Thebacha Leadership Council takes flight with new festival

The Northern Whooping Crane Festival kicks off this weekend, running September 5-8. It’s the flagship event for the newly created Thebacha Leadership Council.

The council, in the works for years, officially formed on June 21 when five community leaders signed a memorandum of agreement.

Council coordinator Mike Couvrette said the agreement formalizes – and publicly affirms – that those leaders are committed to a process where they work collaboratively on areas of common concern.

The leadership council includes the mayor of Fort Smith, chiefs of the Salt River First Nation and Smith’s Landing First Nation, the president of the Fort Smith Métis Council, and the Thebacha MLA. At present, the occupants of all five positions are of Indigenous descent.

Fort Smith “has had a reputation in the past of not playing well in the sandbox,” Couvrette said. “The leadership council feels that this is a positive, progressive step to try and change that perception of the political environment within our community.”

Couvrette said the move also seeks to address past situations where other levels of government came to Fort Smith and met separately with representatives from each of the local governments.

“Sometimes the story does change between governments, and it’s almost felt that sometimes it’s used as a divide-and-conquer tactic,” Couvrette said. “This is sort-of a proactive state: ‘Talk to us about areas that we feel we all have interest in. You speak to all of us at one table.'”

Conservation economy, other opportunities

Couvrette said the leadership council will now look to sit down with residents and talk about the council’s long-term vision, mission and strategic priorities.

The Northern Whooping Crane Festival will be part of those discussions as “it’s seen as a priority of the leadership council to look at economic development, diversity of our economy and sustainable economic opportunities in the future,” Couvrette said.

“They see the festival playing a part in that, in the conservation economy.”

Though this will be the first year of the festival, there’s already talk about it becoming an annual event.

The festival will celebrate the recovery of the once almost-extinct whooping crane and bring the community together to discuss continued protection of the birds and other species at risk. The cranes nest in and around the nearby Wood Buffalo National Park. 

“The presence of whooping cranes provides a unique opportunity for the town to begin to look at conservation tourism,” said Daniel Wiltzen, who works for the Town of Fort Smith’s economic and tourism development office.

Wiltzen said the festival provides an opportunity to see how the cranes could increase tourism numbers throughout the summer and increase awareness about Fort Smith.

“Outside of the community, it’s not known that one of the northernmost nesting grounds for whooping cranes is just outside of Fort Smith,” he said.

The Wood Buffalo whooping cranes are the world’s only wild migratory population. They spend summers nesting in Canada and winter in Texas, near Port Aransas, a town that has hosted its own whooping crane festival since 1996.

The Texas festival creates a “multi-million dollar economic boom from tourism around whooping cranes,” Wilzen said. The Port Aransas festival receives more than 1,000 attendees a year.

This year’s Fort Smith equivalent, he said, acts as a “test run” to see what the Northern Whooping Crane Festival might look like.

“It’s a huge opportunity for us all to work together to promote the community and put ourselves on the map,” Wilzen said.

Collaborative event a ‘huge deal’

The Northern Whooping Crane Festival is co-organized by the Fort Smith Métis Council, Smith’s Landing First Nation, Salt River First Nation and Town of Fort Smith. It’s supported by Aurora College, Wood Buffalo National Park, the GNWT and the Northern Life Museum and Cultural Centre.

The three-day festival will feature presentations on the whooping crane, arts and crafts, guided walks, fishing demonstrations, excursions to explore habitat and biodiversity in the region, and on-the-land events. There are also children’s activities, including a screening of the movie Angry Birds.

Emily Prescott, a festival co-organizer from Smith’s Landing First Nation, said it’s a “huge deal” to have all local governments collaborating.

“It took us a long time to get here,” she said.

“It’s the main focus of all of us to make sure that we’re all on the same page and we’re all collaborating together, because it only just brings better things to come in the future.”

Smith’s Landing First Nation is heavily involved on the Saturday of the festival, Prescott said, with knowledge-sharing talks including a medicine walk and guided hike through Fort Fitzgerald.

“The key thing with Smith’s Landing is showing the community our land,” Prescott said. “Showing that Smith’s Landing does have a presence, and we’re very passionate about where we’re from.”

The festival will also recognize the work of Ernie Kuyt, a Canadian biologist who was instrumental in recovering the whooping crane population.

The whooping crane is a conservation success story, with numbers having bounced back from a low of 21 in 1941 to about 600 today. The comeback was aided by conservationists like Kuyt, who followed the bird’s migration, tagged chicks, and improved nesting success by helping to ensure viable eggs could be incubated. Kuyt received the Order of Canada in 1993 for his dedication and contribution to saving the whooping crane.

He passed away in 2010 after decades working on wildlife conservation in Canada. A special presentation at the festival will recognize Kuyt’s efforts at 11am on Sunday.

‘The cranes are calling you’

Connie Benwell, a festival co-organizer from Salt River First Nation, said she hopes people’s main takeaway from the festival is to learn more about the whooping crane.

“We almost lost that bird, and now they’re coming back,” Benwell said.

She also hopes people learn more about the cultures of Salt River First Nation, Smith’s Landing First Nation, Fort Smith Métis Council and the town.

Patricia Heaton, a festival co-organizer from Fort Smith Métis Council, said collaborative events like this one are “the necessary path forward for our community.”

“Sharing the load, working together, that’s just the plan, right?” Heaton said. “The community needs to rely on each other more and more, and this is the first event for that.”

Working together “benefits the whole community,” Benwell said.

“Our leaders came together and they started talking about this, and then they got their coordinators from each group to work together,” she said. “In such a short time, there was a lot of planning and work. Now, tomorrow, this is going to start shining.”  

“If you’re in Fort Smith, come down and celebrate with us,” Benwell said. “The cranes are calling to you.”