The Last Word has been full of goodbyes for the past few weeks; for a change, I’d like to say hello.

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Robson Fletcher, and I am the new editor at the Fitzhugh. Pleased to meet you.

You will have noticed in reading the paper recently that there has been another overhaul of the editorial staff here, with both photojournalist Annalee Grant and editor Carrie White packing it in and moving on to other things, albeit for very different reasons. Turnover is a common occurrence at smaller newspapers across the country and while the Fitzhugh is unique in many ways, it is not immune to the phenomenon.

As Annalee put it in her farewell column: “Being a journalist is all about the next step up.” That’s true for the most part, but not universally. Take me, for example. While most people in this business tend to start small and move on to bigger things, my career has taken precisely the opposite trajectory, quite by design.

While still a student at the UBC Graduate School of Journalism I did my mandatory internship at CBC Radio in Winnipeg (population 700,000). After graduating I got my first full-time job as a reporter and later became the editorial page editor for the Brandon Sun in Brandon, Man., (population 50,000). After that it was on to Castlegar, B.C., (population 15,000, if you count the surrounding communities) to be a regional editor of three weekly publications in that area. And now I find myself in Jasper (population 5,000 or so, depending on which census you use) editing the Fitzhugh.

So how did I end up here? It was a matter of priorities, I suppose, and – as Carrie noted about her own life and career path in this column last week – a touch of randomness.

I spent four great years working with the Brandon Sun, which I still think is one of the better newspapers of its size that you will find in this country. And while I loved the job and the city, Brandon was simply too far away from another passion of mine – the mountains. So I went looking for a place where I could combine the two.

At that time the Fitzhugh was actually looking for a new editor and, as I compiled a long list of applications to send out across Western Canada, I placed the Jasper job right at the top, literally written in capital letters. Jasper was precisely the kind of place I longed to live in and, from what I had read about the newspaper and its approach to journalism, this was precisely the kind of company I wanted to work for.

I still remember my disappointment when I received a terse reply from publisher Karen Young: “Thank you for your application, however the position for Editor has now been filled. I will keep your resume on file.”

Fortunately, or so I thought at the time, another newspaper job in the mountains came through. And so I wound up in the beautiful West Kootenay region of British Columbia, living and working in a small city called Castlegar. This, however, proved to present the opposite problem I had in Brandon. While the community was great and the environment was amazing, the job didn’t pan out as I had hoped.

Without getting into detail, let’s just say I had some major ethical differences with my employers, as did the reporters working for me, as did many people in the community at large. When things finally came to a head, I and my entire editorial team (which amounted to two other people) resigned on principle.

Here’s where the random part comes in.

As I was preparing to move back to Manitoba for family reasons, I noticed the editor position with the Fitzhugh had been reposted. One year less a day from when I had first submitted my application to Karen, I sent her a follow up email to see if she did, in fact, still have my resume on file. Turns out she did. A couple of interviews later and I was offered the job.

Of course, I jumped at the opportunity, right? Not quite.

Like I said, some family issues were drawing me back to Manitoba at the time. I agonized over it for days but ultimately decided to turn the job down, pack up a U-Haul truck and make the long drive from Castlegar to Winnipeg. Within days of arriving, however, I went through a life-changing moment. Again, without getting into the details, let’s just say the family-related reasons I had for staying in Manitoba suddenly changed.

I thought the window of opportunity with the Fitzhugh had closed but then, while randomly browsing the Internet a week after I had turned the editor job down, I saw that the position had been reposted – again. I sheepishly emailed Karen back, explaining the shift in my family situation, and said I would still be interested, if the newspaper would still have me. She agreed to let the initial offer stand and within days I was moving in to a basement suite on Cabin Creek Drive.

That was just three weeks ago. I was lucky to get a crash course on all things Jasper from Carrie before she left, but now I am on my own, editorially at least. We have hired a new reporter/photographer, Nicole Veerman, but she is travelling from the Northwest Territories and won’t start work until next week. Such is life with small-town newspapers.

In the meantime, I will continue to attend as many events and meet as many people in this community as I can. And if you happen to see me around town, lugging along my camera and notepad, please do stop and say hello. 

DISCLAIMER: The Last Word is an opinion column, it is meant to provoke thought and debate. As such, any opinions written here are the writer’s own and do not reflect the viewpoint of any other Fitzhugh staff member or the directors of the Jasper Media Group Inc.