Nickel Belt News
Volume 57 Number 39
Friday, September 29, 2017
Thompson, Manitoba
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RCMP detachment gets custom wolf statue BY KYLE DARBYSON KYLE@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
Thompson is renowned for its painted wolf statues and a new colourful canine was added to the mix as of Sept. 26. With its red serge, brown campaign hat and yellowstriped breeches, this piece of artwork is right at home at the entrance to Thompson’s RCMP detachment on Selkirk Avenue. According to detachment Insp. Kevin Lewis, this latest wolf statue installation is much overdue. “All the prominent organizations, and some of the private businesses, have one, and it makes sense that the police would have one too,” he said. “So it kind of ties into that whole community aspect and brings us into the Spirit Way.” The Thompson RCMP tasked local artist Jan Hall with bringing this project to life, since she already worked on a flower-themed wolf statue that currently resides next to the Heritage North Museum.
Nickel Belt News photo by Kyle Darbyson Artist Jan Hall poses next to her latest wolf statue painting with members of the Thompson RCMP on Sept. 26. “We’ve actually seen some of her work,” said Lewis. “She had a little bit of a vi-
sion for how she saw the RCMP one rolling out … and we really liked what she had
proposed.” Lewis also added a little bit of himself to this piece,
since his campaign hat is currently sitting atop the wolf’s head.
“I gave them mine so that it kind of… immortalizes me in Thompson to some degree,” he said. “My hat will always be here on that wolf provided someone doesn’t steal it.” While a plaque still has to be added to this statue, Spirit Way organizer Volker Beckmann said the turnaround on this project was incredibly quick, since they were only given the green light around four to five weeks ago. “We could have been done during AuroraFest, but we wanted to make sure the paint cured and dried,” he said. In Beckmann’s estimation, there are now over 50 Spirit Way wolf statues on display throughout Manitoba and beyond. While around 36 statues take up residence in Thompson, the rest can be found scattered throughout Winnipeg, Churchill, Lorette, and even New York State. According to the Spirit Way’s official website, each wolf statue is solid concrete, weighs 5,500 pounds, and stands 7.5 feet tall.
Residents reclaim the streets during Take Back the Night BY KYLE DARBYSON KYLE@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
For over three decades, people throughout the world have used Take Back the Night marches to bring awareness to the issue of violence against women. The residents of Thompson are no different and took to the streets Sept. 21, since the Hub of the North is not immune from the sobering reality of domestic abuse. “At least one out of every three women worldwide have been beaten, forced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime,” said Mary Demare, a representative from the Thompson Crisis Centre. “Of these crimes, less than 50 per cent are reported to the police. It’s time to make a change.” With these statistics in mind, the 45 or so people on hand for Thursday’s march began their journey at Robin’s Donuts
and made their way into Thompson’s downtown core via Selkirk Avenue before eventually looping around Thompson Drive and Mystery Lake Road to reach their original starting point. This section of the city has been known as the site of many assaults, especially in a year where overall cases of violent crime have shot up by 28 per cent. “Take Back the Night events are geared towards empowering women to confront fears about assault by reclaiming the evening streets en masse,” said Elizabeth Lychuk, a representative from the Northern Regional Health Authority. “The events call for safety and equality for women in all places at all times.” While the number of overall participants was defi nitely down from the last couple iterations, this year’s Take Back the Night event still attracted a num-
Nickel Belt News photo by Kyle Darbyson Residents of Thompson marked Take Back the Night by walking through the downtown core Sept. 21. ber of influential fi gures from the surrounding area. Thompson city councillor Blake Ellis represented Mayor Dennis Fenske at the event’s opening cere-
monies, where he reminded everyone that domestic abuse disproportionately affects women and girls in the Indigenous community. “There’s far too many
in the province and across the country, and especially from the north,” he said, referencing the national inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women
and girls. “Many of our sisters and our mothers and our friends and our neighbours that have gone missing are no longer with us because of violence.”