Nickel Belt News Volume 60 • Issue 29
Friday, July 17, 2020
Thompson, Manitoba
Serving the Norman Region since 1961
Free computers on their way to Flin Flon, Thompson and Marcel Colomb Cree Nation
Northern Manitoba residents are among those who will benefit from the latest batch of refurbished desktop computers being donated by Tech Manitoba to those in need. Fifteen of the computers packed up and shipped off from Winnipeg July 6 will be going to Flin Flon School Division students whose families were receiving food hampers and school materials, including borrowed laptops, since in-person classes were suspended in late March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Another 15 are bound for Thompson, where they will be distributed to people and organizations in the city and in outlying communities, including Marcel Colomb Cree Nation near Lynn Lake, by Tech Manitoba’s partner University College of the North (UCN). The computers were
Desktop computers and monitors refurbished by Computers for Schools are being donated to Manitoba residents, including some in Flin Flon, Thompson and Marcel Colomb Cree Nation, by Tech Manitoba, with shipping provided by Gardewine. Nickel Belt News photos courtesy of Tech Manitoba
refurbished by Computers for Schools and come complete with a keyboard, mouse, monitor and preloaded videos on computer basics created by Tech Manitoba to help recipients set up their computers, learn basic computer skills and get safely online. “Many of us take computers and connectivity for granted, and that isn’t the case for everyone,” said Tech Manitoba CEO Kay Gardiner in a press release. “The more we move services online, the more people
are left behind. Getting a computer and basic training is a first step to bridging that divide.” Delivery of the computers was facilitated by Winnipeg-based online freight-matching service Evotrux and is being provided by trucking company Gardewine. Prior to this latest shipment, Tech Manitoba and Computers for Schools have provided 241 refurbished and sanitized computers to people in need across the province,
Easterville RCMP officers convince woman to drop knife BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
A potentially dangerous situation in Easterville was resolved peacefully July 8 when RCMP officers convinced an armed woman to drop the knife she was
holding. Police were called to a report of an 18-year-old woman leaving the community’s nursing station with a knife in her possession around noon Wednesday. They located her near
the RCMP detachment and talked her into dropping the knife, at which point she was taken into custody without incident and transported back to the nursing station for follow-up care. No injuries resulted from the incident.
Zebra mussels spread northward BY SARAH LAWRYNUIK, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER, WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Zebra mussels have continued their expansion in Manitoba waterways, with adult mussels having been found for the first time as far north as Sipiwesk Lake in the Nelson River system. Sipiwesk Lake falls between Cross and Split lakes in the river system south of Thompson. The progression has been anticipated since zebra mussels appeared in the southern basin of Lake Winnipeg in 2013, and it will, in all likelihood, continue to move further north with time, officials said. “The significance of the adults being found in the Nelson River system really has to do with how it
might affect the communities along the Nelson River, and then a greater chance of (mussels) being moved out of that water system through human movement. We can’t really do anything about the natural movement downstream, but what we would be concerned about is any human movement out of there,” said Kayla Peterniak, an aquatic invasive species specialist with the province. As the invasive species progresses through waterways, officials with Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development are working with communities to prevent the mussels from clogging drinking water infrastructure and other supports. The mussels could also hurt commercial fishers, lodge operators and
local tourism. Provincial workers are focusing on education regarding decontamination protocols in the invasive species control zone. Within the designated area all watercraft are not only expected to be cleaned, drained and dried — but also decontaminated with boiling hot water. “That kills all stages of zebra mussels,” Peterniak said. She said there is nothing to stop the mussels from expanding their range northward all the way into the estuary where the Nelson River flows into Hudson Bay. Salinity and colder temperatures are the only things that slow the natural spread once they’re introduced into a water system, she said.
including 26 in Thompson and 18 in other Northern Manitoba communities. Refurbished computers were last distributed to Thompson residents by UCN’s Northern Workforce Development Centre in early May.
High waters expected along the Churchill River prompt flood warning for Pukatawagan, Granville Lake and Leaf Rapids Record flows being released by Saskatchewan Power from reservoirs along the Churchill River could result in significant rises and possible flooding in northwest Manitoba, the provincial government says. Manitoba’s Hydrologic Forecast Centre issued a flood warning shortly after 4 p.m. July 9 for areas includ-
ing Mathias Colomb Cree Nation at Pukatawagan, Granville Lake and Leaf Rapids. Water levels will begin to rise at Pukatawagan within three to five days, said the province, and peak in five to eight days, with water five to seven feet above the current level of 905.5 feet. In Granville Lake, the
water will take about two weeks to arrive and peak within three to four weeks at as many as 10 feet higher than the current level of 859 feet. In Leaf Rapids, water will rise in about two weeks and peak within three to four weeks at eight to 10 feet above the current level of 856.3 feet.
Sod-turning ceremony held at site of new Norway House RCMP detachment
Thompson Citizen photo courtesy of Manitoba RCMP Norway House RCMP officers and staff were joined by Norway House Cree Nation representatives and elders July 6 for a sod-turning ceremony at the
site where the new RCMP detachment in the community will be built. The new detachment will be located in the Rossville/downtown area and is scheduled to be
completed by the summer of 2022. The nearly $17-million tender to construct the new detachment was awarded to Con-Pro industries Canada Ltd. in Winnipeg.