Zach Buchanan shares a year of adventure
Taking on the role of Saskatchewanderer brought Zane Buchanan back to where he was raised, after nearly a decade away. Buchanan left in 2010 to pursue an education, and lives in Toronto. He spent the past year getting reacquainted with his home province — and gaining a fresh perspective on it. As the year came to a close, Buchanan chatted with Amanda Short about his adventures across the province and the people he met.
Q Things have changed in Saskatchewan since you moved in 2010. What kind of exploring did you do before? How has the role helped reintroduce you to the province?
A I used to go camping with my family, mostly in the southern part of the province. Very minimal compared to what I’ve seen this year. But even after having travelling and exploring the province as my sole mission, there’s so much more to see.
So I think I’ve just brushed the surface.
I know for sure Saskatoon was a different city then. And there’s little things like the mass of land here that’s unoccupied; that sense of space is something that I would never really have noticed in the past and now I really appreciate.
Without this position, I would never think to explore my home province, and I’m so glad I did. Now, basically anywhere I go I’m always looking for what the hidden gems are, what I could find if I looked beyond what’s blatantly in front of me.
Q You’ve said that you wanted to build your term on a platform of diversity. How have you been able to do that?
A It was easier than anticipated. It comes through pretty organically
just by exploring the province. I didn’t really need to seek it out, I just needed to properly acknowledge it and know how to give a voice to it properly.
My Pride video kind of stemmed through my thing of wanting to profile all sorts of people within our province. I recognized that while I could give voice to a member of the LGBTQ2+ community, that would be a very generalized voice and it’s such a multi-dimensional group. If I wanted to do it service, I would have to have many voices contribute.
Q This was your first time living and celebrating Pride in your home province as an openly gay man. What did that mean for you? From what you’ve seen, how is Pride defined here both in terms of the event and more generally, within LGBTQ2+ communities in Saskatoon?
A 2010, when I left, was a completely different time for members of the LGBTQ2+ community, not just in Saskatchewan, but universally. It’s not easy to quantify acceptance, if that makes sense. But basically all that matters is that I had a really great time and was my authentic self the entire year.
This has not been a social year
for me — it’s been pretty ‘all work, no play.’ I mean, my work is pretty playful, but it’s been a bit isolating. I have this wonderful platform and my Pride video was a cool opportunity to reach out to people because I had never really immersed myself in that community.
Compared to Pride in Toronto and Vancouver, here you can feel that sense of community a bit more. I’ve never been moved by a Pride festivity, but I was pretty moved by Pride here. I went to four different festivities and it was pouring rain at all of them, but people were always there. I drove my vehicle in the Saskatoon parade and it was really cool to see people standing in the rain cheering me on.
Q What has really stood out?
A I’ve always been pretty outdoorsy, but going to some of the northern communities was a really cool experience, being without electricity or phone service or internet, or only eating what I caught.
I came back from Cumberland House feeling changed. There’s a lot of connection with the land there. It’s not really a tourism hot spot, but it’s the oldest western settlement in Canada, there’s so much history there and I really felt I took the most out of that.
One of the events I didn’t expect to take so much from was the Western Canada Summer Games in Swift Current. I’m not a big sports person, but it is just a very clear demonstration of communities that are very exclusive to Saskatchewan. They have something like 20,000 people that live there and they had 2,000 volunteers, like 10 per cent of the people in that community.
Q What have you learned and got out of this experience?
A It’s been more the people that I’ve met as opposed to the destinations I’ve found. Even the memories I take with me are simple things like sitting around a campfire chatting with people you wouldn’t find anywhere else but here.
As someone who struggled with social anxiety his whole life, it’s been a really cool opportunity just to kind of force myself, to put myself in situations that might make me uncomfortable and they’ve always turned out to be rewarding experiences.
This has been a wild ride. It’s not for the weak of heart; it’s been a very busy, busy, busy year, but I think I’m going to be forever changed by it.
This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed. amshort@postmedia.com