“Abled does not mean enabled. Disabled does not mean less abled.” ― Khang Kijarro Nguyen

Recently I officiated at a funeral for a woman who lived with Down Syndrome. She had a quiet courage in living each day with challenges others did not see or understand. Her courage was not loud or boastful. It did not demand recognition. It simply endured - and in that endurance, it became sacred.

Those who walk this path remind us that life is not about mastering everything, but about receiving each moment with trust. Last week we looked at how asking thoughtful questions can help us go further than ‘why me’ questions. This week we will look at what we can learn from people like my friend.

Here are some thoughts for your reflection:

A two-vehicle accident claimed the life of a 20-year-old Ontario man on Wednesday morning and left a 13-year-old boy battling for his life.

St Pierre-Jolys RCMP issued a press release on Wednesday, saying they responded to the crash just after midnight on Highway 59, near Prefontaine Road in the RM of Tache.

“A vehicle with two occupants was traveling north on Highway 59 when it crossed into the path of a semi-truck traveling south,” the release stated. “The vehicle collided with the semi-truck pushing both vehicles in the ditch.”

The driver of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene.

Flooding in Manitoba has been a part of life for its residents since its existence. People still tell stories of the flood of 1950 and the many local buildings at the time that benefited from salvaged wood from flooding in Winnipeg. The destruction was so catastrophic that it resulted years later in the construction of the Red River Floodway. Criticized by many at the time, the vision of Premier Duff Roblin has saved countless millions of dollars in property damage.

Following what became known as the Flood of the Century in 1997, an expansion of the floodway was undertaken which was a significant benefit during the 2011 flood. The protection that Winnipeg has enjoyed from the floodway has not gone unnoticed. Further south along the Red River, the City of Fargo is expecting their new floodway (officially known as the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion Project) to be operational by next year. This multi-billion dollar project was built using a public-private partnership and has been supported by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Floodways are not the only form of flood protection in the Red River Valley. Many communities along the Red River utilize community or personal ring dikes to protect towns and individual homes. None of this prevents flooding from happening, but it has reduced the financial and personal loss by extraordinary amounts over the past century.

Of course, flooding from the Red River from the south and the Assiniboine River from the west is not the only type of flooding that Manitobans experience. In recent years, we have seen torrential rainfall events result in significant overland flooding that has overwhelmed local drainage capacity and flooded basements. In fact, this was the case the past two years in the City of Steinbach and just over the last week in other parts of Manitoba.

Now that the spring session of the Manitoba legislature has come to an end, I want to provide residents of Dawson Trail with an update on the work I have done on their behalf at the Manitoba legislative assembly.

Throughout this session, my focus has remained on ensuring that the voices of Dawson Trail constituents are heard, and that the concerns raised by our communities are brought directly to the provincial government.

Since becoming an independent MLA, I have had the opportunity to work directly with government ministers and members from all sides of the legislature to advance the priorities of Dawson Trail. Being an independent allows me to focus solely on what is best for our communities, advocate for local concerns without partisan restrictions, and build support wherever it exists to achieve results for constituents.

During this past legislative session, I had the privilege of advocating for Dawson Trail constituents in a number of ways. Firstly, I brought forward a private members resolution regarding the rights of an independent member of the legislative assembly. While my experience as an independent MLA has been very positive and I have been able to actively advance the priorities of Dawson Trail residents, that hasn’t always been the case for every independent member. Unfortunately, there has been instances where independent members have not been granted equal privileges, access to resources, and procedural opportunities that other members have been afforded. This resolution ensures that all independent MLAs are receiving the same fairness, transparency, and consistency as any other member, so that we may continue to best represent and serve our constituents.