The Thompson Playhouse is offering Thompsonites the chance to lose themselves in an immersive dinner theatre experience.

The show, titled Polter-Heist, will be taking place at the Juniper Centre tomorrow beginning at 6 pm.

Although tickets to the show have been sold out for the last month, Rachel Templeton with the Juniper Centre says that people can still see the show if they’re willing to volunteer.

“The tickets are sold out, but if you still want to catch some of the play and maybe do a few dishes or maybe help sell tickets for at the event, that would be great. We’re always looking for volunteers to help set up or help clean up at the event, and you can give me a call at 677-2970.”

Proceeds from ticket sales, donations, and the prize draw will go to the Juniper Centre.

A proposed Manitoba Housing property is one step closer to becoming a reality.

City Council on Monday voted to approve a variance order that related to parking stalls at the property at 128 Hemlock Crescent.

The variance was requested due to the City’s zoning by-law, which would require the three-story 12-unit building to have 17 parking units. The variance shows six stalls on-site with overflow parking shared with a nearby location.

The City’s Director of Planning and Community Development Matt Boscariol has the details on what the proposed property will be.

“The development is to help lower income residence be transitioned. It’s not necessarily transitional housing; this is for people to live there in the long term, but it’s for those people who don’t really have that adequate income to afford normal rental markets.”

The motion passed with a 5-4 vote.

It was another tremendously successful year of fundraising for the Thompson Relay for Life.

Through fundraising efforts, the 2016 event held at the CA Nesbitt Arena managed to raise over $105,000 in cash donations and $46,000 in gifts in kind.

Event organizer Donna Wilson was pleased with both the amount raised and the turnout for the event, saying that the change in timing turned out to be a change for the better.

“Some people were a little leery, thinking ‘Why is it a shorter relay?’ but we had done it by request. So many people can’t stay until the end, and we like to have more people at the closing ceremony, so we ended the Relay at 3 am instead of 5, and we started at 6. And it was great, we had more people and people really enjoyed being able to stay throughout the whole thing.”

Because of the positive feedback, Wilson also said that next year’s event will most likely follow a similar schedule.

United Steel Workers Local 6166 is recognizing today as a Day of Mourning.

The local union office will be running a service to mark remembrance for labourers that have lost their lives on the job.

Union President Les Ellsworth explains the importance of attending the service.

“The reason we commemorate in Thompson is to make sure we continue the work of providing the proper education to our members and the information to the public that in 2016, we are still having people being killed on the job across this country, and we need to continue to do what we’re doing between industry and unions to make sure that we don’t lose anyone else.”

The service will be held at the union hall beginning at 7 pm and will feature guest speakers, including Ellsworth and Kirk Regular, manager of Human Resources, Safety, Health and Environment at Vale Manitoba Operations.

The Rotary Club of Thompson provides many opportunities for youth from our area.  President of the club, Sandra Ross-Hitch, talks about the RYLA program.

“RYLA is a one-week camp split up into two age groups; one for 9-10s, and one for 11-12s. And it’s a leadership camp, we fund kids to go to that camp and they learn how to interact with other people and how to become leaders in their communities.”

For more about Rotary Youth programs, contact Sandra at 677-5111.

Though they typically learn aviation and leadership, Thompson’s air cadets recently learned something a little different.

During a life skills class as part of Monday’s parade night, the cadets of 737 Thompson Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron were taught basic cooking skills with simple recipes for omelettes and stir fry.

Civilian Instructor Lindsay Bygnes was one of the instructors leading the class and says that the class was very successful.

“I think the cadets had a lot of fun doing it. They vary in age, but they also vary in skill level, how much cooking they’ve done at home or in school before. Some of them were learning things brand new; others were showing the other cadets the knowledge they had. Some of the recipes maybe didn’t turn out how they wanted, but we got to do everything twice, they all said the food was good, and they had fun doing it, so I think they would do it again if they got the chance.”

The air cadets are a youth group with ages ranging from 12 to 18 that parade Monday nights during the school year, with the final parade of the year set for May 16^th.

With the warmer weather finally signaling the end of winter, Thompson RCMP wants to remind those with off-road vehicles to be riding them legally.

Fines can range between $113 for failing to have proper lights or muffler to $300 for driving an unregistered or uninsured off-road vehicle.

RCMP Staff Sergeant Kevin Lewis has another important reminder regarding riding on roadways.

“It’s illegal to have an ATV or dirt bike on a roadway without registration and insurance. The driver of the vehicle needs to also have a license for the roadway. The other problem we see is a lack of helmets on these individuals that are driving these vehicles, so really the message is individuals need to abide by the law so that they don’t have [their vehicle] seized on them.”

For more information on the rules surrounding off-road vehicles, visit mpi.mb.ca or see the applicable By-Law at Thompson.ca under the Departments tab.

Women of the north were celebrated at an awards ceremony this past weekend.

The YWCA’s 8^th annual Women of Distinction Awards held on Saturday at the Juniper Centre honored women that work selflessly to better their community through volunteerism and being a proper role model.

Women’s Programs Coordinator Nina Cordell details what some of the fundraising for this event will go towards.

“Every year, we take the time to have this event to honour women. We also take advantage of the fundraising aspect of it as well, and all the funds we raise go towards resourcing the Women’s Centre. So for the programs that we have, we provide child care and transportation. We try to eliminate all the barriers we can for our northern women and girls, so all the money we raise goes towards programming.”

The award recipients for the Woman of Distinction were June Bourguignon, Jennifer Dyke, and Brenda Nelson, and the Chantelle Chornoby Memorial Award for Young Woman of Distinction was awarded to Emily Pruder.

Photo Credit: Paul Andersen

Registration for kindergarten classes in the Mystery Lake School District is now open.

All six elementary schools in the district will be having registration periods from 9:30-12:00 and from 1:30-3:30 Monday to Friday for the remainder of the school year.

Students entering kindergarten this year must be five years old by December 31^st, 2016, they need to be registered by their parent or guardian, and the child’s birth certificate or applicable Landed Immigrant documents are required for registration.

City Council chamber was full of people on Thursday night that wanted to hear the City’s 2016 financial plan.

A presentation was made that detailed the key points of the plan, including mil rate increases of 3.2 percent for residential and 0.2 percent for commercial properties, an annual total revenue of $30 million, and proposed utility rates through 2017.

Now that the public has had their say, City Manager Gary Ceppetelli describes the remainder of the process to finalizing the budget.

“The requirement was having that public hearing for the presentation of the financial plan, and now it’ll go back to City Council for the second and third reading of the Levy Bly-Law. The third reading would basically enable the City to send that information to the province, and we need to have that budget finalized and approved and sent to the province no later than May 15^th.”

The second and third readings of the Levy By-Law will take place at tonight’s City Council meeting.

The Boys and Girls Club of Thompson and RBC continue their positive working relationship in the community with a strong monetary commitment.

The announcement came earlier this week that the local RBC branch would pledge $80,000 over two years to the youth organization, adding to the over $500,000 that they’ve given over the years.

Executive Director of the Thompson Boys and Girls Club Regina DaSilva-Gibbons talks about their relationship with RBC.

“RBC, over the past number of years, has three areas that they concentrate on, and one of them is after school programs. So we, and the community at large, have been the beneficiary of their generosity for after school programming.”

DaSilva-Gibbons also said that the $80,000 will go toward funding their new pilot project.

As the end of the school year draws closer, RD Parker students will start considering applying for scholarships.

There are 40 different scholarships that have been put forward by local businesses that students have to choose from.

RD Parker counselor Paul Fricker explains the steps that he and his fellow counselors have taken so far to get the word out about the applications.

“We start to provide that information to them right from the beginning of the year. So we’d have grad assemblies earlier in the year where we’d pass on information about scholarships, as well as several other things that are relevant to the students.”

The scholarships range in value from $100 to $1,500.

MTS and Rogers customers in the north found themselves in the dark because of clipped fibre lines in a southern Manitoba service station.

Cell phone data, wireless internet, and Ultimate TV services across both carriers went down at roughly 11 o’clock this morning in Thompson, The Pas, Flin Flon, Churchill, Gillam, Snow Lake, and many more northern communities.

An MTS spokesperson said that they apologize for the inconvenience and they thank their customers for their patience.

Repair crews worked quickly to fix the damages, and services were restored at roughly 2 pm.

Students in the Mystery Lake School District were given the opportunity to find out more information about possible career paths.

A job fair was held at the TRCC Tuesday and Wednesday for grades five and six students, with different workshops geared towards informing them about what exactly their workplace has to offer.

Alyssa Harman, a Career Development Coordinator for the Mystery Lake School District, explains that while these students are still pretty far away from deciding on a career, this is a critical time in finding out what they might be good at.

“At this age, they’re really starting to explore who they are, what they like, what they don’t like, what they’re good at, and giving them ideas of what direction they can focus that in, I think is really important.”

RCMP, Vale, and Conservation and Fisheries were just a few of the industries on display at the job fair.

A public hearing will be held at City Hall tonight regarding the City of Thompson’s 2016 Financial Plan.

The hearing will give Thompsonites the opportunity to ask questions or make objections to the plan, which is available for anyone to read at City Hall or online at Thompson.ca.

The meeting will take place in Council chambers beginning at 7 pm.

The Thompson Recycling Centre is urging Thompsonites to be more careful with what ends up in their recycling bins.

Some of Monday’s collection had to be sent to the landfill site after one of the pickups had a considerable amount of dog waste in it.

Manager of the Recycling Centre Billie-Joe Thompson says that this incident has led to pickups being inspected by collectors before being put in the truck.

“We’re going to go out and check over the next couple of weeks and see if that helps. If the contamination continues to be high, we’ll reassess it then and we may continue to go out, as long as it takes to try and bring awareness to residents what’s acceptable in your bin and not.”

Thompson also said that if contaminants are found in the bin, the resident will be left a note saying that the contaminant needs to be removed from the bin and placed in the garbage, and that their recycling will be picked up on the next scheduled pickup day.

In a rather surprising turn of events, the tenure of MLA Steve Ashton is over.

The 30+ year career as Thompson’s representative with the province of Manitoba came to an end as he was voted out and Progressive Conservative Kelly Bindle was voted in.

It was a close vote, with Bindle receiving 1,709 votes to Ashton’s 1,499, a difference of 210 votes. Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence received 616 votes.

Bindle says he was humbled by the election, and even this morning is still in disbelief.

"We stayed down at the Army Navy until the last of the polls were in, probably until about midnight. I was humbled, and it didn't sink in right away. I still find it hard to believe, it was my first time running and the desire for change in the north, I knew it was there but I didn't realize it was as strong as it is."

The PCs will form a majority government with 40 seats in the house and Brian Pallister will be sworn in as the 22^nd Premier of Manitoba.

The regional school science fair held in The Pas yielded many successful projects from Thompson.

Representing five of our schools, 26 Thompson middle years and junior high students with 17 projects walked away with medals around their necks.

Thompson swept the Grade Four General category, with Westwood students Namya and Maitri Patel winning gold and Harshan Sidhu winning silver, as well as Riverside’s Jenna Shier and Wapanohk’s Kasey Fourre and Alicia Ouskun tying for bronze. Mazy Diebert and Chelsey Andrews took the gold medal in Grade Four Life back with them to Burntwood School.

There was a three-way tie for gold in the Grade Five General category, with Wapanohk’s Angel Cooper, Westwood’s Deklan Coggan, and Riverside’s Anaya Permanand and Samara Green all walking away with a claim to the medal.

Burntwood School had winners in the Grade Five Life category, with Julie Grant and Alaina Francois’ project tying for gold and Tori May and Luca Dedominicis’ s project tying for silver.

Westwood School took gold in both Grade Six sciences, with Aeron Humaid winning the top spot in the Life category and Colby Grandy winning first in the General category. Grandy’s project would also be awarded Best Overall 4-6 project and Best in Fair.

In the Grade Seven and Eight Physical and Environmental category, Westwood’s Ashley Morgan won the silver medal, while Alex Stokes and Zander Reddy from Juniper School won bronze.

Juniper students Reeanna Hart and Judith Robinson were the lone Thompson winners in the Grade Seven and Eight Life category, with both students winning the gold medal for their project.

The bronze medal in the Grade Seven and Eight Health category was Danika Arnitage and Hannah Birch from Westwood, with the silver medal being awarded to Riverside’s Aksh Narhan, who will also be one of three students representing the region in the national science fair in Montreal from May 15-20.

The polls are open as Manitoba votes in its 41^st general election.

In the local race for MLA are incumbent NDP Steve Ashton, Liberal Inez Vystrcil-Spence, and Progressive Conservative Kelly Bindle.

Voting station details are on your enumeration cards. If you didn’t register previously, visit the Elections Manitoba website to find out where your nearest voting location is.

Voting will close tonight at 8 pm.

The 7^th annual Hope Forum took place last week, working to spread the message of defeating the stigma surrounding mental health.

Thursday’s session at the Letkemann Theatre saw a conference during the day and an open community session during the evening hosted by Juno award-winning singer-songwriter Susan Aglukark, attended by roughly 300 people.

Day two was a youth anti-stigma summit held at the Royal Canadian Legion, where around 200 teens gathered to participate in activities, including discussions, presentations, and even karaoke.

Glenn Shatford with the Hope North Committee says that feedback from this year’s forum has been incredibly positive.

“We’ve got a lot of positive remarks and positive feedback from the participants attending, so we’re hoping that that creates the change we’re trying to get at.”

Hope North Committee Co-Chair Jennifer Whalen said that this year’s conference was one of their better attended conferences, with a strong turnout from youth.

Monday’s City Council meeting saw the reading of the Public Safety Committee’s first quarter report.

The report details programs and services throughout the city that operate in public safety and the public interest, including the Cold Weather Policy, the intake process of the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba’s Non-Medical Withdrawal Unit, and open air burn permits.

The report also identifies fire and ambulance responses for the year to date compared to 2015, which show a 13% decrease in fire calls and a 7% increase for calls for ambulance.

Public Safety Committee Chair Blake Ellis says that what the numbers are showing compared to last year wouldn’t be the basis for changing the way the services are handled.

“When we look at these numbers, it’s important to look at whether this is a blip. Whether up or down, you just can’t take three months of data and say “Well we’re up, now we have to do something”. So I think we need to look at whether or not this is a trend.”

Ellis also explained why the report noted that the City will be asking Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries to take the $15,000 they typically give to support the Downtown Ambassador program and reallocate it to support the Community Safety Officer program.

"We were find last year, we had the Downtown Ambassador Program as well as our Community Safety Officers. And when we had By-Law Enforcement Officers, they didn't have as many powers as Community Safety Officers do. We noticed the number of calls and the activity of the Downtown Ambassadors last year was decreased, so what we're going to do is apply to have that money be put into our Community Safety Officer program. We're gonna use that money to strengthen the program. In terms of our downtown strategy, I think this is definitely a step forward."

The report also noted the provincial government’s decision to allow municipalities to handle their own parking tickets.

An awards ceremony was held earlier this week at the TRCC honoring volunteers in the City of Thompson.

The Volunteer of the Year award ceremony recognizes the Thompsonites who offer their time and services to causes around the city.

This year’s award winner was June Bourgugnon, who has been volunteering for organizations such as 4H, the Thompson Garden Club, and is a member of the Legion Ladies Auxiliary.

Bourgugnon said she was surprised to hear that she won the award, mainly due to the fact that her nomination was somewhat of an accident.

“The woman that sent it in sent it by mistake; she was thinking it was for the Women of Distinction Award. She took it down to the city, and I said ‘No, it wasn’t supposed to go to the city, it was supposed to go to [the YWCA]’. But it’s an honour to get the Volunteer of the Year award.”

Bourgugnon also noted that more people should make whatever time they can to volunteer somewhere in the community.

City Council voted on Monday night to endorse one of their own to run for a spot on a federal board.

Councillor Judy Kolada has put her name forward as a nominee to sit on the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Board of Directors.

The FCM is made up of elected officials from across the country that represents the interest of municipalities on policy and program matters that fall within federal jurisdiction.

Councillor Kolada talks about what it would mean to have a Thompsonite on the Board of Directors.

“I would lobby as a region for what we need in the north. In the past, we’ve been lucky enough to get infrastructure funding through FCM lobbying. We need to have a voice in the north, particularly from Thompson.”

The election will be held during the FCM’s Annual Conference and Trade Show, taking place from June 3^rd to 6^th.

All three candidates in the race for MLA took the stage Wednesday night to answer questions from the public.

Dozens of Thompsonites sat inside the Manitoba Metis Federation and listened as their questions were answered in turn by each of the candidates, with topics ranging from all-weather roads and northern accessibility to issues surrounding LGBTQ equality and provincial education funding.

Progressive Conservative candidate Kelly Bindle answered a question on personal care beds by reiterating points of his party’s platform that support the growing need for them, and made a promise that he would see as many beds as possible come to the north.

“We will build 1,200 more personal care home beds in the province before the end of our first term, within four years. We have budgeted $20 million for it. I can’t tell you exactly how many will be built in the north, but I can tell you that I will fight to have as many as I can be built in the north. It’s in our budget and we need it.”

NDP candidate Steve Ashton talked about the state of health care in the north and criticized the idea of privatizing health care.

“I don’t believe that you can solve problems in health care by cutting funding. I don’t believe in privatization, period. I believe in public health care, I think that’s the key thing. But to get to the real point of how you focus it here, and it’s not just assuming that if you’re solving the broader issues that it’s going to make a difference here in Thompson. It has to work in Thompson, and it has to work in all the communities in the area.”

Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence addressed the issues surrounding accessibility for disabled people and what she plans to do about it.

“Generally in health care, accessibility is a challenge. And that’s for a variety of reasons; its physical access, getting from Point A to Point B is one thing, the other things that pose challenges for us are the resources there. We would have maybe more people here, but we just don’t have the resources to accommodate them. So I think going forward, it’s about communication and dialogue. That’s my process, is to sit down, do a consultation, understand the issue, define the problem, develop a plan, and go forward with it.”

Advance polls are open at the Westwood Mall and the City Centre Mall from 8 am to 8 pm today and Saturday, with Election Day taking place April 19^th.

A shakeup in the New Democratic Party has left one local politician unshaken.

A leadership vote was held at their party convention this past weekend, which saw party leader Tom Mulcair receive 48% percent support, less than the 70% required for him to remain as leader.

The party’s Federal Council will now be required to organize a leadership race, to be held no later than 2018.

MP for Churchill-Keewatinook Aski Niki Ashton says that while the near future is unclear, her role remains the same as ever.

"My utmost priority is to be the Member of Parliament for our region, to represent our north, and to represent the issues that matter so much to us as northerners, issues that I think resonate with many Canadians as well. That's the work that I will continue to do going forward, no matter what happens."

Ashton also mentioned that although her current focus remains serving her riding, she has been asked by supporters to run for the leadership.

For the third meeting in a row, the Thompson Chamber of Commerce was host to an MLA candidate.

Inez Vystrcil-Spence, the Liberal nominee in the race for Thompson MLA, made a presentation yesterday to the Chamber members and public in attendance.

Vystrcil-Spence spoke about the state of northern living and the local economy, as well as answered questions about having a local restorative justice facility.

“I support it wholeheartedly. It’s just a matter of not coming down too hard, you know. They’re not bad kids; there are bad circumstances around them that they have no control over. And that’s our job as the adults and the helpers to create a safe environment and a good environment for them to grow healthy. But that’s beyond all of our control in some cases, so when it comes down to that last resort, which is a child ending up in the justice system, we don’t want to be punitive with them. I don’t really believe in that philosophy. I think we always need to support and not judge anybody that’s struggling in life.”

Progressive Conservative candidate Kelly Bindle spoke to the Chamber two weeks ago and NDP candidate Steve Ashton made his presentation last week.

The Thompson Chamber of Commerce is giving the candidates another chance to have their voices heard tonight by holding a candidate forum.

The forum will run from 7:30 to 9 pm tonight and will be held at the Manitoba Metis Federation.

NDP candidate Steve Ashton, Progressive Conservative Candidate Kelly Bindle, and Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence will be on hand to answer questions from the public and share their party platforms.

Anyone still undecided on who they should vote for is highly encouraged to attend.

Education knows no bounds, and that’s especially true with the Wapusk Leadership Camp in Churchill.

It runs July 2nd to 9th and is open to Grade 11 and 12 students throughout the province.

Bonny Sousa from R.D. Parker collegiate shares some of the camp’s highlights.
 

"It offers the kids a chance to be connected with the environment, to be out on the land, and get to look at some archaeological digs at the Prince of Wales Fort. They get a chance to see caribou in their element, they saw six polar bears last year. They also then learn leadership skills. There's no running water or electricity out at the camp, so they get chores. They have to take care of each other, and then they have a few workshops they get to be a part of".

R.D. Parker students have attended the past 3 years and Sousa encourages students to apply for this year’s camp. The application deadline is April 18th and forms are available from any counselors at the school or from Sousa in the science department.

Article image courtesy of Parks Canada

The second and third readings of a by-law regarding maintenance of residential service lines was passed at Monday night’s City Council meeting.

The by-law states that the City of Thompson would implement a special service levy to cover the cost of repairing services lines to residences, with amounts set over the next five years based on estimated cost projections.

Each repair costs the City approximately $5,000

The service includes repairs to water, sewer, and storm services lines as well as the backfilling of the hole, leveling and seeding, and replacing of any public sidewalks and roads.

The by-law also states that any break which occurs one meter or less from the structure is the full responsibility of the homeowner, also excluding water, storm, or sewer lines that are plugged or frozen due to lack of maintenance from the owner’s own activity.

The homeowner is also responsible for internal plumbing and fixtures and repairing or replacing private sidewalks, driveways, trees, decorative landscaping, shrubs, or structures including decks.

Over 3,200 properties in Thompson will be subject for the levy.

It was an evening full of information and entertainment at Saturday’s gala for the Boreal Discovery Centre.

The gala at the Royal Canadian Legion was held as a fundraiser in order to purchase upgrades to the Boreal Centre, which include an expanded aquarium, a bigger mezzanine, and plumbing and structural upgrades.

Chairperson of the Thompson Zoological Society Keith MacDonald says that he was quite pleased with the turnout for the event, as well as the feedback he’s received.

“I think it was very successful, we’re very happy for what we did. We have a lot of good comments so far from the people we know that attended, saying it was very interactive, there were a lot of things to do that normally don’t happen at galas, which is nice to hear. They said we were quite entertaining and we had some good speakers, so it was a good time had by all.”

The event also featured a presentation about northern caribou from Daryll Hedman, the Regional Wildlife Manager for Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship.

Community Futures North Central Development is looking for both new and experienced entrepreneurs to help start up a mentorship program.

The goal in mind with Community Futures’ new Business Mentorship program is to align new entrepreneurs with experienced business owners who are willing to share their knowledge and expertise.

Program Coordinator Leann Brown explains the benefits that business owners will get out of applying for this program.

“It increases your client base, it’s good for networking opportunities, and you get to meet new people who you might not have otherwise met. Having that second opinion is also very good, and if you’re lacking knowledge in certain areas, it could be beneficial that the mentor and mentee can bounce ideas off each other. It’s not a large time commitment, but I think it’s a very important piece overall that could be the success of the business.”

For more information on the program, or to sign up, call Leann at 204-677-1493.

A Thompson man was sentenced to seven years in custody on Thursday after pleading guilty to a 10 year old sexual assault case.

Tyson Gabriel McKay was arrested in February 2015 in connection with a violent sexual assault case from 2005. The victim had been discovered badly injured in a wooded area in the city in August of that year.

The 29 year old was identified through DNA evidence and charged with Aggravated Sexual Assault.

Advance polls for the upcoming provincial election are now open.

Voting stations at the City Centre Mall and Westwood Mall opened this past Saturday and will be open 8 am to 8 pm daily from now until this coming Saturday.

Be sure to bring government issued ID, including driver’s license or two other documents with your name, as well as your enumeration record.

The official Election Day is April 19^th.

You can help improve Thompson’s recycling rates.

The Canadian Beverage Container Recycling Association operates the Recycle Everywhere program. It’s a not-for-profit industry funded organization, whose members include beverage brand owners and distributors.

Their Senior Outreach Coordinator Melissa Dorota says the association is committed to reaching the government mandated target of recovering 75% of beverage containers sold in Manitoba.

Dorota adds recycling recovery rates continue to improve reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enabling new products to be made, and reducing litter.

Businesses can call the City of Thompson at 677-7970 to get a bin while supplies last.

Thompson was represented well at the Northern Juried Art Show in The Pas.

Artists from all across northern Manitoba had their artwork on display at The Pas’ UCN campus during the competition, which started Thursday and wrapped up on Saturday.

The 40^th annual adjudication saw Thompsonite Adira Carter won first place in the Youth 13-17 category and the Call of the North award with her piece titled Sapphire. Elsie Bear was awarded the Youth Scholarship for her work Luciel.

Jan Hall claim third place in the Fibre Art category with her artwork titled Geode, while Mabel Glaicar was awarded the honorable mention with her piece Northern Knights 2. Another honorable mention went to Ken Bighetty in the Acrylic Painting category.

A website crash earlier this week hasn’t slowed down camp site reservations for Paint Lake.

The Manitoba Parks Reservation Service website had to be rebooted Monday, the first day Manitobans were eligible to reserve camping spaces at parks all across the province.

A spokesperson for the province said that the website difficulties only lasted for the first 45 minutes, and that people were able to continue reserving their camp sites.

The spokesperson also said that in the first two days that registration was open, 84 reservations have been made for the Paint Lake campground.

There are still plenty of spaces available at the Paint Lake campgrounds, which will be open for an extended season again this year from May 20^th to September 18^th. To make a reservation, call 1-888-482-2267 or visit prspub.gov.mb.ca.

Thompson’s MLA is hoping the Northern Regional Healthy Authority will hear his request to name the incoming chemotherapy unit after a Thompsonite who lost her fight with cancer.

MLA Steve Ashton recently submitted a letter to Thompson’s Regional Office Chair of the Northern Regional Health Authority, Lloyd Flett, requesting that he consider naming the yet-to-be constructed unit in memory of Thompsonite Shelley Carey.

Ashton explains that the reason why he made this request was because of the fight patients like Carey made to have this unit brought to Thompson.

“This is really something that came from the patients, from the advocacy group, and from their families. And no one was stronger in putting that forward than Shelley Carey. She really spoke for so many of the patients and their families, and I think it’d be really appropriate, when it is finished, to have it named after her.”

The state-of-the-art unit is expected to begin construction this year.

Over 900 fishermen from across the Norman region will be gathering in The Pas and Flin Flon this weekend for a pair of annual ice fishing derbies.

Saturday will see the Bill Bannock Classic taking place in The Pas, while the Flinty Fishing Derby will be happening in Flin Flon on Sunday.

The grand prize on Saturday is $25,000 and $21,000 on Sunday, with second and third prizes for both days including a boat and trailer for second place and an ATV for third.

Additional prizes include a $25,000 prize for catching either fish marked “Lonesome Mary” or “Missing Micky”.

As the Province of Manitoba edges closer to Election Day, the Thompson MLA candidates have been given the chance to speak to the Thompson Chamber of Commerce.

NDP candidate Steve Ashton had the floor during their meeting yesterday, speaking to those in attendance about a variety of points in his platform, as well as how far things have come with infrastructure during his time as MLA.

“When we came into government, the amount being spent in the north, the entire north, I think our share was about 5% of a $90 million budget; about $5 million. This year alone, we’re investing in excess of $200 million, both on new roads and existing roads. And you see the difference, but we’re not done yet.”

Ashton would also answer questions from the public after his presentation.

Progressive Conservative candidate Kelly Bindle spoke to the Chamber at last week’s meeting, while Liberal candidate Inez Vystrcil-Spence will make her presentation to the Chamber next week.

Two Thompson teenaged females were charged with breaking and entering over the weekend after they broke into Burntwood School.

The teens, whose identities are protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were arrested by RCMP after responding to an insecure premise complaint at the school.

RCMP Staff Sergeant Kevin Lewis says that the intent behind the break and enter seemed to be mischievous in nature rather than malicious.

“At this point, we’re not really sure what the reason for the break in was. It appears it was most likely just a mischief situation involving fire extinguishers, but it appears it was motivated more or less with causing mischief within the school.”

Burntwood School could not be reached for a statement by the time of publication.

Youth from a Manitoba First Nation plagued by a suicide epidemic is receiving support from a group of Thompsonites.

Operation HNC and Owen's Initiative held a fundraiser at the City Centre Mall this past weekend with the goal of being able to bring youth from Cross Lake to Thompson for the Hope North HOPE Forum next weekend.

There were prize draws to be won, as well as live entertainment to enjoy. The fundraiser managed to bring in $2,200 worth of sporting equipment, arts and crafts supplies, and board games to be sent to Cross Lake, as well as over $1,500 in donations for bringing the youth to the HOPE Forum.

Bobbi Montean was one of the organizers of the fundraiser, who said she was pleased with the turnout.

"It was extremely successful; we had a lot of great participation from the community members. We had some of the youth from Cross Lake that actually came and spent the whole day there, and that gave it a much more personal kind of feeling."

Owen Settee from Owen's Initiative is still taking donations until April 12th. Anyone interested in donating should contact the Owen's Initiative Facebook page.
 

When World Health Day takes place this Thursday, the focus will be on diabetes.

Manitoba Regional Manager for the Canadian Diabetes Association Andrea Kwasnicki says diabetes is at epidemic levels across the country and the world and people play a role in their own health outcome.

“Diabetes is pretty much a self-manageable disease, especially Type 2. Type 1 is more so genetic, but because Type 2 is manageable through healthy food choices and physical activity to reduce your risk, self-management definitely plays a big part in what you can do to control your own destiny, so to speak”.

Kwasnicki adds you can learn more at their website, diabetes.ca. You’ll find interactive tools and self-management tips that will help you live with your diabetes.

The City of Thompson will be taking more time than normal to collect residential garbage for the next couple of weeks.

The City’s primary residential refuse truck began suffering engine issues last week, which has led to collecting garbage and recycling with the same truck.

Director of Public Works Wayne Koversky says that while the process will take longer, pickups will still happen within the day.

“We are running shifts until 9:30 each day, on Friday the shift runs until 7:30. So we’re just encouraging the public to leave their carts out until the end of the day. It is late, it’s in the evening, but we do have a scheduled shift that’s going to be doing the collection.”

Koversky also said that the part they need to fix the engine is en route, and they expect it to be delivered in the next two weeks.

A southern Manitoba group dedicated to a greener planet is holding their annual Northern and First Nation Spring Clean Up.

The Winnipeg-based Green Action Centre is putting the challenge out to northern and First Nations communities in Manitoba for the sixth year in a row to run a community clean up.

Once registered, members of the community must organize a community clean up between May 1^st and June 30^th. At the end of the clean up, they will take their recyclables to their nearest Material Recovery Facility and get a weigh ticket to send back to Green Action Centre.

There’s a grand prize of a celebratory barbeque for the winning community, as well as two individual prizes of $100 to be won.

For more information, or to register for the clean up, visit GreenActionCentre.ca.

Information source: www.greenactioncentre.ca

Community Futures North Central Development held an Open House Meet & Greet on Thursday to introduce the public to one of their program’s new coordinators.

Tammy Cober recently assumed the position of Program Coordinator for the Settlement Services Program, which has her working with groups such as refugees and protected persons to help them establish lives for themselves in Thompson.

Development Officer for Community Futures North Central Development Charlene Kissick says that although Cober is still fairly new to the role, she’s been a fast learner.

“Tammy’s been a great addition to our team, for sure. She comes with knowledge from her role with the Thompson Community Foundation, which is great, so she knows a lot of players in Thompson. It wasn’t like hiring someone cold; she knew a lot of the team here at North Central, so that’s been a huge benefit. And then working in a granting organization, you get to know a lot of the organizations in town, so that’s been really great.”

The Settlement Services Program is just one of the programs they offer. For a full list of programs, visit northcentraldevelopment.ca.

Thompson RCMP responded to a call Wednesday morning about a gunshot heard inside an apartment building.

RCMP members evacuated Princeton Towers for the safety of the residents while police swept the building.

Upon further investigation, they concluded that no weapon had been discharged, and that it was safe to re-enter the building.

City Council on Monday night voted in favour of entering an agreement with the province regarding their Community Safety Officer program.

The agreement that was voted on is to ensure that the $600,000 annual cost of running the program is split between the City of Thompson and the Province of Manitoba.

The two-year pilot program that began last May saw the hiring of community safety officers who undertook a three-week training course at UCN before beginning their full-time positions.

Mayor Dennis Fenske talks about the course and how the progress they’ve shown will benefit the longevity of the course’s life in Thompson.

“It provides us the opportunity to hire eight community safety officers, and we’ve seen significant decreases in a lot of statistics that have been tracked over the last number of years. It’s an ongoing, evaluation, and we will evaluate at the end of the first year, which is this summer, and then again at the end of the second year. And we will continue to lobby the Province of Manitoba for funding beyond the two years.”

The course will wrap up its second year on May 24^th, 2017.