February is Black History Month. Local historian Allan Goddard has dedicated over three decades to keeping the memory of Keystone settlers and the history of Breton alive. We sat down with him for a question and answer session to get insight on his journey.
How long have you been involved in the Breton Historical Society?
I became involved with the Historical Society in the fall of 1987.That makes it about 35 years that I have been involved with the Historical Society. At that time Gwen Hooks was President of the Society. Over the years I held the positions of President and Treasurer on the Historical Society Board. For quite a number of years the Board served both the role of the governing body of the museum and also acted as administration to carry out the day-to-day activities of the museum. In about 2009 I resigned as a board member and took on the role of museum manager/curator. The museum was growing, which required more time to meet the administrative duties, also the level of expertise needed to meet the higher standards of the Recognized Museum Program required someone with at least a basic knowledge of museum standards. I have remained in this role since then.
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What got you involved in the society in the first place?
I think it was an ad in maybe the Breton Booster, or just a poster around Breton that the Society was in the initial stages of starting a museum in Breton and looking for volunteers to help with establishing the museum. The Society had recently entered into a lease with the then Leduc School Division for the use of the two-room school located on the Breton Elementary school site. The school division had stopped using the building prior to this for school classes, I think the playschool had occupied the building at the last but must have moved from the building as the building was vacant when the historical Society leased it. It needed a lot of upgrades over the years. From reviewing some of the records and minutes of the Society it appears that the topic of establishing a museum had been talked about at various times previous to 1987.
I had always had an interest in history from the time I had been small. Both my father and my mother’s family had been longtime residents of the Carnwood and Moose Hill area. They both had homesteaded in the early 1920’s. As a young child, I can remember asking my mom to tell me about the “olden days”. So when this opportunity came with the Breton museum I thought here is a cute little project that I can volunteer a couple hours a month to help them out. I can paint a wall, do minor carpentry, well it has taken on a life of its own in the years since then. I didn’t know anything about what it took to operate a museum… none of the people involved did. It was a steep learning curve for everyone. It has become clear over the years/decades since then that there is much more to running a museum than putting some old items out in a cabinet or on a shelf for people to look at to be a museum. It’s about having the artifacts help tell a story.
How has black history impacted the Village of Breton and the place it has in Alberta’s history?
The Board of the Society, soon after establishing the museum,received some advice from the Historic Resource’s Branch of the Alberta government about starting a museum. One of the things they talked about was to determine what themes /stories you want to tell in your museum. I believe the Board of the time did a good job in considering this question. While most small rural museums focus on the settlement history of their community and Breton was no different to some extent, the Board settled on 4 themes. They asked themselves what area of the Breton district history can we focus on that will set us apart from the museum down the road.
The first theme determined was the history of the Keystone community, established by African American settlers from Oklahoma and a few other states that migrated to Alberta from about 1909-1912. While this initially followed the settlement story of homesteading it has become a much more complex story that goes beyond just the hardships of establishing a homestead and life at the time in Alberta, and the Breton community. When the museum started documenting this story 30 some years ago the story of black history in Alberta was scarcely mentioned. What I have come to realize and appreciate, there is much more to this story than a small group of early settlers. This is a story about the immigration policy of Canada at the time, and how many segments of society pushed back against this group. It started to become clear that the story of Canada as a kind nation that welcomed all groups of immigrants with open arms has started to unravel as we start to research the topic deeper. There have also been success stories that need to be told. The story of Keystone, and the other communities in Alberta and Saskatchewan settled by this group is more than just local in scope. It is part of Alberta history, as well as Canada’s story, with connections back to Oklahoma and the reason this group was leaving the State.
We try to ask visitors to the museum what brought you to the museum today. A vast majority will say they wanted to learn about the black history of the area. This theme has definitely brought the museum, and by extension the community a higher profile beyond just the local community.
The second theme decided on, was the lumbering industry which played a significant role in the development of the area until the late 1940’s. It was the primary economic driver of the area, once rail service was established in 1926.
The third theme was Agriculture, while this was a more generic theme the Board’s focus was to tell the story of the Breton SoilPlots and the challenges of farming on gray wooded soils. This theme has yet to be fully developed by the museum.
The final theme was Community, this encompasses a lot of different elements and like all the themes is ongoing and can vary from year to year.
Last Monday, the new Drayton Valley Medical Clinic held its grand opening, welcoming two new doctors and staff to the facility.
Mina Bolos, the co-owner of IDA Malone Pharmacy, says he and co-owner Heidi Nasrallah funded the new clinic on their own in the hopes of helping residents get a local GP and to give the other community GPs a bit of a reprieve from their heavy workload.
Bolos and Nasrallah’s pharmacy started out at the previous Malone Clinic. When that clinic was shut down, they moved to their new location on 50th Street three years ago. It wasn’t long before they decided to work on building another clinic in the community.
“Everybody strives to get a doctor here,” says Bolos. “Through the communications and connections and everything, we’ve got two doctors.”
Dr. Nosakhare Ologbosere, who goes by Dr. Nosa, started at the clinic on June 1, while Dr. Samuel Nelson started out on July 20.
Bolos says they started working on the idea about eight months ago, but it was challenging to get a doctor to come to the community. He says he and his partner love to serve the community, and he was happy to find Nelson and Ologbosere willing to relocate to do the same.
Brazeau County Reeve Bart Guyon and Deputy Mayor Brandon Boehm, along with many of the councillors, were present for the event, offering a placard and gifts to welcome the doctors.
“You guys aren’t just needed, you’re wanted,” said Guyon. “People are going to be lined up to sign up to get a doctor.”
“You’ve gone through the work, you’ve brought some doctors into town, which I know has been a challenge, specifically in this town for the last few years,” said Boehm. “We want to thank you for doing that.”
Both Nelson and Ologbosere say they are happy to be in Drayton Valley and they plan to stick around.
“Since we’ve been here, we’ve met the community, and they have been very, very lovely,” says Ologbosere. “It’s been a pleasure working here, and we have the best team.”
Oh boy oh boy oh boy! It’s summertime and the living is easy, just like the song says. August is on the horizon, and what better way to kick off the last full month before the onset of autumn than with a long weekend? All weekends are good. But long weekends are the best weekends of all. They are the Rolls Royce of weekends. And the long weekend that’s coming up at the end of next week could not have come at a better time. I’m sure we could all use a break after a month in which we discovered that the only thing duller than people going on and on about the World Cup was people going on and on about how bored they were with other people going on and on about the World Cup.
Heritage Day is just about here and soon all across this great province of ours Albertans will begin diligently packing their holiday trailers while positively trembling with excitement in anticipation of three days off.
Sunscreen? Check. Marshmallows? Check. Mattresses? Check. Blankets? Check. Microwave? Check? Kitchen sink? Check.
What’s that? You’re not keen on the thought of cramming more than half of your worldly goods and chattels into a large tin can and dragging it a few miles behind a half ton so you can spend a couple of days eating charred wieners while fighting off mosquitoes and the occasional ravening coyote? Gentle reader, you are not alone. Camping looks like fun, but it involves a lot more sweating and grunting in real life then they ever show you on TV.
For me the real joy of a summer weekend does not involve lining up at a dump station for several hours to empty three days worth of poo and pee from my trailer’s holding tank at the end of things; especially when some of that poo and pee probably isn’t even mine. For me the real pleasure of a long weekend is watching everyone else head off to the wilderness and then pretty much having the whole place to myself until the neighbours begin to straggle back, covered in bug bites and missing a shoe, on Monday afternoon. It’s not that I have anything against other people. It’s just that I like them better when they’re not around.
So, three days with the place to yourself. It’s a chance to wander around in your underwear belching and scratching your backside without a care in the world, although I should point out that the Free Press does not actually endorse or encourage either of those activities. But think of the peace and quiet. It’s a little slice of paradise and a fantabulous way to kick off the best month of the year. And it’s coming up in not much more than a week.
Oh August how I love your sultry ways. Come on now, who’s ready for thirty one glorious days of sun fuelled torpor? Me, that’s who. And you are too if there’s any sense about you.
The term empty nester has been around for about 110 years and is used to describe the lonely feeling parents have when their children grow up and leave the house.
I’ve spent a lot of time over the years thinking about what it would be like to be on my own. I have never lived by myself. When I was a single mom, there were definitely moments when it felt that way, but most of my choices were made with my children in mind. I didn’t feel free to just do whatever I wanted.
Having been a parent since I turned 20, I always kind of dreamed about what it would be like once my kids were grown. I would only have to clean up after myself. I didn’t have to listen to YouTubers screaming about video games anymore or listen to Ariana Grande’s voice in Sam and Cat.
No more parent-teacher interviews. No more non-urgent emergencies that I have to drop everything and attend to just in case. No more refereeing and enduring my children’s consequences when their electronics were taken away.
I love my children more than anything else, but I have to say, it honestly sounded fantastic.
Well, that day has come, and I’m afraid all the hobbies that I have developed in preparation for this day might not be enough.
There was a point when my kids were little and my parents lived a flight away, and sometimes they would go stay with my parents for a few weeks. I would be excited to clean their rooms and put everything away. After it was cleaned, I would close the door because it was weird to see the room so clean.
I imagine it’s going to be like that again. I will keep myself occupied, of course. I still have my work, I still have my dogs, and I have friends and family that I will spend time with. It will just be weird to come home and not be able to interact with another person.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m comfortable being by myself, and sometimes I really need it to recover from having my time occupied with social events. It’s my way of recharging my battery.
I also know that people who avoid any socialization have a 30-60 percent higher chance of developing dementia. So as much as spending time with others can exhaust me, it’s a matter of health and well-being.
But let’s be clear.. I’m not only spending time with people so that I don’t have cognitive issues in the future. I really enjoy spending time with the people I love, and I’m often excited to do so. I just need some recovery.
With the kids gone, every day will be my recovery period, and I think I’m going to be spending more time out and about just to get that fix. Getting that human interaction will be very important for me health wise and for my sanity.
I think I’m going to have to change my perspective on the term empty-nester. It’s not necessarily something to dread or be sad about. It’s an opportunity to create a unique, peaceful space that you can rest in after a day of spreading your wings and learning who you are in this next part of your life.
The new CAO for Drayton Valley brings with him experience in a municipal leadership role. He also brings many years of military experience to the position.
Troy Grant was appointed CAO at a special council meeting held on July 8. On a municipal level, Grant worked at Sturgeon County as the General Manager of Public Services.
During his time with the military, Grant earned the Canadian Forces’ Decoration for his years of service.
He originally started at the Town in March 2026, acting as the Town Services Manager. Getting a promotion this early on was not something he had anticipated.
“I didn’t come to the town anticipating becoming anything more than the general manager of town services,” says Grant.
Now that he has stepped into the new role, Grant says he’s excited to work with the staff he’s come to know.
“This is an opportunity that lends itself nicely to my classic training through the military… I’m super excited about it.”
One of the skills needed for the position of CAO is leadership, which is something he developed as a logistics officer in the military. Grant was responsible for organizing supply chains, personnel, finances, and transportation to ensure Canadian troops around the world had what they needed to operate smoothly.
“The CAO ultimately needs to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their team and then employ those things with reinforcing those strengths and weaknesses to achieve the objectives that council and the people of Drayton Valley need,” says Grant. “That’s exactly what army leaders do.”
One of the first things Grant wants to handle is the Town’s organizational chart, with the goal of making it more clear to staff, council, and the public. Council will also have the opportunity to give feedback, says Grant, because he plans to run it by them before making it official.
He says he’s really enjoyed working with council over the past few months.
“Our current council is so open to innovation and creativity,” says Grant. “I think something we all need to wrap our heads around is that we have a new council. They’ve been in place for less than a year, but they’ve already demonstrated flexibility of thought, creativity, and aggressive policy changes.”
Another project that they have been working on is reviewing the way they handle contracting. Grant says he wants to be sure that it’s being done properly and is beneficial to the community, rather than costly or a hindrance.
At the end of the day, this position is about service for Grant, which is something he’s proud of.
“I’m fundamentally a service guy. I’m about serving people; serving Canadians. My whole career has been that. I guess for me, it’s the next chapter in service to Canadians, so I’m excited about that,” says Grant.
Another area that excites him is “moving the yardsticks progressively” for Drayton Valley.
“Being part of figuring out the path forward in a meaningful way, in a leadership way, with this council and the team that we have,” he says.
He says he would like the municipality to be seen as a place where people want to work. Where they are respected and know that the work they do matters.
One of the questions council had for Grant was how long he imagined he could stay in his role as CAO. Given the turnover of the past ten years, one of their concerns was the stability of the role.
Grant says he plans to stick around as long as they will have him. He will eventually retire, though, and he says he will be putting together a succession plan with the hope that the next CAO can come fully qualified from in-house.
“It’s a real privilege to be able to support the town and become the leader of a team that I already believe in,” he says.
Carol Vowk, the chair of the board for the Drayton Valley Community Health Foundation, said when they first heard about the opportunity for the eSIM lab, they were in the middle of a project for a room in palliative care. She said the foundation decided to table the idea, keeping it in mind for the future once they had completed the renovations.
However, when the Town initiated the Grow Your Own program, they decided to go for it.
“The future came upon us really, really quickly,” said Vowk.
While they were planning for the eSIM lab, they completed their renovations for the palliative care room. The space now includes a wheelchair accessible shower, which they didn’t have previously.
“We can accomplish great things when our community comes together,” said Vowk.
Following the speeches and ribbon cutting, attendees were able to watch a demonstration of the lab put on by RN students and hospital staff.
What do I like? Thanks for asking. I like loads of things.
I like beer. I like wine, especially if there’s some fresh bread and a nice piece of cheese to go with it. I like playing golf. I like holidays somewhere sunny.
One feature those things have in common is that they cost a bit. So one of the things I like the most is money, because it makes all the other stuff possible.
And this ought to be a good time for folks like me, because as of now (yes, right now) the provincial government is giving a $100 energy rebate to each and every Albertan who meets some fairly loose criteria. I tick all the boxes. You probably do too.
Over 18 (check)
Alberta resident (check)
Filed taxes in 2025 (check)
Annual income less than $225,000 (you’re kidding, right?)
So far so good. But that’s the easy part. You have to have one of those MyAlberta online accounts to apply. I do have an account, but I have no idea whatsoever what the password might be. And as for my user name? Well, if I could remember stuff like that I’d probably be working in a circus somewhere as Mysterio the Memory-Man. On top of that, so far there have been reports of a number of hiccups in the application process, so that things are neither tickety nor boo. I mean, I can probably figure something out, but it starts to feel like quite a lot of work for not much reward.
Now I don’t want to complain about free money. Because free money is the best kind of money there is. Back when I was a lad you could feed a family of eleven on steak and lobster every day for a week on a hundred bucks and still have enough left to buy a small airline.
But those days are gone. It feels like $100 doesn’t go that far these days, because it doesn’t. Just yesterday I filled up with gas (we have a fairly small car) and then bought a couple of bottles of wine and bam! Just like that, 200 bucks gone. So that was the rebate for my wife and I taken care of before it even hit our bank account.
Don’t get me wrong. Getting an extra hundred bucks is a lot better than not getting an extra hundred bucks. And it’s orders of magnitude better than, for example, losing a hundred bucks. Still, as cash bonanzas go, this one feels like a bit of an anticlimax. You cannot make $100 into a huge pile and roll around in it naked. And if you try you’ll probably look pretty stupid.
This is all a bit of a downer, but hope springs eternal. And happily there are things that I like that don’t cost money. Things like sitting on the deck in the sunshine or going for a walk, both of which I have already done today.
Perhaps I should focus on things like that for the next little while. At least until I can remember that damn password.
Change is on the way to Drayton Valley’s arena.
The facility, which was rebranded as the Team Auctions Centre last year, will see upgrades valued at $1 million thanks to a contribution from an anonymous donor.
In recognition of the funding, the Total Works Gym will be renamed as the Thunder High Performance Centre.
Changes within the building will see the installation of new safety glass around the main ice surface and the addition of a four-panel digital video board. Additional upgrades will include drillable net pegs to improve safety and Alberta Junior Hockey League standards compliance, removal of side netting to enhance sight lines and improve the fan experience, an upgraded camera system to support game presentation and broadcasting and replacement dasher boards, coordinated alongside planned board repairs.
The upgrades were announced last week in a joint statement from the Drayton Valley Thunder, the Town of Drayton Valley and the Drayton Valley Community Foundation.
“The Team Auction Centre is where our community comes together,” said Kevin Young, President of the Thunder. “This project reflects what we can accomplish through partnership. These upgrades will create better opportunities for our athletes and fans and a stronger experience for everyone who walks through these doors.”
Mayor Nancy Dodds said that the $1 million contribution, along with the renaming of the gym, would leave a lasting legacy in the community.
“The much-needed upgrades to the facility will not only enhance opportunities for residents and visitors, but also strengthen a space that brings our community together. We are incredibly proud to stand alongside the Drayton Valley Thunder and the Drayton Community Foundation in recognizing this transformative moment.”
Over the years of managing the museum what is the most interesting artifact, or fact that you have stumbled across as it pertains to the black community or the area?
I had to think about this question for a while. There are two or three artifacts that piqued my interest and we can connect to the families that settled Keystone. One is a mule shoe found on the property originally settled by Rolla Ramsey. It was turned up in a field in later years, long after the Ramsey family had moved from the community. We can see from some records that some of the families owned mules which they brought from the US with them. Mules were often used in the south as they were tough, and for their size could pull more.
The second is part of a child’s toy, it is a metal horse that likely had a wagon or something more to the toy. It too was found in a field in later years, on property owned by another black family of the area. While it is only partly there, we can imagine there was a little boy who likely prized that toy.
The third is a small rubber stamp that was found in the Funnell School/Community Centre when they were cleaned up about 10 years ago. The stamp says Keystone. What purpose it was used for we don’t know, but it must have been made for a purpose.
From an archival perspective, I think the minute book from the Good Hope Baptist Mission is wonderful, especially the opening entry. “We the people of township 48 range 4– west of the 5th meridian, met together at Wm Allen’s house at 11 o’clock on September 10,1911 for the purpose of organizing a church.” The museum is very lucky to have these records, thanks to Mrs. Emma King who had a number of records pertaining to Keystone and passed them on to Mark and Gwen Hooks who donated them to the museum when it was established.
The last archival item isn’t something the museum has, but comes from the homestead records held at the Provincial Archives of Alberta. These records show who filed on a homestead, and contain a variety of information about the individual. The first form that every person who filed on a homestead filled out had the usual information you would expect: their name, the land location, if they were married and had a family, their address, their nationality and if they were a Canadian citizen. What I found interesting was that on many of the homestead records filed by the black settlers they listed their nationality as American, which they were, but down in the corner of the form a government official has written the word Black, Colored or Negro. They were being identified beyond what any white homesteader was. Now we don’t know if they were being directed to certain areas for settlement or for some other purpose.
Why do you continue to be involved?
There are days when you wonder if anyone notices or cares what the museum is doing, but then you get the days when you meet visitors and you can help them and the gratitude they have to the museum for taking the time to help. Or people commenting on how much they enjoy the articles I write for the Breton Booster, then you know what you are doing does make a difference. Isn’t there a line in an old Joni Mitchell song that says “you don’t know what you got till it’s gone”.
What keeps me coming back is what I will discover next week or next month that will add to the story. It’s like having a box of jigsaw puzzles and the box contains numerous puzzles, and each puzzle has some of the pieces but not all of them.
Anything else you feel is important to talk about?
This year will mark the 45th anniversary of the formation of the Breton and District Historical Society. While their original purpose was to publish a community history book. I think a lot of credit has to go to the people who were involved in the formation of the Historical Society to have the vision to start preserving the history of the community. If they hadn’t started the Historical Society then, would there be a Breton Museum. The majority of those individuals have now become part of the community’s history.
Fourteen days of steady rain
How do you spend a two week holiday when the weather is crappy? With visitors from Scotland in tow, my wife and I set out to find the answer to that question earlier this month.
EPAC expansion fundraising in the works
With Phase II of the development of the Eleanor Pickup Arts Centre underway, the board’s fundraising committee is seeking permission from the Town and County to have a sponsor for the naming rights of the building.
To the Class of 2002
As Graduation is in the air I was inspired to write something for us who haven’t seen the halls of high school for oh…24 years. I felt that maybe it was time for us to hear a hopeful message of our own, just so life doesn’t completely kick the crap out of us.
Museum a place to visit this summer
The Drayton Valley Museum is also operating as a Visitor Centre this year thanks to funding from the Drayton Valley Hospitality and Tourism Authority (DVHTA).
