Innovative play park proposal: students aim to bring American Ninja Warrior thrills to Thompson

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.

to write things that you have to figure out. It’s pretty clear when I get through.”

Teacher Katherine Young, along with eight students from R.D. Parker Collegiate School made a presentation for council on Monday June 5. The presentation was for new play equipment that is inspired by the American Ninja Warrior obstacle courses to be built in the area behind the Jumpstart Courts.

DeMeulles said she wrote her book, titled Whispers in the Wind: Stories from the North - Life in Churchill for a couple of reasons.

Thompson, the installation of the equipment and the labour associated with it. However this does not include the land or clearing the land for construction.

‘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.” 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.’”

She also has a reputation as a storyteller herself.

Some of their objectives are to improve infrastructure in Thompson, give teens and adults a free way to increase physical activity, reduce damage to the court benches and provide teens a safe place to play and socialize.

The designer of the Ninja Warrior inspired play equipment is base out of Steinbeck Manitoba; and the cost would be $336,000 to complete. The cost is for the equipment delivery to

“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

“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,

To meet the cost associated with building the new park, they have applied for several grants and fundraisers are already being planned by the students with the goal to have some annual fundraisers to help with any cost of maintaining the equipment once completed. The fundraising events are planned to be focused around community engagement and involvement.

“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?’” be breaking down for at least ten to fifteen years.” Said Young. The end goal is once everything has been completed and the money has been raised, including the portion that will be set aside for maintenance and replacements of parts as needed. They will turn over and entrust the new obstacle course inspired park along with the funds for any repairs needed to the City of Thompson.

Another thing that spurred her on was the hard times facing Churchill since the Hudson Bay Railway suspended operations north of Gillam last spring.

When asked “The maintenance part, is it very costly in the future?” by Councillor Wong.

Looking back, some of those experiences are things she might not do again.

“The designer said it is designed to be low cost in the future, but there are probably parts that might need it. But they shouldn’t

“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

The name for the park is still in the works, as the students will be choosing one name out of four Cree words. MĒTAWĒWIN meaning Play, TIPWĒNIMISOWIN meaning Freedom, ASPĒNIMOWIN meaning Hope and WĀWĀTĒWA meaning Northern Lights. To be decided at a later date with a vote by the students.

“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 swallow when people say that Churchill residents should just find somewhere 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

“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

Now that she’s got one book under her belt, deMeulles says she may try

“I have another book in me,” she says. “It’s a darker al growth and struggles. Maybe in the next five years it’s something I’ll focus on doing.”