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Battlefords musician honoured with two SCMA awards By Angela Brown SaskToday.ca
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BATTLEFORDS — Battlefords musician Kurtis Kopp was recently honoured with two Saskatchewan Country Music Association awards. At the ceremony in Regina on Nov. 30, Kopp picked up the Drummer of the Year Award. For his second award, he shared the Humanitarian Award with Justin LaBrash. Kopp was thrilled with being recognized. “It’s a wonderful feeling,” he said. “I’m excited. It’s very uplifting. It’s throwing coal on the fire. It’s just making me want to work harder.” The 41-year-old has been drumming since he was about eight years old. He first started taking a serious interest in the skill at about age five.
Kurtis Kopp shown with his two SCMA awards. | Photo sourced from Kurtis Kopp Facebook Kopp calls himself a free“It’s actually, simply put, lance musician who plays showing up to the passion, with a variety of bands. showing up to myself, and Receiving the Drummer showing up to being there of the Year Award is really a to create music with good testament to his craft, he said. people, and people who love
his volunteerism at the Battlefords District Food and Resource Centre. Kopp helps in a variety of ways at the centre. He also does the artwork for the creative window displays. He said the artwork “really drew attention to the food bank, which helped bring people in and recognize the existence of the place further.” Kopp said just like drumming, the food bank involves showing up and giving your best. “That’s all you really need to do to succeed for yourself and your community is to show up,” Kopp said. “It’s a very simple task. It’s just a matter of doing it.” Kopp also previously received a King Charles III Coronation Medal in the summer.
music,” Kopp said. He describes his vocation as a calling. Kopp recalls a turning point in his life when, at the age of five or six, he was at home with his mother when he put on the Elvis Live at Madison Square Garden vinyl album. “Their opening song starts with the rising of a horn section, and all of a sudden the drums kick in,” he said. “The way they kick in is very primal and primitive, and powerful. In that moment, I realized that what I was listening to was incredibly profound. It was something that struck me and I thought I needed to be that. I need to create that feeling for other people and there it was.” For Kopp’s Humanitarian Award, he was honoured for
BATC chiefs sound alarm over policing shortages, safety risks By Angela Brown SaskToday.ca
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NORTH BATTLEFORD — Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs (BATC) leaders held a press conference in North Battleford Dec. 1 to discuss their concerns with policing on area First Nations. Representatives from Mosquito Grizzly Bear’s Head
Lean Man First Nation, Red Pheasant, Saulteaux, Sweetgrass and Ahtahkakoop spoke about their concerns. “Leaders with the Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs feel their communities are facing a public safety crisis fuelled by chronic RCMP shortages, long response times and a policing model that they believe is no longer
working,” BATC said in its news release. “The chiefs say several of its First Nations are lacking adequate numbers of police officers and often responding members are dispatched from neighbouring communities.” Chief Cody Benson of Red Pheasant Cree Nation said the press conference was about Continued on page 3
BATC leaders and representatives take part in a press conference at Eagle’s Landing on Dec. 1, 2025. | Photo by Angela Brown
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