A Canadian marketing agency has put out results to their recent survey tracking the behaviours of halal consumers in the country last year.

Nourish Food Marketing’s Multicultural Director Salima Jivraj states their halal shopper study found that 72 per cent of respondents said they do their shopping online, compared to 53 per cent of the general population when asked the same question.

She explains this means retailers have an opportunity to take advantage of this gap to better serve halal consumers, especially with limited retail shelf space in stores.

The president of the agency, Jo-Ann McArthur, adds that social media has become the primary source for consumers to find out about halal products over the course of the pandemic, alongside television.

The second and third readings of the by-law amendment that would cut the number of city councillors from eight to six if passed was removed from the agenda at Monday night’s council meeting.

This follows the council deciding to get public input about the change.

Survey data that was included in the agenda state that of the 153 respondents, nearly 87 per cent were for the change.

Some of the reasons cited by residents who are for the change include better efficiency, cost saving measures, reduction of conflict and in-fighting, and better fitting the city’s population.

The by-law reading is expected to return on the agenda in next month’s meeting.

Thompson currently has the third highest number of councillors in Manitoba, behind Winnipeg and Brandon.

While many Canadians are saying they’re prioritizing their financial wellness this year, they haven’t talked about discussing retirement planning with a professional.

That’s according to CIBC, which states only five per cent of respondents plan to have such a conversation this year.

Here, Vice President of Financial and Investment Advice Carissa Lucreziano [Loo-creh-see-ah-no] shares why this may be the case.

“One is Canadians feel planning for the future can be overwhelming. About 44 percent believe that saving for retirement can be complicated. The second theme is many competing priorities; day to day responsibilities may get in the way from finding time to reflect on prioritizing and setting goals, to connect with an advisor to start to create that plan. And lastly, many Canadians are focused on short term goals like paying off debt, maybe a home renovation or thinking about an overdue holiday as opposed to planning for the long term like retirement or setting up an education fund.”

Lucreziano adds doubts about retirement were more common among women, with more than a third of respondents not knowing how much saving they need before they retire and 32 per cent don’t know what age they’ll retire.

For more on the results, listen to Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.

The province is investing two million dollars into a youth healing lodge in Thompson, which will be established and run by Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak.

Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen says the healing lodge is intended to provide more justice resources in the north, reduce the number of youth being incarcerated again, and decrease the use of Thompson’s RCMP cells for non-violent youth detained for intoxication.

MKO Grand Chief Garrison Settee says First Nations leaders have been advocating for strategies to address the over-representation of Indigenous people in the justice system, and that a youth lodge is a proactive step in preventing youth in entering those systems.

The Reaching Home coordinator with the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation spoke to Arctic Radio about the two funding streams they’re administering to address homelessness in Manitoba.

Laura Wallis says the organization is overseeing the Rural and Remote Homelessness Stream, which is for eligible organizations that are not located in Winnipeg, Brandon, or Thompson, as those cities have their own dedicated streams for projects.

There is also an Indigenous Homelessness Stream, which is funding for projects delivered by Indigenous organizations to address the needs of the off-reserve homeless Indigenous population.

The deadline to send in proposals for either stream is April 13^th.

Local authorities are still looking for answers for the family of Solomon McDonald, who was struck and killed by a vehicle just outside of Thompson three years ago.

On March 22^nd, 2019, Thompson RCMP was called to the scene on Provincial Road 391 where McDonald was found dead.

The vehicle involved didn’t remain at the scene of the collision, and police are continuing to look for it.

The RCMP adds they’ve conducted many interviews in relation to the investigation to find out what happened to McDonald so that his family can have closure.

They’re imploring anyone with information about this incident to call the Thompson detachment at 204-677-6911.

Norway House RCMP is investigating a pair of aggravated assaults.

On the night of March 17, officers responded to a stabbing at a residence in the community, where they found two men suffering from stab wounds.

The 44 and 24-year-old victims were taken to hospital with serious injuries, and had to be transported to Winnipeg for further treatment.

A suspect was arrested on March 19, and faces two counts of Aggravated Assault and Possession of a Weapon for a Dangerous Purpose.

MKO is planning a host of spring break activities for students looking for things to do around town on their week off.

Urban Initiatives Coordinator Shyanna Lynxleg says events for students to take part in include a carnival, snowshoeing, laser tag, and movie nights.

The activities will run from March 28^th to the 31^st.

Lynxleg says with the pandemic entering its third year, MKO believes it’s important to get the youth outside and socializing after two years of on-and-off lockdowns and changing learning environments.

To learn more, tune in to Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.

As Canadians continue to be hit with higher food costs, a local dietician says it’s crucial to maintain a balanced diet to help prevent negative health outcomes in the future.

The Thompson Clinic’s Kathleen Hodgins says food insecurity is one of the main nutritional issues she sees in the north, adding that affordability can be a barrier for those looking to better their diets.

She adds that not enough people in the country eat the right amount of fruits and veggies they need, especially as the consumption of processed foods goes up.

Hodgins encourages those who are interested in consulting a dietician to do so.

On March 14, 2022, at approximately 9:45 pm, Thompson RCMP responded to a single-vehicle collision on Deerwood Drive, in Thompson.

Multiple calls were received reporting that a vehicle was driving at a high rate of speed and collided with a parked vehicle in front of a residence.  The driver and occupants were seen exiting the vehicle and fleeing on foot.

A description of the driver was obtained and officers responding to the collision located the driver a short distance away. He was arrested without incident. He provided samples of his breath which were more than two times the legal limit.

A 30-year-old male from Thompson is facing charges of:

•             Operation of a Conveyance While Impaired

•             Operation of a Conveyance over .08mg

•             Fail to Stop at the Scene of an Accident

•             Dangerous Operation of a Motor Vehicle

•             Mischief

•             Drive Carelessly (Highway Traffic Act)

•             Fail to Report (Highway Traffic Act)

•             Unlawful Transportation of Liquor in a Motor Vehicle (Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority)

He was released from custody and is scheduled to appear in court on April 19, 2022.

Breakfast is considered to be the most neglected meal of the day for many Manitobans.

Oribim Kingson, a registered dietician based in The Pas, says some of the reasons why people skip breakfast is either due to not having enough time in the morning to prepare and eat or they don’t feel hungry.

But skipping or not putting as much thought into breakfast can lead to negative effects on the body throughout the rest of day, such as decreased focus and concentration as well as irritability.

Kingson adds the choices we make in the morning impacts the rest of the day, and people should be more proactive when it comes to their nutrition to help lower the risk of developing negative health effects.

That's why she's issuing a 5-day breakfast challenge for Nutrition Month to encourage Manitobans to make one change for better their nutrition.

Kingson shares some tips on how people can make that one change to their routine, including eating within the first hour or two of waking up, prepping breakfast the night before, or grabbng a piece of fruit and a protein such as peanut butter, greek yogurt, or cheese.

For more information on the breakfast challenge, visit the Bliss Counselling and Wellness Centre Facebook page or listen to Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.

The civilian group looking to get the province to improve safety on Highway 6 is closing in on its goal when it comes to getting signatures on its petition.

Safer Highway 6 says it needs “much more” representation from northerners on the petition, and is encouraging people to circulate with their family and friends.

Volker Beckmann, who’s involved with Safer Highway 6, states in addition to the petition, he plans to present a plan to improve the highway when they meet with government.

Some of them include wide shoulders, passing lanes, lay-bys for rest stops, and rumble strips at key areas.

Catch Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon for more on Safer Highway 6.

This month marks the third year Canadians have been living with the COVID-19 pandemic, and people are continuing to grapple with feelings of burn out in one way or another.

Burn out is a syndrome that is characterized by emotional exhaustion and lack of self-fulfillment caused by being in mentally-draining environments, which in turn can lead to reduced productivity.

Marian Goldstone with the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba says two-thirds of employees that are working from home are experiencing burn out due to disruptions to their routines and schedules, in addition to not being able to predict what’s likely to come.

Goldstone elaborates that parental burnout in particular has increased. She says 855, 000 women, many of them with kids, dropped out of the workforce over the course of the pandemic so far.

To learn more about the impacts of burnout and how to manage it, tune in to Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.

A Vancouver-based mining company has announced a drilling program for exploration is underway at its Minago nickel sulphide project in the Thompson nickel belt.

A press release explains Flying Nickel’s drilling program will test Minago’s North Limb deposit both at depth and the north, which were previously unexplored, in addition to the main Nose deposit.

The company plans to drill seven holes totalling near five thousand meters of exploration.

COO Rob Van Drunen, who was previously a Mine and Senior Project Manager with Vale and Inco’s Thompson Operation, says Flying Nickel’s three-pronged development approach at Minago is exploration, permitting, and updated feasibility study.

He adds the company believes Minago is positioned to complete both the permitting and feasibility study this year.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic effect on the mental health states of workers.

That’s according to Paula Allen, Senior Vice President of Research and Well-being for Lifeworks, an organization that advises companies how to support their employees’ mental health and well-being.   

Here Allen tells us what their latest Mental Health Index has shown them.

“We saw a massive decline at the beginning of 2020 with the start of the pandemic compared to 2019. Since then, there has been tripling of the high risk population, so three times as many working class Canadians, who are considered high risk for mental health issues as compared to 2019.”

One factor employees consider vital to their mental health is flexibility.  An example is being able to take time from work for unexpected family matters such as a call from their child’s school that requires their attention.

Recognition and appreciation in a workplace were also said to be factors in good mental health for workers.

For more on the Lifeworks’ Mental Health Index, listen to Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.

A former Thompson city councillor has put his name out there to be a candidate in the provincial by-election for the constituency.

Oswald Sawh’s nomination to be a candidate for the Manitoba NDP was approved in early March.

Sawh says that having lived in the community for nearly 30 years, in addition to his involvement in many local organizations like the Thompson Chamber of Commerce, Men Are Part of the Solution, and the local city council have given him the experience and understanding of the issues the area faces.

Issues that Sawh is campaigning on include addressing child poverty, reducing substance abuse, intimate-partner violence, and economic development.

Sawh is the first person to throw his hat in the ring to fill the seat vacated by former Thompson MLA Danielle Adams, who was killed in a head-on collision on Highway 6 in December.

While the by-election for Thompson hasn’t been called yet, voting is required to take place by early June.

Fraud is on the rise in Canada, jumping from 107 million dollars stolen in 2020 to 275 million in 2021. 

March is Fraud Prevention Month and the time to educate yourself about the types of fraud and ways to protect yourself from being a victim. 

Constable Sandy Deibert with the Thompson RCMP advises us that not all fraud is about the money.

“So financial gain is a major reason but not always. Sometimes the goal is to steal your identity. To protect your identity, we ask that you don’t share personal information on social media, don’t share your banking info or your pin number with anyone else, and create strong passwords that are unique to yourself.”

If you think you are the victim of fraud, contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre also known as Phone Busters at 1-triple 8-495-8501 or call your local detachment at

204-677-6911.

For more on how to protect yourself from fraud, listen to Thompson Today this afternoon at 12:40 and 5:10.

The province removed vaccine mandates yesterday and mask mandates will be removed March 15th.

And despite COVID case numbers starting to drop province-wide, Dr. William Libich, Medical Officer of Health with the Northern Health Region urges caution.

“Although we too have had a decline in our cases, there is still significant COVID-19 activity in the North, concentrated around Thompson, The Pas, and Flin Flon. Some of the First Nations communities in the North continue to experience health breaks, some of them quite large. We also have a few outbreaks in several of our personal care homes at the present time so this tells us that the pandemic is not over and we cannot let our guard down.”

Libich says one of the best ways to combat COVID-19 is still to get a vaccine.   

With the Novavax recombinant protein vaccine recently approved by Health Canada, Libich hopes Manitobans who are vaccine-hesitant will consider this option. 

For more on COVID-19, new testing guidelines and new treatments, catch Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon.

March is Fraud Prevention Month.  

Kathleen Cook, Director of Provincial Affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says that businesses - not just individuals - can fall prey to fraud, too.

Here she shares some of the types of fraud with which businesses contend.

“There’s a few. One of those is business grant and loans scams and that’s a type of fraud that’s sort of on the rise since the start of the pandemic. There’s credit card fraud that most people are familiar with. There are many other types of scams that targets businesses specifically. For example, false invoicing, office supply scams, directory fraud and then, of course, there is internal workplace fraud as well.”

Cook said that, on average, fraud costs small businesses 62-hundred dollars a year.

For more on fraud, how to protect yourself from it and where to get resources, listen to Thompson Today this afternoon at 12:40 and 5:10.

Health care spending and where it’s directed have Wab Kinew, Manitoba’s NDP leader worried. 

While in Thompson last week, he spoke with Arctic Radio about how funding cuts made by the Progressive Conservative government a few years back lead to over-burdened, understaffed health care facilities during the pandemic.

Kinew said Thompson and the north has been hit particularly hard with staffing shortages.

“Here in Thompson, eleven million dollars was spent last year on Agency Nurses. That’s basically just a symptom of the fact that they don’t have the staff necessary to work here. We saw closures in communities like Leaf Rapids and Gilliam over the holidays and we’ve seen other signs of strain.”

Last year’s cost for agency nurses was double that of 2019.  

Kinew said he and the NDP want the province to provide a timetable for when and how they plan to tackle the backlog of surgeries and diagnostic tests.  

According to Kinew, that number is sitting at around 160-thousand procedures. 

For more, listen to Thompson Today this afternoon at 12:40 and 5:10.

For residents in Thompson and the surrounding area who to wish enroll in the University of Manitoba’s Northern Social Work Program, the window to apply for it is closing soon.

Acting Director of the program Lee Anne Deegan says the social work field is great for people who wish for a career that helps families, individuals, and communities with social issues such as unemployment, domestic violence, mental health, and poverty.

Students can complete the program anywhere from three to nine years depending on whether they’d prefer to study full time or part time.

Applications for the Northern Social Work Program need to be submitted by March 31^st.

Listen to Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 this afternoon for more information.

UPDATE: Glenda Miles has been safely located. The RCMP thanks the public and the media for their assistance.

On February 25, 2022, at approximately 4:05 pm, Thompson RCMP received a report that Glenda Miles, 17, is missing. She was last seen on February 23, 2022, at approximately 6:05 pm, on Hudson Bay in Thompson, Manitoba. She is usually in contact with those close to her, but she has not been seen or heard from since February 23.

Miles is described as Indigenous, 5’4”, 135 pounds, with brown eyes, long black hair with blonde underneath, and she wears black glasses. She was last seen wearing a black spring jacket, and yellow plaid pajama pants. She is originally from Shamattawa, Manitoba.

Police are concerned for Miles’s well-being. If you have information, please call Thompson RCMP at 204-677-6909, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477, or secure tip online at www.manitobacrimestoppers.com.