A book release will be happening in the community.

Author Sandra Hayes-Gardiner - born and raised in The Pas - says her book was influenced heavily by her early years and growing up in the community that was divided by the river in the 50s and 60s.

Gardiner said back then she lived on what in her book is referred to as the white privileged side noting that she grew up knowing very little about the Cree people and their ways.

In her later years, she began working in Indigenous communities as a psychotherapist and social worker.

The Book “Crossing the River” is based on her experiences in this field and on her experiences growing up in a community that was heavily segregated.

The book weighs heavily on truth and reconciliation taking all of Gardiner's life experiences into consideration.

Council Member Edwin Jebb - the book's proofreader - said “Earlier drafts had Sandra’s guilt written all over it," but it touches base on the segregation in institutions like schools, theatres, and others.

It also looks at the steps and strides that have been made by not just the Indigenous community, but by others as well.

Gardiner says the writing and release of this book lifted a weight off her shoulders and hopes for continued efforts for truth and reconciliation from all sides.

The Book release will happen at The UCN on October 2^nd at 7  p.m. for anyone interested in picking up copies.

To listen to the full live interview, visit The Pas Today.

The final push is on for young women in the community who would like to participate in the upcoming Fur Queen Competition during the Northern Manitoba Trappers' Festival.

With the deadline to register just days away, Fur Queen Director Krista Tooley has some words of encouragement for those who may be interested in joining the event.

"If you know someone who's ran in the past, whether they've been crowned or not, they're really great resources to sort of give you the inside track on what to expect and like, what's going on and hopefully they'll tell you that it's a really great experience.

You know, we are really excited to get started again."

The deadline to enter is September 30th you can call Tooley at 204-623-2373 for event details.

The Pas Guest List Inc. has an ambitious project to help beautify the community.

The goal is to erect up to 20 murals in the community over the next few years.

The first two projects are already planned and in final development, as 2 pieces are set to be placed in town.

The two artists contributing to the project are Murray Siple, and Mike Spencer.

Spencer talks about the piece he’s working on:

"It's quite an abstract piece.  It's not a very representational piece.  So it's a bit of a departure for the kind of murals and other public art that folks in The Pas might be familiar with, but it definitely has a lot of reference points in The Pas and in The Pas history and culture."

The Pas Guest List Inc. expects both pieces to be up over the next few weeks.

History was made last week in Opaskwayak Cree Nation when the first-ever female chief was elected.

Here Newly elected Chief Maureen Brown has words for those that helped lead to this victory.

"I am just so absolutely proud and inspired by my community to make it clear through their voting that they wanted to change.  And so Jennifer was second and right behind me and that was just so inspiring."

Brown said she was both shocked and at peace seeing the results come in knowing that the community was very open to this change.

Also newly elected to the OCN council last week were Savannah Sayese Henderson, Courtney Hester, Chris Young, and Justin Spence.

Re-elected to Council were Dale Knutson, John-Paul Martin, Edwin Jebb, and Joel Pelly.

New leadership will take over in the coming weeks.

On September 19, 2023, at approximately 7:00 p.m., The Pas RCMP received a report from the hospital that there was a stabbing victim currently being treated.

Officers attended the hospital and spoke with the 40-year-old victim, who had been stabbed by a male known to her. She sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

Officers located the 37-year-old male and he was arrested without incident.

He has been charged with Assault with a Weapon, Assault Causing Bodily Harm and Failure to Comply x2.

He was remanded into custody.

The Pas Community Renewal Corporation is accepting applications for their small grant fund.

Holly Lajambe Shares details about the program:

"The Pas Community Renewal Corporation runs a small grants program, so we provide community grants up to $5000.

They have to occur locally and they have to be barrier-free.  So that means you can't charge anything.  Everyone is welcome and somewhere accessible for those with disabilities, et cetera."

For those who may not know how to write a Grant application, the TPCRC will be hosting an event on the 26^th online at 1 pm.

If your organization supports capacity building, stability, well-being, or economic development you may qualify for funding.

Any questions in regards to funding and the application process can be directed to TPCRC’s community engagement coordinator Holly LaJambe at 204 623 4269.

Fire Prevention Week is coming up in October from the 8^th to the 14^th.

A large percentage of fires at home occur due to cooking mishaps.

Having a plan ready in case of an emergency can be helpful in preventing injury.

Making sure you have working smoke detectors is a must, checking charging cords for frayed wires, and using proper cookware when in the kitchen and help prevent a fire.

The Pas Fire Department is currently in need of paid on-call and volunteer firefighters.  Anyone interested in joining is asked to call 431-355-1516.

As part of the town's Fall Clean-Up campaign, yard waste will be picked up from residential areas during October 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th.

You’re asked to leave yard waste next to pick-up sites where regular waste removal happens.

This includes yard waste that has been placed in disposable containers, and twigs and branches that have been bound and weigh no more than 25 pounds and measure 4 feet.

Anything larger than this can be removed by contacting the town offices at the cost of the homeowner.

It’s noted that ashes, sod, dog waste, and material from dismantled structures will not be picked up.

The town also offers bulky item removal and can help deal with derelict vehicles by calling 627-1125.

PC Manitoba Candidate Al McLauchlan announced yesterday a re-elected PC government in Manitoba would invest $40 million dollars into a permanent recruitment fund to expand the rural healthcare workforce.

McLauchlan said this new fund for rural communities would build upon the success of recruitment and retention efforts being done by the PC Government.

The recruitment funding will help with staffing issues at the St. Anthony General Hospital, and with this new fund have a plan to add staffing capacity to the healthcare system.

Culture Days is kicking off on Friday with a free concert, coffee house, and interviews with the Voices of the North podcast happening Friday the 22nd at the Wescana.

During the week from the 22nd to October 2nd, the community will host cultural activities and events.

A world food tasting event, games nights, family fun days, paint nights and more will be taking place.

on Saturday the 23rd  a walking poker derby will happen with a chance to win turkeys, the food tasting will be at the Norelite hall from 1 to 4 pm, and a movie night will be happening at The Pas Regional Library.

On Sunday, there will be a farmers market and beaver tail sale at the Golden Agers, a Drag Show Brunch, a display at the Tribe cable park, and the touch-a-truck.

Plenty of other events will take place during the 2 weeklong festival, find all the details on the 2023 Culture Days Facebook page.

Arctic Radio sat down with Town of The Pas Mayor Andre Murphy following this week's town council meeting.

Updates were provided for training being done with the fire department, a new computer server the town is in need of, a resolution required in support of the housing accelerator fund, and more.

Mayor Murphy talks about paving that's being done around town:

"Paving is going on around town.  Thanks to our municipal superintendent, Sam and the rest of the crew there.  It's about $750,000 worth of paving that we're doing this year.

So, again, assets that we've got to continue maintaining, it takes us a lot of time and it takes a lot of money to kind of keep that, but we've got to catch up and keep doing it."

Murphy gave accolades to The Pas Family Resource Center for 1.4 million dollars worth of services that don't impact the ratepayer.

Spoke about the Chief and Candidates forum and the work being done between The Pas and Opaskwayak Cree Nation.

Budgeting for various holidays was also mentioned.

Listen to the full interview with Mayor Murphy at The Pas Today at thepasonline.com.

As temperatures start to get colder thoughts of The Northern Manitoba Trappers Festival start to linger.

There is now a call out for young ladies in the community who want to throw their hat into the running for Fur Queen.

The Annual event takes place during the Trappers' festival but preparations have to be done well in advance.

Here Krista Tooley, Fur Queen director has words for those who might want to run.

"If you're in the age range, which is 18 to 24 and have ever thought about running for Fur Queen, please reach out if you have questions.  

You can definitely call me or text me and we can have a bit of a chat if you're pretty sure you want to run and you just want to see what the application looks like, or I can also send out a list of dates that you're required to come so that you can kind of like see a little bit about what the commitment looks like."

The deadline to enter is September 30th you can call Tooley at 204-623-2373 for event details.

Recent childcare announcements mean the UCN’s Early Childhood Education program received 5.5 million dollars to expand the program as the province looks for 3000 New ECEs.

This money will help fund programs in The Pas and Thompson.

The program has been expanded and the fall session will be starting next week with registration until September 25^th.

Laura Ayres early childhood education coordinator tells us what ECEs are:

"Early Childhood Education - or ECE for short- is the professional designation for individuals who care and educate children from 12 weeks to 12 years old in childcare facilities and in designated childcare family centers."

The Manitoba government does offer tuition support that will reimburse you to attend programs.

To learn all about ECE programs running locally listen to the full interview with Ayres at The Pas Today at thepasonline.com.

Tonight the Air Cadets will be looking for members.

It will be their first parade night and they are reminding all past, present, and new members to attend.

Here Angie Nikolychuck talks about some of the things cadets will learn:

"We are Air Cadets.  Our training is a lot on air survival aircrafts.

The clouds in the sky and stuff like that. 

But we also do a lot of community work as well and we work with the legion closely and we're actually helping out the Rotary Club next month.  So we're trying to get back out there."

There is a focus on building life skills, social skills, and leadership skills throughout the program.

Nikolychuck mentioned that recruitment happens year-round and any youth interested in the program can join in every Tuesday night at the Legion.

Tonight’s session will run from 6:30 to 9 pm.

The Pas Immigrant Services are hosting a welcoming week.

Darshita Barekx with The Pas Immigrant Services tells us what welcoming week is:

"The Welcoming Week is an annual opportunity to recognize and celebrate the people, place and values that help everyone feel welcome and give them a sense of belonging in their local community no matter where they come from."

Welcoming Week started on Friday and will continue over the week with programs running to encourage newcomers to the community to get involved.

This evening a newcomers welcoming event will be happening at The Pas Immigrant Services building on Fischer Avenue.  A family games night will be running on Wednesday night.

On Thursday, an outdoor Zoomba event will be happening outside of the Wellness Center.

Friday will see a children’s talent show at The Pas Regional Library.

And on Saturday the event will wrap up with a nature walk on the Rosy Mayne Trail.

There will also be a chance to win prizes on their Facebook page, so follow The Pas Immigrant Service online.

The Town of The Pas has been seeing road work this week creating issues for motorists, and school opening means children will be out in abundance.

Mayor Andre Murphy stopped by the CJAR offices ahead of the council returning to a two-month schedule starting next week.

During the summer there were some major changes to town employees with Bola Adedoyin taking over as CAO, and Jonathan Lalonde taking over as EDO.

Murphy talks about Lalonde and economic development.

"One of the exciting things we also have happening is we have a new starting economic development officer starting on Monday.  Jonathan Lalande, who's come out of Sault Ste. Marie. 

One of the big focus for him will be to continue to push that, but really to put together a package to sell our community and our area as a prime gateway to partnering with Arctic Gateway Group and getting that shipping port to the north moving.

We've got there's a lot of like I said, there's a lot of opportunities with what's happening in the world today.  We need to make sure that we're positioned properly to be able to capture those."

Find minutes for monthly council meetings at townofthepas.ca.

The Pas Community Choir will be kicking off a brand new session starting today.

For anyone wanting to get involved, there will be an open house happening at the Westminster United Church this evening.

Andrew Legany, Choir director spoke about the event:

"The community choir is going to start their rehearsals at seven o'clock PM in the C.E. Wing of Westminster United Church.  We practice every Thursday.  We're going to be preparing pieces for our Remembrance Day as well as our annual Christmas concert.

It's free to try.  We do have a $30 registration for those that are committed to the session.  Anybody can just come out and try it and see if it works for them."

The session starts tonight at 7pm and is open to everyone to come and try, the community choir will be gathering every Thursday night at the Westminster during the session.

The Kelsey Recreation and Wellness Center will be hosting the parade of programs next week.

The event will be open to the public on Wednesday, September 13^th, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm and will showcase a variety of different community groups, organizations, and activities taking place throughout the year.

It was noted that the event had to be pushed back from the originally scheduled date.

For kids and adults, there will be opportunities to get involved.

Around 20 organizations are currently registered for the event which is free to attend, to see what will be available you can contact the rec center at 627-1134.

Registration for groups is still being accepted.

A Community "Free Day" will be happening this coming Saturday.

The idea is to place unwanted items on the curb that might otherwise be destined for the dump.

Anyone is welcome to place items on their curb with the label “free” allowing for others to come and take away said items.

Items can include furniture, books, CDs, DVDs, electronics, sporting equipment, toys, children’s items, small appliances, kitchen items and anything else you think someone else may want.

The community free day will happen Saturday from 8 am to 8 pm, and you are reminded that all items that are not taken must be removed by the owner when the event ends.