Much has been written about the outdoor recreation opportunities in Northern Manitoba: vast forests, abundant lakes, and pristine beauty are an easy sell in southern markets enamoured with the wilderness.
In this respect, the focus has normally remained on the summer season and its inherent pursuits. However, people who live in the area know that the fun doesn’t stop once snow shovels replace lawn mowers … for many, it ramps up!
To discuss the development and promotion of a backbone winter activity in the north, close to 40 people gathered centrally in Snow Lake for a Northern Manitoba Snowmobile Tourism Summit. Accommodated comfortably in the community’s Legion, the group, which hailed from as far north as Gillam and as far south as Swan River, discussed strategies in making Northern Manitoba a destination for snowmobilers.
The Nov. 15 summit was facilitated by Kent Stewart and ran from early morning to late afternoon. The session was held as an open discussion and once underway, set four fundamental objectives towards the development of snowmobile tourism. They were: understanding the strategy and context of the objective; identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges along the way; identifying strategic priorities over the next three to five years; and, developing key results over the next one to three years.
The discussion was shared and frank and the facilitator, at times, had trouble keeping up with the points made. One idea would be written on the flip chart, as several others feeding into it were being voiced from the floor. As an outside observer, it seemed a good involvement of ideas and stories, not limited to the positive.
Speaking with Manitoba North’s Al McLauchlan during the event, he noted that it was great to see people from Gillam to Swan River in one room discussing something of such importance to northern tourism. McLauchlan advised that once the summit ended, a final report would be drafted outlining discussion, decisions, and a strategy of achieving outcomes, and then delivered to each participant. Someone will then travel and meet with stakeholders on the strategy. He noted that some items would be time-sensitive and as such would be actioned immediately; others would be scheduled within clear timeframes.
In other news, I thought it would be nice to provide an update on two items that I have brought forward in past columns. Firstly, in the Nov. 9 column I mentioned how a group of concerned Snow Lake citizens organized and came to the rescue of what they thought was an injured Canada goose. After local Kim Burton posted a photo of the snowed-in honker on Facebook, noting that it just wasn’t interested in flying south with its downy brethren, a group pulled together and captured the bird. They sent it to Winnipeg at Gardewine’s expense and awaited word on a diagnosis. Well, last week word was received from the Prairie Wildlife Rehabilitation Center that they had a vet look at and x-ray the goose … everything was fine. They will house it for the winter and release it to the wild in the spring.
The second item was from the Sept. 14 column, wherein I reported that Totem Studios and partners Steve Payne and Scott McKay had initiated a two-part project. Firstly, a one-hour documentary about women in mining, reflecting on the contributions of Kate Rice, and, secondly, a feature film on a portion of Rice’s life, with a working title of “Woman of the Wilds.”
I spoke with Payne via email several days ago; he advised, “Funding for the project remains in the early stage; efforts are being refocused and intensified.” He added that the studio/partners may also consider going the social funding route. “Our first step is to get up north and meet with the mining interests and develop a plan for the project that will meet the needs of all stakeholders,” said Payne. “I am dedicated to the project and its potential and deeply appreciate the support … We will make every effort to keep the project moving forward.”
