Local musher Donny Poulin recently competed in the Pedigree Stage Stop Race in Wyoming this past month. Poulin grew up with dog sled racing and has been in the sport since he was a young boy.
“I was born into this sport,” said Poulin. “My dad had dogs since he was 15 years old and was into dog sled racing, which led to me getting into it as well. He taught me everything from a very early age.
“I ran junior races when I was eight years old and been racing for over 40 years now.”
When it comes to sled dogs, many people have the misconception that the ideal breed are the huskies that have long hair and distinct markings. Poulin has a type of husky that is bred typically for racing. Although he participates in the sport, to him, his sled dogs are like members of the family.
“Pretty much every dog we have, we’ve raised ourselves,” said Poulin. “We have some that we’ve purchased from different kennels over the years, but for the most part, we breed and raise our own dogs.
“We mostly have Alaskan Huskies and they’re not the type of dog that people like to associate in the movies. These dogs have short hair and are more of a race type looking dog. A lot of people think the dogs would be massively huge dogs, but that’s not the case. These dogs are known for speed and endurance.

Just outside of The Pas airport is a beautiful snow sculpture that both residents and visitors can take in. Calm Air came up with the concept of commissioning an artist to design a snow sculpture to both celebrate the community and the upcoming Trapper’s Festival.
“At Calm Air, we are beyond excited to get back to travelling and one thing we missed most was celebrating our communities, especially in winter,” said Calm Air Director of Marketing and Brand Management Amanda Camara. “So we thought, what better way to celebrate The Pas than joining in as a Northern Lights Sponsor for the Trapper’s Festival and what can we bring to the table to really celebrate who we are, which was a beautiful work of art with snow. It was fitting for it to be located at the airport.”
A Manitoba artist, who lives in Swan River, came highly recommended to Calm Air by organizers at the Festival du Voyageur. This artist dabbles in a variety of different mediums and his snow sculptures in the past have always caught attention

This coming weekend is hailed as a long weekend, but the designation for the holiday really has yet to be unified across the country as Louis Riel Day. The Pas MMF Region has always celebrated and honored Riel, long before the statutory holiday came into effect.
“During Trapper’s Festival, our region has always hosted a Metis Family Night,” said The Pas MMF Region Vice President Judy Mayer. “After we had already started celebrating Louis Riel and the Red River Metis, came the holiday recognizing him. There’s a lot more work that has to be done and should be a part of reconciliation, which would be recognizing Riel as the first Premier of Manitoba and the Founding Father of Confederation. That will take a partnership between the provincial and federal governments, along with the Red River Metis government to get this recognized nationally. This should be part of reconciliation with the Red River Metis people.

There is a definite need for more support and advocates for people with disabilities. Valley resident, Evelyn Yelinek, knows all too well about the needs people with disabilities have and recently, she’s been appointed to the Manitoba Intellectual Disability Advisory Council to share her experience and advocacy on certain topics.
“There was a call for interest on the Manitoba government website and I applied,” said Yelinek. “I first noticed that some people were being treated disrespectfully when I was in Grade 6. I recall telling a teacher that he was being a bully. This resulted in being sent to the office. I told the principal what happened. I was thanked and was asked to report back if I felt things like this happened again, but I should not address the teacher myself because then I was the one being disrespectful. Being the cheeky child that I was, my response was that maybe the teacher should be a better role model.
“I have a cousin who has Down Syndrome. When she came to visit, she was not allowed to play with us; she could only sit on the couch and look at books. I thought that she had a very sad life. When I asked my aunt why I was told it was not safe for her because she was very fragile.
“I also had an uncle who lived with us for a while,” said Yelinek. “He wasn’t able to care for himself and eventually he was placed at MDC because his behaviours made it unsafe for him and us. Then I became a mom to a couple of great guys. You really don’t know what love is until you have a child. My guys were born three and a half months early and I was determined to make their world very much unlike the one I witnessed as a young girl.”
Yelinek’s desire to advocate for fairness for others really developed through her own experiences as a mother.
“When I was a new mom, I was made to feel like I did something wrong that caused the early births,” said Yelinek. “The social worker constantly threatened my rights as a parent. She said that she was an educated woman and didn’t feel that she could care for the boys, so what would make me think I could? I felt she was judging me, and I was also feeling that way by some friends and family too.
“Every birthmark and bruise had to be explained. Little kids do get bumps and bruises. Add being blind to the mix, any educated person should understand that they too would get bumps and bruises.
“Then there were issues getting funding for support workers at daycare; issues getting funding for EAs; very little funding was available for respite because we lived in a rural area; the guys were not allowed to go on many field trips because of lack of support staff; while EAs came and went,” said Yelinek.
“Then comes adulthood and needing to rely on government assistance. This program was designed to help people for a short time until they can get back on their feet. It is not acceptable in any way to subject already vulnerable adults to a life of poverty in which the rent budget is so little that safe housing is very challenging, if not impossible to find. Some families have to have their adult children placed in homes outside their home community because of a lack of proper homes.
“These are just some of my experiences. People wonder why families of people with disabilities have a hard time trusting,” said Yelinek. “I never want any other mom to feel the way I did.”
Along Yelinek’s personal journey, she met some incredible people who helped her along the way. It was through their guidance that she found the inspiration to keep advocating for people with disabilities and to demand fairness for them on many issues.
“I have met some wonderful staff and friends along the way,” said Yelinek. “Dr. Rajani, a pediatrician, and Deb Ramsay, a mom from the Parents of Premature Babies club, were the first two people who provided amazing support. Deb and I are still close friends. Lois Paske, OT/PT from CNIB, told me that I was a great mom; she empowered me to stand up to the social worker. She and Dr. Rajani wrote letters on my behalf to that social worker.
“Then I moved to the Valley and met some wonderful workers here. Iris Jonsson, a Children’s Disability worker, heard my story and took me under her wing. I started working for the Department of Families and continued to be mentored by Lee Greig and Donna-Jean Slack, who were program managers, to become the best worker I could be. I was often matched up to work with families who had special needs kids; some were children and some were adults.
“At the Department of Families, I met a wonderful man named Phil Boguski, who was the Vocational Rehab Worker,” said Yelinek. “He provided so much guidance to me as a worker and a mom. I volunteered on the Association for Community Living board and met many wonderful people who attended the day program. My fellow board members were passionate about making this world our children are part of life, a much better place.
“Volunteering on the Community Mental Health board provided.

The Pas has been fortunate to have donors give back to the community on various different levels to keep projects going in the community. One donor in particular has given back tremendously over the years to a variety of different charities and notable projects that have greatly benefitted the lives of citizens in the tri-community area.
“I was born and raised in The Pas,” said Evans Premachuk. “In 1963, my wife, Mardene and I left Lynn Lake to move back to my home community to set up my law practice. Eventually we went into owning an apartment complex in The Pas after the pulp mill was built. This led to us slowly getting into some more real estate development.

The fisheries branch of Natural Resources and Northern Development released an update on Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) for Foot Print and Cedar Lake recently. They have detected the Spiny Waterflea from five samples taken from Foot Print Lake during the 2022 open water season. The sample was confirmed in the laboratory in late November.
A total of 25 Spiny Waterfleas were found in five out of seven samples from Foot Print Lake. This detection indicates there could be an established or reproducing population of Spiny Waterflea in the lake.

A joint partnership between the federal and provincial governments, and Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) will provide affordable housing in Winnipeg for Indigenous students, elders and young families. The project is estimated to cost around $17.4 million, with the federal government contributing $15.6 million, OCN spending $1.8 million and the Province committed $105,000 through Efficiency Manitoba.

The Town of The Pas Council met last week and has lots on the go, in terms of managing projects and operations for the community. Every week the Council makes a point of recognizing the efforts of organizations or events within the community for the work they do either on a certain project, event or situation.
“We wanted to throw out some recognition to our local RCMP and all the local members they brought in to help with an incident that resulted in loss of life. I’m sure it was a difficult situation with lots of long hours of work involved.