brentwoodsask

[brentwoodsask]

10 posts!

[brentwoodsask]

Our next character that resides in Brentwood.

Meet Erika Laffayette, a.k.a. Fransaskois.

Erika is a 26 year old woman who was born and raised in Brentwood. A rough and tumble woman, she became interested in boxing when she was in junior high school, and as she entered high school, she began training.

She became very good, with an ability to identify what her opponent's moves would be. She eventually entered competitions, winning a few provincial titles by the age of 19. When she turned 20, she joined Team Canada and went to the Olympics.

Sadly, while Erika's run was incredible, she only managed silver eventually losing to Ireland's Molly Flaherty. When she returned to Canada, Brentwood still considered her a hero, having gone so far on the world stage.

Erika eventually turned her attention to another passion of hers; nature photography.

Wanting to focus on the natural beauty of Saskatchewan and especially the north, Erika published several coffee table books. She also began freelancing for the newspaper the Brentwood Courier-News.

While Erika had success professionally, it was her mother who suggested that she take up the legacy that her mother started. That was the moniker of Fransaskois, a name Erika's mother took up when she was a member of the Brentwood Search and Rescue Team, along with Audrey Chen.

While Fransaskois was the name Monika, Erika's mother, took up, it is also a language dialect. One that Monka and Erika both share. Fransaskois is a dialect of French (in particular Quebecois) that is natively spoken in Saskatchewan.

It took a little convincing, even from her best friend Sloan (who was already Canadian Spirit at this time) but eventually she agreed. And thus, the second member of the 21st Century chapter of the Brentwood SAR began her training through St. Johns Ambulance Canada and at RCMP Depot.

She became recognized not only as an Olympic champion but also as an integral member of the Brentwood Search and Rescue Team. Like Sloan, she also agreed to help with fundraising efforts for the team as well as organizations like STARS Air Ambulance. Thus, a toy sold through Tim Hortons of Erika in her uniform became available.

[brentwoodsask]

The year is 1970. The fledgling Brentwood Storm of the Canadian Football League open their inaugural season against another expansion team, the Ravenport Acadians, located in Ravenport, New Brunswick.

But let's rewind three years to 1967. The year previous, the Saskatchewan Roughriders had won their first Grey Cup and while the entire province celebrated, there were those in Brentwood who felt as though it was so far away. Peter Wong along with Jonathon Bitterman approached the chiefs of the Starchild Cree Nation and the Lonetree Dakota First Nation. The idea was to bring the CFL to Brentwood, but not requesting the Riders play in Brentwood once or twice a season, but to create a brand new team.

With Wong and Bitterman, along with Aaron Deschaumbeau of the Starchild Cree Nation and Eric Halter of the Lonetree Dakota Nation, a business group was started, launching an exploration to gauge interest. At the time, Brentwood had become tied with Regina as the second largest city in Saskatchewan, hovering around 110,000 people.

This fledgling business group gained some national attention, which drew interest from another business group in Ravenport, New Brunswick. Soon, a second group to bring the CFL to the Maritimes had begun. Stadiums were built in both Brentwood and Ravenport. Finally, the Canadian Football League began meetings with these two groups.

On January 17, 1969, both Brentwood and Ravenport were awarded CFL teams. The bets began pouring in that neither team would survive five years. In their first season, Brentwood had a record of 3-13 while Ravenport had a record of 4-12. The very next season, however, both teams managed to make the playoffs with respectable 8-8 records each.

In 1972, Brentwood changed their name from the Brentwood Storm to the Northern Storm. This change was spurred on by the belief that Brentwood was the north. Within five years of this change, tour packages from other northern cities across Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario were set up with a CFL game in Brentwood as a very attractive package. The Storm and the Acadians became a CFL rivalry, as the home opener with the Storm was always against Ravenport, and the Labour Day Classic always had the Northern Storm in Ravenport.

Brentwood and Ravenport both touted themselves as the third French Canadian teams in the CFL along with the Montreal Alouettes. A small provincial rivalry had begun between the Storm and the Riders. Ravenport, being a border city that sat right on the Canada-U.S. border, used this to their advantage advertising that it was the only professional football in the North East of the New England States, attracting fans from the State of Maine. The Storm were the most northern professional football team in the entire world.

In 1989, The Northern Storm Sports Group, who by this time added a WHL team to their roster of properties, announced the completion of a domed stadium with a retractable roof. Up until this point, playing in October and November in Brentwood had become a roll of the dice to see how the weather would co-operate. On one hand, it became the place where tough players wanted to test their metal. On the other, there was the fear of frostbitten players and fans.

To open the 1990 CFL season, the Northern Storm hosted the Acadians in their brand new domed stadium. The roof was open for this first game, but by seasons end, the enclosed space was perfect for this northern team.

In 2021 bothe the Storm and the Acadians celebrated 50 years in the Canadian Football League. After a pandemic cut season in 2020 that saw no football at all since in Second World War, the Storm and the Acadians put the pedal to the metal when it came to celebrations. By the end of the season, the Storm and the Acadians met in the Grey Cup, the third time the two teams had met in the CFL Championship with the Storm walking away with a 25-24 victory.

[brentwoodsask]

Stepping out of the history of Brentwood to bring one of the characters to life.

Meet Sloan Turner, also known as the costumed hero Canadian Spirit.

A 26 year old woman born in Brentwood, Saskatchewan and returned to work at CWBC 98.5 FM. Her mother, Audrey Turner (née Chen), was also a costumed hero in the late 80s and into the 90s. Sadly, Audrey passed due to complications from breast cancer in 2014 when Sloan was 18 years old.

Like Audrey, Sloan is a member of the Brentwood Search and Rescue unit. This unit surveys the area around the city in search of lost souls who happen to "make their way" to the city. As a volunteer of the unit, Sloan goes on annual training to RCMP Depot in Regina as well as training with CPR through St. John's Ambulance Canada.

Sloan and her father, Leonard, are estranged. Audrey and Leonard married young, when Audrey was 21 and Leonard had just turned 20. When Sloan was 2 years old, Audrey filed for divorce, siting abuse, both physical and emotional. Leonard bounced in and out of prison over the years since the divorce. Sloan has had no contact with her father since Audrey's passing.

Sloan comes from Chinese and Scottish heritage. She fluently speaks English, Cantonese and French, with just a smattering of Scottish Gaelic thanks to her grandparents, Liam and Mary Turner, both of whom moved to Brentwood to help Sloan after Audrey passed. Her grandparents Henry and Olivia Chen also reside in Brentwood.

Sloan was an average student in high school, but excelled in wrestling, winning the SHSAA title three times. She would later join the University of Regina wrestling team while she took classes toward her journalism degree. While an excellent wrestler, she only managed to crack the top 15 at the university level.

Upon graduation, her first job with her journalism degree landed her in The Pas, Manitoba at the radio station 1250 CJAR. She had a knack for interviewing on air, especially up and coming musical acts. This, combined with her very comforting and clear vocal abilities on air, drew the attention of Thomas Horwath, station manager of CWBC FM. He contacted Sloan, offering her an afternoon slot along with an hour in the evening dedicated to interviews. At first, Sloan interviewed local talent, but that stretched further as she began to become a trusted voice in the music industry, and she'd manage to interview bigger names from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Sloan is not just an on air announcer for a radio station. Nor a former high school wrestling champion. Not even a costumed hero volunteering for a search and rescue unit. Sloan has a magical ability. She can see spirits.

One spirit in particular she can see is that of her mother. Audrey never left her. When Sloan returned to Brentwood to take up her new position with CWBC FM, it wasn't long before she had realized that her lonely apartment wasn't so lonely. Sloan can see Audrey, even if no one else can, and she can talk to Audrey. As well as other spirits. For many spirits, it is more that she helps them come to terms with their situation and helps them move on. But often times, the spirits Sloan sees will help her, guide her, when it comes to her work as Canadian Spirit.

As for Audrey, she is exactly where she wants to be.

A few years after Sloan, under the name Canadian Spirit, and her friends joined the Brentwood Search and Rescue unity, they came up with a fundraising idea to help raise money to support not only the SAR Unit but also organizations like STARS Air Ambulance.

They came up with a toy line, sold through Tim Hortons.

A limited run, it became extremely popular, so much so that the fundraiser was done a second year, this time with some of the different equipment that Sloan and the other volunteers used, such as medi-packs, snowmobiles, ATVs and other equipment used in their work.

[brentwoodsask]

The year is 1942.

Canada has sent troops to Great Britain to join the war effort. As opposed to the Canadian Expeditionary Forces that joined the Great War, this was the newly formed Canadian Armed Forces. As before, Canadian troops are used in many different aspects in the war effort.

In Canada, several air bases are set up to train pilots from all over the British Empire. In Ontario, manufacturing has begun on the Hawker Hurricane fighter planes in Fort William (now Thunder Bay).

By the end of the year, many were involved in espionage in order to help their side. Such was the case for Rylan Dubois and Eric Littlefeather of the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Paired with British Majors, the two were integral to gathering information from the air. One fateful day, these two, along with Major Chester Cooper and Major Samuel Coldwell, were shot down over Poland. While the planes were damaged, they managed a controlled crash, landing in the forests outside Warsaw.

The two pairs quickly joined up after destroying their already wrecked planes in order to slow down the Nazis, and headed into the safety of the forest with the goal to get back to Allied territory. As they went further into the forest, they soon discovered they weren't alone.

Major Cooper thought that it might be German guards, but they soon discovered it was fearful civilians. Jews who had escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto. It was at this point both Rylan and Eric had an idea.

It took some convincing, but eventually the two Majors agreed. The plan was simple; the entire group would move together, four Allied airmen and over 250 Jews, with the hope that they would appear, by some form of magic, in Brentwood. Both Rylan and Eric had been taught the stories from the past of large groups of people appearing in the area. The lost, the afraid, those needing comfort and aid, those looking for safety and a new life. Maybe that would happen here.

They moved quietly and quickly, hearing the cries of German guards in the forest behind them. It wasn't long, but Major Coldwell saw some light in the break of the trees and he spied a flag. A Canadian Red Ensigh, flying from the top of a building.

Both Coldwell and Cooper had no idea how it happened, but they had suddenly been transported from Warsaw, Poland to Brentwood, Saskatchewan. Rylan suggested they move up the street, toward a residential area, as they still heard the cries of German guards behind them.

Four airmen and over 250 Jews walked down the street, into the French district of Brentwood. Rylan recognized a house, and even though it was dark, he approached the door and began banging loudly. It was a couple of minutes before the door opened and a groggy, slightly angry man opened the door, but blinked as he saw the scene outside.

"Rylan, what the hell is going on?" he asked, then saw Eric. "Eric? I thought you two were in Europe!"

"We were," Rylan said. "But we need a phone. We need to call the hospital and the police." He looked back to the crowd that had gathered in the man's front yard.

The man nodded and ran to his phone, calling both police and hospital. Soon, the roar of sirens could be heard. Eric, along with the two Majors, calmed the people down, but tensions rose as they spied three figures at the end of the street. An SS guard and two other soldiers, they began running toward them, weapons drawn.

Two police cars and an ambulance roared to a stop as the three soldiers stopped. Doors opened as RCMP officers stepped out, Eric and Rylan approached on of the officers, Staff Sergeant Malcolm Stanley, and quickly explained the situation.

Stanley barked out an order to his men in French. His officers drew their weapons, training them on the three guards as the imposing figure of Malcolm Stanley approached the soldiers.

"You're a long way from home," he called out, catching the SS soldier off guard.

"We have orders to take..." the officer began as he pointed toward the crowd. Stanley quickly interrupted him.

"You're not in Poland right now," Stanley remarked in a stern voice. His gaze looked behind the officer for a moment. Four more cruisers and an ambulance approached. The cruisers came to a stop as six more constables got out and drew their weapons. The ambulance raced by stopping only in front of the crowd. "This is Canada." Stanley held out his hand toward the officer and the two guards. "Your weapons. On the ground now. Or this could get ugly very fast."

After a tense moment, the three Nazis soldier surrendered their weapons and raised their hands. Officers rushed forward, removing any other weapons and placing the three in handcuffs.

"What will happen to us?" the SS officer demanded.

Stanley looked to the officer with a stern look on his face. "You'll be transported to Cold Lake, Alberta. There's an armed forces base there. But first, you'll be guests at the Brentwood RCMP detachment cells. After you're in custody of the armed forces, you'll most likely be transported to a prisoner of war camp in Northern Ontario."

"We have every right to..."

"You are an enemy of Great Britain and her Allies, which includes Canada," Stanley said again, his voice loud enough to be heard by the crowd. "And you are in Canada now. I am an officer of His Majesty's Royal Canadian Mounted Police. You, sir, and your two comrades are under arrest."

Dejected, the three complied and were taken into custody. Major Cooper approached Stanley. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. All of us appearing nearly halfway across the world in the blink of an eye."

"I'll be honest with you, Major," Stanley said as he watched the cruisers head off with their prisoners in tow. "I had never seen it before myself. But I'd heard the stories."

"What'll happen with ..." Cooper said as he motioned back to the crowd.

"We'll set them up in housing," Stanley replied. "Like everyone else who has arrived in Brentwood. They'll be safe here."

[brentwoodsask]

The year is 1923.

It was called The Passage to Fortune. Hundreds of Chinese immigrants to Canada were offered work, with the promise they could make enough money to bring their families to Canada. But much of it was indentured servitude.

These immigrants received very little help, but many did go on to bring their families to Canada, eventually. There was only a few bright spots during this time.

Harry Wong had made his way north, finding work in a mining camp just outside Brentwood, Saskatchewan. There he found maybe a dozen other Chinese workers. The work was long and arduous, and for little pay. But each of them had accommodation and travel to and from Brentwood. It wasn't long before a Chinese district sprang up in Brentwood's north east side.

Wong built his own laundry. A friend of his Edward Chen, built a restaurant. A clothing store soon opened. By the end of the 1920s, there was a full street of Chinese businesses in Brentwood's north west section, with residential areas branching off from it.

And much like the past, many of the city's other residents supported these small business ventures. Soon, Brentwood had one of the largest Chinese populations in Canada. While city's like Vancouver obviously had the largest Chinese immigrant population, word spread about Brentwood.

Thanks to the influx of people to Brentwood, it became the fourth largest city in Saskatchewan, behind Saskatoon, Regina and Moose Jaw.

And this would not be the last group migration to come to Brentwood. As for Harry and Edward, both would go on to become important members of the business community, even going so far as to help new businesses open up in the community. Edward would go on to organizing a charitable organization to assist with the creation of housing for new residents, and he grew interested in building a sporting tradition in Brentwood.

Today, both the family names of Wong and Chen are just as important to Brentwood as many of the French Canadian, Metis and Indigenous families that live in the city.

[brentwoodsask]

July 28, 1914.

For the first time in history, nations from across the globe took up arms. Great Britain and her dominions declared war against Germany and the Central Powers. As the war came closer to many of those dominions, Great Britain came up with a plan of propaganda to help drive recruitment. Each dominion would provide one volunteer to enter a program. British scientists had managed to develop a serum that would make soldiers heartier and more resistant to injury. The draw back is they would age slower, one year for every ten.

In Canada, that recruit was named Sergeant William Sebastian Steele.

While his purpose was to be the poster child for Canadian recruitment programs, not unlike those soldiers that had been picked from the other dominions, Steele was also a soldier on the front lines. Involved in Ypres, Passendaele, Flanders, Vimy Ridge and many other offensives that involved Canadian divisions, Steele remained humble as he carried out his orders with ruthless efficiency.

William was born in Grand Prairie, Alberta in 1892. By the outbreak of the war, he was 22 years old. His hope was to return home and take over the family farm. His military career suddenly became more important.

Throughout the course of the war, British scientists working in secret, found that the serum used on William could be used to aid those soldiers heavily injured in battle. There was just one drawback. Many of these soldiers would end up in a deep sleep, having been given the serum during a period of heavy duress and trauma. Many remained in a coma for decades after the Great War, while many others died only a few years after the Treaty of Versailles was signed.

For William, he returned home. But he was changed in ways that even other veterans could not fathom. He moved from Grand Prairie, settling a lonely log cabin just north of Brentwood, Saskatchewan.

But war has a way of calling to a man.

Asked directly by telegraph if he would assist in the creation of the newly formed Canadian Armed Forces, William saw action again in Europe as the Second World War opened. By this time, he was well into his 50s, but didn't look a day over 26. Many said that they didn't realize that this was the fabled Canadian Red Ensign until they looked into his eyes. Legend says the eyes are the gateway to the soul, and William's soul had seen so much horror. In 1939, he was about to see even more.

By his own request, Captain William Steele was kept back to assist with strategic operations. But by June 6, 1944, he found himself once again rushing into battle as his unit stormed Juno Beach on Normandy.

Juno was the second most heavily fortified of the beaches next to Omaha. Still, thanks to the bravery and tenacity of the Canadians, they were the first to reach their objectives. Steele was among them.

At the close of the Second World War, Steele again returned home. His body was healthy, but his soul felt as though it was broken. He'd witnessed more death than anyone should have. But there was something about Brentwood that seemed to reach out and heal him.

At first, he declined any invitations to speak on his experiences. But at the outbreak of the Korean War, Steele felt he needed to come forward. He did not approve of this conflict, feeling that young men were being sent into a meat grinder for nothing.

Still, he honoured past friends and allies that he served with as he began making his appearances at Remembrance Day Services, talking directly to school children of the heroism of war, but also the horror of war.

William Steele still lives in Brentwood to this day. While he lives alone, and the people of Brentwood respect his privacy, he still takes part in teaching the next generations why war is never something that you would ever want to see.

[brentwoodsask]

By 1890, the young country of Canada had already seen conflict, much of it on the prairies. In 1871, the Red River Rebellion pitted Louis Riel's Metis settlers in what would become Manitoba against the federal government. Riel would escape to the United States, but the actions of the conflict lay the foundation of the newly formed province of Confederation.

Also because of this rebellion, and the fears of moves from the United States to claim territories that Canada wanted to invest in, the North West Mounted Police was formed, making their march westward. This police force would see action in 1885 in the regions surrounding Battleford, as the Northwest Rebellion would be the second conflict between the federal government and Metis, French Canadian and indigenous people of the area.

Lead by Gabriel Dumont, he eventually brought in Louis Riel again, and sent out messengers to several indigenous tribes to supply warriors. None made it north of Prince Albert, as many believed that would be too far for any messages to have any effect.

As it stood, in the far northern city of Brentwood, the newly formed North West Mounted had already dispatched fifteen members to become the police of the region.

By the end of the Northwest Rebellion, Louis Riel was captured, tried and eventually convicted in Regina. He was sentenced to hang, which drew ire from French Canadians in Quebec.

Time marched on.

The turn of the century saw new development. Power lines would being installed in several cities across the prairies, and Brentwood was no different. While power was still a luxury in more rural settings, it was a welcome sight in more urban area.

With the advent of power, also came the advent of the motorized vehicle.

This new invention helped greatly with the transportation of supplies to the northern city, but it was only effective during the spring and summer months. Cars and trucks weren't the only thing to begin to grace the north.

The CNR finally finished laying track to Brentwood in 1910. With routes branching off toward Grande Prairie, Alberta and Churchill, Manitoba, Brentwood could actually benefit. But again, the rail lines could only be used during the more warmer seasons of spring and summer.

These new innovations weren't the only things to appear in Brentwood.

By 1907, the great state of Oklahoma had been granted admittance into the Union of the United States of America. But with it came the oppressive Jim Crow laws. African American land owners would suddenly find their land was not theirs. Frustrated and angry, several dozen Black families heard of land, being sold for very low rates (as low as one dollar per quarter section) north of the border in the newly created provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Many would settle in the Eldon District near Maidstone, Saskatchewan, while others would travel on to Taber, Alberta. But one group that was lead by Abraham Jackson would find themselves much further north. Leading four dozen families, Jackson's group found themselves just outside of Brentwood in much the same way Lonetree and his Dakota did.

The climate did not make for great farming, but the families who stayed on made a hard go of it, managing to create some new innovations of their own. The small group even constructed their own Baptist church, the first that far north. They received their land the same time the group in Maidstone began constructing their own Baptist church.

With this influx of people, the population of Brentwood had grown even more, with the city itself over 10,000 people. It was the largest city north of Saskatoon.

And then, there was the Great War.

[brentwoodsask]

The war of 1812 passed by virtually unnoticed in Fort Brentwood. Life went on as normal. Reginald had even married Chief Starchild's sister, Dyani. Together, they would have three children; a son Patrick, and two girls, Halona and Bethany.

Together, the couple was seen as the leadership of the fort that was slowly growing to become a small town. After the war that affected the regions of Upper and Lower Canada, several more French settlers, along with Empire Loyalist and free Black settlers, arrived in the area. The population after a census in 1823 revealed the population to be 2,571 new settlers, along with 1,498 members of Starchild's Cree people.

As Patrick grew up, he went back East, attending university at McGill in Montreal. Upon his graduation, he returned to Brentwood with his new wife, Marianne, whom he met in Montreal. A woman of adventurous spirit, Marianne took to life in Brentwood with stride. Nothing seemed to phase her at all, as she took up each challenge she faced willingly. Marianne even started a French immersion school, inviting even the children of the local Cree to attend.

By 1862, Reginald Brentwood fell ill, and he passed in 1863. Six months later, his wife, Dyani also passed. But their children stayed on in Brentwood. Patrick and Marianne took over the role of leadership of the community, even organizing the first elections for a mayor and town council, which Patrick was elected to council. Bethany was a nurse at the newly built hospital, and Halona was a craftsman, creating clothing for the community that would help during the harsh winter months.

In 1865, more settlers arrived. This came in the form of Chief Lonetree and his Dakota people. Meeting with Patrick and Peter Starchild, Chief Starchild's son who by this time had become Chief, met with Chief Lonetree. Lonetree explained that they had left their area near Thief River Falls in Minnesota only a week before arriving outside of Brentwood. It wasn't unheard of to see different Dakota tribes arriving in the North West Territories, as many chiefs had petitioned the British government, siting that they had allied with them during the War of 1812.

What was unheard of was how little time had taken for Lonetree's people to arrive in Brentwood. Patrick had always read his father's writings about how he felt there was something about the area that attracted people to it, almost like there was something that was bringing people to the region.

After a long series of talks, Lonetree's people settled into the region, taking up residence to the east of the town site, as there was good water resources and decent areas where their cattle could graze.

After another census in 1866, one year before Confederation, Brentwood's population was a solid 5,310. There were 1,500 of Starchild's Cree and 890 of Lonetree's Dakota. Brentwood was well on it's way to becoming a city, but that would still be many, many years away.

[brentwoodsask]

In 1668, the famed company Hudson's Bay Company began operations thanks to the efforts of two French explorers with backing of English merchants from Boston. While the Governor of New France didn't want to shift focus of the fur trade away from the St. Lawrence River, fur traders Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers learned from the Cree that the best fur trapping could be found north and west of Lake Superior on the shores of a great frozen sea.

With the help of English financiers, these early expeditions would eventually lead to one of two major companies competing for the fur trade in North America; the Hudson's Bay Company and the Northwest Company. But the Hudson's Bay Company had major backing from the government and controlled nearly all of Rupert's Land. By the 1780s, the Northwest Company, based out of Montreal, would seriously cut into the Hudson's Bay Company's profits.

130 years later, an area of British North America called Rupert's Land (present day western Quebec, Northern Ontario, Manitoba and most of Saskatchewan) was fought over by these two companies, no different than the British and French, and later the British and Americans. It was common for a fort to be raised in one location not far from the competing companies fort. This was the situation in 1794, as Reginald Brentwood, a wealthy merchant from England with a dream of exploration, set out from Cumberland House and into the north west.

With a small team of men under his command, they reached the northern shores of Pinehouse Lake, several miles north of an already existing fur trading post named Pinehouse, that was run by the Hudson's Bay Company, but had a competing Northwest Company post not far away. Brentwood didn't want a new location to be a target, and had heard of a local Cree tribe that lived near Sandy Bay Lake.

After constructing the fort, Reginald along with a few of his men set out to speak with the local indigenous peoples. He would eventually reach the Cree settlement of what would become known as the Starchild Cree Nation. Chief Starchild had known that either British or French explorers would eventually reach this far north and had prepared a welcome party.

Brentwood and Starchild got along right away, as Reginald explained his intentions to merely be an outpost for fur traders to buy supplies and sell furs. Starchild was impressed with this man of wealth who seemed to have a very straightforward vision. Reginald revealed he wished to greet his new indigenous neighbours as he would any of his neighbours in England.

A fast friendship was formed, as the two men supported each other, with Starchild's people even teaching the men that had built up Fort Brentwood how best to survive the winter, grow food in the rugged terrain and even hunt the wild game that seemed to outnumber the men of the region.

As with anything, however, not every good thing lasts.

The new settlers brought with them new diseases that the indigenous people never had to deal with. Through a shared knowledge of medicines from two continents, both those of Frot Brentwood and the local Cree managed to stave off the disease, but it took it's toll. Reginald knew that they needed medical assistance at the fort, as well as men and women to help expand this new settlement. He quickly wrote a communique to people he knew back east.

"My dear friends,

It is with a matter of urgency that I write to you. We have found heaven on Earth with this stretch of rugged terrain. The Cree people, especially Chief Starchild, have been more than helpful. It is time that we return the good fortune blessed upon us and give that back to our new found friends.

And so, I beseech you to gather men and women to come out west and join us. Professionals, tradesmen, doctors, educators. We have created a settlement unlike any other in this new land.

I await your reply.

Yours always, Reginald Brentwood"

His inquiry and request for settlers with professional skills fell on deaf ears for the most part. After all, who on God's Earth would want to live in such a barren wasteland. But saviours of a sort would arrive one short year before the Americans declared war on British North America.

In 1811, over one hundred new settlers arrived from Quebec. Men, women and children. Professionals and tradesmen. Somehow, word had circulated about Brentwood. A rugged slice of heaven in the Great White North.

Reginald welcomed them with open arms, but knew right away there might tensions. It had not been that long since the end of the Seven Years War. But these people seemed willing to stay in this English fort with no complaint. Even Brentwood himself decided that French should be encouraged among the people, going so far to brush up on his own.

Thus, these events would be the beginnings of what would become the city of Brentwood, Saskatchewan.

[brentwoodsask]

Welcome to Brentwood, Saskatchewan. More fittingly, welcome to the stories and world building of the Mystic Earth.

Here I'll share stories and world building from this small city in Northern Saskatchewan. How north? It sits on the northern end of Pinehouse Lake. In actual distance, Brentwood is 520 kilometers north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

150,000 people live in this northern location. There are three radio stations, a bi-weekly newspaper, some incredible shopping centres, a diverse population, and is home to not only a Western Hockey League team, but also a Canadian Football League team called the Northern Storm.

As I present some of the world building and stories, I'll share images that have been generated using Bing AI. The world building actually is based on actual history of the province of Saskatchewan and many actual events that took place in the territory before it was called Saskatchewan. I'll explain the actual historical relations as the world building is unveiled.

So please come in, sit down, grab a cup of hot cocoa, and watch the Northern Lights from the comfort of a quiet log cabin. This is Brentwood.

Because here is where you need to be right now.