ZENON PARK, Sask. – May showers dampened Francis Chabot’s seeding intentions, but gave him time off to attend his son’s high school play and share a meal with a daughter visiting from Calgary.
Family and community are central to Chabot’s life on a 1,280 acre farm in northeastern Saskatchewan.
For his longtime involvement in everything from Scouts to parks to schools, the 49 year old has received numerous accolades, including a $1,000 Good Guy award from BASF Canada recognizing unsung rural heroes.
He pledged the money to the Zenon Park Fire Department/First Responders for 911 pagers and radios.
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The grains and oilseeds farmer remains in the home where he grew up watching his parents fill similar roles in the community.
“It’s something you end up taking pride in and hopefully the community benefits from it one way or another,” said Chabot. “I took a turn and got involved like everybody else.”
In addition to terms served on the local school board, arena and credit union boards, he also worked as the Pasquia regional park manager when it was named park of the year.
He said people need to participate to have their say, but noted such involvement is rarely without controversy. He pointed to a split in his community when a group wanted to establish a separate French school for the predominantly French speaking region.
The bilingual Chabot, whose parents migrated here from Quebec, felt the current school was providing adequate French education.
Now the town of 200 has two schools, both providing French language instruction.
“Our school really hasn’t changed,” he said.
Chabot feels strongly about preserving his town and believes success comes from an integrated approach that involves the surrounding community.
Recently the town merged a number of recreation boards into Community Partners, chaired by Chabot, to produce a more co-ordinated approach to operations, planning and fundraising.
Chabot’s daughter Danielle, home from university this day, called Zenon Park a “nice, small, tight community” and a good place to raise a family.
She and her siblings have no immediate plans to return to the family farm, saying their parents strongly encouraged off-farm experiences through work and education.
“Go try new stuff, don’t be scared,” she said. “(Dad) said you need to know how to fail before you can succeed.”
Chabot expects to operate the farm for at least another decade with his wife, Cathy, who works full-time as an X-ray technician in Nipawin and is also an active volunteer in the community.
Beyond farming, Chabot’s other interests include long distance travel on his Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, golfing, camping and hockey.
The former Junior B player, who spent a year at Wilcox’s Notre Dame school, draws much pride from his years coaching young players.
“It makes me feel good,” he smiled.
The amiable Chabot said volunteering allows him to meet people, take on leadership roles and hear other points of view.
“I can’t keep my mouth shut. I like to be with people.”
Former Zenon Park mayor Allan Georget, now managing a credit union in Arborg, Man., called Chabot’s approach to leadership proactive rather than reactive.
“He always had the mentality to never say die and let’s look ahead,” Georget said. “He’s a very diplomatic person to look at both sides of an issue and do the right thing the first time.”
Georget said the Pasquia golf course blossomed under Chabot’s leadership, through the creation of a pro shop and clubhouse, scheduled tee times, special golf events and fundraising lotteries.
“Francis is very dedicated to try to make things better,” he said.
