Head Tale

Looking longingly at a “SOD” fireworks show

Religion takes many forms and one of the strangest is the tribalism that often happens, even within the *same* community.

This CBC article looks at the historic divisions between those who are North of Dewdney (NOD) and those who are in the south part of Regina.

These divisions aren’t unique – every city I’ve lived has had them.

In Calgary, the division was between those in the west and the east parts of the city (was Deerfoot Trail the dividing line there or maybe MacLeod Trail?) and in London, ON, it mattered to some people if you were EOA (East of Adelaide).

And the same strange tribalism radiates outwards – Regina has its NOD vs. SOD dividing line but everyone in Regina is also aware of the city’s rivalry with Saskatoon.  But when the Riders play the Stampeders, all of Saskatchewan unites behind the green and white.  And then, when eastern Canada tries to implement some new government policy, the west including people in both Saskatchewan and Alberta might unite against “those eastern bastards.”  Then, when its the Olympics or whatever, most Canadians unite against all the other countries.

I grew up with a version of it myself – people in Fort Qu’Appelle were our main rivals and things always seemed heightened when we interacted with people from there – whether it was on the sports field or in the bar (I still have a tiny scar on my cheek from a shattered glass during a Katepwa Lake bar confrontation between IH and Fort Qu’Appelle residents at which I was an innocent bystander…honest!)

Anyhow, Shea and I have lived both “SOD” and “NOD” in Regina and honestly don’t notice much difference or have a preference ourselves.

Like the guy quoted in the article who grew up “SOD” (who, in typical Saskatchewan fashion, happens to both be Shea’s cousin-in-law and also mentions the same street – Castle Road – where Shea and I first met and lived together for about four years while attending the nearby University.) we now live “NOD” (ironically, only a few blocks from that same cousin-in-law who moved NOD for family reasons) and part of the reason we do is because when we moved back from Calgary and were house hunting in 2004,  we had a real estate agent who was adamant that Shea and I were “south end people” and he literally wouldn’t even take us to look at houses “NOD” to see what was available!

We ended up buying privately and got an amazing house – built by a cooperative of tradespeople, many of whom still lived in the area (the person we bought from was the bricklayer and the original carpenter still lived next door.)  And it was so much larger and better built than many south-end houses (Regina’s dirty secret is the “south” is the rich/desirable/white collar area but it’s also built on swampy gumbo so most basements in the south end are cracked and need reinforced!)

Anyhow, one of the main things that bugs me about these artificial divisions – as the article says, a lot of it is about class division and reinforcing social standing. But one of the reasons we love the north end is that it feels a lot more diverse than the south – Pace’s best friend at school is from Africa, Sasha’s best friend is from the Middle East.

And ultimately, these divisions may mean more if you grew up here or you grew up in a pre-Internet time where physical distance was more of a barrier.  But Regina is a pretty small city overall.  I can practically see fields north of the city from my living room but can also be at the south end of the city in 15 minutes if the traffic lights cooperate.

Anyhow, I like the approach of the younger kids quoted in the article who also seem to realise these divisions are false and unnecessary.  That’s the best approach if you ask me!