DRUMHELLER - STETTLER -- Canadian pioneers faced the near impossible task of building homes and communities from the ground up with little more than basic tools. Pioneering in Canada consisted of providing the basics of food and shelter in an unexplored wilderness wrought with challenges that many of us in this day and age couldn’t imagine. Before there were roads or railways, Canada’s new frontier meant isolation and hardship without a connection to modern communication or transportation of goods; something else many of us could not imagine today.
The pioneers who explored Canada’s northern wilderness blazed a trail that has led to settlements across the country, which created the social stability that allowed for the establishment of larger populated centers.
This past week’s Canada Day was celebrated across the country by citizens young and old. For many of us it evokes strong feelings of patriotism; for others it has a far more significant meaning. For some, Canada was a life raft in a sea of turmoil and strife, and it remains a bastion of peace - a reputation that is a source of pride for many Canadians.
As time goes by, our connection to Canada’s pioneering past holds even more significance as the starting point of one of the greatest nations in history. Without the sacrifice and courage of the pioneers who risked life and limb to establish communities throughout this country, many of the communities we live in simply would not exist.
Settlements throughout Canada served many different and equally significant roles in the success and habitation of much of western Canada. Some of the largest cities in the west started out as little more than trading posts that allowed for further settlement deeper into unmapped and unknown territories.
Like much of Canada, Alberta was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous people before the first permanent settlements were established by Europeans. Alberta’s capital city is known to have been settled around 1795, when Fort Edmonton was officially founded around the present-day Fort Saskatchewan area. In 1875 John Glenn was the first documented European settler in the Calgary area, originally named Fort Brisebois after NWMP officer Éphrem-A. Brisebois, and renamed Fort Calgary by Colonel James Macleod. From these modest beginnings both cities have established themselves and Alberta as significant players on the world stage.
Canada’s pioneers and indigenous people are the true heroes of our modern-day Canadian society, working hand-in-hand to establish a nation that provides one of the highest qualities of life on earth.
July 1, 2017, will mark Canada’s 150th anniversary, a significant milestone in our nation’s history. On that day, remembering those who made this nation what it is today, would be an appropriate way to celebrate all we have to be proud of and thankful for.
Canada Day is a day to remember our Indigenous people, pioneers, settlers, and military who have collectively created the place we are all lucky enough to call home. A Canada strong and free.