Canada held a Day of Observance Thursday to reflect on what the nation has lost over the past 12 months.

Thursday, March 11th marked exactly one year since the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.

Winkler Mayor Martin Harder says while the local economy has remained fairly stable through the health crisis, the virus has taken its toll on people. 

"Emotionally, psychologically, relationally we have all suffered. I am very concerned about media coverage and, in fact, the fear-mongering that continues to go on about things like the next variant, or the next phase; these things play on the emotions of people. The fear is still out there and we will be years in recovering from this."

Health experts agree the pandemic has Canadians feeling increasingly anxious, more stressed, and lonely due to physical or social distancing. Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario have registered some of the largest increases in caseloads because of their stricter lockdown measures.

Meanwhile, from a local economic standpoint, Harder feels the story has two sides based on what has happened in Winkler.

"Financially, as you well know, the service businesses have struggled enormously and the debt load has increased in those businesses for sure while some of the bigger businesses, manufacturing in particular, have done extremely well and some have continued to expand. So, from a financial end of it, as far as the city is concerned, we have done extremely well, above and beyond what we expected."

Harder says his community just wants life to return to normal and get back to work.

"We want to earn our own way, and the businesses that I have talked to want to earn their own way, and that includes the restaurants where only households can currently go out and eat together. The lunch crowd is dead right now in our community, because you don't go out to lunch as a family, you go out to lunch as a business community and that's missing right now."