Sometimes we get to thinking that the way things are is the way they always have been. Sometimes we forget what’s hidden right in plain sight in our cities.
And to this end, I have to say, I’m sorry I judged you, Red Deer.
I’m an Edmonton gal. I have family in Lacombe. So I’ve been to Red Deer dozens of times in my life, but I always assumed there wasn’t much going on there. I stop to gas up in Gasoline Alley when I’m driving down to Calgary or Banff, and when I was a kid I would go to the movies in Red Deer with my cousins. But we’d zip back to the farm in Lacombe right after the movie ended.
But Red Deer, I’ve come to learn, is known as Park City.
Red Deer, I’ve discovered, has a rich history.
A Métis Meeting Place
The Métis people lived in Alberta long before it was known by this name, and long before Canada became a country. They settled and farmed in the Red Deer area. Many Métis people would travel to nearby Buffalo Lake to hunt buffalo, up until the British hunted the animals nearly to extinction in the 1880s.
Surveyors came and divided up the land in Central Alberta in the 1880s. They didn’t take Métis farms into consideration, and so Métis farmers were essentially kicked off their land.
Gaetz Lakes Sanctuary
Red Deer is home to Alberta’s first migratory bird sanctuary.
The story of how the sanctuary got started shows off Alberta’s long history of being a place where people look out for each other.
In the 1920s, the Alberta Natural History society proposed to the Gaetz family that they turn their land into a sanctuary. And in 1924, they did just that. They gifted around 300 acres of land to the city.
According to the Waskasoo Environmental Society, their decision wouldn’t have been surprising to anyone. The Society explains in a blog post that “For decades the Gaetz family had been allowing people to explore the lakes and forests below the escarpment, adjacent to the Red Deer River. People had been skating on the lakes, picnicking in the fields, and quietly observing nature for years.
Since 1924, birds have had somewhere that’s protected by law to rest on their journeys to and from home.
Fort Normandeau
The Red Deer river cuts Central Alberta in half. Back before cars and highways, there was only one good place to cross it for a few hundred kilometers. That place was in Red Deer, and is, in fact, how the city got started. Hundreds of years ago, the place was known as The Crossing. Indigenous people used it forever, and when European settlers came over and started using it as well.
Eventually, a building was set up at The Crossing. People would wait inside, grab a beer, sleep in its hotel rooms.
During the Northwest Rebellion in 1885, British troops decided to take over the building at The Crossing. They wanted to be safe from the Métis people, who were mad at the British for not protecting their rights. The British troops named the building Fort Normandeau. After the Northwest Rebellion, they didn’t give the building up – they passed it to the North West Mounted Police.
It’s kept its name, but its history as a gathering place for folks on their travels lies just under the surface.
Maskepetoon Park
Chief Maskepetoon was a Cree warrior and leader. Despite his status as a warrior, he was known for his peacemaking skills, though. Grant Macewan, one of Alberta’s most famous farmers and the man after whom Macewan University is named, called Maskepetoon “The Gandhi of the Prairies” in his writings. He often convinced bands who wanted to go to war with his own band to make peace instead.
Maskepetoon Park’s mission is to protect pollinators. Flowers in the park bloom all throughout the growing season. They don’t mow the park as much, and they don’t use any sprays. Butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles, and bees all love to make their home in the park.
