COLUMN: Viewpoint – Jake Epp’s scheduled appearance at MHV brings back memories

I received a flyer from Steinbach’s Mennonite Heritage Village recently announcing Jake Epp as the guest speaker for the museum’s June fundraiser. That brought back memories.

I first got to know Mr. Epp when he was my high school history teacher at the Steinbach Collegiate Institute. He was passionate and knowledgeable about Canada’s history and our country’s role in the world. He passed on that enthusiasm to his students through interesting discussions and assignments. Mr. Epp was one of the teachers who chaperoned my Grade 12 class trip to New Orleans.

At the same time as he was teaching high school, Mr. Epp was also serving as a town councillor. It was only in 1997 when I wrote the history of the Steinbach Public Library that I discovered he had spoken out in favour of the town opening a library despite the fact most of his colleagues were dead set against the idea, thinking a library an unnecessary expense.

In 1972, the year after I graduated from high school, Mr. Epp was elected as a Member of Parliament for Provencher. He was one of the youngest people to hold a House of Commons seat and served in Ottawa for nearly 20 years, retiring in 1993. He was appointed to several cabinet posts most notably Minister of Health and Welfare. His portfolio legacy was taking on the powerful tobacco industry passing legislation that led to the end of tobacco advertising, strong health warnings on cigarette packages, and a ban on smoking in the workplace.

Mr. Epp also found himself at the heart of an intense debate amongst the Mulroney cabinet ministers about abortion legislation in 1989 and 1990. The transcripts of these debates were only made public in 2013 and they clearly show Mr. Epp speaking up strongly about his conviction that life begins at conception. Although a law was passed by Parliament in 1990 which made abortion a crime, the Senate struck it down, and since then no party leader Liberal or Conservative has opened up the abortion debate again.

In 1991 I worked for The Mennonite Mirror magazine and was assigned to write a story about Lydia Epp, Jake’s wife. I interviewed her during the Persian Gulf War when Jake was serving as a member of the war advisory committee. Lydia and Jake’s Steinbach home was being guarded by RCMP officers around the clock. In a candid interview Lydia Epp talked to me about all the challenges faced by a politician and his family, and the sacrifices required. She also described the interesting life she had traveling with Jake, meeting world leaders, lunching with royalty and making friends with other political spouses.

I had one more interaction with Mr. Epp, in 2003 when I was teaching at an international school in Hong Kong. Mr. Epp was in the Chinese city on business and knew I was there from my Carillon columns, which I continued to write while living abroad. He called and invited my husband and me out to dinner. We had an interesting evening learning more about his political career and catching up on our lives.

Although Lydia and Jake Epp moved to Calgary after leaving politics they have returned to Steinbach on occasion notably in 1997 for the opening of the Jake Epp Library. The Steinbach Mennonite Heritage Village Museum has Mr. Epp’s upholstered green chair from the House of Commons in its collection and next month he will be at the site in person to speak at the gala fundraiser. I hope to attend and perhaps have an opportunity to reconnect with my former history teacher.