This article originally appeared in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
By Ken Coates, January 24, 2024
Many environmental advocates search for the spotlight through news and social media to mobilize support for their causes. Others work in relative obscurity, working with local authorities and monitoring closely the subtle but transformative shifts in regional ecosystems.
The environmental movement needs all kinds of people, but it is impossible not to hold a special place in one’s heart and soul for the ones closest to the land, water and wildlife, those who live as part of the environment they work so hard to preserve.
My late friend Gary Carriere of Cumberland House in Saskatchewan was one of these local advocates who gave both a face and a profound passion to the battle to save one of Canada’s most precious ecosystems, the Saskatchewan River Delta.
Few Canadians even know there is a massive inland delta, the largest in North America, in Saskatchewan and western Manitoba.
The delta draws water across the Prairies from the North and South Saskatchewan rivers, a system that has been seriously damaged by upstream activities such as chemical runoff from farming, untreated animal waste from stockyards in Alberta and urban water consumption.
It is an area of immense economic, social and cultural importance to the local First Nations and Metis. The historic bounty of the delta was remarkable: exceptional harvests of muskrats and beaver, fish, big game and extraordinary migratory bird populations.
For the Indigenous people, the delta was, and is, their bank, their store, the foundation of their culture and the centrepiece of their lives.
Carriere, who died Jan. 15, worked extremely hard with local authorities and federal and provincial governments to draw attention to water control dams that allowed farmers to cut the flow of water. Falling levels undermined wildlife in the network of tributaries and waterways.
Invasive plant species, some sustained by the chemicals introduced from the west, clogged the arteries of the water system, further altering the natural landscape.
Carriere’s pain in watching this beloved eco-system wither and suffer was matched only by his remarkable commitment to his home territory and his belief that Canadians, if properly informed, would come around to rescuing it.
He died knowing that a broad network of community members, environmentalists, scientists and others shared his commitment, if not his optimism. He also died knowing that little had been done to improve the situation.
Canada’s track record on ecological rebirth is spotty, at best. The poorly managed Atlantic cod fishery remains all but moribund, and the West Coast salmon runs face a comparable fate. Yukon River salmon stocks are dangerously low, and caribou herds across the north are under threat.
The Saskatchewan River Delta stands as a monument to our inability to change course. Long-term solutions are not overly expensive. Carriere fought on, to the end of his life, in the so far vain hope that the country would take notice.
Let’s finally take notice. Let us realize that the Saskatchewan River Delta is a precious eco-system, deserving of our support. Let’s make sure that upstream users take responsibility for downstream damage and let our governments take action to reverse the devastation.
The central lesson of Gary Carriere’s distinguished life is that the environment is worth saving, one ecosystem at a time. It is vital that we demonstrate we learned something from his impressive efforts.
Ken Coates is a distinguished fellow and director of Indigenous affairs at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
