The world is full of amazing and fantastic animals, with about 18,000 new species discovered every year – most of which are insects and many more being on the small side of the animal spectrum.
There are other strange and wonderful creatures that science hasn’t been able to officially categorize and account for in a modern context that many believe still exist from the distant past – like the giant beaver – or ones that seem to defy scientific verification despite repeated sightings over decades and centuries – like Sasquatch/Bigfoot or Loch Ness Monster-type animals.
One such fellow is Manitoba author John Warms from the Interlake community of Fairford, who has been exploring the topic for more than 30 years.
Last month, Warms was making his rounds touring across Manitoba in public libraries and community spaces to spread the word about his book Strange Creatures Seldom Seen: Giant Beavers, Sasquatch, Manipogos, and Other Mystery Animals in Manitoba and Beyond.
Warms’s book was published first in the United States in 2015 before he printed some versions for promotion in Canada about two years ago. Warms found that public libraries welcomed the promotion of his book, and the stop in Swan River on March 27 was a last minute addition to his month-long tour, where not only did he bring copies of his book and open himself up to conversation, but he also set up an extensive display that showcased the contents of his book, such as various drawings, artifacts and replicas for the weird and wild creatures and legends that he loves to research.
“Everything (in my displays) is also in the book,” said Warms, while he was set up in the Northwest Regional Library in Swan River. “It’s all about the creatures that I have never heard of 40-50 years ago.”
Warms explained that the first unusual and unexplained creature he had heard of was a giant snake in Manitoba.
He noted some Indigenous people had encountered and told stories about it and one fellow even told him what kind of bullet to use if he ever encounters one.
“‘If there’s one, there’s more’,” said Warms, quoting his friend. “It was kind of an interesting perspective for me to take all these years, and it made a lot of sense.
“When I realized that science wasn’t familiar or didn’t acknowledge all these other creatures that the Indigenous people were telling me about, I knew that there was something that didn’t quite match. So, I assumed with a lot of corroborating stories that the people of the land where they lived that they had the truth that their elders passed down and were experiencing themselves.”
Warms noted that every creature that is represented in his displays he believes to be extant, or rather not extinct. Creatures like the giant beaver or plesiosaurs – a water-based animal that draws parallels to the legends of lake monsters – are acknowledged by the scientific community to have existed once upon a time, whether it was thousands or millions of years ago. However, Warms and those he has talked to over many decades believes that these animals and many others are still out there living today.
“I wouldn’t be doing this if there was anything questionable,” he said, noting that everything in his book had enough corroborating stories about them that it was worth including.
“I may have very easily missed some creatures where I haven’t found the right people yet to clue me in on their existence.”
One such story he shared was that of Archie Motkaluk, who believes he spotted a Sasquatch near Renwer on Dec. 29, 1960, while visiting his parents’ farm.
Motkaluk recounted the story in 2011 with the Winnipeg Sun, and explained that he was out collecting wood about three miles into the bush when he saw this ‘man’ and realized that it was a Sasquatch when he got within a couple hundred yards.
Motkaluk only told his mother and made a sketch of what he saw, but only came out more publicly about his encounter 50 years later when he was watching a television program that featured someone that said there’s no such thing as a Sasquatch.
“I realized that the academic community is not aware of (these creatures) or does not want to acknowledge them,” said Warms. “There are so many land-based people that are very aware of them.
“I just feel like we are losing out if we are not given the opportunity to learn more about these creatures like the underwater moose (for instance).”
Warms’ book is available to purchase at 83 North Amazing Emporium in Swan River or on Amazon.ca.
Warms also has a Facebook page to keep up with what he’s up to and a YouTube channel that features some other videos on his endeavors.
Warms also encourages people to keep their eyes and minds open out in the wilderness of Manitoba to see if even more corroborating stories can emerge and get even closer to confirming the presence of these seldom seen animals.

Spring seemed to introduce itself to us in a flash, with temperatures rising quickly in the last couple of weeks, leading to a swift melt of snow and ice, leading to rising water levels and flooded roadways across the Swan Valley

The U17 Parkland Vipers hosted a four-team volleyball tournament at Barker School, Saturday, going undefeated in winning the event.

The Vipers scored a 25-13, 20-25 and 15-7 win over the Neepawa Voltage to open the tournament. Then they defeated Club West Smash, 25-11 and 25-16.

The final match of the day saw the Vipers clinch first place in the round-robin tournament with a 25-22, 25-20, 17-25 and 25-23 win over the Rocanville Brash.

Vipers coach Chris Wolfenden said the team learned a lot throughout the tournament, a trend that continues every time they hit the court.

“We’re learning lots every single weekend about just how to overcome the simple parts of the game. They’re hard to master at the top levels, let alone at the bottom levels,” he said. “It’s just a matter of getting our hands on balls and understanding just how to compete all the time, 100 per cent of the time. We’re getting closer.”

Coming off a weekend where they won the consolation at a tournament in Brandon, the team’s confidence, Wolfenden said, is good.

“It’s better than last weekend, for sure. This was really good for us to come and play three solid matches at home in front of fans and parents. I think the girls needed this, because we have three tough tournaments coming up,” he said.

The Vipers will be in Winnipeg this weekend for a tournament hosted by the Bisons, which will be a tough event for the local team.

“We have the potential to beat any of these teams. It just depends on which one of our teams shows up. And that’s what I mean by, if we come out and we compete and compete hard, we can play with anybody. That’s the team I want to see,” he said. “And aggression. It’s just one of those things learning as a young volleyball player that it’s okay to be aggressive and take chances. That’s what the girls are getting better at.”

Following the Bisons tournament, the Vipers will compete for a provincial crown, Apr. 29 and 30, in Brandon.

After launching the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund with a $25,000 donation last year, Don Tarrant continued his strong support for the organization and the Ukrainian immigrants it sponsors with a further $25,000 gift last week.

When things began last March, Tarrant said the idea was that two or three families might come to the Parkland, fleeing the war in Ukraine.

That goal was realized quicky, he said, and the target was moved to 10 families. The fund is now sponsoring more than 30 families with more to come.

The group has scaled back its offer to new families but with the war now in its second year, more help is needed, Tarrant said.

“The fund still needs money to fulfill a commitment to the existing families, as well as to give some level of support to the new families arriving,” Tarrant said, explaining his motivation to make another substantial donation to the fund. “Probably the biggest component is the single mothers with children that are here. They’re going to need a bit more support beyond the 12 months. So it really was maybe geared towards shoring up the fund, as well as making sure that there is money coming in towards the unforeseen costs and helping these single mothers make it work going forward.”

The project has been a success, Tarrant said, with all of the newcomers expressing appreciation for the support and an affection for their new home. Most of the newcomers have found work and their children have settled nicely into school, Tarrant added.

“The people that are here are very, very happy to be here. They are setting down roots,” he said. “The very first ones that came in are actually making some purchases like vehicles and are looking to buy rather than rent housing. So I believe they are going to stay and I think that it’s a great use of the funds.”

And while the community has been good for the immigrants, the immigrants have been equally good for the community, Tarrant said.

“We’re looking at over 100 people that have come in. There’s places they just couldn’t fill jobs and the thing with that, business, when they can’t fill a job, then they look at starting to scale back hours. They look as possibly having to eventually shut down,” he said. “But if they start scaling back hours and people want to buy something, but they’re closed, they start to buy elsewhere out of Dauphin. So just the effect of having no people becomes very, very negative and snowballs.”

Tarrant encourages anyone who is able to continue to support the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund with a donation.

Two federal legislators were in Dauphin last week for a conversation about crime.

Specifically, Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa MP Dan Mazier and Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo were in town to highlight two private member’s bills focused on bail reform.

“We’re going to have a conversation around bail reform, what that actually means and what we as legislators, as MPs can do and how Parliament works,” Mazier told the crowd before introducing Caputo, who is a member of the Standing Committee for Justice and Human Rights, as well as a former Crown prosecutor, parole officer and a former instructor at Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law.

“So he has a wealth of knowledge.”

Crime is a problem across the country, Caputo said, and there are no easy answers.

“I’ll tell you right now we can’t fix this overnight,” he said. “Sometimes when difficult things happen in the community, when we have matters that are unsustainable . . . when the toothpaste comes out of the tube it doesn’t go back in as quickly as it came out. This is a complex problem that we’re talking about today, so I’m not going to stand before you and put my integrity on the line by saying I have all the answers because I don’t.”

Violent crime has increased by 32 per cent since 2015, Caputo said, while gang-related murders have doubled in the same time frame. And while those kinds of crime have historically been associated with large urban centres, they are becoming more common in smaller communities such as Dauphin, Caputo said.

“And that makes it difficult because number one, we’re not used to it, but number two, we don’t always have the resources or the knowledge to tackle these things,” he said.

Check this week's Dauphin Herald for more!

For the three parties involved, there is hope the signing of a special document Apr. 14 at Dauphin City Hall is a milestone in a long, prosperous and respectful relationship.

Minegoziibe Anishinabe (Pine Creek First Nation), Ka Ka Kwe Ke Je Ong (Ebb and Flow First Nation) and the City of Dauphin entered into a Municipal Development and Services Agreement centered on Anishinaabe Aki, a piece of land located on Main Street South in Dauphin.

The agreement outlines the services the city will provide for a fee to the land and clears the way for the parcel to receive reserve status through the Addition to Reserve process.

“It’s certainly a milestone in this process where we re-establish ourselves as the original people in this territory and partake in some of the economic opportunities that present when we decide to work together in a peaceful way,” said Minegoziibe Anishinabe Chief Derek Nepinak, “We are the safe keepers of the treaty. The Treaty 2 and 4 people that are represented here in the room, we will work to maintain that harmony and that peace that we agreed to many, many, many generations ago. I believe that this agreement is an expression of that commitment. This is the living treaty that we’re talking about now and I believe that there’s prosperity on the horizon for all of us. I think it is going to benefit everybody once this land is converted. The city is going to prosper, we’re going to bring new prosperity to our communities together and the treaty will move forward for the next generations in that way. So today is a milestone. It’s not so much the pen to paper that counts, it’s the spirit that we take from this and it’s the spirit that we work within as we move forward in the development of the site.”

Discussions surrounding the agreement began in December 2019 and Ka Ka Kwe Ke Je Ong Chief Wayne Desjarlais said the process, as well as the Addition to Reserve process, has been a positive one.

“I think it’s been positive throughout for everybody that’s involved, the two First Nations and the City of Dauphin. You know we’ve had issues with many different topics throughout our lives, but with reconciliation, it’s very important that we work with the towns and cities, the urban areas that we’re joined to,” Desjarlais said, adding the two First Nations will be signing papers with the government in Winnipeg in the near future to finalize the Addition to Reserve process.

“Obviously, before we can do Additions to Reserve, we need to make sure that everybody’s on board including the municipality, the City of Dauphin. So this service agreement affirms that everyone’s on board, which is a major hurdle for a lot of processes,” Nepinak added “I’m very happy that everybody’s in line and we can now get this across the finish line.”

Dauphin mayor David Bosiak said it is an honour to be a signatory to the agreement, but he credits past municipal leaders and City staff for forging this important new partnership.

“I personally believe very strongly in relationships and relationship building and I think that this first historic step for us as a City in developing these new relationships with your two communities are truly instrumental in us moving forward for our current generation, but for the future,” he said.

Get the FULL STORY in this week's Dauphin Herald!

According to Farmer 4.0, a new RBC report, the country could be short critical skills – data analysis, robotics and global sales, among them – that will be needed to transform the sector across a projected shortage of 123,000 agricultural workers by 2030.

However, with the correct skills mix, agriculture could add another $11 billion to Canada’s GDP and make the sector more productive than auto manufacturing and aerospace combined.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

The Manitoba government is investing $3 million in two housing programs that will allow more Manitoba seniors to safely age in their homes and communities as long as they choose.

The new home modification grant program will have an annual budget of $1.5 million, and provide financial assistance to seniors over the age of 65 and/or family members who have seniors over the age of 65 living with them with a household income of $60,000.

More in this week’s Review.

Spring cleaning is a daunting task that no one looks forward to, even though we all are anxious for the arrival of a warmer season.

There’s a new business in Roblin that is offering a variety of power wash services for agricultural, residential, industrial, automotive and commercial cleaning. KP Klean Co., operated by Kris Paul, started up last year and has been growing ever since.

Find out more in this issue.

Northern Manitoba has an abundance of talented artists with a variety of different art forms. Local artist, Shauna Ponask, has some of her work on display as part of an exhibit in Winnipeg. Ponask started out doing a certain art form and then switched to a completely different one, during a very challenging time in her life.
“I was born and raised in The Pas and have Cree and European ancestry,” said Ponask. “My family roots come from Tatasweyak Cree Nation and Churchill.
“In 2020, I shifted my creative expressions from pyrography, which is wood burning, to textiles, when I found comfort in beading and sewing while providing care to my husband as he battled cancer in Winnipeg. I knew a little bit about beading, and wanted a new pair of mukluks at which time my husband encouraged me to make my own.