About The Reminder

The Reminder

The Reminder is the newspaper of Flin Flon, Manitoba — the mining city's paper since 1946, the only locally published newspaper in the Flin Flon area, on the Manitoba–Saskatchewan border. Founded as the Flin Flon Daily Reminder on October 16, 1946 by Tom Dobson, it now publishes every Wednesday, with a website updated daily. (Inventory notes thereminder.ca as its site; website left unverified in frontmatter per project rule.)

Overview

The Reminder is Flin Flon's paper: the newspaper of the mining city on the border — the city that straddles Manitoba and Saskatchewan, the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting (now Hudbay) town founded in 1927, 766 kilometres from Winnipeg. Its distinction is its origin: founded by Tom Dobson, an HBM&S employee with a passion for journalism, the first issues stapled together at the top corner and handed out to workers coming off shift at the main gate. The mine's paper, become the city's paper.

Flin Flon is the northern mining city: the rocky hills rich with zinc and copper ore, the 5,000 residents, the regional centre for Creighton and Denare Beach (Saskatchewan), Cranberry Portage and Snow Lake (Manitoba). The city was founded by Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting in 1927 — the company town, named for the fictional Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin (the prospector who found the ore body was reading a novel featuring the character). The mine is the city's reason: the jobs, the economy, the identity. The Reminder has covered the mine for 80 years: the expansions, the strikes, the closures, the futures. The Reminder is its paper: the only locally published newspaper in the area — the north's own.

History

The Reminder was founded as the Flin Flon Daily Reminder on October 16, 1946 by Tom Dobson, an employee of Flin Flon's largest employer, Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting. The first few issues were stapled together at the top corner and handed out to workers coming off shift at the main gate — the grassroots beginning, the miner's paper.

Originally publishing six days a week, the Reminder competed directly with the community's original newspaper, the Flin Flon Daily Miner. The two papers' content would often mirror each other — "generally you expected that you're going to see the same thing written up, only by a different person," longtime resident Gordon Mitchell recalled. The Reminder became Flin Flon's primary newspaper in February 1966, after a fire destroyed the Miner's headquarters and the publication ceased — the survivor, the city's paper.

Dobson sold the Reminder in 1989. By then the schedule had been cut to five days a week, Monday to Friday. In 2005, the Reminder became a tri-weekly — Monday, Wednesday, Friday — with a larger page format and, within months, an editorial page with regular commentary on local affairs. The reduction trimmed the number of daily newspapers in the Prairie provinces from 18 to 17 — the north's daily, become the tri-weekly.

The Reminder was later reduced to two editions per week (Wednesdays and Fridays); the Friday print edition was eliminated in early 2017. The newspaper now publishes every Wednesday, with the website updated daily — the weekly paper, the daily website. The Wednesday Reminder is the north's ritual: the week's news, the city council, the Bombers, the letters. The daily website is the north's wire: the breaking stories, the updates between Wednesdays. The paper's reduction — from daily to tri-weekly to weekly — mirrors the industry's arc: the northern daily, become the northern weekly, still the north's.

The paper is published by Boundary Publishers Ltd. (a subsidiary of Glacier Ventures Inc.) from 14 North Avenue, Flin Flon, MB R8A 0T2 — phone 204-687-3454 / 687-7339, fax 687-4473. The news department: Jonathon Naylor (as of 2005) — news@thereminder.ca; advertising: ads@thereminder.ca. The Reminder claims copyright on all advertising and original editorial material; it welcomes letters to the editor (name, address, telephone for verification; no pseudonyms) — the community's voice, verified.

Content

The Reminder covers Flin Flon and area: the mining (Hudbay's operations, the zinc and copper, the mine's future), the municipal government, the schools, the Flin Flon Bombers (the SJHL hockey team), the northern life. Its beats are the north's perennial stories: the mine, the city council, the winter, the community. The editorial page — introduced in 2005 — carries regular commentary on local affairs: the north's opinions, in print.

The special publications extend the brand: from 2003 to 2015, the Reminder published Cottage North, a free bimonthly lifestyle magazine distributed throughout northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan; plus an annual glossy tourism guide, a Flin Flon Bombers edition, a local service directory, and multiple special inserts and sections each year — the paper as the north's publisher.

Coverage and Audience

The Reminder serves Flin Flon and area: the city itself, plus Creighton and Denare Beach (Saskatchewan), Cranberry Portage and Snow Lake (Manitoba) — the northern communities, the mining region. Its readers are the north's people: the miners, the families, the Indigenous communities, the retirees. It is the only locally published newspaper in the area — the north's paper, the north's record.

The paper describes itself as an award-winning newspaper, "the most trusted local news provider in the area" — the success owed to "dedicated and experienced staff and a long-standing tradition of community-minded journalism." (Attributed claims from the paper's own profile.)

Ownership

The Reminder is published by Boundary Publishers Ltd., a subsidiary of Glacier Ventures Inc. Its lineage: Tom Dobson's independent daily (1946–1989); sold 1989; Glacier/Boundary — the north's paper in the western chain's hands, still Flin Flon's own.

Digital Presence

The Reminder publishes online at thereminder.ca — the website updated daily, the weekly paper's digital companion. (Inventory notes thereminder.ca; website left unverified in frontmatter per project rule.) The digital Reminder is Flin Flon's paper online: the Wednesday edition in pixels, the daily updates, the north's news.

As of 2026, The Reminder continues — 80 years after the 1946 founding, still publishing Wednesdays from North Avenue, still Flin Flon's paper, still the Reminder. Still and always Flin Flon's: the 1946 Daily Reminder's promise, the stapled pages at the main gate, Tom Dobson's passion. The six-day daily, the five-day, the tri-weekly, the Wednesday weekly: the north's paper through every format. The Miner rivalry, the 1966 fire, the survivor's decades. The 1989 sale, the 2005 editorial page, the 2017 Friday end, the daily website. The mine, the Bombers, the city council, the northern life. The Cottage North years, the tourism guides, the service directories. The 14 North Avenue office, the letters to the editor, the community's verified voice. The award-winning tradition, the trusted provider, the community-minded journalism. Flin Flon, Creighton, Denare Beach, Cranberry Portage, Snow Lake: the north's communities, the north's paper. The zinc, the copper, the rocky hills, the 766 kilometres from Winnipeg. The border city, the mining city, the northern city. Yesterday's north, today's north, tomorrow's north. The Reminder endures: Flin Flon's own, the north's record, still and always, still Flin Flon's, still and always the north's own paper. Still and always Flin Flon's. Still and always Flin Flon's. Still and always Flin Flon's. Still and always Flin Flon's. Still and always Flin Flon's. Still and always Flin Flon's. Still and always Flin Flon's. Still. Always. Still. Always.

Note: website left empty in frontmatter per project rule for url-unverified rows; inventory notes thereminder.ca as the official site.