Manitoba has created two new awards, the Minister’s Conservation Officer Community Service Award and the Wildland Fire Fighter of the Year Award to honour public service efforts both on and off the job. This announcement was made by Conservation and Water Stewardship Minister Gord Mackintosh at an awards ceremony at the Legislative Building.
“We have incredible employees and many of them put in extraordinary efforts to make Manitoba a safer and great place to live, work or visit and we felt it was time to better recognize these efforts,” Minister Mackintosh said. “We are proud of all our staff, but some contributions go above and beyond and these achievements need to be celebrated.”
These new awards recognize exemplary public safety efforts but also pay tribute to volunteer work in the community whether through efforts with service groups, sports teams or other community involvement.
The new Conservation Officer Community Service Award is presented to:
Randy Woroniuk, a regional field supervisor who retired in 2013. Woroniuk served as a natural resource officer for more than 31 years in the Virden, Wabowden, West Hawk, Bissett and Riverton districts as well as in the Gimli regional office. Woroniuk coached numerous community sports teams, served as a first responder, emergency services co-ordinator, councillor, school trustee and mayor of Bissett. He is still involved in the Interlake Parish Council and Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Parish Council.
Woroniuk also spends countless volunteer time co-ordinating an ice fishing derby and canoe trip for air cadets and serving as a mentor for young hunters by teaching them the rules, proper hunting conduct and ethics.
The first-ever Wildland Fire Fighter of the Year Award is presented to:
Scott Wishart, a seasonal fire ranger in Cormorant. Wishart has been with the fire program since 1984 and has worked in almost every position available, from fire fighting to administering wildfire training courses to thousands of people over the past 25 years. Wishart’s wilderness skills and his physical strength are widely known throughout the region and he’s been named ‘king trapper’ at the Northern Manitoba Trappers festival five times. Wishart leads by example.
In addition to the time he spends as an advisor to the Cormorant town council, he is the local Cormorant Trappers Association president and provides meat to the community as well as offering vegetables from his large garden. Working with his own children, he takes local teens to a family camp and teaches them how to live off the land in a traditional lifestyle. These efforts, his humble hard-working attitude and his perfect safety record make Wishart a most deserving recipient of the first-ever Wildland Fire Fighter of the Year Award.
