January 8
January 7 – The five candidates vying for a seat on Canora town council in a byelection agreed to participate in the first candidates’ forum Canora was to see in many years. The STARS Air Ambulance drew a crowd of people to watch as the helicopter landed in the parking lot of the Canora Hospital. Mayor Gina Rakochy organized a retreat during which council was to create a list of priorities for the long term.
January 14 – The candidates in a byelection to fill a vacant seat on council were: Jeff Bisschop, Eric Sweeney, Michelle Funk, Brad Gabora and Gerald Wolkowski. Canora’s population was estimated at 2,742, which is better than the 2,200 estimated by Stats Canada, but it was a decline by 92 according the previous year’s numbers. Jushua Kitzan accomplished something seldom seen. During the Assiniboine River Archery club’s shoot, one of his arrows became stuck in the back of another.
January 21 – The Canora Hospital was being re-organized in preparation for the transition that would create a CEC (Collaborative Emergency Centre) model. Brad Gabora was elected to Canora town council in a byelection. The five members of the Canora Midget Cobras selected for the Major Hockey League’s all-star game were: Tanner Kopeck, Kole Statchuk, Bo Loster, Brenden Pelechaty and Zack McGriskin.
January 28 – The Arnold Makowsky rink, with Don Probe, Mike Spelay and Leona Wolkowski, won the Canora Seniors’ Bonspiel. Lorri Dennis, a nurse practitioner, announced that rules governing nurse practitioners had changed in that she was now allowed to prescribe narcotics.
February
February 4 – The Zeno Gulka rink, with Cal Homeniuk, Roman Gulka and Brian Hermanson, won the Town and Country bonspiel. The River Ridge SWF branch donated $1,000 to the growing NASP program at Canora Junior Elementary School.While hosting a tournament, the Canora Cougars fell short of qualifying for playoffs.
February 11 – CCS students were having fun preparing for Valentine’s Day exploring numerous methods of promoting candy sales. For a photograph, Ben Kuang got down on one knee to present some candy to Mina Mykytyshyn. Canora town council members returned from the annual SUMA convention and offered a message that urban and rural municipalities had to learn to work together. It was announced that during the Canora in Bloom festivities, a re-enactment of the pounding of the last spike in the third transcontinental rail line would take place.
February 18 – Snowmbilers explained how much they appreciated the Stumble In warm-up shack north of Canora. Besides being a place to warm up while travelling the trails, it was also a place for socializing. Among the many events offered by the Canora Child Action Plan was after-school yoga. The Canora Library utilized one of the back rooms to hold a fabric sale.
February 25 – The Gang Green defeated Canora in the first round and then went on to win the Canora seniors’ hockey tournament. Near record snowfall proved a challenge that town workman could handle. Classic pin pall machines were set up in a room at the Civic Centre by Cory O’Dell, the owner. He said all the money raised by the machines would be donated to community causes.
March
March 4 – Hunters, fishermen and trappers were told not to apologize for heir role in conservation.That was the message offered at the Canora SWF banquet by Dave Weiman, a spokesman for the fur trapping industry. Cold weather did not deter 27 participants in the Good Spirit Cross-Country Ski Club’s Lamplighter Loppett. The Midget Cobras won the first round of provincial playoffs against Neilburg.
March 11 – During the River Ridge SWF branch awards night, it was noted that many of the most successful hunters and fishermen were female. Terry Dennis was welcomed aboard by Premier Brad Wall when he was elected the candidate for the Sask Party in the Canora-Pelly constituency. The Kent Zuravloff rink of Buchananwon the Buchanan Open Spiel.
March 18 – CCS students went to work at the school grounds, making large snow sculptures. It was the large number of high quality speakers that made the annual convention of the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities one of the best. Fire destroyed the home and workshop in Mikado. The owner Bill Wood found himself homeless.
March 25 – Twenty-two archers represented Canora at the national archery tournament in Edmonton. Several won medals and the middle school team took home the national medal. Darren Lindgren, a former Buchanan resident who owns an Internet hunting and fishing site, offered some major prizes when sponsoring the Buchanan SWF fish derby. Rev. Jeffry Stephaniuk entertained by playing the bandura at the Canora Keen Age Centre social.
April
April 1 – Elly Tomcala joined her mother, Laurie, for a parent-teacher interview at the Canora Composite School. Vendors at the spring and summer mass registration were very pleased with the turnout for the evening. Hudye Soil Services was sold to PFM Capital Inc.
April 8 – Students at CJES learned how to make “pysany.” Amenity Health Care purchased Canora Pharmacy and Mall Centre Pharmacy. Don Heska became the new manager. Mary Rudachyk and George Johnson won the whist tournament at the Canora Keen Age Society.
April 15 – Two-year-old Lucas Bushell-Erickson grabbed a shovel and began shoving the snow away the Canora Children Centre. He was getting ready for the warmer weather. Canora archers won four meals at provincial competitions in Prince Albert. The Gateway Community Church presented the movie The Sound of Music and the audience was invited to sing along with the sound track.
April 22 –The Buchanan Black Box Players had their audiences laughing so hard they were rolling in the aisles when the Players produced Monthy Python’s Spamalot. The Crossroads Credit Union reported that assets had grown to $232 million. A total of 108 workers gathered for the free Safety-First breakfast in Canora.
April 29 – Austin Swiderski of Invermay won the provincial gold medal for mechanics. With the conclusion of hockey season, the Canora Minor Hockey Association held a banquet to present the players with numerous rewards. The Canora Veselka dancers presented their 41st annual concert.
May
May 6 -- The town raised property taxes by a quarter mill. Dwayne Reeve, a long-time director of education at the Good Spirit School Division, resigned to take a job as CEO of the Parkland College.Extravadance members offered a very long list of medals won at three competitions. Three and four-year-old children were invited to the Canora Junior Elementary School for an early-childhood development event called IMPACT. Though the stations for the event seemed to seemed to be games, each was designed to assist development of basic skills such as fine motor skills.
May 13 – As the new Subway restaurant opened in Canora, it was the guarantee of quality that made the franchise so popular, explained Keyur Patel, the owner. A group called Memory Lane put on the final concert of the season for the Stars for Saskatchewan program. The Gateway Co-op food store was a very busy place as the annual year-end equity cheques were handed out to members.
May 20 – LAC Sabrina Moshenko was named the cadet-of-the-year at the annual ceremonial inspection of the Canora squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. The Filling the Gap food bank had an unusually high usage during in the period starting with the Christmas season and because donations were down, a desperate plea was put out for more donations. The Canora Slo-Pitch League was proving very popular with six teams involved in weekly games.
May 27 – The PALS Draft Horse Field Days in Rama drew large crowds to see a crop seeded with horse-drawn machinery. The Camp Whitesand rock-climbing wall was set up in the Gateway Co-op parking lot. The challenge was accepted by people of all ages, with the oldest participant being 75-year-old Nicholas Toma of Endeavour. Adolph Matsalla, a former NDP MLA for the Canora constituency, died in Saskatoon at the age of 89.
June
June 3 – The River Ridge branch of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation hosted a pasture field day to explain the management of habitat trust land in the Canora area. Creating an unusual sight, chickens from Canora became the subject of news articles across the province when a semi-trailer unit carrying 6,500 live birds had a minor accident near Wadena which resulted in the chicken crates sliding off the trailer and there were “chickens everywhere.” Enthusiam was high for the sport of soccer even though it was noted that the temperatures were unusually low for every soccer game that season.
June 10 – A group calling itself the Canora Heart Beat Cyclers rode the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation’s big bike around Canora. More than $1,700 was raised. Though only a handful of people attended the Decoration Day service at the veterans’ section of the Canora Cemetery, a note was made that Canora residents rallied to support the Canora Legion branch. Only months since an announcement was made that the branch would likely be dissolved due to a lack of membership, numerous residents stepped up to apply for membership. In the second byelection in a six-month period, seven persons were nominated for a seat on Canora town council. This byelection was necessary because a vacancy on council was created when Councillor Gina Rakochy was elected mayor in January.
June 17 – A Spring into Summer tradeshow was held at the Civic Centre while the River Ridge SWF branch held its annual gun show at the curling rink. Jana Stusek, a 2014 graduate, was presented the Governor General Award during the Canora Composite School’s 51st annual awards night. The Gateway Co-op reported that its sales in the previous year were almost $34 million.
June 24 – A Canora team led by Chris Bilsky was recognized as the top fundraiser in the Relay For Life event in Yorkton. The group raised more than $15,000. Cliff Koroll, a former Canora resident, was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame. He had played with the Chicago Black Hawks from 1969 to 1980. The annual achievement day of the Canora Multiple 4-H Club provided the opportunity for members of the sewing discipline to model their ceremonial dance outfits.
July
July 1 – Two physicians were recruited to practice medicine in Canora. The community was experiencing a physician shortage since Dr. Augustine Egbagbe left in May. Winners of the four bicycles donated to the Canora Junior Elementary School by the Canora fire department were Meadow Ostafie, Jasmine Wasyliw, Havin Berehula and Hayden Starecki. Linda Thickett, a former Canora resident living in Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories, was presented a national award recognizing her work with the disabled.
July 8 – The Canora Composite School gave special recognition to the 21 Grade 12 graduates. Perry Wishlow, who had served as the CEO of the Crossroads Credit Union for 18 months, decided to resume general manager duties with the Churchbridge Credit Union while Linda Osachoff was named the new CEO of Crossroads. Invermay School honoured the eight Grade 12 graduates.
July 15 – Gerald Wolkowski was elected to Canora town council in a byelection that attracted 334 residents to cast their votes. Members of the Canora fire department were training on a new rescue tool designed to assist in the rescue of a person trapped in a load of canola seed. Soccer season concluded in Canora and the organizers said the sport was becoming more popular each year. A total of 57 youngsters were registered.
July 22 – Mayor Gina Rakochy was photographed as she pounded in a railroad spike during a Canora festival that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the completion of the third transcontinental railway. In 1915, the ceremonial last spike was driven in the community of Basque, B.C. Wally and Jordan Huebert were given special recognition for their entry in the Canora in Bloom parade. The float was designed around a scaled-down version of a steam locomotive railroad engine. The Canora Supers senior baseball team defeated the Swan River Reds in the first round of playoffs in the South East Senior Baseball League.
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There were no newspapers published on July 29 and August 5 to enable regular staff holidays.
August
August 12 – Participants from across the province and a few from Manitoba and Alberta descended upon the Mohyla area to take part in the Assiniboine River Archery Club’s annual 3-D shoot. There were 125 archers registered on the first day and 150 on the second. Still in the testing phase, the Farmers’ Market in front of the Visitor Centre/CN Museum was proving very popular with both sellers and buyers. Peter Steranko recorded a hole-in-one at the Canora golf course.
August 19 – The Canora Ag Days reached a new level with increased audience participation and few more events. Pensioner’s Prom number two repeated the success experienced by the first such event a year earlier. The event focussed on former CCS students who were born in 1950.
August 26 – A large crowd gathered around a threshing machine (grain separator) as the second half of the heavy horse farming days took place in Rama. As contruction continued on the Collaborated Emergency Centre (CEC) which was to work in conjunction with a doctors’ clinic at the Canora Hospital, the question arose about how much it was to cost the town. The estimate was $200,000. Large crowds of people participated in the 74th annual Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Lourdes shrine in Rama.
September
September 2 – A mudder obstacle challenge proved to be a lot of fun for many, many children at the Canora sports grounds, but many adults couldn’t let the opportunity slip by and they too took the challenge. The two new teachers at the Canora Junior Elementary School were Heather Loewan and Darla Zayshley. A group of Canora residents gathered at the Ukrainian Heritage Museum to observe the raising of Ukraine’s flag to mark the 24th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.
September 9 – High school football was back with players taking part in practices that began a full week before classes resumed for a new school year. Glenn Dutchak opened 20Twenty Wealth Management at 213 Main Street. Members of the Canora and District Health Care Foundation presented a cheque for $46,000 to the Collaborative Emergency Centre project. It’s goal was to raise $200,000. The Town of Canora passed a new animal control bylaw which included cats.
September 16 – The team of Darryl Binkley and Glen Sterzer of Kamsack won the Canora Seniors’ golf tournament for the second consecutive year. Allie Smorodin of Buchanan had her design for a coin included in the final list of possibilities of coins to be produced by the Royal Canadian Mint for 2017 when the country will be celebrating its 150th anniversary. The Dirty Dancers team won the Canora Slo-Pitch League playoffs.
September 23 – The sport of disc golf was being introduced to the area. A recently completed course at Sandy Beach was used for the first tournament in the area. Extreme Paintball had been introduced to Canora and participants were looking forward to a major event at the sports grounds on September 27. About 425 plates were served at the Canora Composite School’s welcome back pancake breakfast.
September 30 – Connecting Canora’s Colours, an event to promote multiculturalism, was a huge success. It was an opportunity to taste the foods of other cultures and enjoy various cultural aspects such as dancing. Gabano’s Pizza celebrated its 10th anniversary of doing business in Canora. Crossroads Credit Union donated $4,000 to the Canora branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to assist with renovations of the Legion Dugout.
October
October 7 – The Canora Composite School raised about $500 during a Terry Fox run. The move of the Canora Medical Clinic to the Canora Hospital location began and was to be completed by October 19. Canora town council authorized Kevin Haw and Thom Carnahan to take basic emergency management courses in Melville.
October 14 – As Doris Kopelchuk left the Sunrise Health Region board, it was the first time since the establishment of the health region that Canora did not have a representative on the board. Praveen and Kavita Ahuja, former employees of the Gateway Lodge, donated $1,000 towards the purchase of a large-screen television for the facility. The Canora Hospital Auxiliary donated $8,277, the amount needed to furnish one of the examining rooms for the new Canora Health and Wellness Centre.
October 21 – In a program called the Student Vote Campaign, students of the Canora Composite School went through the motions of an election day to select a member of Parliament for the Yorkton-Melville riding. Days before the actual national election day, the students “elected” Cathay Wagantall of the Conservative Party. From the proceeds of the annual RCMP golf tournament, $1,500 was donated for child action plan programming. Crossroads Credit Union donated $10,000 for a new CT scanner for the Yorkton Regional Hospital.
October 28 – For the first flu immunization clinic of the season in Canora, 231 persons received their immunizations. There were 102 guests at the Canora Hospital Auxiliary fall coffee-and-pie fundraiser. Benjamin Kuang was presented the Student of Distinction Award for the Canora Composite School
November
November 4 – The junior female Cougars won the district volleyball championship in front of a hometown crowd. Brandi Zavislak was hired as the new community development officer for Canora. Crossroads Credit Union donated $10,000 to the Canora Health Care Foundation to help pay the community’s share of the Canora Wellness Centre project.
November 11 – The Travelling Mabels performed in Canora to kick off the Stars for Saskatchewan concert season. Michele Romanow, the daughter of a former Canora resident, was introduced as the youngest “dragon” to appear on the CBC television program Dragon’s Den. Merv Malish announced that he would seek the Progressive Conservative Party nomination for the Canora-Pelly constituency.
November 18 – Close to 200 persons gathered at the Canora cenotaph for the annual Remembrance Day service. The Canora branch of the Royal Canadian Legion announced that its membership numbers gave rise to optimism. From six members the previous year, it grew to a membership of 26 and more membership applications were being made. Members of the Canora Gun Club took advantage of abnormally warm fall temperatures and held a shoot on November 9.
November 25 – Greg Ottenbreit, minister responsible for rural and remote health, cut the ribbon to officially open the Canora Health and Wellness Centre. Dr. Hamed Afshari was introduced as the newest memory of Canora’s primary health care team. Town council decided to continue advertising for a new leisure services director after the first attempt was unsuccessful.
December
December 2 – Thirteen students received certification as babysitters through a program hosted by the Canora Wheatland Lioness Club. The Canora Chamber of Commerce dissolved after being in existence for only a couple of years. Trifon’s Pizza and Family Restaurant opened in the Canora Centre Mall.
December 9 – Minnie and Nick Rudachuk were touched by the kindness of strangers when a group led by Shyla Kaiser purchased a large Santa Claus front yard ornament to replace one that had been destroyed by vandals. Canora town council decided to try an education campaign before turning to a punitive fine system to keep garbage out of collections meant for recycling. Merv Malish was nominated to carry the Progressive Conservative Party banner in the next provincial election.
December 16 – Canora Key Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC announced that it would close in March. The Canora SWF branch announced that only two moose, two mule deer, and five white-tailed deer trophies were brought in for measuring. The River Ridge SWF branch had 19 trophies measured during its annual antler measuring day.
December 23 – Four-year-old Sophia Hvidston, who was battling leukemia, headed a campaign to “pay-it-forward” in which a truckload of toys, money and other goods were donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Saskatoon. Close to 300 customers attended the Christmas Mini Market at the Canora Legion Dugout. The Canora Child Action Plan was granted use of the former Canora Medical Clinic to make it the group’s headquarters.
