Nickel Belt News
Volume 58 Number 11
Friday, March 16, 2018
Thompson, Manitoba
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Wapanohk’s new parking lot paves thea way the school season Book wayfor to preserve and pass on memories of growing up in Churchill
BY MATTHIAS J. JOHNSON THOMPSON CITIZEN STAFF REPORTER
The Wapanohk Community School has been undergoing a significant transformation this summer, marked by the bustling activity of Maple Leaf Construction’s renovation work in the school’s parking lot. Addressing the deterioration of the asphalt and the need for a more robust foundation. As you approach the Wapanohk Community School during the summer months, it’s hard to miss the large construction zone that has been a summer fixture. The once smooth asphalt has succumbed to the passage of time, displaying a multitude of cracks, noticeable movement, and distinct splits. It’s as if each winter, followed by a thaw, only serves to further exacerbate the existing damage. Base and Excavation Foremen; Jon Henry stated that “Wapanohk Needed an upkeep. Over time the existing asphalt just crumbled from not having a good enough structure
underneath. So what we do when we come on-site is we do a shape and pave, so we excavate the old asphalt add some granular to it, give it back its structure” Jon Henry has dedicated 12 years of his career to Maple Leaf, serving as the Base and Excavation Foreman for the past two years. During his initial decade with the company, he was stationed in Winnipeg. Throughout his time in the city, Henry experienced firsthand the significant impact of the region’s weather and climate on the nature of his work. Reflecting on his transition to the northern region, Henry commented, “It’s definitely very different working up here than in the city” Said Henry “There’s different material in the ground. It’s different to work with and it can be challenging. But it’s not bad, I like it” Additionally, Henry pointed out the contrasting geological compositions between the city and the North. He noted the prevalence of limestone in the city, while the northern region features
Photos by Matthias J. Johnson more granite and base rock. Moreover, the region’s reliance on glacier beds for much of its infrastructure poses an additional set of challenges, as these natur-
al formations expand and contract with the changing seasons. The renovation of the Wapanohk Community School parking lot by Maple
Leaf Construction seems to be a much-needed and wellplanned project. And by Jon Henry’s mighty hand, expertise and dedication we can any geological obstacle is no
Addictions Foundation of Manitoba northern director Gisele deMeulles has written a book about her experiences growing up, mostly in Churchill. BY IAN GRAHAM EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
Though she’s now written a book about her experiences growing up in Churchill, Addictions Foundation of Manitoba northern director Gisele deMeulles said writing wasn’t something she always thought she would do. “In my youth I never felt good at writing,” she said. “But when I moved to Thompson to get into the school of social work, at that point I had to write for university and realized, ‘Holy, I’m not bad at this, right?’ I certainly developed a lot of skill in university and came out of there with a very strong skill in my writing and confidence in my writing. I write very clear and that’s it. It’s there. Some people say it’s kind of blunt or direct. I don’t tend
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to write things that you have to figure out. It’s pretty clear when I get through.” DeMeulles said she wrote her book, titled Whispers in the Wind: Stories from the North - Life in Churchill for a couple of reasons. “I just sort of thought, you know what, this history, this stuff that’s in my head, it’s going to be gone if I don’t write it down,” she said. “My kids are not going to get it if I don’t do it and it’s something I’ve always wanted my mom to do. My mom’s an elder and she’s an artist, she’s got so many wonderful stories because she always tells her stories at Parks Canada in Churchill and I’ve always hounded her, ‘Please, just put it on tape, I will write it for you because your story is going to be lost,’ and she’s never done it and I thought,
‘Oh, I’m just as bad, right?’ I have all these stories and I need to capture them for my grandchildren really because they will be lost if I don’t.” She also has a reputation as a storyteller herself. “I had such a varied history and I would tell people stories and they would go, ‘That’s not true, is it?’ I’d go, ‘Yeah it’s true.’ They’d go, ‘You didn’t do all that, did you? You’ve got to be really old.’ I was like, ‘No, actually I did all that before I was 27,’ and they went ‘What?’” Looking back, some of those experiences are things she might not do again. “I did some pretty bizarre stuff like fuel hauls into the high Arctic at -35,” said deMeulles. “It didn’t dawn on me until after. That was a very dangerous thing to do. Being on a plane full of fuel
was not a very safe thing to do but I jumped at it. I thought that was exciting until the plane landed and they started throwing the fuel off and I realized, ‘Holy cats, I was probably sitting on a bomb.’” Another thing that spurred her on was the hard times facing Churchill since the Hudson Bay Railway suspended operations north of Gillam last spring. “It used to be a really thriving large community and it’s just dwindled down to such a small population now,” deMeulles says. Though she’s not there any longer, her parents and her sister and other family members still are. “My cousin owns the hardware store there,” she says. Because of that, deMeulles finds it hard to
match. The improvements to the parking lot will undoubtedly benefit the school and its community, providing a safe and reliable space for students, staff, and visitors.
Nickel Belt News photo by Ian Graham
swallow when people say that Churchill residents should just find somewhere easier to live. “To say, ‘Those people choose to live there. They should just leave,’ is quite simplistic. It’s quite disrespectful. If we were in the same boat in another area I think we would scream about that so why don’t they have the option to do that? I think right now they’re feeling like they’re pawns in a political game and that’s really sad for them because I think the people of Churchill really want to thrive. They’ve built their worlds there. How would we feel if someone came to you and said, ‘I’m sorry, you have to leave your home community and we’re going to displace you somewhere else and all your loved ones and your history is gone?’”
For all the harsh weather and the dangers of polar bears, deMeulles said if it had been viable she would have moved back to Churchill in a heartbeat. “I miss the shoreline, I miss the rock, I miss the polar bears even though they’re very dangerous and I really miss the Hudson Bay,” she says. “When I go back home, standing on the Hudson Bay looking out on the bay, it just gives you an incredible sense. You feel so small and you feel great.” Now that she’s got one book under her belt, deMeulles says she may try to produce another. “I have another book in me,” she says. “It’s a darker story, more about personal growth and struggles. Maybe in the next five years it’s something I’ll focus on doing.”
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