A 22-year-old man has been pronounced deceased and a 34-year-old female left with life-threatening injuries following a single-vehicle collision in Norway House.
Norway House RCMP responded to the call at 3:20 am last Saturday, May 9, finding that both the male driver and female passenger had been ejected from the vehicle as neither was wearing a seatbelt.
Initial investigation showed the pickup truck was traveling southbound on Paupanekis Point Road when it went onto the shoulder of the road.
Police said it appeared as though the driver attempted to steer the truck back on to the road. The truck then slid, hit an approach and rolled.
As of press time it was undetermined if alcohol was a factor. An RCMP forensic collision reconstructionist was assisting with the
investigation.
Fees frustrate
Two residents in Lynn Lake are going public with their disappointment in Amazon in hopes that shipping fees will change.
Khaled Manna recently bought a puppy and was having a hard time finding the right food for his new pet.
Eventually he found the right food on Amazon and planned on buying five bags and shipping them to his home in Lynn Lake.
When placing the order, he noticed Amazon had charged him $1,500 in shipping fees.
“I was honestly shocked,” Manna said. “I was so surprised and I quickly looked into it and decided to call Amazon. I talked to three people, I escalated it three times, and I finally talked to a manager in their head office.”
The representative Manna spoke to explained that Amazon classifies Lynn Lake as a remote community and the online shopping website has a new shipping policy, which adds $10 per pound of the item for freight charges.
Paul Grimmer had a similar experience when trying to buy camping gear from Amazon. The items came to $184.02, and the shipping was an additional $171.91.
Katie McFadzean, an Amazon spokeswoman, says this a new policy the business had to put in place.
“Due to the economic and shipping complexities in remote locations of Canada, as of April 8, Amazon.ca will offer standard shipping to remote locations for customers shipping to remote locations,” she said. “Our goal is to offer fast, affordable shipping to all of our customers and we are committed to exploring new delivery solutions that better serve customers in remote
locations.”
New business
May 4 marked the grand opening of the Salisbury House restaurant in Norway House.
The 24-hour Sals Xpress-style restaurant, located on the main level of the Kinosao Sipi Multiplex within the reserve’s economic development zone, will include restaurant favourites and a takeout menu.
Chief Ron Evans said in a press release the partnership with Salisbury House has been an exciting economic development initiative.
“We are so pleased to have established a relationship with Salisbury House, which has allowed us to construct and open the first Salisbury House restaurant outside the city of Winnipeg limits, and the very first on-reserve,” he said.
The new restaurant creates 40 jobs for residents of the community.
Tourism support
The Manitoba government hopes to help jump-start new tourism projects with up to $195,000 through the Tourism Development Fund.
The fund provides up to $25,000 in matching grants for new tourism attractions and experiences or projects that enhance the quality of existing tourism attractions.
“The fund will target projects in rural and northern Manitoba or support authentic Indigenous cultural tourism projects,” said Tourism, Culture, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection Minister Ron Lemieux.
“We want to encourage new opportunities and help create new tourism ventures all across the province.”
Forest renewal
The Saskatchewan government’s spring forest renewal projects are underway with about 2.2 million new trees – two trees per Saskatchewan resident – to be planted in the province’s northern forest.
“Planting trees is a long-term investment in Saskatchewan’s future,” Environment Minister Scott Moe said. “Each year, forest companies and government plant millions of trees to help maintain both a healthy ecosystem and a thriving forest industry.”
When combined with the number industry plants under their forest management agreements (FMAs), the number of new trees exceeds nine million.
On Monday, Moe joined ministry officials and a tree-planter from the Prince Albert area project to symbolically plant two spruce trees near the legislature in Regina’s Wascana Park to raise awareness about the forest-renewal effort and the work of tree-planters in northern Saskatchewan.
This year, the spring forest renewal projects will see trees planted at sites in the Carrot River, Hudson Bay and Prince Albert areas.
The planting is completed by private silvicultural contractors whose crews hand-plant jack pine and white spruce seedlings.
