Sharing the stories of the Interlake: Communities in Focus

At CBC Manitoba, our job is to tell stories that reflect our province's many people and places. Communities in Focus is a community news bureau project that aims to hear Manitobans' stories and share them with the rest of the province.

This March, the Interlake hosted Communities in Focus. We spent two weeks meeting with leaders and innovators, and learning about life in the region.

Now, we're sharing the stories of the Interlake.

Watch

Michif French makes a comeback in a Manitoba classroom

5 months ago

Duration 3:51

St. Laurent School in the Interlake has swapped out conventional French lessons for Michif French, enlisting local Mtis Elders to help pass on the endangered language.

Couple transform Manitoba Interlake community into music, art hub

6 months ago

Duration 4:07

Dawn Mills and Derrick McCandless host the RogerKimLee Music Festival in the Manitoba Interlake community of Eriksdale. They also turned a long-vacant space in town into a live music venue, instrument repair and sales store, and pottery and framing services shop.

Residents in Interlake community fear dire consequences from ER closures

6 months ago

Duration 6:08

People in Eriksdale are hopeful plans for a new emergency room will come to fruition soon, but in the meantime, some in the Manitoba Interlake community worry spotty access to the local ER leaves them at risk.

Poor cellphone service worries residents in rural Manitoba community

6 months ago

Duration 2:36

Rural Municipality of St. Laurent Reeve Rick Chartrand says the Manitoba Interlake community was in talks with Bell about installing a new cellphone tower, but the telecom company never delivered.

Teacher in Manitoba Interlake school division protecting Anishinabemowin language from 'dying out'

6 months ago

Duration 3:35

Lillian Traverse nearly lost touch with her first language of Anishinabemowin in youth amid teasing in school. Now, she's teaching it to elementary school children in Ashern, Man.

Kiteboarding attracts all ages to Lake Manitoba

6 months ago

Duration 2:54

Kiteboarders, including some retirees, are flocking to the frosty shores of St. Laurent to try the extreme sport on ice.

Climate change stokes wildfire fears Manitoba community

6 months ago

Duration 4:08

Firefighters in the RM of St. Laurent spent nearly 12 hours dealing with a massive wildfire on April 12 and worry its a sign of things to come as summers get hotter and drier.

St. Laurent residents survey damage, start cleanup after ice wall cascades into properties

6 months ago

Duration 1:54

Homeowners in St. Laurent Manitoba deal with the aftermath of strong winds that pushed Lake Manitoba ice into properties.

Couple's food truck dreams come true at Lake Manitoba Narrows

5 months ago

Duration 1:51

Tracy Fordham and Daryle Bezemer are eager to meet and feed people passing through Lake Manitoba Narrows again this May long weekend as the couple reopens their 'dream' food truck, Channel 204 Grill, which they launched their last year.

Read

• Michif French makes a comeback in a Manitoba classroom. Read more.

• Couple open 'dream' food truck to meet, feed hungry campers at Lake Manitoba Narrows. Read more.

• Eriksdale residents worry people 'are going to die' waiting for new ER. Read more.

• Lake Manitoba's 'forgotten area' a hidden gem that most just pass through, say residents of The Narrows. Read more.

• Basketball is helping bridge the linguistic divide in a small Manitoba town. Read more.

• Climate change drives up wildfire fears in small Manitoba community. Read more.

• Snowmobilers flock to snow-asis in west Interlake as warm weather closes southern Manitoba trails. Read more.

• Anishinabemowin instructor proud, hopeful as she helps pass language to next generation in Interlake. Read more.

• Class is in session. In today's lesson, students learn how to skin a coyote. Read more.

• Couple transforms Interlake community into art hub, live music 'meeting place'. Read more.

• Bombardiers still the ultimate Manitoba ice-fishing machine, decades after they were last made. Read more.

• Spotty cellphone service 'insulting' to St. Laurent residents, reeve of Manitoba RM says. Read more.

Listen

Information Radio - MB6:24St. Laurent has a rich linguistic history. But sometimes that diversity has led to the community being divided - by language

CBCs Emily Brass joins host Marcy Markusa live on location to share what community members have been working on to bring everyone together

Information Radio - MB7:57From ice fishing to trapping, how some Manitoba students are getting a land-based education

CBC reporter Bryce Hoye speaks with Information Radio host Marcy Markusa live in Ashern about how students are getting a crash course in land-based skills -- including how to skin a wild animal.

Information Radio - MB9:57It's a cabin in the woods near a quint town...but this one comes with a story that's not so quaint

From the big lake to the backwoods...Information Radio host Marcy Markusa will take you inside the story of a creepy cabin near the community of Eriksdale, where a fugitive from Stony Mountain hid out for ten months back in 1960

The Weekend Morning Show (Manitoba)12:01Supporting seniors in St. Laurent

Darlene McKay is the St. Laurent Seniors Resource Coordinator at the St. Laurent Seniors Resource Council. She tells us about the work her organization does to help support older adults in her municipality.

Information Radio - MB7:32Roger Kim Lee Music festival expands in Eriksdale

CBC's Bryce Hoye sat down with Derrick Candless and Dawn Mills in their music shop to talk about how their music festival started. They started out in the rain and have now expanded to a three day festival with camping. They are so busy that they even have lots of options for next years lineup.

Information Radio - MB7:34Local leaders in the RM of St. Laurent are worried about wildfires

Local leaders in the RM of St. Laurent on the eastern shore of Lake Manitoba are worried about the risk of wildfires, especially since a huge marsh fire recently affected the area. Emily Brass shared her report with Marcy Markusa.

Information Radio - MB8:42A labour of love for their language: How five women from this community put their pens to paper to preserve Michif French words, history and recipes

Five women who grew up with Michif French literally wrote a book on the language. Three are still living-in St. Laurent. Host Marcy Markusa visited June Bruce, Agathe Chartrand and Lorraine Coutu to learn about why what they published in 80 pages just might save a dialect of French for future generations

Information Radio - MB8:28I'll take you inside a machine that has big economic and cultural significance in Manitoba's interlake.

CBC's Emily Brass travelled to the small RM of Saint-Laurent in the Interlake and got to experience a piece of Manitoba's history: The Bombardier.

The Weekend Morning Show (Manitoba)18:54The Metis people of St Laurent, Manitoba

Nadia welcomes two women to the studio to talk about the community of St Laurent, Manitoba. Twenty years ago, the Metis of St Laurent, Manitoba were featured in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Jacinte (Jay) Lambert and Debbie Lavallee are passionate about preserving and celebrating their history and culture.

Radio Noon Manitoba4:47How an Eriksdale couple is bringing people together in a quirky spot through music and art

The CBC's Bryce Hoye was in Eriksdale last month. While there, he visited the couple behind a quirky spot bringing music and art to the community.

Information Radio - MB4:26Lillian Traverse nearly lost touch with her first language growing up. Now, she's teaching Anishinabemowin to kids in school in Ashern

The CBC's Bryce Hoye visited a Grade 4 students at Ashern Early Years School last month and learned how Traverse uses games, like bingo, to cement her Anishinabemowin lessons

Information Radio - MB1:57Brandy Chartrand works at MTT in the restaurant. CBCs Cory Funk asked her what she loves about living in St. Laurent

Brandy Chartrand talks about the beaches on the shores of lake manitoba. Which are about 2 kilometers west from where the restaurant is located

Information Radio - MB5:43St. Laurent's population grows by thousands in the summer months. But some folks who live on the water live here year round

One of the most devastating floods in our province happened right on Lake Manitoba in 2011. And if that seems like a long time ago , it took years and years for this area to recover. Host Marcy Markusa speaks to Jim Stevenson about sticking it out after the flood of 2011 left many years of destruction behind. He is a resident of Twin Lake Beach in the RM of St. Laurent

Information Radio - MB7:47The largest Metis population in North America, a community spread over many kilometers without a main centre, and some epic water views on Lake Manitoba. The beauty and the challenges of St. Laurent

What's it like being the leader of (RM of St. Laurent) a community that's population swells to more than double in the summer months? Host Marcy Markusa had a discussion with Rick Chartrand the Reeve of St. Laurent

Information Radio - MB7:09Reeve Art Jonasson on the way of life in the interlake

CBC's Marcy Markusa hosts Information Radio from Ashern where Reeve of the Rural Municipality of West Interlake Art Jonasson joins her to talk about healthcare hopes, amalgamation and diversifying the interlake.