Local Immigration Leader Promotes Community Collaboration and Volunteerism

One of 10 people in the Agassiz constituency to receive the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, Don Walmsley credits volunteerism and giving back to the community with bringing him to the attention of the MLA for Agassiz, Eileen Clarke. He says it must have been hard for Minister Clarke to narrow it down to 10 awards because so many people are doing so much work for the area.

“I feel that giving back increases the richness of the community you live in,” says Walmsley. He himself is the son of a United Church minister who moved around to a number of different communities, which he credits with giving him a strong sense of giving back. He and his wife moved to Neepawa in 1982 with a plan to say about two years, but have now been in the community for forty-plus years and raised two children here.

For the last decade, Walmsley has been executive director of Neepawa and Area Immigrant Settlement Services, which gives him a unique perspective from which to view the community as a whole and the ways in which its members contribute to it. Even the major projects such as the new hospital and the new school which will be opening in 2025 and 2027 respectively, are now making the community larger, stronger and more vibrant come as a result of the spirit of collaboration involved. Each required community champions and a lot of behind-the-scenes work, often thankless, to bring people, organisations, and governments together to make them happen.

"When we take a look at collaboration,” says Walmsley, “what has really made me so happy is it's not just simply the ones who have been here, born here, came here in the early days, but also out newcomers." Many of the newest residents of Neepawa have come from places where community is important and have brought that ethos with them, from joining faith-based groups, to creating volunteer groups to help with community clean-up, to organising huge festivals such as Filipino Heritage Month which in 2022 brought together an estimated 3000 people.

Walmsley makes a point of highlighting several organisations that provide an opportunity to give back to the community, including the Neepawa Community Ministries Centre, which runs the local food bank, the Men’s Shed, historic service groups such as the Lions Club or Rotary Club, and faith-based organisations. Many of these have been entrenched in the community for some time but others, such as the Men’s Shed, are relative newcomers to the scene.

For anyone wanting to become involved with an existing organisation, or even a new one, it can sometimes feel intimidating. Walmsley offers the simple advice to bring along a couple of friends, and to not worry so much about not knowing everything or being able to do everything, especially right at the start. “It’s not about excelling,” says Walmsley, “it’s about doing.”

In conclusion, Walmsley believes that we need to do more to encourage people to engage in the little things, because the little things become big things. "I don't care how you do it, but remember, if you're living in a place, give a little back, because there may be a time when you need a lot."