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Pawlachuk receives provincial honour for volunteer efforts

Ken Pawlachuk received a provincial tourism award last week for his long-ranging work in promoting his hometown.
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Former Flin Flon Mayor Cal Huntley presents Ken Pawalchuk with the Community Futures Manitoba Volunteerism Award at City Hall Nov. 19.

Ken Pawlachuk received a provincial tourism award last week for his long-ranging work in promoting his hometown.

Pawlachuk, a former Flin Flon city councillor and long-time board member for Community Futures Greenstone, was awarded with Community Futures’ Manitoba Volunteerism Award at a gathering at City Hall Nov. 19. Pawlachuk was honoured during a workshop by Greenstone on volunteer boards and governance for local leaders.

Pawlachuk was presented with the award and toasted in a short speech by a man he knows well - former Flin Flon Mayor Cal Huntley, who served with Pawlachuk in each of his eight years in Flin Flon’s top local elected office.

“In the last eight years in municipal life, I was fortunate enough to be the mayor and was able to enjoy the input and support Ken brought to the table. If there was something that needed to happen, Ken was always available to help make it so,” Huntley said.

Pawlachuk has served with a long list of local organizations and groups, including with the board of Greenstone, which he has been on since 2015. Pawlachuk is also known for his work within Flin Flon’s arts and culture community, where he remains active - Pawlachuk showed up late for the award presentation due to a Flin Flon Community Choir practice running long, the same choir he still sings with. Pawlachuk is also known for his tours of Flin Flon, which he conducts in character as a frontier miner, complete with hard hat, for community newcomers and visitors.

“Ken provided his passion for the arts and tourism to the Greenstone board table and was instrumental in advocating for projects like the Uptown Emporium, the snowmobile tourism project and ‘The Water and The Wild’ place branding initiative," said Huntley.

“If you've ever sat with Ken or taken one of his city tours, you can't help but be struck by the excitement and passion he exudes when he talks about his community. His Flin Flon story is as humorous as it is historical and educational. When he is in character, he literally mesmerizes the group he is leading.”

The award winner himself thanked the group and the community for the honour and said that trying to make Flin Flon better, in some regards, has become an easier project in recent years.

“I appreciate it very much. Working in our community in the last 15 years has been easier, for me, than the first 50 or 60 years,” said Pawlachuk.

“I notice there’s a lot of people out there who love Flin Flon. That’s why we do it.”

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