The spirit of the Ukrainian people and their cultural traditions are alive and well in Canada thanks to people like Angie Esplen.

She drove her children to dance practices and recitals for years and when they graduated from high school, Angie and other mothers decided to form their own group: the M&Ms, which stands for Menopausal Mommas.

“The M&Ms do traditional Ukrainian dances and are known for character dances,” says Angie. “We practice weekly and compete throughout Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Alberta.

We performed at Dauphin’s National Ukrainian Festival in 2020 and feel honoured to be invited back this year. We also host an annual competition in Russell, and I’ve been chairperson of that for a decade.”

For more, check this week's Russell Banner

Like so many other events over the last two years, the Russell Lions Prairie Classic fell victim to the pandemic and had to be cancelled.

Last year, as Covid numbers dropped and the world was opening up just a little, it looked as if the derby might go ahead.

In order to comply with the ever-changing public health orders, rather than the customary July weekend, the date of 2021 derby was moved to a later date in August.

Just as event co-chairs Kevan McCarthy and Richie Davidson thought everything was figured out, came another blow.

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

Binscarth’s Cody McLeod took his talents to the NHL ice for 15 years.

Just recently, he celebrated his 1,000th professional game. Now, along with a few other hockey folks, Cody will be sharing his skill and hockey insight with kids at the Cody McLeod Hockey School which will run here in Russell from August 8th to 12th in the Russell Multiplex.

McLeod says he thrilled to have the chance to put on a school right here in Russell. 

Check this week's Russell Banner for lots more!

As inflation creeps in and the cost of food rises, the harder it is for some individuals and families to make ends meet.
These factors also can impact how much food a community food bank can purchase. Tying all these things together, spring is an excellent time to donate and local grocers continue collecting food and monetary donations for the Swan Valley Food Bank (SVFB).
The SVFB is preparing for the time of year when they have to look at purchasing more items to meet the needs of people who use their service.
“Our numbers appear to be relatively consistent, but summer is typically when we need to purchase more groceries,” said SVFB Treasurer Phyllis Hunt. “It could possibly be because people are moving from town to town during better weather. There has been a slight increase in people coming to the food bank, but we anticipate that these numbers will rise due to the cost of food and fuel increasing.”
Along with a Spring Food Drive happening now until Easter at Extra Foods, there are donation boxes set up regularly at both grocery stores, where people can drop off items for the SVFB.
“There are donation boxes at both Extra Foods and the Swan Valley Consumer’s Co-op (SVCC),” said Hunt. “The SVCC has hunger bags put together for individuals to buy and donate to us and Extra Foods is doing a Spring Food Drive, which started last week. Plus we have other corporate sponsors, churches and many individuals who also donate on a regular basis.”
Non-perishable items are key to donate when giving to the food bank, but there are some items that are really needed for giving out.
The SVFB is open every week for certain items and provides a hamper each month to those in need.
“Items such as canned fruit, vegetables, meat, pork & beans, rice, soup, pasta and pasta sauce are really needed for the SVFB,” said Hunt. “We’re open every Thursday from noon to 2 p.m. For three weeks of the month, we give out bread and pastry, as well as specific needed items, if we have them in stock. Then a hamper box is given out once per month. We average 70 family and 65 singles boxes each month.
“We have a total of 14 volunteers who either work on Thursday and/or do regular pickups from Extra Foods and SVCC each week. Last year, the donated food from corporate, churches, clubs, schools and individuals totalled 74,046 lbs.
We appreciate so much the support of our community, whether financially or in donations of food,” said Hunt. “We couldn't continue this important work without all of you.”

The great weather brought out 27 people to Moose Lake Trail who enjoyed a afternoon by participating in skiing, snowshoeing, and chatting around a bonfire while roasting smokies and marshmallows, and sipping on hot chocolate!

Riding Mountain National Park staff - Trail Maintenance Supervisor Ron Sykes and Outreach Co-ordinator Marjorie Huculak - attended and were very pleased to see so many people appreciating this beautiful RMNP trail!

The Moose Lake trail is maintained by local volunteers, and the donations received at the Fun Day and from other sources, are used to pay for upkeep of the snowmobile packer (repairs, gas, oil), and for replacement of this very old machine.

The Moose Lake Trail Stewards are very grateful for the generosity of their donors, as well as for the RMNP Staff who assist in brush clearing of the trail in the off-season

Members of the Lidstone Combat Sports Academy travelled to Regina this past weekend to take part in the Annual Western Kids Open - a children-only Brazilian Jiu-
Jitsu and Submission grappling tournament that is held yearly. Scarlett Tokar (left) takes on her competition.

There was no shortage of fun to take part in during Spring Break last week (March 28-April 1). In addition to the regularly scheduled activities held at Town of Swan River facilities, the Elbert Chartrand Friendship Centre, the Town of Swan River Recreation Department, Swan Valley Communities that Care, Swan Valley Immigrant Services and the Swan Valley Rotary Club teamed up to bring even more free fun to participate in throughout the week. Shayne Stevenson (left) and Nathan Stevenson (right) enjoy a late afternoon swim

From left, Can Bennet, public relations chair for Mountain View Teachers Association, and MVTA president Chance Henderson recently presented a cheque for $1,500 to Ukrainian Folk Arts Centre and Museum president Jim Perchaluk and Selo Ukraine board member Larry Hrytsay, as Don Tarrant, owner of Reit-Syd Equipment looks on.

MVTA issued a challenge to local service groups and organizations to make a donation to the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund in support of the permanent placing of Ukrainian refugee families in the Parkland.

Perchaluk noted 100 per cent of all donations will go to the families who relocate to the Parkland.

The Dauphin Kings will again try to move on to the MJHL semi finals this Friday following a loss to the Swan Valley Stampeders on Monday.

The Kings took a commanding three-games-to-none lead with a come-from-behind 3-2 win in game two, Mar. 29 in Dauphin and a convincing 6-1 win in game three, Friday in Swan River.

The Stampeders held a lead in both games. They were up 2-0 early in the second period of game two only for Dauphin to stage a comeback for the win.

On Friday, the Stampeders had a 1-0 lead after the first period, but Dauphin took control in the final 40 minutes.

The Kings knew Swan Valley would come out hard in game three, according to head coach and general manager Doug Hedley.

“It was a big game for them. You have to give them credit. They came at us hard for the first half of the game,” he said, adding goaltender Carson Cherepak was solid in goal for the Kings. “He made some big saves and kept it 1-0. And we found a way to come back in the game late in the second period.”

Dauphin scored three times with the man advantage, two of them coming in the third period when the Kings scored four times to put the game away.

“They took some liberties and we capitalized on the power play. So it ended up working out well and the power play ended up being the difference,” Hedley said.

The Kings have proven themselves to be a resilient group, having come from behind on several occasions. So when they do find themselves trailing at any point in a game, they have the confidence knowing they have the ability to come back. But it is something Hedley says you never want to be consistent at.

“But we have been very good at it this year, never giving up and never quitting. And we always know that we’re in every game when you have a goaltender like Carson Cherepak or Keaton Woolsey in net,” he said. “We know our back end can create some offence. We know our four lines can contribute. As long as we stay the course and use our speed and play fast, we have good opportunities to get back in games.”

The Kings, Hedley added, have played a lot of close games this season and things have worked out well for the hockey club.

“The guys are confident whether we’re one goal down or one goal ahead. They seem to stay the course and get the job done,” he said.

Having a never-say-die attitude is important, especially in the playoffs.

“It’s huge. We’ve had a good group all year. Guys get along. They like playing with each other. They hang out. It’s just a good group that’s worked hard, that’s put the time in off the ice and on ice this year. And it’s paying dividends,” he said.

Eight of Dauphin’s 14 goals after the first three games have come from defencemen. That kind of production from the blueline does not come as a surprise to Hedley.

“We knew it was going to be our engine this year. We knew we had some good mobility, some good speed, some guys that can move pucks. It’s been consistent all year,” he said, adding the Kings have had balanced scoring all season, with five players with 20-plus goals. “It’s a spread out offence. We knew we had to create some offence by committee this year and we’ve done that. And it starts on the back end,” he said.

Friday's game five starts at 7:30 p.m. inside Credit Union Place. If needed a game six will go Sunday evening in Swan River. 

Ratepayers in the Mountain View School Division (MVSD) will see a slight reduction in their tax bills as the board of trustees passed a 2022-23 budget focused on the learner and the learning environment, with a special emphasis on the classroom.

While this year’s budget saw an increase of almost $1.5 million in provincial funding for the coming year, an increase of 6.3 per cent, things were a little complicated because a lot of the increase did not flow through the funding formula, MVSD secretary-treasurer Bart Michaleski said.

“They gave us the money in kind of one-time payments because of all the inflationary pressures we’re dealing with,” he said, citing contract settlement costs, insurance and fuel costs as some examples. “But suffice it to say they gave us a fair bit of money in the current year, 2021-22, almost $1.3 million, and then gave us a little over $1.2 million in additional one-time funding for 2022-23.”

As a result, MVSD’s budget is 3.8 per cent higher than last year at $45,458,887, an increase of $1,657,844.

“Our five-year average (increase) is about one per cent, so the budget itself is up quite a bit,” Michaleski said, adding local taxation remains the same at the direction of the province as some of the money received from the government was to offset any tax increases. “So the special levy will remain at the same dollar amount it has for a third year in a row now. Our mill rate will actually drop a little bit from 14.62 to 14.54 and that’s just because we had a little bit of a property assessment increase.”

Residential property within the division has seen a .9 per cent increase in total assessed values since 2021. With the drop in the mill rate residential property valued at $150,000 will see a decrease of $5.24 on this year’s tax bills. Farmland has seen a .3 per cent increase in total assessed values resulting in a $3.03 reduction per $150,000, while commercial property increased in value by .1 per cent resulting in a $7.57 tax reduction per $150,000.

In terms of expenditures, MVSD’s largest increase was in staffing as trustees focused on maintaining staffing levels.

“And, in fact, we actually had in budget, an increase of one teaching position and that was to support the business program at the (Dauphin) high school, the Applied Commerce program,” Michaleski said, adding there were other minor changes in staffing that really did not affect the budget. “Eighty per cent of our increase in budget, $1,375,000, is in staffing costs.”

The remaining $283,256 in increased expenditures for non-salary related budgets primarily included technology infrastructure, insurance, fuel and utilities costs.

The result is expenditures will outpace revenue by approximately $171,000 in 2022-23. It is only the second time in Michaleski’s career with the division that the board has approved a deficit budget.

“I’m not a big proponent of deficit budgeting, nor is the board,” Michaleski said.

Michaleski said the decision to run a deficit was made after meeting with the province where the division indicated the $1.3 million increase received for 2021-22 was more than what was needed, while the $1.2 million received for the coming year was not enough.

“The department basically said because every division is in the same boat with all these costs . . . if you needed more of that money in 2022-23 than in the current year just designate some of that (2021-22) money as surplus in your financial statements and carry it forward to next year and use it to offset your budget,” he said, adding the province is planning to have a new funding formula in place in 2023-24. “Based on how this new formula is supposed to work for us, it shouldn’t be an issue. So that’s why we agreed to do a deficit budget. Obviously, they’re going to have to manage things just to make sure that they can mitigate that deficit as much as they can next year.”

Board chair Floyd Martens said the transition that is occurring in education highlights that the majority of available resources are being prescribed to school divisions, providing budget revenue totals that are finite, including the dollars generated through local taxation.

MVSD worked hard to make the tough decisions on where those resources are best used, he added.

“The deliberations required to prepare and finalize the 2022-23 operating budget become increasingly more difficult as greater restrictions are placed on available funding. These restrictions impact how we can address what our communities want for their educational system,” Martens said. “We are confident in our budget decisions as they prioritize the needs of the learner and the classroom.”