Observer of the Human Condition

The Religion of Panphobia

There seems to be a truism that the masses are most easily controlled by the powerful through the tool of fear.

Organized religion figured this out long ago. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife or thou shall suffer eternal damnation in the pit of hell plus all the other little chestnuts to be found in the Bible, Koran, and the other holy writs. For Krishna’s sake, don’t step on a worm or your karma will be screwed up!

The important bit was the ephemeral nature of the reward or punishment. The carrot that enticed the unwashed masses to this religion or that was the beautiful Heaven beyond the Pearly gates or the promise of the 72 virgins to slake your eternal lust. The stick involved the fire, devil, and pitchforks for eternity. The more sophisticated religions even threw in the concept of purgatory where the ‘white collar’ sinners could spend a century or two before moving on to salvation.

The key to the grand religion scam was man could never prove what exactly happened to your ‘soul’ when a person went to the great beyond. Coincidentally, the powerful figured out this was an excellent way of controlling their populations other than through brute force. Face it, when the major religions of today started their ascendancy, life for the average person was brutish, hard, and short. Pretty much, people didn’t have much to lose and someone was smart enough to hoodwink the common folk into self-policing themselves. Tell the narrative of thou shall not murder, steal, commit adultery, and especially the one about no other Gods but me and the populace constructs their own morals. It makes the job of the elite much easier and conveniently leaves them in the positions of power.

Then came the age of enlightenment and Western world organized religion started to collapse. We went and started educating everyone and settled on a democratic system of government. People’s lives got better, longer, and easier. They stopped buying in to the brimstone and damnation arguments.

But the old motivator of fear as an effective tool to rule humanity did not disappear. It only morphed into another form.

At no time in history has humanity had such access to knowledge. Literally every fact, theorem, or event is a Google click away for a sizeable chunk of our world’s population and more so every day. But what do we all focus on? Is it MIT studies of their latest engineering feats? Are we reading the collective works of Shakespeare or the other literary giants? Nope, we’re hooked on cat videos and Twitter feeds of vacuous celebrities.

And what are the high-tech power mongers selling to the hooked in, Internet surfing, Netflix watching masses? Fear!

The granddaddy of the latest scheme with their Gore, Suzuki, & DiCaprio prophets is of course the climate. It has been a brilliant strategy. Pick a cause with religious overtones, Mother Nature, Gaia, The Great Mother, toss in the ‘think of the children!’ argument, some Indigenous props, and showcase a hockey stick graph that describes how we’ll all burn and/or drown. Then throw in a few bogeymen like CO2 from burning fossil fuels or methane emissions from cattle and you have convenient strawmen for the masses to rail against and stick their pitchforks into.

During the 1800s, the Western world began to rightly separate church and state. This was done because science was starting to dispel religion’s dogma that hitherto been accepted fact. For example, despite the contemporary Flat Earth Society’s contrarian arguments, the world is indeed round(ish) and is easily proven to be so. Oh, and despite the Catholic church’s objections, the Earth is not the center of the Universe because Galileo used a scientific instrument (ie. A telescope) to determine that moons orbited Jupiter.

But Western society is undergoing a reintegration of the Church of Environmentalism/Progresive Liberalism/Political Correctness and the state. The faithful dutifully go about separating their refuse into the correct blue boxes, recycling bags, and composters. Diversity is our Strength. #MeToo. Governments push ‘green’ technology and to phase out dirty CO2 emitters. There are compulsory tithes (Carbon taxation) from all the sinners. Everyone should just get along and banish all borders. LGBTQQIP2SAA. Kumbaya!

Paradoxically, the truly faithful decry and denigrate actual facts contrary to their accepted tenets. In Canada, the actual recycle rate of plastic, despite decades of Blue Box campaigns, is only 11%. Clothing in North America is only recycled on the order of 1%. Solar and wind power, electric cars, and other ‘green’ technologies are turning out to be massive, expensive, tax paid failures. But the true believers turn a blind eye to contrary facts and call them heresy. Hey, as long as you separate your bottles and tin cans, ban plastic straws from your Starbucks latte, and use reusable grocery bags, why can’t you continue to enjoy running around in your gas guzzling SUV?

Of course, if you want to commit true blasphemy then call into question any of the accepted climatic change ‘facts’ and you’ll soon find out how many Facebook friends you’ll lose. The Arctic ice is melting and the polar bears are dying! Well, explain how there are more polar bears than ever and the Antarctic ice shelf is growing as confirmed by NASA. CO2 is a pollutant and is killing the planet! Well, CO2 is a vital building block for plants and they’re greener and more productive than ever. We’re all going to drown due to rising ocean levels. Oops, gotta keep moving those goal posts because as the decades go by on some of these claims, the facts don’t actually line up with reality.

But the real trick is to keep your population in that constant state of fear. This is accomplished by keeping your claims vague and shrouded in pseudo-science that can’t be easily disproven. How else would outfits like ‘Moms Across America’ be able to convince you that a few parts per billion of glyphosate detected in your bowl of Cheerios is going to cause your children to grow cancerous tumours. Despite thousands more in the bun, it will be the few extra hormones in your burger that are going to result in your daughter having breasts at the age of eight. The antibiotics in the chicken feed will create pandemic super-bugs. Gluten is bad for you. GMOs create Frankenfood. Vaccines cause autism. Animals should all be freed from their human enslavers and we should all be eating bean curd. Monsanto, Big Pharma, and government are all in on the ‘Big Conspiracy’. Of course, throw in Neo-Nazi, gun wielding, immigrant, white cops are going to kill us all, especially the Blacks. Shout your narrative long enough and even if it can be disproven, the converted won’t believe your claims anyways.

Life expectancy has dramatically risen with modern medicine but the fear tactic that garners the best results still involves death, usually by the dreaded disease of cancer. Not surprisingly, the most fervent of the faithful are women. It could be characterized by any one of the Brothers Grimm fables where the aging beauty fears the loss of their youth and vitality. Young, hot women instinctively know that their appeal has a short ‘Best Before Date’. Hence, the target market for the organic industry, celebrity fads, and ‘snake oil’ merchandise is female. Absurdly, after many decades of empowerment and equality, women have been sucked into supporting these flim flam movements. What sane individual would ever believe that sticking a jade egg up their twat was a good thing? Gwyneth Paltrow was laughing all the way to the bank.

This constant bombardment of fear mongering has created a neurotic, mis-informed, maladjusted population that is easily distracted and can be led around by the nose by the oligarchy who have tapped into this new religion.

Humanity does not move forward with ever increasing enlightenment and progress. Rather, the banal masses succumb to whoever shouts the loudest from the fanciest and best of soapboxes.

Blair’s LinkedIn Profile

Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

PRAIRIE SCRIBBLER – SOUTH MOUNTAIN PRESS, VOLUME 11, NUMBER 33

***Original published in South Mountain Press, November 16, 2018***

New RM Councils Tackle Thorny Local Issues

As voters are well aware, there was an almost wholesale changing of the guard in the Rural Municipalities (RMs) of Harrison Park and Clanwilliam-Erickson with this last Municipal election. After the dust settled, it was obvious that a change in leadership had been called for.

The new Councils will be facing a steep learning curve as many of the fresh faces at the table have never previously been involved in politics. But the job of running an RM does not pause due to inexperience. At the Harrison Park October 30 Regular meeting, the new Reeve and Councilors held a brief swearing in session conducted by the Chief Administrative Officer, then it was straight down to the responsibility of governing the municipality.

The first major order of business was to decide on and divvy out the numerous vacant committee positions. A municipality has a surprising amount of organizations that require representation from Council. Rest assured that the rate payers will be getting their money’s worth out of their representatives.

Then along with the mundane issues such as listening to routine reports or holding conditional use hearings on such things as lot resizing, the new Councils will have some pressing contentious issues to cope with. High on the agenda will be decisions regarding the proposed Four Winds Waste Management facility that was to be located on PTH 250 between Newdale and Sandy Lake.

The interested parties are wasting no time on the Four Winds file. In fact, a special stakeholders meeting was already held at the Erickson Crossroads Community Centre on November 2. The main stakeholders that make up the Four Winds Waste Management Group are the RMs of Harrison Park, Clanwilliam-Erickson, and the First Nations communities of Keeseekoowenin and Rolling River. Riding Mountain National Park’s Town Site manager was also in attendance as the Park will act as a customer of the Four Winds facility.

The intent of the meeting was to have representatives of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) and Manitoba Sustainable Development bring the new members of the Councils up to speed on the project and to gather input from the various stakeholders as to its disposition.

The process of building the new waste management and recycling site had reached the stage of tendering for a business plan. According to one of the former Four Winds management team, the tender was put on hold until the results of the election were known.

The meeting was amicable and the representatives of Keeseekoowenin and Rolling River First Nations reiterated their desire to continue a working, mutual aid relationship with the RMs with regards to their shared waste management issues. But as the Keeseekoowenin Band Chief stated, since there was so much new leadership, it would be good for everyone to huddle up in their corners and then determine what changes may be needed in order to go forward.

The new Reeve for Harrison Park, Jason Potter, agreed with the Chief’s sentiment. He understood that there was a substantial sum of money available from Indigenous Services Canada to get a local waste facility up and running and if there was too much delay, then that money would probably end up off the table. But in his opinion, when you are dealing with tax dollars on a major project like this, you want to ‘hit a homerun’ for the tax payers. He acknowledged that many of his constituents had significant concerns particularly with the proposed siting of the waste facility.

So for a short period of time, the disposition of the Four Winds Waste Management and Recycling Facility will be up in the air. The Councils will go back to their communities, see what positions they want to take, and then return in early December to hash out a plan on moving forward on the issue.

Meanwhile, regular Council meetings and the important task of governing RMs and listening to the concerns of their citizens will continue. For those people interested in attending to observe local government in action, Harrison Park Council meets every third Tuesday at the Onanole Municipal Office with the next regular meeting scheduled for November 20 at 9:00 am. The new members of the Clanwilliam-Erickson Council will hold their first regular meeting at the Erickson Municipal Office on November 14 at 9:00 am. Their meetings are held on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month.

News regarding the RMs, meeting dates, upcoming events, and contact information for your local representatives can be found on their respective websites: http://www.harrisonpark.ca/ and http://www.ericksonmb.ca/

Blair’s LinkedIn Profile

Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

PRAIRIE SCRIBBLER – SOUTH MOUNTAIN PRESS, VOLUME 11, NUMBER 32 – Part 2

***Original published in South Mountain Press, November 9, 2018***

Remembrance Day 2018

By Blair Gilmore, SLt (Ret’d), CD

This Remembrance Day marks the 100^th Anniversary of the end of World War I, also referred to as the Great War or the War to End All Wars. The sheer barbarity, senseless loss of life, and abject futility associated with the entire enterprise which basically ended up as a stalemate shocked the entire world into an abhorrence of military ventures and a pledge to ‘Never Again’.

Of course, just over a generation later, the world was plunged into the maelstrom of World War II. Then only a few short years after the end of that titanic struggle, the Allies were dragged into the Korean War. The world probably would have continued this cycle of unbridled, wholesale barbarity if not for the threat of worldwide nuclear annihilation.

These three conflicts were brutish, inhuman, nightmarish examples of industrial warfare of the likes never witnessed before by humankind. Europe, the British Empire, the Soviet Union, and China were facing existential threats to their populations and very way of life.

During WWI, our fledgling nation plus Newfoundland contributed 7% of the nation’s population to uniformed service. A full one million out of eleven million Canadians and Newfoundlanders donned a military uniform during WWII. Plus there were the countless thousands of civilians working tirelessly on the home front contributing to the war effort. Canada, along with the rest of the Allied forces, were on a total war footing and the men on the front lines were not coming home until the job was done.

Traditionally, it has been those hundreds of thousands of dead or maimed Canadian service personnel plus the living veterans of the two World Wars and Korea whom we venerate every 11^th month of the 11^th day at the 11^th hour for two minutes of silence. They were willing to give the ultimate sacrifice no matter the cost.

Thankfully, Canada and her military have not experienced those past levels of wholesale slaughter since the World Wars. Sadly but inevitably, the last of these veterans are passing away due to old age. But that should not lessen the importance or gravitas placed on Remembrance Day ceremonies.

Should there be a difference between 128 families mourning the deaths of their loved ones after the 1944 torpedoing of my great uncle’s ship, HMCS Athabaskan G07, and the 6 families grieving an aircrew’s fiery deaths in the Quebec 1998 Labrador helicopter crash? Unlike many of his shipmates, Able Seaman Bill Trickett survived the sinking and a year as a German POW, then returned to Canada to raise a family. My good friend, Flight Engineer Master Corporal David Gaetz left behind a wife and three young children. Another colleague, Search and Rescue Technician Sergeant Mark Salesse, died during a 2015 Banff ice climbing exercise. A friend of mine held his LAV squad mate while he bled out from a femoral artery wound caused by an IED hit in Afghanistan. The ultimate sacrifice is the same no matter the era.

Then just because bodies are intact does not mean that veteran’s minds and souls were not broken. WWII vets rarely if ever spoke of their battle experiences. But were the horrors they witnessed any less than those seen by the Medak Pocket or Rwandan vets? In Rwanda at the height of the genocide, it got to the point where young children were cut down in front of the Canadians and they were helpless to act. A significant number of those vets have committed suicide and if you have ever met Lieutenant-General (Ret’d) Roméo Dallaire it is obvious that he is carrying 800,000 ghosts on his shoulders. Although the name of the disorder has changed from shell shock and battle fatigue to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Operational Stress Injury, a broken mind is still a broken mind.

When the young men of 1914 and 1939 left Canada for war, there was no fixed date for their return. Unreliable mail service was typically their only contact with the home front. Thankfully, today’s Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel do not go years between returning home. But they still spend years away from their families. The Afghanistan war ran from 2001-14 and 40,000 CAF personnel served in theatre. At various points there would be 2000-3000 Infantry and 5-6 Royal Canadian Navy ships stationed in the war zone. Communication with home was slightly better with a few minutes of satellite phone privileges per day. The typical training/deployment cycle has a sailor or soldier away from home for 12 months out of 18. Was there really a difference between the 1939 young wives and mothers with their modern era counterparts whose husbands were doing five or six tours in the Sandbox or on constant patrols of the Arabian Sea?

Even regular, ‘benign’ peacekeeping CAF deployments are not casualty free. From the 1956 Suez Crisis to the recent so-called ‘peacekeeping’ deployment to Mali, 130 CAF peacekeepers have been killed. Considering the state of Mali’s security situation, it may only be a matter of time before a Canadian flag draped coffin is rolled across the 8 Wing Trenton tarmac.

This year alone, the CAF will conduct 8-9 domestic operations/exercises, 3 large multi-national/NATO exercises, and 19-20 major worldwide operations. For 2018, about 6000 aircrew, sailors, and soldiers will be out ‘doing the business’ on behalf of Canada’s interests. About 1000 CAF warriors are in the combat zones of Iraq and Mali. Today’s world is not engulfed in total war but it is not safe. Thankfully there are still Canadian citizens willing to volunteer to do what needs to be done.

Death is death, sacrifice is sacrifice, and duty is duty no matter the era and no matter the magnitude. Contemporary serving CAF members, veterans, and dead deserve no less gratitude, remembrance, or reverence then those of a century ago. Thankfully the sacrifice suffered by Canada’s military has drastically reduced but the sentiment of ‘We will remember them’ should never diminish.

At sunset this Remembrance Day, there will be a nationwide tolling of the bells commemorating 100 years after the Armistice ended WWI. Please keep our present Canadian guardians in mind while reflecting on Canada’s past military sacrifices.

Blair’s LinkedIn Profile

Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.

January 14, 2019January 14, 2019

PRAIRIE SCRIBBLER – SOUTH MOUNTAIN PRESS, VOLUME 11, NUMBER 32

Anhydrous Ammonia tanks idle for the season

***Original published in South Mountain Press, November 9, 2018***

Farmers Persevere Despite Challenging Fall Weather

In spite of inclement fall weather conditions, Shoal Lake area farmers are not too far behind with their usual field work for this time of year. Farming is difficult at the best of times but some long hours during the dry spells between the snow and rain falls got most farmers caught up.

Then once harvest is in the bins, farmers usually like to get a jump on fall field work before freeze up forces them to push it into next spring. For farmers growing crops such as wheat or canola, the practice is to apply nitrogen in the form of anhydrous ammonia by deep tilling and injecting the fertilizer into the soil. During those brief October dry spells, highway motorists would have noticed the numerous large white anhydrous ammonia (NH3) trucks shuttling back and forth to replenish the farmers out on their fields.

Shoal Lake Shur-Gro Manager Wes Arnfinson says that although there is still some harvest left to be brought in, his company is seeing normal demand for fall fertilizer application. Their customers are mostly applying NH3 this time of year along with some granular nitrogen. Since the area does not have enough heat units to support good soybean growth, their outlet does not see much demand for phosphorous or potassium at this time of year.

Other local Ag Supply companies are also reporting close to normal levels of business for this time of year. Over at Richardson Pioneer, Senior Director Gerald Bryson says they are seeing, ‘A slightly less than average fall fertilizer season taking place. Volumes would be around 90% of average and it may not be done yet based on weather.’ His company is keeping up with the usual fall surge of demand for NH3. Dry fertilizer blends were also applied in normal quantities and supply was less of a problem.

As for Federated Co-op Limited, they should be getting caught up on suppling local Co-op Agro Centres with propane for farmer’s grain dryers. Back on October 9, the company released a statement stating that it’s been ‘impossible to keep up’ with demand. The company alleviated the situation with the hiring of more drivers and re-distributing its trucking fleet.

Of course, Mother Nature is not finished with the farmers yet. Unseasonable cold weather is moving into the area and as soon as the ground freezes down a couple of inches then fall work will grind to a halt.

As for the rows of downed canola or the fields of flattened wheat, it may have to wait to be combined after a full freeze-up or into next spring. Unfortunately, quality and quantity of those crops by that point will have degraded to the status of animal feed.

Either way, crop insurance reps will be busy with the expected numerous crop insurance claims being filed due to this fall’s poor weather.

Blair’s LinkedIn Profile

Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.

January 5, 2019January 5, 2019

PRAIRIE SCRIBBLER – CROSSROADS THIS WEEK, VOLUME 16, NUMBER 41

A map of western Manitoba, showing some of the municipalities highlighted for Part II of The Brandon Sun focus on the Oct. 24 municipal election. (Original map by Repromap has been altered for this illustration)

***Original published in Crossroads This Week, November 2, 2018***

Long-Serving Yellowhead RM Mayor Steps Down

After participating in the local politics of Yellowhead RM for a span of close to four decades, Don Yanick decided it was time to step aside as Mayor and chose not to run in this last round of municipal elections.

Don began his career in municipal politics back in the early 80’s when he served on Council from 1983-89. In 1989, he threw his hat into the ring for Reeve but was narrowly defeated. He did a sojourn away from the Council chambers for nine years then was elected to the top job in 1998.

Although the title did some swapping between Reeve and Mayor over the years due to two municipal amalgamations, the basics of being the head of a RM have not changed.

Here is what Don had to say about his philosophy that guided his time in office:

‘First and foremost, I wanted to serve my community. I was always prepared to listen to concerned citizens even when I knew I was going to get tuned in. Council needs to have the vision to look ahead for what is good and needed for the community. Then you have to communicate that vision to the residents and get them onboard. Then after you come up with a plan, look for the negatives but do not dwell on them forever. Find a way to move forward and a way to not say no. But be prepared to make the hard decisions because that was why you were elected.”

Don has seen many changes over the decades and Council has evolved from an organization that traditionally only oversaw the management of roads and recreation. Complex projects can take many years to come to fruition and can be difficult to gain the necessary support for timely success.

The one accomplishment that Don was quite proud of was being able to bring natural gas to the Town of Shoal Lake. That project involved a three-way partnership between all levels of government cost sharing $1.6 million to run a pipeline from an existing service point in Hamiota. Don’s RM Council and other like-minded bodies floated the idea in the early 2000’s and with 12 other partners came together to form the West Central Gas Committee. Unfortunately, in 2004 the committee folded leaving only the Shoal Lake Regional Community Development Corporation to carry on. Approvals and applications for Centra’s gas pipeline started in 2005-06 and soon after natural gas was available to the town’s residents. Don explained, “Although it can take many years, if you are on Council, you have to keep working on a project until it is done.”

Don has dealt with a wide variety of items over the years. For example, there have been hog barn issues that began in the early 2000’s that are popping up again. There used to be problems with flooding in Strathclair until with the help of some old-timers and some old maps, they were able to sort out some culverts with CP Rail. High speed internet with some of the fastest broadband capacities in the world is in the area now. Council’s job is to be adaptive and to help facilitate the health of the community.

Occasionally, Don and Council had to be creative to solve issues. The old fire hall in Oakburn was sitting empty and a proposal came up to convert it to a meat processing facility. Council sorted out a solution and now the owner runs a successful business with three employees.

Of course over time, Don has had his share of odd requests. One ditty of his involves an elderly gentlemen who felt the Mayor had the authority to grant a permit to drive on RM roads. It took some time but Don convinced the citizen that as Mayor he was not omnipotent, at least not when it came to drivers licenses.

Unfortunately, not all of the long-term projects that started under Don’s watch were finished before his retirement. One such agenda item is Council’s plan to manage the water level of Shoal Lake which started back in 2005. Even during his last Council meeting on October 23, Don was presiding during a lengthy presentation from Jay Toews, the principal scientist of Toews Aquatics, on data concerning lake levels and management strategies. The subsequent deliberations and decisions will be passed on to the new crowd.

When asked about what he would be doing with his life now that he is no longer Mayor, Don replied that he was being put out to pasture, literally. With his brother in law, he will now devote more time to his red/black Simmentals and grain operation. He has plenty of fencing to get to and after freeze-up, he would like to do more curling. There will be more time to spend with his family and he has some recreational property in Rossburn that will keep him busy. Plus Don has been Chairman of the Prairie Mountain Museum for about 17 years and he has big plans for the facility.

Don enjoyed all those years on Council and is grateful for the opportunity to serve his community. “I met a lot of great people plus worked with an amazing staff at the office. I had promised myself that when I lost my passion for the job, then it would be time to step aside and pass the torch. All my best wishes to the new Council, congratulations on your election. My best advice is to keep an open mind and always try to find solutions.”

Blair’s LinkedIn Profile

Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.

January 5, 2019January 5, 2019

PRAIRIE SCRIBBLER – SOUTH MOUNTAIN PRESS, VOLUME 11, NUMBER 31 – Part 2

Ukrainian Catholic *Church of St. John the Baptist* located in Rackham, MB

***Original published in South Mountain Press, November 2, 2018***

Forgotten Manitoba Communities

For those of us who have been away from Manitoba, upon our occasional return to the Rolling River area it is starkly apparent that despite some growth and vigor, many former robust settlements have just slowly faded away. But communities and individuals are doing their best to fight the slow march of rural entropy and occasionally there is evidence of sparks of life that are keeping the home fires burning.

One such community that used to regal in prosperity and former glory is Rackham, MB. Sadly, when the town’s buildings started to close down in the early 60’s, the community began its inexorable slide into irrelevance. Today, there are only ghosts of a prosperous past and thriving community which rivaled the nearby towns of Erickson, Sandy Lake, and Onanole.

Even just finding the village can be a bit challenging. There is no sign on the gravel road telling you to take the sharp 90˚ turn to continue along PTH 270. Then the only indication of the old settlement is a faded sign at a north/south intersection directing you one way for the cemetery and the other for the church. The railway tracks are long gone and habitation is limited to just a handful of homes tucked down in the trees.

But after a little bit of exploring, you can tell that the original Ukrainian settlers picked a pleasing site to settle down on. The location is on high ground surrounded by vistas of wetlands on all sides. On a Google map, you can see how the main east/west road passing through town would have been the main road before the 45 highway was built. The land would have been fertile for farming and there would have been abundant wildlife and fish.

It would be interesting to learn how the name of the town was picked. The Rackham surname is Anglo-Saxon in origin and is a habitation name from Sussex, England. The most notable Rackham was the infamous John Rackham. ‘Calico Jack’ plundered ships in the Bahamas during the early 18^th century and his progeny are scattered throughout the Commonwealth. Perhaps descendants of the nefarious pirate made their way to Manitoba before the larger immigration of Ukrainians.

Back in the early 1900s, Western Canada saw large influxes of Ukrainian immigrants flocking to the prairies to take up farming. The Rolling River area brought in their share of like-minded newcomers who wanted a better life. In 1925, there was enough of a need in Rackham to build a one room school that housed six original students. Thirteen years later, they built a second classroom onto the school. But by 1962, the school had lost most of its students and was forced to close. An old crest with the school’s motto ‘Work Will Win’ hangs in the town hall. Other than that, a cairn and school model on the original site are the only visible testament of the presence of a former place of learning.

The town must have begun an upswing during the build up to WW2, as by 1941 the corner stone to the jewel of the community was set. The inscription of ‘церкоь сь ноана хрестнтеля 1941’ declares the town’s place of worship as Church of St. John the Baptist. The Ukrainian Catholic congregation was very active and created a magnificent place of reverence that is a marvel to behold. Regular services were held from 1943 to 2003 and on special occasions thereafter. The hymnals of the John Chrysostom Divine Liturgy are sitting out ready for the return of the faithful. Time and decay have been temporarily halted and it is obvious that the few remaining parishioners care deeply about their local church and its heritage.

The loving care and attention that keeps the church and next door community hall from falling into irreversible disrepair has mostly been provided by the Wozney family for the last couple of decades. Calvin Wozney is the current caretaker of the facilities. His father had originally bought the old church hall about 20 years ago when the church needed funding for a re-roofing project. The church itself is still papal property and is in excellent condition except for one corner of the main floor where the fir beams have rotted under a section of the pews.

Calvin feels that it is important to keep the church and the hall available for use. He and his five brothers were all altar boys at the church and he recounted how each month there would be a large church supper and dance. The hall itself is quite large with a 150 person capacity in the upper portion. The spruce strips lining the wall add a warm, homey touch to any gathering. Also back in the day, Calvin recalled how everyone would gather for a shared meal and more than a few drinks down in the lower bar and dining area. Local musicians would play fiddles and accordions for entertainment. Plus next to the bar, there is a convenient crawlspace where the beer was kept cool for the revelers. Calvin fondly remembers those days of family and friends regularly gathering together and is happy to offer the hall as a venue for events such as the latest Carly Dow concert.

Perhaps rural decay can be stalled for a bit longer in the tiny village of Rackham. The Wozney family is helping to keep a small prairie treasure alive and if you are interested in Ukrainian Catholic church history, take a drive out on the old 270 to discover some Manitoba heritage before it disappears.

Blair’s LinkedIn Profile

Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.

January 5, 2019January 5, 2019

PRAIRIE SCRIBBLER – SOUTH MOUNTAIN PRESS, VOLUME 11, NUMBER 31

***Original published in South Mountain Press, Nov 2, 2018***

What’s the Local Buzz with Marijuana?

Canada embarked on a brave, new path last week with the legalization of cannabis thus becoming the first major country in the world to do so. So what if anything has changed in the local area during these first heady days after close to a century of ‘weed’ prohibition?

Despite the ease of ordering online, it is important to note that it will be at least a year until marijuana edibles become legal in Canada. Meanwhile, it is legal to create your own with your combustible buds and oils.

At first blush, there has been very little buzz within the local RMs and First Nations over legalizing cannabis. RMs such as Minto-Odanah and Rosedale were pro-active and the councils had voted to prohibit the sale of cannabis. But under the Province’s ‘The Safe and Responsible Retailing of Cannabis Act’, councils should hold plebiscites to either prohibit or repeal the prohibition of the local sale of cannabis within the municipality. They have until January 1, 2022 to pick a plebiscite date if they choose to hold one and thereafter any general vote on the matter can be held during regular municipal voting days.

When contacted, the Chief Administrative Officer of Minto-Odanah says that now that regulations on cannabis have been enacted, the Council has backed off from their earlier stance on the subject. There are no plans to hold a plebiscite for or against and in their opinion if anything was going to happen regarding sales, nearby Minnedosa would be the likely spot for a retail outlet.

Remarkably, there has been very little discussion over this contentious subject especially in light of the Municipal election season. At the Candidate forums for Yellowhead and Harrison Park, there was a grand total of one question asked about cannabis. Neither of those RMs have changed their policies other than looking at some amendments to their workplace rules.

Even queries from businesses regarding licensing to sell in a particular RM have been almost non-existent. According to Councilor Don Huisman of Clanwilliam-Erickson, the Council there says, ‘We won’t oppose an outlet in the community. In fact a lot was bought in town specifically as a dispensary.’ Considering the licensing hoops retail stores have to jump through, it might be awhile before Erickson residents see a brick and mortar marijuana shop in town.

Hamiota, Oakview and Rossburn RMs have not seen much interest for or against marijuana from their residents. In general, these RMs will just amend their policies to reflect the legalization. The general approach will be with regards to health and safety it will be treated like smoking, with regards to intoxication it will be treated as drinking.

This is the same approach that Rolling River and Keeseekoowenin First Nations are planning to take in their jurisdictions. For example, in Rolling River, there are already setback zones for smoking cigarettes in certain areas, so marijuana smoking will be treated the same. As for cultural considerations, marijuana does not have any importance to their traditions unlike tobacco.

Paul Tarleton, a spokesman for Riding Mountain National Park, had this to say about their response to legalization. “We want to give the Park’s visitors the best possible experience. Rules and regulations with respect to cannabis use in Federal parks will in general reflect those of the province they are in. For Riding Mountain, we will basically treat marijuana use similar to that of alcohol consumption.”

For example, at the Clear Lake campground, marijuana use will cease in accordance with alcohol use between the hours of 11:00 pm to 7:00 am. No marijuana use will be allowed in public areas or on hiking trails. For people who transgress, both RCMP officers and Park Staff are authorized to ticket offenders.

The Park differs from provincial parks because the latter will be a no-go zone for pot use. As Paul explained, their approach takes into account that cannabis is a legal substance that people would be able to use in their own home. While camping, people are in their residence and as long as they enjoy themselves responsibly, then there should not be an issue. Down the line, the Park will monitor how their policies work out and they will adjust accordingly and as the province dictates.

Although Paul knew of no immediate plans for any marijuana outlets in the town of Wasagaming, he knew of no reason why pot could not be sold in the Park if the business had the proper certification through the province to sell the substance.

So officially, there were no seismic shifts in the local area with regards to cannabis legalization. Unofficially, the status quo regarding black market sales and supply to local users probably has not changed substantially either.

You would be particularly naïve to think that ‘weed’ has not already been in use by a significant portion of the local population. Local illegal pot prices are about $5 per joint while the few legal Manitoba outlets are selling their marijuana for closer to $12 for the same amount.

But as licensing and supply issues gradually shake out, new stores will slowly start opening up and lower prices should result. As time goes by, we will see how levels of use respond to the new, legal availability and if it will be effective at choking out the black market supply chain.

A full list of the rules and regulations related to cannabis in Manitoba can be accessed through the website: https://www.gov.mb.ca/cannabis/index.html

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