First I dreamed that a giant eagle was perched atop a telephone pole in my yard. A pole is in reality not located there, but oh well. This eagle was 10 or 20 times the size of a regular eagle. I thought to myself that Eagles are harbingers of defininte success, and I thought it might relate to the magazine I am in the process of launching. But then I realized that my chickens might be in danger because I still haven’t covered their pen with chicken wire.

In a later dream segment I found gigantic animal prints–huge, with claws. My dog Artemis, who passed away years ago, was lying dead in the yard, apparently killed by this dangerous animal, which I saw for a moment but couldn’t quite get what animal it was–I saw it as a bear, and thought about my positive relationship with bears, or was it another wild animal with claws–like a wolf creature? I wasn’t sure. I followed the tracks to the goats’ fence and the beast seemed to have climbed over it. I was visualizing how it might have unfolded, but could not reach a perfect conclusion.

I went into the house for awhile then went outside again to review the tracks. This time, instead of a paw print with claws, it was a print from a giant duck or goose. I figured it was a goose because they are so much larger–but of course this goose was unbelievably huge.

What does it all mean??

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I dreamed I was arguing with a piano! I was singing beautifully and loudly. The piano was jealous, so started playing discordant notes in an attempt to drown me out! I was annoyed, but kept singing anyway.

Riverton & District Friendship Centre receives unexpected blow
by Teresa Carey

A grant of $84,500 through the federal Department of Canadian Heritage has fallen through for the Riverton & District Friendship Centre, a fixture in Riverton for 30 years, shaking the organization right down to its very foundation.

It is a grant which the centre has enjoyed for the past 11 years, and which it has come to rely on. The funding has made possible all sorts of Aboriginal youth programming, directed to a wide geographical area that went well beyond the Village of Riverton’s borders.

“We really thought this was going to come through,” said Tanis Grimolfson, Executive Director of the Riverton & District Friendship Centre (RDFC).

A big change in how the federal government is allocating monies for aboriginal organizations appears to be at the root of the government’s denial of their application. In the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the feds began allotting the funding under a new program, Cultural Connections for Aboriginal Youth (CCAY), through the Aboriginal Peoples Program.

“I don’t know why they did that. They just decided to change the program. I don’t know what their reasoning is,” said Grimolfson. “It’s a little scary for the friendship centre movement.”

Previous funding had been secured through Urban Multipurpose Aboriginal Youth Centres (UMAYC), applied for in conjunction with all friendship centres across the province.

The new funding rules stipulate that only communities with a population of 1,000 or greater qualify. Both Lynne Lake and Riverton have lost their funding as a result of the new rule.

The RDFC resubmitted their application, but it was rejected again.

“Last week (in mid-December)we got the final absolute no,” Grimolfson said. “It’s so unfair. We are being punished for living in Riverton.”

“We don’t serve just Riverton. That’s what we tried to explain,” said Grimolfson. “We were set up in Riverton for a reason.”

The centre serves Aboriginal youth in the RM of Bifrost, Arborg, Matheson Island, Pine Dock, Bloodvein, Poplar River, and Little Grand Rapids, in addition to Riverton, which itself only has a population of 537, according to Statistics Canada 2006 census data. All together, however, RDFC is serving about 23, 861 people.

Riverton has the largest non-reserve Aboriginal population in the region, which is one of the reasons the friendship centre was built there in the first place. It’s presence in the community is a big reason that Family Services places youth in the community. Currently there are about 40 which have been placed.

The RDFC will no longer be able to offer cultural programs such as Fiddling, Cultural Drumming lessons, Regalia Making, Jigging, Square Dancing, Bead Work, Moccasin Making, Traditional Cooking, and Artist programs. These were an important source of pride and self esteem for Aboriginal youth, in addition to helping to convey important life skills.

“It’s so sad when the youth walk in and say, ‘Is there anything happening today?’ I have to say we have no funding for projects.”

Grimolfson explained that there will also be a ripple effect in terms of job loss.

Cody Taylor, who is nearing completion of a degree in Native Studies at the University of Manitoba, has been the full time Cultural Coordinator during the summer months, and is working half-time during the school year. Her position at the centre can no longer be supported. In addition, numerous contract cultural workers who travel to Riverton from Winnipeg, St. Laurent, and Winnipeg Beach, to teach programs will also lose their positions.

Further, students attending the Evergreen School Division will also be impacted. Some of their Aboriginal education programming drew on activities offered at RDFC. ESD will no longer have this resource at their disposal.

The sudden removal of program funding has gotten the attention of many local politicians and community leaders, including the Village of Riverton Mayor, Collin Bjarnason, Selkirk-Interlake MP, James Bezan, and the Riverton-Bifrost Community Development Corporation (RBCDC).

Bezan has met twice now with the Canadian Heritage minister to ask that the department reconsider its decision. The RBCDC and Bjarnason both wrote strong letters of support to the Department of Canadian Heritage, protesting the rejection of the centre’s grant application. Grimolfson also plans to meet with Gimli MLA, Peter Bjornson.

Part of Bjarnason’s letter stated , “The RDFC has provided an alternative for the youth in the community that has largely eliminated the less desirable influences. When there is no organized activity for the youth of the community, the alternatives are few, other than to revert to the streets.”

Bjarnason further argued that the department should not look at Riverton’s population alone, but to the area that is utilizing the friendship centre when funding decisions are being made.

The a letter written in support of the Riverton Friendship Centre, RBCDC stated that the RDFC “has been one of the most positive influences in maintaining our safe community.”

Despite the fact that the mayor, the MP, the CDC and other officials are so strongly behind Riverton’s friendship centre, Grimolfson is pessimistic about the final outcome.

“I think they’re going to just push us aside because we’re small. It’s going to have a devastating impact on our youth.”

The Riverton & District Friendship Centre will still receive core funding through the Aboriginal Friendship Centre Program, enough to support three positions. The centre will be able to retain a parent-child worker, lighthouse program worker, food bank/lunch program worker, and a ‘Partners for Career’ counsellor on a part-time basis.

It has another $12,000 in funding for the drop-in component, which “doesn’t cover much,” Grimolfson explained. The centre often has 40 youth at a time drop in, some of whom are high risk. This requires more than one staff and a certain level of expertise, requiring higher remuneration. The drop in hours will be limited.

“We apply for small grants whenever we can, and fundraise a lot. But, you know, fundraising is hard on everybody,” Grimolfson said.

There were no Christmas lights shining on these prairies until 1953 when the people here finally got hydro, so nothing could obscure the light of the first star in the night sky on Christmas Eve.

The tradition was to drop all the work at the sighting of this star, go inside, and begin four days of Ukrainian Christmas celebrations.  Four days of wood had to be cut and carried, and four days of work had to be done beforehand.  Rituals and customs took the place of labour on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Carolling Day, and St. Stephen’s Day.  On each of these days, everyone followed a script that had been dictated by centuries of tradition.

Peter Leochko, born in Poplarfield in 1935, recalls the hay that was placed under the dinner table on the first night, and the nuts that were strewn in the bed of grass, which would later be collected by the children.

Many Ukrainian families still act out part of the traditional celebrations, although, now, most celebrate what the old-timers call “English Christmas”, and a handful might celebrate both.  The reason for this, Leochko explained, is that Ukrainian Christmas did not always fall on the weekend, when families could be together.  Often, part of the family was away during the week, working at a job.  Most people didn’t have to work on “English Christmas”, and many Ukrainians began to celebrate Christmas with the prevailing culture—sometimes at the expense of their own customs.

Traditionally, 12 meatless dishes were served on Ukrainian Christmas Eve, typically consisting of fish, perogies, mushrooms (usually wild), cabbage rolls, borscht, cabbage soup, corn, beans, peas, broad beans, dried fruit, and kutia (made with wheat, poppy seeds, and honey).

“First,” Leochko remembered, “Dad would take a spoonful of Kutia and toss it to the ceiling.  If it stuck to the ceiling, it would be a good crop,” he said. “ But, how well it stuck also depended on how much honey was used,” he laughed.

“Then, after the meal,” he continued, “all the dishes were left on the table, in case Saint Nicholas came for a snack.” The next day the table would be cleaned, and any leftovers accompanied the Christmas meal of  “goose, duck, or chicken—or all three, and roast pork.” 

These rituals, Leochko believes, “dated back, through word of mouth, from the time Jesus was born.”

Seventy-six-year-old Kay Nazimek, who has lived her whole life in Komarno, remembers the traditional Christmas Eve dinner very well.  “It’s been about 30 years since we’ve celebrated it,” she said. 

She also recalls the straw under the table when she was ten years old, and the symbolic sheaf of wheat kept on the corner table, and the Christmas tree that “was decorated (with popcorn and a few ornaments) on Christmas Eve.” She paused and took a deep breath, obviously remembering the smell vividly.  The tree was the main decoration, and she always looked forward to it.

“Nobody felt left out in those days,” she said.  “Everybody visited more.  We used to go from house to house [at Christmas], and reminisce, have coffee, tea, dainties, and maybe a drink.”

During the Christmas season in the 1940s, many people “would go to Christmas concerts and to listen to carols at Zburch School,” a small one-room school north of Komarno, or to the hall by the church, she remembered.

Both, Leochko and Nazimek, recall how poor everyone was in those days.  The Christmas gifts, opened on Christmas day, were inexpensive, and typically home-made items, like hand-knitted socks and mittens, or other practical things such as pencils and crayons.

“We had soft drinks, oranges, and apples only on the holidays.  It was a feast!” Leochko said.  “Fruit was very expensive in those days…The food was really special,” he continued, “because you didn’t get it every day.  Now you can have Christmas every day if you want.”

Another very special Ukrainian tradition was Carolling day.  This was the day the men went out with their sleighs to sing carols door to door to raise money for the church.  “The men would go out, and then come home with too much Christmas cheer,” Leochko laughed, “and the women would stay home with the kids.  They didn’t drink.”

Pete described how, in the 1940s and 1950s, they used a small sleigh which they called a “caboose”.  This sleigh had a shell over it with two holes to see out of.  Inside, there was a small wood heater made out of a 10 gallon oil drum.  This kept travellers safe from freezing during the long travels over tens of miles. It could sometimes take a couple hours to go only ten miles.

The sleighs were used until the early 1960s.  “In those days the roads weren’t plowed,” Pete said. “it was also before the days of anti-freeze.”

“People change and times change,” Leochko said philosophically.  “More or less, everyone was in the same category. Families were poorer, but they were closer, and there was not as much jealousy among the neighbours.”

Leochko theorized that attitudes changed largely because some people had bad land that was full of stones, while others had good land with few stones, and equipment, like tractors, could be used on the good land.  Those people who could use tractors, and got them, started to think themselves better than those who could not, because they got richer.  Leochko believes that is the reason there is so much more jealousy and competitiveness these days.

How has Christmas changed for Leochko over the years?

“I don’t think people drink as much as they used to,” he said.  And he is going to buy toys for his grandkids.  “Their parents can buy the practical things for them,” he said.

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While in the bathtub I had a major revelation: I was why my parents didn’t divorce sooner. I was the buffer between them, and all their conflicts got focussed in me. Within a year of my moving out, they seperated. I hadn’t realized how I had cemented their relationship. Without me they couldn’t deal with each other. It’s no wonder I felt so pressured at “home”. I was very unhappy.

The three-day long Arborg Fair and Rodeo opened to cool weather on Jul 22, forcing many people into sweaters and jackets. For the horses, cattle and dogs, however, it was the perfect weekend for a rodeo. Whether milling around in communal pens, strutting their best during competitions, or flexing brute muscle during high powered events, the animals enjoyed a degree of comfort afforded them by mother nature.
Friday saw events like a horse show, Cowboy Polo and, later, a heavy metal band at the main stage and a fireworks display on the banks of the Icelandic River. Saturday was action-packed, beginning with a pancake breakfast at the legion, followed by more than a dozen attractions at various locations that lasted well into the evening.
Saturday’s parade drew a huge crowd. It pushed off at 11:00 a.m. from St. Phillips Dr., and wound its way down Main St. where throngs of people of all ages were lined up on both sides. It appeared that all of Arborg came out for the parade, to see firsthand the colourful floats, or to collect candy tossed into the street from pails by numerous local politicians.
Mayor, Randy Sigurdson, could have won for ‘most ritzy’. He was chauffeured in a 1958 gleaming black Oldsmobile, but Reeve of Bifrost, Harold Foster, looked equally impressive riding atop his John Deer tractor. Lakeside MLA, Ralph Eichler, dressed to match the dazzling blue motorcycle he was driving., while Interlake MLA, Tom Nevakshonoff, waved to crowds from the back of a pickup truck. Many joined him later for free hamburgers and beverages. The other of the politicians opted to travel the parade route on foot. PC candidates, Jeff Wharton, Steve Lupky, as well as MLA, James Bezan, walked briskly alongside accompanying cars as they tossed candies to waiting children by the curb.
Local businesses, community groups, and emergency vehicles took part in the parade.
Activities took place at the north end of Main St. Crazy Jumpers Dog Agility Training School from Fraserwood set up an obstacle course in which dogs happily earned treats for tricks. A bake sale, photography contest and craft sale was held in the high school gym. A full HRA approved rodeo was the main feature, but entertainment throughout the weekend, a baseball tournament, tractor pull and auctioneer competition were some of the other activities to be taken in.

I woke up at the Crisis Stabilization Unit, feeling more like a patient there, to discover that I had been dead. After some inquiry, I found out that I had been dead for three years, and that this was the reason for my state of mind–confusion, disorientation, and pain. I had been told that my mother had murdered me by hitting me on the back of the head with a pot. My head felt numb and sore and I felt a great lump up there. My mother was present in the dream, but was aloof and cold, and making no apologies. George, my uncle, was there. He said, “I thought she killed you a long time ago.” I got an image of a dagger through my head. I said something about child abuse, saying that’s what I thought happened.

But it was really strange to feel that I had been dead, and stranger yet to wake up from death

I called Erika the night before last because of two dreams I had about her on previous nights. In my dream she was extremely anxious, and, alas, it was true. Since March she has been experiencing many trials and tribulations with her sister who had a breakdown and whose marriage had ended.

My mother and brother were in it. She had sold her old car engine to a woman even though it didn’t work. The woman seemed happy enough, but I felt that it was a pretty selfish thing to have done.

The image is connected to the dream I had about Deb and Bev way back, when Deb’s car radio was full of static and she held up traffic on the freeway to fool around with it, while Bev’s car was totally broken down.

The image of the cars and engine has to do with emotional health, the ability to give, and coping with feelings. Mom’s old engine didn’t work when she ex-communicated with me, and her selling it to a very nice woman indicates to me that she doesn’t care the least about helping others.