Wanuskewin has amazing year
- EFN Staff | October 24, 2015
A visit by UNESCO has topped off a fantastic year for the Wanuskewin Heritage Park. Wanuskewin hosted the event to draw attention to Saskatchewan’s remarkable historic and cultural landscape, as well as to share information about the renewal plans which will elevate Wanuskewin on the world stage.
“UNESCO’s founding intention is that cultures should discover
and learn about each other. This aim is very much at the heart of what
Wanuskewin represents,” said Candace Wasacase-Lafferty, Chair of Wanuskewin’s
Board of Directors. “We are delighted to share Wanuskewin’s incredible history
and renewal with our distinguished guests.”
If Wanuskewin can achieve World Heritage
Designation, it would be a great boost to the Parks renewal plans and long term
sustainability. Dana Soonias took over six years ago as CEO of the Park and
inherited a bit of a troubled institution. But six years of hard work and of
strengthening relationships has Wanuskewin on the cusp of greatness. “It has
taken many years to rebuild the foundation of the Park with our stakeholders
and community. The rebuild required a review of all systems, processes and
procedures, internally and externally. We brought back our Elders and had many
meetings with them on all aspects of our programming and services. We
worked to bring back the cultural integrity that had been removed for various
reasons and began to listen instead of talk,” said Soonias. “Great things
can happen when you open your mind to the voices that provide direction, advice
and guidance. I feel our successes lay in our ability to learn from the past,
listen to our traditional knowledge keepers and maintaining an open and
welcoming environment for everyone.”
Since October 2014, Wanuskewin has seen some amazing events...and races. Over 1000 people attended the Walking With Our Sisters exhibit and they also set attendance records on National Aboriginal Day and for the Blood Moon Eclipse Viewing by welcoming over 1400 visitors combined. But the big boost for the Park came in welcoming the contestants from one of Canada’s most popular TV shows, The Amazing Race.
“This is the number one show in
Canada and you could see it in our web statistics and the amount of phone calls
and amount of well wishes to the dancers and singers went through the roof. We
were really proud to be a part of it and Wanuskewin represented really well,”
said Andrew McDonald Wanuskewin’s Sales and Marketing Manager of the show that
had an estimated 2.6 million viewers. “The impact on the Park was great and to
be able to go into that many homes and to be able to share images of Wanuskewin and the traditions, history and
dance is so wonderful and a real positive for us.”
The extra publicity and enhanced capacity bodes well
considering the ambitious renewal plans in place for the Park. The renewal
plans include enlarging the Interpretive Centre to allow for new state of the
art interpretive exhibits and expanded educational programming and an art
gallery. Externally, the visitor experience will be enhanced through extending
trails, reclaiming native prairie grasslands, and returning bison to the Park.
The work has just begun to ensure the long-term protection of Wanuskewin and the lands surrounding the park. “The UNESCO designation is a long term plan and through partnerships with the City of Saskatoon, Province of Saskatchewan and the federal government, we hope our dreams will be realized. We are building a legacy for future generations and we need our communities’ support to ensure it is built in a manner that is authentic, welcoming, open and respectful to all who walk through our doorways,” added Soonias. “Despite some challenges along the way, we all feel great satisfaction as we all have a purpose here and the successes of the past year are only small examples of the good work coming our way. Wanuskewin is about our people and their sacred relationship to the land - and land is life.”