Article appeared in the Sept 22 issue of the Interlake Spectator…
Since his entry into politics in 1999, Tom George Nevakshonoff has never lost an election. The 52-year-old Poplarfield resident has been the long-standing MLA for the Interlake. He is, in fact, one of three MLAs to have come from Poplarfield.
“It must be something in the water in Poplarfield,” he said.
Nevakshonoff is proud to say that he quickly quintupled the New Democratic Party membership in his riding. In 1998, membership was at 120. He had taken a year off to gather support and sold 400 memberships to people in Poplarfield and Fisher Branch, as well as in Arborg.
Since his election in 1999, Nevakshonoff has seen “a vast improvement in infrastructure in this region, which just languished until then,” he said. “Schools, roads, drainage were in a horrible state.”
Nevakshonoff has also seen a positive growth in Aboriginal communities, and talked about the negative effects that the residential school system had on the people during a recent interview at NDP campaign headquarters in Arborg.
“The government tried to suppress and assimilate them. That was in our lifetime. That caused a lot of damage to First Nations people…Since then, I have seen a lot of pride. They’re focussing on their culture. There has been a real renaissance. They are healing as a people.”
“This is going to be my mission going forward if I get re-elected,” he added. “ I would like to take that to a higher level yet…I have high hopes for good support from the Aboriginal communities.”
The Nevakshonoff family is one with a strong presence in the Interlake from the time they settled in the region. His mother, who worked as a school administrator at the Fisher Branch Collegiate, was a descendant of the famous James Curtis Bird, a Hudson Bay fur trader who came from England in the late 1700s. He was the Chief Factor, and later became the acting Governor of Assiniboia for a year because of his experience. Bird had two Aboriginal “country wives” and one Caucasian wife. Nevakshonoff can trace his roots back to one of Bird’s Aboriginal wives on his maternal side.
Nevakshonoff’s paternal ancestors, on the other hand, hailed from the Russian Dukhobors, an independent-minded religious sect which rejected the authority of, both, church and state. Nevakshonoff’s father, Mike, retained much of the Dukhobor flavour, maintaining a largely vegetarian diet with an avoidance of alcohol, and sang all the old Dukhobor religious songs.
“My father believed he didn’t have to go to church to worship. He said he felt just as close to God sitting in his boat.”
Mike Nevakshonoff spent time in Saskatchewan and other parts of Canada, building grain elevators along the rail lines. He built his last grain elevator in the early 1950s in Fisher Branch, where he met his wife and settled down. He later came to own hotels in Poplarfield and Norway House. He was also actively involved in politics, and provided a strong inspiration to his son.
“He came out of Saskatchewan. He was born in 1920. He went through the Depression—There was no unemployment insurance or social assistance…they knew what they didn’t have. That’s why the whole Social Democratic movement began. He pounded politics into us.”
Nevakshonoff recounts the days of his childhood when he and his father would argue politics, each taking opposing sides.
“We argued politics constantly up until three o’clock in the morning. Dad would always give the staunch leftist position. Then when I was arguing with my friends, I would argue his position too. That’s when I realized I was a Social Democrat.”
Nevakshonoff’s father died on Labour Day, the year before his son was elected.
“That’s one of my greatest regrets…But he did know that I was running.”
Nevakshonoff spent much of his career prior to politics working on the oil rigs in Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C., from 1979. In the 1980s, he decided to pursue an interest in Journalism at Carlton University in Ottawa.
“I was always interested in international affairs, politics, government,” he said.
However, the program was full, so he opted to take East European Studies instead, graduating in 1987 with an Honours degree. He wrote his thesis on the Russian deep drilling program, having been particularly fascinated by Russia’s deep drilling technology.
At that time, Nevakshonoff thought about getting further training in diplomacy, but ended up, instead, returning to Manitoba.
If re-elected, Nevakshonoff looks forward to working within new boundaries in the Interlake. Boundaries will be shifting westward as far as Eddystone, and will encompass the Lake Manitoba shoreline and Lake St. Martin. He has been mindful of the severe flooding issues the region has faced.
“It has been hard. This flood was brought upon these people through no fault of their own…It is fully incumbent upon all of us to see that these people are fully compensated for the damage that they incurred…This government has been very fair with compensation. I’m not afraid to campaign in these areas. I can hold my head high,” said Nevakshonoff.
