By Terrie Welwood
Russell Banner

“When I see a stray dog arrive at my property scared, hungry, and simply looking for someone to care, I understand that feeling. In many ways, I was there once too. Resurrection Rescue is my way of making sure that neither people nor animals have to face that darkness alone.”
IED: A homemade or unconventional bomb.
It’s an abbreviation that comes up a few times as Steve Stoesz tells the story of his time in the military. And his reasons for starting up Resurrection Rescue and their upcoming Mud for Mutts fundraiser on August 29 and 30.
That story is as interesting as it is important, in many different ways. We’ll share some of it here.
Steve recalls that his first IED experience was on May 25, 2008.
“It was a suicide vehicle that detonated right beside our LAV,” he remembers, adding that he was the gunner standing in the turret, looking directly toward the explosion.
“Up until that moment, the idea that I could be wounded or killed overseas had crossed my mind, but after that blast it became a physical reality. Everything changed.”
Before that day, he said, as the fighting season had not really started, their tour had been relatively quiet.
“The Taliban typically fought during the summer months when the green foliage provided cover. After that day, it was like someone flipped a switch. Gun battles became a daily occurrence across the area we were operating in.”
The first firefight, he said, it hit him hard.
“Two Afghan National Army soldiers fighting alongside us were shot. While our medic treated them, we provided security as rounds cracked past us, some coming frighteningly close. Watching the damage those bullets caused just behind us while hearing them fly all around was a sobering experience. It drove home just how quickly life could change.”
As the tour continued, there were countless gun battles, mortar attacks, and rocket attacks. Then, on July 4, Stoesz hit a second IED.

To read the whole story, pick up a copy of this week's Russell Banner and turn to pages 1 and 2.

The governments of Canada and Manitoba are making significant progress creating new child-care spaces for families, with 1,075 new infant, preschool, nursery and school-aged spaces opening in Manitoba since late 2025, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning Minister Tracy Schmidt and Terry Duguid, member of Parliament for Winnipeg South, on behalf of federal Secretary of State for Children and Youth Anna Gainey, announced.
“Every new child-care space means more families can go to work, go to school or pursue opportunities knowing their children are in a safe, nurturing environment,” said Schmidt. “These new spaces, and the ones on the way, highlight the steady progress we’re making on expanding and strengthening the child-care system so families can find affordable, high-quality care in their communities.”
The governments of Canada and Manitoba provided capital funding for three new or expanded child-care centres that have opened in Winnipeg, as well as start-up and operating funding for expansions in an additional 88 since late 2025, which created 728 new spaces. The Manitoba government also created 347 new school-aged spaces, the minister noted.
“Access to affordable child care is making a real difference for Manitoba families,” said Duguid. “In partnership with the Manitoba government, we are creating new high-quality child-care spaces, helping parents get off wait lists and giving children the best start in life.”
Munroe Early Childhood Education Centre in Winnipeg opened its sixth facility in early 2026, offering 48 new spaces for a total of 359 spaces, including 16 infant spaces, 158 preschool spaces and 185 school-aged spaces, for families in the Chalmers area.
“For more than 50 years, Munroe Early Childhood Education Centre has been serving families in the Elmwood and East Kildonan community,” said Silvana Passante-Cantafio, executive director, Munroe Early Childhood Education Centre Inc. “We’ve long dreamed of expanding our services to provide the much-needed care that families with infants so urgently need. Thanks to our most recent renovation and expansion, we are now welcoming infants and preschoolers to Munroe on Thames. With 16 new infant and 32 new preschool spaces, we have created opportunities for 48 children and their families. We are still pinching ourselves to make sure this is real.”
Since October 2023, the governments of Canada and Manitoba have opened more than 3,700 new licensed and funded child-care spaces for infant, nursery and preschool-aged children across the province, with more than 6,250 in the planning and development phases, for a total of more than 10,000 new spaces for children ages zero to six.
The Manitoba government has also opened nearly 1,800 new school-age spaces since October 2023, with more than 900 more on the way.
“In total, our government has opened or committed to more than 12,700 new child-care spaces for kids 12 and under since fall 2023,” said Schmidt. “We’ve also made significant investments in early childhood educator wages. We will continue to build the child-care system up so that Manitoba families can find quality, affordable child care close to home.”
Funding for these initiatives and the new child-care spaces is jointly supported through provincial and federal investments under the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement.
For more information on the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, visit https://manitoba.ca/education/childcare/actionplan.html and https://canada.ca/en/early-learning-child-care-agreement/agreements-provinces-territories/manitoba-canada-wide-2021.html.
For more information about Manitoba child-care capital and space expansion projects, visit: https://manitoba.ca/education/childcare/resources/spacecreation.html.

The Manitoba government is launching an independent external review of the provincial Child and Family Services (CFS) funding and governance model to help strengthen the system, improve transparency and support better outcomes for children, youth and families, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine announced.
“This review is about building a stronger system that helps keep children safe and supported while ensuring families, communities, and nations have the resources they need to care for their children,” said Fontaine. “Since the introduction of the Single Envelope Funding model, there have been dramatic changes to the child welfare landscape. This review responds directly to calls from Indigenous leadership and rights holders for greater transparency within the provincial system now and as they work to reclaim jurisdiction over child welfare.”
The current model was introduced in 2019, under the previous government, despite concerns raised by Indigenous leadership and rights holders and has never undergone a comprehensive review, the minister added. Since 2023, the Manitoba government has increased funding to the CFS system each year to respond to pressures identified by agencies and authorities, with more than $77 million in additional annualized funding across the CFS system.
As the child welfare system continues to evolve, the minister noted the CFS funding and governance model must support Indigenous-led care and the exercise of Indigenous jurisdiction over the well-being of children and families. A review will provide a clearer understanding of the needs and challenges within the current funding and governance model, while identifying what changes may be needed to better support children, families, caregivers and communities.
Under the current CFS governance structure, the Manitoba government provides overall policy direction and funding, while the four CFS authorities oversee and manage funding for their mandated agencies.
The Manitoba government will engage an external consulting firm selected through a competitive procurement process to undertake a review focused on:
•assessing funding supports and pressures within Manitoba’s CFS system;
•examining financial management and oversight practices throughout the system;
•reviewing governance structures as they relate to funding and accountability; and
•identifying funding and governance opportunities to support the return of Indigenous jurisdiction over child welfare.
Indigenous leaders and child welfare partners have called for a review of the model, and the minister noted that partnership will be an important part of the review process. CFS authorities, agencies and system partners, along with Indigenous leadership and rights holders, will participate in the review and contribute their perspectives and expertise.
The review is expected to begin later this year and take approximately a year to complete, the minister noted.

Cleaning Staff

Levi Layh, of 677 Russell, Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron in Russell, earned a staff cadet position in the Operations Department at Cold Lake Cadet Training Centre.
As part of their role, Layh first participated in on-the-job training to learn the safety requirements for the equipment and is now tasked with checking equipment because safety is a top priority of the Cadet Program.
As a cadet who wants to pursue a future career in teaching, Layh is already looking to develop instructional tools that will positively impact future staff cadets employed in the Operations Department. “My goal as a staff cadet is to develop systems for my position to make next year’s staff cadet’s job easier,” said Layh.

Read the whole story on page 7 of this week's Russell Banner.

The Inglis Fire Department’s fire chief Glen Gorda travelled to Brandon to pick up a Global Medic fire skid.
This self-contained unit has a 1000 L water tank, high-pressure pump and hose.
In addition, IFD was given 20 fire retardant coveralls. As one of the departments who volunteered to respond to the 2025 Manitoba Wildfires, the Inglis Fire Department was eligible to participate in this program provided by Global Medic, a Canadian-based charity, whose mandate includes equipping local departments for swifter and more effective wildlife frontline operations.
They and the RM of Riding Mountain West greatly appreciate being chosen as a recipient of these items that will help protect their fire fighters and increase their fire fighting capacity.

Last weekend, the Russell Golf Course celebrated their 100th anniversary.
After a day of golf amoung friends, the club members met again on the Sunday morning for a pancake breakfast followed by a speech by RM of Russell Binscarth councillor Brent Havelange and the cutting the official anniversary cake.
Councillor Havelange’s speeches are always a treat. This one, shown below, takes us through the history of the Russell Golf course. Thank you councillor Havelange for allowing us to pass this information onto our readers.
“My name is Brent Havelange I am a counselor, in the Municipality of Russell-Binscarth, also in attendance is my fellow councilor Barry Wishart and ex-councillor Ray Elliot, so on behalf of the municipality, I would like to congratulate the Russell Golf Course on its hundred-year anniversary.
That was all Joan Miller had asked me to say in our first meeting. But after a follow up meeting, she gave me five more chores and expanded this brief speech into the history of The Russell Golf Course.
So, if I see any rolling of the eyes ITS NOT MY FAULT...nor worries it will not last 20 minutes, no one here wants to hear my mumblings for that long.
This quarter section was originally owned by Mr. R. M. Anderson and was purchased for the price of $6000. Mr. Ken Reavie had indicated in a letter that the committee that was struck to negotiate for the purchase was not transparent about what they wanted the land for, fearful that Mr Anderson might raise his asking price if he had known the true purpose it was to be used for. Any councilors who have been involved in similar negotiations for the purchase of farmland in the municipality know what Ken is getting at.

Want to know more? Pick up this week's Russell Banner and get this story on the front page and page 2.

For the last eight years, the Pelly Trail Classic Soap Box Derby has been a favourite summer fun for the entire family. (Top centre) Modelled after old time community fairs, the derby gives kids of all ages (and their families) a chance to show off not only their mechanical creation skills with home-made derby carts but their driving skills down the steepest hill on Pelly Avenue. Participants can either rent a cart or buy it by the kit and build their own through Youth for Christ. Thanks to the efforts of dozens of volunteers helping with everything from the running the carts back up to the top of the hill, to face painting and the manning of the Pelly Classic food booth which served up home made burgers and cotton candy, or the climbing wall (top right) that comes from Madge Lake Bible Camp every year, the Soap Box Derby has been a favorite family fun day. Proceeds from the event go to Youth for Christ located on Russell’s Main Street. Turn to page 5 for more pictures of the event.