Zwaagstra acclaimed as Steinbach PC candidate

Michael Zwaagstra was acclaimed as the PC candidate for Steinbach in a meeting on April 30.

Originally a two-person race, fellow city councillor Susan Penner pulled her bid for the nomination to focus on family issues.

That meant the current deputy mayor for the City of Steinbach, long-time schoolteacher and father of four Michael Zwaagstra won the uncontested nomination.

The meeting in Mitchell saw current MLA Kelvin Goertzen make the nomination with Susan Penner as the seconder.

The Carillon heading East for Centennial Cup

Readers of The Carillon will get the inside scoop at the Centennial Cup.

Sports Editor Cassidy Dankochik will be at the tournament, hosted by Summerside P.E.I. to cover the Niverville Nighthawks attempt to win Manitoba’s first national Junior A championship since Portage claimed the title on home ice in 2015.

Manitoba teams have won the cup just three times, with Portage and Selkirk claiming the trophy in the 70s. The 1974 Selkirk Steelers were powered by a slate of Eastman players who made the jump to play for the team, including five from Steinbach.

There are other Manitoba connections at the tournament, with the Flin Flon Bombers representing the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League at the 2026 edition of the Centennial Cup after they swept Yorkton in the league championship series.

Shevchenko School brings intensity to annual drama

Actors at Shevchenko School in Vita are primed to bring the intensity as they present Ken Ludwig’s Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood.

With performances scheduled for May 7 and 8, the students were pulling out all the stops at their dress rehearsal on May 1.

“Robin of Locksley is a young noble who discovers that those citizens under his care are being abused by Prince John,” the synopsis stated. “Prince John is taxing the citizens supposedly to pay for his brother’s return except everyone knows the money is going to line his pockets. Robin begins to fight for them. Along the way he encounters others who wish to protect the weak and fight against tyranny.”

It’s a story filled with humour, bravery and courage, and actors agree it will be an audience favourite.

Niverville Nighthawks land in P.E.I for national championship

The Niverville Nighthawks won the Manitoba Junior Hockey League thanks to structure, discipline, skill and a deep roster of experienced players who knew how to handle the long hockey season.

There won’t be as many experiences to lean on at the Centennial Cup, but the Manitoba representative has a couple players with experience at the national junior A championship. Marlen Edwards and Aaron Krestanowich played for Northern Manitoba last season, helping their team to a quarterfinal appearance. Edwards had five points in four preliminary round games, including a three assist performance in the team’s 6-3 win over Greater Sudbury.

Head coach Dwight Hirst repeated his mantra from the entire season, “pressure is a privilege,” during an interview after the team arrived in the Maritimes.

“We’ve come a long way from the beginning of the year to where we are now,” Hirst said.

CARILLON SPORTS SECOND SHOTS: Nighthawks championship edition

Featuring photos from the Niverville Nighthawks Turnbull Cup championship win in Virden April 23 and game six of the MMJHL championships in Winnipeg April 26.

Artista Academy closes off second season

When Gabriela Gallo, president of Artista Academy, gauges success of her recent production of Aladdin Jr., it’s not the numbers that first comes to mind, it’s the cast of children.

“They were thrilled with so much pride when audiences were cheering for them and laughing with them,” she said. “When they said a line and they got the feedback they wanted from the audience I could see them physically getting taller and that was just the cutest thing.”

The numbers are impressive as well.

Aladdin Jr. played six sold-out shows, with a total audience approaching 2,000 people.

Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation calls on province to remove gas line

A southeastern Manitoba First Nation is asking the province to remove a natural gas pipeline it says presents “significant and tangible” safety risks for residents.

Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation, located roughly 60 kilometres south of Steinbach, sent a March 30 letter, addressed to both Premier Wab Kinew and Manitoba Hydro president and chief executive officer Allan Danroth, outlining it would take legal action and prevent entry from unapproved workers if the existing roughly 1.5 km of pipeline isn’t removed and the planned pipeline isn’t rerouted.

The letter, penned by Coun. Evan Roberts, said the pipeline has disrupted drainage and hampered flood mitigation because it blocks gates and pumps near the community dike. It also mentions the risk of pipeline ruptures and explosions, citing the the 2014 Otterburne explosion as an example.

“There’s no guarantees that something could happen to this line. There’s been other situations and in the past where these lines have ruptured, and I think with those are risks we don’t want to take with our community,” Roberts told The Carillon.

Nephew donates uncle’s peatland to national conservancy organization

The nephew of an Elma man has donated land he received as an inheritance to the Nature Conservancy of Canada in memory of his late uncle.

“My Uncle Bill spent his entire life caring for Manitoba’s forests and wetlands, whether he was working as a fire ranger, out on the trapline, or simply watching the birds at his cabin. He had a deep respect for the land and believed strongly in protecting these places for the people who would come after us. Donating this land in his memory felt like the most meaningful way to honour that belief. Knowing the Monk Creek peatlands will be protected forever is exactly what he would have wanted,” said Vince Proceviat, North’s nephew in a press release.

William North owned the 636 acres (257 hectares) of property known as the Monk Creek peatlands, located 10 kilometres southeast of Elma, for decades.

The peatlands are the convergence of the boreal coniferous forest, eastern Superior mixed forest, and extensive peatland.

COLUMN: Village News – A community celebration

I was drawn to Mennonite Heritage Village because of my own family history. Raised a Mennonite in jantsied, I grew up eating forma vorscht and schmauntfat. I also grew up knowing the importance of community, and of celebrating together. That’s what we are inviting you to at our annual Spring Gala Fundraiser on May 22.

This elegant evening will feature fine dining from our very own Livery Barn Restaurant, drinks by Manitoba’s own Blumstein Brewing, and music from three-time Juno nominee Don Amero. It is also an opportunity for you to invest in the legacy and future growth of MHV; it’s why we are the premier interpretive centre for the Russian Mennonite story, a vital community hub for events in southeast Manitoba, and Steinbach’s official tourist information centre.

To top it all off, we will be officially launching the new Gerhard Ens Gallery exhibit, Mennonite Medicine: Cures + Curiosities – 1800-1950. This exhibit will look at life before modern medicine and how faith shaped the health and healing of Mennonites. During the sneak peek, you can test your Plautdietsch medical vocabulary, learn more about the practice of bloodletting, and discover one Mennonite man’s cure for cataracts. Spoiler: it involves smacking your head on a post.

This isn’t just a fancy evening with good food. It truly is an opportunity to connect with the community and be a part of this incredible legacy. I look forward to meeting every one of you, whether it’s at our gala, or out on the grounds this summer.

Steinbach Family Resource Centre cuts program after Manitoba denies funding ask

Steinbach Family Resource Centre is facing cuts to its nutritional and chronic disease programming, citing rising wages and operating costs, after the Manitoba government rejected its request for funding.

The non-profit, located on 101 North Front Dr., previously offered the only free registered dietitian service for young families in the Southeast. Now, the centre will cut its registered dietitian position, ending its chronic disease referrals and stopping all pediatric and prenatal dietitian consults because it can’t afford to maintain the programming.

When executive director Jo-Anne Dalton received the funding denial letter on April 2, she re-read the email at least 18 times, certain the province made a mistake.

“It was like air was let out of our balloon,” she told The Carillon.

Open Health Niverville opens expansion to the public

Open Health Niverville cut the red ribbon on its new 970 square-foot expansion inside the Niverville Heritage Centre compex on Tuesday.

Four new exam rooms were opened bringing the number of rooms to 15, including a minor procedures room where invasive procedures, such as sutures, mole removals, and skin biopsies, can be performed under local anesthetics.

“We’re really, really excited to see an expansion for our community,” said Deputy Mayor Nathan Dueck, who is also a director with Open Health Niverville and president of Niverville Health Care Services Inc. (NHCSI), a non-profit created by the Town of Niverville when it took ownership of then Open Health Clinic in 2020.

Dueck said the town will grow steadily from its current number of 7,500 residents to 12,000 people in the next decade and that the clinic needs to keep up. On average, the clinic’s 15 doctors see about 200 people a day, with requests for prescriptions that number increases to about 300.