The Western Development Museum (WDM) – Moose Jaw will be hosting their annual Community Heritage Day on Saturday, Feb. 11 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“This is an annual event before the pandemic that we hosted here at the museum, in collaboration with several other organizations and groups from the heritage and cultural sectors,” said Karla Rasmussen, Education/Public Programs Coordinator at WDM Moose Jaw. “This year, we have had a good response…so, we have quite a few different people coming.”
This year, the WDM will have demonstrations, crafts and hands-on activities for families who are coming to enjoy the exhibitions of the New Southern Plains Metis #160, Sukanen Ship Pioneer Village & Museum, Das Schulhaus – Regina German Languages School Inc, the Saskatchewan German Council and Friends of St. Victor Petroglyphs, who will be on display throughout the day with information.
The program starts at 11:00 a.m. with Saskatchewan author Joan Soggie that will be sharing her story about her research-based novel “Rikka” of true stories on Western Canada’s female immigrant settlers from Scandinavia. Her presentation will be “Discovering Rikka.”
At 1:00 p.m., a presentation of “Gerhard Herzberg – A life in science,” will be presented by Dr. Rainer Dick, professor at the Department of Physics and Engineering Physics at the University of Saskatchewan. This presentation is about a travelling experience and an “Enterprises of the Human Spirit” exhibition, which will be displayed at the WDM Moose Jaw until Feb. 24.
Following at 2:00 p.m, the WDM will be showing a documentary movie “The Newcomers” made by CBC journalist and Saskatchewan German Council member, Teresa Kliem. This film explores contemporary immigrant experiences and weaves into it, the historical context of the early waves of immigration into the province. The documentary is for highlighting Black History Month and will be shown throughout February.
Other films that will be aired are Black Soul (Martine Chartrand, 2000), The Road Taken (Selwyn Jacob, 1996), Arrival: A poetic celebration of 200+ Years of Black communities building a life on the Prairies (Asim Overstands & Vince Raquel, 2022), and Reclaiming Public Space (Nathan Gross, 2022).
These short films are a selection from the National Film Board of Canada and CBC and will be screened in the Saskatchewan Theatre throughout the month of February.
Participants will be able to attend these activities without any admission costs. More information is available on WDM’s website, or you can read more https://wdm.ca/event_manager/mjheritageday/. You can also call Karla Rasmussen for further details at 306.693.5989.
