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A steel bridge span lies beside an excavator and pickup truck at the edge of a meadow surrounded by forest.

Allison Creek camp asks for pause on West Fraser harvest

Written on . Posted in Environment.

A group camped near Allison Creek in the Crowsnest Pass wants a planned logging project paused until West Fraser Timber and the province release the science behind it.

Defenders of the Eastern Slopes set up the camp Sept. 22 in the Allison and Tecumseh creek watersheds, about 15 kilometres northwest of Coleman, where West Fraser plans to harvest about 454 hectares of forest.

The same day, the group says, its members spoke with contractors and West Fraser representatives as crews tried to move a bridge toward Atlas Road and a new logging road. The bridge has not moved and remains at the edge of a meadow, the group says.

DOES describes itself as a grassroots group of Albertans concerned about protecting the Eastern Slopes. It focuses on headwaters, native forests, wildlife habitat and threatened species.

“We are not a large formal environmental organization,” says Colin Smith, the group’s media spokesman, in a written response. “The group brings together people who are prepared to advocate directly for the protection of these landscapes.”

West Fraser and the province

West Fraser says its harvest plan follows the direction of the Alberta government’s Community Hazardous Fuels Reduction Program, which it says directs forestry companies to prioritize fuel reduction near communities identified as high-risk for wildfire.

The company says Alberta’s regulatory framework “includes requirements for forestry companies while harvesting, including strict provisions regarding critically sensitive areas and to protect water sources.”

West Fraser says it also obtains authorizations under federal regulations where required.

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The company referred questions about the program to the province. It did not answer questions about the harvest timeline, species in the area or whether it plans legal action in response to the camp.

Alberta Forestry and Parks says the Allison Creek harvest was planned and approved under the current forest management plan. Under the fuels reduction program, which directs harvesting within approved plans to lower wildfire risk near communities, the department says the harvest’s design and timing were reviewed and adjusted to reduce community wildfire exposure “as soon as possible.”

The department says forest management planning weighs wildlife habitat, biodiversity, watersheds, recreation, wildfire risk and timber supply, and that harvest areas are approved through annual operating plans under Alberta’s timber harvest planning and operating ground rules.

Forestry and Parks staff monitor operations for compliance with approved plans and legislation, it says.

The department did not say what specific environmental or species assessments were done for this harvest, whether it has received concerns from DOES or other groups, or what its data shows about westslope cutthroat trout in the area.

The harvest area

DOES calls the area “one of the most diverse forests” in Alberta.

“The characterization comes from decades of field observations of the Allison Creek/Tecumseh Mountain landscape by people with extensive knowledge of the area’s natural history,” Smith says.

The group has described the proposal publicly as a 1,100-acre clearcut. Smith says that figure comes from West Fraser’s August presentation to Crowsnest Pass municipal council, which he says lists an initial proposed harvest area of 550 hectares and a current area of 454 hectares, about 1,120 acres.

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According to DOES, the Alberta government and West Fraser have not presented “any scientific evidence” to justify the project.

Smith says that statement needs context.

“We are not saying that no scientific work whatsoever has been done,” he says.

Smith says West Fraser’s August presentation referred to an equivalent clearcut area analysis and an independent hydrologic risk assessment, which the company said found the proposed harvest to be low risk.

“But stating the conclusion of an assessment is not the same thing as making the science available for independent scrutiny,” Smith says.

He says DOES has not seen the complete hydrological assessment or its underlying data.

The group wants evidence on water quantity and quality, peak and low flows, sediment, stream temperature, fish habitat, and cumulative effects from past logging and roads in the watershed. It also wants evidence tying the harvest plan to wildfire risk reduction.

Smith says the group recognizes that reducing wildfire risk to Crowsnest Pass communities is an important goal.

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“But that still leaves a fundamental scientific question,” he says. “Why these 454 hectares? Why this type and intensity of harvesting? What alternatives were evaluated? And what evidence demonstrates that this particular intervention provides the necessary wildfire-safety benefit while minimizing harm to the headwaters?”

Species

Smith says the area around Allison Creek, Deadman Pass and Tecumseh Mountain has an unusual mix of tree species, including western redcedar, western larch, ponderosa pine, western white pine, limber pine and whitebark pine.

Of those, whitebark pine is listed as endangered under the federal Species at Risk Act. Western redcedar is ranked imperilled in Alberta on Canada’s Wild Species database, a ranking that carries no legal protection. Nationally, it is ranked secure.

The group also points to westslope cutthroat trout in upper Allison Creek. Alberta’s population of the fish is listed as threatened under the federal act, and DOES says it is working to obtain the provincial genetic records on the trout.

David McIntyre, who holds a master’s degree from the University of Washington’s College of the Environment, says he first documented the area’s forest more than 40 years ago and has worked to protect it ever since. He describes the watershed as a “living sponge” that sustains the drought-affected Oldman Watershed.

Clear cutting and associated roads will disrupt creek and spring hydrology, McIntyre says, raising peak flows and worsening low flows while increasing sedimentation. He is also concerned about westslope cutthroat trout in upper Allison Creek.

McIntyre says the forest contains some of Alberta’s oldest trees, which he says serve as records of climate change over the past thousand years through growth-ring analysis.

What’s next

The group plans to continue taking action if construction proceeds. Smith says those actions will remain lawful, peaceful and safe.

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DOES has not yet formally requested an environmental assessment or independent scientific review from the province or West Fraser.

Smith says the group intends to request the release of existing scientific assessments first. He says additional studies should then be considered where information gaps remain.

“We don’t believe the first step should necessarily be commissioning another study if relevant scientific work already exists,” Smith says. “The first step is transparency.”

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Community Hazardous Fuels Reduction Program, Crowsnest Pass Logging, Environmental Activism, Forest Management, Logging, Southwest Alberta Logging, Species at Risk Act, Water Security, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Wildfire Risk

Bob Toothill stands beside the Alderson-Carthew Summit trailhead information board and points to a location on the trail map.

Bob Toothill died in fall on Great Divide Trail, family says

Written on . Posted in RCMP & Public Safety.

Update – Friday, July 31

The search for Bob Toothill has come to an unfortunate end in Waterton Lakes National Park. Seven days after he was reported missing, the 81 -year-old man from Golden, B.C., was located deceased July 30.

His daughter, Natalie Neustaedter, shared in a Facebook post that he died from “a sudden slip-and-fall while hiking the Lineham Ridge area of the Great Divide Trail.”

The search began July 23 after Toothill failed to arrive in Coleman (Crowsnest Pass) as expected. The seven-day effort included Pincher Creek RCMP, Parks Canada, Alberta Search and Rescue Teams, Parks Canada Drone pilots, Alberta RCMP Air Services and specially trained police service dogs.

Condolences are extended to Bob Toothill’s family and friends.

Search for missing Waterton Hiker remains active

Update – Tuesday, July 28

“Please help us bring him home.” That’s what Natalie Neustaedter asked of the community after her father, 81-year-old Bob Toothill, went missing on the Great Divide Trail.

RCMP confirmed late Tuesday afternoon the search remains active and Toothill has not yet been found.

His pack was located Sunday, July 26, and RCMP say this has tightened up the search to an unspecified area of the park.

Toothill, of Golden, B.C., set out from the Alderson-Carthew Summit trailhead in Waterton Lakes National Park on July 16, and Neustaedter says he was expected to reach Crowsnest Pass by July 22.

He was last seen July 19 at the Rowe Lakes trailhead. Other hikers he chatted with expected to see him at Lone Lake that night but he didn’t arrive.

Neustaedter says the family contacted RCMP and Parks Canada on July 23, after realizing her father was overdue.

RCMP say Parks Canada, Pincher Creek RCMP, Southwest Alberta Regional Search and Rescue and police dog services are all taking part in the search. Air searches have also been conducted.

Neustaedter describes her father as an experienced outdoorsman, fitter than most people half his age.

While public support is appreciated, RCMP and Parks Canada ask people not to search independently.

The search-and-rescue tip line is no longer accepting calls, but anyone with information they believe could be important is asked to contact their local RCMP detachment.

Updates will be posted they are received. RCMP do not know when the next update will be available.

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Search narrows for Bob Toothill, hiker missing in Waterton backcountry

Update – Monday, July 27

Parks Canada says the search for Bob Toothill of Golden, B.C., has narrowed to a specific section of Waterton Lakes National Park.

His daughter, Natalie Neustaedter, says searchers found his backpack in the Tamarack Basin area late Sunday afternoon. High winds kept a helicopter from flying a team in, she says, and a two-person team went in early Monday for a more focused search.

Parks Canada says it is concentrating its efforts in the western part of the park, with Southwest Alberta Regional Search and Rescue covering areas outside it and aircraft assisting. No trail closures are in place.

Toothill may be wearing dark blue shorts or pants and a light blue shirt.

Both Parks Canada and Toothill’s family are urging people not to search on their own. Parks Canada says the terrain is remote, rugged and mountainous, and that unauthorized searches could put people at risk and pull resources from the operation.

The most helpful thing the public can do, the agency says, is share official updates.

Neustaedter says the family is grateful for the messages and offers of support, calling the response overwhelming.

Anyone with information, or who was in the area and saw someone matching Toothill’s description, is asked to call 1-855-727-6825, extension 2.

Search underway for Bob Toothill, missing in Waterton backcountry

Original post – Sunday, July 26

Somewhere on Section A of the Great Divide Trail, in the mountains between Waterton and the Crowsnest Pass, an 81-year-old hiker is missing, and his family is asking for help bringing him home.

Bob Toothill, of Golden, B.C., is an experienced outdoorsman his daughter describes as fitter than most people half his age. According to Parks Canada and his family, he set out from the Alderson-Carthew Summit trailhead in Waterton Lakes National Park on July 16 at 11 a.m., and was seen by other hikers as he started.

His daughter, Natalie Neustaedter, has pieced together the days that followed from calls, campground records, a trail camera and the hikers who crossed his path.

On July 17, she says, he phoned family to say hikers ahead of him had been charged by a grizzly and that he’d seen a sow and cubs himself. Bob told one family member he was heading down into a meadow to get around the bears but did not ask to be picked up at that time. It is unknown if he camped on the trail that night.

Neustaedter has confirmed that Bob arrived at the Waterton townsite campground Saturday, July 18 and checked out July 19. That Sunday morning, around 11, he got off a shuttle at the Rowe Lakes trailhead with two other hikers and was caught on a trail camera there.

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Bob mentioned to other hikers that he might try to flag the bus to carry on toward Tamarack Trail. He was expected at Lone Lake that night, Neustaedter says, but other hikers say he never arrived.

The Parks Canada notice lists the Rowe Lakes trailhead as the last place he was seen, and says he was expected to reach Coleman by July 22.

When the pieces stopped fitting together, Neustaedter says, the family raised the alarm, reaching out to Parks Canada and Crowsnest Pass RCMP on July 23.

The response since has been considerable, according to the family. Search and rescue teams from Crowsnest Pass, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat have been out on the ground and in the air, Neustaedter says, with helicopters and riders on horseback in the search. B.C. search and rescue are assisting across the border as well. RCMP have asked businesses in Coleman and the surrounding area to keep watch, and notices have been posted along the trail.

As of Friday night, she says, the entire trail had been walked twice, with no sign of him.

Neustaedter says the worry is that her father is hurt somewhere. He’s a strong hiker who can cover 15 to 20 kilometres or more in a day, she says, which means the ground he might have reached is wide. His cellphone is powered off, and a satellite phone he carried was never activated.

“If you have seen Bob, or have noticed anything on the trail or outside the trail that seems unusual, please contact the search team,” she says.

Neustaedter says the family is grateful to the RCMP, the search crews, Waterton park staff, and the friends and hikers who’ve never met her father and have turned out to help anyway.

“Please help us bring him home,” she says.

The Parks Canada notice asks anyone who saw Toothill, or who hiked Section A of the Great Divide Trail since July 19, to call the search team at 1-855-727-6825, extension 2.

 

Bob Toothill stands beside the Alderson-Carthew Summit trailhead information board and points to a location on the trail map.
Bob Toothill stands beside the Alderson-Carthew Summit trailhead information board and points to a location on the trail map.

Bob Toothill points to a location on the Alderson-Carthew Summit trail map in Waterton Lakes National Park.

Photos courtesy of Natalie Neustaedter

Backcountry Hiking, Hiking, Missing Persons, Search and Rescue

Local schools to get new support teams under $100M plan

Written on . Posted in Civic & Government, Education.

Livingstone Range and Holy Spirit each gain teams, but a local teacher says one-time money won’t fix years of underfunding

Livingstone Range School Division will receive one new classroom support team and the Holy Spirit Roman Catholic Separate School Division two, part of a $100-million provincial spend on what the government calls increasingly complex classrooms.

Both divisions received larger allocations in the winter — two teams for Livingstone Range and five for Holy Spirit, all in kindergarten through Grade 6. This round extends the support into higher grades, where local teachers say the need is mounting and the help, while welcome, falls short of what’s required.

The funding, announced June 29, will create 223 new complexity teams across the province — 160 for grades 7 to 12 and 63 for kindergarten through Grade 6. Of the $100 million, $75 million funds the teams and $25 million improves access to specialized supports and training in rural and remote communities.

“Every student deserves a safe, supportive classroom, and every teacher deserves the tools to succeed,” says Demetrios Nicolaides, minister of education and child care. “This money will strengthen supports, improve safety and ensure teachers have the resources to manage increasingly complex classrooms.”

Every public, separate and francophone school jurisdiction in Alberta will receive at least one additional complexity team, deployed at the school-authority level so divisions can direct support where needs are greatest.

Locally, the two new Holy Spirit teams and one Livingstone Range team are for grades 7 to 12. It is up to each division to decide which of its schools the teams serve.

Cautious optimism

Ron Gillespie, a teacher at Crowsnest Consolidated High School in Coleman and past president of the Alberta Teachers’ Association Local No. 14, says the funding reflects ongoing gaps rather than a new solution.

He welcomes the funding but calls it “reactionary,” a response to years of underfunding rather than a sustained fix.

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“This is a short-term response by throwing money at an issue that we, as an association of professionals and parents and communities, have been calling attention to for a long time,” Gillespie says.

While one complexity team may translate locally into one teacher and one educational assistant, he says the impact remains limited.

“That’s not a lot, but it is something,” he says. “What it looks like on the ground, I’m not sure yet. A lot of that is going to be handled divisionally and those are decisions made outside the purview of teachers.”

Gillespie also raises concerns about recruitment, particularly in rural settings. He says the province’s broader hiring targets raise questions about where those teachers will come from, with schools already seeing fewer applicants than in previous years and additional challenges with housing costs and support staff retention.

“We used to have lineups for applications and that has dwindled,” he says. “Sometimes we’re looking for two feet and a heartbeat to try to get into classrooms.”

Gillespie supports the province’s plan to fast-track professionals from the trades and business into teaching, but only if they receive proper training before entering the classroom.

He says Alberta remains among the lowest-funded provinces per student for public schooling and that sustained, predictable funding — rather than a one-time investment — is what would make a lasting difference for students with complex needs.

Statistics Canada‘s most recent figures, for 2022-23, put Alberta school boards’ operating spending at $11,464 per student, about 16 per cent below the national average of $13,692.

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The provincial breakdown

Each Grade 7-12 team includes a teacher and an educational assistant, with access to behaviour specialists, social workers and other specialists.

The funding is part of $355 million in Budget 2026 for class size and complexity, which also includes a $200-million grant to hire more than 1,400 teachers and reduce class sizes. It builds on a $143-million commitment in February for up to 476 complexity teams in K-6 classrooms.

Teachers welcome funding, press for delivery

The Alberta Teachers’ Association calls the announcement a step forward but says the real test is getting staff into classrooms.

“Any investment that recognizes the realities of class size and classroom complexity in Alberta’s classrooms is a welcome and important step forward. The challenge now is to actually get teachers in front of students,” says ATA president Jason Schilling.

“The success of today’s investment will be realized when qualified teachers are in schools by September, when resources reach the classrooms with the greatest need and when this funding is sustained over the long term,” he says.

The association says it will continue to push for sustained investment, predictable staffing and smaller class sizes.

Class Sizes, Classroom Complexity, Education Funding, Public Education, Rural Education, School Funding, Student Supports, Teacher Recruitment

An elderly man in a brown leather jacket and black scarf sits with his hands clasped and his head bowed in quiet reflection. Red blankets are draped beside him and a cane rests nearby, with people gathered in the background.

Standing into the wind: Remembering Piitaapoyi (Eagle Speaker)

Written on . Posted in Culture & Community, Opinions.

As I sat outside sipping coffee in front of my house early the other morning, I was drawn in by the action of the wind gently caressing the linden tree across the street. In a philosophical moment I realized it spoke to how we should treat ourselves and others — softly and with a light hand.

The flags on my inukshuks stationed on the hill above also gave evidence of the fingers of the wind moving through them that morning. Nearby, my old wind spinner rotated slowly, standing straight into the wind in whichever way it should blow, as it has for years.

It was then I thought of the inni (buffalo), a deeply sacred animal in Blackfoot culture. It is, I have discovered, both a pillar of physical survival and a central figure in spirituality and daily teachings of these remarkable Niitsitapi people.

These inni the Niitsitapi so revere stand looking straight into the wind, even in the fiercest storms. A lesson for us all, perhaps, in how we should live our lives — with grace and strength, looking straight into our challenges.

An elderly man wearing a long, trailing feathered headdress and a beaded headband holds a microphone as he speaks. He is dressed in a blue jacket with white gloves and a beaded cuff, standing outdoors before green leaves and a brick wall.

Piitaapoyi speaks in Crowsnest Pass in 2023 — the first time John Kinnear met the Piikani Nation elder.

This brought to mind an image of Peter Strikes With a Gun (Piitaapoyi), a Blackfoot elder who has touched my life in a game-changing way.

In July 2023 I saw the beloved Piitaapoyi, a highly respected former chief of the Blackfoot Piikani Peoples, for the first time. That day he was a guest speaker at a Roxy Theatre donation event in downtown Coleman. In his regal headdress, Piitaapoyi stood proudly in front of the theatre and spoke in both English and Siksikápowahsin (Blackfoot) to the crowd.

Accompanying himself on guitar, he sang traditional country songs and recalled being in Coleman as a young man. He spoke not with anger, but with a smile. This, from a man who was standing in front of a theatre that for more than 50 years played movies vilifying his people as savages.

He gave the Roxy a special Blackfoot prayer blessing in his language and also in English, and observed with kindness, “Here, now, we find the childrens that came to this lodge, all grown up and working together to preserve this place.”

It was then I realized I was in the presence of true greatness and humility, and promised myself that I would learn more about him.

I came across Piitaapoyi later that fall when he was in Crowsnest Pass as the opening speaker at our Remembrance Day gathering. Once again, profound words and a blessing in both languages were given to the crowd.

Piitaapoyi never needed a script; his words always came from the heart.

A year later I witnessed him conducting the sacred feather ceremony at Crowsnest Consolidated High School for graduates with First Nations blood. The students stood on a buffalo hide to receive their blessing and the gift of a sacred eagle feather.

An elderly man in a brown leather jacket holds a microphone and a raised eagle feather as he offers a blessing to a young woman in a blue sweater, who stands with her head bowed. Behind them, guests sit at tables in a community hall.

Piitaapoyi (Peter Strikes With a Gun) offers an eagle feather blessing for Cecilia Big Bull last November. She had recently completed her master’s degree.

I learned that Piitaapoyi was kind enough to attend dozens of similar events in the Pass, giving blessings and always speaking to the crowds with kindness and wisdom.

How was it then, I wondered, that a child known only as No. 67 in the residential school at Brocket could rise above that heartbreaking trauma and become a man who was a shining example of his people?

His early life’s journey led him into the hell that is alcoholism, which literally left him by the roadside.

At some point, after many years of being lost, he entered the AA program and surrendered his life to his Creator. It was transformative. He found peace and with it tremendous strength, gratitude and a determination to be a leader of his people.

And lead he did.

The list of all that Piitaapoyi became and did is impressive and profound: ceremonialist, chief of the Piikani First Nation from 1997 to 2006, knowledge keeper, historian, Niitsitapi teacher, addictions and wellness counsellor, dedicated community leader, and advocate for Indigenous culture, reconciliation and youth.

Piitaapoyi and his amazing wife, Jeannie Provost, fostered more than 60 children over 30 years, all of whom embraced them with love and gratefulness. Jeannie was acknowledged six times by the Alberta government as foster parent of the year.

Piitaapoyi was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and the Alberta Centennial Medal, recognitions he was very proud of.

A framed collection of Peter's medals and eagle feathers, displayed with a nameplate marking his service on the Alberta Foster Parent Association board of directors.

A framed collection of Piitaapoyi’s medals and eagle feathers, displayed with a nameplate marking his service on the Alberta Foster Parent Association board of directors.

Last year, Piitaapoyi was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Family and community rallied around their pillar of strength with a special celebratory event in November. It was spectacular, with dancers, musicians and respected leaders from all Blackfoot Nations coming to celebrate Piitaapoyi.

I had the honour of being at his home and listening to his wisdom, and on one occasion witnessed the giving of a Blackfoot name to Crowsnest Pass Mayor Pat Rypien.

Despite his worsening condition, Piitaapoyi stayed strong and calm. The biblical verse from 2 Timothy 4:7 was his mantra: “I have fought a good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.”

As the end of his 83-year journey drew near, roles were reversed. Instead of Piitaapoyi being there for his people in all ways, his people came to support him. Visits were made with deep respect and filled his days with love and acknowledgment.

An elderly man in a long feathered headdress, red shirt and a striped wool blanket, leaning on a cane, stands beside a smiling woman who holds her hands together near her face. Behind them, a wall is covered with framed family photographs.

Crowsnest Pass Mayor Pat Rypien receives a Blackfoot name from Piitaapoyi.

On May 24, a special gratitude gathering was held at Piitaapoyi’s property on the northern edge of the Piikani lands. Dozens of acknowledgments and heartfelt speeches were made by those close to him, and there were no fewer than four church services, including a formal mass said by Anglican minister Jacqui Durand.

In a remarkable show of his indomitable strength, Piitaapoyi sang a song as part of the service. He played his bass guitar and spoke strong words with advice for all, as he has always done.

“Always look to the Creator for strength and direction,” he said. “Believe in yourself and move forward.”

One week later, on May 31, Piitaapoyi’s journey here on earth ended, but his legacy and his influence will never be diminished.

An elderly man in glasses, a tan puffer jacket and a red embroidered shawl sits at a microphone, playing a guitar, with a wooden music stand and water bottles in front of him. Clear tent walls and an outdoor gathering are visible behind him.

Piitaapoyi plays and sings at the gratitude gathering, a week before he passed.

I was blessed, as many were, to really “see” Piitaapoyi and understand his message, and I am forever changed by those encounters.

There is something fitting in his name. Peter Strikes With a Gun carried the same name as the apostle Simon Peter — the name Jesus gave Simon, meaning rock, to signify he would be the foundation on which his church would be built. I see Piitaapoyi’s legacy the same way: a foundation from which we can all learn to act as one people, with kindness and humility.

If his life carried a single lesson, it was this: the purpose of life is to live a life of purpose. Piitaapoyi lived his fully.

Rest easy, Piitaapoyi. You did splendid work and many will carry forward your torch of kindness, gratitude and respect for all living things.

An elderly man in a brown leather jacket and black scarf sits with his hands clasped and his head bowed in quiet reflection. Red blankets are draped beside him and a cane rests nearby, with people gathered in the background.

Piitaapoyi sits in quiet contemplation at a November celebration in his honour.

Addictions Recovery, Blackfoot Culture, Community Leadership, Elders, Indigenous Relations, Personal Remembrance, Piikani History, Reconciliation, Residential Schools, Sacred Ceremony

Exterior of the former Coleman High School building, now home to the Crowsnest Museum and Archives

Bricks of Legacy aims to fund restoration of Coleman High School

Written on . Posted in History & Heritage.

With decades of wind damage and 26 old windows, the Coleman High School is showing its age. Heritage Crowsnest is running a campaign to raise $250,000 to save one of the most recognizable landmarks in Crowsnest Pass before a manageable repair becomes something worse.

As the historic building approaches its 90th anniversary, Heritage Crowsnest asks the community to support its Bricks of Legacy campaign.

The two-storey brick-and-wood frame structure was built in 1936 and stands in downtown Coleman. It has housed the Crowsnest Museum and Archives since 1985.

Chris Matthews, CEO of Heritage Crowsnest, says that while the structure remains in remarkably good condition for its age, the front facade shows signs of wear and is in need of restoration.

“Honestly, it’s such a good building. The bones, so to speak, are very, very strong, but it’s starting to show its age a little bit,” he says.

The building’s south-facing front has endured decades of the region’s notoriously fierce winds and weather exposure. All 26 front-facing windows have reached the end of their lifespan.

Along with window replacement, the fundraiser supports brick repointing, masonry repairs and exterior paint refreshening.

Although the restoration is not considered urgent, the museum feels it is better to act sooner than later.

“This isn’t a dire repair, but it can quickly turn that way,” Matthews says. “Now is the time to do this.”

The Bricks of Legacy campaign aims to raise $250,000. Residents can contribute by sponsoring one of 1,000 bricks for $100 or a window for $1,000, or by making a donation of any size.

The building’s designation as a provincial historic resource opens the door to additional heritage funding programs, meaning community donations also help unlock matching grants and sponsorships available for preservation projects.

“Everybody’s donation is kind of doubled because we will be putting them towards grants,” Matthews says.

To build awareness, the museum entered the national Next Great Save competition. The Coleman High School finished fourth among heritage sites from across Canada.

While the project narrowly missed prize money awarded to the top three finishers, the contest generated early support for the restoration campaign.

“We loved the support we received through the entire contest,” Matthews says. “I heard from so many people that they were voting every day, they were telling their friends they were excited for the project, and so it was really fun to be part of.”

Beyond preserving the building itself, the project is about protecting the stories and history housed within.

It serves as both a public museum and the community’s archival repository, documenting Indigenous history, European settlement, coal mining history, area disasters, local families and genealogy, including the story of Blairmore’s 1930s communist town council, one of few elected communist municipal governments in Canadian history.

“The Crowsnest Museum houses the cultural history of the Crowsnest Pass,” Matthews says.

“It really is the foundation piece of heritage in the Crowsnest Pass and region.”

Preserving the building also contributes to the ongoing revitalization of downtown Coleman and the Coleman National Historic Site, which attracts visitors interested in local history and heritage tourism.

“We’re seeing more and more tourists and visitors just want to hang out down in the old mining town,” Matthews says. “You can grab a coffee, go for a walkabout, read historical signage and jaunt into the museum. We just want to add to that.”

The fundraiser runs through 2026. Matthews encourages businesses, organizations and individuals to get involved.

Donations can be made online at crowsnestmuseum.ca/bricks or by contacting Heritage Crowsnest at 403-563-5434.

 

Archives, Bricks of Legacy, Community Support, Fundraising, Heritage Preservation, Heritage Tourism, Historic Buildings, Museums, Next Great Save, Provincial Historic Resource