Despite the growing concern about Canadian-U.S. relations and tariffs and how this affects Canadian markets, the International Peace Garden continues to stand for what's important and that's peace between our two countries.
Peace Garden CEO Tim Chapman says they welcome guests from both sides of the border as the Garden truly stands in the center of the two countries, with the Canada/U.S. border running right through the center of the Garden.
"We continue to talk to visitors from both sides and our free Senior Wednesdays continue to draw Canadians and Americans which is really nice to see," shares Chapman. "Really at the end of the day the Garden will continue to stand for what it's always stood for, for peace and cooperation between our two nations."
Chapman says he continues to look at the current political scene as an opportunity to share more of the Peace Garden's history which is really quite fascinating as the Garden was built over 90 years ago, in 1932.
"As the staff and I continue to dig into the history more this spring we continue to find just incredible examples of really great Canadians and Americans through the 94 years of the Peace Garden who really worked tirelessly to not only make the Peace Garden happen, but to advocate through the decades and really show those great examples of why Americans and Canadians are such good friends, and are able to hopefully weather any political storms that come our way."
Two of those great examples is William Udall who settled in Boissevain in the 1890's and was publisher and editor of the Boissevain Recorder from 1905 to 1945. Udall wrote a series of letters that advocated for the establishing of the Peace Garden.
And on the American side, Judge John Storman out of Rolla, N Dakota who was invited by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce in the 1950's to share about the unique opportunity that communities on both sides of the border have to support the growth and support of the Peace Garden.
"Maybe it's not exactly like what we're going through now but clearly they are examples of different trade disputes and things that could have really torn the relationship apart," shares Chapman. "But it was people like WV, Udall and Judge John Stormon, who and many, many others across Canada and the US, who really helped to solidify and keep the development of the Garden going."
"I think the Garden at the time when they named those [lakes] just thought, you know, let's continue to build on this back-and-forth relationship that we have and symbolize it with the naming of those lakes, even though they geographically fell on the opposite side of the line from those gentlemen and where they were from," adds Chapman.
Please listen to more with Tim Chapman below as he shares on the John Storman and William Udall stories.
Free Senior Wednesdays continue at the Peace Garden until the end of April. Please hear more about their programming on Wednesdays below.