Rocanville holds annual community meeting
Town, RM, daycare, school, RCMP, Rec, ECDEV give updates
April 6, 2026, 10:16 am
Nicole Taylor Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
The town of Rocanvill held its annual community meeting on Monday night, with updates from the mayor, RM of Rocanville, Dream Big Childcare, Rocanville School, the RCMP, the rec department, and Gateway Economic Development.
Before the meeting started, Rocanville Town Councillor Stan Langley address the crowd and stressed the importance of 2026 being a census year.
“This year is a census year, so it’s very important, when you get those census papers, you fill them out and get them sent back in,” he said. “That determines what our town is going to receive for revenue sharing and for grants from the government. So we want to make sure we count everyone.
“If you’re having any trouble at all, there are going to be census workers out there, and you can reach out to the town office if you’re having trouble, but make sure you pass it on to all your friends that the census papers do get filled in. It’s very important. Moosomin went through that last time and there were a lot of people missed. They went back and asked for the numbers to be reviewed, and it paid off greatly for them. So we want to make sure we get everybody counted that can be counted here.”
Town of Rocanville
Mayor Ron Reed addressed the crowd on behalf of the town of Rocanville.
“As of right now, we’re currently in our 2026, budget season. Some of our focuses for this year are going to be on accessibility and longevity, with some decisions that we are making around accessibility options to make sure that they’re viable for long term,” he told the crowd.
“We have seen a huge increase in our potash tax sharing as well as municipal revenue sharing that was announced during our provincial budget. Back to what Stan mentioned regarding the census, those are important numbers. Those do help a lot.
“One of our big moments from this past year has been the opening of the Universe Satellite Aquatic Centre. As far as some final numbers,we just got our audit finish. And final numbers for that building came in at just over $4.5 million. Of that, we had been approved for a loan for $2.6 million, but through either volunteer work, corporate and personal donations, as well as grant money, our final loan is going to be around the $500,000 mark. So that is a huge benefit in order to look at some of the other facilities in town, to be able to have something like that off the books.
“The RM of Moosomin is going to be doing an annual donation for the next three years as well. So it just goes to show that some of the regional initiatives that we’ve taken on, such as becoming a member of Gateway Economic Development, as well as just those connections we’re making with our close neighbors are having benefits to us as well.
“As far as accessibility, we’re going to be looking at the sidewalks downtown. They are in very rough shape. There will be a multi year plan over the next few years just to make the downtown core a little bit better.”
RM of Rocanville
RM of Rocanville Reeve Melissa Ruhland gave an update on the RM.
“As far as employees, we are stable, we have our four Public Works permanent employees and a couple seasonal truckers in the summertime. And then we have our administrator as well as our assistant in the office full time.
“For 2025 construction, we did a little less than we had done some previous years, but we did the one mile north of the pavement on the north side of town. We built that up from just being a back road to an actual decent road, and we didn’t have to close it this winter. And then there was another small chunk we did in the valley as well
“We like to be involved with the town, helping the town out with the facilities and with some of the things that are important to our rate payers, as well as the town, because we know our rate payers use the town facilities.
“The RM has donated $300,000 to the pool, plus the slide. We gave $200,000 to the Moosomin airport. And we do a $50,000 rec budget annually as well to the town, so they can spend it on whatever rec they want as well. We do 65 per cent of the fire department costs, and 45 per cent of the medical clinic and library. We do lots of other sponsorships to organizations, the cemeteries, a lot of a lot of different things. So we’re definitely committed to be part of the community and committed to helping out the rec and all of the other facilities that the town has.”
Dream Big Childcare
Daycare director Cara Werner gave an update on Dream Big Childcare, and said the daycare is taking the first steps needed toward being approved for more spots for a second daycare in Rocanville.
“We’re licensed for 45 kids right now. We serve 53 families, though, and 77 individual children in Rocanville. We employ nine full time educators and 11 casual and part-time support staff.
“Currently, we’re in the process of gathering information for an expansion for the centre. We’ve distributed a survey of needs to the community. We haven’t had great interaction with that so far. We haven’t had a lot of people sending them back, so hopefully we can get a little more interaction with those surveys. I have a QR code that you can scan, and then you can just fill up the survey and send it back, and that’s essentially going to let us know if there’s anybody that needs child care that doesn’t have child care that would benefit from having a new centre in the area.”
Rocanville School
Principal Nathan Bromm gave an update on Rocanville School
“We currently have 270 students in our school, and we usually fluctuate between 265, and 275, students. So we have a very stable population base in Rocanville,” he said. “We do our best to offer a variety of academic and extracurricular activities such as volleyball, basketball, cross country, track, badminton, drama, SRC, library activities, and coming soon, cooking club for some of our younger students. We also have a variety of in-house courses. We’re able to offer all the required course requirements for graduation.
“We also offer band for Grade 5 to Grade 12 students. It’s program that we’re very proud of, as well as work experience, and apprenticeship and DLC, or distance learning classes, which is fairly new to the province.
“I want to highlight work experience and apprenticeship. That’s definitely something that we value. We have great partnerships with a variety of businesses in this community, as well as surrounding area. We have many students that do work experience within the school, within the community, and with farms and businesses around the area, as well as apprenticeship with different trades. We wouldn’t be able to offer those programs without the support of the community, and students wouldn’t be able to obtain those credits and get insight into future career options. So we do thank everyone that’s been supportive of that.
“We also have some very active parent groups. We have the band parents association. They take care of renting instruments, purchasing instruments, repairing instruments, setting up concerts, clinicians to come in, adjudicators for our students, and to make the prices very, very affordable so students and parents don’t have to put very much money out of their pockets if they don’t have their own instrument, to purchase one, they can rent one for a very low fee from the parents association.
“Our School Community Council is also very active. In the past months, they’ve been very active with fundraising for our playground.
“We are very successful to be awarded a grant from the government for a safe surface, zero entry, piece of equipment where students that are in a wheelchair can access that equipment by simply rolling on at zero surface. There will be rubber around the outside, it will be easy to access. And as well, there will be benches for other students, so it’s very inclusive for all students to be able to use. And we do have two students in wheelchairs within our school. And so that’s very exciting for us to expand that for our school playground as well.
“Lucky lottery also contributed $15,000 to this piece of equipment.”
Bromm said the cost of the new piece of equipment will be around $40,000.
“So we’re very thankful to the lucky lottery as well as to the government initiative with the matching grants to be able to purchase this piece of equipment, and it should be coming this spring, hopefully.”
Bromm said the school also works closely with the town rec department, and is hoping to start offering school swimming lessons this year with the opening of the new pool.
RCMP
Sgt Damien Grouchy with the Moosomin RCMP gave an update on their detachment.
He said the Moosomin detachment is only running with one vacancy right now. “There is myself and five constables. We’re supposed to have six constables.”
He said one member will be retiring in May and the detachment has already started the recruiting process to fill that position.
He said between Moosomin and Broadview detachments, which share services, they have responded to a combined 4,398 calls for service.
“I believe that we’re one of the top the busiest detachments now, with our combined efforts in southern Saskatchewan this past year,” he said.
He also said the RCMP, EMS and fire departments have started holding exercises at schools to practice for active threat situations after what happened with the shooter in Tumbler Ridge, B.C.
“We’ll walk into the school, we’ll say, this is an exercise, and active threat. The exercise will begin and then the school will go through their protocols and lockdown, and we will dispatch fire and EMS, and we’ll see how long it takes for the school to seek, hold and secure lockdown or EMS and fire to set up a perimeter. It’s just a learning exercise to see where we’re all at, to evaluate and make things better if we see any deficiencies.”
He said Rocanville and Whitewood are the two schools that have been selected for the exercises this year.
He also gave an update on a file in Rocanville that RCMP were called to on March 26. “We received the complaint of a male who had been passed out behind the driver’s wheel. Myself and constable Pomeroy attended, and constable Brown from the RCMP. We found two individuals in the vehicle. We were familiar with both individuals, we knew they had active warrants. They were placed under arrest.
“On further investigation, we learned that the truck they were driving was stolen, so that was seized. We had the truck towed back to Moosomin, where another search was completed. We received numerous suspected stolen tools, electronics, along with 55 grams of methamphetamine, 340 hydromorphine morphine pills, 43.3 grams of cocaine and 47.2 grams of fentanyl. Both suspects have been remanded in court, and we’re still continuing our investigation.”
Rocanville Rec
Kirby Fowler gave an update on behalf of Rec Director Andrea Logan with the Rocanville Rec department.
“It has been a very busy start to 2026. Our pool facility is operational and seeing excellent use, with many families and fitness users visiting not only from the community, but also from surrounding areas,” he said. “We’ve hosted numerous birthday parties, private rentals and hockey wind ups, along with special events such as remedial spa night and sound bath night. We currently have a strong team of students and staff working, and we are working to expand by adding a few adult daytime staff members. Interviews for a manager position are underway, and we are hopeful to have someone in place by early April.
“The rink has a very has had a very busy season, and is now beginning to wind down. A group of volunteers has stepped forward to form a fundraising committee. Key priorities for the rink include addressing the roof, making repairs to the sound room and adding an accessible entrance with a lift to better accommodate individuals with mobility challenges who wish to access the ice surface.
“The Rec Centre continues to be a hub of activity, hosting pickleball, birthday rentals and the walking club and a kid’s play group. Ball practices have also recently began. We have installed a new heater for the ice surface to ensure comfort during events, and there are plans to upgrade the mezzanine to make it a more functional and usable space.
“Our outdoor rink received several upgrades this past fall, including new lighting, picnic tables, benches, a fire pit and a deck leading into the warm up shack. It has been great to see the space being used well for the community.
“Steve Fortney had stepped down from the hall board. Moving forward, all hall bookings will be managed through the rec office.”
Kirby said upcoming events include Community Days on June 6, and the Lucky Lottery with the final draw scheduled for October 2.
Gateway Economic Development
Jeff Cole, the Economic Development Officer with Gateway Economic Development, gave an update on what that organization has been working on.
“We’ve got a new 10 year plan that’s just been rolled out in late fall, and our committee got really rolling with it here in January,” he said.
“What I’ve heard from everybody is that together, we’re stronger. And this is a prime example of some good things that are happening in our in our region.
You’re not seeing pools being built or infrastructure like airports without partnerships. Those are things that we probably take for granted in our region.”
Cole said some of the things the region is already working on are included in the 10-year plan such as childcare with the addition of a second daycare building in Moosomin and steps being taken for another daycare in Rocanville.
He said housing is also a big priority, including seniors housing and affordable housing.
“We’ve got three or four housing developers in the region doing some projects. You’ve got one in Rocanville and a few in Moosomin, and the demand is high. Our trouble right now is to try and find people that can turn key these.”
He said work is also taking place to set up a growth fund for economic development initiatives.
“The nice thing with us being aligned together is, when we do projects or present stuff to the province, when we’re bigger than one community, we’re stronger,” he concluded.
“Phone me directly if you’ve got an idea or a lead on something, and we’ll try and do our best to make sure we don’t miss on opportunities.”
