Jaroslaw "Jerry" Iwanus
Categories: Male Authors - Anglophone Authors - Authors of Non-Fiction - Acadian Coast
Source: Author / auteur
Biography
Originally from Winnipeg, MB, and, after 40 years in Alberta, Jaroslaw (“Jerry”) Iwanus, a.k.a “The Prairie Maritimer” is proud to live au Cœur de l’Acadie, on the Northumberland coast in Pointe-Sapin, NB.
Jerry is a retired Accredited Appraiser, Canadian Institute (AACI, P. App.) with 20 years of valuation experience in private, public, and quasi-judicial spheres in Alberta and New Brunswick. Considered an expert on property assessment and taxation in New Brunswick, he has written widely on this topic, including a 2024 book, Taxing New Brunswick: An Insider’s Guide to Successfully Challenging Your NB Property Assessment.
Other areas of interest include the current situation in Ukraine and the integration of Ukrainians into their new lives here in the Maritimes and the search for identity and purpose in “the last quarter”. He has a BA (Special) in history and an MA in Ukrainian history, both from the University of Alberta, and has served as a lecturer on Ukraine in the GNB Mosaïk program and in other public forums.
He has also served as Mayor of the Village of Bawlf, AB, and on the University of Alberta Senate as a public member, as well as on numerous other boards and committees.
He can speak, read, and write in English, Ukrainian, and some French.
How has New Brunswick influenced your work?
I’ve written on a number of topics that pertain specifically to New Brunswick.
The connection to NB is obvious with my Taxing New Brunswick book but it’s also a huge part of essays I’ve written, from the 3-part The Call of Home: Moving to New Brunswick to How the [Miramichi] River Became a Magnet for Ukrainian Settlement after February 2022 and Miramichi’s Ukrainians: The River’s Newest People.
I’ve even tried my hand at poetry, with my love of NB and our particular spot in it particularly reflected in Home Before You Know It and La tempête de fin octobre.
What is your favourite New Brunswick book, and why?
Depends on how you define a “New Brunswick” book. Is it set in NB? Is it written by an NB author? I’m going to name three here.
One is Amid the Splintered Trees by NB-based author, Heather McBriarty – so evocative, rich in language and character development, and vivid. [I] read it twice, in fact.
Another is The Miramichi Fire: A History by Alan Andrew MacEachern. It covers the history of the 1825 fire in such depth. It’s essentially an environmental history but it’s particularly interesting in how it analyzes memories of the fire as time went on.
Last (but certainly not least) is a book of poetry entitled, The Face of Everything by Allan Cooper. I’m no expert on poetry but so many of his works resonated with me – it’s the kind of book I can and will read again and again.
What do you consider to be the highlight of your career so far?
I have to say it’s the publication of Taxing New Brunswick.
It’s the first book I’ve ever published, and it’s given me a platform for advocating change to NB’s broken property tax system. It’s caught the eye of the government (especially since I sent each member a copy) and it’s given me the opportunity to write extensively on the subject in my regular columns. I’ve also been able to travel around the province a bit to get people thinking differently about how our system works – or doesn’t.
It has also drawn a notable amount of media attention and has given me a sense of mission and purpose in my writing at this stage in my career.
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Featured Publication |
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Taxing New Brunswick: An Insider's Guide to Successfully Challenging Your NB Property Assessment (2024) |
Excerpt: As a result of rising assessments, property taxes in New Brunswick have increased to stratospheric levels in the past five years. How do you protect yourself? While working as an assessor with Service New Brunswick, Jerry came to understand how broken our property assessment and taxation system really is. Experienced in valuation, municipal governance, and quasi-judicial work, this is a how-to guide he simply felt he had to write. Even if the politicians will hate it. |
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Source(s): Author.
