At about 10 p.m. last July 22, 2024, anxious Jasperites, stuck in gridlock only blocks away from their homes and illuminated by the headlights of their neighbours, evacuated slowly westward towards the Yellowhead Highway.
One year later, on July 22, 2025, many of those same people came together again, this time around the Jim Vena Stage at Commemoration Park, to recognize the wildfire’s one-year anniversary. They stood with their friends, family, neighbours and fellow residents, sharing their similar but unique experiences of the traumatizing disaster.
“Your feelings, your emotions, whatever they may be, they are real. They are valid and we know they may be easily stirred,” said Jasper’s Mayor, Richard Ireland.
Ireland’s words were preceded by remarks from delegates representing the province, Parks Canada and Alberta’s Indigenous nations. Elder Bruce Cutknife of the Samson Cree Nation and Indigenous Education Coordinator at Maskwacis Cultural College, offered reflection on the topic of fire and our relationship to it.
“It is part of our cycle that provides warmth; it cooks our food, but if it is played with or abused, it could be a destroying entity,” Cutknife said.
Throughout the morning, the speakers acknowledged both the visible and behind-the-scenes efforts that supported Jasper over the past year. From the contributions of Parks Canada, to the $181 million disaster relief program provided provincially, to the hundreds of local and provincial wildfire personnel who responded to the emergency, their efforts were recognized.
“Alberta wildfire sent more than 175 firefighters, specialists, air tankers, helicopters and critical equipment to support the firefight,” said Alberta Minister of Forestry and Parks, Todd Loewen.
Ireland reminded those gathered of the devastating contribution of Alberta Wildland firefighter Morgan Kitchen.
“[He] gave his life battling to protect this special place, a place so many of us are privileged today to call home,” Ireland said.
With recognition that the anniversary might be emotionally triggering for those in attendance, grieving Jasperites were joined in the audience by support workers from Recovery Alberta, Team Rubicon, the Red Cross, the Jasper Volunteer Fire Brigade, and peer support personnel from the Pathfinders program—an initiative to increase the community’s capacity to support others. Emcee Doug Olthof, manager of housing and social recovery for the Jasper Recovery Coordination Centre, pointed out that these professionals remain available if Jasperites are in need of help.
And once again it was Mayor Richard Ireland—who, like many Jasperites, lost his home in the 2024 wildfire—who rose to the occasion, offering compassion and comfort and providing a beacon of hope for those facing new, different challenges of the recovery.
“For many, this may be the most difficult chapter yet,” Ireland said. “We are all now navigating our changed home—a new Jasper—in different ways.”
Three days later, Ireland offered healing words to a different audience, in a different location, when he helped introduce the powerful Voices of Jasper exhibition currently on display at the Jasper Art Gallery. Bookended by moving performances by Warrior Women’s Matricia Bauer and songwriter/climate activist Scott Diehl, the opening reception for The Resilience Institute’s signature program was standing room only as Jasperites gathered to share personal reflections in response to the fire and its ongoing impact.
Ireland urged his fellow community members to remember that resilience isn’t just about bouncing back; it’s also about getting stronger, together.
“Each story is a reminder of our collective journey, the bonds we have forged and the unwavering hope that guides us forward,” he said.
Before Jasper Artists Guild founding member and Voices of Jasper curator Greg Deagle shared his curatorial notes and advised on how to best experience the three-chapter exhibition, Ireland shared his own artistic expression—a poem, which he titled ReRooted (or ReRouted—he said it was up to the audience to decide which usage was appropriate).
ReRooted/ReRouted
Uprooted, sent reeling, confusing, surreal
Scatter like embers, adrift with no keel
Land as wind chooses, our flame not yet out
Yet harried and haggard and filled with such doubt
Numbed by the shock, by the terrible grief
Unable to focus we all sought relief
Nurtured by others, we found our own strength
Not instant or fully, we’ll mature it at length
Those embers that settled, now fanned by some force
Ignite as a passion to eclipse our remorse
Unimaginable stories emerged from the strife
Those voices now merging to UpLift! us in life
Stories converging, all enable the chance
To reimagine our future and, united, advance
For in every story, some new hope takes flight
In the wake of the flames, our own future we write
So let us embrace what the fire will reveal
For our sorrow and loss we’ll recover and heal
With stories to inspire, we will reckon and mend
Together, forever, as community and friends
Uprooted by forces on the surface so cruel
We’ll sink new foundations and secure our renewal
From the ashes last summer, we will find our way through
For the fire which consumes is the fire which renews
Sophie Pfisterer // info@thejasperlocal.com
-with files from Bob Covey
