They Were Just a Minute Compared to an Hour

Eleven embattled farmers of Lumsden are up in arms over the high school taxation. The swelling school tax is a thorny issue in many parts of Saskatchewan, but the Lumsden Minutemen are the first farmers to hone their axes and strike a blow for tax relief. The Lumsden group is providing their own tax relief. They believe that the current mill rate is unreasonable and inequitable and so they will only pay what they think is right. They feel that the municipal tax is a way out of line too and so they have set the same ceiling on paying their municipal levy. The Minutemen of Lumsden have thrown the gauntlet. The next move is up to the tax collector. The farmers’ position is vulnerable, and they know it! If they persist in their tax revolt they could lose title to their lands. They are also aware that the municipality has the power to enforce collection by seizing grain they might deliver to the elevator but the Lumsden farmers feel that they have a legitimate grievance and this is their way of drawing attention to it. They have watched the mill rate go up and up and the indications are that it will go still higher. The group’s biggest complaint is with the school taxation and they contend that their properties carry a heavier share of this tax than is fair.

The headline: Farmer’s Strike Blow for Tax Relief: Lumsden group stages mild revolt against high school levy.

The date: October 22, 1954

The Lumsden Minutemen: Ernie Dodds; his father, Wilbert Dodds; Earl and Joe McNally; John Czutka; Neal Fitzsimmons; John Kinnon; Eugene Mueller; Mel Burrows; George Kidd and Mrs. Marguerite McRae.

The mill rate that this group was concerned with was 15 mills. The mill rate today, 55 years later, is actually lower at 12.5 mills. By definition a mill rate is the amount of tax paid per dollar of assessed property so one can’t compare the two mill rates without the property assessments. The real issue for the Minutemen was the assessed value of their property. Apparently the Attorney General of Saskatchewan at the time lived just outside of Lumsden and paid a mere $17 in school taxes compared to the over $500 paid by the Minutemen and they didn’t think that it was fair.

Farmers protesting for what they feel is fair was not a new thing. The United Farmers movement in Canada was founded after World War I. The group, which was started in Saskatchewan, was a radical organization established in 1926 that quickly moved into the political arena. The main issue of the day was free trade. Today, that remains an issue nationwide. At the provincial level school closures and taxes have moved to the forefront. With the education property tax cuts promised by the Saskatchewan Party up in the air due to budget shortfalls, who knows what “mild revolts” may be in our future. But what of the Minutemen and why were they named so?

There are two theories as to the origin of the name of this group. The first comes from an old saying, “it is just a minute compared to an hour” which means the same as saying, “they were just a drop in the bucket”. The other theory traces back to the Civil War. Minutemen were soldiers who would fight for the Patriots at a minute's notice. In any case this group decided to take a stand. In the end there was no land seized and they eventually paid the taxes owing, taking small comfort in the fact for one moment in time they had the courage to say what they felt and to fight for what they thought was fair.