REGINA — Tate Wrubleski has always had an interest in working with different forms of media technology.
Now his skills and his passion have earned him a provincial recognition.
Wrubleski is among those to receive the Premier's Award for Excellence in the Public Service for 2022. He was saluted in the emerging leader category for his work with the Ministry of Agriculture, where he is a multimedia communications specialist.
“Whether working with producers and agribusinesses, or internally with government clients, he establishes a level of trust and follows through on his commitments while ensuring high-quality work,” states his bio. “He consistently brings new ideas forward and clearly lays out the rationale, explaining the strategic purpose and detailed explanation of additional costs to support decision making.”
The bio goes on to say Wrubleski never hesitates to help the team. He regularly provides training sessions on video or photography and is eager to share his knowledge freely.
“He adds to the entire ministry as he helps staff deliver more engaging meetings and presentations. Tate is also a cultural champion as an active member and co-chair of the employee youth committee,” the bio says.
As a multi-media specialist, Wrubleski said he and other people work on a lot of projects that show up on the provincial government’s website. They provide graphic design work, look after social media and handle internal communications within the ministry.
A lot of his job has been creating videos that showcase the sustainability practices and the care exhibited by ranchers and farmers for the environment. He will also take generic photos that can be used in marketing materials across the country and internationally.
“When it comes to video, I look after the whole process from scripting and coming up with the idea and the strategy behind it, and then when I go to do the video, it’s usually almost like video journalism,” said Wrubleski. “In a sense, it’s doing an interview … with a camera and a microphone on them.
“Drone work is just something that adds value to it. I come back to the office, edit it and we post it on social media.”
The Faces of Farming videos that can be found on the Ministry of Agriculture’s YouTube and Facebook pages have footage that he has produced over the last couple of years. He believes there are about 20 of them.
“Through that I’ve been able to visit cattle ranches, I’ve visited a First Nations-owned community farm, I visited a chicken farm, a dairy farm, a honey farm … pretty well every type of farm that we have in the province. It’s nice to see the diversity of agriculture.”
He has drawn on some southeast farms for material, and he hopes to continue to draw on the region.
“Some of the videos that I do will be cross-shared with [the Ministry of] Trade and Export Development here in Regina, so we’re able to reach broader audiences that way,” he said.
His interest in multimedia started when he was nine years old. He made home movies and music videos with his sister Blair. His interest grew when he was at the Estevan Comprehensive School.
“I was able to hone in on my video skills in high school and do more serious videos. And then me and a friend, Curtis McGillivray, who is also a filmmaker in Regina, we competed in some film competitions in Regina. That’s where it started.”
They teamed up to win medals at Skills Canada provincials.
After graduating from ECS in 2014, Wrubleski studied business at the University of Regina, so the interest in film took a back seat until his final year of university.
“A lot of what I’ve learned in video has been through YouTube. I tell a lot of people I got to YouTube University.”
For video and photography, Wrubleski believes a combination of YouTube and personal experience worked best for him. But he said he owes a lot to Brian Wright and other people he encountered at ECS.
He couldn’t find a job immediately after graduating university, so he came back to Estevan and worked as a freelance videographer, working on wedding videos, corporate materials and more.
One day, while checking the job postings on the Government of Saskatchewan’s website, he saw the opening for the multi-media specialist.
“I felt like it suited what I wanted for a job and something I’d be good at, and it’s been great since. I’ve been in that same position for three years now,” said Wrubleski.
He’s surprised at how soon he was recognized.
“When I started with the ministry, it was before COVID and everything, and I didn’t really know anything about agriculture. I didn’t know anything about government, and I didn’t know anything, really, about working in the workplace. But I think a large part of just being a recipient of this is that I’ve been able to work with a really great team here that really values culture.”
People have been supportive and have helped him along his journey. When he does a good job, they acknowledge it, and that inspires him to come to work every day.
He doesn’t view himself as an emerging leader, but he believes he has come a long ways in the past three years, and is more confident in talking in the workplace and about agriculture.
The award was presented on Dec. 6. Premier Scott Moe couldn’t attend, so the job for presenting awards belonged to Estevan MLA Lori Carr, which was nice, Wrubleski said, because he has known Carr for years, and Wrubleski went to school with Carr’s son.
“The ceremony was good. The protocol office who looked after it did a really good job of putting everything together. Everything was really organized. There were multiple speakers. They had bios for everybody. They had music and a really good dinner.”
