January 19, 2023 Digital Issue

Snow Removal this Winter – What You Need to Know

The Snow removal program aims to reduce hazards in the community, ensure roadways for emergency vehicles, and provide access to goods and services in the community.

Our crews strive to deliver excellent service, however sometimes weather can be unpredictable, and snow and ice control activities may vary. Every reasonable effort will be made to promptly remove snow and ice and create safe driving and walking conditions. There are ways you can help to ensure to keep streets clear and safe

- Do not shovel, blow, or push snow from private property onto the street – this causes snow ridges on your driveway when our plow cleans our street.

- Do not plow or pile snow on streets or hydrants – this can block access to manholes, water valves, and access to water in case of emergencies.

- Clear your driveways in advance of the city’s snow clearing operations - this helps our operators clear your street more efficiently as well as more clearly see driveways to avoid ridging.

- Do not park your vehicle in an area where it could obstruct snow removal procedures - this hinders our operations and could result in a snow ridge blocking your vehicle in place.

- Do not leave large piles of snow at the corners of driveways – this snow can be caught by a raised snow-gate blade and topple over into your driveway or the street.

-Prevent snow from piling up on the front of your driveway by moving it near your tree/lawn areas behind your walkway.

Watch for posted areas for Snow Removal - In case of snow and snow removal, crews need to have roads cleared of all vehicles on posted streets. If you are going out of the City over the holidays, please have your vehicles off City streets. Vehicles left on the street per the traffic bylaw are ticketed and towed (to a non-posted area).

Stay Clear of Sanding Trucks - Crews apply a mixture of salt and sand on our streets and intersections to ensure safer driving conditions. If you are near or behind the sanding truck you are reminded to stay back 15m to allow the truck to disperse materials and to prevent materials from potentially hitting your vehicle.

Information on general program procedures and the City’s Priority Map is available online at Martensville.ca.

POLICE BEAT Warman RCMP Request Assistance in Locating Truck Involved in an Attempted Abduction

Warman RCMP are requesting assistance from the public in locating a pickup truck involved in the attempted abduction of a female youth near a community centre in Warman, SK, at approximately 3:00 p.m. on January 11th.

Police responded immediately and conducted patrols in the community to locate the vehicle and the suspect involved. The victim was able to return to a safe location and did not report any injuries to police.

The vehicle is described as a black coloured two-door truck believed to be an early 2000’s Chevrolet or GMC model.

The truck is believed to be driven by a Caucasian male between 20 – 30 years old, wearing a black t-shirt.

Warman RCMP are requesting parents to advise youth to exercise caution if approached by strangers in a vehicle. If this vehicle is seen, do not approach and report this to your local police service immediately.

Warman RCMP are working toward gathering additional information about the vehicle and the suspect driver.

If you have any information about this incident, call the Warman RCMP at 306975-1670 or your local police service. Information can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Stoppers by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or submitting a tip online at www.saskcrimestoppers.com.

In Case of a Water Line Freeze Up

In the past, there have been areas in the community prone to water line freeze-ups.

If you experience a waterline freeze‐up or any other interruption in service, please call (306) 931‐2166 to report your issue. If this happens outside of regular business hours, please follow the prompts to be transferred to the emergency after‐hours contact.

Thank you for your co‐operation!

February Council Meeting Dates

Please Note: Council Meetings may be attended in-person but guests must wear a mask and should practice social distancing within Council Chambers. Those still wishing to attend but would wish to do so virtually should contact the City Clerk or visit the online agenda for the link to attend.

Committee of the Whole- February 14th Regular Council Meeting – February 21st

The Regular Council Meetings are located at Martensville City Hall Council Chambers in Martensville City Hall at 37 Centennial Dr. S. All meetings commence at 5 PM.

Those wishing to address or do a presentation to Council must be placed on the agenda. To be placed on the agenda please contact the City Clerk’s office at City Hall or visit the website for details. The full Council and Committee of the Whole Schedule can be obtained at martensville.ca.

A Reminder about Snowmobiles and our Parks

Snowmobiles are prohibited from being driven through our parks as well as drainage systems and streets. Riding snowmobiles through the parks can cause damage to trees or plantings, be disruptive to those utilizing the parks and there may be hazards such as stones or equipment that put riders at risk.

Snowmobilers are asked to abide by local bylaws including:

• Entering and exiting the City utilizing the most direct street route between their residence and city limits.

• Not operating a snowmobile in excess of 20km/hr within limits

• Operating only between 7AM and 10PM

• Not operating a snowmobile in any park, public or municipal reserve Not operating a snowmobile on Centennial Drive other than to cross or obtain fuel.

For the complete traffic bylaw please visit martensville.ca. The City of Martensville wishes a safe winter season for all residents.

Weekly Update for the Warman/ Martensville RCMP Detachment

are quite common and increasing across the province. The most common issue police are seeing is a suspect makes friends with the victim through social media site messaging platforms. The suspect then through an extended conversation convinces the victim to send intimate images. Once the images are sent, the suspect then threatens to send the images to the family members of the victims unless they pay a large sum of cash. This scam appears to be targeted at primarily males of all ages. The investigation has determined that the calls originate in a foreign country and extremely hard for police to deal with. The suspect almost always posts as a female and shows a great deal of interest in the victims. There seems to be no shortage of ways to scam people out of their money and the RCMP ask the public be extremely careful with their personal and financial information.

-1 collision with a moose on Hwy 305, just south of Martensville. Minor injuries reported. -1 collision in Corman Park area with two vehicles involved. Minor injuries reported.

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• On Wednesday January 11, 2023 at approximately 3:00pm, Warman RCMP received a complaint of an attempted child luring. The investigation continues into this matter and the RCMP once again asks anyone who lives in the vicinity of the Brian King Center and has a video system to check for anything that may have been captured. RCMP continue to follow-up on tips coming in and seek out any additional video surveillance that may have captured the suspect vehicle.

Successful Seniors Bingo Night!

Shanine Sealey, Martensville Messenger

The New Horizons Senior Centre is hosting a bingo night every two weeks, with funds raised from this event going towards improvements at the Senior Centre, located at 106 4th Avenue North.

The last bingo night, held on Thursday, January 12th had a large number of people in attendance. Due to the increase in participation, there is a plan to increase some of the payouts for successful bingos.

There will also be refreshments available for purchase, with coffee remaining free of charge.

The next bingo night will take place on Thursday, January 26th, with the Bonanza sitting at 54 numbers and a $100 payout. Bingo begins at 7pm and runs until approximately 9pm and costs $15 to participate in all ten games, with an option to purchase additional cards.

You do not need to be a member of the seniors club, or even a senior to participate, as the event is open to everyone. For more information, contact Lovina at (306) 222-3343.

Martensville Farmer’s Market Changes Name and Operating Times for 2023 Season

Shanine Sealey, Martensville Messenger

The Martensville Farmer’s Market will be seeing some changes for the 2023 season, including a change in name to Martensville Summer Market. According to Market Coordinator Marjan Petter, the name change was made because a Farmers Market is meant for vendors that have homemade, grown, or baked goods for sale, and this will allow for a wider variety of vendors.

Petter noted that in the past, there have been inquiries about vendors wanting to sell home-based business items such as Tupperware, which they were unable to accept in the past, but with the change in the name, they are now able to accept those vendors.

The market, which was previously held on Wednesdays from 4pm-8pm will also now see a change in their operating times, and instead run on Saturdays from 10am-2pm from the end of June until Thanksgiving. This change was made as the previous day/time did not see enough customer traffic to make it worthwhile for vendors. “We are moving to Saturday as market day so we can hopefully attract more customers,” Petter explained.

The location for the Market will remain the same, located in the parking lot of the Martensville Corner Store at 301 Centennial Drive North. “We are really grateful for the Corner Store owners to allow us to use the space for the market,” Petter said.

They are also looking for more approximately 15 vendors to participate in the market, and noted that they are looking for a high commitment from vendors, preferably able to attend at least 80% of the market days. There will also be three reserve stall spaces for pop-up vendors.

“We hope to expand the market with more vendors and hopefully we can have a food truck coming as well, but for now, we are still in January and just starting to look for vendors,” added Petter.

For information, or to sign up as a vendor, email martensvillemarket@ gmail.com.

A Warman resident is $100,000 richer thanks to the EXTRA she added to her ticket for the Nov. 5 LOTTO 6/49 draw.

Kim Schneider purchased her ticket on Nov. 3 at the Warman Convenience Store at 38-810 Centennial Blvd in Warman.

When she scanned her ticket on the Lotto Spot app several weeks later, Schneider thought she had won $1. But after a second look, she realized she had missed several zeroes and had won $100,000!

Feeling excited, Schneider took a screenshot and ran downstairs to share the news with her partner.

“He thought I was joking and told me to scan it again,” she recalled as she claimed her prize. So, he scanned it on the app on his phone too and confirmed that the win was $100,000.

“I was so excited that night,” she added. “Like, is this for real?!” “I was in shock,” Schneider continued. “I just didn’t believe what I had seen. I never win!”

Immediately after discovering her win, Schneider had one exciting idea in mind. “That night, I said I was buying a Skidoo!” she said with a laugh. The winner also said she plans to invest her money.

Sask Lotteries is the main fundraiser for more than 12,000 sport, culture and recreation groups in communities across Saskatchewan.

Editor/Office Manager: Shanine Sealey ssealey@martensvillemessenger.ca

Editor/Ad Design: Jocelyn Ottenbreit jottenbreit@martensvillemessenger.ca

To Contact Us About Advertising: advertising@martensvillemessenger.ca Want to Share News?: news@martensvillemessenger.ca

ABOVE: Kim Schneider

ABOVE: There was a large amount of local residents in attendance for the January 12th bingo night at the New Horizons Senior Centre. The next bingo will take place on January 26th. (Shanine Sealey/MM)

Local Teen Looks Forward to Winter Games

Shanine Sealey, Martensville Messenger

The Saskatchewan Winter Games will be taking place in Regina from February 19-25 and there are numerous local athletes preparing for the competition, including 13-year-old Pyper Goldbeck, who will be participating in the Artistic Swimming category.

Goldbeck has been swimming with Saskatoon Aqualenes for the past six years. “Artistic swimming consists of an individual element which is called figures. These movements are judged by a three-person panel. The other element is team consisting of eight swimmers synchronizing together to form a routine,” Goldbeck’s mother Nicole, explained.

ABOVE: Pyper Goldbeck will be competing in the Sask Winter Games this February in Artistic Swimming.

(Submitted)

After sampling other sports such as dance, gymnastics and swimming lessons, none of them seemed like the right fit; however, after finding her artistic swim club online, Pyper quickly fell in love with the sport after seeing the older competitive swimmers spin, twist and twirl.

In June of 2022, Pyper tried out for the Saskatchewan Winter Games and is looking forward to the competition. “I feel very proud and honored to represent SAQ and look forward to showcasing the beautiful sport of Artistic Swimming,” Pyper said.

Pyper will be competing in both figures and team Artistic Swimming categories, with teammates ranging in age from 11-16 years old.

ABOVE: The Martensville Marauders U9A Snipers were the B Final winners in the Bobcat Giants Tournament, held in Aberdeen on Sunday, January 15th. The Snipers had a successful 5-3 win against the Bobcat Rockets in their final game. (Submitted)

ABOVE: The Martensville Maddogs Tackle players began their winter conditioning at the beginning of January with weekly sessions with High Level Performance Training based out of SoulPower Fitness in Martensville.

ABOVE: The Bantam Martensville Maddogs players recently had a training session with Kara Montieth of Nova Physiotherapy.

Mental Health Fundraiser Raises Just Under $6000 for Martensville Youth Connection

Shanine Sealey, Martensville Messenger

On Sunday, January 15th, Rise: A Fundraiser for Mental Health took place at the Capitol Music Club in Saskatoon. The event, which was organized to help raise funds for the Martensville Youth Connection (MYC), consisted of a silent auction, 50/50 draw and a grand prize draw for a trip for two to Toronto, ON, which was sponsored by WestJet and Heidelberg Materials. The runner-up prize was a beautiful green sparkle ball pendant necklace and earrings sponsored by Hillberg & Berk. Organizer Amy Krieger noted that the color green was chosen as it represents mental health awareness.

Krieger, along with co-organizer Toni Davis were pleased with the turn-out and filled with gratitude for all that attended, as well as all of the businesses that helped support the event.

Additionally, the two organizers were thankful for the entertainment that came on board to support the event, which included Kiefer & Amanda Paul performing. Krieger noted that those in attendance were blown away by their talent.

Krieger’s daughter, Brooklyn Novakovski made a speech about her firsthand experience with MYC, as she was one of the first local youth to take part in the programming when it first began as a four-week drop in group. Novakovski shared with the crowd how attending MYC benefited her directly.

Katharine Carter from MYC and Tanner Perratt with Possibilities Recovery Centre spoke to the audience about the MYC, and announced that there are plans in place to create a Saskatoon Youth Connection beginning in the near future due to a need for mental health programming resources for youth in Saskatoon.

In the end, the event was able to raise an incredible $5,910 for the Martensville Youth Connection.

Sask Parks 2023 Campsite Reservation Dates Announced

Reservations for Saskatchewan Provincial Parks 2023 camping season are set to begin April 3 for seasonal campsites and April 4 to 12 for nightly, Camp-Easy and group campsites. "Many campers are already looking forward to setting up their home-away-from-home in provincial parks this summer," Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Laura Ross said. "With reservation dates set, campers can now begin planning their trips and preparing for launch day."

Schedule - The complete reservation schedule for 2023 is as follows: Seasonal campsites:

• April 3: all parks participating in the seasonal camping program. Nightly, Camp-Easy and group campsites:

• April 4: Candle Lake, Good Spirit Lake, Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan Landing

• April 5: Break

• April 6: Douglas, Echo Valley, Makwa Lake, Narrow Hills, Pike Lake

• April 10: Danielson, Great Blue Heron, Greenwater Lake, Rowan's Ravine, The Battlefords April 11: Buffalo Pound, Bronson Forest, Duck Mountain, Moose Mountain

• April 12: Blackstrap, Crooked Lake, Cypress Hills, Lac La Ronge. Reservations will begin at 7 a.m. each day.

Park Fees - Park entry fees will increase slightly this year in response to the growing number of park services provided year-round and in accordance with Provincial Sales Tax. The 2023 entry fees are as follows:

• Annual Vehicle Entry: $82 ($7 increase)

• Weekly Vehicle Entry: $42 ($2 increase)

• Daily Vehicle Entry: $11 ($1 increase)

Camp-Easy sites will increase from $80 to $85 per night and the Mongolian Yurt at Great Blue Heron will increase from $110 to $116 per night. Some swimming entry and equipment rentals will also see a slight increase. For a full listing of fee changes, visit http://saskparks.com. All other fees including nightly, seasonal and group camping will remain the same for the 2023 camping season.

New this year - New this year, a notification feature on the reservation system will allow campers to sign up to receive an alert if a specific campsite becomes available.

Campers can also look forward to a total of 37 new seasonal sites: two full-service in Good Spirit Lake, eight electric in Buffalo Pound, a mix of 18 electric and non-electric in Makwa Lake, a mix of four electric and full-service at Meadow Lake and five electric at Moose Mountain. New Camp-Easy yurts have been added at Pike Lake, Good Spirit Lake and Greenwater Lake provincial parks with a new yurt replacing the old Camp-Easy tent in Crooked Lake.

For more information on reservations, fees and new services, visit http://saskparks.com.

ABOVE: The Rise: A Fundraiser for Mental Health event took place on Sunday, January 15th and raised $5910 for the Martensville Youth Connection. (Facebook)

ABOVE: Katharine Carter of the MYC and Tanner Perratt of Possibilities Recovery Centre announced their plans to create a Saskatoon Youth Connection in the near-future. (Facebook)

ABOVE: Organizers of Rise: A Fundraiser for Mental Health Toni Davis and Amy Krieger. (Facebook)

Liquor Store Auctions Create Questions, Intrigue

There have always been a few cultural divides that have made rural Saskatchewan distinct from urban Saskatchewan.

One such divide is auctions. While maybe there are some city people that go to rural farm auctions (or, at least, have gone to them at some point in their lives) auctions have almost exclusively been a rural thing.

Another divide between rural and urban has been where we buy our liquor. There have always been publicly owned government liquor stores - which are a bit of a Saskatchewan phenomenon in itself - in larger rural towns, smaller cities and the larger cities and there were always those who made a shopping stop at the government liquor store a priority whenever they went to the cities, but not many city people, traditionally, bought their booze from the local private liquor vendor in a smalltown with the license to sell spirits in the local hardware or grocery store. Not many city people even bought a case of beer from the local rural hotel vendor until the last couple decades.

While private liquor sales have only been in cities since the arrival of the Saskatchewan Party government, they have been a decades-old thing in rural Saskatchewan. Soon, private vendors will be the only choice for everyone in the province.

After announcing in the October throne speech that it planned to dispense with the province’s remaining 34 publicly owned liquor stores, the Saskatchewan Party government last week announced how that is going to happening.

Those remaining Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming (SLGA) retail outlets in the cities and larger communities aren’t being sold, per se. When the remaining government stores - some of them, agingclose for good by March, the government will hire private realtors to sell the land and building to whomever and pour whatever profits there are back into government coffers; however, each such building will now represent a private liquor store permit that will be auctioned off in the first two weeks of next month through a public online bidding conducted by auctioneers from McDougall Auctions.

Suffice to say, this unusual approach is already creating its fair share of questions and controversies. One of those questions is: Who will be the successful bidders that might be getting rich off all this?

“They’re salivating with what they can get out of this,” Bob Stadnichuk, a vice president with SGEU’s retail and regulatory Sector, told The Regina LeaderPost following last week’s announcement by SLGA Minister Lori Carr. “They know they’re going to be making some pretty heavy money on this. That’s exactly what they were looking for in this whole process: how much money they can make selling everything off.”

Given that it only cost $5,000 to bid on each store (an amount you get back if your bid is unsuccessful) and that that there is no minimum bid for a permit, there surely seems potential for someone to get rich.

Like any auction, you might get that permit for next to nothing if no one else bids and there might not be as many people bidding as you think, given that one of the conditions of the bid is that you must have a multimillion-dollar business plan to open a facility that will be operational in 18 months.

While this might pique the interests of few entrepreneurial types, it’s quite likely the cost of the permits will be driven up by the big players already privately selling liquor in this province.

“There won’t be any small players in this, in my opinion,” Stadnichuk said. “There will be the Coops, the Sobeys. I would say Superstore, Loblaws, and all those people that have the cash that can put forth that money.”

However it plays out, it brings to an end the era of public liquor retail outlets in this province in an intriguing way.

Mental Health –It’s Not What You Think.

Breaking the Stigma Around What it Means to Be Human.

Have you ever heard someone talk about mental health and thought, “that has nothing to do with me”? At one time or another, I certainly have, especially when I had little understanding, or big misunderstandings, around what those two important words mean.

The fact is, the term mental health can have a bad rap, and we often link the term with other words, such as crisis or illness, which can further instill fear and even carry stigma. In this column, I’ll invite you to shift your perspective on mental health, and even your understanding of the term, to something you can and should embrace. Thinking about and attending to our mental health (and that of those we care about), supports overall well-being. Giving mental health space in a conversation can decrease the stigma that is often attached to it, and in-fact, this attention can teach us a lot, if we’re willing to dive in.

For starters, I view mental health on a continuum from illness to wellness, and regardless of whether or not a person has a diagnosis of a mental illness, or a related disorder, one can have good or bad mental health. The first piece in breaking the stigma is understanding that we all have mental health, and next, it is in knowing that at any given time we can fall ill or work to become well. Our mental health is always in flux and it changes over time with our knowledge, skills, and even attitudes towards it.

I’ll share a personal example to frame this for us. I struggle with anxiety, and there have been times in my life where my anxiety was in complete control. Despite feeling well in many other areas of my life, I felt powerless to this beast that seemed to just stop me in my tracks: getting on elevators, being on airplanes, or gathering in tight spaces with lots of people could grind me to a halt. Even doing something I love to do today, speaking in front of a room full eager listeners, could completely overwhelm me. I would find myself flooded with emotions and thought stopping fears.

When I was first diagnosed with anxiety, I denied it. I certainly would not have told even the people closest to me that battling with anxiety was a daily struggle, until I learned that ignoring it, masking it, and fighting it constantly behind closed doors was giving it more power. You see, many of the issues we have to cope and manage with - especially when it comes to things like anxiety, depression, addictions, among other mental illnesses – gain power when we hide from them.

Once I invited my anxiety to take a seat in the room, and I faced it head on (pun intended), I was able to converse with it and allow it to hold space in therapy sessions and discussions with friends and family. Over time, I found my anxiety’s power diminished. Our struggles prefer to isolate us – and it’s when they get us alone that their power can feel impossible to overcome. Perspective is imperative to overcoming mental challenges and our own perspective, though key, is often not enough to help us conquer difficult emotions or tasks.

Since facing anxiety head on, I have learned and honed many skills and practices that have helped me to manage stress and alleviate most of the symptoms of anxiety; which still creep in from time to time. What facing, and talking about, my fears has also allowed me to do is move from a level of dysfunction to function when it comes to anxiety’s power. This ability was inside me the whole time, however, it took time and attention to grow into a skill I can call upon in a crisis today. I would also argue these skills are inside most, if not all, of us – and if you’re struggling and decide to reach out for help – you might find them inside of you as well. Often times, coping with and managing illness, suffering, and struggle, is just a matter of learning, honing, and practicing skills; including honouring the power of sitting with struggle, and meeting our fears where they are.

I have had my anxiety under my control for many years now, and even though it will always be a part of me, it’s a part I embrace today. I have learned to thank anxiety for keeping me on my toes, pushing me out of my comfort zone, and allowing me to build skills that I now get to use to help others who find themselves at the suffering end of what can feel like debilitating emotions.

Today, I remind everyone, if you’re human you have mental health and working with our mental health, as opposed to fighting against it, can be a remarkable lifelong journey. The problem is, stigma can keep many from doing this and ill health prevails – causing many of us to suffer. If we rely on statistics for any reassurance of this fact, you may find it interesting to know that today, close to one in four humans struggles with a diagnosable mental illness, and, by the time we reach forty - 50% of the population will have or have had a mental illness. In reality, every-single-human on the planet could face challenges regarding their mental well-being at some point in their lifetime; and so I ask, what could we learn from embracing these facts and befriending our mental health? I would also ask, what can facing these statistics, instead of running from them, teach us?

Well for starters, if we take them seriously, they can help to eliminate stigma, which - 1) prevents 70% of people globally from seeking help for their mental health; and, 2) is the reason 40% of parents admit they wouldn’t tell anyone, including a family doctor, if their child were experiencing a mental health problem . Stigma is also likely behind the reason nearly half of respondents to a 2016 survey agreed they have experienced feelings of anxiety or depression, yet never sought medical help for it. I wonder now, three years after the onset of a global pandemic, if it’s getting any better?

Despite all of that news, there is actually a ton of hope in these numbers, because they normalize the fact that life is incredibly hard – and – many of us are afraid to face that. Not feeling alone is key to coping and managing, so how do we change this?

I feel the key to changing the bleakness of mental health challenges is to learn that we actually have a lot of power over our ability to cope, manage, and even heal our mental health: we just can’t always go it alone. It can, and often does, take a village, and that’s the great thing about breaking the stigma – we come out from behind the curtain (think the wizard of Oz) and there’s actually a lot we all have in common. Honouring our pain gives us access to the village, which has always been right there, however, due to fear, or the ever-present stigma we attach to our own mental health (shame, fear, and even guilt), we can be prevented from just reaching out.

Our individual and combined healing boils down to a collective understanding and relationship to some of the facts around mental health. If we are open to gaining skills, using tools, and learning and talking about our feelings, then our ability to cope with and manage stress increases, as does our understanding of, and connection to, our emotions; which can be bossy, but not impossible to manage!

If you, or someone you love are struggling there are many places to reach out to, some of which I have listed below. If you would like to chat further or follow my own journey in continued education, counselling, and informing our community through coaching and consulting on this topic, join me on one of my many platforms where I work to break stigma and humanize the conversation around mental well-being. I can be found, most accessibly, on Instagram @drjudyjaunzemsfernuk; or you can read more formalized works and find out about services and supports on my website: www.drjudyjaunzemsfernuk.com.

For now, be well, take care of each other, and above all, know that you’re not alone! We all have mental health.

Crisis Suicide Helpline 306-525-5333

Kid’s Help Phone 1-800-668-6868

Saskatoon Community Mental Health and Addiction Services Intake Line 306-655-7777

Dr. Judy Jaunzems-Fernuk, RTC, MTC is an educator and mental health practitioner in Saskatoon and surrounding area. She teaches and conducts research at the University of Saskatchewan, and runs a private practice where she offers counselling, coaching, and consulting around all things mental health. Judy can be contacted for inquiries about individual mental health services or supports for groups, schools, community organizations, and businesses through the following: E-mail judy@prairieskyeducation.ca - Phone or Text: 306-986-2663

Letter to the Editor

The Martensville Messenger welcomes letters to the editor for publication. Letters must be signed and a phone number and/or email address included so the writer’s identity can be verified. ALL letters are the opinion of the writer and NOT the Martensville Messenger. We reserve the right to edit letters for length, clarity or compliance with the current standards of public taste. Submit your letter to news@martensvillemessenger.ca or mail to Box 333 - Martensville, SK S0K 2T0.

Submitted by Dr. Judy Jaunzems-Fernuk, RTC, MTC

S/Sgt Teniuk Embraces New Role as Commander of Warman/Martensville RCMP Detachment

The Warman/Martensville RCMP detachments recently saw a change in their Commander, with S/Sgt Jason Teniuk now in charge of operations at the local detachments.

Teniuk, who has been a member of the RCMP since 2001 has had numerous postings throughout his 22 years of service, spending time in Shellbrook, Prince Albert, North Battleford and Regina Major Crimes; however, the majority of his service time (14 years) was spent in North Battleford.

Throughout that time, Teniuk worked in General Duty policing, Combined Forces, General Investigation, Violent Offender, Major Crimes and more, with the last two years spent running the North Battleford detachment. “I have done quite a few different things, but I got to

a point where I was looking for something different and wanted a change of pace. The North Battleford detachment is approximately double the size of the cluster the Warman detachment covers, so it is a big change of pace to get used to,” Teniuk said.

Teniuk came to the Warman detachment in October of 2022, and since then, has been settling in and enjoying his new environment.

“Although it has taken some getting used to, I am enjoying slowing down a little. The communities of Warman and Martensville have been so welcoming and everyone seems to be very in tune with what the RCMP is doing here. I am looking forward to seeing where things go from here,” Teniuk stated.

One of the biggest changes for Teniuk was the difference in the type of calls the RCMP receives in the local detachment compared to what calls came in during his time in North Battleford. Instead, at the Warman/ Martensville detachment, Teniuk explained that there is a lot more assistance calls, and traffic related calls.

“I wouldn’t say there is no crime here, it is pretty steady, but North Battleford was far more violent.

Homicide was not an unusual event there and there was a lot of shootings and gun activity, so that kept the RCMP members extremely busy. Here, I can’t believe

the volume of traffic coming in and out of the communities each day, so it’s no wonder there are more traffic calls.”

For Teniuk, one of the biggest challenges in his new role is the area of coverage. As Commander, Teniuk oversees 30 officers throughout the Warman, Martensville, Radisson and Delisle detachments.

“That is something that is new to me. It is a large area to cover and it gets to be complex when you have so many different members working in so many different areas trying to manage of that within there. The drive time can be very extensive as well, but my goal is to ensure that we are as efficient as possible and that we have every piece of equipment needed with us when we respond to calls, so we can ensure we are prepared for whatever comes our way.”

In recent months, Teniuk stated that there has been a trend going down for calls, with many calls coming in regarding travellers that are illprepared for cold weather and storms, noting that in December, there was approximately 13 calls that came in from people that were trapped due to weather conditions.

“That isn’t our typical role, but we have a responsibility to do that in the absence of any other option. We aren’t here to be a taxi-cab service, but if there is someone in real trouble, then that is what we are here for is to help.”

Looking forward, one of the main things that S/Sgt Teniuk wants the public to remember is not to be afraid to call their local RCMP. “I have heard numerous people say that they don’t want to bother the police because we are too busy, but that’s what we are there for. I encourage people to call if they have an issue, but also to be patient because sometimes members get tied up in something, like the recent accident in Osler. We strive to ensure everyone gets a call back, but if you want to know what’s going on, give us a call and someone will get back to you. Our goal is always to help out the absolute best we can.”