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Annual Report

2015/2016

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3

SGC Board of Directors & Staf 04

Agenda – AGM June 14, 2015 05

Minutes – AGM June 14, 2015 06

President’s Report 12

SGC Projects 14

SGC Member Reports

American Historical Society of Germans

from Russia, Regina Chapter 18

CFCR Community Radio Society of Saskatoon 19

Concordia Alpenrose Schuhplattler Verein 19

Concordia Brass Band 19

Concordia Junior Alpenrose Dancers 20

Das Schulhaus – Regina German

Language School Inc. 20

Estevan & District German

Freundschaft Society 22

Folkart Co-op Humboldt 22

German-Canadian Society Harmonie 23

German Cultural Centre Saskatoon 23

German Heritage Society of Humboldt &

District 24

German Junior Folk Dancers 24

German Language School Saskatoon Inc. 29

Hansel & Gretel Preschool Inc. 29

Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie 30

Kochlöfel & Nudelholz – German-

Canadian Koch- und Backstudio 30

Lloydminster German Heritage Society 31

Table of ContentsPrince Albert German Canadian Club Waldhorn 32

Regina Austrian Edelweiss Dance Group 32

Regina German Film Club 33

Saskatchewan Association of Teachers of German 33

SKAT Club Saskatoon 34

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church 34

Volksliederchor Harmonie, Regina 35

Zichydorf Village Association 35

2015/2016 Financial Statements

Auditor’s Report 36

Balance Sheet 37

Statement of Assets 37

Statement of Liabilities and Net Assets 37

Statement of Operations 38

Statement of Changes in Net Assets 39

Statement of Cash Flows 40

Notes to the Financial Statements 41

Schedule of Earned Revenues (Schedule 1) 44

Schedule of Oice Operation (Schedule 2) 44

Schedule of Organization Business Cost

(Schedule 3) 45

Schedule of Travel and Meetings

(Schedule 4) 45

Schedule of Member Funding Programs

(Schedule 5) 46

Schedule of Programs & Sponsorship (Schedule 6) 49

Notes 50

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Andrea MacLeod

Director

Josephin Dick

President

Frank Bojkovsky

Director

Rod Gellner

Treasurer

Uwe Reinkens

Director

Michael Oelck

Vice President

Amanda Stehwien

Director

Staf

Gabriele Waidelich-Harrison

Interim Executive Director

Franziska Davies

Oice & Program Assistant

Theresa Kliem

Immigrant Settlement Advisor, Postillion Editor

Jayme Anton

Cultural Development Assistant

Ilona Beck

Past President

Ulrike Hecker

Secretary

Don Cody

Director

SGC Board of Directors & Staff

Jake Dyck

Director

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2015Saskatchewan German Council Inc.

Annual General MeetingGerman Canadian Society Harmonie

1727 St. John Street

Regina, SK S4P 1R8

Sunday, June 14 – 10:00 a.m.

A G E N D A

1. Call to Order

2. Approval of Agenda

3. Approval of Minutes of Last General Meeting

4. Business Arising

5. President’s Report (Josephin Dick)

6. Treasurer’s Report (Rod Gellner)

7. Appointment of Auditor for 2015/2016

8. Approval of Reports

9. Elections

10. Other Matters

11. Adjournment

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PRESENT:

Josephin Dick, President

Katharina Ulbrich, Vice President

Ilona Beck, Past President

Rod Gellner, Treasurer

Ulrike Hecker, Secretary

Janet Jost, Director

Michael Oelck, Director

Uwe Reinkens, Director

Sheila Aldous, Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie

Frank Bojkovsky, Hansel & Gretel Preschool Inc.

Jan-Rene Dahlmann, Jagd- und Fischverein „Waidmann’s Lust“ Regina

Jake Dyck, Estevan & District German Freundschaft Society

Laurie Fabrick, Prince Albert German Canadian Club “Waldhorn”

Tara Gaudet, Regina German Club

Gabi Harrison, German Language School Saskatoon Inc.

Maria Hartman, Volksliederchor “Harmonie” Inc.

Dorothy Irwin, Lloydminster German Heritage Society Inc.

Katharina Kettner, Saskatchewan Association of Teachers of German

Sigrid Kirmse, CFCR Community Radio Saskatoon

Ursula Klassen, Folkart Co-op Humboldt

Theresa Kliem, CFCR Community Radio Society of Saskatoon Inc.

Alvin Knoll, American Historical Society of Germans From Russia

Berbel Knoll, American Historical Society of Germans From Russia

Frieda Koenig, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

Julia Lacey, German Language School of Regina

Norm Magnin, Regina Austrian Edelweiss Dance Association

Wilf Mclean, Austrian Canadian Edelweiss

Monica Reinkens, Regina Film Club

Christian Rohde, Jagd- und Fischverein „Waidmann’s Lust“ Regina

Darlene Rubrecht, Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie

John Saxinger, German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District Inc.

Stei Schaefer, Das Schulhaus – Regina German Language School Inc.

Bernadette Schiller, Lloydminster German Heritage Society Inc.

Dorothy Irwin, Lloydminster German Heritage Society Inc.

Lucy Swanson, Estevan & District German Freundschaft Society

Harold Weiss, Volksliederchor “Harmonie” Inc.

Ruth Wilson, Folkart Co-op Humboldt

Terry Young, German Canadian Society Harmonie

Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker, Das Schulhaus – Regina German Language School Inc.

GUESTS:

Flo Frank

Paul Gingras

Andy Grzesina

Ida Grzesina

Andrea Macleod

STAFF:

Sabine Doebel-Atchison, Executive Director

Franziska Davies, Oice & Program Assistant

Tessa Hipp, Cultural Development Assistant

EXCUSED:

Marita Bray, Director

Amanda Stehwien, Director

Michael Zimmermann, Director

MinutesSGC Annual General Meeting

Sunday, June 14, 2015German Canadian Society Harmonie

1727 St. John Street, Regina

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1. Call to Order

President Josephin Dick called the meeting to order at 10:04 a.m.

2. Approval of Agenda

Josephin asked if delegates accept the agenda as presented.

MOTION: To approve the agenda as presented.

Alvin Knoll / Ruth Wilson

CARRIED

3. Approval of Minutes of Last General Meeting

The minutes of the last AGM are in the 2014/2015 Annual Report that was handed out at registration

MOTION: That the minutes of the last Annual General Meeting be approved as presented.

Sigrid Kirmse/ Frieda Koenig

CARRIED

4. Business Arising

No business arising.

5. President’s Report

It is my pleasure, after the irst year of being the president of the Saskatchewan German Council, to relect on a successful year. After initial hesitation of taking on presidency of this great organization, and after Ilona Beck as predecessor, I took on this challenge and have not looked back since. With the support of the oice team I was able to ind my footing as President at the Council.

The Saskatchewan German Council is working on a solid inancial base. For the iscal year of 2014/2015 our Annual Global Funding amounted to $174,440 which was again 3% higher than the previous year. From the Multicultural Initiatives Fund we received $15,000 and we were again able to secure the grant from Service Canada to support a summer student for 9 weeks with $2,880. And as a inal point our contract with the Ministry of the Economy for our Immigrant Settlement Advisor was extended for another year until the end of December 2015.

Currently, SGC has 39 member groups, located throughout the province. This year we supported 46 of their projects with the total amount of $36,149 which includes $12,355 for language schools and preschools. Supporting our language programs is as always a high priority, since we believe it is important to reach children and youth. The support for language education and cultural programming ensures that German culture will continue to lourish and stay relevant in Saskatchewan.

During the last year we worked on 14 diferent projects totalling $12,174. For example, WeAreSK, a partnership between seven organizations – Aboriginal Friendship Centres of Saskatchewan (AFCS), Conseil Culturel Fransaskois (CCF), the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan (MCoS), Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative, Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages (SOHL), Ukrainian Canadian Congress – Saskatchewan Provincial Council (UCC-SPC), and the Saskatchewan German Council (SGC). The purpose is to show the contributions of the multicultural community to Saskatchewan culture. The project includes stories of newcomers who have settled over several generations in Saskatchewan and how they integrate into their communities today. It is important to demonstrate that people of many cultures contribute to the vibrancy of the cultural life in the province.

Another noteworthy partnership is the Internment Awareness Project together with the UCC-SPC. Last fall we celebrated the unveiling of the preliminary plaque to increase the level of education, knowledge and understanding of Canada’s First National Internment Operations from 1914 to 1920.

For the irst time ever, we spent $1,150 on sponsorships. We started these sponsorships to attract new groups and support cultural activities promoting German, Austrian and Swiss culture and traditions. We supported the Summer Solstice Festival in Gravelbourg, in particular the International Food Festival part of the event. The second event that received sponsorship and which I had the pleasure of attending, was the Oktoberfest of the Saskatoon North Park/Richmond Heights Community Association.

On November 9th, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall in collaboration with the German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon. The event was very well attended and received great media coverage throughout Saskatoon and surrounding areas. In the afternoon we showed the documentary “When the Wall Came Tumbling Down... 50 Hours that Changed the World”, for many guests in attendance, a very emotional and moving relection of the events of the time. A reception and banquet followed the documentary. In attendance were the Honourable Lynn Yellich, Honourable Don Morgan as well as Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison.

Throughout the year SGC celebrated its 30th anniversary. Various events and projects marked this special milestone with various events and projects.

As part of the 2014 Trefpunkt Weekend at the Austrian Club in Regina, SGC organized a Family Fun Day with inancial support of a $1,500 Celebrate Canada! grant from Heritage Canada. It is SGC’s intention to make this a regular part of the annual Trefpunkt.

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For the 2nd time in a row SGC participated in the SUMA tradeshow. The Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association’s membership is comprised of cities, towns and villages. The Association delivers programs and services to members to enhance the quality of life in Saskatchewan. Therefore, taking part in the SUMA tradeshow is a great opportunity to reach out to communities all over Saskatchewan, and create new contacts for the SGC.

Lastly, some staf changes took place over the iscal year. Andrea MacLeod welcomed a healthy baby boy in March 2014 and decided to move her family to Regina and was therefore not able to resume her position at the SGC oice. Franziska Davies took on the maternity replacement position for a year and was then chosen as the successful candidate to become SGC’s permanent Oice & Program Assistant. Many SGC members already know Franziska, as she was a summer student at the oice in 2010 and 2011 as well as a board member from 2012 to 2014. Our second new staf member is Theresa Kliem, who took over the editing of SGC’s quarterly newsletter, the Postillion. Her irst newsletter was the spring 2015 issue and it was very well received. This staf addition frees up time for our other oice staf to work on the ever increasing number of projects the SGC takes on.

While we gained two new staf members, we also lost our consultant and Honorary Consul for Germany in Saskatchewan, Barbara Hoggard-Lulay. In August 2014 she returned to Germany to take on a position with Germany’s Department of Foreign Afairs. Her contributions to the SGC and Saskatchewan’s German community in general will not be forgotten and many will have lasting impressions.

And lastly, I would like to thank our Executive Director Sabine Doebel-Atchison, who has been with the organization for 10 years now. Her work, ideas, and enthusiasm for German culture and tradition are very much appreciated.

It has been a great irst year for me as President of this wonderful organization, and I am glad that the Board works successfully as a team, supported by an energetic oice.

MOTION: To approve the President’s Report as presented.

Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker /Darlene Rubrecht

CARRIED

6. Treasurer’s Report

Rod Gellner noted that the audited inancial statements are in the 2014/2015 Annual Report. He asked the membership to read the report.

He started with the statement of operations and proceeded to explain the documents from there. Rod mentioned that the revenue for the Saskatchewan German Council comes from 3 sources - grants, private sector and government revenue.

Stei Schaefer ask for clariication on funding for schools. Sabine explained that the numbers is diferent for the schools because it is given in a lump sum.

MOTION: To approve the Treasurer’s Report as presented.

Rod Gellner / Darlene Rubrecht

CARRIED

7. Appointment of Auditor for 2015/16

Rod Gellner explained that SGC has used Jensen & Stromberg as auditor for the fourth time last year and that they were competent and reliable. He recommended using them again.

Tara Gaudet mentioned that she knows of non-proit organizations that only pay $2,300 to $2,500 so she was curious as to why SGC pays over $5,000. Sabine mentioned that Jensen & Stromberg was already lower than the last company that was used.

MOTION: To appoint Jensen & Stromberg for the 2015/2016 SGC audit.

Rod Gellner / Janet Jost

CARRIED

8. Approval of Reports

In addition to reports provided at the AGM, reports can be found in the 2014/2015 Annual Report.

Jan-René Dahlmann, Jagd- und Fischverein „Waidmann’s Lust“

The club currently has 60 members. A trophy night was organized to show what the members had accomplished. They have meetings every second Thursday in the month and summertime is set aside for ishing. Thank you to SGC for their support.

Julia Lacey, German Language School Regina

2014/2015 was a busy year for the school. At the beginner of the school year, a presentation on Sprachreform was held. There were various celebrations held, for example Halloween, in December students and teachers celebrated St. Nikolaus, in February Fasching was celebrated with German games and for their Osterfeier, the students decorated eggs to take home and also took part in an egghunt. The end of the year was celebrated with a BBQ. Thanks to SGC for their funding.

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Dorothy Irwin, Lloydminster German Heritage Society Inc.

The biggest event this year for the club was the Octoberfest, approximately 400 people were in attendance. Entertainment came from Edmonton. Next year`s Octoberfest will be held on October 23. The group also makes sure that every member is taken care of, which make the group wonderful. There is a monthly supper that the members hold and attend.

Laurie Fabrick, Prince Albert German Canadian Club “Waldhorn”

The club has around 35 members as of right now. Tapestrama was celebrated in September and was well attended as always, we served sausages, sauerkraut and German baking. A new executive was elected at our recent annual meeting. The Christmas party was also a huge success, many former members came for a visit. Also, thanks to the Saskatchewan German Council and SaskCulture - the funding is greatly appreciated.

Monika Reinkens, Regina Film Club

The club started 5 years ago and movies are shown 4 to 6 times a year. Generally there are 20 people in attendance and ilm choices vary. The next movie will be shown in August.

Jake Dyck, Estevan & District German Freundschaft Society

German language classes were put on in partnership with the public library and were well attended. The Christmas party took place on the irst Sunday in December, there was lots of singing and visiting. The club is actively looking for more people to join and it’s also a good opportunity for fellowship.

Norm Magnin, Edelweiss Dancers Regina

The main objective is for the dancers to prepare for Mosaic. Many of the intermediate dancers are moving up to the advanced level. The club is participating in going to many senior homes for performances as well as, hosting a workshop for dancers from Saskatoon. Thanks to SGC for their support.

Gabi Harrison, German Language School Saskatoon

Currently, the school has 80 students. There are 4 adult classes and was also an increase in younger students because of the Hansel and Gretel Preschool. Every year there are about 3 to 4 cultural celebrations, one example is St. Nikolaus Tag where St. Nikolaus made an appearance. Easter was also celebrated with an egg hunt. 3 students also participated in SATG`s language contest and received prizes. Thank you to the Saskatchewan German Council for their constant support and funding.

Katharina Kettner, Saskatchewan Association of Teachers of German

SATG was proud to hold the annual Sprachwettbewerb again, however, the format was changed to encourage greater participation. A total of 27 students learning German in the province category and 6 students in the category of having learned German in other places participated. The PRISMA publications continue to be produced, a blog is the newest item for the club. And thank you to SGC!

Theresa Kliem, CFCR Community Radio Station

There are more than 600 members at the radio station with over 1,000 volunteers. The station is currently preparing for their annual fundraiser ``FM-phasis``. Thanks to the council for providing inancial support!

Alvin Knoll, American Historical Society of German from Russia

The group is mostly comprised of seniors and meetings take place once a month from September to may. Membership is in constant lux. The Schmeckfest was a wonderful success, many people came out to support the event. Thank you to SGC for their backing.

Harold Weiss, Volksliederchor Harmonie

The club would irstly like to thank the SGC. A big celebration this year is the 60th anniversary, the Christmas and Spring concerts are also main events. The members also attended the Saengerfest - a biannual event where German choirs across western Canada get together to present a concert of German songs that took place in Edmonton.

Terry Young, German Canadian Society Harmonie

Many renovations are being done to the building. All events at the Club are well received and the club is still open for lunch from Tuesday to Friday. Mosaic was a great even for the club with over a thousand people attending.

Darlene Rubrecht, Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie

A major event this year was hosting the Western Canada Mardi Gras, which happens every two years. The group is out and about performing at senior homes and at Folkfest in Saskatoon. The club is always recruiting new members and are thinking about starting a group for the ages of 3 to 5.

Sigrid Kirmse, German Cultural Centre

There were some major changes in the management positions of the club. The new manage is Cindy Hobbs and the newly elected president is Darrel Dick. The venue is booked with various events such as weddings until 2016. The Fall of the Berlin Wall event in conjunction

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with the council was very successful. The centre is in the planning stages for Folkfest 2015.

John Saxinger, German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District Inc.

The membership stands at 72 and they are all very enthusiastic. Some of the highlights of the past year were hosting the 30th anniversary of the SGC by having a banquet and a ladies fashion show. Another highlight this year will be celebrating the club`s 30th anniversary in October, plans are still in progress for that event. Thank you to SGC for continued member funding.

Ruth Wilson, Folkart Co-op Humboldt

Thanks to SGC and SaskCulture for their inancial support. The club stands at 20 members, and they help out with the German Heritage Society of Humboldt and District`s Kafeestunde. This year the club provided classes on mosaic glass bird houses and painted bird feeders.

Janet Jost, Austrian Canadian Edelweiss

John Jost retired this year after being president for almost 40 years, the newly elected is president is Frank Schick. The numbers at the Austrian pavilions for Mosaic were up and it was another successful turn out being the highlight of the year. The club is trying out something new by being open for breakfast, everyone is welcome. Thanks to SGC for funding and recognizing volunteers.

Frieda Koenig, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Trinity Evangelical Lutheran church is the only church in Regina to have German service at 9:30am on Sundays. The choir has 12 to 15 members and are very active. Sadly, membership is declining. The community BBQ always sees 300-400 people stop by and is a highpoint of the year.

Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker, Das Schulhaus- Regina German Language School Inc.

A high school credit level class was authorised by the Ministry of Education to take place at Das Schulhaus and the club is very proud of that. The school is always looking for teachers. A variety of cultural events were celebrated just as St. Nikolaus with sleigh rides for the kids. The Christkindl Markt was attened and recently the teachers inished their self-assessment forms from the Ministry of Education. Thanks to SGC!

Ulrike Hecker, Hansel and Gretel Preschool Inc.

Because of the demand, the preschool has had to open up an afternoon program currently having 44 children in total and is also celebrating its 30th anniversary. In November, S. Nikolaus visited and the preschool was also the opening act for Brevoort Park`s Christmas concert.

This is always a highlight for the kids to be a part of. The preschool was also invited to perform at Folkfest.

Michael Oelck, Kulturgarten Saskatoon

The group has decided to rename themselves from Saskatoon German Days to Kulturgarten Saskatoon. The aim is to recruit ex-patriots and to connect with German companies but also to focus on language and culture. The group is connected to the Holy Family Cathedral in Saskatoon.

MOTION: To accept the reports as presented and printed in the Annual Report 2014/2015.

Darlene Rubrecht / Sigrid Kirmse

CARRIED

After the motion, Josephin thanked SaskCulture and Saskatchewan Lotteries in their support of the Saskatchewan German Council. She also pointed out that the council now how inancial support banners that can be picked up from the Austrian Edelweiss Club in Regina or the oice in Saskatoon. Josephin also quickly mentioned that the search for a club to host Trefpunkt 2016 has started.

9. Elections

Ilona Beck appointed Paul Gingras and Flo Frank as scrutineers.

MOTION: To accept the above mentioned persons as scrutineers.

Ilona Beck/Laurie Fabrick

CARRIED

Ilona presented slate of candidates.

Election of Vice-President

Ilona explained that no one else was running for the position, besides Michael Oelck.

Michael Oelck was declared Vice-President of the SGC by acclamation.

Election of Secretary

Ilona explained that no one else was running for the position, besides Ulrike Hecker.

Ulrike Hecker was declared Secretary of the SGC by acclamation.

Election of Directors

There are four director positions to be illed on SGC’s board.

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Introduction of the candidates on the slate for the positions of director: Frank Bojkovsky, Don Cody, Jake Dyck, Maria Hartmann, Andrea MacLeod, Emily Nemeth and Rolf Puchtinger.

Ilona explained that there are seven candidates for four available positions, three positions for a 2-year term and one position for a 1-year term. Delegates can vote for up to four people. Paul and Flo handed out the ballots to voting delegates.

Each candidate was asked by Ilona to give a short speech.

Paul and Flo collected the ballots.

Paul and Flo counted the votes.

Ilona announced the results: Frank Bojkovsky, Jake Dyck, and Andrea MacLeod were elected as directors on SGC’s board for a two-year term. Don Cody was elected as director on SGC’s board for a one-year term.

MOTION: To destroy the ballots.

Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker / Terry Young

CARRIED

Ilona presented the new Board to the delegates to the members.

10. Other Matters

Sigrid Kirmse mentioned that the book ``Other losses`` By James Bacque is looking for donations so it can be turned into a movie.

11. Adjournment

MOTION: To adjourn the meeting.

Ruth Wilson / Wilf Mclean

The meeting was adjourned at 12:35 p.m.

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This year concludes my irst term as president of the Saskatchewan German Council. The SGC continues to work hard in promoting traditions, culture, and language of German speaking countries here in Saskatchewan. We are pleased to further contribute to communities all over the province with the help of our dedicated staf, our active board, and passionate volunteers, and it is my pleasure to present the president’s annual report for the year 2015/2016.

The Saskatchewan German Council was able to work on a solid inancial basis during last iscal year. The Annual Global Funding was once more slightly higher than during the previous year, with an amount of $179,670.00, which is an increase of about 3%. From the Multicultural Initiatives Fund SGC received $15,000.00, and Service Canada supported the cost for a summer student with $3,264.00. The contract with the Ministry of Economy was once more secured until the end of December 2016, allowing SGC to continue the Settlement Advisor Services. Lastly, the Saskatchewan German Council received $1,500.00 from Heritage Canada for the Family Day, which was a great success.

Last year SGC supported 39 member groups. For a total of 52 member projects we were able to pay out $38,135.00 in member funding, which included $12,155.00 for language schools and preschools and $3,000 for costume funding. A new travel funding grant was added this year with $3,000 set aside to better support performing groups.

As in previous years, SGC worked on many programs and projects and a total amount of $12,003.00 was spent to support the mandate of promoting German culture, language, customs and traditions for the beneit of all Saskatchewan people.

President's ReportOne of the most important topics on the yearly agenda was strategic planning. To be able to contribute to all people of Saskatchewan, SGC has developed a new strategic plan which will be the guide for the upcoming years. This time the Board of Directors decided to develop a three year plan in order to have enough lexibility in fast changing times, while still having a clear direction where SGC will be going in the future.

In the past year, SGC was part of the SaskCulture Diversity Pilot to develop a diversity plan. In our multicultural province it is important to be inclusive and open in working with diferent cultures, to learn, teach, and simply to connect.

Work is currently being done on the Diversity of Austria Banners which will be similar in style to the Diversity of Germany Banners. These banners are on loan a lot and people show great interest in them at events. It was only logical to also create banners for other German speaking countries. We are already planning Diversity of Switzerland Banners.

To support German language learning, SGC ofers two scholarships for $500 each at the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan called “Saskatchewan German Council Scholarship in Honour of Dr. Brian McKinstry”.

The yearly Christmas Card Contest for all students learning German at one of the heritage language schools was ofered. During the last few years the winning design was used to print SGC’s Christmas cards.

In November, SGC participated in the annual Festival of Trees event at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon. Sabine with the help of her parents set up a beautiful tree, which sold quickly.

Our library continues to grow and has many German books, ilms and other resources. Visit the online library catalogue for available materials.

Thanks to Heritage Canada we were able to host two Family Day events, one at the Trefpunkt Weekend in Regina, and one at the German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon. We were astounded by the success of these events, and decided it was worth adding a little money to host two Family Days. What better promotion for our organisation could we get than smiling faces of little children?

SGC continues to support #WeAreSK on various media outlets. Having seven diferent organizations working together to show contributions to this multicultural society is amazing. In partnership with the UCC-SPC, for the Internment Awareness Project we are still in the process of designing a permanent plaque to increase the level of education, knowledge and understanding of Canada’s First National Internment Operations from 1914 to 1920.

The last project to mention is the Children’s Choir. SGC is currently in the process of establishing this choir or “Kinderchor”, hoping to spark interest in children about the German language and culture through music!

With the sponsorship program, SGC was able to support non-member group events yet another year. The Rotary Club of the Battlefords received $500 to help with their Octoberfest and Spiritwood was given $500 to support their Folkfest. These events helped in promoting German culture and tradition in diferent parts of Saskatchewan.

This year everyone worked hard to improve SGC’s visibility. SGC attended many important events like SUMA

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in Regina, the Heritage Festival in Saskatoon, Global Village at the U of S, and the Saskatchewan Polytechnic Intercultural week. Being more visible helps to promote SGC’s name and serve more people and communities in our province.

The Trefpunkt Weekend in Regina was well attended. The bufet was excellent, and the entertainment lovely. One of my favourite things to do at the banquet was to have the honor of presenting the Volunteer Awards. Without great volunteers, SGC would not be so successful.

SGC’s Immigration Settlement Advisor ofered the workshop Financial Literacy – Basic Taxation for Newcomers. We are planning to host events like this in Regina as well.

SGC has a strong social media presence. There is Twitter, a great website with lots of resources and an event calendar. This year, SGC had an Advent Calendar on Facebook which had many visitors each day and was well liked.

Just as a reminder, SGC ofers many services and they are well used. Just to name some examples, we have the library, we ofer translation services for non-legal texts, poster design service, and much more.

Lastly, I would like to thank our staf. As many of you know, Sabine is on maternity leave at the moment. Her son was born last November and he is just the cutest little boy. Gabriele Waidelich-Harrison has taken over as Interim Executive Director for the time being. Gabi has managed to learn her way around the oice in no time and with the support of Franziska Davies things are going well at the Council. Thank you to both of them for their good work. I also would like to thank Theresa Kliem as the Immigrant Settlement Advisor and Postillion editor. The workshop was great and the Postillion is always fun to read.

Josephin Dick, President

1. Josephin in attendance at the Trefpunkt Weekend in Regina 2. Presenting a gift basket for

the SGC Special Volunteer Award winner Darlene Rubrecht 3. Bringing greetings to the 60th

Anniversary of the Regina German Club 4. Handing out drinks and cookies during the Family

Fun Day at Trefpunkt Weekend in Regina.

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2 3

4

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SGC ProjectsPostillion

Immigrant Settlement Advisor ServicesWith the renewal of the contract from the Ministry of Economy, the Saskatchewan German Council continues to provide qualiied settlement services to newcomers in Saskatoon and area, regardless of their country of origin! The overall goal is to help newcomers develop and implement a successful settlement plan. Theresa Kliem, who is a great it for this position, took over the Immigrant Settlement Advisor position from Anastasiya Baranova in July 2015.

The popular series of Financial Literacy Workshops continued with the topic How to Buy a Home in April 2015, and Basic Taxation for Newcomers to Canada in March, 2016. The workshops were well attended and generated more community awareness about SGC and its settlement services.

SGC’s quarterly publication continues to be printed with a visually-appealing design. The section “News from Member Groups” contains many interesting articles and gives great insight in the member group activities throughout the province. “Spotlight on Members” was reintroduced, covering member groups in great detail, and the “Recipe Corner” featured the overall theme of roasts. Also of interest is the “Library Corner”, “History of the Germans from Russia” and the Children’s pages.

The Autumn 2015 edition was printed with an additional 4 pages to accommodate contributions regarding “25 Jahre deutsche Einheit – sharing of stories and memories”.

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Sponsorships - A way for SGC to support the community

Festival of Trees

SGC provided community support by ofering sponsorship to two big events in Saskatchewan. The Rotary Club of the Battlefords hosted an Octoberfest with about 285 patrons attending. Food booths ofered authentic German food and The Little German Band and the Concordia Alpenrose Dancers were part of the entertainment during the evening. Many of those patrons were of German ancestry, enjoying the opportunity to reconnect to their heritage.

The second sponsorship was awarded to the Spiritwood Folkfest for the German Pavilion. Some 746 passports were sold for the September event. The German Pavilion served Bratwurst, Schnitzel, Spätzle and Sauerkraut and the crowd was able to enjoy some good entertainment.

Both events created a wonderful opportunity for SGC to make contributions to German culture and traditions for the beneit of people in Saskatchewan and help strengthen communities by engaging people in cultural activities and sharing experiences.

Photo courtesy of Spiritwood Herald

As much as the Christmas Tree is part of the German tradition, it is becoming a tradition for SGC to participate in the Festival of Trees, held at the Western Development Museum, drawing some public attention to the organization. Following the theme “Christmas on the Silver Screen”, Sabine Doebel-Atchison and her family volunteered to decorate the SGC tree using the motif of the Christmas classic “Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel”. The tree was beautiful and sold quickly with funds going towards supporting the Saskatoon City Hospital Foundation.

The 2016 theme of “Nature’s Magical Christmas” will work quite well with the German way of decorating a tree in a more natural way.

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Christmas Card Contest

Family Day Events

Students of the German Language School Saskatoon and Das Schulhaus – Regina took part in the Christmas Card Contest. The students created Christmas cards with a German, Austrian or Swiss theme using crayons, pencils, felt pens or paint. Prizes were given to the winners of the age groups 5 to 8, 9 to 13 and 14 to 17 years. The winners of $ 15 each were Sophie, Alex and Geordey from Regina as well as Alina, Katharina and Anna from Saskatoon.

The winning Christmas cards were displayed on SGC’s facebook site for people to enjoy and to “like” them!

The Saskatchewan German Council chose one card to be printed as the annual SGC Christmas card.

SGC is proud to have organized two Family Fun Days – one in Regina during Trefpunkt Weekend and one in partner-ship with the German Cultural Centre in Saskatoon. Since everyone was welcome, each Family Fun Day was a celebration that attracted families from diferent na-tionalities making it a multicultural event.

The Family Fun Day in Saskatoon was also a celebration of Multiculturalism Day. Thanks to a “Celebrate Canada” grant from Heritage Canada and the great help from volunteers, children were able to enjoy diferent fun activities like parachute games, ball toss, face paint-ing, jumpy castle, egg & spoon race and more.

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Expanding our Reach

Volunteer Appreciation

We Are SKThese 6 public service announcements which highlight the contributions of the multicultural community to Saskatchewan culture received continued support through broadcasting and social media advertising. People telling their stories include SGC members Berbel Knoll, Jake Dyck and Katharina Ulbrich. The link for the #WeAreSK public service announcements can be found on SGC’s website.

#WeAreSK is a partner project between the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan German Council, Saskatchewan Organization for Heritage Languages, Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative, Ukrainian Canadian Congress-Saskatchewan Provincial Council, Conseil culturel fransaskois, and the Aboriginal Friendship Centre.

During the 2015 Trefpunkt Weekend in Re-gina hosted by the German-Canadian Society Harmonie, SGC was able to present two Special Volunteer Awards and one Youth Award to honour the outstanding contributions in sup-port of German culture in Saskatchewan. The recipients were:

Darlene Rubrecht, nominated by the Karne-valsgesellschaft Harmonie in Regina.

Ulrike Hecker, nominated by the Hansel and Gretel Preschool Inc. in Saskatoon.

Ashley Hojati, nominated for the SGC Youth Award by the German Language School in Saskatoon.

Each recipient received an engraved award as well a wonderful gift basket with delicious foods.

The Saskatchewan German Council participated in diferent trade shows and festivals throughout the year: SUMA (Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Associaton) in Regina, Heritage Festival at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon, Global Village at the University of Saskatchewan and Intercultural Week at Saskatchewan Polytechnic.

Being present at events generates more visibility for SGC as well as opportunities to educate the public about services SGC has to ofer. As on outcome, SGC was able to build a stronger network and develop more partnerships in the community.

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American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Regina ChapterAlvin Knoll, Chair

Grüss Gott from the Germans of Rus-

sia!

Another year end reporting session is

upon us, which means that another

year has come and gone. Our group

continues to meet the irst Wednes-

day of every month from September

through May in Trinity Evangelical

Lutheran Church, Regina. Our mem-

bership remains much the same as

last year.

In April of 2015 our group attended

Government House for an afternoon

of tea with 23 members in atten-

dance. Thank you to member Irwin

Armbruster for organizing this spe-

cial afternoon.

The annual Schmeckfest was held

on the 6th May at Trinity Lutheran

Church, again a very enjoyable eve-

ning with the usual good company,

music and of course the food. Not

only is it something our taste buds

look forward to but also a little of

the ‘what are you bringing this year’.

The standing question is “well Alvin,

what are you making?” It seems as

one of the few men who does the

actual prepping and cooking for our

Schmeckfest, my food comes under

a little scrutiny. There are however a

few ladies who have the courage to

sample my cooking! To date I have

passed all the tests. John Graf, our

former President, was a good cook

and set the bar high for the men. His

Obstsuppe was legendary.

In July, Tim Geiger hosted a Germans

from Russia Convention in Leader, SK.

Tim has hosted these conventions

before and is known to organize an

excellent convention.

In September, our Regina group

resumed our monthly meetings.

One of our irst speakers was mem-

ber, Pastor Helmut Nachtigal. Pastor

spoke on his family’s history. Theirs

was a troubled history; the family left

Germany in the 1820’s and settled

in Zadamle, Volhynia and was part

of the Germans who were shipped

east to Siberia during World War

One. Upon returning to a devastated

home after the war, his family picked

up the pieces of their lives only to be

relocated years later from Volhynia

to Poland, again in war times. Pastor

Nachtigal has put together a detailed

and thorough account of his family

history and we are honoured to have

him in our group. Another family his-

tory was presented this past Febru-

ary. The book was authored by one

of our former members, Mr. Joseph

Tuchscherer. Joseph has since left our

group and retired to British Colum-

bia, although he still has ties to our

group. The Tuchscherer family came

from the village of Colelia, Romania.

His work is a fascinating history of

pictures and story telling. I was fortu-

nate to be able to look through it at

our last group meeting. The Tuch-

scherer family located to the Estevan

area upon coming to Canada.

I will also mention the two annual

conventions happening this summer.

These are hosted by the two main

groups of the Germans from Russia.

The American Society of Germans

from Russia-Lincoln, Nebraska (Volga

Germans) will host an international

convention in Concord, California

from July 13-16, 2016. The Germans

from Russia Heritage Society will host

their annual convention in Rapid City,

South Dakota (Black Sea Germans)

on Sept. 7-11, 2016. Having attended

several of these conventions, I would

recommend attending either or both

of these conventions. There is always

a very good selection of speakers, en-

tertainment and of course the food!

I will now sum up our year of 2015 as

a very good year, lots of information

and good fellowship. I would like to

thank Trinity Lutheran Church for ac-

commodating us and making us feel

welcome. Also a special thank you to

Saskatchewan German Council for

their support and friendly help.

SGC Member Reports

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CFCR Community Radio Society of Saskatoon Inc.Neil Bergen, General Manager

Here’s a quick update on the happenings at the Community Radio over the past twelve months. Once again we had a very successful year starting with our membership drive in April 2015 that saw us end with 720 members, our best total ever. CFCR’s annual fundraising drive, FM-Phasis, in the last two weeks of September saw us raise just over $71,000.00 in our two week on-air campaign.

We start all over again with our membership drive kicking of April 1,

2016 where we’ll be out and about in the community, everywhere from the Farmer’s Market to the Bassment and various other clubs around the city. Coming up in June we travel to Calgary to run our showcase featuring 4 Saskatoon bands at Sled Island Festival. We’ll also be involved in the Saskatoon Jazz fest as a presenting sponsor of the Groove series and we also are a major sponsor of the Ness Creek Music festival in July where we have a CFCR night that we MC.

All in all it’s been another very good year for Community Radio and we look forward to another successful year with the support of our volunteers, listeners, sponsors and the support of the Saskatchewan German Council.

Concordia Alpenrose Schuhplattler VereinHeidi Armstrong

The Concordia Alpenrose Schuhplattler Verein had a successful year in 2015. We kicked of our performances in June at the Mosaic Festival in Regina. In August we participated in three days of Folkfest in Saskatoon where the debut of our new dance to Rammstein’s “Du Hast” was very well received. October was a very busy month for our dancers with 4 weekends of dancing. We travelled to North Battleford and Lloydminster to perform at their respective

Oktoberfest’s. We also danced at the Saskatoon German Cultural Centre’s Oktoberfest. We were honored to dance at the wedding of one of our members.

We held a very successful Schnitzel Night Fundraiser in November at the German Cultural Centre. Over 90 people attended and we were very happy to raise funds through rales and cookie sales. We sold Glühwein again at the Christkindl Market and

enjoyed the festivities. We would like to thank the Saskatchewan German Council, SaskLotteries, our club members and everyone else who supported us this past year. We look forward to another great year of German dance!

Concordia Brass BandYvonne Kristof

Concordia Brass Band practices from February to December each year. During that time we perform at many venues and promote German culture in Saskatchewan. In 2015 we performed more than 15 performances in and around Saskatoon. The main event with the largest audience is Folkfest. We look

forward to this each year and enjoy sharing German music with all the visitors from Saskatoon and around the world.

For the irst time the Condcordia Brass band has booked a clinician and is holding a workshop in conjunction with the Little German band of

Humboldt on April 30th. This is expected to be an enjoyable event with both bands going home with new repertoire to play for the many concerts which we perform.

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We started of this year with a number of irsts for our young group.

We were invited to do a dance workshop at the Children’s Festival. They all had a great time & most of the dancers even managed to spend some time participating in the activities of The Children’s Festival. The Fossil Dig was a hit.

Canada Day was a scorcher, but our dancers kept their cool & put on a spectacular performance for our irst time there. They were all so proud to have the 3 new dances they performed, it perfectly into the 10 minute time slot.

All the Dance Families organized their summer to allow for family holiday time, as well as be available for extra Folkfest Practices. Folkfest was again a busy time for us. Three days of long hours, busy performing schedules & a great German Candy Sale. We also managed to include the return of the Lebkuchenherzen (Gingerbread Hearts). Thanks Amanda for taking the lead on this. There were a few cramped hands by the time all the writing was done. The great feedback we received on them made it worth it.

This year we were happy to welcome 3 new families to the German Cultural Centre and 6 new dancers

to our group. Thanks to Danielle for getting our new dancers ‘Performance Ready’ & to Karla Blumrich for sewing the dirndls in time for our performances.

The Concordia Junior Alpenrose Dancers participated in a number of return events this year. They had fun with bouncy castles & selling ‘potions’ at the Halloween Howl & gingerbread & sleigh rides at the Christkindlmarkt. Festival of Trees was again a great way to end the Christmas Season.

We started ‘2016’ with an evening of snacks, fun & games. Dancers & parents had a chance to share stories & reconnect. During the rest of the winter we focused on practices & incorporating some new dances into our mix. The juniors have worked hard on getting 2 new dances ready for our summer performances.

Thanks to funding from the Saskatchewan German Council & the craftsmanship of one of our Grandparents, we now have benches for our boys to be able to do the Banktanz. They are excited to be able to show it of at Folkfest this summer. The seniors also have a few new dances they’ve been working on. They hope to have at least one ready in time for Folkfest.

As the weather warms, we know that summer will be just around the corner & with it ‘Folkfest’. Our families will take a bit of a break from practice for May & June to allow our dancers to participate in other outdoor activities. Then it will be back to some extra practices to get ready for Folkfest.

Thanks to the German Cultural Centre & all their members for their continued support, as well as providing us with our great practice venue. Thanks to the SGC for their continued funding support.

‘We’ve had a great time, see you again next year!’

Concordia Junior Alpenrose DancersBrenda Booker

Das Schulhaus - Regina German Language School Inc.Sabine Zagoricnik-Wecker

School Year 2015/16 Statistics: For the irst time in ive years we hit the 50 student bench mark, (adults and children). Throughout the year we ofered: Adult Beginner class, Adult Advanced-Beginner class, Adult

Conversation, Vorschule (age 5-7), Grundschule (age 7-10), Mittelstufe (age 11-14), and a Native Speaker class.

Our classrooms are located at Campbell Collegiate and take place Wednesday and Thursday night.

Cultural Events: Ostern / Easter was talked about in each classroom, including Easter craft. We also gathered to celebrate Easter with our Easter table and Easter-egg hunt. The Easter table was decorated with willow tree branches,

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beautiful eggs on them, a moos – nest and Easter Bread.

Schultüten - In September 2015 our school year began by welcoming all our new students with a crafted German “Schultüte”, relecting the German tradition of children receiving a “Schultüte” on their irst day of school.

Laternenumzug (St.Martin) / Lantern walk - On the evening of the 7th of November our St. Martin’s lantern parade took place. Around 50 people gathered to join our Lantern Walk in Wascana Park.

Adventszeit was a very busy time with Christmas Card Contest, Christmas Crafts, and a Nikolaus visit at our Weihnachtsfeier. This year St. Nikolaus came in company. We were all very impressed with Knecht Ruprecht waling behind him. Each classroom showcased something and they got a little treat bag to take home.

Fasching - Last but not least, the Fifth Season, “Fasching, Fasnet or Karneval”, was the cultural theme at ‘Das Schulhaus’ end of February the week before Ash-Wednesday. The main attraction was again Luftschlangen and Kamelle with games, before we all tasted German Carnival by eating ‘Faschingskrapfen’.

We want to thank SGC for the support of all these cultural events, Danke!

Fundraising Events: Book fair at our booth in the German Pavilion at Mosaic 2015

Self-made Adventskränze, crafts and more at the Christkindl’ Markt (German Club Regina) in November 2015

Project Days 2015: Every year we decide on a topic and teachers explore that topic with their students in the classroom. Students get the opportunity to work through

that topic in various ways for a few evenings. According to their age and level. This years topic was: Deutsche Kinderfernsehsendungen / German children TV shows. Classrooms worked on Sandmaenchen, Die Sendung mit der Maus / Biene Maja/ Mainzelmaenchen.

Open House: At an open house event we usually present the work of our project days. The students showcase a theme they have learned and studied during the school year. They speciically showcase what they have learned during our annual project days.

Students Achievements: In July our credit 10 student had her inal exam

We are thankful for the SGC’s Christmas card contest and it is such an enrichment for the students to get in touch with German traditions around Christmas in an artistic way. We had 3 winners from each age group.

Schulhaus Achievements: We were able to introduce a German native speaker class in the fall 2015.

Advertising through a live event with CTV Morning Show for the OPEN HOUSE .

First year of advertising with the Catherdral Arts Festival.

Professional Development and Teachers’ achievements:

SOHL Conference in October 2015 in Saskatoon with workshops.

MLAR workshop in November.

In-house workshop, funded by SOHL. Eight members/teachers spent a Saturday in January on “Teaching the Multilevel Classroom”.

Sylvia, one of our teachers inished her Level 2 certiicate this year with the University of Calgary: “Teaching International and Heritage Languages”. Congratulations!

Other Participation: Teachers participated in the Mini Language lesson program hosted by SOHL bringing the German Language and Culture into a Public School classroom between January and March 2016.

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Since the 2015 Trefpunkt was held in Regina, which is only two hours away from Estevan, three members of our club attended to meet old and new friends from all member organizations of the Saskatchewan German Council. Having the opportunity to participate in that event is very much appreciated.

Our Treasurer, Jake Dyck, is serving as a Director for Saskatchewan German Council. We are proud to have a member of our club representing Estevan at the provincial level.

The members of our club practice German songs at every meeting and

love to sing for others. Twice a year we tour local nursing homes to sing Christmas songs during advent and spring songs in May. Residents of those nursing homes can’t wait to welcome us again and some of them even sing along.

German Language Classes, provided in partnership with the local Public Library are still well attended.

Our Christmas Party took place at the Estevan Days Inn on the irst Sunday in December. We gathered for a nice afternoon of singing and visiting and enjoyed a delicious dinner.

The Club provides opportunities for good fellowship for the beneit of all interested people from Estevan and Area, especially those with German-speaking backgrounds. The members work very hard to spread the word looking for more people that may be interested in joining our Club. We look forward to many more successful years to come.

Estevan & District German Freundschaft SocietyKatharina Ullbrich, President

Folkart Co-op HumboldtUrsula Klassen, Secretary

January 2015 was a quiet month and February brought us to making a selection of mosaic bird houses and colourful bird feeders with the help of our expert at Prairie Glass. The bird houses were entirely covered with bits of stained glass and the feeders displayed painted designs as well as glass sides.

April 18, 2016 was our annual Kafeestunde which as usual was attended by a welcome crowd. Good display of assorted tortes, cakes and the ever famous apple strudel. The tables were tastefully decorated with blue table cloths, yellow and blue serviettes, as well as a small spray of bright yellow daisies. Folkart Co-op had a large arrangement of various crafts on display.

Ruth Wilson and Ursula Klassen attended Trefpunkt at Regina on June 13/14. The weather co-operated and an interesting weekend was realized. The hospitality was great. Thanks to the committee that

organized the event, it is always a learning experience.

The Folkart Co-op assisted the German Heritage Society with their second annual Barbeque and 50/50 rale held on May 29, 2015. Although a strong May wind threatened us, we managed to complete the event without a major problem.

Several members of the Folkart Co-op attended the Annual General Meeting of the German Heritage Society on June 9, 2015 at the Bella Vista Inn. A delicious supper preceded the meeting.

On July 7, 2015, our group enjoyed a pot luck supper at the home of Rev. Al & Marion Hingley. Everyone enjoyed the pot luck which is always an enjoyable meal full of surprises. Thanks Rev. Al and Marion.

The German Heritage Society celebrated their 30th. Anniversary on

October 10, 2015 at the Bella Vista Inn. The Folkart Co-op assisted in the preparations as well as displaying a number of their crafts.

Members of the Folkart Co-op had a class on making coral bowls on October 31, 2015. Each bowl was unique and beautiful. Again the class was led by our experts at Prairie Glass.

The Humboldt Museum and Gallery has an annual Wreath Auction which was held on December 3, 2015. Our club donated a framed mirror embellished in Bauernmaleri.

The German Heritage Society organized St. Nikolaus Tag on December 6, 2015 which our members always assist with.

Humboldt Folkart Co-op acknowledges the ongoing inancial support from Saskatchewan German Council and Saskatchewan Lotteries.

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German Canadian Society HarmoniePatrick Kossmann

The club had another busy year in 2015/2016. In April we held our annual Spargelfest, selling out a month and a half before the date. The four course meal prepared by Bryce is becoming a very anticipated treat.

April also saw the beginning of our new male dance group, das Volle Lederpaket. The group has a core group of 6 men who passionately dance at club events. We also added a children’s version of this group, the Kleine Pakete.

June had the club preparing for Mosaic and hosting German culture for Regina. The three-day event saw thousands of people come through our doors to feast, drink, and dance. The week after our club hosted SGC’s Trefpunkt welcoming representatives from our province’s German groups to the annual meeting.

Our summer BBQ in August was changed from previous years in that we held it as a potluck event. Many younger families really attended this event to share in food, games, and activities. Fall saw our annual Oktoberfest celebration. We host a two day event that is garnering national interest as a must attend event at this time of the year. Our latest crowned Mr. and Ms. Oktoberfest eagerly have been representing the club at events, and our family day events increased three fold this year.

Christmas time had us holding our Christkindl Markt. People continue to line up down the street to get inside to browse our craft booths, nibble on snacks, and sip Glühwein. Shortly after this event we held our Weihnachtsfeier, inviting people to celebrate the season with our club

in a traditional manner. The club took a big step towards cultural togetherness by holding a joint German/Polish dance night in February. S.P.K. Irskry from Winnipeg was invited to perform a dance night with das Volle Lederpaket, sharing their music and culture with our patrons. The night was so much fun we’ll be doing it again in the future. Over the last year renovations continued to our building. Our women’s washroom in the lounge was completely redone, the basement of the club was repainted and all of the lights were replaced with LED bulbs, the front doors to the club were replaced with more modern ones, and a new stove was installed in the kitchen.

German Cultural Centre SaskatoonAdeline Vogelgesang

Spring is here, so we’ve already had a couple of members cleaning the lower beds for which we are most grateful.

First of all, Cindy Hobbs is now our General Manager. She has many years of experience, new ideas and a lot of energy.

Our annual Spargelfest Dinner with entertainment by Neil Stubbs with his accordion; as well as our usual Mother’s Day Brunch was a sell out as always.

Of course the highlight in August is Folkfest. The German Pavilion has taken part in the “Celebration of the Nations” for 35 years. Our display features “25 years after Reuniication”. We had several entertainers indoors

and outside, which kept the crowd in a party mood in spite of the rain.

September featured “Ed Sullivan Night” with entertainment from the 1950’s and 1960’s. Good music, good food, and freshly popped popcorn.

Other events in the fall were “Oktoberfest”, “Halloween Howl” night, a “Sock Hop”, and our popular Christkindl Markt.

The New Year was brought in on December 31st with dancing and live entertainment featuring Buddy Holly and Elvis, provided by the “England” group.

February 14th, Valentine’s Day, had an excellent attendance at the Brunch Bufet, as well as at the

evening bufet. The chefs must be commended for the delicious food, the variety, and attractive presentation.

The Skat Club meets weekly in the Culture room. They are a dedicated group of card players.

Our facility is a popular site for weddings, anniversaries, as well as funerals. Many organizations, corporations, and sport groups use our halls for their meetings, graduations, celebrations, etc.

Due to ill health, our president Darrel Dick has resigned. Joe Schmidt has agreed to be the interim president for the next year.

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German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District Inc.Ursula Klassen

On May 29, 2015 we had a successful second annual BBQ and 50/50 rale. The weather was cool and very windy, but we succeeded in spite of it.

Our Annual General meeting opened by President John Saxinger took place on June 9, 2015 at the Bella Vista Inn preceded by a German Supper tastefully prepared by Chef Alex Wilson.

The German Heritage Society entered a loat in the annual Summer Sizzler parade on June 20, 2015. We managed to get through the parade without getting wet this year. Several band members and Waldsee Singkreis members entertained.

The German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District celebrated their 30th Anniversary on October 10, 2015 at the Bella Vista Inn. The event was well represented by members from Saskatchewan German Council from Saskatoon. Thanks for your

participation. The supper prepared by the Bella Vista Inn was a typical German supper and was very delicious with an array of salads, two meats, Rouladen, Spaetzle, ending with a black forest anniversary cake as dessert. The evening was concluded with several door prizes.

On November 11, 2015, President John Saxinger attended the annual Royal Canadian Legion Remembrance Day celebration presenting a wreath on behalf of the German Heritage Society.

Sunday, December 6, 2015, St. Nikolaus made his appearance at St. Augustine Parish Hall along with his two angels. A small crowd of parents and eager children attended to listen to St.Nikolaus’s greetings and words of wisdom for the youngsters. Hot chocolate and cookies completed the afternoon.

President John Saxinger, along with several other members of the

German Heritage Society attended the Round Table meeting held at Davidson on March 19, 2016. A good representation of surrounding councils were present and again the luncheon was enjoyed. It was encouraging to see the number of members who attended.

Our 31st annual Kafeestunde was held on April 16, 2016 at the Royal Canadian Legion Hall. We hosted a van load of residents from St. Mary’s Villa treating them to goodies and then welcomed an overwhelming crowd. The tables were decorated with coloured daisies and pussy willows. Everyone was treated to cakes, tortes, and strudel along with cofee, tea and juice. Thanks to everyone for their hard work.

The German Heritage Society Inc. wishes to acknowledge the ongoing inancial support from the Saskatchewan German Council and Sask Lotteries.

German Junior Folk DancersBarbara Stehwien

We are happy to report that we’re doing well! After encouraging the start-up of a second group of youth dancers in the Saskatoon German community a couple of years ago, (and thereby losing a number of members and performing opportunities), we’re still dancing as much as ever. We even have our own headquarters (HQ) in the mall as a result of some reorganizing and recognizing the opportunity to exploring new things, after 20 years of what sometimes becomes ‘same old’.

At our HQ, we held our irst Schnitzel night, our annual Lebkuchen sale, a long term playmobil display and

have a very handy storage, meeting, and change room. This room is quite convenient also for putting together our irst ever entry in the Saskatoon Santa Claus Parade.

We celebrated the 10th Minifest this year, and everyone very much enjoyed watching the multi-cultural performances by 8 diferent childrens’ groups. Many of those were also invited to the annual Heritage Festival, where we did some of the fun teach ‘n learn sessions. It’s deinitely heart-warming to see so many young people learning about, and sharing their heritage culture in the form of costume and dance. We’re proud to be a part of it! Huge

thank yous to SGC for the funding, and to our dedicated families!

Two of our long time dancers, Hannah and Sarah (15 and 8 year members respectively) were able to get volunteer hour accreditation for coordinating our young dancers in a couple of performances and helping with instruction throughout the year.

Other events of the year included the DSI Dance on the Saskatchewan, a Grad Student Association conference, Fasching at the German Language School, a Diversity Dinner performance, as well as the annuals: Canada Day, Festival of Trees, events in Prince Albert, North Battleford and of course Regina’s Mosaic festival.

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1. Classes at Das Schulhaus with “die Maus” 2. Portrait of the Cconcordia

Alpenrose Schuplattler Verein 3. Kafeeklatsch at the German Heritage So-

ciety of Humboldt and District Inc. 4. Western Canadian Mardi Gras celebra-

tions in Regina by the Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie. 5. Christkindl Markt

at the German Canadian Society Harmonie in Regina. 6. Members from the

Prince Albert German Canadian Club “Waldhorn”. 7. Preschoolers from the

Hansel and Gretel Preschool celebrating Fasching.

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3 4

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7

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1. The Concordia Junior Alpenrose Dancers at their stand for

the German Cultural Centre’s Christkindl Markt. 2. The students

from Das Schulhaus on their Laternenumzug. 3. Display from the

Folkart Co-op Humboldt at the Round Table. 4. Spiegeleikuchen

from the April cooking class at Kochlöfel and Nudelholz cooking

classes. 5. A variety of cakes to choose from at the Kafeeklatsch

that was held in Humboldt from the German Heritage Society of

Humboldt and District Inc. 6. Folkfest at the German Cultural Cen-

tre in Saskatoon with the Concordia Alpenrose Schuplattler Verein

performing. 7. Celebrations at the Western Canadian Mardi Gras

event by the Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie in Regina.

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3 4

5 6

7

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1. The Concordia Junior Alpenrose Dancers performing one of their many

dances. 2. Johanna Tataryn, Sharon Vetter, Ruth Wilson and Ursula Klassen

posing for a picture at SGC’s Round Table in March. 3. Tickets from the German

Canadian Society Harmonie’s 60th anniversary celebration that took place

in September. 4. The German Junior Folk Dancers in their Heritage Dress at

the Heritage Festival 2016. 5. A student from Das Schulhaus- Regina German

Language School Inc. during Project Days. 6. A traditional Schwarzwälder

Kirschtorte made by the participants from Kochlöfel and Nudelholz in their

May class. 7. Parts of the long term I-Spy playmobil display at the German Ju-

nior Folk Dancers’ HQ, 2015/2016. 8. Celebrating diferent cultures at the Han-

sel and Gretel Preschool Inc by wearing traditional German costumes to class.

9. Performing at one of their many locations is the Conccordia Brass Band.

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3 4 5

6 7 8

9

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1. A display table with many items done by the Folkart

Co-op Humboldt. 2. Members from the newly formed

dance group in Saskatoon, the Concordia Junior Alpen-

rose Dancers. 3. Kulturgarten Saskatoon’s table at the

Heritage Festival in Saskatoon. 4. “Prost” from the Ger-

man Canadian Society Harmonie at their Oktoberfest.

5. The “Rote Funken” performing at the Western Cana-

dian Mardi Gras celebrations. 6. Enjoying the outside

and still learning at the Hansel and Gretel Preschool Inc.

7. The German Junior Dancers waiting to perform.

8. A surprise for the participants of Kochlöfel and Nudel-

holz at their last class - a mini bar for everyone to make

Hugo and an Aperol Spritz.

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3 4 5

6 7

8

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We’re also happy to report that our instructor Amanda Stehwien has been nominated for SGC’s Volunteer of the Year award and are, of course, hoping she’ll get the recognition. Amanda has been our ‘poster girl’ for the German contingent in heritage dance festivals in and around Saskatoon for over 20 years now. She is deinitely a long time member: irst joining junior folk dance at age 9 and now in her 10th year of moving

into the teacher’s spot. Not that she’s doing it for an award obviously, she’s just passionate about her heritage and folk dance: still loving and sharing it after so many years - most of her life, she says.

For further details and photos of our group ‘Having Fun with Old (and New) Traditions’, see our twitter page at: @Saskatoon_GJFD

http://www.germanjuniorfolkdancers.blogspot.ca/

https://twitter.com/Saskatoon_GJFD

http://www.germanjuniorfolkdancers.ca/

German Language School Saskatoon Inc.Susanne Pachal

In the school year 2015/16 our school was able to ofer ive classes for children: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and High School Credit Classes German 10, 20 and 30. Our Native Speaker Class came to an end in mid-December when two families from K+S returned back to Germany and therefore there weren’t enough students in the class left to continue on with the class. We also ran the following four adults classes: Beginners, Intermediate II, Intermediate IV and Advanced.

We celebrated three traditional German holidays. The irst event of the school year was on November 5th when we had a Herbstfest (fall festival) preceded by the AGM. The evening ofered a wonderful potluck dessert bufet and the students

performed diferent fall themed songs.

In December, Sankt Nikolaus came to visit the German Language School Saskatoon. He read a book to the students and each class sang a Christmas song or performed a poem. Of course Sankt Nikolaus left each student a little treat bag in their boots!

On February 3rd, 2016 we celebrated Fasching. It was a fun-illed evening where the students and their families enjoyed Krapfen (traditional German raspberry jelly-illed donuts). The younger students came dressed up and participated in a Fasching parade where they had to shout “Helau” in order for the parents and teachers to throw candies at them. Everyone

then got to enjoy a few dance performances by the German Junior Folk Dancers Saskatoon and all the students, teachers and parents joined in on a couple of dances at the end!

In January 2016 our DSD 1 (Deutsches Sprachdiploma) preparation course started and the written exam was held on March 9th and the oral exam was on March 22nd.

The diferent adult classes enjoyed a couple of diferent event evenings. One class had a potluck and movie night before Christmas, one enjoyed a trip to the German Cultural Center and two of the other classes went out for supper before Christmas and one will inish the school year with a Raclette evening!

Hansel and Gretel Preschool Inc.Ulrike Hecker

In August 2015, we celebrated our 30th Anniversary at Folkfest. Our preschool was invited by the German Cultural Center to perform on stage and represent our German-English bilingual preschool program. Our children were proud to sing “Happy Birthday” in German to Sigrid Kirmse who founded the formerly named

“German Pre- Kindergarten” 30 years ago. A huge Thank You goes to all teachers, families, board members and the many volunteers that have helped this preschool grow and lourish over the past 30 years!

We hired Susanne Pachal as a new teacher for our Tuesday-Thursday

program this school year. She is also the Coordinator of the Saskatoon German Language School.

As it is tradition at Hansel & Gretel Preschool, we celebrated all German holidays, such as St. Martin, St. Nikolaus, Fasching, Ostern (Easter) and we taught our children about the

30

diferent customs surrounding these cultural events.

In January, we held an Open House and Registration Night for the 2016-17 school year and most classes have already illed up.

Other highlights this year were the ield trips to the Dutch Growers hay maze, the Children’s Discovery Museum and the Forestry Park Zoo.

In February, our staf members attended the PIRS Conference for

Early Childhood Educators. Ulrike Hecker and Ruth Skinner, who teach the MWF class, also presented a workshop on ine motor skill development.

In April we had a “Joint Fundraiser” with SPF (Saskatoon Preschool Foundation). The rale book sale and proceeds intend to help the preschool to make up for the unexpected funding cut of the Ministry of Education that we are facing.

A number of the preschool children have graduated this year and we hope that they will continue to be involved with German language and culture, either through the German Language School in Saskatoon or through German dance.

We wish our students all the best and hope that our children will remember “Hansel & Gretel Preschool” as a place where “Fun meets Learning”.

Greetings from KG Harmonie.

We had a fun and busy year. With a smaller group most of us are doing more jobs. This year we hosted Western Canada Mardi Gras. Our dancers had lots of fun performing and meeting the dancers from the groups from Winnipeg and Edmonton. The people had so much fun Friday night that nobody wanted to stop and go to the hotel.

Our dance groups performed for Spring Free From Racism, RMC’s Culture on the Plaza Events, Bring a Little Mosaic and several Senior Homes, Mosaic and Oktoberfest for

the German Club and other groups We went to Folkfest in Saskatoon. We learnt some new dances under the instructing of Cheryl and Sheila Aldous. This two ladies are very involved with the group along with instructing. We crowned Prince Allan 1 and Princess Lindsey 1 in November with a strong military theme as AJ was in the forces and has retired from there. Our members took part in the German Clubs 60th Anniversary and Trefpunkt , where Darlene Rubrecht won the Volunteer Award.

KG German Harmonie Dancers are planning a trip to Germany in June 2016. We are going on a tour and

hopefully meeting up with some other dance groups to participate and dance with them. This is the planning stages but the group is participating in fundraisers for the trip. As a fundraiser our group barbequed and served bratwurst for Christkindl Markt. The weather cooperated with us as it was a beautiful warm sunny day.

This year we are crowning a Dreigestirn November 4, 2016. The girls are having fun deciding upon the theme, medals etc. More to follow.

Enjoy the rest of the year!

Karnevalsgesellschaft HarmonieDarlene Rubrecht

Kochlöffel & Nudelholz, German-Canadian Koch-und BackstudioFranziska Davies

Another year has passed and more recipes were made!

We participated in Folkfest 2015 for the irst time, our table was pretty popular with the candy jar that we ended up giving away to Damien Panko, his guess as to how many candies were in the jar was the closest. The magic number was 445!

For the start of the cooking season we had a pickling class with Senfgurken and Perlzwiebeln in September. Everyone was able to take home a jar of two of each recipe. I was hoping to show that the process of pickling isn’t as scary as some people think it might be.

In October, we had a Bavarian Night

with Schweinshaxe, Rotkohl and Knödel. It seemed like everyone was surprised at how big the Schweinshaxe were, everyone ended up taking home quite a bit of food and some participants used the bone for soup stalk.

For November, I asked Renate Findler-Hipp to help me with a

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cabbage class. She supplied a recipe for Krautkrapfen and I picked out a recipe for Kohlrouladen. The class was divided into two groups and at the end everyone was able to try both recipes. Some participants were surprised at how good the cabbage tasted!

Eierlikör, Rotweinkuchen, Schoko Makronen and Weihnachtsgrütze mit Spekulatiussoße were made at the December Christmas class. Everyone enjoyed the recipes and participants were excited to try out them out at home. As a surprise, I had ordered a Feuerzangenbowle set from Germany. Everyone enjoyed watching the “Zuckerhut” melt into the wine!

In January we made gebackener Camembert and two Swiss recipes - Einsiedler Ofeturli and Crespelle mit Lauch und Wurst.

For February there were two classes ofered because interest was once again high, I think it mostly had to do with what we were making! Schokoladen Birnen Torte, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte and Windbeuteltorte were the recipes the participants made. These recipes required a bit more involvement then some of the previous recipes but everyone mastered baking the cakes beautifully.

Only once class was planned for March and it included Riz Casimir, Soupe de chalet and Nidwaldner Apfelaulauf. Participants were a little hesitant when I mentioned the Riz Casimir included fruits, chicken and curry but everyone seemed to think it was tasty when it came to taste testing!

In April we made Jägergulasch, Spätzle and Spiegeleikuchen. We had

quite a few new participants join us for this class!

For the last class of the 2015-2016 cooking season we made Wiener Schnitzel, klassischer Erdäpfelsalat nach Wiener Art and Salzburger Nockerln. It was a great class to have and to see everyone one last time before the summer started! I look forward to seeing everyone again in September with new recipes to teach!

I would like to thank the kitchen staf and Cindy at the German Cultural Centre for allowing us to use their kitchen for over a year now. Thank you to the Saskatchewan German Council and SaskCulture for supporting our little cooking club!

Lloydminster German Heritage SocietyRosemarie Schlekewy, President

Lloydminster German Heritage Society has 36 members. We meet every 4th Sunday evening at the Guide/Scout Hall for a supper meeting and socializing, so that any of our young families have an opportunity to come out and enjoy the evening as well.

Some of the highlights for 2015 are as follows:

April 26, 2015 – We hosted our Annual General Meeting, with 19 members & 2 Guests in attendance. We had 1 new member join our club.

June 13-14, 2015 - Dorothy Irwin, Bernadette Schiller, and Dennis Linge attended the SGC Annual General Meeting & Awards & Banquet in Regina. Thanks for bringing home all the information. They all had a good time socializing, meeting new people and re-acquainting with others.

June 21, 2015 – We held our year end barbeque at Leo & Erna Oestreicher’s farm, with approximately 30 people - club members, family and friends - in attendance. We all had a good evening and good food. Thanks to Leo & Erna for hosting. Everyone enjoys getting out of town and visiting at the farm and seeing the miniature horses and new colts, their pride and joy.

July 1, 2015 – We participated in Multi-Cultural Day at Lakeland College. We had a good representation from our club in attendance. We handed out samples of Apple Strudel, Poppy Seed and Walnut Rolls. The most popular was the Apple Strudel. There weren’t many samples left over. A number of our members donned their Dirndel & Leder Hosen to make the afternoon authentic. We were invited back for July 2016.

October 10 - 11, 2015 – Rosemarie Schlekewy & Bernadette Schiller attended the German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District’s 30th Anniversary at the Bella Vista Inn in Humboldt. It was a lovely evening, with a delicious banquet, good entertainment and dancing to German music, and brunch the following Sunday, as well as a tour of the Imhof Beautiied Cathedral at St. Peter’s Cathedral at Muenster, Sask & the Humboldt Historic Water Tower that has been restored. Thanks to the members from Humboldt Club for their great hospitality.

October 23, 2015 – We hosted our OKTOBERFEST, with approximately 400 people in attendance. Even though our attendance was down a bit, we report that the evening was very successful. We were honored to have the Vice President from Saskatchewan German Council

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Our main fundraising activity was Tapestrama, where we had a food booth, and sold sausages and buns, lentil soup and bread, and delicious desserts to promote our German heritage. It was a success as usual; the organizers always want us back.

We didn’t have a German school in 2015/26 as we weren’t able to ind a teacher. Our search is ongoing.

Our main “fun” activity was our Christmas party. Good food, good friends, good times! A very enjoyable time was had by all!

We’re still hoping to have a Kafe Klatsch before the lake season starts ... although now that the nice weather is here we’d better hurry!

Prince Albert German Canadian Club WaldhornLaurie Fabrick, Secretary

Regina Austrian Edelweiss Dance GroupMedrie Purdham

In 2015, the Regina Austrian Edelweiss Dance Group celebrated many successful events both at home and away, as we continued to foster and convey our appreciation of Austrian culture. We encouraged some movement between our dance groups, as senior dancers mentored our most experienced intermediates in advanced dances and an ambitious junior or two joined the intermediates for selected dances.

The Regina Austrian Edelweiss dancers visited three nursing homes in May 2015 as part of the “bring a little Mosaic to you” initiative, which allows residents who might otherwise be unable to make the trip from club to club during the annual Mosaic festival to take in some of the traditional dancing done throughout Regina. We are always met by very enthusiastic audiences at

the nursing homes, and we enjoy the opportunity to make outings as an entire club.

At this year’s annual Mosaic festival (June 4, 5, and 6), more than 2000 visitors passed through our doors. We ofered our guests a continual program of dance and other traditional Austrian entertainment, as well as food prepared on-site. We adopted “The Sound of Music” as our theme, as a tribute to the movie’s 50th anniversary, and were proud to share “a few of our favourite things” with the broader Regina community.

After a summer break, we reconvened in the fall for a new season of dance. It was a relatively quiet fall, as our irst nursing home performance was cancelled due to an outbreak. We welcomed several new juniors and enjoyed ourselves

on our own premises, dressing up on Hallowe’en and getting together for a Christmas party.

Our calendar was full in February, beginning with two fundraisers. The irst was a family-oriented carnival, full of games and prizes for the younger set, as well as face-painting and a bounce house. Our dance groups also performed at the Austrian Club’s Schnitzel Night fundraiser. A nursing home performance and a session of strudel-making rounded out the month.

On March 20, our junior and intermediate dancers participated in “Spring Free From Racism,” joining children from clubs across the Regina Multicultural Association. This annual event on the grounds of the Italian club draws a large audience and features food, fellowship and fun!

Dr. Michael Oelck, attend Oktoberfest. A fun evening was had by all. The EMERALDS from Edmonton provided the music and the ALPENROSEN dancers from Saskatoon provided the entertainment. Mark your calendar for October 28, 2016, for our upcoming OKTOBERFEST.

Dec 13, 2015- We had our Christmas

Supper and party with approx. 20 people in attendance. A turkey supper was enjoyed by all, followed by an evening of socializing and games.

It is with great sadness that we report that 2 of our founding members passed away in 2015. Edeltraut Stolle on Feb 21, 2015 & Hans Strunk on May 15, 2015. They were dedicated

members till their health no longer allowed them to be active. Our sympathies go out to all the family members & friends.

Thank you to all our Members and Friends of the Lloydminster German Heritage Society for working and helping to make our year a success.

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Regina German Film ClubIlona Beck, Coordinator

After the summer break the Regina German Film Club started its new season later than usual in January 2016. This year’s ilm series featured Mathias Schwaighoefer in various ilms mastered over the years of his brilliant career. After having experienced the actor Schwaighoefer in rather comical roles in the past his performance as Friedrich Schiller in “Schiller- Leben und Leiden eines Jahrhundert-Genies” and impersonating Marcel Reich-Ranicki in “Mein Leben: Marcel Reich-Ranicki” was very convincing to our audience. Both movies were followed by spontaneous discussion and the

need to share impressions, thoughts and experiences. In addition we showed the Swiss comedy “Herbstzeitlosen” that touched many of the audience - leaving everyone with a warm and uplifting feeling that there is meaning and happiness in every stage of life. The movie “Die Geliebten Schwestern” ended the indoor season. Due to renovations at the George Bothwell Library in Regina we had to move the performances to the Sunset branch for the time being. The upcoming fall season will resume at the George Bothwell location with new selection of movies that draws a wide range of

people to our regular German movie events. All movies are free of charge and everybody is welcome to attend. Please spread the word if you like what we ofer!

Again we will end the season with our summer out door movie special “Movie under the Stars” accompanied by BBQ. We will feature a happy summer movie – be surprised! Hopefully many of you can join us on the deck and garden of our summer hosts “the Reinkens family”. For more information or if you wish to receive regular invitations please email Ilona Beck at Ilona.m.beck@gmail.com

Saskatchewan Association of Teachers of GermanJames Funk, President

The SATG (Saskatchewan Association of the Teachers of German) is a special subject area council formed under the Saskatchewan Teacher’s Federation to support and promote the teachers of German in Saskatchewan. We currently have 16 members, and we organize an annual language contest, generously supported by the SGC, host a fall professional development workshop and annually publish a magazine, “Prisma”.

We teach a total of approximately 260 students, which includes students in 6 High Schools (one of those is an on-line school), and two

language schools. Classes are ofered to a great variety of ages; from pre-school to adult conversational classes. We collaborate to ofer the German Language Diploma program to our students through the Saskatoon German Language School.

Our language contest wrapped up last spring where students were able to compete at their own schools, sending in their tests to the indefatigable Josephin Dick. We had a good increase in the number of participants, since students did not need to give up the travel time in order to compete. While we were granted a 4-week travel prize to the

top student from the Pädagogische Austauschdienst, we were unable to award it on account of the many restrictions placed on that prize by the PAD, much to our frustrations. We remain grateful to the generous support from the SGC and Saskatchewan Lotteries in providing money to ofer in prize money to the top students. We are currently in the closing phases of this year’s contest.

We invited Andreas Meckes, the new language consultant from Germany currently based in Edmonton, Alberta, and Marje Zschiesche-Stock from the Goethe-Institut Toronto to provide some professional

In April, we ventured to White City for a performance at William Albert House. Seniors also performed at Regina’s Cornwall Centre shopping mall.

Our senior dancers are currently preparing to travel to Calgary for the upcoming Maifest, which will very shortly be followed by the next Mosaic: we look forward to sharing news of these events in next year’s

report. As always, we are grateful to the Saskatchewan German Council for its ongoing support of our activities. We continue to build and share our repertoire of dances drawn from the folk traditions of Austria.

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SKAT Club SaskatoonSiegrid Fahr

The Saskatoon Skat group is a group of avid card players who make an efort to keep alive the FANTASTIC German heritage card game of SKAT. We congregate every wednesday evening at 6:30 to play skat. Every year we conduct tournaments at easter and Christmas time as well

as an annual tournament (which is attended by participants from all over Canada and the U.S. and even the occasional German or South American card player). We strive to get people to take an interest in the game by setting up a display at Folkfest to ind interested

card players, who then are run through our beginners lessons in September, October and November. We appreciate greatly the ongoing support of the Sask. German Council and are thrilled to see some funding for travel expenses.... THANK YOU.

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran ChurchFrieda Koenig

Trinity is one of the oldest Lutheran churches in Regina established in 1906. German was the dominant language for services then. German services are still held every Sunday morning; however, the attendance has become very small due to the post-war immigrants most of them have died or are in nursing homes.

Pastor Lindsay Hognestad has been conducting English and German Services for about 25 years, irstly at St. Pauls and now at Trinity with the two congregations merging in 2003. Sadly to report, Pastor Lindsay will be retiring this coming July.

Trinity has an active choir who performs at the German and English services every Sunday. Choir practices are on Wednesday at 7 p.m. under the talented leadership of Dr. David Dick and his wife Lara Janzen.

The long time organist is Hertha Pfeifer.

Under the supervision of Dagmar Crumley there is an active Sunday School program at 11 am every Sunday. Conirmation classes are held on Wednesdays and the youth group is presently raising funds to attend the national conference in Prince Edward Island in the summer.

The Quilting group meets every Tuesday morning and crafts beautiful quilts which are for sale. The funds as well as quilts are donated to Canadian Lutheran World Relief.

Some of the major congregational functions were the free Community Barbeque in August, Fowl Supper on November 8, Pancake supper on Shrove Tuesday, Beef Supper on April 16.

Bible Vacation school was held the last week of July.

The church hall is also utilized by various other groups such as the Women’s Christian Association for breakfast on the third Tuesday of the month, the Bible Society annual Tea, Community Association programs, meeting of the Germans from Russia, etc.

For further information please visit our website at www.trinityregina.ca or e-mail trinityoice@trinityregina.ca or telephone 306-757-7729. Our location is 1909 Ottawa Street, Regina.

development at our fall conference. We met at Luther College in Regina and were inspired to use debate as well as new technologies in our language classrooms.

Other activities: We sent two delegates to the Canadian Association of the Teachers of

German (CATG) in February for that conference in Montreal, and our Vice-President, Sabine Zagoricnic-Wecker was able to represent the SATG at the SGC Round Table discussions in Davidson. We are inalizing the details on the bookmarks that we will be printing from the SGC grant from last year. We plan to put a QR code

on the bookmark, which we will hand out as promotional materials when we host open houses or visit schools with mini-language lessons or otherwise, which will take students to our website and learn more about the advantages of German language instruction.

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Volksliederchor Harmonie, ReginaMary Kondzielewski

The Volksliederchor Harmonie celebrated 60 years of singing at our annual Spring Concert at the German Club in Regina on Sunday, May 3, 2015.

During the long weekend in May 2015, the Choir attended Sängerfest in Edmonton. Sängerfest is a bi-annual event in which German choirs in western Canada come together to present a concert of German songs. The inal Sängerfest is scheduled for May 2017 in Calgary.

Other Choir events this past year include:

September 12, 2015: the Choir was

one of several groups that provided entertainment after supper at the German Club’s 60th Anniversary Celebration.

September 25, 2015: we hosted the 3rd annual Harvest Fest, serving onion cake, potato soup, apple cider and German wines and sang traditional seasonal songs.

November 28, 2015: choir members took part in the 4th annual ChristkindlMarkt.

December 1, 2015: the choir sang at the Rotary Carol Festival, held at the Knox-Metropolitan United Church in downtown Regina.

December 6, 2015: Weihnachtskonzert (our annual Christmas Concert) took place at the German Club, interim director/conductor was Stewart Wilkinson.

January 2016: Tuesday night practices resumed with interim director/conductor Michael Fry.

Zichydorf Village AssociationGlen Schwartz, President

Happy Birthday to us! We are cele-

brating the 20th anniversary of our

founding in April 1996.

As is usual, we acquired a few village

family books during the past year, in-

cluding three new publications about

foundational villages in the Banat

area, one of which was six volumes.

We also added a few translations to

our web site. While it might seem

that translating German articles to

English undermines our German cul-

ture, the fact is that the vast majority

of our members do not speak Ger-

man. English translation is the only

way to make their culture and history

available to them.

Outside of the usual activity, our ma-

jor project this year was our involve-

ment in the Saskatchewan Genea-

logical Society Spring Conference in

April, 2016. President Glenn Schwartz

was on the planning committee and

acted as Master of Ceremonies. We

sponsored three speaker sessions

and had a display table.

Also with respect to the Saskatch-

ewan Genealogical Society, we have

made a four year commitment to

their Demolish the Deicit campaign.

This is in recognition of the fact that

the SGS has housed our library since

our founding.

Last summer we upgraded our web

site at zichydorfonline.org. Although

it looks the same, there was a lot of

work done behind the scenes to re-

duce the amount of spam that was

getting through.

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37

38

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

STATEMENT OF OPERATIONS

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

2016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

Grant Revenue:

Sask Trust for Sport, Culture and RecreationAnnual Global Funding $ 179,670 174,440Multicultural Initiatives Fund 15,000 15,000Capacity Building Grant - (63)

194,670 189,377Government Revenue

Canadian Heritage Funding 1,500 1,500Service Canada - Summer Student Grant 3,264 2,880Ministry of Economy 51,694 50,637

56,458 55,017

Earned Revenues - Schedule 1 7,552 10,672Private Sector Revenue

Donations 50 -

Total Revenue 258,730 255,066Expenditures:

Personnel 102,846 103,415Office operation - Schedule 2 15,496 14,045Organizational business cost - Schedule 3 8,370 9,623Travel and meetings - Schedule 4 13,803 14,130Publications - newsletter 14,017 14,056Immigration Settlement 45,921 44,378Member Funding Programs - Schedule 5 38,135 32,294Programs - Schedule 6 12,003 12,174Sponsorship 1,000 1,150

251,591 245,265

Excess (deficiency) of revenues over expenditures - restated $ 7,139 9,801

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

39

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

Internally

Restricted Unrestricted

Total

2016

Total

2015

Balance, beginning of year aspreviously reported $ 40,000 16,830 56,830 50,935

Correction of an error (Note 8) - 1,210 1,210 (2,696)

Balance at March 31- restated 40,000 18,040 58,040 48,239

Excess (deficiency) of revenuesover expenditures - restated - 7,139 7,139 9,801

Balance, end of year $ 40,000 25,179 65,179 58,040

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

40

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

2016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

Cash provided by (used in):

Operating activities:Excess of revenues over expenditures $ 7,139 9,801Item not involving an outlay of cash:

Amortization 550 550

7,689 10,351

Changes in non-cash working capital:Accounts receivable 559 1,171Accounts payable and accrued liabilities (1,031) (13,918)Deferred revenue 4,724 (17,639)

11,941 (20,035)Investing activities:

Purchase of term deposits (net) (5,000) (35,000)

Net change in cash during the year 6,941 (55,035)

Cash position, beginning of year 30,198 85,233

Cash position, end of year $ 37,139 30,198

Cash position is comprised of cash in bank less outstanding cheques.

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

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SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

March 31, 2016

1. MISSION

The Saskatchewan German Council Inc. is a non-profit corporation dedicated to providing cultural programs

and support to its members.

2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES

These financial statements are prepared in accordance with Canadian accounting standards for not-for-profit

organizations and include the following significant accounting policies.

(a) Revenue Recognition

The organization follows the deferral method of accounting for contributions. Restricted contributions

are recognized as revenue in the year in which the related expenses are incurred. Unrestricted

contributions are recognized as revenue when received or receivable if the amount to be received can be

reasonably estimated and collection is reasonably assured. Endowment contributions are recognized as

direct increases in net assets. Revenues from the Saskatchewan Lotteries Trust Fund for Sport, Culture

and Recreation are shown as deferred revenues if they relate to the next fiscal period and as grants

receivable if they relate to the current fiscal period and are not received by the end of the current fiscal

period.

(b) Capital Assets

Capital assets are recorded at cost. Amortization is calculated on a straight-line basis over the asset's

estimated useful life.

(c) Income Taxes

The organization is exempt from income taxes as it is a non-profit organization.

(d) Financial Instruments

Financial instruments, including cash, short term investments, accounts receivable, and accounts payable

and accrued liabilities are initially recorded at their fair value and are subsequently measured at

amortized cost, net of any provisions for impairment.

(e) Measurement uncertainty

The preparation of the financial statements in conformity with Canadian generally accepted accounting

principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts of assets

and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of income and expenses

during the year. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Differences are reflected in current

earnings when identified.

42

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

March 31, 2016

3. CAPITAL ASSETS

2016 2015

Cost

Accumulated

Amortization

Net

Book Value

Net

Book Value

Furniture and fixtures $ 21,185 18,971 2,214 2,763Computer hardware 5,791 5,791 - -Computer software 2,069 2,069 - -

$ 29,045 26,831 2,214 2,763

4. LEASE COMMITMENTS

The organization has a lease commitment for office rent as follows:

2017 $ 5,8142018 5,8142019 5,814

5. INTERNALLY RESTRICTED NET ASSETS

Internally restricted net assets represent a reserve set up by the Board of Directors to meet obligations if in thefuture grants are not sufficient or in the case of unforeseen expenditures. The internally restricted assets havebeen invested in a term deposit maturing September 2016 earning interest at 1.05% per annum.

6. DEFERRED REVENUE

The organization receives funding from the Ministry of the Economy under the Gateway ConnectionsSettlement Advisors Program. An initial payment of $19,579 has been received for the 2016 program, ofwhich $13,985 was earned in the current year and $5,594 has been deferred to 2016/17. The deferred revenueat March 31, 2015 consisted of prepaid memberships.

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SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

March 31, 2016

7. FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

Risks and concentrations

The entity is exposed to various risks through its financial instruments. The following analysis provides ameasure of the entity’s risk exposure and concentrations at March 31, 2016.

Liquidity risk

Liquidity risk is the risk that an entity will encounter difficulty in meeting obligations associated withfinancial liabilities. The entity is exposed to this risk mainly in respect of its accounts payable.

Credit Risk

The Company is exposed to minimal credit risks on the accounts receivable as the receivables are due fromgovernment agencies.

Market risk

Market risk is the risk that the fair value of future cash flows of a financial instrument will fluctuate becauseof changes in market price. Market risk comprises of three types of risk : currency risk, interest rate risk andother price risk. The entity is mainly exposed to interest rate risk.

Interest rate risk

Interest rate risk is the risk that the fair value or future cash flows of a financial instrument will fluctuatebecause of changes in market interest rates. The entity is exposed to interest rate risk on its fixed and floatinginterest rate financial instruments.

8. CORRECTION OF AN ERROR

During the year, it was discovered that amortization had been calculated incorrectly in prior years andprogram payables from prior years should have been written off. As a result of the correction of the errors,2015 capital assets have decreased by $2,645, accounts payable have decreased by $3,855, opening net assetshave decreased by $2,696 and excess of revenue over expenditures has increased by $3,906.

44

Schedule 1

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

SCHEDULE OF EARNED REVENUES

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

2016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

Revenues:

Membership Fees $ 1,515 1,650Merchandise 89 402Advertising Sales 255 433Translations 1,581 711Interest 943 669Registration fees 2,464 858Other 705 5,949

$ 7,552 10,672

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

Schedule 2

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

SCHEDULE OF OFFICE OPERATION

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

2016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

Office Operation

Office supplies $ 2,007 1,609Postage and shipping 943 961Photocopying 547 351Rent 6,934 6,748Equipment service and repairs 533 -Special printing costs 1,285 1,260Telephone 1,229 1,242Internet 1,158 1,224Amortization 550 550Insurance 310 100

$ 15,496 14,045

45

Schedule 3

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

SCHEDULE OF ORGANIZATION BUSINESS COST

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

2016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

Organizational Business

Fees and charges 765 1,557Bank charges $ 169 491Audit 4,945 5,154Membership fees 150 200Other 2,341 2,221

$ 8,370 9,623

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

Schedule 4

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

SCHEDULE OF TRAVEL AND MEETINGS

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

2016

2015

(Restated -Note 8)

Travel and Meetings

Annual general meeting $ 5,170 7,047Travel - staff 1,175 1,390Travel - volunteer 7,458 5,693

$ 13,803 14,130

46

Schedule 5

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

SCHEDULE OF MEMBER FUNDING PROGRAMS

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

2016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

American Historical Society of Germans from Russia, Regina

Schmeckfest (Food-Tasting Festival) $ 50 125Austrian Edelweiss Club, Regina

Mosaic 1,000 -Mural 400 -Rocktoberfest 528 -Schnitzel Fundraiser - 300Craft Gatherings - 500Children's Christmas Party 220 300Treffpunkt - 1,700

CFCR Radio, Saskatoon

Treffpunkt Deutschland 748 850The Classical Connection 88 100

Concordia Alpenrose Schuplattler Verein, Saskatoon

Folkfest 80 100New Bench dance group 60 -

Concordia Brass Band, Saskatoon - -Acquisition of Music 400 600Rehearsals 436 500Financial assistance with hall rental for rehearsals 240 560

Concordia Junior Alpenrose Dancers

Logo Design 80 -Bench Dance 80 -

Estevan & District German Freundschaft Society

German Christmas Market 132 -Folkart Group

Bird Houses and Bird Feeders - 300German Canadian Society Harmonie, Regina

60th Anniversary 800 -Oktoberkinderfest 440 -Das Volle Lederpaket Schuhplattler Verein 880 -Weihnachtsfeier 264 300Oktoberfest - 300

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

47

Schedule 5

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

SCHEDULE OF MEMBER FUNDING PROGRAMS - continued

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 20152016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

German Cultural Centre Saskatoon

Oktoberfest $ 308 300Christkindl Markt 264 200Spargelfest 120 200Program Support - 200

German Heritage Society of Humboldt & District

German Junior Folk Dancers, Saskatoon

Open House 240 -Reorganization and Awareness - 1,000Folkfest - 300Instruction of new folk dancing 800 1,000Mini Cultural Permance(s) 880 800Longterm Display and Contest 704 -

German Russian Cultural Group

Leader 800 -Humboldt & District German Heritage Society

30th Anniversary 440 -St. Nikolaus Tag 207 200

Imhoff Heritage Society

Berthold von Imhoff Centennial 1914-2014 - 800Jagd-und Fisch Verein "Waidmanns Lust", Regina

Shooting Competition 190 450Karnevalsgesellschaft Harmonie, Regina

Crowning 440 500Kinderfasching and Christmas Party 352 300Dance Group 880 1,000Folkfest 320 900

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

48

Schedule 5

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

SCHEDULE OF MEMBER FUNDING PROGRAMS - continued

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 20152016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

Kochloffel & Nudelholz, Saskatoon

Medieval Feast 160 -Cooking and Baking Classes and Family Events 220 -

KulturGarten Saskatoon

Adventsfeier 132 -Melville German Club

Railway Days 240 -Melville & District German Heritage Club

Oktoberfest 308 300Mennonite Heritage Village, Swift Current

Prince Albert German Canadian Club Waldhorn

Tapestrama 160 200German Language Classes 80 200

Regina Austrian Edelweiss Dancers

Dance Instructors 1,592 -7th Western Canadian Schuhplattler's Maifest Workshop - 450Family Carnival 176 300

Regina German Film Club

German Film Nights 176 210Saskatchewan Association of Teachers of German

German Language Contest - 450Saskatchewan German Culture Assistance Fund, Saskatoon

Bursaries - 1,000Skat Club Saskatoon

Saskatchewan Skat Tournament 200 400University of Saskatchewan German Circle

Volksliederchor Concordia, Saskatoon

Spring Concert 80 200Christmas Concert 176 200

Volksliederchor Harmonie

Winefest - 500Volksliederchor Harmonie, Regina

Honoraria for Director & Accomponist, Winter Choral Session 880 1,000Saengerfest 800 -Christmas DVD - 400

Costume Funding 6,000 2,999School/Preschool Funding 12,155 12,355Treffpunkt Weekend 1,800 -Adjustment for Prior Year Projects Not Completed (1,071) (3,555)

Total Program Expenditures $ 38,135 32,294

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

49

Schedule 6

SASKATCHEWAN GERMAN COUNCIL INC.

SCHEDULE OF PROGRAMS AND SPONSORSHIP

Year ended March 31, 2016

with comparative figures for 2015

2016 2015

(Restated -Note 8)

PROGRAMS

25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall $ - 4,156Bursaries 500 1,000Children's Choir 1,500 -Christmas Card Contest 185 182Diversity Project 1,000 414Family Fun Day 1,669 864Festival of Trees 361 470Florian Hoefner Jazz - 383Internment Awareness Project 500 2,022Library Acquisitions 327 -Mini Language Lesson Kits - 23Online German Course - (167)Public Awareness Project - 1,554Reunification Anniversary 545 -SaskGerman Weekly - 126Settlement Map - 130Strategic Planning 4,020 -Volunteer Recognition 343 267WeAreSK 750 750Other Projects 303 -

Total Program Expenditures $ 12,003 12,174

SPONSORSHIP

Rotary Club of the Battlefords - Folkfest $ 500 -Spiritwood Folkfest 500 -Summer Solstice Festival Gravelbourg - Solstice International Food

Festival - 1,000Saskatoon North Park/Richmond Heights Community Association

Oktoberfest - 150

Total Sponsorships $ 1,000 1,150

See accompanying notes to the financial statements.

50

Notes

51

Overview of SGC Environment

Saskatchewan Parks and

Recreation AssociationSaskSport

(Lottery License)

Ministry of the EconomyMinistry of Parks,

Culture and Sport

Saskatchewan Lotteries Trust Fund

for Sport, Culture and RecreationSaskatchewan Arts Board

SaskCulture

Government of Canada

Service Canada

Canadian Heritage

Annual Global Funding

Multicultural Initiatives Fund

Capacity Building Grant

Government of Saskatchewan

Broader Cultural Community of Saskatchewan39 SGC Member Organizations

47 Individual Members

52

Saskatchewan German Council Inc.510 Cynthia Street Saskatoon, SK S7L 7K7

Phone: 306-975-0845Fax: 306-242-8007 Website: www.saskgermancouncil.orgE-mail: office@saskgermancouncil.org