The Royal Canadian Legion Br. 39 organized and paid for banners of local War Veterans to be displayed on the streets of Swan River, specifically the ones that were Killed in Action that the Legion has photos of. In the future, Swan River’s Legion
branch hopes to expand the list of banners to include all Veterans, and hopes families will be willing to sponsor the banners and supply the Legion with a good quality photo and information on their Veteran. 

On Oct. 3, the first official harvest of the SVRSS Growcer Farm took place, celebrating the multi-year effort it took to get this hydroponics project off the ground, housed right on the campus of the regional secondary school.
The hydroponics farm – which uses carefully managed water, nutrients, light and temperature in a year-round controlled environment – with the first few rounds of produce being different varieties of lettuce to start with, soon to be followed by some other leafy greens.
Known as the Rural and Northern Food Security Initiative, the cutting-edge program aims to develop a regional research and training centre that focuses on growing and managing health and traditional foods within local, rural and northern communities.
The initiative not only aims to provide students with access to nutritious food but also equips them with essential lifelong skills in leadership, sustainability, environment and agriculture.
“The process starts out with seedlings getting planted in what’s called rockwool with no soil, being fed nutrients in the water,” said SVRSS teacher Kari Goethe, who leads the Environmental Management curriculum and is a part of teaching the students who are actively managing the Growcer farm.
“The plants stay in that seedling area until they grow their first true leaves in about two weeks. Then they get moved over to the main racks and can stay there for about 4-6 weeks, depending on the cultivar that has been planted.”
The first seedlings planted at SVRSS were on Aug. 16.
Goethe also explained how students and supervisors monitor the hydroponics system every day, testing the pH and specific nutrients that the plants need, as well as temperature, humidity, salts and so on.
The Growcer farm also comes equipped with its own sensors so that the system can be monitored remotely, and can be able to send out alerts if there is a metric that is outside of the levels of where it is supposed to be.
The managers of the Growcer farm will be consulting with the cafeteria and Culinary Arts program at the SVRSS to see how they can collaborate and make use of the produce, so some of the leafy green foods that will be available in the SVRSS cafeteria this year could have been grown just outside of the regional school in an unassuming, white building.
At this time, there are six students registered and taking the course where the primary focus of the course is maintaining the Growcer farm. Other students in the school have also had the opportunity to at least view the farm and learn what it’s about and how it works.
“The students are really enjoying it,” said Goethe. “Everybody has been really positive with their experience in there so far.”
Goethe also showed her appreciation to all the community partners that made the project possible, which has included the Sapotaweyak Cree Nation, Wuskwi Sipihk First Nation, and the Swan River Kinsmen Club, with additional support from the Manitoba government, Farm Credit Canada and Westman Communications Group. The initiative has interested local First Nations communities as it opens up the possibility of starting greenhouse opportunities of their own to provide their communities with year-round nutritional produce products.
With SVSD’s educational expertise, the program envisions having a research and training academy where students can learn hands-on skills and return to their home communities to implement what they’ve learned.
The Growcer farm will educate Environmental Management students and Culinary Arts students directly. Those outside of those programs also benefit as this resource helps to alleviate food insecurity and foster a greater appreciation for local food systems.
“By establishing a Growcer farm at our school, we can provide our students with the skills they need to thrive in an evolving job market,” said Goethe. “They will leave with job-ready skills and a deeper understanding of sustainable food production.”

Byron Hardy and his adult son, Andrew Hardy, have lived in the Swan Valley for several years now, with Byron semi-retiring from his work in policing and Andrew joining the local Emergency Medical Service (EMS).
Byron started his career as an RCMP member, going through training in 1982, but spent the majority of his career with the Saskatoon Police. However, at 63 years old, he’s made the choice to rejoin policing as an RCMP member, making him and his son first responders at the same time, and soon in the same jurisdiction. While Byron has been recently serving in the Ste. Rose detachment, he will be soon serving shifts in Swan River this fall.
Andrew started working as EMS locally 12 years ago and has been going strong since.
“When I grew up, my dad was a cop and my buddies were firefighters and other cops and paramedics,” said Andrew. “I was kind of always around that whole emergency world and I’ve always been interested in it.”
At one point when the Hardys were living in Calgary, Andrew was exposed to some medical training while working security alongside ski patrol in Canada Olympic Park, which is part of what incepted the idea in his mind to join the world of EMS. It was in Calgary where he first became a licenced paramedic before moving to Swan River and getting licenced in Manitoba.
“I’ve always kind of been interested in it since high school,” said Andrew, noting his dad’s initial reservations, because of when he was nine years old and went to a blood donation clinic with Byron and saw the needle go into Byron’s arm and fill with blood.
“At that moment, everything went looney tunes and the floor went vertical. (Dad) thought I was a bit too woozy with blood, but I think I’ve gotten over that and I’ve been okay since.”
With Andrew growing up as a cop’s son, he always saw his dad as the classic hero cop. He would hear stories about what Byron would do on shift sometimes, but his perspective shifted a bit once he joined the first responder world and experienced it first hand.
He added that the two of them have not worked a call together since Byron joined the police force, but noted that when he has noticed him on the street, Byron was happy to be back in that world.
“Once a cop, always a cop,” said Andrew. “I could never lie to him ever, he was a walking lie detector. He had that cop mentality and I was never scared to go with him anywhere.
“It’s cool that he’s back in it now because I’ve never seen him in an RCMP uniform because he quit before I was born. I only ever saw him in Saskatoon Police uniforms.”
Even though Byron may have had some concerns about Andrew’s brief childhood blood aversion, he said otherwise was never concerned about Andrew joining a first responder role.
“My wife, Darlene, and I raised our children to have that warrior mentality,” he said. “When I say warrior, I mean paramedics, policing, firefighting and all those front line guys like nurses and doctors too. Even though we seldom use that term ‘warrior’, that’s really what some of those front line people are.
“I know Andrew has a reputation for being a very good medic and know some of the calls he’s gone to. I think sometimes paramedics in general don’t realize what they go through. There have been calls where they save people’s lives and the general public doesn’t hear about that. It’s good to see these guys out in the street, especially Andrew and the level of professionalism that he has and as good as he is at his job.”
While nobody hopes for a bad call while on shift as a first responder, both Byron and Andrew look forward to being called out together for the first time when they are both on shift in Swan River. Byron even double-checked when Andrew was working around the time when Byron returns to work in Swan River so he could ask to work the same shifts.
Andrew noted that the times he and his dad have been on a call together in the past was when Byron was working as a chaplain, and he got suited up with basically everything but the weapons.
“I started my chaplaincy with Calgary Police Service in 2009,” said Byron. “Calgary is large enough to have several, and with different faith backgrounds.
“I came back to Swan River in 2018, and enrolled into the chaplaincy in 2019, but for the Manitoba Veterans Association. (The job) is all about spiritual care, not even as much faith-based as much as spiritual care. We would phone these guys every six months and ask them how they were doing, and that would be a piece of it as well (in addition to going on calls).”
As a chaplain, sometimes even active members would consult with Byron to get his take on things, given that he has multiple decades of experience in policing.
Byron comes from a Christian faith background, and naturally raised his children in that faith as well. With the two of them being in roles that can be intense or traumatic, they find their faith is at least part of the reason why they can stay grounded and focused on the work they do without too many negative impacts.
“Some of the guys I work with don’t have that faith component and several of them are still grounded and have pretty level heads, but I think there’s the additional component that faith brings,” said Byron. “That’s one of the reasons chaplaincy is involved in policing, firefighting and paramedics, is so that those guys can have that outreach as well.”
Byron recalled a moment when he was working in Calgary when a member of the police service took her own life, and he helped perform the funeral as chaplain
“When you go to a funeral and it is a faith-based funeral, you’re able to at least speak hope into people’s lives,” he said.
Both Byron and Andrew enjoy their respective jobs and feel well-suited to their roles.
“I know it’s cliche, but I like to help people,” said Andrew. “We have saved some lives, but when it comes down to it, it is difficult to do that successfully. I feel like it takes a certain mentality to do that job and a lot of people don’t handle it well.”
Andrew added that he also likes that he is empowered with the tools and the skills to help people as best as he can where they are, acting as a mobile emergency room, to give people their best chance.
Andrew even likes the shift work and working nights.
“Most of the calls seem to come in at night, based on how society works,” he said. “I like the pace of the night shift. Things are kind of low key. Also, having four days on and four days off is sweet.”
For Byron, who has worked in policing off and on since he was 20 years old, he finds policing to be second nature to him.
“The thing that I have found that has been super important is that this job forces you to work out and stay in shape,” he said. “Certainly not everyone has that mentality, but my older brother and I are in our 60s and we push each other to work out and stay in shape. He’s still doing major case management with the RCMP as well, and was a high-ranking officer with the Mounties.”
Byron added that he had a stint as a full-time teacher during his break from policing, and he found teaching to be more stressful and more difficult than policing.
Andrew also added that whenever he picked up his child from daycare, he also didn’t know how people managed that many children that were not their own, even though he can handle the three boys of his own when his wife isn’t around.
With Byron back in policing, his family agrees that he is back in his happy place and he has communicated with Andrew that he is having fun, doing what he is meant to do.
And, soon enough, both of them will be on shift protecting and healing the streets of Swan River and area.

The Town of Swan River Recreation Department has been holding their annual Kidz Kamp this summer, featuring games and activities around the Centennial Arena, as well as in and around the community.