Category Archives: featured

Curling clinic draws crowd to rink

February 2, 2016 Tara de Ryk

Helen Fontaine leads a group of curlers, under the direction of Amber Holland, as they practise sweeping during a Jan. 23 clinic. — Helen Fontaine leads a group of curlers, under the direction of Amber Holland, as they practise sweeping during a Jan. 22 clinic.

By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — Newbies and veteran curlers alike had the opportunity to learn from the pros at a clinic held in Davidson last weekend.

A total of 22 people registered for the two-hour adult clinic, held the evening of Jan. 22 at the Communiplex curling rink.

While social leagues are growing and more people in their 20s and 30s are taking up the sport, organizers are still working to grow the sport, said Susan Lang, development and market manager for CURLSASK.

“If we don’t do this, we’re not going to have a sport in 20 years,” she said, adding that longtime players were also finding the clinics beneficial.

Lang was one of three instructors leading on Friday night, along with Travis Brown and 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Amber Holland.

“Everybody was really eager to try something new,” said Lang. “We try to keep these low-key . . . People strive to improve, but it’s not boot camp.”

The clinic focused on basic skills like sliding, throwing and brushing. Participants were divided up into three groups based on experience level.

For newer curlers, Lang said the sliding is often the most challenging part, although those who have skated or skied in the past may pick it up more quickly.

“The flexibility that’s involved in curling is deceptive,” she said, “as is the requirement for good balance.”

Lang said it can be daunting for new Canadians who haven’t spent time on ice surfaces before, adding, “Not everyone’s a skater, skiier, snowboarder-type of person.”

With that in mind, instructors have developed exercises to help develop that flexibility and balance, as well as prop rocks that can be used in training.

“We saw a big improvement in an hour and a half tonight,” said Lang. “We sort of strip it down to the bare basics . . . We want people to succeed.”

CURLSASK offers clinics targeted at different age groups. Lang said they have found that adults are less likely to take lessons, so organizers seek to make it as comfortable as possible.

For the full story, please see the Feb. 1 edition of The Davidson Leader.

Craik, Davidson, featured, Kenaston

Teachers recall time up north in wake of La Loche tragedy

February 2, 2016 Tara de Ryk

Paul Stinson (bottom right corner) is shown during a trapping trip with students during his first year as a teacher in La Loche.

By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — Jennifer Peach’s first teaching job took her more than 6,000 kilometres from her home near St. John’s, N.L., all the way to the northern village of La Loche.

Last week, she recalled her first trip up north — “a long drive on a long, lonely highway” — and some initial impressions, including her surprise at the great number of children and teens in the small community.

The village had all basic necessities, including schools, a grocery store, police detachment, the church and a modern health facility. Peach was also attracted by the natural beauty of the area, including the dense forests and vast lakes.

“It felt, actually, more like home the further north I drove,” she said. “It was kind of comforting, in a way.”

Peach arrived in August 2005 and would ultimately stay for five years. If she hadn’t decided to pursue her master’s degree, she said, she would likely still be teaching there.

“I expected to go there for one year,” said Peach. “I loved it so much, I stayed for five.”

Peach, who now teaches Grade 5 at Davidson School, said she made many friendships during her time in La Loche, and she thinks about the village often.

When she heard about the events of Jan. 22 — a shooting spree that ended at La Loche Community School, in which four people were killed and another seven injured — Peach didn’t know what to think.

“I was more overcome with emotion,” she said, adding that she immediately thought of her friends, colleagues and their families, the people she got to know. “My first reaction when I heard was, ‘I’ve got to get on the phone.'”

Upon her arrival, Peach recalled, village residents were curious about her. The school had a high turnover rate, and they’d seen lots of teachers come and go.

She also remembered that they were eager to make her feel welcome and share the experience of life up north, from setting traps and fishing nets to the history, language and culture of the Dene people.

“They treated me like I was a member of the community,” she said. “The more I put myself out there, the more the community embraced me.”

After she was first hired by Northern Lights School Division, Peach spent two years teaching physical education to elementary students. She then moved to the Grade 5 classroom for the remainder of her time there.

The oral language spoken by the Dene people isn’t easily learned by newcomers, and teaching assistants helped to bridge the language gap. The older students had a better grasp of English, but were still most comfortable speaking in their mother tongue.

“My time up there was so positive and such a learning experience for me,” said Peach. “I was lucky to have the experience that I did in La Loche . . . This affected me a lot more than I ever thought it would.”

Coincidentally, Peach’s predecessor at Davidson School, Paul Stinson, also began his teaching career in La Loche, working there as a Grade 6 teacher from 1996 to 1999.

Stinson said he had applied to work overseas but accepted the job there in the meantime, later realizing, “There was a different culture to explore without ever leaving the province.”

Like Peach, he was surprised by the high percentage of youth living in the village, which contrasted sharply with the aging populations in similarly-sized towns further south.

Stinson, who lives in Craik and works from the Distance Learning Centre in Kenaston, wrote a piece about his experience, which he posted to social media last week.

“I thought I knew Saskatchewan,” he wrote. “I didn’t even know what I didn’t know about northern Saskatchewan.”

Stinson said his time in La Loche was a time of extremes. While he witnessed a strong sense of community, a close connection to the land and a distinct language and culture, he also said he saw problems “at a level I didn’t think existed in Canada.”

He said the village gave him both his fondest and most frustrating teaching experiences. He recalled activities with students, watching the northern lights during power failures, learning to trap and fish.

“You have suffered great pain,” he wrote in his “love letter” to the village. “I wish for others to get to know you. You are complex, complicated, beautiful.”

Stinson said the attention surrounding La Loche over the past weeks may have some positive results, especially if it leads to a greater understanding of the root causes of the problems the community faces.

He said he believes the historic treatment of aboriginal people, including the residential school system, still reverberates in the lives of their descendants.

“This is what I understand to be part of what is happening,” he told the Leader, “not the cause of a single individual’s violent actions, but connected, and bringing issues to light, critical issues that we need to face and address.”

Stinson said he is hopeful that real progress can take place, that leaders will look to the calls to action that resulted from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and that aboriginal people will be given a voice in the discussions that take place.

This past weekend, Peach had plans to travel up to La Loche to visit with former colleagues and students, to attend the funeral for teaching assistant Marie Janvier, and reconnect with other people she hasn’t seen in years.

Her current colleagues in Davidson helped put together a break-time basket for the staff in La Loche, including snacks, coffee and tea.

Over the past week she’s also talked with her students about the tragedy. Some had heard the news and were curious about it; some had decided that La Loche must be a terrible place.

“It’s OK to think that, and it’s natural,” said Peach, adding, “I wouldn’t want them to go their whole lives thinking that that’s what La Loche is all about.”

“I had students that wanted to learn about things just as badly as they did,” she continued. “I don’t want them to judge a whole community of people based on the actions of one person.”

featured, Hanley, Kenaston

Hanley Legion to disband after 70 years

January 26, 2016 Tara de Ryk

By Joel van der Veen

HANLEY — With membership dwindling and participation on the wane, the remaining members of the Hanley branch of the Royal Canadian Legion have decided to call it quits.

At a Dec. 2 meeting, club members voted to disband Branch No. 258, which has been active in the district since September of 1945.

As a result, 2016 will be the final year of operation for the branch, after which it will wind down and its assets will be dispersed.

Though the branch has a membership of about 30 people, most of them are no longer active with the Legion, said treasurer Gordon McGregor. This leaves a heavier workload for those members who remain involved.

“The people that are (serving) are tired,” said McGregor. “Nobody seems to want to pick that up.”

“Even the veterans, they see the writing on the wall,” said secretary Neil McRae.

The two executive members said the branch has been in serious decline for the last four or five years, as the number of veterans has steadily dropped and active participation has all but vanished.

“We have military families in town that have no interest,” said McRae. “That’s kind of disheartening.”

The club has an executive of three members, including president Ron Earis.

A telling sign came about three years ago when the branch began meeting in the town hall after selling its longtime “Club Hut.”

“It didn’t improve the morale or the membership at all,” said McGregor. “If anything, it went the other way.”

Originally constructed as Bell Rock School, the building was moved into town after the school closed in 1947. It was used as a classroom at first and was later purchased by the Legion.

McGregor estimated that the branch has about $8,000 in its Poppy Fund, although they are restricted in how it can spend that money by Legion regulations.

The funds must be diverted to projects that support veterans, and even then, the branch must specify exactly how the money will be spent.

For instance, members could donate funds towards the veterans wing at the Sherbrooke Community Centre long-term care home in Saskatoon.

The club may also direct funds towards the First Responders associations in Hanley and Kenaston, but in all cases, there must be a specific, documented target for that money.

“It just gets more frustrating on a small membership,” said McGregor, adding that it’s enough to “make you wonder why you’re raising the money.”

The branch also has around $45,000 in its general account, much of it coming from the sale of the clubhouse. There are fewer restrictions on how that money is spent, added McGregor.

“It’s our plan at this point to disperse everything we can locally,” he said.

Club members would like to see the Remembrance Day ceremony carried on in Hanley, noting that the annual event still draws over 100 people.

“Some guys want to keep it going, some can’t see the point,” said McRae. “We’re kind of torn. . . It’s just getting (to be) too much for two people, three people to handle it.”

During the Dec. 2 meeting, members heard from Gordon McRae, president of Branch No. 51 in Davidson, about how his branch had revived the Nov. 11 ceremony there with assistance from local churches and the school.

“He outlined some different options for us,” said Neil McRae, adding, “We don’t have anyone that’s prepared to spend the time that Gord McRae does.”

McRae and McGregor expressed doubt that there would be enough community support to keep the service running each year.

Hanley Composite School usually holds a Remembrance service around Nov. 11 each year for students and staff.

Principal Chris Tucker said in December that no one had approached the school about joining forces for a service on Remembrance Day, but added that he and his staff would be open to discussing the matter.

Rev. Kristin Soveran, minister of Hanley Lutheran Church, said last month that she believed the local churches would be willing to lend their efforts to help the services continue.

A Hanley native herself, Soveran said her father, the late Tom Bohrson, had served in the navy from 1941 to 1945. She said the Nov. 11 service is an important way to honour the veterans of Canada’s past conflicts, as well as the country’s present-day servicemen and women.

Soveran returned to Hanley four years ago after an absence of 35 years and said she has enjoyed seeing the town’s three churches work together on events like the carol festival, Vacation Bible School and special services.

“That’s been one of the great delights of serving in Hanley,” she said. “We do a lot of things together.”

She said it only “seems natural” that the churches would come alongside the Legion members to continue the Remembrance Day services, adding, “That is a role for the churches to play.”

Another nearby branch, Kenaston No. 240, was dissolved about six or seven years ago. Carol Lewis, one of three remaining members at the time of its closure, said the branch lost much of its momentum after her father, Second World War veteran Glen Hamre, moved into a care home in Saskatoon.

Branch members who wish to remain part of the Royal Canadian Legion will likely transfer their membership to Nutana Branch No. 362 in Saskatoon, or to Davidson Branch No. 51.

Anyone interested in offering assistance is invited to contact McGregor or McRae, or to write the branch at Box 153, Hanley.