Getting Started With Genealogical Research

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Thank you to everyone who joined us at Government House on March 8 for Family Tree 101! Following the event, we’ve compiled a list of the genealogical resources and tips that our partner organizations showcased at the event. These are great places to help you get started with your genealogical research, or to help you figure out once your next steps are once you’ve compiled the information you’re looking for.

Saskatchewan Genealogical Society (Regina Chapter)

Their biggest piece of advice the SGS has if you’re looking into your family history? Talk to your relatives as soon as possible, if that’s an option that’s available to you. This is particularly true as some of your family members, like grandparents, grow older; they’re likely the best people to tell you about your family’s heritage.

Other websites that the SGS suggests for family history research are FamilySearch, Cyndi’s List, and Find A Grave. They also have a library and research room, located at Room 110 – 1514 11th Avenue in Regina, that is open to the public Monday-Friday from 10:00 am – 4:30 pm. The library collections include obituary, cemetery and Saskatchewan Resident Index program.

SGS also has a selection of resources available on their website, and offers research services for a fee. You can find information about this service here.

Regina Public Library

The Prairie History Room of the Library’s Central (downtown) branch contains documents about the history and peoples of what are now the three prairie provinces (Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba) from pre-European contact to present day. The History Room has census records, maps, newspapers, immigration records, Indigenous and Metis genealogical records, and more. They accept yearbook donations if you’re looking to de-clutter around home without losing that part of your personal history! Central Branch staff are always happy to help with your inquiries at the Prairie History Room.

You can also access the Ancestry Library, which includes census data as well as military, immigration, and court records. This digital resource can only be accessed from library computers, at any branch. Heritage Quest is another resource with city directories, military records and more, and that can be accessed from home. Finally, MemorySask is a more recent, ongoing project that can be accessed from the library as well.

With your library card, you can access several additional resources on their website here.

Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan

The Provincial Archives has thousands of textual, photographic, and other records – so many that if stacked end-to-end, their records would stretch 3 1/2 times taller than Mount Everest!

The Archives have records like homestead records, local and family histories, pioneer questionnaires from the early 1950s, school district and teacher files, court records and more. You can also make donations of records that you may have.

They also have a webpage dedicated to family history research here. You can search their archival records online, or visit them in-person during the week and have one of their friendly archival specialists help you get started!

Celebrating Women’s History Month: Sandra Schmirler

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Sandra Schmirler – perhaps better known in many circles by her nickname “Schmirler the Curler” – is one of Regina’s best-known athletes. Originally born in Biggar, Saskatchewan, she went on to become one of the world’s best female curlers, leading her team as skip to win 6 provincial, 3 Canadian, and 3 world championships throughout the ‘90s before leading Team Canada to gold at the 1998 Olympic games. The win against Denmark solidified Schmirler’s place – alongside her teammates Jan Betker, Marcia Gudereit, and Joan McCusker – in history, with the medal being the first awarded for women’s curling since the sport’s last Olympic appearance in 1924.

Having earned a Bachelor’s in Physical Education from the University of Saskatchewan in 1985, Schmirler moved to Regina and began working at the city’s leisure centres, where she ultimately became the supervisor of the South East Leisure Centre. She married Shannon England in 1996, and their two daughters were born in 1997 and 1999.

Schmirler passed away at in March, 2000 after a battle with cancer at the age of just 36. Her passing was mourned across the country, with Prime Minister Chretien memorializing her “as a champion curler” and “exemplary sports ambassador”, noting her “bright, engaging personality and her incredible zest for life, qualities that were so clearly in evidence as she fought so valiantly against her illness”. In honour of Sandra, the South East Leisure Centre was renamed in her honour, as was the road leading to her team’s practice rink at the Callie Curling Club.

In honour of Women’s History Month, we honour incredible contributions of the “Queen of Curling” to sport, to recreation in Regina, and her legacy that lives on through the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.

Photo credit: Sandra Schmirler Foundation, retrieved from Discover Humbolt

 

Sandra Schmirler speaking at a banquet for her 1994 World Champion Women’s Curling Team. City of Regina Archives, CORA-C-1015. Lieutenant Governor Dr. Sylvia Fedoruk is in the background, herself the first woman appointed to the role.

Winter Lecture: Ukrainians in Saskatchewan: An Historical Overview

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On Thursday, March 6, we were thrilled to host Dr. Nadya Foty-Oneschuk, Interim Director of the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage, for the third installment of the 2025 Winter Lecture Series “Ukrainians in Saskatchewan: An Historical Overview”. Nadya discussed the 7, often complicated waves of Ukrainian immigration to Canada, and discussed their many contributions to Canada throughout the past 130 years.

During the lecture, Dr. Foty-Oneschuk also discussed the deep bonds that exist between Canada’s Indigenous and Ukrainian communities, and mentioned an Indigenous-owned business that sells kookum scarves – symbols of solidarity and resilience – with part of the proceeds going towards aid efforts in Ukraine. You can find their website at https://indigenousgifts.ca/.

Our board president, Jackie Smith, closed out the lecture with these words: “In closing, let us hold in our hearts the Ukrainian immigrants who, through resilience and determination, became an integral part of Regina’s rich tapestry. Their journey has been one of hardship and hope, of sacrifice and success. They have built homes, communities, and traditions that continue to shape our city’s identity. As we reflect on their contributions, let us honour their legacy by preserving their stories, celebrating their culture, and standing in solidarity with those who still seek refuge and new beginnings. Their strength is our strength, their history is our history, and their future is woven into the very fabric of Regina.”

Thank you to Kanuka Thuringer LLP for sponsoring this lecture.

Dr. Nadya Foty-Oneschuk delivers “Ukrainians in Saskatchewan: An Historical Overview” at the Artesian on 13th, as part of Heritage Regina’s 2025 Lecture Series: Stories of Immigration.

2025 Lecture Series Surveys

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Share Your Heritage Stories With Us!

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New Scholarship Honours Memory of Tracy Youck

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Heritage Regina is a proud contributor and supporter of the new Tracy Youck Foundation Memorial Scholarship at the University of Regina, which will be award to a student in either the elementary or secondary streams of Arts Education in the Faculty of Education. The scholarship is in memory of Tracy Youck, who passed away in 2023; many of you will know her husband, James Youck, who is a friend of Heritage Regina and has spoken at our Lecture Series several times in recent years. For more information about the Foundation, or to donate, you can visit their webpage.

 

 

Apply for Heritage Regina’s Winter Internship!

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Heritage Regina board member John Robinson presents “Progressive Architecture” at Darke Hall, as part of the 2024 Winter Lecture Series.

Are you a U of R student in the Faculty of Arts?

Our Winter 2025 internship is still accepting applications through the Arts Work Experience Internship program! Student learning goals for the internship include:

  • Academic research in a professional setting,
  • Non-profit governance,
  • Volunteer coordination,
  • Writing for a public audience and social media,
  • Understanding the role of a museum,
  • Active and practical reconciliation and connections,
  • Archival research, and
  • Cross-tourism promotion and collaboration.

For more information about the work we do, visit our About Us page.

Applications are handled through the Faculty of Arts – click here for the application page, and for more information about the program. The internship runs from January 6 to April 11, 2025.

 

Government House staff lead attendees past the front entrance of the museum for the “Edwardian Gardens & McNab Neighbourhood” walking tour, August 2024.

In Memoriam: The Gordon Block

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IN MEMORIAM

The Gordon Block (1912-2023)

 

The Novia Café pictured in 1975, seen from Victoria Park. Photo credit City of Regina Archives, CORA-A-1306

After a difficult retirement, the Gordon Block – the former home of the beloved Novia Café – passed away at the age of 111 in a tragic incident of arson. She had been a recluse for over a decade.

Gordon Block opened at 2170 12th Ave, on the north side of Victoria Park, in 1912, right as Regina was rebuilding from the devasting 1912 Tornado. The Novia Café, once a beloved downtown staple, opened in the building in 1918. Initially a fine-dining establishment, the café underwent a renovation in the 1960s that transitioned the restaurant into a more casual dining atmosphere. It was an iconic downtown restaurant, even surviving a frightening incident in 1982, when a metal I-beam from the implosion of the McCallum Hill Building smashed through the east wall of the building, into the Novia. After 93 years of hospitality, the beloved café ultimately closed its doors in 2011.

In 1996, the building was designated a Municipal Heritage Building as part of the creation of the Victoria Park Heritage Conservation District. The bylaw that created the district created guidelines to “preserve and promote the distinctive heritage and character of the area surrounding Victoria Park and the Scarth Street Mall by facilitating the rehabilitation of the predominantly pre-World War I heritage buildings and encouraging the redevelopment of properties in keeping with the character of the adjacent heritage buildings”.

Heritage Regina supports the revitalization of the lot formerly occupied by the Gordon Block and hopes to see that it respects the Conservation District’s guidelines, which stipulate that any new buildings “should relate to the design elements of the heritage buildings in a way which enhances the existing heritage character”. The presence of so many buildings surrounding the Gordon Block within the District that predate World War I means that careful attention must be paid to the character and history of the district whenever development projects are undertaken.

Throughout its life, Gordon Block had its doors open to the community. Now, with her gone, the space will continue in that spirit, with an outdoor recreation space being planned for the site where she once stood.

Cremation of the building has taken place. In lieu of flowers and in memory of the Block, please consider attending a Heritage Regina event to learn more about the history of our city, or talk to your city councilor to advocate for the preservation of Regina’s cultural and built heritage.

Photo by Troy Fleece, National Post.

 

Our education and advocacy work is funded in part by our members. For a list of membership benefits, or to join our community, visit our membership page.

Heritage Regina Remembers

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CBC Interview: Upcoming “Stories of Veterans” Event

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