Alberta Wildfires Dispatched
Introduction to the Travels of S.R. and Chocolate Chip YEG-GA
The carving called "Chocolate Chip YEG-GA' began its journey with S.R. in Spring 2016 and n January 2017 (Canada Y150), S.R. embarked on another term in Native Studies at the University of Alberta. Lac La Biche, Alberta, is home for S.R. and during the Summer her job title is Wildfire Dispatcher, Lac La Biche Forest Area, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. Thus, as documented in one of the vignettes below, she was an indispensable part of the larger effort to confront the devastating wildfires found in the Province of Alberta in 2016. While taking her required courses in Native studies in Fall 2016, S.R. also remarkably completed an "extra" course at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (N.A.I.T.) so she could "finish off" her previous course of study in Engineering Drafting and Design Technology. A seasoned veteran of the Carving Vignettes advanced literacy program, S.R. was also part of a group of students who participated in an "Learning Environment" exercise as part of a Worldwide Waterways History course in whihc they measured continuity and change in Edmonton's River Valley against competing theories of "Creative Destruction".
The name "Chocolate Chip YEG-GA" actually originates from a memory prompted by the colour found in the Brazilian soapstone used for this carving when it was sculpted. Chocolate Chip YEG-GA was also derived from a portion of a larger stone obtained from the enterprising rock merchant Asad (now retired) on 118 Avenue, Edmonton. Other carvings from that larger rock were commissioned as gifts for a prestigious group of Chinese diplomatic dignitaries and the reknowned artist Fan Zeng by the Provost of the University of Alberta in Fall, 2013, thus confirming Chocolate Chip YEG-GA's lineage within the spirit of reciprocal patriotic exhange. The carving is dedicated to the individual agency, accomplishments and contributions of grandmothers, mothers, daughters and sisters from the Lac La Biche area, especially those of them who are dedicated students of Native Studies.
Account Received July, 2016
Second Home Canada Day
Kikino, 7:00AM, 1 July , 2016. 19°C.
Kikino, Alberta, is my second home during the Summer. In spirit of Canada Day I thought I would share some historical information about this particular area. It overlooks the Amisk (Beaver) River. Although the morning fog makes it difficult to see, this river was part of the route that David Thompson traveled in his search for the Northwest Passage. In his journals he described the struggles he faced while traveling in this part of the West the river was so shallow. The waterway also marked the point of departure for the fur trade and European settlement in the Lac La Biche area. In 1990, this territory was recognized as a Mètis Settlement by the Government of Alberta.
Accounts Received, January 10, 2017
Yankee Echo Golf - Golf Alpha
Lac La Biche, 7:30AM, June 11, 2016. 15°C.
YEG-GA spent most of its summer in the Lac La Biche Wildfire Dispatch Office. Tracking aircraft, relying messages over the radio, reading the forecast, answering 310-FIRE calls, and much more. Today, however, it is raining and rather quiet.
It was a busy summer for the Lac La Biche Fire Center because of the Fort McMurray fire. In the beginning our office was split in half. One side was dealing with our own wildfires, and Fort McMurray’s on the other. It was crazy seeing my small hometown overloaded with people, and seeing people I know on the news running gas, food and water up and down the highway for people evacuating. Everyone in our town opening their homes, and helping in everyway they could. Their actions have made me truly proud to tell people where I am from.
Day Off
Lac La Biche, 1:05PM, July 22, 2016. 26°C.
Today is a day off work so I am able to enjoy the weather, and the views of the lake in my front yard. The waterways in Lac La Biche are the reason why many people settled in the area and they provided access to both the Churchill and Mackenzie drainage basins. Thus, this was a key geographical component of the fur trade so important in Canada’s history. The resources and economic opportunities in the area attracted a multitude of people and ethnicities from all over the World. Here, in fact, is the home of the second mosque in Canada, constructed in 1958.
Lac La Biche Mission
Lac La Biche, 11:30AM, July 3, 2016. 21°C.
Today, Chocolate Chip YEG-GA sits on the fence of the Lac La Biche Mission. It was an overcast day. The church in the background was rebuilt after it was destroyed by a tornado in 1921. Next to the church is a small replica of the priest’s house that burnt down September 30, 2009. It was suspected to be arson because of other cases in the area. I still remember riding by on the school bus that day, and seeing nothing but the brick chimney standing surrounded by smoke.
The Lac La Biche Mission was established in 1853. It included a Residential school from 1868-1898. Its warehouse also functioned as a supply hub for the North, but the difficult portage to the area caused its popularity to decline.