Johner, Brad & Stan Stan Garchinski

Websites:  No
Origin: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 🇨🇦
Biography:

Issued as part of Saskatchewan’s 2005 Centennial celebrations, this promotional CD single features two distinct tracks created for the province’s 100th anniversary.

Track 1: “Saskatchewan, We Love This Place!” – the winning entry in a province-wide songwriting competition. Written by Saskatoon’s Stan Garchinski, the song was chosen from nearly 250 submissions spanning pop, folk, jazz, and country. A panel of judges including blues guitarist Colin James, Regina Symphony conductor Victor Sawa, and jazz/blues singer Andrea Menard selected the entry, praising its sing-along appeal and strong sense of place. The official recording, performed by Brad Johner with backup vocals by Saskatchewan Express, became the province’s Centennial anthem.

Track 2: “100 Years of Heart” – the official Centennial campaign song, produced separately as part of the provincial branding effort. Performed by Derek Leverington with Todd Bryanton, it was widely used in promotional materials.

Centennial Significance
On January 27, 2005, Premier Lorne Calvert unveiled “Saskatchewan, We Love This Place!” as the official centennial song at a news conference in Saskatoon, calling it a tune “with a song in our hearts” that he hoped would be sung across the province.

Garchinski, a car sales manager by trade and longtime musician (Up With People, The Hot Tamales, Spirit of the Cross), said the song took him “43 years to write,” built on the principle that good songwriting means writing about something you love.

The anthem received high-profile exposure at the Lieutenant Governor’s Centennial Gala (May 2005), broadcast nationally by CBC, where Brad Johner joined Andrea Menard, Theresa Sokyrka, and Megan Lane to perform the piece before Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. The performance symbolized Saskatchewan’s cultural pride on its biggest stage to date, with over 700 performers and a massive production team.
-Robert Williston

Saskatchewan, We Love This Place!
Brad Johner: lead vocals
April Johnson: backup vocals
Rochelle Major: backup vocals
Rob Huber: backup vocals
Chip McDaniel: backup vocals
Craig Salkeld: leader, keyboards, trumpet
Scott Peters: trombone
Jack Semple: guitar
Dave Chobot: bass
Mike Thompson: drums

Produced and arranged by Craig Salkeld
Executive producer: Carol Gay Bell
Production coordinator: Bonnie Austring-Winter
Engineered by Michael Wilson
Recorded at CBC Saskatchewan

100 Years of Heart
Derek Leverington: vocals, guitars
Todd Bryanton: drums

Executive producer: Rob Bryanton
Engineered by Todd Bryanton
Recorded at Talking Dog Studios, Regina, Saskatchewan

Cover photography by Douglas E. Walker (Tourism Saskatchewan)
Recording session photography by Donald Stein

Brad Johner
Born in Midale, Saskatchewan, country singer-songwriter Brad Johner rose to prominence as half of the Johner Brothers, one of Western Canada’s most successful country duos from the mid-1980s through the late 1990s. After the duo disbanded, he launched a solo career from Saskatoon, releasing his debut album Free (2003), which won Outstanding Country Album at the Western Canadian Music Awards and earned multiple CCMA nominations.

Johner became a fixture of Saskatchewan’s music community, performing nationally and internationally while remaining closely tied to provincial events. His recording of “Saskatchewan, We Love This Place!” cemented his role as the voice of the province’s 2005 Centennial celebrations.

Stan Garchinski
Saskatoon singer-songwriter, began performing in 1975 with a family dance band in Naicam, SK. He toured and recorded with Up With People, Saskatchewan Express, The Hot Tamales, and released his solo album Small Town Living. In 1995, he wrote and recorded We Sing Saskatchewan, the province’s 90th anniversary theme. He is also a guitarist and vocalist with The Spirit of the Cross, a contemporary Christian group based in Saskatoon.

Lyrics
Saskatchewan, We Love This Place!

Verse 1
I have shared your laughter
I have shared your tears
I have watched you grow for a hundred years
I have walked your cities
I have breathed your country air
I love this place, I love it here

Chorus
We are many and we are one
Lift your voice and sing Saskatchewan
We are many and we are one
’Cause we love this place Saskatchewan

Verse 2
I have seen your strength
I have felt your love
With hearts as big as the skies above
I have seen your rivers run fast and strong
I love this place, it’s where I belong

One hundred years we celebrate with joy
We celebrate with joy a hundred years
One hundred years we celebrate with joy
We celebrate with joy one hundred years

100 Years of Heart

Verse 1
There’s every reason for us to celebrate
With a proud history, generations strong
This land is my home, the place that I belong
And underneath these skies is where I want to be

Chorus
This is where I live (a hundred years of heart)
There is where I feel a part
Of what we have together (a hundred years of heart)
A hundred years of heart

Verse 2
With room for all our dreams and room enough for me
It means that I am here to stay
I wouldn’t have it any other way
The spirit is growing, from a whisper to a shout
Let’s join and raise our hands and shout it out