Manitoban blown away after ice cutters replace tattered Canadian flag outside riverfront home

A patriotic act of kindness for a Selkirk widow has earned plenty of online praise. Joseph Bernacki reports.

A brand-new Canadian flag is flying proudly atop a Manitoban’s flagpole thanks to a random act of kindness from a pair of patriotic strangers.

Doreen Lansky has a flagpole on her riverfront home in Selkirk where a Canadian flag has flown for years.

Much like our country, it’s been through a lot, braving the elements in Manitoba’s sometimes punishing winters.

“I was so embarrassed by the shape the flag was in. It was all tattered from the winter,” she told CTV News Winnipeg.

Flag-tending used to be Doreen’s husband’s job, who recently passed away. Doreen tried to take it down herself, but the rope was tangled at the top.

Then came a knock at Lansky’s door one morning last week.

It was Ben Yasenko and Ron George—ice cutters with Winnipeg Environmental Remediations Inc. As the spring melt approaches each winter, the pair stake signs into the ice, cautioning the public to stay off the river as the Amphibex icebreakers cut up the sheets to help mitigate flooding.

Little did Lansky know, they had been using her weathered Canadian flag as an end marker for their work.

“When we come around the last curb, you can see that flag hanging there, so we know that the end is near,” Yasenko joked.

The ice cutters noticed it was in pretty rough shape this year.

“The flag was torn up. You could tell it must have hit a big windstorm,” George recalled.

Fueled by the type of patriotism felt by so many in the current political moment, they decided to replace it.

Adding to the Canadian pride - Lansky’s home is next to a hospital where George’s father, a veteran, spent his remaining years.

“We decided, ‘Hey, let’s do something about this,’ so we did.”

They presented Lansky with a new flag. She was blown away, moved to tears by the gesture. Lansky told them about her late husband and what the new flag meant to her.

“We both had lumps in our throats,” Yasenko said.

Still, there was a hangup; Lansky explained the issue with the current flag’s rigging. Yasenko and George said they could take care of that.

A half-hour later, they returned with tools in hand and raised the pristine new flag.

The tears started flowing again.

“It was the most wonderful act of kindness that I’ve ever experienced,” Lansky said.

She shared the experience on her Facebook page, with the patriotic good deed pulling in over 1,000 likes and counting.

The ice cutters couldn’t believe the response it garnered.

“I’ve had people phoning me and telling me and asking me what I did, and I said, ‘I just changed a flag for a lady,’” Yasenko said. “It’s just a whirlwind into this.”

George hopes it will inspire others during these uncertain times.

“Coming together, united as Canada, as a country—if we all do our part and we all stay strong here and help each other out—that’s probably the bottom line.”

- With files from CTV’s Joseph Bernacki