A memorial has sprung up at the intersection in Gilbert Plains that was the site of a tragic accident which claimed the lives of four teenagers, last week.

On Mar. 29, at approximately 10:50 p.m., Dauphin RCMP received numerous calls about a motor vehicle collision involving a semi-trailer and a car at the junction of Hwy. 5 and PR 274.

Initial investigation determined that a car with five occupants was travelling northbound on PR 274 into the town of Gilbert Plains when it failed to stop at the stop sign.

A semi-trailer was travelling eastbound on Hwy. 5, and the car struck the trailer portion of the semi-trailer. Two 17-year-old males and one 18-year-old male, the driver, were pronounced dead at the scene. All were from the Dauphin area. An 18-year-old female from Carberry was transported to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A 15-year-old female from the RM of Dauphin was transported to hospital with serious injuries, where she remains.

The 30-year-old male driver of the semi, from Saskatoon, was not physically injured in the collision.

The investigation continues with the assistance of a RCMP Forensic Collision Reconstructionist.

The North Western Marquette Festival of the Arts was held in Russell March 14, 15 and 16 with 44 entries in the dance competition, 48 entries for piano and 12 in the vocal category, which inlcued five school choirs.

The adjudicator for Dance was Tamara Topsnik Hicks from Brandon and Winnipeg’s Theresa Thordarson took care of judging Piano and Vocal entries.

The Speech Arts portion took place in February with some 15 entries.

Check out the winners in this week’s paper.

Election time is just around the corner and many political parties are lining up and announcing their candidates for certain ridings.

The Swan River constituency’s Progressive Conservative (PC) Association held its candidate selection meeting March 30 in Swan River at the Westwood Inn where MLA Rick Wowchuk won an uncontested nomination.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

Manitoba Natural Resources and Northern Development is advising that outfitting licences of two resource tourism operators in the Grandview area have been cancelled.

The move comes after a lengthy investigation led by the Manitoba Conservation Officer Service along with Canadian and American wildlife investigators.

Find out why in this issue.

A group of art driven and minded people met at the Northern Arts Workshop held last week at Bakers Narrows. It was a collaboration of different art organizations on a local, provincial and national level.
“The Northern Arts Workshop, sponsored by UCN, was held to bring people in the professional and volunteer fields of the arts together to discuss what they have in common, what their goals are, barriers, funding opportunities, networking and more,” said Cheryl Antonio. “Jesse Wente, Chair of Canada Council for the Arts; Rose-Anne Harder, Director of the Manitoba Arts Network; Thom Sparling from Creative Manitoba; along with representatives from PrairiesCan, Canadian Heritage, and MB Film & Music were in attendance to listen, learn and collaborate.

A Care Closet will be up and running one day this week to help those who are in need of basic personal items. Donations have been collected to provide a selection of items for those in need to choose from. This is the first time a project like this has been set up in tri-community and it gives people a chance to clean out their closets and help those who are less fortunate.
“This is the first time we have done this event,” said The Pas Helping Hands 4-H Volunteer Leader Cheryl Antonio. “I heard about it through a friend, through another organization and began to research it. Usually Care Closets are set up in schools, health facilities, churches, etc., and are more of a permanent venue. They can also go by similar or different names, however, they all do the same thing.

Northland Ford is celebrating a milestone anniversary this year as today marks 30 years in business in The Pas. It was a venture that Northland Ford Dealer Principal Dale Bigelow decided to take a chance on and it paid off.
“The former dealership, Northgate Motors, went into receivership in 1992 and there was an empty building left,” said Bigelow. “At the time I was working for Trail Motors GM dealership. I was a journeyman mechanic and had spent 10 years in the shop, then got into sales. I decided it was time for me to make a move, so I called a Ford of Canada representative in Winnipeg and five months later we opened the doors to Northland Ford on March 29, 1993.
“There were huge changes from working in the shop to running a dealership. It was a change for me to manage staff and daily business operations.”

Electric vehicles are becoming the future of transportation and in order to meet that demand and shift, communities will need EV chargers and infrastructure to accommodate this change. The Town of The Pas and The Pas Community Development Corporation (TPCDC) are working together to install an EV charger in the community for the near future.
“Electric vehicles can become very important to economic development and tourism, with it being quite new in the local community, we don't know exactly what impacts will happen, but we do know there is an opportunity to advance alongside the rest of the country,” said TPCDC Economic Development Coordinator Jackie Rechenmacher. “With the popularity of EV and the requirements from federal government over the next 10 years, this is an opportunity to work towards that goal and ensure The Pas is an option when it comes to EV tourism.

If you wanted to learn more about Indigenous culture, Swan Valley Regional Secondary School (SVRSS) is offering two free sessions for people to partake in. The first is learning Ininimowin, which is one of the most widely spoken Indigenous languages in Canada. Ininimowin has five major dialects, Western/Plains Cree, Northern/Woodlands Cree, Central/Swampy Cree, Moose Cree and Eastern Cree.
The second session allows participants to make their own ribbon skirts.
“These Ininimowin and Ribbon Skirt Making classes were part of our Indigenous Education goals for 2022-2023,” said Swan Valley School Division Indigenous Academic Achievement Coordinator Lorna Jean Munro. “We meet annually to review and discuss what goals and activities we’d like to do each year to promote Indigenous Education in the division.”
“Everyone is welcome to participate,” said Munro. “The language class is an introductory Ininimowin class for all ages. Participants will be introduced to the syllabics chart and learn how to enunciate, read, write and speak in the language.
“I will be instructing the Ininimowin class and the classes are free, with no registration required. They are held every Tuesday from 6 to 6:30 p.m. in the SVRSS Resource Centre. These classes run from March 14 to May 16, 2023.”
Ribbon skirts have different meanings according to the people who wear them. It’s mainly to honour First Nations heritage, and to express history, resilience and character while reclaiming identity and matriarchal authority.
“In short, ribbon skirts are worn by Indigenous women to celebrate their culture, their strength, and their connection as women,” said Munro.
“Jan. 4 is National Ribbon Skirt Day, a day where all women are encouraged to wear their ribbon skirt as a symbol of resilience, survival and identity. There’s no experience necessary to make a ribbon skirt, just a willingness to learn about a way of knowing and doing from an Indigenous perspective.
“The Ribbon Skirt Making sessions are held on Thursdays in the SVRSS Family Studies Area at SVRSS,” said Munro. “Elder Marilyn Pohlmeier is leading classes and there’s a limit of 10 participants per session. Participants will need two meters of cotton fabric in terms of supplies.
“The class is held from 6 to 8 p.m. and the sessions are ongoing with these classes running from March 20 to May 25. Participants must register with me to book their session.”

Swan School of Dance held their annual recital on March 22 at the SVRSS gymnasium.