Jasperites marched in solidarity against the lack of progress on interim housing January 24.
Six months to the day after the homes of approximately 2,000 people living in Jasper burned in the largest wildfire ever recorded in Jasper National Park, hundreds of demonstrators showed their unity with displaced residents.
“Everyone deserves shelter, dignity and hope for the future, but at this present moment much of that is at risk,” said organizer Brooklyn Rushton.
Protesters pointed their placards, and their fingers, squarely at the Alberta Government for not following through on a promised $112 million commitment to building interim housing in fire-ravaged Jasper.
“We’re still waiting for action, for the housing our community was promised,” Rushton said through a bullhorn to the gathering crowd.
On January 17, the government of Alberta blasted Parks Canada for putting up roadblocks to recovery. Premier Danielle Smith has accused the agency of being inflexible by refusing to expand the townsite boundary for housing.
Local officials with the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre, meanwhile, have said the province’s plan for permanent, low-density housing is inadequate for displaced residents and would also critically limit the town’s ability to meet future housing needs.
“Utilizing all 4.25 hectares of serviceable land at the density proposed by the Government of Alberta would yield only about 60 single detached units, far below the 250 units they initially announced, and not nearly enough to meet the surging housing needs in Jasper,” said Michael Fark, municipal director of recovery, during a virtual media briefing on Tuesday.
At the rally, Jasperites asked the province to listen to local planners and put politics aside.
“Shelter is a basic human necessity and will not be used as a political bargaining chip,” Rushton said, to rousing applause. “Jasper will stand united against any attempts to exploit our community’s recovery for political purposes.”
Edmonton-Highlands-Norwood MLA and shadow critic for housing, Janis Irwin, took part in the Jasper rally. She criticized the United Conservative Party for not putting Jasper’s needs first.
“I cannot accept that the UCP is not doing everything they can to support your community,” Irwin said. “The municipality knows your community, they know better than anybody else what you need.”
About 300 people congregated outside of the Jasper Municipal Library on Friday afternoon. After 15 minutes of speeches, the group marched downtown, then towards the east end of the townsite, where one of four empty, newly-serviced lots awaits the anticipated interim housing.
“Housing is a human right! Jasper don’t give up the fight!” came the rally cry.
The JRCC has said they are moving forward with Parks Canada’s procurement of work camp-style temporary housing.
On Friday morning, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault responded to the Alberta government’s accusations that Parks Canada has held up the interim housing process.
“If the provincial government’s first instinct was to collaborate instead of politicizing this disaster, as they have done at nearly every opportunity since the catastrophic fire last summer, we could move faster,” Guilbeault said.
The Alberta government likewise put out a statement in the late afternoon, once again insisting that their support will only come if Jasper expands the townsite.
“Alberta’s government remains ready to build homes for displaced Jasperites, but we can’t do that without land. If the federal government decides to step up and make land available, the province is ready to build the homes.”
Not everyone at Friday’s march were from Jasper. Edmontonians Kristi Shmyr and Kyle Stefaniuk made the four hour trip to show support for their “favourite place on earth.”
“The government of Alberta went back on their promise,” Shmyr told The Jasper Local. “They made the promise for political glory, and now they’re going back on it.”
Jasperite business magnate, Gus Vlahos, lost eight properties in the Jasper wildfire, including his own home. His message to political leaders is to “stop playing games.”
“We built this town. The people built this town into one of the best destinations in the world,” Vlahos said. “[The government] has to work with us, get us back together as fast as they can do it.
“We’re not asking for charity, we’re asking for cooperation.”
Bob Covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com
