JANUARY
Stoney Education Authority and The Language Conservancy partner to release a Stoney dictionary app, along with a textbook and other resources to be used in schools to preserve and promote the use of the Stoney language within Stoney Nakoda First Nation.
Nakoda Elementary School welcomes Stoney elders and knowledge keepers back into schools to continue a panel learning program that began in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic. The program ensures First Nation’s traditions, language and culture are part of students’ everyday learning.
FEBRUARY
Stoney Nakoda Elder Watson Kaquitts and community members speak out on the opioid crisis plaguing First Nations’ families. Kaquitts lost two of his sons from opioid-related deaths, and in partnership with Stoney Health Services Mînî Thnî Crisis Support, hosted virtual elder teaching sessions throughout 2022 covering a wide variety of topics, including an opioid info session.
Last calls go out for a water testing program in Stoney Nakoda First Nation. Stoney Health Services, with a team of environmental health officers, began taking samples in August 2021 from all homes across the First Nation to test kitchen tap drinking water. Technicians also located, measured and checked cisterns, wells and septic fields with test results expected later in the year.
MARCH
Mînî Thnî Swift transit launches, connecting Mînî Thnî (Morley) and Cochrane via a low-floor, 26-seat bus. The Stoney Nakoda First Nation public transit initiative was originally planned as a four-month pilot project funded by the federal government’s Aboriginal Entrepreneurship Program, with Southland Transportation operating the system and the Nation eventually taking over future, long-term operations.
The province announces the hiring of 19 new conservation officers, with a press release stating the hiring and training of the new officers was made possible by the Kananskis Conservation Pass. Only $1.5 million in revenue from the pass helps to fund the deployment of six new conservation officers in Kananaskis Country, while another $3.5 was spent to hire 13 other officers in areas outside of K-Country. The province previously announced that 100 per cent of funds collected from the pass would go directly back into enhancing conservation activities, services and facilities in Kananaskis.
Canmore-based bear biologist and conservation planner Sarah Elmeligi wins the NDP nomination for the Banff-Kananaskis riding.
APRIL
Ground breaks on a long-awaited wildlife overpass on a stretch of the TransCanada Highway known to be a hotspot for collisions between vehicles and animals. The $17.5 million Stoney Nakoda Exshaw Wildlife Arch, being built east of Lac Des Arcs, will be the first wildlife overpass in Alberta outside of Banff National Park. The ground-breaking event was attended by local and provincial government officials, environmental advocates and Goodstoney and Chiniki First Nations chiefs, who highlighted the importance of wildlife migration safety and the significance of the area’s wildlife to Stoney Nakoda First Nation.
Stoney Health Services announces the expansion of the Stoney Health Centre, an $11 million project which will double the facility in size and allow for the provision of more services to the community, expected to be complete sometime in 2024. Along with a steadily growing population, health care needs and programs exceed the physical capacity of the current health facility, with a 215 per cent growth in demand from 2017 to 2020 alone.
JUNE
Snowpack in Kananaskis Country and Banff is reported at higher-than-average levels at 150 to 250 millimetres water equivalent – which means the depth of the water if the snow were converted to rainfall – above what is expected at the end of May.
The former Alberta Environment and Parks reports high visitor compliance with the Kananaskis Conversation Pass while scanning vehicle licence plates in Kananaskis Country over the May long weekend, with 89 per cent of vehicles having purchased a daily or annual pass. Non-compliance with the pass can result in a $180 fine.
The NDP announces plans to scrap the Kananaskis Conversation Pass if elected, removing the $90 per year or $15 per day cost barrier for families to recreate in the region. The NDP criticized the UCP for a lack of transparency in where funds from the pass have been applied and said, if elected, they would instead revert to the decades-long principle of using general revenue and taxes to support projects in the region.
JULY
Construction begins on a traditional outdoor healing space in Mînî Thnî, adjacent to the Goodstoney (Wesley) Elders Lodge. The space was planned to include a U-pick berry farm, sweat lodge, smokehouse, fire ring and teepee, with a medicine wheel decorating the hillside overlooking Mînî Thnî. It was funded mainly by Canadian Roots Exchange’s CREation Community, with about $10,000 coming from Stoney Health Services.
Morley Community School’s entrepreneurial academy students create the Îyethka Trading Co. clothing company, highlighting Stoney language and culture on hoodies and T-shirts.
Three people died in a tragic boating accident at Spray Lakes Reservoir, in the area of Spray Lakes campground on July 10 after a boat containing four people capsized. One person was declared deceased on scene and rescuers located the bodies of the other two deceased in the days following.
Mount Pétain near the Alberta and B.C. border in Kananaskis Country, originally named in 1918 after the then-to-be Nazi collaborator, Marshal Phillipe Pétain, has its name removed through advocacy efforts. During the Second World War, Pétain led the Vichy French government in German-occupied France, where he worked closely with the Nazi administration. After the war, he was tried and convicted for treason against the French government.
In an announcement, the NDP vow to remove the K-Country pass and suggest replacing revenues with voluntary donations, if elected. The party’s environment critic, Marlin Schmidt, also outlined a personalized licence plate program visitors could tap into with purchase revenues supporting the region.
Goodstoney First Nation breaks ground on Goodstoney Meadows, the site of a new commercial development which will include a new gas bar, take-out restaurant and retail space adjacent to the Stoney Nakoda Resort and Casino off Highway 1 – one of the busiest tourist corridors in Canada.
Canmore Museum announces the Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda Cultural Residency Program at its annual general meeting. The two-year residency program is meant to be a capacity building partnership with the Alberta Museums Association, providing both learning and hands-on experience.
AUGUST
Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation community members speak out against the Pope’s visit to Canada and apology to Indigenous peoples, calling the apology “incomplete” toward all First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.
A man drowned while attempting to save a dog at Spray Lakes Reservoir Aug. 7. The man and the dog did not resurface after submerging under the water in the rescue attempt. The drownings were the second reported at Spray Lakes this summer.
An activist group, Wácágâ ôkóná’gîcíyâ’bî, in Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation host Ama'hnabino, a walk from Mînî Thnî to Calgary Aug. 11 to bring home the spirits of community members who lost their lives in the city from drugs or violence.
Nakoda Emergency Management services targets improved emergency response times through a 911 mapping project throughout Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation. The emergency service finished mapping houses and businesses in the Nation using a GIS platform, and local elders named roads in Mînî Thnî, Big Horn and Eden Valley so emergency responders can more easily locate the scene of an emergency.
The Town of Canmore formally reached out to the Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation to potenitlaly rename the Indian Flats and Teepee Town areas of the community. The decision to reach out to the Nation came after receiving feedback from Town staff, council members and the public on the two locations.
SEPTEMBER
The Alberta River Surfing Association and Alberta Whitewater Association announced a project that will upgrade the infrastructure of the Lower Kananaskis River and provide an adjustable wave environment that mimics what is currently only found in nature. The river is already a popular spot for those who enjoy white water conditions for surfing and kayaking. Installation of the adjustable wave is expected to begin in the fall of 2023 or spring of 2024.
A FOIP-obtained invoice revealed the former Alberta Environment and Parks ministry to be paying St. Alberta-based Global Traffic Group $166,666 per month to enforce and monitor compliance of the Kananaskis Conservation Pass in Kananaskis Country. Since the pass program was first announced in April 2020, the province said it would use all revenue collected from the sale of each pass to support K-Country initiatives like trail, road and facility maintenance, along with visitor and public safety programs, conservation efforts, services and infrastructure. The three-year contract with Global Traffic Group is worth $2 million per year and total revenues from the K-Country pass in September were around $7.1 million, from the beginning of the program’s fiscal year in April.
In recognition of the second annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Sept. 30, hundreds of people attended an Every Child Matters walk from the McDougall Memorial United Church off Highway 1A to the Morley United Church in Mînî Thnî.
Calls for much-needed internet upgrades in Kananaskis Country become louder as Kananaskis Improvement District councillors escalate their efforts for improved broadband access for residents and visitors. A feasibility study focusing on the Highway 40 corridor, between Highway 1 and Kananaskis Lakes Trail, found households and businesses in the region to be averaging an eight Mbps download speed and three Mbps upload speed, lagging far behind federal speed targets set by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission of 50 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload.
Kananaskis Improvement District council begins discussing the idea of a public transit pilot and feasibility study following a motion put forth by Coun. Darren Enns to address the number of visitors to the region and bogged down trailhead parking lots.
OCTOBER
The province approves broadband funding for Big Horn, a remote Stoney Nakoda First Nation community about 24 kilometres southwest of Nordegg. The rural community will be one of 50 in Alberta to benefit from the first funding allocation of $70.6 million by the governments of Alberta and Canada for projects that qualified for the Universal Broadband Fund.
The Canmore Museum welcomes a Stoney Advisory Circle comprised of four Îyârhe Nakoda First Nation members to help guide the facility on a path to build bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in the Bow Valley. At the same time, Îyârhe Nakoda member Tony Snow joins the museum as its curator of Indigenous content.
Alberta Parks issues a statement through its social media warning trail users of relying solely on crowd-sourced trail apps to navigate trails in Kananaskis Country. Parks’ said the Kananaskis Country Public Safety team has responded to several rescue incidents as a result of unprepared hikers only using apps like AllTrails to inform their trip.
A wildfire breaks out near Kent Ridge in Kananaskis Country. Wildland firefighters are able to keep the fire contained to two hectares in size, despite windy conditions and the remoteness of the area leading to challenges fighting the blaze into the evenings.
A house cat is found to have miraculously survived almost two months alone in the K-Country wilderness thanks to the help of Canmore residents who set up trail cameras and secured traps with permission from Alberta Parks. Gustophe was reunited with his owners from Manitoba 54 days after he went missing overnight during a camping trip at Spray Lakes West Campground.
The number of fatalities Kananaskis Country Public Safety has responded to is reported to be up by 50 per cent with 15 fatalities reported from January through early October, despite visitation being down and the number of response calls being down to 281 from 402 in the same period in 2021.
NOVEMBER
Swift Mînî Thnî transit reports it has continued to roll well-past its planned four-month pilot, extending the pilot service for riders between Mînî Thni and Cochrane until at least the new year.
Canmore and Kananaskis Country are highlighted in Alberta premier Danielle Smith’s mandate letter to Todd Loewen, the minister of the new forestry, parks and tourism ministry. The letter directs Loewen to develop and implement a long-term tourism strategy and to “explore the best way to improve infrastructure in Kananaskis, Canmore, Waiporous Creek, Crowsnest Pass and other high tourist traffic areas.”
Two stranded, but well-equipped and mentally prepared, hikers spend a cold night on Grotto Mountain after accidentally going off trail while descending the mountain as darkness set in Nov. 12. At first light, rescuers and Alpine Helicopters set out, heli-slinging the two men off the mountain – uninjured and healthy.
DECEMBER
A feasibility study for public transit in Kananaskis Country gets the green light from Kananaskis Improvement District council, placing the likelihood of a transit pilot further down the road past what was initially planned for spring 2023, to better understand transportation needs in the region.
Kananaskis Improvement District council opts to continue advocating the province for satellite phones in K-Country, placing the onus on the province to address the improvement to visitor safety.
Stoney Nakoda woman Summer Twoyoungmen is remembered by family and friends for her advocacy efforts in battling the drug epidemic in the First Nation. Twoyoungmen, who died Nov. 15 at the age of 26, created the activist group Wácágâ ôkóná’gîcíyâ’bî and led various walks and grassroots events to raise awareness around the devasation of drugs in Stoney Nakoda First Nation communities.
Goodstoney First Nation members re-elect Chief Clifford Poucette and Coun. Krista Hunter to Stoney Tribal Council. Desi Ear, Watson Kaquitts and Thomas Dixon are elected as new councillors.
Bearspaw First Nation members re-elect long-time Chief Darcy Dixon to Stoney Tribal Council, along with councillors Rod Hunter and Pierre Lefthand. Keith Lefthand and Amos Dacster are elected as new councillors.
A dilapidated helipad meant to serve as a landing site for visitors to a teahouse that never came to fruition on Mount Lady Macdonald, is slung off the mountain by helicopter over the course of a few days, about 20 years after the teahouse project folded.
Bearspaw First Nation Chief Darcy Dixon pens a letter to Alberta premier Danielle Smith in opposition of the province passing the Alberta Sovereignty within a United Canada Act. In the letter, Dixon encourages Smith to engage with the province's Indigenous peoples to navigate a path forward where consultation has been lacking.
Kananaskis Improvement District council passes an interim budget for 2023, adopting a predicted eight per cent tax increase until budget debate continues in mid-January.
