Community Remembrance Day services returned to being held indoors for the first time since 2019.
Prior to the service in Swan River on Nov. 11, a parade – featuring RCMP members, Cadets, Swan River Fire Department, Canadian Rangers, the Swan Valley Stampeders and community members – marched from the Veterans Community Hall to the Cenotaph near Taylor School to lay four wreaths – to honour the Air Force, Navy, Army and RCMP.
The outdoor ceremony continued indoors at the Veterans Community Hall.
Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) Branch No. 39 President Neil Griffith opened the ceremony by requesting to March on the Colours. O Canada was sang before trumpeter David Gnida performed the Last Post, followed by a minute of silence, the Rouse, and the Act of Remembrance. Griffith also recognized those from the Swan River Legion who have passed on, which included Maurice Roberge and Brent MacDuff.
After the Deposit of Colours, those in attendance observed 24 wreaths laid by Veterans, local government members, RCMP, the fire department, service clubs, and families honouring their relatives who fought.
Pastor Bob Lewis led this year’s service, opening with the song In Flanders Field from the Taylor School Choir.
“Beauty has a cost,” he said. “We see through the poppy, to the men and women who gave and sacrificed their time, their energy, their lives.
“Today is set aside for those living icons, the men and women of the First War, and then that Second War, and then the Korean War, and the peacekeeping missions, and in Afghanistan and around the world today. We do look to them for their knowledge and wisdom, and as living icons, we look through them to see humanity. We see us, and that capacity within us to give of ourselves, our capacity for sacrifice.
“We have not been able to gather together on this day, these past two turbulent years,” Lewis continued. “Remembrance Day is the only day of the year that we as Canada gather together in one room with all of our differences, political, religious, ethnic, cultural. Remembrance Day is not about us. This service looks beyond this month, this day, this hour, because of the serge, the poppy and the veteran.”
Following a Prayer of Remembrance, the ceremony concluded with the singing of God Save the King, and with the March off of the Colours.
And, until the next Remembrance Day, we will continue to remember them.

The Swan River Curling Club hosted a curling clinic on Friday (Oct. 28) for all ages, bringing in instructors Lorne and Chris Hamblin from the Cargill Curling Training Centre in Morris. Sessions included stick curling in the afternoon and a Learn to Curl session for everyone in the evening. Saturday and Sunday (Oct. 29 and 30) also included other more advanced individual and team classroom and on-ice sessions to hone the skill of the local curlers.

Sergeant Ryan Peden and Master Corporal Terry Fullerton of the Swan River chapter of the Fourth Canadian Ranger Patrol Group have just returned from six weeks of working in Ottawa with the National Sentry Program (NSP), which posts members of the Canadian Armed Forces to guard in front of and around the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
The National Sentry Program reinforces Canada's commitment to remember and honour Canadians who served in the 20th century's major wars, including both World Wars. NSP also honours those who have contributed to Canada’s long-standing tradition of military excellence through to the present day.
The Canadian Armed Forces have posted sentries at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier since 2007. The program includes a rotation of sentries from the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Canadian Ranger units from across Canada.
On Oct. 22, 2014, Corporal Nathan Cirillo was tragically killed while on sentry duty. Sentry duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier now holds an even deeper meaning for both the Canadian Armed Forces and the Canadian public.
Peden and Fullerton left Swan River for Ottawa on Sept. 8 and got back on Oct. 22. The first week of their arrival was spent training while the rest of the time they participated on four-days-on, four-days-off work weeks where they would spent their days on guard duty, sentry duty and security rotation.
“It’s been outstanding,” said Fullerton. “Guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is quite an honour. The group I’m in has six Rangers and the rest are Air Force.
“We had a really good time meeting people from all over the world. When we weren’t doing sentry duty, one of our duties was being out on the tomb where we are walking and watching for any hazards and also watching if the people that are guarding need a hand. Other than that, you’re interacting with the public. We had to do a big history lesson on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier so that we could explain everything correctly.
“It’s been quite rewarding,” Fullerton continued. “You get quite a mix of reactions. You get some people who just come, sit, walk around and leave. The last few days it seems to be we get more emotional people who are laying wreaths or some memorial piece on their own. Then we go over and ask them if we can help them or if they just want to be alone.”
Peden and Fullerton worked in separate groups, but when they weren’t standing at attention on sentry duty, stone-faced and motionless, they were keeping a watchful eye on and around the tomb. And, when they weren’t doing that, they were watching security screens.
And, in addition to the every-day tourists and pilgrims that visit the site, dignitaries such as Canada’s Prime Minister and other foreign leaders stopped by on occasion.
On the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, they also had a smudging of the site performed by Chief Petty Officer Pat Stevens, followed by a traditional lunch.
“It’s been an honour, a once in a lifetime experience to get to come to Ottawa and do this,” said Peden. “Standing in the memory of those that gave their lives is a humbling experience, and amazing to interact with people and make them more aware of the sacrifices made.”
Peden added that the most memorable highlights of his experience is the first time he was posted onto the tomb and the last time.
“The first time, you’re incredibly nervous,” he said. “There’s crowds of people, you’re being piped up and all the drills you’ve been learning for the past week are racing through your head. You want to make sure you get it right because of where you are.
“The last time, I was on shift for the last hour of the day that we were doing guard duty, and to stand there as the sun was setting and we were playing the lament on the bagpipes for the final time during the day, facing the monument and again just in that presence of that memory, you feel very grateful for what we have and very humbled by what other people gave so we could have that.”
Peden will also be returning to Ottawa to participate in similar duties during the National Remembrance Day service held at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
“During the day, there’ll be four people standing guard over the tomb,” he said. “There’ll be a member of the Army, a member of the Air Force, a member of the Navy and an RCMP officer. I will be the one posting them onto the tomb, so I’ll be calling the command drill and marching them down from where we’re posted to the tomb itself. It’s a big honour and I’m the first Canadian Ranger to do it.
“Hopefully it goes well because my chain of command and the Armed Forces put a lot of trust in me to come down and do it for the first time. I’m very honoured by that trust and I hope I do everyone proud by it.”

Having a pet is a wonderful thing, whether it be as a companion in a home or to instill a sense of responsibility to a child.
Typically, household pets that are available for purchase or adoption in the Swan Valley have been limited to cats and dogs.
For those interested in something a little more scaly than furry, business owners and engaged domestic partners Stu Coulthart and Shay Bresky have set up a new pet store in Swan River known as S&S Reptiles that features a wide variety of exotic or atypical pets of the generally more cold-blooded variety.
Walking through their brick-and-mortar location on Sixth Avenue North, you’ll see plenty of reptiles – such as bearded dragons, chameleons, geckos, monitors, skinks, snakes and tortoises – as well as some toads and frogs, fish and small mammals like pet rats, mice, hamsters, gerbils and the like. Or, if invertebrates pets are what you’re after, they even have a selection of tarantulas.
“I’ve had reptiles personally since I was about seven or eight years old,” said Coulthart. “I’ve had pretty much everything and anything that could fit in a 50-gallon tank or less, bearded dragons to geckos to salamanders and things like that.
“There was a lot of things that I couldn’t get when I was young. The world has really expanded so much in the reptile world. There’s probably about 240 species of reptiles that are available in Canada, whereas when I was young, you could probably only get about 50.”
Many times, Coulthart would have to pick up his reptile pets in Winnipeg, and he has gone as far as Edmonton to pick one up.
“My favourite was probably the bearded dragon, just for the simple fact that they are great for children, from age two all the way until you are in your 90s,” said Coulthart. “We have a two-year-old boy that absolutely loves them and has been with them, and our grandmas come in here and hold them.
“Bearded dragons are calm, not aggressive by any means and overall they are playful. They know who their owner is. I’ve seen videos of bearded dragons playing tug-of-war with a chihuahua. They are just an all-around great pet.”
The lifespan of a bearded dragon also ranges from seven to 11 years, depending on husbandry and environment.
The reason that Coulthart and Bresky got into selling reptiles as a business was because Bresky had her salon business Shay’s Shears out of their home and they found people were interested in the reptiles they had.
“We would have children that would come to get haircuts, screaming and crying,” said Coulthart. “I’d go get a bearded dragon to give to them and they would forget all about the haircut and would get interested in the bearded dragon.
“As customers would come in to get their hair done, our two boys would take out the bearded dragons and show the customers. Parents would wonder where we got them and told us we should start selling them.”
Once they started selling a few, the side business necessitated a new space and so both S&S Reptiles and Shay’s Shears both have a downtown Swan River location now, on the backside of Spruce Country Computer where Dr. Theodore used to have his clinic.
“We were in our home for about three or four months, and we looked at a couple of places before we got into here,” said Coulthart. “We got a decent price on this place and for the amount of room we need right now, it’s perfect.”
In addition to the various species of exotic pets, with new kinds seemingly arriving all the time and the access to order more, S&S Reptiles also has the support systems needed to set up a tank or habitat for your creature companions, as well as the selection of food and nutritional supplements to keep them comfortable and healthy.
“I really enjoy doing this as a hobby,” said Coulthart. “I’d like to eventually expand and do a breeding program and become a breeder for my own supply of reptiles. But, I want to give everybody some information that reptiles aren’t as icky and gross as what some people think they are. They are no different than having a small dog.
“I would like to acknowledge people in all the different species and temperaments that reptiles have. There’s some reptiles that are aggressive, just like a mistreated pit bull might be, but then there’s some like the bearded dragon that is as friendly as a poodle. Everyone has their hesitations and a lot of the time, reptiles are misunderstood for what they are.”
The added benefit of the new store is that access to pets such as these is normally limited for a town like Swan River.
“The closest places that have what I have is either Winnipeg or some places in Regina that might have some of it,” said Coulthart. “I do try to carry some of the more unique stuff that you wouldn’t find just walking into a pet store.
“And, with our area where we are, we have no pet stores or anything going up north as far as six hours, and four hours travelling east, west or south. I’m trying to serve a large area, so I like to try to keep some neat stuff so people can have a grasp on what different stuff is out there than what you might normally see in a PetSmart, for example.”
The standard of care for these animals isn’t necessarily more complicated or time-consuming than other pets of their size, once a habitat is set up. The important thing to remember is that – apart from the small mammals – everything is cold-blooded and needs a temperature controlled home to match their original environment.
“There are reptiles that I’ve considered getting in here that have a lot higher standards, needs and requirements,” said Coulthart. “But, for the most part, I try to keep it as simple as possible because we haven’t had a pet store or a store like this in our area for a long time and I know a lot of the people coming in are just beginners and first-time reptile owners, so I want to keep it as simple and easy for them as possible.”
S&S Reptiles is normally open from Tuesday-Saturday afternoons, or by appointment by calling Stu at 204·281·7298 or Shay at 204·281·2985. They are also available to contact at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or their online sites at ssreptiles.ca or facebook.com/swanriverreptiles.
Either of them will be willing to answer any questions you have and introduce you to the wonderful world of reptiles.

The SVRSS Tigers Soccer Teams hosted the Zone 8 Championships at the Swan River Rotary Soccer Fields on Wednesday (Oct. 5) where both teams punched their ticket into the Provincial Championship.

When someone has a modestly sized yard in town and they have to choose between having a garden and having a lawn, and they hate mowing lawn and love gardening, the idea of dedicating almost every square foot of lawn space into productive ground seems like a no-brainer once you get past the implicit expectation of houses being surrounded by grass.
Devon and Donna Jorundson are one such couple who did away with most of their lawn in favour of vegetable and fruit plants, even including their entire front lawn on their side of the sidewalk.
“I’m retired and I had time on my hands,” said Devon Jorundson, regarding the main reason why he decided to do this. “I like my own organic vegetables. And, in a small little space like this, I don’t have room for a lawn and a garden.”
He added that he is still not completed the garden takeover on his modest town property in Swan River, even though most of the square footage is enveloped in productive and nutritious plants, or the systems that support those plants, such as an extensive irrigation system that harvests as much rainwater as possible, or a couple of greenhouse structures that are utilized to extend the growing season and enables Jorundsons to have fresh vegetables much later than most other home gardens.
It took Jorundson approximately 10 years to build up his garden to where it currently is. His yard sports a variety of tomato plants, fruit trees, asparagus, garlic, onions, sunflowers, strawberries, lettuce, squash, swiss chard and more, much of which he harvests seeds from to plant and nurture future generations for free.
Another part of the reason that Jorundson wanted to grow a self-sustaining garden is because of the large amount of leafy greens that he eats.
“My doctor told me I had Type 2 Diabetes and put me on a low-carb keto diet,” he said. “Part of that is eating leafy greens. You can buy it in the store but it’s too expensive.
“I start (seeds) in the house and can start eating out of the garden by the second week of May, and I can eat the produce from the garden after freeze up when I pull it and put into my fridges well into the end of December for all my leafy greens.
“I’ve learned how to do things so it doesn’t overwhelm me,” Jorundson. “I used to do a whole bed of just swiss chard, but then when it came time to process that, you have to blanche it and freeze it. That might take two days of doing that. So now I’ll plant four feet and in another month do another four feet. I find four feet to be perfect. I can eat it while it’s green and when it gets to a certain point, I cut it out, turn it over and get the bed ready for next season.”
Jorundson’s garden also involves a no-till approach and plenty of ground cloth and cover on top of the soil so weeds are a relatively minimal nuisance.
“I used to spend 45 minutes per bed throughout the season weeding,” he said. “Now I’m probably down to 15 minutes per bed per season.”
Part of the ground cover includes wood chips, which Jorundsons picked up from a toppled truck that was carrying them while up in Flin Flon where they own another property and tend another garden.
One part of his garden that Jorundson doesn’t get to enjoy very often are his apple trees, even though apples are among his favourite foods.
“My doctor got me on low-carb and there’s an amazing amount of drugs I don’t take anymore,” he said. “One of the first things she asked me is what I like to eat. I said apples, but there is too much sugar in apples. I spent six years planting apples in my backyard and I was told I couldn’t have them.
“(The compromise was) that I get my blood sugars down, and as long as the apples are seasonal and are ripe on the tree, I can have an apple a day. When they are no longer ripe or on the tree, I stop eating apples until next year.”
Next time you drive down Seventh Street North in Swan River across from the Legion Park, keep an eye out for the wonderful example of self-sustainability in an urban setting.

On Wednesday (Sept. 28), Grade 7 and 8 students from around the Swan Valley converged onto the Rotary Soccer Fields to prove which school has the best soccer team.