Like all charitable events, the Trojans annual Stick it to Cancer is truly a community event where people from around the area donated their time, their money and their goods and services for the rainbow and silent auction tables in order to make the Expanding Community Cancer Care benefit game the rousing success - and such a heartwarming evening for nine years.

Almost every year since 2014, the Major Pratt Trojans have held a benefit game at the Russell Memorial Multiplex in aid of the expansion project.

Get all the details in this week's Russell Banner!

Last Friday, the Russell and District Regional Library joined hundreds of other learning establishments right across the country to celebrate Family Literacy Day.

Family Literacy Day takes place every January 27th to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Taking time every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to a child’s development, improving a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well. Since 1999, thousands of schools, libraries, literacy organizations and other community groups have taken part in the initiative.

The theme of this year’s Family Literacy Day was “Celebrate Your Heritage”. Canada is a great diverse country full of different cultures.

The goal of the theme of “Heritage” was to see that parents take the time to explore and learn about the historical stories and connection involving researching and learning about their shared heritage as a family. A few years ago the Russell and District Regional Library underwent an addition to the west end of the building.

The new space allows for a wealth of new activities and a chance to partner and spotlight other important community groups.

Check the full story out in this week's Russell Banner!

A new study in Manitoba shows how the great grey owl,” a common sight, either soaring over the plains or perching and nesting in the Boreal forests of the eastern Canadian prairies, overcomes many obstacles to find its prey.

The bird is able to “punch” through as much as 50 cms (20 inches) of hard, crusty snow – enough to hold a person’s weight – to catch a vole hiding beneath.

Details in this issue.

As part of the Manitoba government’s ongoing effort to help Manitobans make ends meet, Premier Heather Stefanson on Thusday unveiled a $200-million Carbon Tax Relief Fund aimed at helping 700,000 Manitobans cope with the negative impacts of rising winter costs, from food to fuel.

The 2023 Carbon Tax Relief Fund will provide help for all Manitobans including seniors, singles and couples with or without children who lived in the province on Dec. 31, 2021, and whose family net income that year was less than $175,000.

More in this issue.

With crime seeming to be on the rise in rural areas, many are looking for solutions to the problem.

Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Dan Mazier and his colleague Kildonan-St. Paul MP Raquel Dancho held a virtual crime town hall Jan. 23 that also touched on Bill C-21, which is a ban on handguns. Recently there was an amendment that would ban many hunting rifles, shotguns and antique cannons.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

The Dauphin Kings remain in the midst of the tight race in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

After dropping a 4-0 decision to the OCN Blizzard, Tuesday in OCN, the Kings swept and home-and-home with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, 5-1, Friday in Dauphin, and 3-1, Saturday in Waywayseecappo.

As a result, Dauphin enters the week in a three-way tie for second place with the Wolverines and Swan Valley Stampeders, two points behind OCN.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the team took a step back in the game against OCN.

“The structure wasn’t there. The stick-to-itiveness, the trust in the process. We just didn’t battle hard enough. You’ve got to give OCN credit. They came at us hard. They used their speed,” he said. “We weren’t real tough to play against.”

After some good practices during the week, the Kings were able to rebound with a pair of solid efforts against the Wolverines.

“Wayway is a very good hockey club. They’re well coached. We played like we had to. We were responsible away from the puck. We didn’t leave a lot of chances on the rush. And then, if we didn’t (Cole) Sheffield had two great games and was outstanding,” Hedley said.

Last season, Swan Valley finished in fourth place, the last playoff spot, with 22 wins. Entering this week’s games, Neepawa is the only team within the division with fewer than 20 victories, sitting at 17.

Hedley figures 30 wins will be needed to get into the playoffs.

This weekend, the Kings will host the Blizzard, Friday for Ukrainian Night at 7:30 p.m., and again on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Hedley is looking forward to the weekend contests.

“We’re going to have some good practices this week and really focus on OCN. Any kind of tendencies we’re looking for, we’ll pass on the our players and get them prepared as good as we can. All it is is staying on our toes and playing to the best of our abilities,” he said.

The Parkland Rangers showed what hard work can accomplish by earning three of a possible four points over the weekend.

After starting the week with a 6-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings, Parkland snapped a 10-game losing skid with a convincing 7-3 win over the Eastman Selects, Saturday.

Eastman got a measure of revenge on Sunday, beating the Rangers, 5-4 in overtime.

Parkland got off to a slow start against Brandon, falling behind, 4-1 after the opening 20 minutes, but rebounded to make a game of it, pulling to within a goal with under a minute to play.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said there was a lot for the team to be proud of in the three games.

“There’s lots to feel good about,” he said. “We teased the fellas a little bit, it’s almost like we’re peaking almost two months too late. But when you’re a young roster, it takes a little bit longer to be ready to execute and be ready every shift. But I think now we’re starting to see what the future holds for our program.”

The Rangers were noticeably active with their sticks in the defensive zone, part of the team’s commitment to team defence.

“That’s all about being responsible to team defence, to sticks in lanes, getting into shooting lanes, D side of the puck. And I think almost to a player, we are doing that,” Carefoot said. “And I think for any player, if we’re going to trust you, it starts with D.”

The whole team played well, which allowed Carefoot to use the entire roster. Players, he added, are starting to feel good about themselves.

Sunday’s game was the first time newcomer Havryil Simchuk did not get on the scoresheet. He had five goals and four assists in his first six games with Parkland before getting shutout on Sunday.

“He just adds depth. He’s a strong player and we’re leaning in him a lot and he’s doing really well,” Carefoot said.

The Rangers hit the road for two games this weekend against the Pembina Valley Hawks, Friday and Saturday in Morden.

The Hawks are currently third in the league with a 23-7-5-0 record. Their 51 points has them four points behind the Winnipeg Bruins.

The Rangers, Carefoot said, match up well with the Hawks. The two teams split a pair of games in Dauphin in early November.

“If we keep competing they way we have been the last five or six games, I think we’ll hang in there and who knows what will happen,” he said. “It’s just nice coming to the rink. The kids are smiling. Nobody really has a piano on their back right now.”

With nine games left to play, Parkland is 14 points out of a playoff spot. So, although they are not officially eliminated from the playoffs, their chances are slim, leaving them to play spoiler, something they are having fun with.

“I think this group is proving in most games we don’t quit. We just keep working. But just to go out and compete just for the spirit of the game, I think that’s what we’re focused on,” he said.

A provincially-led program aimed at improving the quality of life in the community has the City of Dauphin anxiously awaiting word on when the promised assistance is forthcoming.

Dauphin was one of 12 communities selected last April to receive provincial funding to develop and implement a Community Safety and Well-being Plan (CSWP) following a successful pilot project in Thompson in 2019-20.

While the City had hoped the process would begin last summer, it is still waiting on the province to appoint a consultant and provide the approximately $100,000 in funding, half of which will be used to formulate the plan with the other half being to used to implement its initiatives.

“The delay is starting to become problematic in the sense that we’d love to get going on it and we have to hurry up and wait,” mayor David Bosiak said. “I just wish that the province would pull the trigger on this and let us go. Who knows, that call or email could come any day, but I can’t really say when that will happen.”

The City had informal discussions with Manitoba Justice late last year regarding the process, and was able to educate the department on the work, which is already underway in the community.

Over the last number of years, the Crisis Prevention Task Force and Under One Roof have been working to effectively co-ordinate social services with various providers and have had some success in the approach.

The City has also met with those local service providers and other community groups to inform them about the program and its process, as well as offer its leadership with respect to the plan and how it will fit into the community. To that end, the City has created a repository for organizations to populate with information they want to share with the group and for the purposes of the CSWP.

But despite the work that has been done, Bosiak is fearful that given the complexity of the program and the diversity of the communities involved - six Indigenous communities and six municipalities, all of different sizes and facing different issues - the province will attempt a “cookie cutter” approach that produces results adequate for all, but perfect for none.

The City, he added, is more interested in developing a plan tailormade for Dauphin.

“I’m hoping there’s some flexibility from our end once they see that we have capacity, we have capability. We have people already doing this, so let’s not spend time and money doing stuff we’ve already done,” Bosiak said “One of the things we’re hopeful of is once this process starts with the provincially-appointed or identified consultant, that we can quickly come to a place with them to say ‘okay, we don’t have to get a community meeting, we don’t have to get the partners lined up, we don’t have to inform them, because we’ve already been doing that for two or three years anyway.”

What the City is looking for from the consultant, Bosiak said, is advice on some implementation strategies, with input from it’s community partners.

“Maybe even to help us assess how well or not the current Under One Roof programming is going for us,” he said.

The City will host the next meeting of the social service providers and community groups, as part of the CSWP process, at the end of January or early February.

A group of Parkland residents have received a special honour courtesy of the Province of Manitoba and Dauphin MLA Brad Michaleski.

At a special ceremony in Brandon last week, Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medals were presented to Kay Slobodzian, Michelle Mazurkewich, Tony Safronetz, Bev Harvey, Carole Shankaruk, Alex Lytwyn, Al Gray and Rodney Juba were presented their medals by Lt-Gov. Anita Neville, Premier Heather Stefanson and Michaleski. Two other Dauphin residents, Brian Damsgaard and Jim Perchaluk were unable to attend the ceremony and will receive their medals at a later date.

Manitoba was one of five Canadian provinces to celebrate the 70th anniversary year of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the Throne through the medal program.

Read more in this week's Dauphin Herald!

I suppose it’s true that when you shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you end up among the stars. Not that I would consider what former Swan Valley resident Brett Madill does for a living to be ‘missing’ anything, considering that with the application of an evolving skillset and a little luck of being in the right place at the right time, he has ended up on film sets with some of Hollywood’s elite talent.
Notably, Madill served as visual effects technician on the set of A Man Called Otto, a film currently in theatrical release starring Tom Hanks about a grumpy man who meets someone that turns his life around. The production is just the latest in what has become a long list of high-profile projects since Madill entered the entertainment industry. Madill, son of recent Swan Valley exports David and Elaine Madill, is a 2001 graduate of the SVRSS and went on to
get two previous Bachelor’s Degrees from the University of Manitoba before switching course and taking a Creative Communications Diploma from Red River College in 2013. “When I went to Red River College, I didn’t even know you could study visual effects (VFX) in college,” said Madill, who graduated from the program in 2015 with a media production major. “Creative Communications was integral to helping me develop the skills, mindset, determination, motivation and opportunity that led to the career I now have.”
Madill’s final Creative Communications internship was at a VFX studio in Toronto — Spin VFX – and has been in Toronto ever since.
“I was in the right place at the right time with the right attitude and aptitude to be offered a full-time position during that internship,” said Madill. “I started as a rotoscope/prep artist and learned almost everything I know about
VFX from the artists I worked with and work I was doing. “After about a year or so, I was able to learn enough trust with my company to begin going on set occasionally.” Madill has since moved on from the original studio he worked
for and now works for WeFX, heading up the On Set Department, and is an IATSE 667 union member as VFX On Set Supervisor and Lead Data Wrangler. 
“As VFX On Set Supervisor, I execute the VFX plan on the day of shooting,” said Madill. “I communicate with the Director, Director of Photography, Script Supervisor and other department heads to ensure that the needs of each VFX setup are met, and troubleshoot when unexpected issues arise during a shoot day — which happens quite often. 
“When I am on set as Lead Data Wrangler, I’m recording the specifications of each camera setup, shooting a halfdozen different types of reference photographs, and using a LiDAR scanner to capture scans of the environment. I
do quite a bit of LiDAR scanning, which uses a laser surveying tool to take millions of measurements per minute in 360 degrees, allowing me to create an accurate digital model of a shoot location or set. I’ve been everywhere from
a haunted old west jailhouse to deep space.”
His talents were taken on the road to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he shot A Man Called Otto with Tom Hanks. The film was also shot in and around Toledo, Cleveland and Niagara Falls. “I interacted with Tom Hanks a number of
times in the course of performing my duties, and it may not shock you to learn that he’s charming, funny and a great actor,” said Madill. “It was an amazing and irreplaceable experience to work with Tom, Rita Wilson and their son Truman all on this film.”
Madill’s movie and television credits are numerous since 2015, with the full list appearing on his IMDb page. “From 2015-2021, I put a lot of time and energy into The Expanse, both on set and on the computer,” he said. “I
learned so many valuable lessons from that show.” Other major highlights of his career include recent shows like Stranger Things, What We Do in the Shadows, See, The Umbrella Academy, The Handmaid’s Tale, Reacher, and She-
Hulk: Attorney-at-Law. 
And, while the jobs on a film set or in postproduction can often be demanding and long, Madill loves his job. “I am positive and full of gratitude,” he said. “The hours on set or in the VFX studio can be long, but you’re all in it
together. “I often still find it hard to believe that I get to do this for a living. My life has become very satisfying, and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. “I am inspired by the head of the WeFX studio, Mo Ghorbankarimi, and the fantastic quality of the VFX produced by the entire WeFX team,” Madill continued. “I am inspired by good storytelling, and by John Carpenter, Jaws and Jurassic Park. “I continue to be curious about filmmaking. I love to learn about
everyone else’s job on set and try to absorb as much as I can.” 
Most importantly, Madill encourages Swan River’s future filmmakers that it is possible to make it in the movie industry. “I didn’t believe it was possible to have an actual career in film/TV when I was growing up in Swan River,” he
said. “I’d like the youth growing up in Swan River to know that it is reachable.
“Winnipeg has a lot more production now than it used to. You don’t even have to leave Manitoba to get started.” 
A Man Called Otto is currently in theatres and is scheduled to play at 7 p.m. at the Star City Cinema on Jan. 27 and 28 as well as Feb. 1 and 2.