Canada is a big country.
You get a lot of time to ponder the great area of this nation when driving from Manitoba to B.C., a drive which I had to do to reach Quesnel to begin at the Quesnel Cariboo Observer.
My name is Cassidy Dankochik, and I am the new reporter for the Quesnel newspaper.
I started my reporting journey in my hometown of Gimli, a fishing and tourist town on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. In January of 2013, I applied for a reporters job on a whim. Despite a complete lack of experience and skill, I started freelancing for my local paper.
I spent the next few years freelancing and working summer jobs at various weekly newspapers throughout Manitoba, including stops in small towns such as Winkler and Altona.
I decided the next step in my career would be some formal training, and did a two year program at Red River College in Winnipeg — immediately transitioning to a job in Flin Flon, a mining community in northern Manitoba.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on local news in Manitoba. Every paper I’ve worked for in Manitoba besides Flin Flon was forced to close. Several more in communities I was connected to shuttered as well.
With the industry in flux, I decided to set sail and see what other places were hiring.
What drew me to Quesnel is it’s a combination of my previous longer-term stops. I spent a year before heading to college in Altona, a farming community, covering the Manitoba Stampede. Flin Flon is a resource extraction community, with a large copper and zinc mine as the main economic driver.
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I look forward to exploring the area, and adding to the long and proud history of the Observer.
My philosophy as a journalist is to learn a little bit with each story I write — so if you feel like teaching something, give me a shout, either at the office (250-992-2121), by e-mail (cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com), on Twitter, or when you see me out in the community.
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
@GimliJetsMan
cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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