Stoney Nakoda

“We encourage the public to talk to our roads foreman. It is still a pretty easy and informal process.”

COMMENTARY: It is a new year and a time of renewal. Many of us have made personal resolutions to eat healthier, produce less waste, and spend more time with family and friends.  But what about as a country – what can we, as Canadians, resolve to do better in 2023 and into the future?

“It’s very frustrating for people living on the Nation and the ranchers that are around those areas,” said Stoney Nakoda’s protective services manager Pascal Richard. “Highway fencing has always been an issue.”

“I personally find that in black and white, especially in portraiture, what you see in the photo is the eyes of the person and the person themselves,” said Richards.

“If they haven’t done it yet or started discussing it, it kind of brings the question as to why hasn’t it happened yet?” said Jordie Mark, a Chiniki First Nation councillor on Îyârhe (Stoney) Nakoda First Nation's tribal council.

Nightrise, a collaborative, immersive digital art experience between Pursuit, Montreal-based Moment Factory and the Îyârhe Nakoda, is back at the Banff Gondola to highlight the First Nation's language and culture through sight and sound, beginning with an evening ride up the mountain.

In collaboration with Parks Canada, the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies is seeking up to three Indigenous artists to create temporary murals on eight-by-eight foot wooden boxes to be displayed prominently on the grounds of the Cave and Basin, and tucked away in the winter.

“It’s like hot potato – the community wants to talk about it but they also don’t because it’s such a touchy subject. It makes everybody uncomfortable.”

“It is all volunteers going out and that is gratifying because with our information, we can see how many birds we get compared to previous years and what factors contributed to that.”

“The number of calls are not factored into the contract sum at all. That is strictly determined by the market assessed values within the service lands of the MD compared to the town site of Canmore and it is a proportional percentage that is taken.”