The world of community service has evolved and Dauphin’s new mayor is hopeful that not only will his council be open to new possibilities, but that other community organizations will take a critical look at their operations.

From a City perspective, David Bosiak would like to see councillors spend their time on projects they are passionate about and that they actually add value to a group or organization with which they are working.

“I don’t want councillors to grudgingly have to go to inefficient or ineffectively operated meetings, to sit through meetings that information could have been shared in a different way,” Bosiak said. “Councillors’ time is valuable and we have lots of things on our plates. I want the time they spend engaging with groups to be as effective and efficient as possible.”

Like any municipality, the City of Dauphin has to make decisions based on available resources, Bosiak said, adding he wants to ensure those resources are properly targeted.

“So I want to ensure that council and staff time is spent very effectively, but also those organizations which we fund, whether it’s with operating grants or special grants, even things like letters of support, I want to ensure that it’s all legitimate,” he said. “That the organizations are running as effectively as they possibly can to meet their mandate. Not to bow down to the City, but to meet their desired mandate.”

As part of that, Bosiak is hoping all community organizations take an open and honest look at their operations to ensure the time they spend in meetings and the time spent engaging with volunteers is effective. Volunteers are a valuable resource, Bosiak said, and organizations across the board are struggling to attract and retain them.

“In my work history of dealing with organizations who are functional and dysfunctional there’s a common thread. Many of the dysfunctional organizations have an inefficient and ineffective use of their resources, be that people or time or money ,” he said. “So I’m just trying to get organizations to take an honest look to see if there are more efficient ways of being. I want groups to willingly, not forced, but willingly look at themselves and determine are we being as effective as we possibly can be? Because resources are tight. That’s people, money, time, it’s all tight.”

Bosiak added he did not undertake this exercise presupposing any outcomes and whether those reviews will result in any changes is unclear.

“That’s the irony or the uniqueness of this. I have no motive . . . not to reduce funding or to reduce the number of meetings or the length of meetings, if that’s not necessary. My real goal is to determine what is necessary and to spend as much time and energy on those things and not the distractions,” he said. “I’ve had meetings with all of the councillors to discuss their roles on the various committees they’re on and (encourage them) to work towards making them efficient. And efficient doesn’t mean less, necessarily, because a lot of people get scared. ‘oh you’re going to cut our funding.’ No it’s about making you be as good as you can possibly be.”

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!