It is common at this time of the year to hear that Canadian identity is tied to landscape. Two million visitors a year come to Jasper National Park to experience that story, while 5,000 fortunate Jasperites live here year round to achieve that connectiveness with the natural world. It is the awe-inspiring vistas, it is Pyramid Mountain’s golden reflection at dusk, it is the heart-pounding accomplishment of scaling Roche Miette that teaches us of the natural connection to the land. From here we draw our inspiration, and the land teaches us, with its diurnal rhythms, to respect nature and one another. While this is only one part of the Canadian identity, it is a significant one - one with the greatest amount of history. There is little surprise New Canadians are invited to the park to learn about the country. Connectivity is a Canadian trait.

Two aspects of those stories appear in this week’s Fitzhugh - ones that hold the power to shift the Canadian narrative for years. Work on the Columbia Icefields is alarming because it holds the potential to change our story dramatically. The disappearance of glaciers, subsequent loss of water and resistance to drought shakes our longheld belief that we are the hewers of wood and drawers of water. 

Canadians held onto this story for decades partially due to its economic benefits, but also because of a perceived hyperabundance of said resources. Yet the need for sustainable management and recognition that there is a finite amount of water available for an ever increasing population tells us the need to change our habits is now. 

Canadians per capita are the worst wasters of water in the world. We use more water every day than every other nation on the planet. Increased development in Alberta, specifically on the Eastern Slopes, means we must learn to do more with less. This includes greater conservation efforts and stronger water policy, which will hopefully follow the research by Dr. Mike Demuth and his colleagues. It has implications to everyone downstream, including hydro-electric projects, new residential development and tar sands development, which requires two litres of water for every litre of oil produced.

While the heavy stick of policy could follow, Canadians need to begin conservation now.

Aboriginal stories also shape the national identity. It comes as no surprise the loss of many of these stories correlate with their disappearance from the landscape. As the American author Joan Didion wrote we tell stories in order to live, and now that Aboriginal stories are returning, Jasper’s narrative is about to change.

Parks Canada seems committed to welcoming back those who were evicted 100 years ago, however what form that takes remains to be seen. It is impossible to pretend it is 1910 all over again. There can be no trapline down Patricia Street. Healing must take place, and there must be respect on both sides of the table for a proper partnership to be created. The stories are being shared, and recognition of past wrongs is being undone.

The Canadian story is hard to define because it is ever changing. As a people, response to change affects our survival, which is an area where the nation has become very skilled. We’re hopeful the stories of First Nations and water, and the subsequent response will give Canadians something to be proud of.