Biography

My Roots

Hello! My name is Minota. Growing up on a farm in rural Alberta, I learned the value of hard work and taking care of your neighbour - herding cows that escaped someone’s broken fence or pulling out a tractor from the mud to help meet a deadline or fighting fires in the neighbours’ crops.  Farm life required flexibility, too! Sometimes the community had to make the best they could when there were things outside of our control. After all, you can’t force the rain or snow.  My favourite memories of farm life were often unpredictable events like the time I was late for school because the calf we were hand feeding followed me and my brothers right up onto the bus!

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If you had met me as a child you probably would have seen me as a quiet and shy kiddo from a low-income blended family. For me, a family is more than blood ties – it is shared experiences – the full gambit of experiences!  There is a dance that often takes place between the family dynamics and when we all worked together the result was beautiful!  As a kid, I loved that my divorced parents were good friends and my stepdad got along with my dad’s parents.  As an adult, I am grateful for the care my family took to ensure we experienced a cohesive family, no matter how complex it was.

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