“Hoy! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” -Isaiah 55:1 (NASB)

Each year Christians around the world observe the ‘Season of Creation’, a period of prayer and reflection that begins Sept. 1, the first day of the Orthodox church calendar, and concludes on October 4, the feast day of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron saint of ecology. During these weeks, believers are invited to consider God’s gift of creation and humanity’s responsibility toward our common home.

Underlying this season is a profound question: Do we believe God has created a world of abundance, or do we live as though scarcity has the final word? Isaiah 55:1 offers a compelling invitation into God’s vision of abundance, justice, and restoration.

Isaiah 55 begins with a single Hebrew word, that many translators ignore. The word is ‘Hoy!’ and as an interrogative it is difficult to translate. It carries shades of warning, lament, relief, wonder, and urgent attention all at once. Messianic Jewish scholar Yaakov Brown describes it as a foreboding exclamation that combines awe and invitation.

A suspect on Roseau River First Nation didn’t go quietly when Manitoba First Nations Police Services arrived to arrest him.

Police reported that at 9:40 a.m. on Sept. 12, they arrived at the man’s residence. The 28-year-old male had an active warrant for arrest stemming from a previous incident.

Once advised he was under arrest, police say he became agitated and combative, physically resisting the officers.

“A chemical agent (OC spray) was utilized to gain compliance. However, it was unsuccessful,” they said in a press release. “A struggle continued and an energy weapon (taser) was then deployed. The energy weapon was successful, but the suspect continued to be uncooperative.”

When people think about the work that happens at a crisis shelter, they may think about training, education, policies, and the professional skills needed to support individuals experiencing violence. While these are all important, growth within a team goes far beyond completing a training session or learning a new framework.

For this month’s Beyond the Shelter, we spoke with Agape House’s clinical supervisor, Andrea Berg, about what it means to grow as a team while doing deeply relational and often challenging work.

“Growth is much more than completing training or learning a new framework,” Andrea explains. “It is an ongoing process of reflection, noticing patterns, asking ourselves what is happening beneath the surface, and being willing to consider how our own experiences and responses shape the way we show up in our work.”

In a busy frontline environment, learning does not always happen in a classroom. Sometimes, it happens in small moments throughout the day. It can look like pausing after a difficult interaction, reflecting on what happened, talking with a colleague, or asking ourselves what we might do differently next time.

Starting Sept. 11, the Steinbach Arts Council (SAC), invites you to experience Diversity, a solo exhibition by local artist Marilyn Broesky. From crafting paper dolls and custom fashions as a child to mastering oil painting on canvas, creativity has been Broesky’s lifelong journey. As a self-taught artist driven by intuition and imagination, her multi-style collection explores a range of mediums and disciplines.

Through rich textures and vibrant colors, Diversity offers an uplifting visual experience that celebrates human connection, emotion, and the beauty of continuous artistic growth.

Plan your visit to the Hall Gallery at SteinbachArts.ca/Exhibits.

For nearly 30 years, SAC has showcased local and regional talent. While admission is free, donations via our hallway drop box, cheque, or credit card directly support community arts and culture.

The controversial high-profile judicial declaration last week of a mistrial of Lindsay Clancy for killing her three young children while suffering postpartum psychosis ironically came days after a Sept. 3 column in The Carillon entitled “Murderers should be locked up for life,” (Think Again by Michael Zwaagstra). As both the court case and the newspaper editorial manifest, debates about what constitutes criminal justice persist.

A crime is a violation of law in which the offender must have acted voluntarily, with intent, and with no legally acceptable excuse or justification, such as being diagnosed as mentally “not criminally responsible” (NCR). The criminal justice system is an institutional response to violations of law by police, courts, and prisons, employing four differing rationales for its response to crime.

Retribution is a punitive function, operating as moral vengeance by which society subjects an offender to suffering comparable to that caused by the offence, capital punishment being the ultimate. It may also, where possible, include restitution in which offenders compensate their victims. As the oldest justification for punishment, retribution is a form of public revenge and retaliation intended to restore “moral balance” to society.

Deterrence is a preventive function, attempting to discourage criminality by imposing severe consequences for committing crime. Specific deterrence causes the individual to think twice about whether it’s worth the risk, whereas general deterrence makes an example of offenders that coerces others to obey the law. But deterrence assumes that criminal behaviour is always rational and calculated, which it clearly is not. And research suggests that deterrence is effective only when punishment is certain, severe, and swift, which it clearly is not.

And just like that, September has officially arrived and the summer season has come to an end.

This summer was full of so many great community events. I had the opportunity to participate in both the Landmark Friendship Festival parade and the Richer Roughstock Rodeo parade. Both of these events are wonderful celebrations, full of fun activities for the whole family. I look forward to these events every summer, and I’m so glad I could take part in the festivities once again.

I’d like to thank all of the incredible organizers and volunteers who put their hard work, time, and effort into making these wonderful events possible.

There are some very exciting events coming up that I am looking forward to. Firstly, I will be hosting a couple of constituency barbecues in the coming weeks. More information will be coming regarding the details of the events, so stay tuned for that. I always really enjoy hosting these barbecues because they’re a great way to get out in the community and interact with constituents. I hope you’ll be able to join me for some lunch and a chat!

Sept. 22 is coming up soon. That’s the last day people can register to run in the upcoming municipal and school board elections.

Thus, if you are thinking about running for one of these positions, you have only a couple more weeks to register your candidacy, secure the necessary 25 signatures, and hand in your nomination papers.

As of right now, there’s a contested race for Steinbach city council and in at least one of the wards in the RM of Hanover. Things are also looking quite interesting with the Hanover School Board, with multiple people running in all the wards.

Contested elections are good for democracy. Unfortunately, voter turnout rates are almost always lower in municipal elections than in provincial or federal elections. This is a longstanding challenge.