Gill Gracie, centre left, and Anne Hryniuk, centre right, are seen during the ceremony on Friday. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

in memory

Hryniuk selected as Harold Johnson Change Your Story Award winner

Feb 20, 2024 | 2:15 PM

Anne Hryniuk is the recipient of the inaugural Harold Johnson Change Your Story Award.

The $500 award was handed out last week at a short ceremony at La Ronge’s Alex Robertson Public Library. The funds will go towards printing cost for a book called Builders, Movers, Shakers, Scoundrels, Scamps and Just Plain Good People, a history of La Ronge from between 1900 to 1979.

Gill Gracie collaborated with Hryniuk on the book by writing and formatting it to get it ready to be printed. It should be ready for distribution within the next three months.

“I was writing originally a short, little book. Something like a Reader’s Digest about my dad and mom and what they did in the town here,” Hryniuk, who has been working on the book for the last three years, said.

“It’s basically the entire Lac La Ronge Indian Band areas, but we haven’t written much about the outskirts, other than the schools, which the band built.”

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Hryniuk drew her information for the book from a number of sources such as the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, the RCMP, former business owners, friends, and local families such as the Charles’, Mirastys and the Sandersons.

Anne Hryniuk looks through a draft version of the book. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

Hryniuk explained she decided to write the book because many of her relatives had done the same about their own histories and the places they came from.

“I have cousins from my dad’s side and they have written about their sisters and their aunts and so I thought my dad was different,” she said.

“He didn’t go and settle in the States when he immigrated. He came to the North and that’s completely different and a shocker to the rest of the family, but they all really enjoyed it. They were up here two years ago and wanted to see what I was doing.”

Library administrator Sean Stares was part of the group that decided Hryniuk was most deserving of the award. He said there were a total of four applicants.

“We created rubric on all levels and it was the best by far because it speaks to something that is so important to La Ronge, the Lac La Ronge region, our history and culture and I think that’s so amazing.”

“It is an amazing feeling,” he continued about giving out the inaugural award. “Harold Johnson was such a pillar in our community, and we definitely miss him so much. To award something that is going to bring the history of La Ronge to life, I think that is amazing.”

Johnson, who was a Cree/Swedish lawyer and author, was raised on a trapline in Molanosa and later lived in La Ronge. Johnson received his law degree from Harvard University and always inspired people to think and believe they could change their own stories. The Harold Johnson Change Your Story Award was born out of the belief.

Johnson passed away from lung cancer in 2022.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com