Member Review
I suspected that writers elsewhere were having a massive party while I was alone at my desk. Joining the Writers' Union was like finally getting an invitation.
Member Profile
Please note: All profiles are member-generated.
Patricia Sandberg
Patricia was born in southern Saskatchewan, lived as a baby in a tent-house, and grew up at a uranium mine. Passionate about volunteering and the environment, in her career as a former securities and mining lawyer in Vancouver, she acted for mining companies with operations around the world.
She relied on her family’s history and interviews of over 150 people to write Sun Dogs and Yellowcake: Gunnar Mines—A Canadian Story, the story of the Cold War mining town that residents said was ‘the best place they ever lived’. Canada’s “Father of Uranium,” Gilbert LaBine, discovered Canada's first uranium mine near the Arctic Circle. This mine helped end the Second World War; his next, Gunnar Mines, fed the Cold War.
Immigrants fleeing post-war Europe and job-seeking southerners flocked to Gunnar Mines, Saskatchewan in northern Canada, joining the area’s First Nations and Métis. They found adventure, romance, tragedy, and a freedom never again to be equaled. Meanwhile, lamps made of uranium drill core sat in their homes and their children played at the tailings pond. Sun Dogs and Yellowcake is their story.
Patricia enjoys giving presentations about her book, writing, career choices and mining history
