proud to have been instructing, choreographing and running workshops for many clubs across Saskatchewan and Manitoba for 20 years now, and every year is more exciting than the last.
“Initially, when I started instructing at age 16, I hadn’t taken any courses specific to instructing,” said Bulycz. “I had participated in many workshops and seminars as a dancer but not as an instructor. At that time, everything I knew was taught to me by my past instructors, as well as getting advice from my mom and uncle, who both instructed Ukrainian dance.
“Throughout the years, I jumped at any opportunity to learn and grow as an instructor, whether that’s participating in an Instructor Workshop, studying and continuing to learn more about Ukraine with online courses, or networking with other instructors. Over the years, I have met so many amazing people in the Ukrainian dance world to share ideas, and we learn from and help each other.”
“I jumped at the opportunity to teach dance with the club that I was a part of my whole life,” said Spencer. “I think it’s really important to keep activities like this available in our small communities for all to enjoy. Vesselli gave a lot to my childhood and I’m proud to have the opportunity to pass on the lessons I learned to the younger generation.
“While I don’t have any formal certifications in teaching Ukrainian dance, I lean on my 20 years of experience to help provide instruction. I am hoping to attend some courses in the future to provide the best instruction that I can.”
“I started assisting the younger dancers alongside my Vesselli instructors when I was 14 years old,” said Bulycz. “At age 16, I started choreographing and Instructing with Hudson Bay Cheremka Dance Club and then by age 18, I was instructing Benito Vesselli along with three other dance clubs from Saskatchewan.
“I have enjoyed so many things about instructing Ukrainian dance. I could write a book about the multiple experiences and excitement it has brought. I love creating and choreographing a new dance and watching it come to life. Often, I’m finding music and coming up with new choreography in my living room and you never know if what you are imagining will be able to work with the group of dancers.
“It’s a huge accomplishment when you get to see this come to life on the stage at a competition or year-end concerts,” said Bulycz. “Having dancers receive their highest marks, accomplish their goals, receive scholarships and trophies, their sense of pride and being able to stand backstage and see their faces smiling and beaming as they perform what they’ve been working on all year is a huge accomplishment as an instructor.”
“My first year teaching dance was in 2022,” said Spencer. “At that point, I only helped with the boys in the club, demonstrating technique and helping instruct their boys’ dance. Since then, I have been teaching alongside Amanda each week with the whole club.
“I think my favourite part about teaching dance is seeing how much the kids enjoy performing. It’s hard not to smile while standing backstage and watching them have so much fun and show off all their hard work.”
With the recent events that have stuck in Ukraine, it’s imperative to preserve the culture and representation of the country and its people. Ukrainian dance has traditionally had a strong representation throughout Manitoba and will continue well into the future.
“Just like anything, everything evolves and grows, dancers are performing at higher levels at younger ages,” said Bulycz. “They are accomplishing goals and achieving so much more than dancers before them, but the values behind Ukrainian dance have never changed. We are always learning more about Ukraine and the regions, costuming, steps, styles and more, but the true reason I believe we are all dancing is to share our culture with the world.
“It’s always been important to share Ukrainian culture, but with the war currently taking place, it’s our job to showcase how powerful Ukrainians are and performing any region of Ukrainian dance is one way of doing that. When we step on stage, we are not only representing our club, ourselves, or our instructors, but we are representing Ukraine and showing that we are not going anywhere.
“Ukrainian Dance has always been a huge part of Benito,” said Bulycz. “Vesselli has been around for over 40 years, and while yes we have had our enrolment decrease and increase many times over the years, we are happy to say we currently have 30 children in our club and we continue to grow every year. Not only does Benito have Vesselli for dancers 3 to 18 years of age, but we also have an adult class, Benito Shaker Misto Adult Dancers, which had ten adult dancers last year.
“Also, I have recently started up Liliya Ukrainian Dance Ensemble in Benito, which consists of dancers of all ages, many past or present dancers of Vesselli and Shaker Misto. I would say for a small community like Benito, the art of Ukrainian dance will continue for many years to come.

“The support all three groups receive is truly remarkable,” said Bulycz. “Although Vesselli has always performed at Benito’s Malanka event, 2024 was the first year Vesselli hosted Malanka. Shaker Misto and Liliya Ensemble joined Vesselli in performing for the sold-out crowd between the supper and the dance. The community came together to support Vesselli and also made donations to Ukraine with the Cobblestone Foundation. Vesselli will be hosting Malanka again in Benito on January 11, 2025.
“At Vesselli’s annual year-end concert, we filled the school gym, with many audience members standing as we ran out of room for chairs! I am proud to be from a community that continues to support our Ukrainian culture and dance groups.”
Both Bulycz and Spencer are eager to get into this season with all the new choreography and performances the students will have the chance to learn and embark upon.
“I’m excited to create brand new choreography for all my groups,” said Bulycz. “This is something that I feel is unique and I create new choreography every year for every group I instruct. Every dance I choreograph is made specifically for that group of dancers and is created based on their skills and goals. There is the odd time we will keep a dance or combination from the previous year, but often, I’m creating new choreography to keep all dancers challenged and learning.
“I will be starting practices with Shaker Misto Adult Dancers and Liliya Ensemble in October.
We will be preparing all three groups to perform at Vesselli’s Malanka event in January as well as preparing for competitions and our year-end concert in April and May.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing everyone progress week after week,” said Spencer. “We have so many amazing dancers that love giving their all.”

The North-West Regional Library held Spooktober on Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19 at the Swan Valley Museum. There was a not too scary display at the museum hall and scary displays for those who wanted a spine chilling experience in the Octagon House and Gulash Building. There was a Halloween trail and train rides as well for all to enjoy...

The saws and nail guns should be in action real soon.

Mountain View School Division (MVSD) and the provincial government are proceeding with plans to develop 104 new child care spaces at Roblin Elementary School as part of the government’s child care expansion initiative.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

The Home Routes concert series is back on the road again and kicking off their first concert this month with singer and songwriter Onna Lou. Onna Lou is from Buenos Aires, Argentina and her music has flares of Latin American rhythms including Argentine folklore, flamenco, tango and jazz. Onna Lou has a degree in Contemporary Writing and Production from Berklee College of Music and another in Classical Music Composition from Universidad Católica Argentina in Buenos Aires.
She has worked with Latin Grammy winner Javier Limón and performed at the 2013 Latin Grammy Awards with Alejandro Sanz. Then she met and performed with internationally acclaimed Spanish singer and songwriter Rosana at her New York show during her USA tour.

The Pas and Area Animal Shelter has a new shelter manager working to keep things going and helping pets to find their forever home. A current volunteer has taken her love of animals and stepped up to fill the role last month.
“I was actively doing the role in summer with the summer students as a temporary position and enjoyed it immensely,” said The Pas and Area Animal Shelter Manager Tina Donaldson. “The shelter cannot run on volunteers alone and we unfortunately had no one apply when advertised to do the managerial position.

The art of conversation seems to be getting lost the more we use technology. It’s not very often that people have the chance to engage in a deep and meaningful conversation about what they think about life. A couple weeks ago, La Philomobile Philosopher Dominique Poulin stopped in the community to have random philosophical chats with people about whatever they wanted to talk about.
Poulin comes from Quebec and was on her way to Lethbridge, AB, and during her travels, she was stopping in various communities along the way and having conversations with people from the area.
“I love to travel, explore and observe, but mostly it’s because, like Simone Weil, I believe that there is only one reason for all humanity, and we become strangers and impenetrable to each other when we stray from it,” said Dominique Poulin. “Plus, in this age of polarization and isolation, there is such a need for public places where we can listen and learn from each other face to face.”

Pow Wow Pitch has been supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs since 2021 and has recently had their 2024 finalists complete their final pitch for the competition. Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) member Simon Monteith, known as Simon the Scientist, has made his way back into the Pow Wow Pitch circle.
“I pitched the same concept as I have in the past few years, but this time, some of my goals are different,” said Monteith. “I would like to focus more on in-person events rather than online.”
Monteith has had a busy year so far, with big plans ahead for the future. He has focused a lot more on attending events in person and expanding his presentations and teachings in science.

Voters in three wards of Mountain View School Division will head to the polls at the end of the month to select four trustees to fill vacancies at the board table.

On Oct. 30, voters in Ward 1 (Roblin) will choose two new trustees, while those in Ward 2 (Gilbert Plains, Grandview and Ethelbert) will elect one trustee and voters in Dauphin will select one new Ward 4 trustee.

Often it can be difficult to get the information you need to make an informed choice in the ballot booth and the further you head down the levels of governance, the more difficult that quest can be.

With no formal candidate forums or debates announced, the Dauphin Herald and the Roblin Review partnered with the Manitoba Teachers’ Society to ask the candidates six questions so voters can get a better idea of exactly who is hoping to help shape the local education system

Questions asked included:

1. Reflecting on your life experience, what has prepared you to run for school trustee?
2. If you are elected, what would your priorities be as a Mountain View School Division trustee?
3. What would you do to make those priorities a reality?
4. There has been a great deal of talk about racism and discrimination at the board level in Mountain View. How would you work to combat the hurtful misinformation that has been spread in recent months, commit to Reconciliation and repair the harm caused to students and families in the division?
5. What would being a school trustee mean to you?
6. How can voters reach you to discuss further?

Eight of the nine candidates responded. Their candidates’ unedited answers follow, sorted in order of where their name will appear on the ballot.

To see the full Q&A, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.