By the time you are reading this, you’ve likely seen heartbreaking images of the damage to the town of Jasper from two out-of-control wildfires.
The chaos happened so fast, but the underlying issues go far deeper.
I think we’ve all got a story of a visit to Jasper. As a kid from Ontario, I didn’t get to visit for the first time until 2013, on a ski trip to Marmont Basin. I remember seeing elk all over the road on the way up to the mountain and the natural beauty was striking.
When I moved to Red Deer, Jasper became a halfway point for meeting one of my best friends who lived in Prince George. We backpacked into a site at Jaques Lake, even camping at the side of the road so we could take off early the next day. The beauty and serene nature of that lake will hold a special part in my heart forever.
A year later, we joined each other again, for another hike. It was the May long weekend, and we were in shorts because of the heat. About a kilometre into the hike, knee deep snow. I had running shoes on. I was a stupid tourist who had no idea what to expect. We made it to the top our of hike, once again stunned by the beauty of the region. It’s another view that I’ll never forget and has certainly take on a new life with the wildfire that struck this week. Those memories flooded back, like I’m sure they did for most of you.
I cycled up Icefield Parkway in 2019, marvelling at the beauty of the region while trying not to get run off the road. The scars on the landscape will look much different now.
An emergency alert was issued to evacuate the town Monday night and by many accounts it took hours for more than 25,000 people to leave the area.
By Wednesday night, the fire was moving so fast and so strong that first responders were evacuated from the townsite. Fire crews reported flames 300 to 400 feet high.
The province called for emergency aid from the federal government on Wednesday and help from all across the province and the is arriving. Premier Danielle Smith said Thursday that they had been in touch with the federal government as far back as July 17 to asses the situation.
Blame is being placed on both Parks Canada and the province for inaction in Jasper and when there is devastation like some of the videos and images that appeared online Thursday, everybody looks for a scapegoat.
Parks Canada needed to make a call earlier and ask for more help. The province needed to step up and help quicker than they did. The emergency alert system did not function in the proper way.
But long before Monday's fire hit, there were failures of Parks Canada and multiple levels of government and inaction that may have helped save the town.
A pair of foresters from Prince George presented to Jasper town council in 2018 and sounded the alarm about the potential danger, given a recent mega fire in Waterton National Park, that destroyed 30 per cent of the community and 70 per cent of forested area in the region.
"Without immediate, timely and combined ground actions by Jasper Field Superintendent and several Ministers in the federal government who deal with Public Safety and National infrastructures, private and public structures, Jasper National Park ecosystems will be set back decades if not centuries," read the letter from Ken Hodges and Emile Begin.
"People’s lives remain extremely stressful, threatened and at extreme risk without governments at all levels taking immediate action to address public safety and health.
Hodges and Begin said inadequate funding, a lack of a plan to deal with deadfall and failure to plan for mountain pine beetle concerns could all play a role in a mega fire in the region.
In 2020, the feds did give $68.4 million in funding to the province to help fight the mountain pine beetle infestation, including $6.9 million for Parks Canada for handling the infestation and reducing wildfire risks.
That's a lot to digest in the responsibility department, but it's important to understand the context of this week's fire, without piling all the blame on one party or the other. It's important to know that while climate change played a significant role in the weather factors that influenced the fire behaviour, more could have been done by all parties involved to better manage the impacts of such a disastrous fire.
But I’m tired and I'm sure I'm not alone.
We’re all tired of waking up to these unprecedented and extreme weather events that are seemingly becoming the summer norm here in Alberta. Tornado warning Wednesday in Central Alberta, wildfire ash on my car on Thursday. Air quality warnings and record heat waves, it seems to never end.
Nobody wants to do this new normal and all people want is a government that is willing to push back against the idea that it’s too late to do anything.
At this point, even simply acknowledging that climate change exists and is leading to more devastating and extreme weather events would be a win. But that seems like it’s even a battle. It seems hopeless to try and push back against the negativity. It seems like we’re too far gone and we might as well just buckle our seatbelts and hope for the best.
I want to believe that isn’t the case, and I want to hope enough people will come to their senses and help foster positive change, but I’m quickly running out of hope.
Even on my own I know I haven’t done enough and on days like today, I’m forced to reflect why I haven’t been louder or more vocal about the changed need to create a better world for our future.
It’s all just words on a page or screen right now. It may as well be thoughts and prayers without meaningful action at this point.
I offer my deepest sympathies to the people of Jasper and anyone who shares a connection to the region in one way or the other. I hope this time will be the time that people feel motivated to take more action, engage in a more meaningful conversation about climate change and help change our world for the better.
Just like Waterton has been rebuilt, Jasper will be rebuilt and returned to it's former glory. It will take years, but there is still hope.