JASON EDWARD JOHN SCHREYER

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JASON EDWARD JOHN SCHREYER

1967 - 2025

It is with pathos and melancholy that we confirm the passing of Jason Schreyer at his home in the Glen Elm – Elmwood district where he lived these past thirteen years.
Jason is survived by his wife, Sarah, stepson Ramzi and teenage son Jared, both of whom were the pride of his life and his continuing preoccupation. He kept in close touch with members of the spousal family – his mother-in-law Teresita and in-law siblings Terry, Ismael, Marites and as well, Matthew, Huxley, Zophia, Kaylie and Jason Chan.
He had a happy childhood, at first in East St. Paul, Manitoba – at Cabbage Patch Hollow. There he played and romped among the trees and bushes under the occasionally watchful eye of his parents, Ed & Lily or his slightly older Cabbage Patch sisters Lisa (Trevor) and Karmel (Darrel). Despite long distances and the unforeseeables of life, Jason kept in close contact with his siblings and nieces and nephews (Emi at UBC, Blaise Lily at the Old Bailey in London). At home in Winnipeg he kept in almost daily electronic contact with his brother Toban (Marle) and Patrick, Tobie and Teddy, nephews.
Jason had pleasant memories of his early years at Dr. Hamilton / Robert Andrews Schools in E. St. Paul; his middle grade and junior high at Hillcrest School in Ottawa. His years there and at the historic old official residence Rideau Hall were greatly formative in his early youth. He opted for full immersion classes and for two summers he found employment at a fish hatchery / farm in rural Quebec. He returned home after several months proud of his “experience” including French language apprenticeship and a patois as well.
Jason had a temperament and attitude that looked toward tolerance and respect for peoples of different cultures and languages. That helps to explain why he was so happy for opportunities to meet and interact with people of such a wide spectrum of cultural and linguistic heritage. Moreover, although he was not assertive nor aggressive, he was not shy especially among those who felt unsure of their surroundings. With these folks Jason was very outgoing. This is what explains best his enthusiasm for singing at numerous events including several years at Folklorama Pavilions and similar heritage events. These along with his enduring love for music and lyrics composition motivated him for many years to sing and write and record some of his own compositions. (In this context, instead of repeating these thoughts refer to the excellent article published by the Free Press May 3 and quoting Mayor Gillingham and several members of Council. Their depiction was so true to his life and attitudes that further elaboration would be repetitious and unnecessary.)
All this explains why he had such enthusiasm for elected public service at the local community level where he could sing with (and for) people of the Canadian mosaic.
Jason had a most unusual childhood. He retained many memories of persons and events that affected his life and interpersonal relations. At the early age of five or so he met the Grand Chief of the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood Dave Courchesne. Jason returned only a few minutes later and left a pencilled notepaper “Please sir may I have 3 arrows for Christmas?” Many unusual events later, Jason, at age 11, was presented to the Queen and the Queen Mother at Sandringham Castle. Within only a few minutes there was the Queen Mother vigorously playing on a penny arcade machine a game of ‘Fussball’ against Jason. His teacher(s) must have thought it a good idea to endorse time away from school to visit foreign lands. In that context he was the teenage guest on official invitation to the Royal Courts of Denmark/ Norway/ Sweden and also the Republics of Finland and Iceland.
After almost 6 years at Rideau Hall, Jason at age 17 moved with the family to Australia where he attended Narabundah High School in Canberra for 2 years. Although he loved Australia (most young Canadians do) he returned to Canada to begin University. Despite his interest in physics and science generally he decided after University 101 to attend instead at “College Universitaire de St. Boniface”. All the while, his interest in music and in local community channel TV began to take root. He hosted a local cable TV show for a couple of years and began to record some of his lyric compositions in local studios.
Within a few years he began working for Jim Maloway in his capacity of MLA and later as MP for Elmwood-Transcona. At various times he worked as well as exec-assistant to the Honorable Steve Ashton Minister of Infrastructure and MLA for Thompson.
Jason may have appreciated the experience of working in administrative and political jobs but he also alternated with some tough, arduous labor. He was proud of his several years of “roughnecking” on oilfield drilling rigs in Central Alberta. Somewhat later he did even more manual labor for Abalon Construction.
All of the foregoing provided a base for his decision in 2014 to run for City Council. He was elected to serve 12 years in office and did so with alacrity and continuing effort – especially as regards food security and infrastructure repair and replacement problems. This helps to explain his support for the east Elmwood food project and his frustration with ever inflating construction costs that make pipedreams out of so many urgent public works. He commented so often in recent months about the dismal prospects of municipal infrastructure costs exceeding local revenue sources by so much. He thought that serious research must be given to federal-provincial-municipal tax sharing reform. But who will “bell the cat” he would ask.
Although Jason was by nature kind and optimistic, he was quite in despair of our country’s inability to handle rising construction and maintenance costs especially at a time when lobbyists are increasing their push for massive increases (perhaps even doubling) in spending on military hardware to be stockpiled against some imaginary enemy.
A memorial service for all who knew Jason as a child; teenager; young idealist; as an ambassador of intercultural goodwill and friendship; will be held Friday, June 20, 2025 at 6:00 pm at St. Alphonsus Church and Hall (315 Munroe Avenue east of Henderson Highway, East Kildonan).

You sang a song, it made us smile,
It praised the day, the starry night,
The northern lights, the bliss, the pain
The falling snow, the summer rain.

 You sang a song, it made us cry,
It praised the wheat and prairie sky,
The joyful bird, the Lord, the sun,
Everything and Everyone.

Tributes: www.KlassenFuneralHome.com

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on May 10, 2025