Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Serving the Hub of the North since 1960
Volume 57 • Issue 24
Rambow finally sworn in as provincial court judge BY KYLE DARBYSON KYLE@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
STUDENTS SWING AT CABARET ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT PAGE 2
GUTSY WALK RAISES $10,000 NEWS - PAGE 3
MANAGEMENT POSITIONS CUT AT NRHA NEWS - PAGE 6
SECOND THOMPSONITE JOINS BOMBERS DANCE TEAM SPORTS - PAGE 10
Even though Todd Rambow has been active in Thompson since Dec. 7, his appointment as a provincial court judge was formally recognized on June 9. Rambow’s swearing-in ceremony at the courthouse was significantly less rigid and formal that most legal proceedings. Despite the presence of high-ranking dignitaries who flew in from throughout the province, the speakers were given plenty of room to inject levity and humour into their remarks about Thompson’s newest judge. Shauna Hewitt-Michta, acting Chief Judge of the provincial court, took full advantage of this looser format during her welcoming remarks, reflecting on Rambow’s decision to cancel the original swearingin ceremony on March 10 due of extreme weather conditions. ”As we boarded the plane this morning in suit jackets and sunglasses, not parkas and balaclavas, I think we were all thinking that Todd’s decision to postpone in March was proof of his wisdom and common sense,” she said. Various speakers spent the bulk of the ceremony going over Rambow’s job experience in the world of law, which dates back more than 20 years. Outside of serving as the
Thompson Citizen photo by Kyle Darbyson Judge Todd Rambow (left) takes the oath of office and allegiance in the presence of acting Chief Judge Shauna HewittMichta (centre) and Judge Sheldon Lanchbery (right) of the Court of Appeal and the Court of Queen’s Bench. senior Crown attorney in The Pas for the last decade, Rambow also put in his time as a law clerk for the Federal Court of Canada, an associate lawyer working out of Dawson Creek, British Columbia, and the owner of his own law office in Swan River. It’s these qualifications that helped Rambow clinch the nomination to replace Judge Alain Huberdeau, who transferred from Thompson to Winnipeg in December 2016. “It’s rare in Manitoba for judges to be transferred from one court centre to another. There were exceptional cir-
cumstances in that case,” said Hewitt-Michta. “Suffice it to say, Judge Rambow has very big shoes to fill, but we are confident that he is up to the challenge.” Many of the speakers also highlighted Rambow’s dedication to sports and outdoor activities, particularly when it comes to fishing. “No one in Manitoba has fished with more judges and justices than Todd,” said Hewitt-Michta. Despite these humorous asides, the seriousness of Rambow’s new position was not lost on the speakers, who recognize that the provincial court is respon-
sible for overseeing 95 per cent of all criminal cases in Manitoba. “The provincial court is a court with the most contact with the public,” said Cynthia Lau, director of advocacy and public relations from the Manitoba Bar Association. “A provincial court judge must have the ability to relate to people from all spectrums of society, an ability to be patient with people and provide explanations in a way that is understood by everybody.” The ceremony ended with comments from Judge Rambow himself, who
thanked his family, friends, and colleagues for their continued support throughout his career. He pledged to work hard, remember his roots, and to never forget that “justice can, and often should be, tempered with compassion and mercy and that many people appearing before the court have a lot less than I do.” He closed out Friday’s ceremony with a final pledge to “ensure that those who appointed me … are never regretful of their decision and that I always work hard to promote the administration of justice.“
No train service to Churchill before winter, OmniTrax says Washed-out track bed sections and damaged bridges along the Hudson Bay Railway have led OmniTrax to announce that it doesn’t expect train service north of Gillam to resume before winter. The company, which owns the railway from The Pas to Churchill as well as the Port of Churchill, which stopped shipping grain last summer, announced June 9 that severe flooding between Amery, which is 28.9 rail miles northeast of Gillam, and the end of the line at Churchill meant that train service between those points is suspended indefinitely. A preliminary engineering assessment found 19 areas where the track bed has
washed away and five visibly damaged bridges, and there are 30 more bridges and 600 culverts that allow water to pass underneath the track that will needed to have their structural integrity assessed. "The damage is unprecedented and catastrophic,” said OmniTrax chief commercial officer Peter Touesnard in a press release. “While the Hudson Bay Railway requires significant seasonal maintenance, the extent of the damage created by flooding this year is by far the worst we have ever seen. The water receded to near normal levels only yesterday, and we hope to have engineers on the ground as soon as possible to conduct
a through assessment. It will be several weeks before we have a final report of damage to the line but we do not expect to be operational before the winter, and are concerned that the future of the track is in jeopardy. With the initial assessment we received from the engineering consultant today, we made the decision to announce an indefinite service suspension so communities served by the railway can develop long-term plans for the movement of the supplies
and resources they need.” A statement from Churchill mayor and council after OmniTrax’s announcement said that they had learned of the indefinite closure through the press. “The loss of our rail line is disastrous and we fully understand the community has many emotions surrounding this news,” the statement said. “Prior to this announcement, we had already reached out to both orders of government and begun to work with industry so that alternative arrangements could be made to ensure the effects to the community were minimal during the temporary outage. Today’s announcement makes it clear that a longer-
term solution is required. In addition to our engagement with governments, it is our position that every effort must be made that ensures service interruption of our rail line is minimized. Mayor and council will be reaching out to local agencies to establish a local response committee that will help coordinate community input and provide assistance to mayor and council in areas such as employment, commerce, tourism, transportation, and any other areas requiring attention. We share the community’s frustration and we must remain united in the face of this adversity.” The Hudson Bay Railway has been unable to send Continued on Page 10