2023 Local Headlines…

December 29, 2023 Local News
trending-55-newsroom-logo-jpg-15

2023 Local Headlines

What was “Making Local Conversation” in 2023?

January

  • 2 people were arrested and nearly $15,000 worth of drugs were taken off the streets in Grande Prairie.
  • The Provincial Government transferred the property, once occupied by the old Hospital in High Prairie to Alberta Health Services. Terms were not disclosed.
  • Peace Regional police arrested two for assault in Nampa. The victim received serious, but non life-threatening injuries.
  • No injuries were reported after a Natural Gas Vapour Leak in an area east of Valleyview. Evacuations had to take place.
  • Peace River Council increased utility rates by 5%
  • Four people were arrested on outstanding warrants for weapons offenses on the Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, west of Valleyview.
  • The Axxcelus Capital Fund have closed a land deal with the Whitefish Lake First Nation, near High Prairie. The deal is 2,600 hectares of land, and 95 contiguous grazing leases on the north and northeast portion of the Reserve.
  • High Level’s Fire Department adopts a Paid-On-Call service to try and boost recruitment.
  • 14 cars jumped the tracks in a train derailment in High Prairie. No injuries were reported.
  • Water Rates were increased in the MD of Smoky River.
  • Tax Rates in Big Lakes County were increased by as much as 6%.
  • School Divisions start tackling Mental Health issues for teachers and students, starting with St. Stephens School in Valleyview.

February

  • The Peace River School Division began the process of turning the old Bus Garage in Manning into a Tech. Lab. When not in use, the building will be in operation with Northern Lakes College and Northwestern Polytechnic for Trades courses.
  • The Sagitawa Friendship Centre in Peace River is receiving part of $150,000 from the Provincial Government, that went to the Alberta Native Friendship Centres Association, to aid the expansion of programming to help stop violence against Indigenous women.
  • Nampa’s Kayla Skrlik participates in her first Canadian Women’s Curling championship in Kamloops BC. Skrlik was eliminated from the playoffs on the last day of the round-robin.
  • Always Find a Reason to Smile Suicide Prevention Network, has teamed up with the Resource Center for Suicide Prevention in Grande Prairie to put in a satellite office in Grimshaw.
  • 36 year-old Derek Charles Shaw of High Prairie, faces 17 new charges of drugs and firearms, after being arrested in a taxi cab in Grande Prairie.
  • The towns of High Level, Peace River, and Slave Lake, the City of Grande Prairie, plus Mackenzie County, Northern Sunrise County, County of Northern Lights, and the MD of Peace, have joined the Community Rail Advocacy Alliance.
  • Mercer Peace River hires some of the workers displaced by layoffs from mills in Prince George BC.
  • The MD of Peace has closed Elk Island Park, citing the cost of maintenance.
  • No one was hurt after a passenger van collided with a school bus in Peace River. 10 passengers were on board at the time.
  • The West Fraser Mill in High Prairie had to halt operations, because of a fire from a de-barker in the Mechanical Room. No injuries were reported.
  • Crystal and Mark Owens of Peace River have been recognized for excellence as Sports Builders by winning the Northwest Alberta Sport Excellence Award for their work with Peace River Football.
  • Misery Mountain Ski Resort in Peace River finally opens for the season, after months of finding a new board, and insurance issues.
  • Mackenzie House in High Level is getting $3.5 million from the province to get more affordable housing in the community.
  • $5 million dollars in Grant money is being earmarked by the Provincial Government for Indigenous business opportunities. This includes First Nations in Loon River, Woodland Cree, and Whitefish Lake receiving funding for Forest Harvesting, while Little Red River gets money for the Caribou Mountain Homes Expansion project.

March

  • The High Prairie Red Wings win their third straight West Division title in the Greater Metro Hockey League, but run into a brick wall at the League Championship tournament in Temiscaming Quebec, getting outscored 26-8 in their three games.
  • The RCMP began investigations into a fatal dog attack of a 5-year-old boy on the Whitefish Lake First Nation. As many as three dogs were allegedly in the attack.
  • Berwyn Increases utility rates by 18%
  • A 2% tax increase is adopted in Grimshaw.
  • $1.125 Million dollars is earmarked by the Provincial Government or the increase of efforts to support economic growth and diversification, which benefits the Peace Region Economic Development Alliance, which includes Peace River, Fairview, and Valleyview, and the Regional Economic Development Initiative of Northwest Alberta, which includes High Level, La Crete, Fort Vermilion, Mackenzie County, and Paddle Prairie.
  • The town of High Prairie fails to qualify as a finalist for KRAFT Hockeyville.
  • The Alberta Pond Hockey Championships hit the ice in Lac Cardinal for the first time in three years.
  • Utility Fees in Berwyn increase by 18%.
  • Murray Maran will replace Laura Poloz as Superintendent of the High Prairie School Division at the beginning of the 2024 school year. Poloz spent nearly 40 years in the Division.
  • The Provincial Government earmarks $161 million dollars to the La Crete Bridge Project.
  • The Peace Region is hit with a 4.6 earthquake, centered just outside of Reno. No injuries or damage reported.

April

  • Constable Julie-Ann Strilaiff of the Peace Regional RCMP, is one of 11 individuals and organizations winning the Alberta Community Justice Awards. The Constable works as a liason between the detachment and the Duncan’s First nation.
  • The Emergency Department at St. Theresa General Hospital in Fort Vermilion, is without the lab and diagnostic imaging services.
  • The Women in the North Conference takes place in Peace River, Valleyview, Manning, Fairview, and Spirit River.
  • The Grimshaw/Berwyn and District Health Center’s hours in the Emergency Department have extended the temporary hours measure, until further notice.
  • The North Peace Navigators of the NWJHL are awarded the 2024 Jr. B Provincial Hockey championship hosting rights.
  • Approximately 150,000 employees of the Public Service Alliance of Canada in the Peace Region are on strike, thus affecting aspects of tax season, including filing.
  • 38 year-old Jason Tallcree has been sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole for 25 years, in the case against 15 year-old Roderica Ribbonleg. She was discovered in a shallow grave, badly beaten, and clothes displaced near John D’Or Prairie.
  • $2.2 million is available from the Provincial Government for the paving of the road to Hilliard’s Bay Provincial Park near High Prairie.
  • Driftpile Cree Nation Councillor Starr Sasakamoose Sr. is found dead at a residence on the reserve. His son, Starr Sasaskamoose Jr. stands accused, and is arrested.
  • Mathew Blachford is found not guilty in the October 2019 murder of 37 year-old Victorine Jennifer Donavan in Peace River.
  • Housing organizations in Alberta are getting renovation and upgrade funding from the Provincial Government, that includes $2.1 Million dollars is going to the outfits, which includes $64,000 to the Peace River Regional Women’s Shelter.

May

  • The Peace River School Division has been granted collegiate school status for the Driver Training School for Class 1 Drivers.
  • Fires rage across much of Northwestern Alberta. The hardest hit areas are Rainbow Lake, Fox Lake, Fairview, and the Cleardale areas.
  • The Peace Energy Co-operative begins the proposal of a new solar wind farm for an area west of Peace River.
  • Kenneth Ferguson and Gerald Capot are arrested and charged in the case of the Grouard Church Fire. The 120 year-old church was significantly damaged.
  • The 2023 Wheatbelt Baseball League season gets underway with the newest team, the High Prairie Sauce.
  • 18 year-old Tobias Hooka-Nooza of Busche River, is arrested on sexual assault and child pornography charges. Authorities say some of the alleged assaults happened to a toddler-aged or younger child.
  • Fire Crews were called out to the Peace River Industrial Park to battle a grass fire. Forestry Crews were also called in.
  • High Prairie RCMP arrested a 31 year-old man in connection to an an assault on the White Lake First nation. When cops arrived, they found 56-year-old Beatrice Laboucan dead.

June

  • The High Prairie Red Wings are now a member of the new independent Nation Junior Hockey League, thus severing ties with the Greater Metro Hockey League.
  • Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announces Cabinet, which includes Central Peace Notley MLA Todd Loewen remaining as Forestry, Parks and Tourism Minister. Peace River MLA Dan Williams is the new minister of Mental Health and Addictions. Lesser Slave Lake MLA Scott Sinclair is the Chair of the Public Safety and Wellness policy Committee.
  • Laura Poloz retires after nearly 40 years in the High Prairie School Division.
  • The Resource Center for Suicide Prevention sub-office had its grand opening with Peace River MLSA, and Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams in attendance.
  • Peace Regional RCMP has issued a Shelter in Place in Cadotte Lake.
  • Tolko Industries looks at the end of 2023 as a possible re-opening of the Mill in High Prairie. A fire in the Press building in May 2022 caused significant damage to the facility.
  • Water rates increase in Manning.
  • $1.2 million dollars of renovations start on the High Prairie Sports Palace.
  • $120,000 of roof renovations begin on the Peace River Museum.
  • Alberta Health Services is now offering translation services. A total of 23 Indigenous languages can be interpreted in the service.  That includes Cree, Dene, and Michif in the Peace and Mackenzie regions.
  • The Peace River Fire Department debuts its new 110-foot ladder platform truck. Extensive training continues with the truck and crew.
  • One person died and a mother and young son from Berwyn, are in hospital after a two-vehicle collision in Fairview.

July

  • The Peace Regional RCMP successfully used the Bait Vehicle Program to arrest four suspects.
  • Peace River’s Chad Burns was the overall winner of the annual Jet Boat races in Peace River.
  • Shelly Lynn Willier takes over as the new superintendent of the Northland School Division.
  • 42 year-old Richard Grey of Edmonton, is arrested in High Prairie. Drugs, over $1,000 in cash, and over $24,000 of drugs were recovered in the investigation.
  • Manoir-du-Lac in McLennan has reached a settlement in regards to COVID-19. The settlement relates to residents at the Complex, who tested positive in the Spring of 2020 and became ill, or passed away.
  • Abbie Cottingham, and Elle MacIntosh of high Prairie were part of the Team Alberta 4 x 50-metre U-19 female freestyle swim team, who won the bronze medal at the North American Indigenous Games in Halifax.
  • A 41 year old Whitecourt man died in a Helicopter Crash near Haig Lake, East of Manning. The man crashed while fighting a Wildfire.

August

  • Derek Harold Ward is arrested and charged in the death of 44 year-old Fred Whitehead in an incident in Downtown Peace River.
  • The Peace River Stampeders win the 2023 Wheatbelt Baseball League Championship.
  • The Holy Family Catholic Regional Division has added air quality monitoring devices to all its schools. They’ll also be able to detect things like vaping.
  • The motion to accept the Peace Regional Mental Health & Addictions Task Force has been approved in Peace River.
  • Tristan Grey has been found not criminally responsible in the death of 56 year-old Beatrice Laboucan.
  • The High Prairie Vet Clinic permanently closed, due to lack of vet, and the losing of money.
  • The County of Northern Lights declares an Agricultural disaster, citing extreme dry conditions.
  • A 17 year-old Dixonville teen is dead following a single vehicle rollover near Rycroft. Two others had minor injuries.

September

  • More than 200 people attend this year’s Peace River Job Fair at Riverdrive Mall. More than three dozen businesses took part.
  • The High Level Fire Department now possesses four Wildland Skid Units with the ability to turn a pick-up truck into a fire truck.
  • AFSC expands their “Meals in the Field” promotion to Northern Alberta for the first time. Winners include families from Clairmont, plus the areas of Manning, Worsley, and High Prairie.
  • The Woodland Cree First Nation received a prestigious Golden Eagle Award as recognition of the Land Code that was passed last October. The Woodland Cree First Nation is the first in Alberta to receive the honour.
  • An additional $3 million dollars is being provided by the provincial government for front-line workers supporting individuals with FASD. This is on top of the $25 million dollars given for operating costs to FASD networks in Grande Prairie, which serves places like High Prairie, Peace River, Fairview and Valleyview.

October

  • Intermittent physician coverage starts happening at the Fairview Health Complex.
  • The Peace River Library Board is awarded the Municipal Affairs Ministry Award for Public Library Excellence, by the Provincial Government.
  • A 64 year-old woman from High Level is dead following a two-vehicle collision east of Slave Lake. Alcohol and drugs are not considered factors in the crash.
  • Sandra Wapoose of John D’or Prairie is sentenced to 9 months in prison, after pleading guilty to manslaughter, in the 2019 death of Barry Lizotte in Fort Vermilion.
  • Students in the Northland School Division have become authors for the third time with the book, “Weaving Hearts Together”
  • Tyler Airth will be stepping in to run the meetings, with Lane Monteith voted in as Deputy Reeve in Big Lakes County.
  • ABO Wind Canada conduct the second of two Open Houses regarding their Wind Farm, on private land between Falher and Nampa.

November

  • The Whitefish First Nation opens a new Healing Shelter for Women and Children in Atikameg. It’s one of 12 new shelters provided for First Nation’s communities across the country.
  • Two people were taken to hospital in serious condition after a two-vehicle head-on collision on the East Hill in Peace River.

December

  • The RCMP launches a service that allows residents to report crime on-line.
  • The Peace Regional Women’s Shelter encounter a “Black Mold” issue on the second floor of the shelter. Assessments have been undertaken and recommendations will be provided to the Board.
  • Two teens and a youth from John D’Or Prairie, are arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection to the death of 25 year-old Nathan Nanooch.

That’s what was “Making Local Conversation” in 2023!

For Trending 55, I’m Keith Hopper!