For Al Gray, a desire to improve the aesthetics of Riverside Cemetery in Dauphin all comes down to simple respect.

Recently, the founder of Friends of Riverside, a volunteer group with a mission to help improve the environment at the local cemetery, has been concentrating his efforts on headstones which are leaning, or fallen and broken.

“The thing of it is, is that like most cemeteries, the cemetery holds no legal responsibility for the stones. It’s a family thing and most people don’t understand that,” Gray said, adding he has taken on the task of contacting family members where possible to let them know the loved one’s marker needs attention.

“What I’ve maintained all along is that you can’t expect people to know what they don’t know if nobody’s telling them what they don’t know.”

In most cases the response is positive, Gray said, and many stones have been repaired as a result.

The problem is that in many cases there are no family members to be found, Gray said, pointing to the large spire of a former Dauphin resident.

“Dr. Law was buried in 1901, his wife was buried in 1902 and they had no children. The stone there, to lift it up is probably about $1,500, to put a new foundation underneath it. There’s no family, so who’s going to do it?” Gray asked. “So that’s where I’m at with this stuff, is to try and get people to understand that.”

Compounding the problem is the sheer number of stones which need attention.

In block one, the oldest block in the cemetery, there is more than 400 stones which need attention, Gray said.

“This is block one, this is 100 tears of neglect. There is over 400 compromised stones in this one block alone, 400, over 400,” Gray said. “Which, at an average of $250 dollars a stone, is $100,000 of repair work in one block. And there’s 14 blocks in this cemetery.”

There are two companies in the area which perform headstone restorations, Gray said, adding repairs can range from around $150 for a simple resetting to several thousand dollars for large stones which have toppled and broken.

To help facilitate some of the work, Gray has reached out to the councils of the City and RM of Dauphin to consider providing some funds over the next few years.

“I went to a (City and RM) liaison committee meeting and I said, ‘while we have two councils that look like they’re going to work together I would like to consider you guys putting in between $4,000 and $5,000 a year per municipality for four years,’ for mandate,” Gray said, adding he has yet to hear back from the councils on the proposal.

“That would give us about $40,000 to put into the cemetery.”

Riverside Cemetery operates under provincial legislation, which was passed in 1964, one of only two cemeteries in the province in that situation. As such, while representatives of the two municipal councils make up the majority of the cemetery board, they have no financial responsibility for its operation, Gray said. Operating funds, he added, come from the sale of burial plots and interest earned on the Perpetual Care Fund.

Gray has received some support from the public on the issue, citing a group of five ladies who, following one of his History Night presentations, provided funds to fix up one neglected stone.

“They not only picked the stone, but they did the research on the person, too. That’s been some of the good stuff,” Gray said, adding while such gestures are greatly appreciated he is banking on elected officials making a financial commitment to the cemetery. “There’s nothing we can do if we don’t have a nest egg to do it with. I need the financial support. We can do the family contact and we’ll keep plugging away at the families. But to get really active out here you need the City and the RM.”

Building upon its brand, Adventure From Here on Out, the City of Dauphin has launched the Dauphin Adventure Fund, an initiative they hope strengthens the community’s position as a destination for events.

Funded through the accommodation tax, the Adventure Fund will provide financial assistance to organizations involved in the planning, execution, and hosting of regional, provincial, national, or international events within the City of Dauphin and the Rural Municipality of Dauphin.

The fund will focus on fostering overnight stays in the community, Dauphin Economic Development manager Martijn van Luijn said.

“If you are a local organization and you want to put on an event that, at least, has some sort of overnight stay attached to it, because that is really what feeds our economy, then you can apply for some funds and we will help you get this project going,” he said.

van Luijn said as a vibrant community that values the power of events to stimulate economic prosperity, Dauphin recognizes the importance of attracting and nurturing diverse events that draw visitors.

Financial assistance will be available for a wide range of events, including, but not limited to sports tournaments, cultural festivals, art exhibitions, conferences, and more.

“We firmly believe that investing in events is investing in our community’s future. By supporting event organizers through the Dauphin Adventure Fund, we are empowering them to create unique experiences that attract visitors, stimulate our local economy, and showcase all that Dauphin has to offer,” mayor David Bosiak said.

“We invite event organizers to seize this opportunity and partner with us in driving Dauphin’s success as a thriving event tourism destination.”

The fund started with a balance of $40,000. The allocation of funding will be administered by the Sports-Tourism subcommittee of the Dauphin Economic Development Committee, working in close collaboration with the Economic Development Manager.

Through a thorough evaluation process, funding amounts will be determined based on the potential impact of the event, its ability to attract overnight visitors, and its alignment with the city’s strategic goals, van Luijn said.

Funding requests exceeding $5,000 will require approval from city council.

“We’ve already received three applications. There is a need,” van Luijn said.

For more information on the Dauphin Adventure Fund and the application process, visit tourismdauphin.ca/meetings-special-events or contact van Luijn or Ember Kutcher by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 204-622-3216.

Two female athletes from Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) were on the First Nations Women’s team at the Saskatoon World Cup this month. Harmony Constant and Savanna Sayese have been playing soccer since they were girls and recently got to take their skills to a whole new level.
“Being that there isn't a lot of soccer in Manitoba, especially for women, this was a great opportunity,” said Harmony Constant. “For years we have taken teams to play in or went and hopped on teams in Saskatchewan. In doing this, it has lead to women asking us to come back and play for their teams. This is how I ended up playing on the First Nations team for the Saskatoon World Cup; I had previously played on a team with the woman who entered the team.
“I honestly can't remember when I started playing soccer, but I know for certain my first time playing in the women's division was at the age of 11. The position I play is usually wing-back or centre-back.”

It’s so close to the finish line for fundraising for the Unity Skate Park, after an influx of donations has come in over the last while. There’s $40,000 more to be raised in order to start construction.
“The total park cost originally was around $500,000,” said Jerome Conaty. “We faced two major hurdles. One was an overabundance of peat moss when doing our foundation; there were deeper and higher volumes than what our test holes showed. That, in combination with construction costs due to inflation, ballooned our costs to $751,000.
“However, we’re down to only looking for the final $40,000. To our knowledge, this will end up being the largest barrier-free youth project in northern Manitoba.

If you are a lover of classical and orchestra music, you won’t want to miss the upcoming performance by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra’s Fiddlers on the Loose coming to The Pas Regional Library.
“The MCO proudly presents an annual tour featuring our Fiddlers on the Loose outreach ensemble,” said MCO Director of Education and Community Engagement Suzu Enns. “The group is made up of six musicians playing violins, viola, cello, double bass and guitar/cajon. In my role as Director of Education and Community Engagement at the MCO, I design, plan, and manage our outreach tours, and I’m so excited to be visiting The Pas for the first time.

A public hearing for the 2023 Financial Plan was held on May 24 in Council Chambers. It was an opportunity for the public to get information, learn about the financial situation, understand how tax dollars were spent and hear about the town’s short and long-term goals. Managers from various departments were in attendance to provide more information of what is going on in their departments.
The 2023 budget reveals a modest tax increase, but there have been some revenues, which have greatly helped to keep that increase as minimal as possible. The priorities in this year’s budget were to maintain and review levels of service in comparison to previous years; maintain create self-sustaining infrastructure and ensure available financial resources to participate in future federal, provincial and municipal grant programs when available.
For the 2023 budget, 1 mill will provide the Town of the Pas with $201,000 of revenue. Property tax values went up by $3 million, which is 1.52 percent increase in overall assessed property in the town.

Almost a decade of work came to fruition last week when ground was broken for the new Community Cancer Care unit in Russell.

“First of all, I want to thank everybody that is here today to show their support for this wonderful long awaited event,” Gloria Tibbatts, president of the Expanding Community Cancer Care Committee (ECCC) said.

“Our Expanding Community Cancer Care Committee has worked tirelessly for eight and a half years fundraising for this new chemotherapy building which is now happening.”

It’s been a long road for the committee which has been headed up by Gloria Tibbatts and Judy Forsyth as they navigated the changes over the years. “Over the years, ECCC has worked with three Ministers of Health, two different premiers, and two Prairie Mountain Health CEO’s,” Tibbatts said.

Read the full story in this week's Russell Banner!

The SVRSS 2023 graduate class worked together with the Swan Valley Consumers Co-op to fundraise for their upcoming Safe Grad celebration, with a barbe­cue lunch held on Thursday (May 25).

French Immersion students from Kindergarten to high school level participated in the ÉSRSS a un Incroyable Talent show held at the ÉSRSS on Thursday eve­ning (May 25). The event was presented by the Swan River chapter of the Canadian Parents for French. 

It was their’s to lose and has been all season.

From the first game to the last, the Dauphin Clippers rugby teams dominated the Westman High School Rugby and it culminated with both the girls and boys celebrating the first championship in team history.

After hammering Souris, 67-0 in their semifinal match, last Wednesday, the Clippers girls secured their first league title with a 36-3 win over Rivers.

Tanya Devos and Emma Fox each scored three tries to lead Dauphin past Souris, while Chloe Fletcher had a pair. Megan Thompson, Jana Manzano and Paityn Bourgouin each had a single try and Brooke Miner kicked six converts.

In the championship game, Fox again scored three tries with singles coming from Devos, Thompson and Bree Walker. Thompson added two converts and Ruth Evans had one.

For Clippers coach Shawn Sarkonak it was his first championship, as well, after coaching in the league since 2010. He said it felt amazing.

“The girls put in a great effort. There was a lot of building blocks that were put in place for the success of this program and it all starts back with the grassroots,” he said, adding the Clippers benefited from the efforts of the Parkland Pirates youth program coaches Gerald Lopez, Becky McGregor, Codi Harrigan, Mark Symchych and many others that have been involved.

“This year really is the harvest year of the first years of that youth program. And it goes to show what it means for the high school program,” Sarkonak said. “Now they’re graduating out of it and, hopefully, the Dauphin Mavericks men’s team and the Lady Mavericks, with them trying to get back and going again, that they’ll reap the fruits of the labour from that youth program.”

Dauphin led 17-3 at halftime, but the Clippers were their own worst enemy at times, getting called for a number of penalties. They were able to clean up their game in the second half and pulled away from their opponents.

“I told them, they earned the right to play in this game with the work that they put into this season. And, although it was a final, it’s still just another game. And you’ve got to go out there and play your game. Don’t take anybody for granted and just play together as a team. Not individuals. Don’t shoulder anything and work together. And if you do, good things will happen. And it did,” Sarkonak said.

Although he is unsure of what they may face next weekend in Winnipeg, Sarkonak likes his team’s chances at provincials.

“I’m very confident going into provincials with the squad that we have here,” he said.

The girls will open the provincial tournament, Friday at 4:15 p.m., against Winnipeg’s Vincent Massey in one semifinal, while the other will see Rivers battle St. Mary’s Collegiate.

The trip to Ireland earlier this year was a factor in the Clippers successful season. Although not all of the girls made the trip to the Emerald Isle, the ones that went got a leg up on the competition, Sarkonak said.

“They hit the ground running once they came back and they never looked back at all,” he said.

On the boy’s side, Guzman Garcia and Joseph Lopez each had two tries to lead Dauphin to a 38-0 win over Vincent Massey in their semifinal victory.

Rhett Tkachyk and Louis Prevot added singles and Prevot kicked four converts.

Matthew Zurba led the way in the championship game against Crocus Plains, scoring three tries, while Lopez had one in a 26-0 victory.

Prevot had three converts.

Minutes after the trophy presentation, Clippers coach Aaron Miner said it felt a bit surreal.

“It’s been 10 years in the making,” he said.

The Clippers boys were called for a number of penalties throughout the game, but they were unable to overcome them.

“When they took those penalties, they knew that they were legit penalties. They managed to maintain their composure and not talk back to the refs this time. And they kept it in line and made those tackles when they needed to,” Miner said.

Crocus Plains made it interesting several times, coming close to the goalline on a few occasions. But Dauphin’s defence came up strong and kept their opponents from scoring.

Miner credits that to the player’s commitment and dedication.

“I credit it to their going to the gym every day. Their training. Just the physical shape that they came into the season with this year has just been tremendous,” he said. “Each and every one of these guys goes to the gym or runs after practice or does whatever it takes to become a better player. And it was proven today. We’re champions for a reason.”

Like Sarkonak, Miner said the trip to Ireland was a huge factor in the team’s success.

“Over half of them went to Ireland and they were training quite heavily before we went to Ireland, during the Ireland trip and then the training just didn’t stop when we got back. We had another month before our first game once we returned from Ireland and the training intensified,” he said. “It just got even stronger, even harder. The boys knew what we had. They knew that this was our so-called harvest year, we like to call it in rugby, where you harvest, because we had a big group of Grade 12s. It’s just amazing to watch today.”

Although they will face some challenges at provincials, Miner likes his team’s chances.

“It’ll be a great tournament. We’re looking forward to it, this Friday and Saturday in Winnipeg,” he said.

The boys will open, Friday at 3 p.m., against Dakota Collegiate, while Crocus Plains will face St. Paul’s in the other semifinal.

All games will be livestreamed on the Veo Live app. Download the app and follow the link - veolive.page.link/APRZ or look for the Crusaders club logo.