\n[\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” custom_padding=”0px||0px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_header _builder_version=”4.16″ content_font_size=”13px” background_color=”rgba(255, 255, 255, 0)” background_layout=”light” custom_margin=”0px||0px|” custom_padding=”0px||0px|” global_colors_info=”{}” button_one_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_size__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_text_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_width__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_border_radius__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_letter_spacing__hover_enabled=”off” button_one_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off” button_two_bg_color__hover_enabled=”off”]Aime Lacelle looks over what’s left of where he was born in Crichton, Sask. Photo by Matthew Olson<\/em>.
\n[\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px|||” custom_padding=”0px|||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”||0px|” custom_padding=”||0px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ text_text_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense that I be here,\u201d Aime Lacelle said. \u201cBut still I am.\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
Lacelle looks out the window of his small home on top of the hill. He sees the sandbox his father made for him to play in as a child, and the swing set made from two old telephone poles stuck into the ground.<\/p>\n
But Lacelle can only see them in his memories. Out the window of his living room, there is an empty space where his childhood home used to be.
\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle children, they get attached to where they grew up,\u201d he said. \u201cThe first things that they see and understood around them in their little lives, that\u2019s a basic thing that happens to anyone. That happened to me.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nThe town of Crichton was once a bustling service town for the area, back in the 1930s and 1940s. There were three grain elevators and all the local necessities: a general store; a caf\u00e9; and a post office. A big warehouse in the town was used for town dances and other community activities, and even a diamond for baseball games. <\/span><\/p>\nLacelle recalled a story that his father told him about how he came to run the general store in town. Lacelle was about two at the time and his father still lived in the nearby town of Cadillac and worked at the grocer\u2019s. One day his father ran into the local priest. <\/span><\/p>\nThe priest passed on some sad news to the elder Lacelle: the general store owner from Crichton had passed away the night before and his body was being taken to the nearest synagogue for the proper last rites. But the store owner also had responsibilities as the postmaster for the area. One of his duties was to meet the passenger train twice a day, five days a week. <\/span><\/p>\nAccording to Lacelle, the priest asked his father if he\u2019d be interested in buying the Crichton store. Lacelle\u2019s father replied that he would be, but he couldn\u2019t afford it. <\/span><\/p>\n\u201cAnd Father Russo, he says \u2018well, get in your truck and go up there and get the mail bag and meet the train, and the place is yours. I\u2019ll buy it for you and you pay me back whenever you can,\u201d Lacelle said. \u201cAnd \u2026 that\u2019s what Dad did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” global_colors_info=”{}” column_structure=”2_3,1_3″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Crichton once competed with nearby communities like Cadillac and Admiral as a major hub, Lacelle said. But while those other towns still live on, Crichton has diminished. Lacelle is the only one left. <\/span><\/p>\nAnd his childhood home is a hole in the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI was raised in the building that just isn\u2019t there anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s just the hole.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nTo most of the rest of the world, Crichton doesn\u2019t actually exist anymore. The \u201ctown\u201d has long since lost its status as an independent body and is now governed by the reeve of the area\u2019s rural municipality.<\/span>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/prairieghosts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2018\/04\/s7-shed.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”||5px|” always_center_on_mobile=”on” global_colors_info=”{}” align_phone=”center”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”photo caption” _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font_size=”14px” text_line_height=”1em” global_colors_info=”{}”]The remains of an old building near Aime Lacelle’s house. Photo by Matthew Olson. <\/em>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” custom_padding=”0px||0px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\nAccording to an email from the provincial government of Saskatchewan, the decline of settlements goes in stages: from town then to village and finally to unincorporated community. Once a community loses its status as a village, the population is counted in the area\u2019s rural municipality. It\u2019s one of the reasons people like Aime Lacelle in places like Crichton can be so difficult to find. <\/span><\/p>\nIn Saskatchewan, The Municipalities Act <\/i>outlines two possible definitions of a hamlet. The first is a community with at least five separate occupied dwellings and at least \u201cten divided lots\u201d that average under an acre in size. The second is if the Minister of Government Relations \u2014 the branch of government that administers The Municipalities Act<\/i> \u2014 simply deems an unincorporated area to be considered a hamlet. <\/span><\/p>\nSo the question remains, what happens to places like Crichton, which no longer meet the official criteria to be considered a hamlet but is the remnant of a community that used to be there?<\/span><\/p>\nAn economist for the Government of Saskatchewan said in an email that once a community becomes unincorporated (small enough or dispersed enough that it is absorbed by a rural municipality, like organized or unorganized hamlets), it can still be listed as a \u201cdesignated place.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\nA designated place is defined by Statistics Canada as \u201cnormally a small community or settlement that does not meet the criteria established by Statistics Canada to be a census subdivision or a population centre.\u201d They are created by provinces individually to help provide data to Statistics Canada. <\/span><\/p>\nAccording to the email from the Government of Saskatchewan, it\u2019s when a community has been dropped from the official list of designated places that it can truly be considered a \u201cghost town.\u201d Statistics Canada has kept a list of designated places since 1996 that is updated in the census every five years. <\/span><\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Graph – DPLs” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]
<\/p>\n
\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
The town of Crichton was once a bustling service town for the area, back in the 1930s and 1940s. There were three grain elevators and all the local necessities: a general store; a caf\u00e9; and a post office. A big warehouse in the town was used for town dances and other community activities, and even a diamond for baseball games. <\/span><\/p>\n Lacelle recalled a story that his father told him about how he came to run the general store in town. Lacelle was about two at the time and his father still lived in the nearby town of Cadillac and worked at the grocer\u2019s. One day his father ran into the local priest. <\/span><\/p>\n The priest passed on some sad news to the elder Lacelle: the general store owner from Crichton had passed away the night before and his body was being taken to the nearest synagogue for the proper last rites. But the store owner also had responsibilities as the postmaster for the area. One of his duties was to meet the passenger train twice a day, five days a week. <\/span><\/p>\n According to Lacelle, the priest asked his father if he\u2019d be interested in buying the Crichton store. Lacelle\u2019s father replied that he would be, but he couldn\u2019t afford it. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd Father Russo, he says \u2018well, get in your truck and go up there and get the mail bag and meet the train, and the place is yours. I\u2019ll buy it for you and you pay me back whenever you can,\u201d Lacelle said. \u201cAnd \u2026 that\u2019s what Dad did.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” global_colors_info=”{}” column_structure=”2_3,1_3″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Crichton once competed with nearby communities like Cadillac and Admiral as a major hub, Lacelle said. But while those other towns still live on, Crichton has diminished. Lacelle is the only one left. <\/span><\/p>\n And his childhood home is a hole in the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI was raised in the building that just isn\u2019t there anymore,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s just the hole.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n To most of the rest of the world, Crichton doesn\u2019t actually exist anymore. The \u201ctown\u201d has long since lost its status as an independent body and is now governed by the reeve of the area\u2019s rural municipality.<\/span> According to an email from the provincial government of Saskatchewan, the decline of settlements goes in stages: from town then to village and finally to unincorporated community. Once a community loses its status as a village, the population is counted in the area\u2019s rural municipality. It\u2019s one of the reasons people like Aime Lacelle in places like Crichton can be so difficult to find. <\/span><\/p>\n In Saskatchewan, The Municipalities Act <\/i>outlines two possible definitions of a hamlet. The first is a community with at least five separate occupied dwellings and at least \u201cten divided lots\u201d that average under an acre in size. The second is if the Minister of Government Relations \u2014 the branch of government that administers The Municipalities Act<\/i> \u2014 simply deems an unincorporated area to be considered a hamlet. <\/span><\/p>\n So the question remains, what happens to places like Crichton, which no longer meet the official criteria to be considered a hamlet but is the remnant of a community that used to be there?<\/span><\/p>\n An economist for the Government of Saskatchewan said in an email that once a community becomes unincorporated (small enough or dispersed enough that it is absorbed by a rural municipality, like organized or unorganized hamlets), it can still be listed as a \u201cdesignated place.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n A designated place is defined by Statistics Canada as \u201cnormally a small community or settlement that does not meet the criteria established by Statistics Canada to be a census subdivision or a population centre.\u201d They are created by provinces individually to help provide data to Statistics Canada. <\/span><\/p>\n According to the email from the Government of Saskatchewan, it\u2019s when a community has been dropped from the official list of designated places that it can truly be considered a \u201cghost town.\u201d Statistics Canada has kept a list of designated places since 1996 that is updated in the census every five years. <\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Graph – DPLs” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/prairieghosts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2018\/04\/s7-shed.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” align_tablet=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”||5px|” always_center_on_mobile=”on” global_colors_info=”{}” align_phone=”center”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”photo caption” _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font_size=”14px” text_line_height=”1em” global_colors_info=”{}”]The remains of an old building near Aime Lacelle’s house. Photo by Matthew Olson. <\/em>
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” custom_padding=”0px||0px|” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n