Wednesday, March Wednesday, May 21, 23,2018 2018
Serving theHub Hubof of the the North 1960 Serving the Northsince since 1960
Volume58 58••Issue Issue 21 12 Volume
Seniorboundaries girls' basketball team Electoral commission proposes combining The Pas and Flin Flon ridings, Manitoba's best once again adding Gillam and Nelson House to Thompson
BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
NEW NORTHERN STORE OPENS IN MARCHING SHAMATTAWA STUDENTS NEWS AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE PAGE 2 NEWS - PAGE 2
JETS’ FANS CUP HOPES DASHED SEXUAL ASSAULT'SSPORTS EFFECTS REMAIN AFTER6-7 40 PAGES YEARS NEWS - PAGE 3
BADMINTON TEAMS NAMED ATLETES OF THE MONTH SCHOOL BOARD REJECTS TRIMMING TRUSTEESPORTS PAGE 8 NUMBERS NEWS - PAGE 7
NELSON HOUSE FUNDRAISER ON MIDGET AA KING MINERS SATURDAY WIN PROVINCIALS NEWS SPORTSPAGE - PAGE109
It took a couple of close games and even a bit of BY IAN GRAHAM overtime magic, but R.D. EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET Parker Collegiate's senior The Manitoba Electoral girls' basketball teamCombeat Divisions Boundaries all challengers at theto AAA mission is proposing add high school provincials in one new electoral division in Winnipeg and to reduce Winnipeg March 15-17 to the number claim the titleinasNorthern the top Manitoba to three tofor reflect team in Manitoba the population changes its third time in the pastin four interim report. years. These changes would reThe Trojans the sult in most, but beat not quite University Winnipeg all, electoralofdivisions in Collegiate Wesmen the province being 58-50 within in overtime St. Patrick's a 10 per centon variance above or below the target populaDay to claim the provintion championship. of 22,427 peopleThe per cial division, a number derived teams were close through by dividing Manitoba’s most of the game, tied at 2016 census population of the end of the first and 1,278,365 by 57, the numsecond quartersdivisions and RDPC ber of electoral in behind by two to start the the province. fourth, though would they were Thompson be down many nine about by 4.5asper centasbelow the target despite points in population the third quarter. being adjusted to include The Trojans tied the score Gillam and 44-44 withNelson aboutHouse. four Flin Flon and The built Pas minutes left and then would be slightly over the up a five-point lead, but target population after being the Wesmen battled back combined, with the northto the game erntie portion of theand Flinsend Flon it to overtime. The team division being moved into didn't let the late riding. comethe Keewatinook A new division back byelectoral their opponents called Kameesak (which affect them though, and means “big” in Cree) would outscored the Wesmen 9-1 in overtime to claim the championship title. "It was tied for most of the game," said coach Christine Sim. "We were down for most of the game but then we came back usually and always tied it by the end of the quarter. Then we went into overtime for five minutes and buckled down." RDPC had never won a senior provincial basketball title until 2105 when they finally claimed the crown after having lost in the finals the two previous years. They repeated as champions in 2016. The senior girls lost both their games at provincials last year after most of the members of the championship squads graduated, but the junior girls team won RDPC's secondever junior varsity AAA girls' championship. Sim, who was the coach of the champion junior
be formed from the eastern part of The Pas riding and the northern portion of the current Swan River, with the remainder of the Swan River electoral division being combined with The Pas. “While there is some population growth in Northern Manitoba, that growth is significantly slower than in the south of the province,” said the interim report. “The proposed electoral divisions in the north have well balanced populations, while respecting travel patterns and communities of interest.” Public hearings will be held on the proposed changes, which also include adjusting the size and boundaries and changing the names of electoral divisions in the southern and western areas of Manitoba. In Churchill, a meeting will be held at 10 a.m. Sept. 11 in the overpass, while at 5 p.m. that day there will be another hearing at the Best Western Hotel in Thompson. On Sept. 12, there will be meetings at noon at the Victoria Inn in Flin Flon and at 5 p.m. at the Sam Waller Museum in The Pas. Following those hearings, the commission will
complete a final report with finalized electoral divisions that will be submitted to the lieutenant-governor and the speaker of the Legislative Assembly by Dec. 31 of this year. The boundaries commission includes Chief Justice Richard Chartier, UCN deans of arts, business and science Harvey Briggs, University of Manitoba president David Barnard, Brandon University interim president Steven Robinson and Manitoba chief electoral officer Shipra Verma. Divisions south of the 53rd parallel can deviate by 10 per cent above or below the target population and those to the north can deviate by up to 25 per cent. Keewatinook is currently about 20 per cent below the quotient and Thompson about 13 per cent while The Pas is less than two per cent below it. Flin Flon, however, is 30 per cent below the quotient based on 2008 census numbers. The commission received 46 submissions since January that the members used to inform their decisions about how electoral divisions should be adjusted.
Thompson Citizen image courtesy of Manitoba Electoral Divisions Boundaries Commission A map shows proposed new electoral divisions the Manitoba Electoral Divisions Boundaries Commission is recommending in an interim report.
End of an era
Thompson Citizen photo courtesy of RDPC Athletics R.D. Parker Collegiate's senior girls' basketball team poses with their provincial championship banner and trophy after beating the University of Winnipeg Collegiate Wesmen 58-50 in overtime to claim the school's third senior girls’ basketball championship in four years March 17. team last year, said it helped to have players who had been to this stage before. "I took four of the Grade 10s for that reason too because they've been there, they understand what they have to do," she said. "They're all good players, they all know each other, they've played together, most of them, for a couple of years so they knew each other really well." The players who moved up to the senior squad this year also meshed well with the players who were already there. "They just ended up working together and got comfortable with each
other," said Sim, adding that the team went into the tournament with the mentality that they could win it all. "I think that it helped that they had played together before as well and a lot of them had been in the situation before at provincials whether it was the championship finals before that some of the seniors had won a couple years ago that were still on the team and then all the jayvees that had won last year." The girls had a tough opening game at this year's tournament, beating the Lorette Collegiate Scorpions 64-61. "It wasn't one of our
best games, that for sure," Sim said about the opener, ascribing the closeness to nerves on the part of her players. The Trojans then cruised to a berth in the final with an 81-39 victory over the Westgate Mennonite Collegiate Wings. "That one was much better." After claiming the title, the players were "ecstatic," said Sim. "They're a pretty excited group of girls, that's for sure," the coach said. "Definitely lots of emotions, especially for the Grade 12s with it being their last year, it was a good way for them to go
out." Ashley Williams was named the tournament MVP, while Hannah Murdy was selected as a tournament all-star. Murdy and teammate The McDonald’s on MysCasey Singh are the only tery Lake Road was torn members of this year's down May 18 to make way team to have been on for construction of a new, the roster for the 2016 larger version on the same championship. lot and part of the adjacent The Trojan boys opened property. See related column provincials with a 76-58 on Page 4. loss to the second-ranked Neelin High School SparThompson Citizen photo tans, who went on to capby Ian Graham ture the championship. Their tournament ended with a 70-67 loss to the St. John's-Ravenscourt Eagles in the first round of the consolation playoffs.