Cut Knife, Sask., lost its local newspaper. This sassy cat helps keeps its stories alive | CBC Radio

Andrea Stewart can’t get her cat to shut up.

Tuc, her sassy orange and white manx, has one of the loudest voices in all of Cut Knife, Sask., and is well known for blabbing his opinions.

“He can say things as a cat that people could not say and get away with,” said Stewart. “People have a hard time disagreeing with a cat.”

Tuc writes op-eds — from complaining about trucks speeding too fast to feeling hopeless about the war in Ukraine — with some “help” from Stewart. His bi-weekly column became such a staple in the Cut Knife Highway 40 Courier newspaper, Tuc gets sent his own fan mail, addressed to Mr. Tucker Stewart.

The local paper was run by Stewart and her husband Ray, affectionately referred to as his servants by Tuc. Slumping ad dollars and a jump in printing costs forced the couple to kill the paper in 2020, but Tuc’s column lives on — via blog.

“There’s things going on in the community that should be touched on,” said Andrea Stewart. “I think it keeps my mind active. It keeps me thinking.”

Cut Knife, a farming community of 547 people two hours northwest of Saskatoon, is the latest town featured on the CBC Radio series Circulation. The show travels to Canadian communities that have lost their source of local news and tells stories the paper would have told, if it were still around. There’s no lack of them in Cut Knife:

The bowling champs

For such a small town, Cut Knife has a surprising number of bowling champions, including Grade 9 student Akeira Anseth and 85-year-old Mary Ramsay.

“It’s pretty cool to say that we have a national banner here and there are 500 people,” said Anseth, who has been bowling since she was three years old.

“In order to be a champion, I think you have to be mentally tough,” she said. “You got to be prepared for any outcome. You don’t really have to be an athlete to bowl. You just have to have a very good mental game.”

• Circulation, a show with stories from small towns that have lost their local news, airs Monday, April 10 at 12 noon local time, 12:30 p.m. in Newfoundland, on CBC Radio One, or scroll up to listen any time. Hosted by Haydn Watters.

Ramsay didn’t really get into bowling until her 60s, but has been to nationals five times. She won gold in her age category last summer at the Canada 55+ Games.

“It’s just to go and have fun. That’s the greatest enjoyment that I get. Give her what you got, and that’s all you can do,” she tells rookies.

Her plan is to bowl as long as she can.

“There’s been some friends that I’ve known that have bowled till 97, so who knows?”

The well-dressed rockabilly star

You can’t miss Jake Vaadeland in a crowd. The 19-year-old Cut Knife musician looks and sounds like he just stepped out of the 1950s.

“This is just normal for me. It’s not me putting on an act,” he said. “It’s literally who I am.”

His suit collection runs deep: there’s the 1954 navy blue, double breasted suit from a woman in Saskatoon; the brown western cut suit with wooden buttons sent to him from Arizona; and the red Elvis-y suit with velvet stripes from the 1960s, which Vaadeland says is one of the “most modern pieces of clothing” he owns.

“I can’t even describe the feeling of wearing them…. This wool breathed and felt the air of the 1950s, the 1940s. It touched the skin of people who were young in the ’50s and the ’40s,” he said. “I just cover myself in these things, and it makes me feel comfortable. It makes me feel at home.”

He’s even got a song about it, aptly named Retro Man. Vaadeland’s music matches his dress — blending ’50s rockabilly and bluegrass, and his singing style more like someone decades his elder. He recently won album of the year at the Saskatchewan Music Awards.

The music is taking him far from home. He’s got upcoming tour stops in Ontario, Manitoba, B.C. and Alberta. But he doesn’t want to move away from Cut Knife.

“I’ve got everything I need here. I’ve got a grocery store, I’ve got a post office and I’ve got the drug store and a doctor…. My grandma is here, my mother’s here,” he said. “I would like to stay here as long as I possibly can and will do so.”

The priest from small town Nigeria

Cut Knife has become home for Father Peter Nnanga. The town’s Catholic priest grew up in small town Nigeria and was posted to work in Cut Knife in September 2020, the same month the paper closed.

He first came to Canada in 2014 and knew nothing about Saskatchewan, let alone Cut Knife. But he’s since found many similarities to where he’s from — minus the frigid weather.

• Has your town lost its local news? Still got stories to tell? Email us [email protected]

“I was brought up in the village. I worked in the village. So I’m used to a quiet, serene place,” he said. “The people are very caring. They are generous. They are kind. They look after me too.”

He remembers back to his first week in Cut Knife and how his neighbour invited him into her home. 

“I was so touched by that. I won’t forget that,” he said. “You know, this is family. That is how it is.”

• ​Listen to the CBC Radio special Circulation, hosted by Haydn Watters, to hear from even more Cut Knife locals and their stories. Airs Monday, April 10 at 12 noon local time, 12:30 p.m. in Newfoundland, on CBC Radio One, or scroll up to listen any time.