Hospice two thirds of the way to fundraising goals

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Hospice two thirds of the way to fundraising goals

By Susan McNeil/Prince Albert Daily Herald

The Rose Garden Hospice received another boost on their way to a $4 million fundraising goal with a $50,000 cheque from A & W Restaurants Prince Albert on August 4.

The restaurant raised about $25,000 by agreeing to donate $2 from every Teen Burger sold for a week in May, a week in June and another week coming up August 12-18. The restaurant owners contributing the rest.

“It’s just such a great community cause, to have a hospice, because we don’t have one in the community,” said Reg Fontaine, owner of A&W. “It’s meaningful to us personally.” 

Fontaine’s older sister was a good friend of Rose Daschuk, whose death 14 years ago sparked the idea that Prince Albert needs end of life care services. 

“It was one more motivation to get on board,” said Fontaine of the connection.

He said that the community always responds when needs are identified and that should be acknowledged along with other more localized supporters. 

“We certainly can’t do anything without family support and without the support of the staff,” he explained. “Each and every one of them responded in so many ways to seeing us through our promotion over the last couple months.”

Businesses would call and order 20 Teen Burgers as a way to support the cause and many people came in asking specifically about the program in order to help out. 

The response inspired the Fontaines to double the amount raised to $50,000. 

 “This is an incredible donation,” said Ralph Boychuk, a member of the Hospice’ fundraising committee. “The businesses that have been behind us have been so generous and this is another example of that generosity.”

A&W has been a partner from the start and still has a door open to further contributions. 

“The Fontaine family that have owned this A&W for many years now, have really engaged in the project and we’re so thankful for their participation and definitely their contribution,” Boychuk said. 

Construction on the hospice will start soon, with pilings going in the ground this week. 

Boychuk anticipates that when the building starts becoming a physical reality, the donations will come in even quicker. 

“There are stages to fundraising,” he explained. “You can go out and get the seed capital going for the project but people want to see it. In the end, it’s going to be visible in the next few days and then we can start to close the gap.”

As the word spreads, the public is starting to understand a little more about the unique services a hospice provides. 

“It’s a completely different type of fundraiser. Normally you raise money for arenas, ball diamonds and those things,” Boychuk said. “This is end of life care. It’s not known to the Saskatchewan people and so the people are starting to understand the project.” 

Canadian Tire will be matching the burger sale portion of the fundraising as well. 

Susan McNeil is the Prince Albert Daily Herald civic affairs reporter. Se can be reached at susan.mcneil@paherald.sk.ca or 306-764-4276 ext. 230. His latest articles can be found at https://paherald.sk.ca/author-susanmcneil/.

Morning starts with blanket of smoke

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Morning starts with blanket of smoke

Residents of Prince Albert woke up the morning of August 2 to find the air grey with smoke as forest fires continue to burn in northern parts of Saskatchewan.
The air quality was bad enough that Environment Canada issued a special air quality statement, saying the air was at the high risk level eight, on a 1 – 10 scale.
People with heart and lung conditions could be at higher risk and are most affected by air pollution.
As of August 3, there were still 130 wildfires burning in the province with 18 of those not contained.
The largest fire of concern is the Bell fire, north of Hudson Bay, currently 30,482 hectares (just over 71,000 acres).
In the area are the Wildcat Hill Provincial Park, Highway 9 to the east, Highway 55 to the north and Highway 3 to the south.
The fire is being fought by the Type 1, 2 and 3 crews, currently working on perimeter containment on the west side and protecting values on the south flank of the fire.
North of Smeaton, the Harding fire has grown to 23,319 hectares (55,966 acres). It is being actioned by Type 1,2 and 3 crews, air tanker and helicopter support along with heavy equipment.
In the area are Highway 106 and the south end of the Narrow Hills Provincial Park.
There, crews are finding hotspots and dozers will continue work on the south east portion of the fire, south of the Torch River.
Further north, the Milne Fire – with the community of Grandmother’s Bay to the south – sits at 5,767 hectares (13,840 acres) and is being fought by Type 1 crews, helicopter support and air tanker support.
In the area are Highway 102, the Grandmother’s Bay access road, Churchill River campground and the Devil Lake campground.
Crews are working along the access road and are protecting values as needed.
West of Stanley Mission, the Lynx fire is 4,126 (9,900 acres). It is being fought by Type 1 and 3 crews along with helicopter support.
Values in the area include Highway 102 and 915 along with the Little Deer Lake campground.
No assessment was available for the Theriau fire, south east of Stony Rapids due to heavy smoke.
Some rain fell on Tuesday, August 3 with more expected the following day but Thursday has a forecast of return to sunny skies and a high temperature of 27 degrees.

Former Muskoday Chief calls for cultural training after incident at PA business

Susan McNeil, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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Former Muskoday Chief calls for cultural training after incident at PA business

Susan McNeil, L.J.I. reporter
Prince Albert Daily Herald

When former chief of the Muskoday First Nation Herman Crain overheard two staff and a customer making disparaging remarks at Lake Country’s Co-op’s hardware store on July 17, he was “angry and frustrated”.
Crain said an apology posted by the Co-op on their Facebook page doesn’t go far enough. He would like to see the Co-op offer reconciliation training to all staff along with a broader apology.
“I informed them that wasn’t good enough,” said Cain. “The comments I heard weren’t directed at me, but they were directed at all Indigenous people from what I could gather.”
What Crain heard was a discussion on the recent discovery of graves at multiple former residential schools in Canada, and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In a Facebook post a day afterwards, Crain wrote that a customer told Co-op staff Indigenous people were going around looking for pity.
Lake Country Co-op issued an apology on their own Facebook page on July 22.
“The opinions expressed during this conversation do not represent the opinions of Lake Country Co-op,” the post reads. “Lake Country Co-op does not tolerate racial insensitivity. Our organization has policies in place to combat harassment and discrimination. An investigation is currently underway and the disciplinary process will be followed according to the details of the investigation.”
It goes on to say; “Lake Country Co-op believes in working together to build healthy and vibrant communities and values the many positive relationships that we have developed with First Nations communities and partners. Lake Country Co-op wishes to offer a sincere apology to all First Nations people. We acknowledge the pain, suffering and trauma that First Nations people have endured.”
Crain is not under any illusion that this was an isolated incident and says similar incidents may have happened before and could happen again.
“I liked the message they gave on that post, but not all Indigenous people are on Facebook,” he said. “If their intention was genuine, I think there were many other ways they could have done that. It would have had much more of an impact.”
Crain said the staff were aware that he and his wife were in the store as they made direct eye contact with him.
“There were two staff and a customer. It was a two-way discussion,” he said. “What bothered me the most was not necessarily the customer’s opinion, because he’s entitled to that. It was the staff members that were casually involved in the discussion knowing full well that I wasn’t far away.”
During the approximately 10 minutes Crain and his wife were at the store, no staff made an attempt to see if they needed any help.
“It was the word’s, the customer said then they go around saying poor me, feel sorry for me, pity me. Those were his words,” Crain explained. “He was stating that as Indigenous people, these horrible things are happening, and we want pity?”
He said they are not looking for pity, and that’s why he would like to see some training in reconciliation and in cultural sensitivity for the staff at Co-op and any business that has similar issues.
“They should be made aware of the history of residential schools. The history of murdered and missing aboriginal women, the 60s scoop – all of those bad things. Maybe their opinions would change.”
Lake Country said in a comment on August 3 that they are looking into training for staff members that would help address Crain’s concerns.
As for Crain, he also points out that the aboriginal community comprises a large part of the economic health of the city.
Of the 34,000 in the 2016 official census, 14,545 have aboriginal identity and that does not take into account the large numbers of people from Northern Saskatchewan that shop in the city regularly.
“I want the business community to know that as Indigenous people we have money, we like to shop and we would like to be treated as a customer first as opposed to an Indigenous person,” Crain said. “Too many times we are viewed as an Indigenous person first as opposed to a customer. Not all businesses, but definitely enough to make it a concern to me that I decided that day, that afternoon, I wasn’t going to accept that. We have to start challenging. We have to start pushing back.”

 

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