Jules Xavier
Shilo Stag

Seventy-six years ago when the inaugural Shilo Stag was published and distributed on this Base, Kodak Tri-X black and white film was used in what would now be considered an antique camera your grandfather brought out at family outings.
Layout was done the old-fashion way — wax, pica ruler, Photo Mechanical Transfers (PMTs), hot-lead type — by hand once the typesetting was done. Film was processed in a darkroom using Kodak D76 chemicals.
Reporters did interviews in person, not on-line, or via the dial telephone when you did not need to use an area code before the number. In fact, in 1947 you did not need an area code for making calls in Manitoba — there weren’t that many phones compared to the population of Manitoba today. A phone number in Brandon 50 years ago was PA6-5377.
There were no fax machines, computers, digital cameras or cell phones. A lot has changed for the current Stag Team compared to seven decades ago when it was military staff producing your community newspaper.
A lot was happening in Canada in ‘47 — Jan. 1 Canadian Citizenship Act 1946 comes into effect; Jan. 2 Dominion of Newfoundland (later a province in ‘49) switches to driving on the right from the left; Jan. 27 the cabinet order deporting Japanese-Canadians to Japan is repealed after widespread protests; Feb. 13 oil is discovered near Leduc, Alberta; May 14 Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 is repealed; June 15 laws limiting Asian immigration to Canada are repealed and Canadians of Asian descent are allowed to vote in federal elections; July 22 two new nuclear reactors go online at the Chalk River research facility; Sept. 30 last group of personnel who had been on active service, for the Second World War, since Sept. 1, 1939, stood down; Dec. 29 federal law was changed such that Canadian women no longer lost their citizenship automatically if they married non-Canadians.
Stuart Garson was premier of Manitoba, while William Lyon Mackenzie King was our prime minister. Our dollar bill and all paper currency, plus coins, featured the face of King George VI, father of our current monarch Queen Elizabeth II.
Turning 70 this year are a number of famous Canadians: Andrea Martin, actress and comedian; Abby Hoffman, track and field athlete; Kim Campbell, politician and 19th — and first female — prime minister of Canada; Lynn Johnston, cartoonist; Rosella Bjornson, airline pilot, first female pilot for a commercial airline in North America; Ken Dryden, ice hockey player, politician, lawyer, businessman and author; RH Thomson, actor; and Burton Cummings, musician and songwriter who was born in Winnipeg.
This Base has been a training facility for the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) since 1910, and saw an increase in its use as a training facility following the outbreak of the Great War, with nearby Camp Hughes home to thousands of soldiers preparing themselves for the battlefields of Belgium and France.
The principal purpose of this Base is for training in artillery and munitions, activities audibly recognized, though not begrudged, by generations of nearby residents. In 1942, training of the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion was transferred here from Fort Benning, Georgia. Five years later, the Base introduced soldiers and their families to this newspaper.
When Canada was celebrating its centennial in 1967, The Stag as it was called then, was issued under the authority of BComd Col Orton, with the content “edited and approved” by Capt Rennie. His assistant editor was Lt Walker.
Fifty years ago you could buy an Impala Sport Coupe or Caprice Custom Sedan at Western Motors at 10th and Princess in Brandon. Brown’s Drug Store at 902 Rosser Ave. had the Asahi Pentax SIA film camera on sale for $149.95 (regular price $202.40). Safeway in Brandon sold chuck steak 55 cents per pound, hamburger 59 cents per pound, California peaches 49 cents per pound or a gallon of ice cream for $1.29. A blade roast for Sunday supper would cost you 59 cents per pound.
Going back to 1964, the newspaper was referred to as Camp Shilo Stag, with Col Hunt as BComd, while Lt Busby “edited and approved” the content. A yearly subscription was $2.50. Camp Shilo’s new GSM was Clifford Ludtke, who served with the PPCLI during the Second World War and Korean War. The Base was also actively involved in Brandon’s annual Travellers Day parade.
Five years later, The Shilo Stag was under the authority of BComd Col Francis, while Capt Numbers was editor in a six-person newsroom, which included photographer Sgt Hull and teen editor Sharlene Rowland and ladies editor Thelma McFarland.
While 75 years might seem young, your now defunct Base newspaper has been around as long as some of the other CAF publications serving other Canadian Bases.
While we’re not the oldest, we’re close when you compare publishing dates for the following: CFB Petawawa Post ‘44, CFB Esquimalt RCN Gangway ‘43 (now the Lookout), CFB Trenton Contact ‘40 (now published by newspaper giant Metroland 2011) and CFB Borden Citizen ‘48.
Younger Base newspapers include: 17 Wing Winnipeg Voxair ‘52, CFB Comox Totem Times ‘60, CFB Cold Lake Courier ‘54, then reborn in ‘67, CFB North Bay Shield ‘66 (first moniker was The Jet), CFB St. Jean/Montreal Servir 1993 (fusion of the Aladin and Parapet), CFB Halifax Trident ‘66, CFB Val Cartier Adsum ‘72. CFB Greenwood’s community newspaper was born in 1953 as the Wings over Greenwood. Its moniker later changed to The Angus, then to its current The Aurora.
The last Shilo Stag was published on Aug. 11, 2022, with the paper coming off the press in Killarney, Manitoba. The paper has been replaced by a website, which went live on Nov. 1, 2022.