These are words that have become a common saying in communities across the Canadian prairies, Kyler Zeleny said. The writer and photographer who recently released his newest book, Crown Ditch and the Prairie Castle, has always been a proponent of the rural lifestyle. His new book aims to document people in the prairies and present the area as an understudied region that still faces a great deal of struggle.
Zeleny’s affinity for the prairies comes from growing up on a farm outside of Mundare before moving to Edmonton when he was 18. He’s long been writing about the prairie lifestyle, with his newest book being the latest chapter of this work.
“There was always a bit of a calling to come back to the farm, to rural living, to some of the things he thought were magical about being that kind of space on the prairies,” said Zeleny who was interviewed on CBC Radio Active this week.
Crown Ditch and the Prairie Castle is a photo book with 60 images placed in a specific order to create a narrative and a view of the way he sees the Canadian prairies. The book includes essays written by Zeleny and fellow Alberta author Aritha Van Herk.
A new visual book dives into that question. “When we think of the things that make the Prairies beautiful, which is this long horizon and this sweeping landscape of a blue sky.” We speak to Kyler Zeleny the author of Crown Ditch and the Prairie Castle 9:34
The book started with a question about who the prairie dweller of today is, and what their needs are. He started this process 10 years ago and has been studying rural prairie culture ever since. At first, he researched the revitalization of small towns before switching to focus on the visual nature of the prairies.
In his work, Zeleny said he wants to look at what differentiates the prairies from other regions, who lives there, and what their landscapes and communities are like. Zeleny added that there’s a clearer idea of what the American midwest is than the ideas of the Canadian west.
But Zeleny characterizes the prairies as being beautiful in its simplicity, in its topography, its beautiful horizon and blue sky, and its people.
“If you’re from the prairies, it’s inherent in you to understand what’s beautiful about the prairies,” Zeleny said.
“We’re nothing fancy. We’re just simple, kind folks.”
Kyler Zeleny is an Edmonton-based author whose new book Crown Ditch and the Prairie Castle documents the Canadian prairies. (Supplied by Kyler Zeleny)
His book includes environmental portraiture as well as a focus on the people of the prairies. The population of these rural communities has changed a lot over time, Zeleny said, highlighting how these communities are youth deserts, where young people leave to find work or a better way of life in larger cities.
With that has come a loss of community and vibrancy, Zeleny said. His book hopes to capture the changing landscape of these towns.
“It’s important to create snapshots of this change,” Zeleny said. “Because it’s not a drastic change, this is a very slow process. And I think that’s also why there’s not a lot of concern about it.”
Part of this change comes from aging communities, and from fewer job opportunities with the modernization of farming where work that once required 20 people can now be completed by only a handful of workers, or from industries leaving town.
To try and help these communities, Zeleny said he’d like to see more government assistance like subsidies for small towns to attract more people. He’d also like to see a larger ideological shift that embraces small-town living.
But for rural towns far from urban centres with shrinking opportunities for work, Zeleny said it’s hard to see what can be done to revitalize many of these communities.
“We’re looking at a process that is rather inevitable. That we’re going to see the shrinking of small towns,” Zeleny said.
“That’s really tough for a lot of people to hear, especially people who are community-driven and who want to see their community thrive. But a lot of communities will continue to disappear.”
NEW GLASGOW, N.S. – Police in New Glasgow, N.S., say a 44-year-old woman faces fraud charges after funds went missing from the Pictou East Progressive Conservative Association.
New Glasgow Regional Police began the investigation on Oct. 7, after Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston reported that an undisclosed amount of money had gone missing from his riding association’s account.
Police allege that a volunteer who was acting as treasurer had withdrawn funds from the association’s account between 2016 and 2024.
The force says it arrested Tara Amanda Cohoon at her Pictou County, N.S., residence on Oct. 11.
They say investigators seized mobile electronic devices, bank records and cash during a search of the home.
Cohoon has since been released and is to appear in Pictou provincial court on Dec. 2 to face charges of forgery, uttering a forged document, theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000.
Police say their investigation remains ongoing.
Houston revealed the investigation to reporters on Oct. 9, saying he felt an “incredible level of betrayal” over the matter.
The premier also said a volunteer he had known for many years had been dismissed from the association and the party.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
PICTOU, N.S. – A Nova Scotia excavation company has been fined $80,000 after a worker died when scaffolding collapsed on one of its job sites.
In a decision released Wednesday, a Nova Scotia provincial court judge in Pictou, N.S., found the failure by Blaine MacLane Excavation Ltd. to ensure scaffolding was properly installed led to the 2020 death of Jeff MacDonald, a self-employed electrician.
The sentence was delivered after the excavation company was earlier found guilty of an infraction under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Judge Bryna Hatt said in her decision she found the company “failed in its duty” to ensure that pins essential to the scaffolding’s stability were present at the work site.
Her decision said MacDonald was near the top of the structure when it collapsed on Dec. 9, 2020, though the exact height is unknown.
The judge said that though the excavation company did not own the scaffolding present on its job site, there was no evidence the company took steps to prevent injury, which is required under legislation.
MacDonald’s widow testified during the trial that she found her husband’s body at the job site after he didn’t pick up their children as planned and she couldn’t get in touch with him over the phone.
Julie MacDonald described in her testimony how she knew her husband had died upon finding him due to her nursing training, and that she waited alone in the dark for emergency responders to arrive after calling for help.
“My words cannot express how tragic this accident was for her, the children, and their extended family,” Hatt wrote in the sentencing decision.
“No financial penalty will undo the damage and harm that has been done, or adequately represent the loss of Mr. MacDonald to his family, friends, and our community.”
In addition to the $80,000 fine, the New Glasgow-based company must also pay a victim-fine surcharge of $12,000 and provide $8,000 worth of community service to non-profits in Pictou County.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Investigators found the remains of a 77-year-old American man on Wednesday at the scene of a fire that destroyed a hotel in western Newfoundland on the weekend.
Eugene Earl Spoon, a guest at the hotel, was visiting Newfoundland from Kansas. His remains were found Wednesday morning during a search of the debris left behind after the fire tore through the Driftwood Inn in Deer Lake, N.L., on Saturday, the RCMP said in a news release.
“RCMP (Newfoundland and Labrador) extends condolences to the family and friends of the missing man,” the news release said.
Spoon was last seen Friday evening in the community of about 4,800 people in western Newfoundland. The fire broke out early Saturday morning, the day Spoon was reported missing.
Several crews from the area fought the flames for about 16 hours before the final hot spot was put out, and police said Wednesday that investigators are still going through the debris.
Meanwhile, the provincial Progressive Conservative Opposition reiterated its call for a wider review of what happened.
“Serious questions have been raised about the fire, and the people deserve answers,” Tony Wakeham, the party’s leader, said in a news release Wednesday. “A thorough investigation must be conducted to determine the cause and prevent such tragedies in the future.”
The party has said it spoke to people who escaped the burning hotel, and they said alarm and sprinkler systems did not seem to have been activated during the fire. However, Stephen Rowsell, the Deer Lake fire chief, has said there were alarms going off when crews first arrived.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
