Interview with Peter Bjornson

Guy Hansen, Public Relations

“Strategies to Make the Ordinary Extraordinary” is a paper written by our “new” Minister of Education, Peter Bjornson, when he was a history teacher in his hometown, Gimli. This interview was by Guy and Faye Hansen.

A winter day. Two lovers were on one side of the creek. The Anglican minister was on the other side. Vows were exchanged. During 187677 a smallpox epidemic raged across the area, quarantine lines were drawn, and the edge of the boundary was Netley creek. The lovers were now married.

Pageant Wagons Project tried to re-live this event. Three-dimensional dioramas were built in Gimli High School, the welding class made the chassis, the carpentry class constructed the upframing, the art class painted the figures and murals and the history class did the research, overseeing the whole thing. The wagons were subsequently drawn through the Gimli summer festival parade and put on display.

Peter Bjornson was a hands-on history teacher. Sure, dates are important, but Peter wanted the kids to relive, to internalize an event, to put a face on it, whether it be the local smallpox epidemic, the Gimli glider or the T-33 crashing in the town during Air Force training days. These were local stories, with social themes that tied the kids to the area, to the elders who remembered; the events were a tangible connection to the community.

Faye and I had never really conducted an interview before. We needed some help and so we phoned Peter’s Mom, Hedy.

As the conversation rolled along, it became obvious that “Peter was very busy, always”. As a kid, Peter had delivered flyers for both grocery stores, using the money to buy model planes. He wrote a prayer (published) for his local Gimli Lutheran Church when he was in Sunday school. Peter was a teenage DJ for about 10 years. When still too young to get a licence, his Dad drove him forth and back, picking him up at 1:00 am, sports team participation with basketball and volleyball, student council, church choir. At one parent-teacher conference, Mom had asked the teacher, with all his other activities, if Peter was able to zero in and do his in class work properly. Teacher assured, “Yes, he pays attention all the time, he’s always on task.” Mom went home relieved.

Peter laughed when I told him about phoning Mom. “How’s she doing?” Then, more seriously, “this was supposed to be about teaching and politics. But maybe you may have touched on something, the sports. I think that sport was a major reason that I ended up in teaching. They both involve challenge, teamwork,reward.” Peter had played, coached, refereed, placed 2nd and 4th in provincial competitions. He coached Special

Olympics kids before going back to University. He graduated and went back to Gimli as a history teacher.

I had phoned someone else too, Erika Goodman. She runs the Gimli Constituency office. Erika was thrilled to tell me about her Current Events teacher, Mr. Bjornson, and it just bubbled out of her. “He brought in different media sources, showed how they reported the same event differently, taught us how to think critically, he was so interested in our personal needs”. She slowed, her voice lowered, “I wasn’t able to take his history class the next year. That’s when they did the Vimy Ridge battle, you know.” More on Vimy Ridge later.

Question-“So Peter, if you believed that critical thinking, being able to assess all points of view was important for your students, how did that translate into your role as a parent? Your kids were young, politics in provincial Manitoba is a pretty tough business.”

“At first, when they were young, I shielded them from the politics. My wife and I thought it would be confusing and perhaps hurtful. As they got older I started to let them in a bit. Actually, my son is showing some interest. I’m afraid that he might follow in my footsteps. Peter laughed, rather tentatively. He’s already a DJ, I drive him around like my Dad did. I keep telling him that there are only 57 of these jobs in Manitoba.”

And now back to Vimy Ridge. Peter, the history teacher who wanted a real, local face on events, staged the battle of Vimy Ridge.

It was October, cold, wet, the school buses rolled, kids with Peter were dropped off 5-6 miles out, marching, backpacks heavy. Others were trucked to the local firing range where trenches had been dug, told to fortify them. One side had lots of flour bombs, not so many soldiers. The other side had lots of soldiers, short on weaponry. Fireworks were simulating the attack. The battle started. Seventeen Wing Medical Core of the Canadian Army attended. They passed out real rations. When a soldier had a flour burn they would triage, tell the wounded man how badly he had been hit, was it a major artery . . . carried soldiers back to the tarps to be treated or to die.

The kids had already been asked to research local families who had young men go off to war, some to not return. They had brought pencils and notebooks. Now they were asked to write a letter home to their Mom and Dad, on the eve of battle, perhaps their last words back. Peter took the letters home. He showed them to his wife who was pregnant at the time. She sat on the sofa and cried.

The history lesson battle, more generally war, had been personalized. In 2003 Peter received the Governor General’s Award for Excellence in Teaching History, partly for this dramatization.

And then the politics, juggling fatherhood with the Leg., 55,000 km of travel each year, mostly on the Gimli road. “I’m in much different trenches now, but everything I’ve done I did because I enjoyed it, broadening my experiences. I’ve learned something from everything I did.”

“I’d rather live in a country where people can be criticized that in one where they can’t.”

“You can take the teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t take the teacher out of the classroom.”

Guy Hansen

Our RTAM membership and its needs have been growing. We wanted to project a stronger and more vibrant image of RTAM. For some time the RTAM Board has been discussing the need for a professional media person. At our January meeting, the Public Relations Committee presented Adam Dooley who summarized his 20 plus years of experience working in the field. Adam’s presentation was quite impressive. When a motion was put to the floor, there were no dissenting votes. Adam was hired to help us develop our long term strategy for the upcoming years.

It was interesting to learn that Adam had previously worked with Nicholas Borodenko, of Prairie Research Associates. PRA was the group which had been so important in analysing our recent Volunteer Survey of Retired Teachers. To learn more about Adam and his work, do a Google search for “Dooley Communications.”

In February, the Board accepted Ray Job’s offer to boost us along with our communication skills. Ray is the Public Relations Facilitator for the Manitoba Teachers’ Adam Dooley of Dooley Communications Society. Some of you will remember him from earlier days. I believe he has held that post for about 20 years. Part of Ray’s job is to stay abreast of current events. He showed us how to communicate better and how to research more quickly. He did not just point out which keyboard buttons to push. Rather, he focused on the explosion of information which is out there. Just enter a word and with a flip of the screen, all the articles, presentations and facts relating to your entry are there for you to access immediately. This can be significant information which many of us do not get. Ray did offer to coach us along to the next level, and for those of us who thought we needed it, it’s so easy. “Once you start into this, you will never look back.” Thanks to the Manitoba Teachers’ Society and to Ray Job for the sharing of expertise. Thanks, Ray.

Guy Hansen

Ray Job, Public Relations Facilitator for Manitoba Teachers’ Society

In Memoriam

OCTOBER 2014

Peter Bilawka Sidney, BC

Hendrikjen Borsuk

Winnipeg, MB Mary Collins Red Deer, AB Beatrice B Desjarlais Ste. Anne, MB Jacob I. Friesen Winnipeg, MB James Harold Goodridge Wanless, MB Nora Gray Virden, MB Dorothy I. Hudson Carman, MB Jakob Klassen Winnipeg, MB Lorna C. Madill Winnipeg, MB Gerald Muller Winnipeg, MB Beverly E. Reeves Winnipeg, MB Arley F. Reimer Steinbach, MB Anne M. Stadnyk Abbotsford, BC Donald S. Sumner Brandon, MB

NOVEMBER, 2014

Joyce E. Alexander Oscar J. Gagnon

Winnipeg, MB LaBroquerie, MB Gerald Green Winnipeg, MB Mohammed Myamath Hussain Winnipeg, MB Andrew J. Legebokoff Kamsack, SK C. Joan Newton Winnipeg, MB Thomas H. Smith Winnipeg, MB Frerderick W. Taylor Winnipeg, MB Jay Richard Wheelwright Winnipeg, MB

DECEMBER, 2014

Pauline Alice M. Alarie St-Hyacinthe, QC Donald E. Cronk Dauphin, MB John Simon Fotheringhame Brandon, MB Darleen Ruth Golke Abbotsford, BC Harold A. Grundy Winnipeg, MB Jean Hollinger Winnipeg, MB Antoine O. Lussier Winnipeg, MB Mary S. MacBride Winnipeg, MB Elsie A. Maksimow Winnipeg, MB

JANUARY, 2015

Constance B. Alexander Minnedosa, MB Donald Wayne Beattie Portage la Prairie, MB Gloria M. Chemerynsky Winnipeg, MB Abram J. Dick Winnipeg, MB Peter Froese Gimli, MB George Jersak Winnipeg, MB Norman F. Johnson Winnipeg, MB Lawrence T. Kowalchuk West St. Paul, MB Pauline Locktin Benito, MB Daniel George Mitchler Winnipeg, MB Harry Pauls Winnipeg, MB Glen W. Pierce Winnipeg, MB Marion D. Rabe Brandon, MB M. Lorraine Reimer Winnipeg, MB Evelyn M. Robinson Brandon, MB Delores Evelyn Sass Winnipeg, MB Agnes E. Smith Brandon, MB Olga Helen Szumik Winnipeg, MB