Saskatchewan - Jimmy Gardiner's chosen home
Jimmy Gardiner chose to live in Saskatchewan. He came West from Ontario as a teenager on a harvesters' excursion. He worked as a farm hand while he completed his public schooling and as a teacher in small Saskatchewan settlements while he studied at the University of Manitoba. He became a ‘Laurier Liberal’. He was a great admirer, and later friend, of the Hon. W. R. Motherwell, Saskatchewan’s first Minister of Agriculture.
Gardiner accepted the Principalship of Lemberg School in 1911, in part because of the town’s close proximity to Abernethy and his mentor. Gardiner never left his Lemberg home. While serving in Regina and Ottawa, his Pleasant View farm home remained his summer home and when his career ended in 1958 there was no question where he would spend his final years. It would be Pleasant View, his home.
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Gardiner’s career is chronicled elsewhere on this web-site. This page speaks of Gardiner’s longstanding ties to the people of Saskatchewan and of their long-lasting respect and admiration of him. The page also discusses the role of the Government of Saskatchewan in the creation of Prairie Giant.
When the CBC and Minds Eye Productions miniseries, Prairie Giant: the Tommy Douglas Story, aired, Gardiner family members were stunned. They had no forewarning of what the CBC and MindsEye had known for years, namely that Jimmy Gardiner was about to be harpooned. They were greatly relieved when the people of Saskatchewan began to speak out about the lies of Prairie Giant through Letters to the Editor and on radio talk shows.
Jimmy Gardiner was respected. His contributions to Saskatchewan included his commitment to the people of Saskatchewan. In return, the people of Saskatchewan supported him – for 44 years he was an elected representative. An elected representative who remains in office for 44 years is one who is respected and trusted. Prairie Giant has proven that there are those who envied Gardiner’s skills, contributions, and position, within Saskatchewan. The travesty for the people of Saskatchewan and Canada is that these people were provided with nearly $8 million in public funding to express hatred.
To paint Jimmy Gardiner as a politician who put political squabbles ahead of Saskatchewan’s interests is nothing but character assassination. Gardiner deserved honest history from Canada’s broadcaster and respect from the Government of Saskatchewan, regardless of which party was and is in Government.
The Government of Saskatchewan, which sponsored this film to ‘leave legacies for the future generations’, has an ethical obligation. Calvert, as Premier, is morally obligated to speak out when his government, in any way, has contributed to the defamation of a man’s character.
Storytelling is the tool societies have used for millenniums to preserve collective memory. School children will be shown this film and believe it to be history. This so-called 'history' has been sent into our schoolrooms. Although the CBC initially denied, in writing, that it had any intention of the film being an educational tool, it acknowledged that it had sold and distributed DVDs to schools through its educational sales program. By not recommending the film for inclusion in formal school curriculum, the film by-passes the school system’s review process under which the film would be reviewed for historical accuracy. What is happening is worse. The film is now in the schools without any historical background. Individual teachers are responsible for pointing out any inaccuracies to students. However, why would a teacher expect there to be historical inaccuracies? Teachers do not research every film they show. And teachers from provinces other than Saskatchewan are not aware of the historical travesty of the film.
It is appropriate for a Premier to speak about how a province’s history is portrayed and to speak up for a former Premier when a wrong has been done. This film is inappropriate for use in schools due to the historical misinformation that would be given to students. It is the responsibility of Calvert’s government to ensure that Saskatchewan students are provided with truthful history and that Ministries of Education in other Provinces are notified of all the historical inaccuracies in the film.
The Gardiner family has requested that the spoken and printed name, Jimmy Gardiner, be dubbed out of the film so that the antagonist to Tommy Douglas becomes what he is in the film, not a real person, but a convenient fiction.
Calvert and his Government had options. There were and still remain many ways that this matter could be dealt with that would minimise further defamation of character. Rather than explore creative solutions, Calvert has chosen to shirk his responsibility to Saskatchewan’s history.
The CBC has now acknowledged that the movie is historically wrong. It can now only serve one purpose – propaganda.
Gardiner is to Saskatchewan what Douglas is to the NDP