Ensuring the future has strong leaders

planned on staying here for as long as they did.

facilitator – addiction and mental health with AHS.

She’s worked with the Lloydminster Youth Council for a number of years and has been the community developer for the Canadian Cancer Society for over 11 years.

Marin started her working career as a banker and while working in finance she started getting the education needed to become a teacher.

dian Cancer Society in 2001 and that came about because my husband is a two-time cancer survivor. I recognized I really needed to support people in the region to have better access to supports and services, as well as to advocate for healthy public policy,” she said.

“That’s how my advocacy career started and my work to engage with the community at a very meaningful level.”

“We thought we’d move here until the economy in Regina recovered and move back there … but we’ve been here for almost 30 years and it’s been really good to us,” she said.

A woman of many hats, Marin is currently a member of Lloydminster City Council and also spent many years as a health promotion

“Banking was really good to me so I stayed in that, but I also took the masters program in asset based community development,” she said.

Community has always played an important role in Marin’s life, but she said her work with the Canadian Cancer Society was what kickstarted her advocacy career.

“I started working for the Cana-

Marin served as a staff member of the Canadian Cancer Society for 12 years, and as a volunteer, she was part of the original provincial budget council for cancer in Alberta and served there from 2011-2019.

“In 1999 they gave my husband a 25 per cent chance of survival and here we are in 2023 and he’s healthy,” she said.

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“We’ve had a wonderful life together, we’ve raised our three kids and have grandbaby number six on the way. We never thought that was possible for our family and we’re so blessed.”

Volunteering has always also played an important role in Marin’s life as it’s something she’s very passionate about.

“Opportunities like that have been amazing and continue to fill my cup and encourage me to continue my work as a volunteer,” she said.

“I recognize I have some extraordinary opportunities, and some of that comes from being very engaged in the community and having a passion for community.”

Marin has also been involved with the Lloydminster Youth Council since its inception and has loved every minute of it.

“I’ve been working with AHS in community addiction and mental health since 2014 and through that, we developed the Lloydminster Youth Council,” she said.

“We did this to recognize the fact we really need to invest in our future, which is the youth of our community. We created a youth council so we can build the skills and help our youth become those future leaders, get them involved in community, and they’re also great volunteers for many organizations in our community.

“Our goal is to build those future leaders.”

As a member of Lloydminster City Council, Marin has also learned a lot from the experience since being elected in 2020.

“The role of City Councillor was definitely much more than I had expected, but it’s been amazing,” she said.

“I appreciate the fact our council knows each other quite well and we get along quite well together.”

For Marin, Lloydminster is the place to call home for a number of reasons, but mainly, it’s the people.

“Have you ever seen a community that can rally and raise money like Lloydminster? It never seems to matter where the need is, the support is always there,” she said. “From raising money to support the most vulnerable in our community to supporting sports teams and the arts ... people come forward and invest in the great assets we have in the community, and they really invest in the future.”

Originally from Estevan, Sask., Mallory Oleshko moved to Lloydminster in 2019 after her husband, Chris, accepted a job here.

The couple packed up and relocated to Lloyd with their two kids, ages 10 and 11, and it wasn’t long before Oleshko found herself in the role of business man -