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Peerless pipeline hosts: The Marin family of Morden

Published: September 23, 2019

Manitoba couple reflects on hosting construction workers for Line 3 replacement project

Ask any pipeliner who’s worked away from home for long stretches and they’ll tell you—having a neat and tidy “home away from home” trumps a five-star luxury hotel any day of the week.

And while commercial lodging operations did a booming business over several seasons of Line 3 pipeline replacement construction, so too did a number of local households with rooms to rent in communities near the project right of way.

Marty and Phyllis Marin of Morden, Manitoba are one such couple. Over two summer and fall seasons, they hosted up to six Line 3 construction workers in the basement and an upstairs room of their home they share with 9-year-old twin boys approximately 125 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

“It wasn’t our first time hosting pipeline workers and we certainly wouldn’t shy away from doing it again,” says Phyllis. “Ten years ago (during Enbridge’s Alberta Clipper construction), we hosted six workers at a time—when one was leaving, they would handpick the next person for us so we didn’t have to advertise again.”

This time around, like the last, their guests appreciated having a family environment and a sit-down meal to come back to at the end of every shift.

“A lot of the guys we had were supporting families back home and it’s tough for some people when they’re so far away. We just wanted our home to be their home.”

The kitchen and family dinner table were the focal point for lively conversation as the hosts and their guests got to know each other.

“We enjoyed sharing our lives with them—hearing where they're from, about their families and what their jobs were on the pipeline,” she says. “They were from all over Canada and it was so cool just to learn things about our country that I never knew. I guess I should have paid more attention to geography in school!”

The lingo pipeline workers are famous for was another ice-breaker.

“They explained some of the slang so we could understand. One of the guys liked to use it to see the look of shock on my face. He’d talk about ‘shooting a pig’ through the pipeline. I’d say, ‘What?’ and then he’d explain what a PIG (pipeline inspection gauge) was.”

Another guest would tease their boys, always in good fun. “They didn’t know whether to be scared of him or not,” Phyllis laughs "They never quite knew what he was going to do but they would try to get back at him if they could. It was cool—we became like family.”

She recalls one guest, in particular, a large Indigenous man in his mid-20s from northern Manitoba.

“He was used to eating fast food all the time,” she says. “Every meal I made, he’d ask ‘What’s that?’ because he didn’t know. One time I made enchiladas. He had a plate full, than he had a few more and just got up and left the table. He came back a few hours later and he says, ‘I ate so much, it was so good, I had to have a nap.’ ”

When he departed the home, he left the couple a ceremonial eagle-claw stick as a token of his appreciation.

“It means the world to us that we connected with him," Phyllis says. “All of the guests we’ve had were very respectful, kind people. I know we aren’t pipeliners, but for a short time we felt part of that family.”

(TOP PHOTO: Phyllis and Marty Marin and their sons.)

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