The Pas Guest List has been diligently working towards creating a culture-rich environment by having murals painted along the walking path in the community. This time, The Pas Guest List partnered up with Margaret Barbour Collegiate Institute to allow local artists to have their work represented in the community.
“We worked with Jill Perchulak, the MBCI art teacher, to select eight students for this project who she felt went above and beyond when it came to their art studies,” said The Pas Guest List Director Gabrielle Swan. “These students not only had the artistic talent but also the dedication and perseverance to see such a large-scale project through.

Cougar sightings are becoming more popular in the Duck and Porcupine Mountains in the last ten years. Thanks to technology and the use of trail cameras, the evidence is now more apparent. An avid hunter from The Pas recently caught footage of a cougar on his trail camera near the Porcupine Mountains.
“I have my cameras set up in the Porcupine Mountains, north of Bowsman,” said Jeremie Gregoire. “It’s a hunting spot that I have access to. This is the second cougar I have seen on my trail camera. The first one was from about five years ago, but I couldn’t make it out 100 percent to make sure, but this one is much clearer. The first spotting was about five miles from where this camera was set up.

Tyler Carr has found radio to be a medium in which he can connect with people in a powerful way. He attributes his inspiration to being a radio broadcaster to growing up in the Valley. He spent a lot of time listening to music on the radio and calling in requests, which led him to his passion for it. It allowed Carr to be himself and become an advocate by treating people with love and respect. He strives to see less bullying and more acceptance. Carr believes that people should be free to be themselves.
Carr felt like he was different, and that pushed him to venture off to Alberta alone and grow into himself. Unfortunately, at that time, his best friend, Matt Peters, was diagnosed with cancer for the second time.
“When I went to SAIT, I enrolled in a two-year program. It was a lot like high school but without the bullying because the class sizes were very small,” said Carr. “The radio program allowed students after their second year who got a job in the industry to be able to do things in the industry and submit them back for marks, and that’s how I did it. It was a positive experience, even though it was during the time when Matt passed away from cancer. All the teachers in the program and everyone really stepped up.
“It was scary for me to leave Swan River because that is where my family is. I lived with my aunt and uncle for the first year while all my friends stayed in Manitoba, so there were times when it felt a bit daunting. I was also beating myself up for leaving Manitoba at the time because Matt was fighting cancer, and I could have attended the University of Manitoba, been near him and visited him more. Even Matt was telling me he wanted to see me where I was and doing exactly what I was doing. A couple of my instructors made sure I was taken care of and kind of gave me that feeling of being home away from home.
“They even gave me some time to fly back and go and see him,” said Carr. “I’m sure glad they did because that was the last time I ever saw him.”
The loss of Matt made Carr question everything, and he contemplated giving up on what he had started until he attended a Lada Gaga concert. During the show, Carr had thrown a letter on stage and she read it out loud to the audience. The letter was about Matt passing and how hard it had been for Carr. This sparked a genuine interest for Lady Gaga to meet Carr after the show. This helped Carr to reconnect with his passion.
“When I got back into my second year, it was after Matt had passed, I had told everyone around me that I wasn’t going to continue with the program because I was in the heightened stage of my grief,” said Carr. “It didn’t seem like something I had wanted anymore and I felt like I lost my passion for it.
“I just spent the whole summer pouring my grief into this insane, creative way, and when I came back a second year, it was a completely different story for me. All my instructors helped me and walked me through it. They allowed me to have my emotions and found different outlets for me. They gave me everything I needed to redirect my emotions instead of just closing the world out.
“It went from a real struggle to something that I could actually feel like I was celebrating myself for,” said Carr. “Going to the concert, having that letter read, going back to SAIT and finishing the program has incredibly impacted me and continues to every day. It gave me the message I needed and the power of knowing what a person can do for someone. That is how I live every day of my life.”
Carr attended the SAIT alumni awards on September 26, with all of his family in attendance to celebrate his accomplishment.
“When SAIT had reached out to me about this, I was a little hesitant at first,” said Carr. “There was some hesitancy in me because I was thinking, what did I do that was so great; it was some imposter syndrome feeling. The closer we got to the day of the award, the more I felt that my message was that with any hardship in life, including grief, a person can still chase their dreams, and it can be in memory of a person who wasn’t able to chase theirs. I wanted Matt to chase his dreams more than anything in the world, but unfortunately, he can’t, so what better way for me to celebrate his life than for me to live what I am supposed to do. That is how I felt about it as it got closer and closer to me accepting this award.
“When it comes to this award in particular, it allows me to reflect on where I started and the people who taught me the things I needed to learn in this industry, then to be invited back with all your family, friends, and colleagues, is on a different calibre of celebration that I haven’t received yet. I’m humbled, grateful and honoured by it and hope to inspire others through it.”

The Elbert Chartrand Friendship Centre held their National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Walk on Monday, September 30, to remember the Indigenous children who did not come home from residential schools and to acknowledge the intergenerational trauma and the long lasting impact it has had on residential school survivors and their families.

Members of the Friendly’s grocery store co-op in Inglis have voted in favour of a move to new premises.

While prep work at the new location – the community’s old curling rink – is already taking place, an official vote was held Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

Wendell Estate Honey has set up a GoFundMe page to raise $18,000 for three of its temporary foreign workers who were robbed at gunpoint in Mexico.

On Sept. 8, eight Wendell employees boarded a plane to return to their homes in Mexico. Three of those eight were women (Isa, Jacque and Monse) from a small city in the state of Veracruz.

Find out more in this week’s Review.

City administrators have decided it is time to review Dauphin’s Zoning Bylaw.

“Our last zoning bylaw is from 2015 and we are approaching the 10-year mark, so it’s definitely time, that is one aspect,” said city manager Sharla Griffiths.

“A second aspect is our city plan or development plan just got reviewed and approved this spring and that’s another good trigger, or another good indicator that says we need to review our zoning bylaw.”

It is important the two planning tools work together, she added.

The recently approved development plan builds at the main corridors in the city - Main Street, Second Avenue Northwest, Buchanan Avenue, River Avenue, Whitmore Avenue and Mountain Road - which connect and define different areas of the community. From the commercial area around Main Street to the surrounding residential and green space areas, it is important that allowed development makes sense, Griffiths added.

“The city plan, or the development plan talks about areas of our community and generally what should happen there. The zoning bylaw speaks specifically about lots,” she said.

“We need to make sure that each lot is zoned appropriately and that the things that one can do on the lot are consistent with the city development plan.

“We find that the  2015 review, our current zoning bylaw has been working reasonably well. But the city plan is a very different format and contains some different concepts than the last City plan. So it makes sense to review them both back to back, so that they work together nicely.”

Urban Systems, the consultant which helped the city with its development plan, has been contracted to assist with the bylaw review.

The process is in its early stages, Griffiths said, with just one introductory meeting held to this point. She does expect the consultants will be in the community this week to meet with City staff and council members.

“So they can gather our thoughts and our local knowledge and say from their perspective what are some of the things that we should look at,” Griffiths said, adding she expects the entire process to take up to one year to complete.

“There will be a public consultation component to it eventually, but there is no time frame set yet.”

There are more players involved than just the City and Urban Systems, she said, which can stretch things out.

“We also have to work with the province, so Community Planning, Transportation and probably Environment. The development plan was circulated through Culture and Heritage. Then it also has to get ministerial approval,” she said.

“They could say here’s some recommendations, or give it back to us and say please consider these issues or these items where we would have to go back and rework something.

“But as long as we make the zoning bylaw support the city plan we should be good.”

While residential lots are likely to remain residential and commercial will remain commercial, there are some current trends to be considered, such as intensive housing, infill housing and tiny houses, which are not adequately addressed in the current bylaw.

“Right now we say that on a single family lot you can build a single family home. If you want to build a two family home, you have to come to council for a conditional use.” she said.

“Sometimes we go through a building season, or leading up to a building season and it’s variance after variance after variance, people looking to build a couple feet closer to the property line. So if council almost always says yes to building it a couple feet closer to the property line, maybe our setbacks can be changed. It’s about seeing where we are in terms of comparables, what fits on a lot and what makes sense for our community.”

The new Zoning Bylaw will be implemented once approved sometime in 2025.

Getting ethnic food in northern Manitoba is no longer a challenge. A new venture has started up in the tri-community by someone who has settled in Canada over 10 years ago. Beatrice Femi-Davies has chosen to make The Pas her home but is now bringing those comforts of home from other countries to the tri-community area.
“I'm from Nigeria and came to Canada over a decade ago, like many newcomers, to seek a better life and more opportunities for myself and my family,” said Beatrice Femi-Davies. “I originally settled in Thompson but moved to The Pas over three years ago for a new job. I have two children and a social work degree through the University of Manitoba.”

Valley resident Beggie Palsson has had an extensive career practicing law in northern Manitoba, between The Pas and Swan River. At first, Palsson didn’t set out to become a lawyer, but fate had opened several doors leading him to law school and taking the bar exam.
“I was working in The Pas as a probation and parole officer,” said Palsson. “My territory included Gilliam, Churchill, The Pas, Moose Lake and the surrounding area. Back then, when you worked in that field, the only way to succeed in that department was to have a degree in social work. People who work in the child and welfare, probations or parole fields were trying to get their Master of Social Work."

Fall time is a busy one for youth to embark on new opportunities to join sports, clubs or organizations to gain some valuable skills for when they get older. The 303 The Pas Royal Canadian Air Cadets held their registration last week to sign up and attract new air cadets to the squadron.
“On average, there about 30 air cadets in the 303 The Pas Royal Canadian Air Cadets,” said 303 RCAC’s Commanding Officer Captain Codie Baker. “We had a total of 16 attend registration night last week, with four new youths joining.