About The Minnedosa Tribune

The Minnedosa Tribune

The Minnedosa Tribune is the weekly newspaper of Minnedosa, Manitoba — the oldest continuously published weekly newspaper in Manitoba, and proclaimed the oldest weekly newspaper in the Canadian West. Published in Minnedosa since March 31, 1883, it has been designated a Manitoba Historical Society Centennial Business. (Inventory notes minnedosatribune.com as its site; website left unverified in frontmatter per project rule.)

Overview

The Minnedosa Tribune is the prairie's paper: the weekly newspaper of Minnedosa, Manitoba — the valley town on the Little Saskatchewan River, in the parkland of western Manitoba. Its distinction is its age: founded March 31, 1883, the oldest continuously published weekly in Manitoba, the oldest weekly in the Canadian West — 143 years of Thursdays (now Fridays), the prairie's record.

Minnedosa is the valley town: the Little Saskatchewan valley, the dams, the parkland farms — the agricultural community between Brandon and Dauphin. The Tribune is its paper: the weekly that has covered the valley since the settlement era, through the railway, the wars, the depressions, the booms.

History

The story of the oldest weekly newspaper in the Canadian West begins in early 1883 with William Gibbens. Gibbens came to Canada in 1868 and worked for Ontario newspapers — the Prescott Tribune, Brockville Daily Recorder, The Ottawa Citizen — serving as Ottawa correspondent for the Montreal Gazette and The Chicago Times. In 1881, at 27, he came to Manitoba and began publishing The Rapid City Standard. Two years later, he founded The Minnedosa Tribune: the first edition, March 31, 1883.

Gibbens published the paper for only fourteen months before selling to his employee, Dave Cannon. Cannon had met Gibbens in Ottawa and followed him to Manitoba, working as typesetter for both the Rapid City Standard and the Tribune. Publisher Cannon ran the Tribune from May 1884 until August 1919 — 35 years. When he retired at 77, he was considered the oldest printer in Canada. Before he owned an automobile, Cannon rode his pony Daisy — or horse and buggy, or cutter — from his farm near Bethany to the Tribune office; in 1917, when one of his horses died, Cannon reported the animals had made 50,000 miles carrying him to work.

Following Cannon, Adam Crossley published the Tribune into the early 1930s — Crossley had worked under Cannon, and was later credited as founding the Minnedosa Foundation. In 1931, Robert "Bob" Sanderson purchased the paper from his employer Crossley. Sanderson ran it until 1950, then R. Earle Gordon (1950–1984), Ruth Spencer (1984–1989), Robert Melville "Bob" Mummery (1989–2006), Jennifer Muth (2006–2008), Darryl Holyk (2008–2022), then Nesbitt Publishing (2022–) — nine owners across 140 years.

The Tribune outlasted its rivals: the Minnedosa Star and the Minnedosa Mercury folded after short periods. The Tribune stood the test of time — "the direct result of many people over the years," as the 135th-anniversary edition noted in 2018: the nine owners, the numerous staff, the advertisers, subscribers and customers.

The Tribune's building — the two-storey at 14 Third Avenue SW, built in 1910 to house the paper — held the weekly until 2022, when it was sold to a business in Shoal Lake. The paper's home for 112 years, the historic site.

Content

The Tribune covers Minnedosa and area: the town council, the valley, the farms, the schools, the community events. Its 135th-anniversary edition (March 16, 2018, Volume 136 Issue 1, 90 cents plus tax) led with "Tribune Turns 135" and the Manitoba budget's pharmacy impacts — the local and the provincial, the celebration and the news. The October 4, 2019 edition (Volume 137 Issue 30) led with "A Wintery Manitoba Morning" — the first frosting, the Trans Canada Trail, the snow-covered valley — plus "Town Proposes Garbage Levy Increase" and "Meet the MP Candidates": the prairie weekly's mix.

Coverage and Audience

The Tribune serves Minnedosa and the surrounding parkland: the valley communities, the farms, the small towns. Its readers are the prairie's people: the farmers, the townsfolk, the families — the community that has read the Tribune for generations. Contact: Box 930, Minnedosa MB R0J 1E0; phone 204-867-3816; fax 204-867-5171.

Ownership

The Minnedosa Tribune is owned by Nesbitt Publishing (since 2022). Its lineage: William Gibbens (1883–1884); David Cannon (1884–1919); Adam Crossley (1919–1931); Bob Sanderson (1931–1950); R. Earle Gordon (1950–1984); Ruth Spencer (1984–1989); Bob Mummery (1989–2006); Jennifer Muth (2006–2008); Darryl Holyk (2008–2022); Nesbitt Publishing (2022–present) — nine owners, one paper, 143 years.

Legacy

The Tribune's 135th anniversary in 2018 — Volume 136, Issue 1, March 16, 2018 — marked the milestone with the masthead's proud claim: 'The Oldest Weekly Newspaper in the Canadian West. Since 1883.' The anniversary edition reflected on the survival: 'A small-town business marking its 135th Anniversary is no easy feat and is the direct result of many people over the years.' The nine owners, the numerous staff members, the advertisers, subscribers and customers — the community that kept the paper alive.

The paper's longevity is the prairie's story: founded in the settlement era, when Minnedosa was a frontier town and the railway was coming; surviving the 1880s booms and busts, the First World War, the Depression, the Second World War, the farm crises, the digital disruption. The Tribune chronicled them all: the valley's births and deaths, the council meetings, the harvests, the winters. The Manitoba Historical Society's Centennial Business designation recognizes the achievement: the continuously published weekly, the 1883 founding, the unbroken record.

The Tribune building at 14 Third Avenue SW — built 1910, the paper's home until 2022 — stands as the physical legacy: the two-storey that housed the presses and the newsroom for 112 years. The Manitoba Historical Society documents it as a historic site: the weekly newspaper's century in brick.

Digital Presence

The Tribune publishes online at minnedosatribune.com — Wikipedia lists minnedosatribune.com as its website. (Website left unverified in frontmatter per project rule.) The digital Tribune is the prairie's paper online: the 1883 weekly's digital form.

The Tribune's readers are the valley's generations: the families who have subscribed for a century, the farmers who read the market news, the townsfolk who follow the council, the historians who mine the archive. The paper is the community's memory: the births, the weddings, the obituaries, the milestones — the prairie's life, recorded weekly since 1883. The archive is the valley's history: 143 years of Thursdays and Fridays, the settlement to the present, the complete record.

As of 2026, The Minnedosa Tribune continues — 143 years after the 1883 founding, still the oldest weekly in the Canadian West, still Minnedosa's paper, still the Tribune. The Gibbens founding, the Cannon decades, the Crossley and Sanderson years, the Gordon era, the Mummery and Holyk tenures, the Nesbitt present: nine owners, one unbroken line. The pony Daisy and the 50,000 miles, the 1910 building and the 112 years, the Star and Mercury rivals folded, the Tribune enduring. The settlement era and the digital age, the frontier town and the valley community, the 1883 weekly and the 2026 paper. The prairie's record, the valley's voice, the community's memory. The oldest weekly in the Canadian West: yesterday, today and tomorrow, still and always, still the Tribune, still Minnedosa's own, still the prairie's oldest weekly, still and always, still and always, still and always.

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