The Jasper Local September 15, 2021 by The Jasper Local

ALTERNATIVE +

LOCAL + INDEPENDENT

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 // ISSUE 196

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DON’T PASS UP MALIGNE PASS //@MarkScottAdventures hiking in his home court along the 1,130 km Great Divide Trail. Scott and his wife Brigid (@rockymountainscrambler) spent their entire summer in hiking boots, much to the delight of their Instagram followers. // BRIGID SCOTT

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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 196 // WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

EDITORIAL //

Local Vocal I’ve got a message for folks who neglected to attend Jasper’s online All Candidates Forum: Shame on You.

By that I mean: Shame on you for making me watch that by myself! OK so I wasn’t the only person who attended the September 13 Yellowhead federal election debate via Zoom, but after you subtracted the five candidates who attended, the half-dozen hosts and co-hosts, the moderators, the translators and the media, there were at most eight people who took two-and-a-half hours out of a beautiful September evening to log in. Eight! In Jasper terms, that’s the equivalent of two chairlifts. Or one dinner service at Oka Sushi. Or a third of a Jasper Raft Tours boat. Democracy doesn’t do well when a tiny percentage of the electorate is left to do the paddling, but I can understand the lack of engagement in a community where most people’s political persuasions are far removed from the way the riding has historically swung. Jasper is a left-leaning island in a right-leaning Yellowhead ocean and as someone who’s watched local provincial and federal election forums here since 2006, it’s not shocking to me that even the most politicallyastute citizens here have shrugged off the idea of their vote making a lick of a difference in Ottawa. Now that’s as discouraging for me to write as for you to read, I assure you, but the good news is that by way of our being situated in a national park, we do have somewhat of a lifeline to whichever federal party forms government (my condolences to progressives in the rest of the riding). That’s relevant because candidates for Jasper municipal council have for years campaigned on the idea of wresting control of land use away from the federal government and it’s possible that the impending issue of how the community manages and/or regulates private home accommodations and accessory dwelling units could be the leverage Jasper needs to spark serious discussions on the transfer of planning authority. That’s just one issue where an informed, connected councillor or mayor could make a massive difference in our community’s autonomy. Regardless of whether its the Libs or the Cons in Ottawa, in a little over a month we’ll be casting our ballots for candidates that will actually be able to represent our local interests. In the meantime, do me, yourself and your community a favour: get engaged. Learn about some of the issues at stake. And when the time comes to attend the All Candidates Forum, whether it’s in-person or online, don’t let the media, the moderators and an eight-pack of attendees be the only ones paying attention. BOB COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

From the “OK sure buddy” files... Dear Mr. Covey, Congratulations on putting together a well-developed local newspaper for the citizens of Jasper. Having been an Edmonton Journal newspaper carrier in Jasper for part of my childhood some decades ago, I remember well needing to wait until the papers arrived from Edmonton every weekday afternoon before we could provide Jasper residents with their daily news. Having locally-sourced independent coverage certainly is much better. I wish though, to provide you with a wider perspective on your recent comments regarding the people who

attend rallies protesting COVID vaccinations… You characterize those who people who are protesting in front of vaccination centres as “brazen” and as “ivermectin-injesting idiots,” as the “screeching, screaming minority,” “the jerks from high school” and as the “so-called freedom fighters” who you believe are “loud but overwhelmingly outnumbered.”… Those “screaming screeching” “freedom fighters” are actually aware of what is currently going on in this country and world wide and are appalled that governments appear CONTINUED ON PAGE A3

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wednesday, september 15, 2021 // issue 196 // The Jasper Local // page a3

MeMbers of the Jasper rotary Club partiCipated in a walk to end polio on septeMber 11 at lake edith. polio still affeCts Children in soMe parts of the world. it is preventable by the use of vaCCines, but not Cureable. donate to @endpolionow// supplied

Yes, even fascist unelected cabals of the super rich continued from page a2

to be willfully turning a blind eye on human suffering in order to live up to the terms of the sales agreements they signed behind closed doors with the mega-large pharmaceutical companies back when they were led to believe that the ONLY answer was vaccination… Countries with full access to the cheap, safe and effective ivermectin, as well as the much maligned hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) are seeing low rates of Covid and are in no need of major Covid vaccination projects. The fact that you have felt justified to malign ivermectin in your column demonstrates how effective the CDC’s disinformation campaign against ivermectin has been, as previously that launched again HCQ… Our governmental officials are now caught in a very tough spot: that of rescinding what they have been led to believe while faced with voices such as your own which only serve to drive them further down along this dangerous path. … Have you been hearing from former public health officials on just how tricky this tightrope is to walk? Just as it would take a great deal of courage for YOU as a public opinion shaper to take back some of your statements, imagine how hard it will be for our elected officials and public health officials to do the same. … Instead of pushing our governments to institute vaccine passports at the behest of globalist, yes even fascist external unelected cabals of the super-rich, adding more pharma-billionaires

to the club, let us urge them to allow doctors to use the Nobel prize winning cheap and effective medication protocols that actually are safe. If you actually speak to those protestors outside of vaccination centres you will note that they are loudly calling governments to FINALLY LISTEN out of LOVE, CONCERN and COMPASSION for those health care workers and others who are now facing the brunt of misguided and heavy handed policy decisions. … Please spend some time informing yourself on the issues before you anger even more of your readership – those who are making the principled choice to wait for safer forms of vaccine, or for the companies to change the formulation away from inevitable danger, those who are demonstrating, letter writing and activating out of genuine concern for human wellbeing and who have gone beyond the censorship to gain a deeper understanding of what is at stake. Thank you, Hannah Luise Editor’s Note: This is an abridged version of Ms. Luise’s 2,000 word, nine page letter to the editor on the subject of vaccines. To read the full version, including four pages of source references, many of which are extremely easy to discredit with a quick internet search, please visit www.thejasperlocal.com/news

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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 196 // WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

Caribou defenders erect blockade on forestry access road

PEACEFUL PROTEST // Activists have created a blockade near Moon Creek, south of Grande Cache, where the Hinton-Edson division of West Fraser Forest Products has plans to clearcut old growth caribou habitat. // BOB COVEY

A blockade protesting the planned harvest of 3,500 hectares of old growth caribou habitat has been erected 75 kms south of Grande Cache near the Berland River.

A land defender who goes by his camp name of Panda—a pseudonym designed to protect his identify from forestry company lawyers who have shown in other blockades that they are willing to dox individuals who assemble at protest camps—has erected a rudimentary barrier to stop West Fraser Forest Product workers from accessing the Moon Creek forestry road. Panda said he was called to action when he learned about the planned harvest from regional media, local trappers and non-governmental organizations who sounded the alarm that the plan to clearcut 54 cutblocks in the six per cent of West Fraser’s Forest Management Agreement (FMA) that overlaps A La Peche caribou’s winter

range was imminent. “NGOs can’t really do any front line stuff,” he said. “I have experience and passion. This is my backyard.” Panda grew up near Grande Prairie and after high school worked near Hinton, Grande Cache and High Prairie as a tree planter, an occupation he thought would give back to the land and fight climate change. He soon became disillusioned with the job, however, and came to see the practice as greenwashing the destructive forestry industry. “I saw that there was a lot of corners being cut, that it was just another aspect of the industry,” he said. On top of that wake-up call, what he gained from tree planting was access to a network of environmental activists. Eventually, Panda was inspired to help occupy the Fairy Creek Blockade on southern Vancouver Island, B.C. He stayed at Fairy Creek for nearly a year, learning from

experienced land defenders and Indigenous leaders about effective, peaceful demonstrations and gaining a fulsome appreciation for the sense of community that arises when people come together for a common purpose. “When most people think of blockades what comes to mind is what you see on TV: violence and RCMP clashes and tear gas,” he said. “My experience was none of that. It was community building. It brought locals together and gave a lot of Indigenous people the chance for empowerment because they aren’t as privileged as we are as white people.” In July, Panda left Fairy Creek to visit family in Grande Prairie. That’s when he heard the province had given West Fraser direction to log critical caribou habitat in the Berland River area. “After hearing they wanted to cut this entire area and how detrimental that would be to caribou, and after talking to local people in Grande Cache and Hinton, this is a little part I can do.” Allowed entry through the blockade on September 9, The Jasper Local got a tour of the area where West Fraser has applied to the Government of Alberta (GOA) to build a bridge over Moon Creek and access the Berland Compartments which border Wildmore Wilderness Park. Darcy Handy, a retired dentist who has a trapline in the area and was thereby notified by West Fraser of the proposed harvest plan, scanned the horizon that ended at Mount Campion, in the northeastern part of Jasper National Park. “Every piece of timber from the

boundary of Wilmore to the highway, they’re taking,” Handy said. The Mountain Metis Nation Association, an umbrella organization of the Metis Nation of Alberta based in Grande Cache, is seeking a prohibitory injunction to halt the forest harvest plan (FHP). They have said they were not consulted by West Fraser, nor by the Government of Alberta. “Caribou can’t speak on their own behalf,” said Mountain Metis president Alvin Findlay. “Somebody has to.” West Fraser has said their harvest plan in the Berland River area is an example of how timber harvesting can be accomplished to support range protection/recovery while supporting economic activity and the GOA has said it will continue to work together on developing common sense solutions to protect and recover caribou populations, maintain jobs and grow local economies. Follow up questions as to the status of the harvest plan and requests for more detailed explanations of why West Fraser wants to harvest Moon Creek before the GOA’s Berland Sub-Regional Taskforce on caribou recovery completes its work were not answered. Panda and the Action for Berland Caribou land defenders are adamant they are not anti-logging, but they are determined to occupy the blockade to stop all industry that further threatens the natural area until protections are in place. BOB COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

LOCAL POLITICS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 // ISSUE 196 // The Jasper Local // PAGE B2

Liberal candidate defends COVID spend, doesn’t buy western gripes Yellowhead’s federal Liberal candidate Sheila Schumacher might not have a snowball’s chance in hell of unseating Conservative incumbent MP Gerald Soroka, but the longtime grassroots political organizer is running to give progressives in the riding a voice.

“We’re transitioning, but we’re not there yet,” she said. “Having said that, I think Albertans also have to understand how important it is to Canadians to address environmental issues. That’s the tough part.”

“The party promised me not to worry, I won’t win,” the Edmonton criminal defence lawyer joked.

If the Liberals form government, the number one priority for Schumacher would be actioning universal childcare. Liberal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has promised a five year, $30 billion investment to help offset the cost of early learning and childcare services.

Less difficult is the decision to make childcare affordable, she said.

It’s no joke that Yellowhead is a Conservative stronghold and that a cursory look at the bumper stickers on trucks cruising Highways 16, 40 and 11 indicate anti-Trudeau sentiment is fierce in the 76,127 sq-km riding. The district has gone Toryblue since it was created in 1979. Nevertheless, Schumacher believes the major decisions that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made since being first elected in 2015 have helped put Canada on the correct course and she’s willing to face the 82 percent of of voters who cast a ballot for the CPC in 2019 to say so. “The big criticism of Trudeau is the deficit but I will always stand up for the way he has made those choices in the face of COVID because we needed to get money into people’s pockets,” she said. A common bleat coming from Alberta politicians is the theme of western alienation. Ottawa ignores the west, it is said, and federal equalization transfers are unfair. Schumacher doesn’t buy it. “When Albertans say they’re being ignored by Ottawa I refuse to believe that,” she said. “The only reason they’re being ignored is because Alberta doesn’t elect anybody to the table. That’s what you get.”

“That will put more women back in the work force,” she said. “I do not go along with the conservative view that women should be at home raising the children.”

IN IT TO (NOT REALLY) WIN IT// Sheila Schumacer knows it’s an uphill battle for Liberals in Yellowhead. // SUPPLIED

Schumacher knows that message might rattle some cages on the right of the political spectrum. She also realizes as a “paper candidate,” i.e., a candidate that doesn’t actually live in the riding, she’ll have a hard time currying favour with some Yellowhead voters. A position she’s confident will land a little softer in rural Alberta, however, relates to the Liberal’s plan to transition to a diversified economy. In short, as long as Canadians are still driving cars, we need oil and gas, Schumacher said.

She would agree, however, that as long as a fourth wave of the pandemic is crashing down on Alberta, people, in general, should be staying closer to home. She’s been grateful for the decisions the Liberals have made since March 2020 but she thinks Canadians should have a choice as to how to get through the pandemic. That’s why it’s an appropriate time to call an election, she said. “People need to weigh in on that,” she said. Election Day is September 20. Canadians who have not received a Voter Information Card should visit elections.ca to register on the list of electors. BOB COVEY

// bob@thejasperlocal.com

Editor’s Note: We contacted MP Gerald Soroka’s office to round out our election coverage but his campaign team said he wasn’t available for an interview and they couldn’t make time to answer questions submitted via email - BC

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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 196 // WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

PHOTOS BY BRIGID SCOTT

For two years, Hiking the Great Divide Trail, Dustin Lynx’s definitive guidebook to the GDT, sat on Brigid Scott’s bedside table.

“I started to put together the itinerary, I crunched the numbers, and I had us coming out to Jasper the day before we had to be back in school,” she said.

Scott, a math and science teacher at Jasper Junior/ Senior High School, is no slouch when it comes to hiking. She’s checked off many of the peaks and routes described in the guidebook, including most of the Jasper National Park sections, and as 87,000 followers of her @ rockymountainscrambler Instagram account know, she’s willing to put in the work to get the best angles of the most photogenic landscapes, bathed in the moodiest light.

While hiking is life to Scott, she is a sucker for spreadsheets. She loves nerding-out on numbers, particularly ones that break down, with colour-coded accuracy, how best to tackle and photograph a 1,130 km trail in 60 days. Hiking distances, elevation gains and losses, UTM coordinates, required permits, preferred campgrounds, alternate routes, food resupply locations… it was all beautiful data that Scott could pour over. However, none of it would matter if she couldn’t book her campsites. The demand for wilderness experiences has skyrocketed in recent years and every camper in the mountain parks has a story of stressing out trying to navigate the infamously finicky online system. Scott was no different.

But until this past January, Scott had never considered attempting the GDT. However, as she and husband Mark, who teaches in Hinton and has a decent social media following of his own, were planning their summer adventures, considering different sections of the GDT and going so far as to discuss a six-week trip from Waterton National Park to JNP, the thought occurred to her: Why not hike the whole darn thing?

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With that (plus a little convincing for Mark to spend his entire vacation in hiking boots), the planning began.

“I was hyperventilating,” she recalled of the day backcountry campsite reservations opened up for

Rocky Mountain Scrambling on the Great Divide Trail booking. “If we didn’t get the right sites, the trip wouldn’t work.” Miraculously, out of tens of thousands of users across the country, Scott was only 125th in the entire queue. Whether it was blind luck or the fact that all those national park-friendly posts gave her good juju, Scott was thrilled. She reserved and paid for seven critical bookings, logged off, and promptly sat down on the floor and cried tears of joy. “It was happy, emotional, holy-sh*t craziness,” she said. That was in April. In July, Brigid and Mark shouldered their heavy packs and set off from the southern terminus of the GDT. Their adventure had thick smoke, thicker bugs, snowstorms and slippery scrambles. They fought through wicked willows and soul-sapping bogs. There were navigational glitches and motivational hitches. There was some pouting, plenty of swearing and one 13-day stretch where they couldn’t dry their boots. But the highs far outweighed the lows. Many of the GDT’s soaring summits, explosions of wildflowers, alpine meadows, hanging valleys and hidden glaciers surpassed

their loftiest expectations. Memories, such as when she and Mark awoke at their highly-anticipated Michele Lakes camp in the White Goat Wilderness Area only to discover the peaks above their tent were obscured by thick cloud, but then experienced the ecstasy of watching the alpine amphitheatre reveal itself as they stood atop an unnamed peak, will stay with Scott forever. Few physical feats will ever be as satisfying as the feeling, after 200 difficult kilometres from the start of the trek, of her fitness suddenly levelling-up. And how does one describe the sensation of gratitude when spying members of the threatened A La Peche caribou herd migrating under a glacier in the Kakwa? The fact that as a couple they stayed safe, sane and supportive of each other throughout is a testament to their fitness, passion and planning. The GDT has no shortage of hazards. And one can only imagine how good that first shower felt. “It was the trip of a lifetime,” Scott said. And as her followers have been anxious to see, she’s got the photos to prove it. BOB COVEY // bob@thejasperlocal.

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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 196 // WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

LOCAL RECONCILIATION

Indigenous documentary to be screened on church tower

National Truth and Reconciliation Day event an opportunity for learning together On National Truth and Reconciliation Day Jasper will have the opportunity to learn the Truth about what transpired a century ago when the Indigenous and Metis people practicing a traditional lifestyle here were evicted from the area to make way for Jasper National Park.

On September 30 the Jasper Film Club will bring the film Resilient: The Aseniwuche Winewak Story to the community for a free outdoor screening. Grande Prairie-based Indigenous filmmaker, Len Morissette, directed Resilient. Morissette said the challenge of telling the story of the Aseniwuche Winewak Nation (AWN) was condensing a century’s worth of history into a feature length documentary. “We said ‘let’s tell the truth,’” Morissette said. “Let’s stick to the facts.” Those facts include how Indigenous and Metis people were lied to, then evicted from what is now known as Jasper National Park, by government officials, and that after relocating to the area now known as Grande Cache, the AWN was further oppressed and marginalized when the coal mine and town were developed there. However, as well as revealing the hardships the AWN have faced, Resilient also showcases the healing and hope that have come out of the community in spite of them. “A lot of our history has been told by other people,” said the AWN’s past-president, Tom McDonald. “This is our first attempt to tell it ourselves.” And now Jasper will have its first look at the film as a community. The documentary will be screened on the Edith Cavell Memorial Tower of the St. Mary and St. George Anglican Church, a powerful statement of reconciliation that Anglican Reverend Andreas Sigrist hopes will resonate not only with parishioners but the entire

Jasper community. “So much of what the church did in the past was along colonizing lines,” Sigrist said. “Hopefully having the documentary here is about truth and reconciliation, acknowledging the past and being committed to learning a better way to moving forward together.” Sigrist knows that for many, church has become irrelevant. He also knows that the Rev. Andreas Sigrist says he approaches reconciliation with integrity and humility. church may not be a On Sept 30 the church will host an outdoor screening of Resilient. // B COVEY place that everyone— particularly those of awakening taking place. Indigenous heritage—feels comfortable in which to walk a path of reconciliation. By approaching “What’s happening now is our conscience is these conversations with integrity and humility, evolving through education,” Morissette said. however, Sigrist thinks we can do something with Sigrist, who at 34-years-old is one of the the tension we feel. youngest reverends in the Anglican Diocese “If we focus on integrity and humility it seems to of Edmonton, has been himself evolving his me all of the tension can actually be productive, education. Recently, at a candlelight vigil for fruitful and lead to growth, rather than conflict,” victims of Canada’s residential schools, he, he said. along with other non-Indigenous participants, was welcomed into the space by Indigenous There was plenty of conflict in the early days of leaders. Similarly, opening the Anglican church Jasper National Park, and Resilient is an eyefor an event honouring National Truth and opening reminder of the recency of Canadian Reconciliation Day is a way for him to learn history’s darkest chapters. In weaving its what it means to live on this land together and narrative, the film shows that the displacement and degradation of Indigenous communities was to use institutions like Canada’s churches in new, different ways. not a historical event, but a campaign sustained over decades and even centuries. Furthermore, “With integrity and humility, I hope this event the recent discovery of hundreds of unmarked can be an invitation to learn and figure this out graves have forced Canadians to reckon with the together,” he said. legacy of Indian Residential Schools. Morissette, Resilient screens September 30 at 7 p.m. who is also president of the Grande Prairie Friendship Centre, suggests that there is an BOB COVEY // thejasperlocal@gmail.com

LOCAL WILDLIFE

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 // ISSUE 196 // The Jasper Local // PAGE B6

BOYS WILL BE BOYS // Fall is in the air, and if you couldn’t smell it in the dank, dark forest this week, you could probably hear its musky mascots bugling. Wildlife

t photo-snapper and ungulate-lover Simone Heinrich racked up this trifecta of elk, moose and caribou captures recently. On another winning note, Jasper Local reader Kara Little won last edition’s Syrahs Wildlife Challenge by correctly ID-ing 5/6 cute critters. She called the golden-mantled ground squirrel a chipmunk, but who hasn’t made that mistake? For her effort Kara wins $100 at Syrahs. I wonder if she’ll try the elk tenderloin? // SIMONE HEINRICH