WEYBURN - I did some time-travelling in the past week, as I prepared some materials for the upcoming 110th anniversary of Weyburn as a City. I was looking over some of the past history of our community, and looked at the sheer volume of history that’s happened here.
Among the more recent items I came across was one of the most memorable historical moments that I can recall in this city, namely the visit by film and TV star Kiefer Sutherland in October of 2010.
He visited for the express purpose of unveiling the statue of his grandfather, T.C. Douglas, on the banks of the Souris River. He spent most of that day here, visiting the T.C. Douglas Centre and the artifacts there of the former premier, as well as being the guest of honour for speeches at the Weyburn Legion Hall.
Lately we’ve been watching some old series in the evenings. and just finished the entire nine seasons of Sutherland’s “24” series, and are now going through the three seasons of “Designated Survivor”, where this Canadian actor plays the president of the United States. These are on top of the many movies he’s been in over the years, ranging from “A Time to Kill” to “A Few Good Men”, “The Three Musketeers” and the more recent “Phone Booth” with Colin Ferrell, and “Forsaken”, co-starring his father, Donald Sutherland.
What I recall from his visit here were the stories about his grandfather, and his incredible patience with the fans he met here.
He held the door open for me as we left the T.C. Douglas Centre, which was a surprise to me, but then I saw how gracious and polite he was with his fans. It did not matter how long the lines were at the Legion, or at the statue unveiling, he talked to people and signed his autograph.
Selfies weren’t quite a thing yet in 2010, as most people either had little cameras, or real ones, like the many, many photographers from local, provincial and national media who came to see him unveil his grandfather’s statue.
As he left the statue site, a fan asked if he was going to do any more “24” shows, and he said that might happen. As we now know, it didn’t happen, other than the “24 Legacy” show which he didn’t appear in – but then, he got to play the president, which is pretty good for a guy whose grandpa was the premier of Saskatchewan.
