Brandon University is working to build a collaborative culture of ethical and empathetic behaviour in the wake of a significant recent challenge to academic integrity on campus. Academic integrity is paramount, and deeply valued at Brandon University. We have a commitment to our community and to our students that everyone who graduates will have earned their degrees both with the knowledge and skills required and also with the ethics and integrity to guide them in their careers and lives. An investigation over the past few weeks at BU has confirmed that a nursing exam last semester was seriously compromised. The exam had been prepared based on a Test Bank provided by a textbook publisher and was believed to be secured for faculty use only. This is common practice. These professionally written Test Banks include answer rationales, desired learning outcomes and expected sources of knowledge along with links to professional standards and competencies. These Test Banks have been crafted by testing experts to ensure a full and fair assessment of all of the knowledge covered by the curriculum while freeing up teachers to focus on their students in the classroom. Unfortunately, today’s technology means that pirated versions of these exams and Test Banks can be found for sale online. This compromised exam and its Test Bank was purchased on a website specifically devoted to the sale of such materials, then circulated and made available to students in the class. The investigation discovered that students used the Test Bank questions they had obtained to prepare for their class exam expecting, and then finding, the questions to be the same. Other students declined to make use of the Test Bank. Brandon University was faced with a limited amount of time to deal with a large and complex situation that is unlike anything envisioned by our existing policies. As an expedient, all students were offered the immediate opportunity to write a new version of the exam, with a penalty applied, so that upon satisfactory completion, they would be able to move on to second-term classes and clinical placements without having to lose a year of their studies. All students re-wrote the exam, and all students passed. Penalties may be adjusted as appropriate for individual circumstances as determined in the fullness of the investigation. Students also have the opportunity to appeal their penalties or final grades through the normal university appeal processes. To be as fair as possible to everyone involved in this recent case, we have carefully limited our public statements while we began our investigation, and as we assessed and worked through the processes outlined in our policies. This takes time, and we regret that our silence allowed rumours to circulate in the community and online. We must balance the legitimate public interest in this incident against our equally vital need to protect the interests and the privacy of all of our students, both during the past few weeks and in the future. Though academic dishonesty is nothing new, we know that Brandon University has much work to do in our efforts to strengthen our culture of academic integrity. Our students and their Student Union representatives will be our partners in all of that work. Already in this new year, we have had a series of productive and positive discussions with both students and faculty about this incident and we will be considering important changes to our admissions criteria, curriculum delivery and student evaluation processes in Health Studies. The aim is to better support our students’ personal growth and professional development and to continue to foster a caring and collaborative culture on campus and among our graduates. These changes will also aim to de-centre the longstanding focus on grades as the sole measure of student performance. New criteria will be used to expand our consideration of the full measure of each student as a whole person, starting with their admission, which may include personal interviews and portfolios. There will be renewed focus on professionalism, ethics, collaboration, teambuilding and empathy. These are in line with current best practices in healthcare education and are expected to make BU a leader in this area and improve our already excellent outcomes for nursing graduates. We thank everyone for their patience, understanding and support. (Brandon University Release, January 31, 2020)

Brandon, MB – After a full day of consideration, Brandon City Council has given its approval to a 2020 municipal operating budget representing a municipal tax increase of 0.469%. When applied to a residential property with an average assessment in 2020, this works out to an increase of $10 dollars from that of 2019’s municipal property tax levels. Council debated several dozen amendments over the course of its budget day, with all areas of municipal spending being carefully considered for either augmented financial support or spending reductions. Ultimately, new or increased funding was approved for: downtown angle parking, sidewalk repair and maintenance, street paving and milling, community centre improvements, Mayor Rick Chrest’s “NEO” youth-focused drug awareness program, the City of Brandon’s Lead Water Services Replacement Strategy, sidewalk snow clearing, City Council public relations, flood protection maintenance, land drainage improvements, Handi-Transit services, and the issue of chronically-frozen water service lines. Council also approved new or increased funding for the following community organizations: the Brandon Bear Clan, Samaritan House Ministries, Brandon Downtown Development Corporation, the Brandon General Museum and Archives Inc., the Daly House Museum, Brandon Riverbank Inc., the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium, the Keystone Centre, Andrews Field, the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum, the Age Friendly Committee, and the Poverty Committee. Budget reductions were approved in the areas of landfill operation, Brandon Police Services operations, labour relations, Council salaries, airport improvements, parks and recreation services, 8th Street pedestrian bridge detailed design, and engineering professional development. Council also made changes to the amount of money to be  allocated this year to several of the municipality’s reserve funds. Brandon Mayor Rick Chrest says he is extremely pleased with the overall outcome, adding that Council and City Administration should be proud of their collective efforts. “Taxpayers want us to maintain this City and maintain the services that they rely on and yet, at the same time, they want us to keep tax increases as low as possible. They work hard for the money they have and Council, in my view, has always been extremely respectful of their money and we work hard to require as little of it as we can,” noted Mayor Chrest. “I think that the taxpayers have always appreciated that we’ve been able to find the balance between maintaining this City while at the same time keeping tax increases below the rate of inflation.” The Council-approved budget will now proceed to public hearing stage, a date for which will be determined in the spring. (City of Brandon Release)

Source: Brandon Police Service Media Release At 4:17 pm on Friday afternoon, a male subject robbed the bartender in a downtown bar. The male was asked to leave the business at which time he walked behind the bar, pushed the female bartender out of the way and stole approximately $300 from the cash register. He ran out of the bar. Officers were unable to locate him at the time of the call however he was known to the bartender. A warrant will be issued for the man.

Given City Council’s significant engagement in our annual municipal budget process this weekend, we have issued a statement today with respect to the status of the City Manager’s position. The current administrative leave of Rod Sage will extend beyond January 31st. Brandon City Council will provide an additional update at its earliest opportunity; however we are unable to provide further comment at this time. (Submitted: City of Brandon Release)

Starting tomorrow (January 31, 2020) plastic grocery bags will no longer be available at Sobeys stores. Instead, they are asking shoppers to remember to bring their re-usable grocery bags. Paper bags will be available for 10 cents. Plastic produce bags will still be available. Sobeys is the first national grocery chain to eliminate plastic bags. In their July 31, 2019 press release Sobeys stated "the change will take 225 million plastic grocery bags out of circulation at Sobeys’ 255 locations across Canada each year."