As Thanksgiving approaches we once again think about giving pause and thanks for our abundance, our bounty and great good fortune to live in this land of plenty here in Northern Manitoba.
In a world still struggling to emerge from the worst economic crisis over the last year since the Great Depression of the 1930s, Thompson has been mercifully insulated from the worst, although not all, of the global economic storm.
You can find the anecdotal evidence of that easily enough: try hiring a contractor for almost any type of job or browse through our own abundance of help wanted ads for jobs. If you've read help wanted sections in Ontario or Atlantic papers recently and seen the meagre offerings, you may have come to a renewed appreciation for the almost uniquely robust economy locally. Give thanks.
Originally, the Pilgrim Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony celebrated their first Thanksgiving Day on July 8, 1629. The following year, John Winthrop gave his famous sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity," where he rightly predicted the colony would be known as the "City upon a Hill," watched by the world.
The history of Thanksgiving in Canada goes back to the English explorer, Martin Frobisher, who had been trying to find a Northern Passage to the Orient. Frobisher didn't succeed but he did establish a settlement in North America. In 1578, he held a formal ceremony, in what is now Newfoundland and Labrador to give thanks for surviving the long journey.
We haven't always celebrated Thanksgiving in Canada in early October. In 1879, Parliament declared Nov. 6 a day of Thanksgiving and a national holiday. Over the years many dates were used for Thanksgiving, the most popular for many years being the third Monday in October. After the end of the First World War, both Armistice Day, as it was then known, and Thanksgiving were celebrated on the Monday of the week in which Nov. 11 fell. In 1931, the two days became separate holidays and Armistice Day was renamed Remembrance Day.
On Jan. 31, 1957, Parliament proclaimed, "A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed ... to be observed on the second Monday in October."
While we are reflecting on Thanksgiving this year, it is also apropos to reflect for a few minutes on some of those who are leaving Thompson soon, or who have left recently, and their contributions in making this a better community to live in. For that, too, we give thanks.
It is by no means an exhaustive or all-inclusive list, but Maria Hughes, long-time director of the Thompson Playhouse, and her husband, Noel Laine, moved to Prince Edward County in Southern Ontario last spring. Noel's 96-year-old dad, Leon, a resident of Northern Spirit Manor, followed this summer. And speaking of Northern Spirit Manor, Kate Geiger, director of recreation there and an occupational therapist, who was also very active with Northern Restorative Justice (NRJ), leaves for the south and the Beausejour area in a matter of days. Cpl. Sean Grunewald, the former lead investigator on the Carlson murder, has transferred south to Steinbach, while Jim Stewart, a project officer for Manitoba Intergovernmental Affairs' Neighbourhoods Alive! program in Thompson, Flin Flon and The Pas; former manager of Thompson Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation (TNRC); and manager of Channel 13, when it was the local cable access television station in Thompson, makes his way south to Winnipeg next month, working for the province still in a similar position with Neighbourhoods Alive!
Also leaving Thompson are Connie Krahenbil, who has been a firecracker for the last five years as executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association Thompson Inc., and her husband, Cory Young, regional director of Manitoba Aboriginal and Northern Affairs (ANA), and until a few days ago a first-term city councillor, who are moving to Winnipeg.
Krahenbil is a Thompson girl, born and raised, who lived here until 1989. Young is a Winnipeg boy. They met and fell in love in Churchill. How's that for a true Northern story?
The images we carry around in our minds of people are understandably set in the context we know them. Not everyone in Thompson would know (at least until now) that Connie used to be a Calm Air flight attendant or that Cory worked as one of the "Bay Boys" at 19 for the Hudson's Bay Company store in Baker Lake, in what was then the Northwest Territories and is now in Nunavut.
Young also worked for years as a municipal administrator for the Town of Churchill and later for a shorter time for Winnipeg Beach. He also had an earlier stint in Winnipeg in the treaty land entitlement area of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, an area of the department he will now be returning to.
Krahenbil, who will be working for the Canadian Mental Health Association of Manitoba, previously worked for the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba, and in both Churchill and Winnipeg, for OmniTRAX Canada Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of OmniTRAX Inc. of Denver, Colo., which purchased the Port of Churchill facilities from Canada Ports Corporation in 1997.
Krahenbil and Young arrived here most recently in December 2004 and they both say active engagement in civic life has been key to their happiness here or anywhere else they have lived. "You never know how long you'll live somewhere," Krahenbil says. "It's what you do with the time you're there that counts.
Both were instrumental in forming the Thompson Residents Association in May 2005, a year and half before Young ran for and won a seat on council. Krahenbil, until this year the driving force behind the volunteer Winterfest committee, professionally expanded Canadian Mental Health Association Thompson Inc. initiatives and contracts to include running a graffiti cover-up program for the last two summers as well as taking over the management of the Thompson Homeless Shelter, which was struggling.
Well done and farewell all. Thompson is a better place for your having lived here. Happy Thanksgiving.
