InSeine April

Celebrating 13 years!!!

New School and Daycare Announced for Ste. Anne

By Dan Guetre

While leaks in government plans and announcements are common and sometimes expected, this wasn’t the case when the Mayor of the town of Ste. Anne was asked to come to a press conference recently.

“I guess it’s very easy to keep quiet… town got the invite to attend press conference two days before but we weren’t 100% sure what it was even for as no details were shared until the press conference,” said Mayor Yvan St. Vincent who, while surprised, was very happy with the announcement of a new school planned for construction in his community.

“I’m very excited!” said St. Vincent. “It’s much needed and great for our community and neighbouring communities!”

The new school along with a new child-care centre was more than expected but definitely necessary for the growing community and region.

The plan is to construct a vocational high school for grades 9-12 as part of Seine River School Division and is slated for completion in 2027.

“This new school and child-care space will benefit families of Ste. Anne and the surrounding community for years to come,” said Dawson Trail MLA Bob Lagasse. “It will also strengthen the rich, francophone heritage of our region.”

While the Seine River School Division (SRSD) had a bit more forewarning before the announcement, it was still an exciting announcement.

“We’re extremely pleased!” said Wendy Bloomfield, Chairperson of SRSD. “We have been pushing for and waiting for approval for a new school in Ste. Anne for several years. We are excited for SRSD and the students and staff and also for the Town of Ste. Anne. This will be a wonderful new addition to this community.”

Specifics are still being worked on for what this new school and daycare centre will look like.

“We need to do a considerable amount of work determining the capacity, potential vocational offerings, daycare attached or stand alone, etc. before we can start with developing any drawings,” said Bloomfield. “The Province is tendering all the nine new school projects together, so at this point we have no idea who the architect, builder, etc. is. This process is quite different than other new schools we’ve built in past, and unfortunately we haven’t yet been provided with many details or timelines.”

Bloomfield was still surprised with part of the announcement though.

“The inclusion of a daycare facility in the announcement was a bit of a surprise,” she explained. “I’m familiar with daycare facilities being ap -

proved with K-8 schools, but I wasn’t expecting it with a high school.”

“That being said, this is also a very welcome addition for SRSD and Ste. Anne,” she said.

Courses offered, capacity and other logistics are not available as of yet but Bloomfield says that will be worked out as the fine tuning stage takes place.

“The actual configuration is to be determined once we meet with the Province,” she explained. “We are just now able to start the planning

for this exciting new school, however, at the moment we do not have the anticipated capacity. In terms of courses, at this point all we know is that it is a vocational school. I’m sure we will be having considerable consultations with the Department of Education, our staff, trustees, etc. as to what exactly we will be able to offer. There are a lot of planning steps required before we get down to starting to talk design.”

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Drugs and Cash Seized in Ste. Anne

With a Controlled Drugs and Substances Act search warrant inhand, Ste. Anne police executed a search at a residence in Town on March 29. As a result of the search, a quantity of suspected methamphetamine, cocaine, cash, drug paraphernalia, and drug trafficking materials were seized.

A male and a female from the community have been charged under the Controlled Drugs and

Substances Act for possession of a Schedule I substance for the purpose of trafficking. They were both released on Appearance Notices with a future court date.

If anyone has further information regarding drug use or drug trafficking in the Town of Sainte-Anne, please call the Sainte-Anne Police Service at 204-422-8209. All tips will remain confidential and anonymous.

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St. Vincent says the school and daycare will be constructed in the... northeast end of the community within a new development by Caledonia Road.

St. Vincent is still recovering from the excitement of a new grocery store announcement made last month by Clearview Co-op.

“It’s been several years that council has been working with Co-op to try to make this work,” said St. Vincent. “Truth is our CAO, Marc Darker and his office staff do a ton of work for development in town so they deserve most of the credit.”

He said credit for the new school needs to be properly given.

“That credit goes to SRSD trustees and their central admin staff, town played a small role in encouraging our MLA Mr. Lagasse but SRSD has been after this for years so they’ve been at it a long time as they saw the need for it,” he credited.

St. Vincent and Bloomfield already have their focus set on their next targets.

According to St. Vincent, the Town needs more daycare spots and have applied for RTM grant and hoping that happens next year as the daycare with the school won’t be ready until 2027 and daycare spaces are required sooner than that. He is also focused on sustainability grants for the community’s recreation complex and working with the development corporation to attract additional businesses to the community with the hope of creating more local employment.

Bloomfield is already looking towards more schools.

“St. Adolphe and Ile des Chenes are definitely on the radar and we have had some very basic discussions with the RMs as to future development plans to try to get a handle on what we may need to anticipate for schools,” she explained. “That being said, we’re also aware that housing starts/sales have slowed down a bit in the past few months. We are, however, keeping a very close eye on the expected growth in these communities.”

Ste. Anne Short on Votes in Kraft Hockeyville But Creates Community Unity

By Dan Guetre

You could feel the eyes of all Ste. Anne residents focused on the TV screen during the first intermission of the Toronto versus Ottawa NHL game as they awaited the announcement of the Kraft Hockeyville 2023 winner.

Conversely, you could hear the collective sigh from the community and many Manitobans when the Town of Ste. Anne was not the community name announced by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.

It did not take long for many in the community to realize that what they had accomplished overshadowed what they had not accomplished.

“Passion and community is what I saw in this rally,” said Sarah Normandeau who jumped on board to

ing to find solutions and do what is needed.

“About 6 weeks ago, out of desperation, we called a town hall meeting as our arena is in desperate need before next winter and the community responded by turning out in big numbers,” he reflected. “From this meeting, the GSA community had decided to form a Rec Steering committee so it was a great start. Suddenly, Kraft Hockeyville gained momentum and Greater Ste Anne went wild!”

The mayor believes the campaign has galvanized the community with a new purpose.

“What has taken place the past month and particularly the last 2 days has energized me like never before and it’s crystal clear I’m not alone in the want to fix this building!’

help with the campaign.

“When that announcement came in…yes it was disappointing and seeing our kids/teens and even some adults cry almost broke me… but we got this! I’ve never seen a community come together like this ever!”

“You always hear how a community comes together when needed and with my 51 years in Ste Anne I have never seen anything close to what this contest did for our community, greater Ste Anne (GSA),” noted Town of Ste. Anne Mayor in a post on the town’s social media page created to rally the community.

St. Vincent reflected on how fixing the arena seemed so daunting when he originally ran for council, but how now, he sees a community motivat-

he wrote. “I’m a huge believer in that something good always comes from any event and I think this is the best thing that could have ever happened to our Greater Ste Anne community.”

The Town has a new Recreation Steering committee and has received a renewed interest from the rural municipality surrounding the town and now the momentum to find solutions.

“In a strange way, not winning may be a blessing in disguise,” he noted. “The

250K would have been outstanding, but the truth is we need way more than that to get done what we want to get done for our dear old arena and recreation in general.”

“Not winning will inspire us to work even harder now to get it done and I assure you I will pour every ounce of effort I can into this project and also guarantee you we will find what we need to open the arena next winter…

it’s just not an option,” he added. For making the top four, the Maurice Chaput Arena in Ste. Anne will be awarded $25,000 from Kraft Hockeyville plus an additional $10,000 from the NHLPA towards equipment. The RM of Ste. Anne had already committed $75,000 towards repairs and funds were raised throughout the voting period through various raffles and events.

Ste. Anne Lions Club

Coffee, Dessert, Entertainment Evening – Friday, May 5 at the Young at Hearts Club. Featuring Daylin James as Elvis/Tom Jones, silent auction, 50/50. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Tickets $20 available at AJ Fiola Insurance, Pam’s Hair Boutique, Ste. Anne Variety or from any Lions member.

Students in an advanced Biology class were taking their mid-term exam. The last question was, ‘Name seven advantages of Mother’s Milk.’? The question was worth 70 points or none at all.?? One student was hard put to think of seven advantages?? He wrote:

1) It is perfect formula for the child.

2) It provides immunity against several diseases.

3) It is always the right temperature.

4) It is inexpensive.

5) It bonds the child to mother and vice versa.

6) It is always available as needed

And then the student was stuck.?? Finally, in desperation, just before the bell rang indicating the end of the test he wrote:

7) It comes in two attractive containers and it’s high enough off the ground where the cat can’t get it.

He got an A+.

An elderly, but hardy cattleman from Texas once told a young female neighbor that if she wanted to live a long life, the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder on her oatmeal each morning.?? She did this religiously and lived to the ripe old age of 103.?? She left behind 14 children, 30 grandchildren, 21 great-grandchildren, five great-great-grandchildren and a 40 foot HOLE where the crematorium used to be.

Little Funk Library

Spring is here and we cannot wait for the ground to thaw! Why You ask ? Well, I can’t hold it in any longer I’m so excited .. as we eagerly wait to install our new Little Free Library! This will be the 2nd Little Free Library that I will Steward. The Little Free Library Impact Program partnered with Scotia Bank to provide custom libraries to communities with limited access to books. We are excited to announce that we have been selected as a recipient for one of these Little Free Libraries. This new Library will be placed in the community of Richer, giving access of books to all ages! I have teamed up with Richer School and will be placing our new Library “ Richer Readers’ Library” in front of the school. We cannot wait to share this with you. We are accepting donations of all books but specifically looking for Youth and Children books at our library, The Little Funk Library #100068 just west of town on the TransCanada, we would love for you to visit our library but if you cannot I could always arrange a pick up if needed, you can contact me via FB or 204-422-9848. We will have more information later on regarding grand opening and celebrations for the new Richer Readers’ Library! Thank You, to Little Free Library Impact Program, Scotia Bank and Richer School- Mr.Eismendi for helping make this happen! Happy Reading All! - I’m currently bookless and searching for a new read.

The Little Funk Library #100068

Rhonda Funk-Steward