ACC Release Former NHL hockey player Sheldon Kennedy is being presented with the second annual Courage Award by Assiniboine Community College. “Since I came forward in 1996, my mission was simply to help others and make the future a safer place for our kids,” said Kennedy. “To receive awards for this work is such an amazing honour and I am so grateful to receive the 2018 Assiniboine Courage Award. It is especially meaningful having this happen in my own backyard!” The Courage Award was established by Assiniboine in 2017 to commend and honour people who demonstrate courage in all its forms in their business, community, professional or personal life. “We are honoured to have Sheldon Kennedy accept this award for the courage he demonstrated by coming forward about the sexual abuse he endured for years and for his continued advocacy work to prevent and treat child abuse across North America,” said Assiniboine president Mark Frison. Born in Brandon in 1969 and raised in Elkhorn, Kennedy found hockey a natural outlet for his youthful energy. “We only had 150 people who lived in our town, so we’d go play hockey. It was a way of life,” Kennedy recalls in Swift Current, the 2016 documentary about his life. But the opportunity to play Major Junior hockey as a teenager turned sour when Kennedy was sexually abused by his coach, Graham James. He kept the secret locked inside for many years, fearing reprisals if he said anything. Kennedy is now the Lead Director at the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre, the first of its kind in Canada, offering full services for victims of child abuse. He is also the Co-Founder of Respect Group, which provides education online to help prevent abuse, bullying and harassment. During his professional hockey career, Kennedy was signed by four different National Hockey League teams and their American Hockey League affiliates, including the Winnipeg Jets and the Manitoba Moose. Kennedy’s life has been the subject of a 1999 TV movie, The Sheldon Kennedy Story, his 2006 book, Why I Didn’t Say Anything and Swift Current. When Kennedy went public in 1996, his story inspired others to come forward, including NHL star Theo Fleury, who had been abused by the same coach. James was charged, convicted and sentenced to jail time in two separate trials, one for Kennedy and another player and the second one for Fleury and another player. Kennedy will receive the award at a dinner in his honour on Thursday, Oct. 25 at the Victoria Inn and Convention Centre. Tickets are available on the college website at assiniboine.net/courage. The dinner will be co-chaired by Sheila North Wilson, Grand Chief of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak and Don Penny, founding partner and past chairman of MNP LLP (formerly Meyers Norris Penny), recipient of Assiniboine’s first Courage Award in 2017.  

Brandon Police Service Media Release On March 22nd 2018, Police entered into an investigation after receiving a report from a male that a female friend took his credit card on March 20th and fraudulently purchased $230 worth of merchandise. The suspect returned the credit card with some receipts to the victim on March 21st. Police obtained surveillance video from a business in the 1000 Block of Victoria Avenue confirming that the suspect used the credit card. On Monday afternoon, Police arrested the 23-year-old female suspect from Brandon for Fraudulent Use of Credit Card. She was released and is scheduled to appear in Court in June.  

BRANDON:  Children who experience childhood trauma do not ‘just get over it’. So how do we help them survive? What they – and we – need is an understanding of their behaviours and responses to what happened to them, their grief and loss resulting from that trauma, and the trauma’s lifelong impacts that can affect them well into adulthood. Over 200 social workers, counsellors, foster parents, educators, and other professionals from across Manitoba will gain a better understanding of the human impact of trauma on our personal and professional lives. When:  Wednesday April 25 and Thursday April 26, 2018 Where: Keystone Centre, MNP Hall, 1175 18th Street, Brandon Time: 9:00 am – 4:00pm “We want to strengthen the skills and tools we have for working with traumatized children, youth, and families,” says Dave McGregor, Chief Executive Officer of Child and Family Services of Western Manitoba. “This two-day workshop will help us gain a better understanding of the grief, loss, and trauma that these kids deal with and the effect it has on them.” “We also will learn more about creating a trauma-informed environment overall throughout our Agency with our staff, the families we work with, and our community partners.” The conference is being facilitated by international speakers and consultants in child welfare Amelia Franck Meyer, Founder and CEO of Alia: innovations for people and systems impacted by childhood trauma, and Debi Grebenik, Chief Knowledge Officer of Alia.

Brandon Riverbank Inc. is pleased to be hosting the 2nd Annual West Regional Envirothon, tomorrow, April 17, 2018 at the Riverbank Discovery Centre in Brandon. In partnership with the Manitoba Forestry Association, Riverbank is bringing this unique and educational opportunity for Westman High School Students to Brandon once again. This year, nine teams of five students from across the region will participate in this exciting competition that provides the challenge of learning about the environment, combined with hands-on field experience, problem solving, team work and public speaking skills. The Envirothon has been running in Manitoba since 1996, growing over the years to include 2,900+ participants competing in five regions. This hands-on competition takes students outdoors where they will work through several challenging field tests as well as an oral presentation, all of which focus on four theme areas of Water & Aquatic Ecosystems, Wildlife & Wildlife Management, Soils & Land Use, Native Plants & Forestry and this year’s feature topic of Climate Change in the North. The top teams of this regional competition will carry on to compete in the provincial Envirothon to take place in Churchill at the end of May. The provincial Envirothon organization is very excited to be hosting these young learners in such a unique ecosystem and will create a very memorable experience for our environmental competitors. General Manager of Brandon Riverbank Inc., Lois MacDonald states “Our organization is pleased to host this important event again this year - the Riverbank Discovery Centre is the perfect facility to promote environmental education and stewardship combined with hands-on learning. This event takes advantage of the living classroom that exists throughout the Assiniboine River Corridor”. The Envirothon gets underway at the Riverbank Discovery Centre at 10 a.m. with training to take place for the morning. The trail test competition gets underway at 12:45 p.m. and will conclude at 3:15 p.m.  

Brad Slugoski from Flin Flon has won more than $1 million after selecting the Ace of Hearts on Saturday night in The Pas.   The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 19 started this round of Chase the Ace back on January 7, 2017 with a jackpot of $65,000.  As word spread the pot continued to grow at a rapid pace each week.  People from all over started lining up early every Saturday for their chance to take home the big money.  Eventually, the weekly Chase the Ace draw reached $1,009,870 before Slugoski's win. In September of 2016, the Legion also gave away $207,000 in another Chase the Ace pot.