Community Feature: Matt Jacques

Stew ColesCommunity Features, Photography

Matt Jacques COVID19 portraits

By working on stories and projects like these, I have started to build a stronger sense of connection to my community. This is a process which I feel has direct parallels with my appreciation of the natural world too. How many ecological crises are the result of an artificial, unsustainable disconnect between humans and the natural world?

Community Feature: Kevin Wesaquate

Stew ColesCommunity Features, Decolonizing Conservation

The Prairie Lily boat floating down the river in Saskatoon on a summer day.

The project began for me as a child growing up on Piapot First Nation. It really began as I picked Misaskwatomina (Saskatoon Berries) with my Kokom and Mosom. Finding shade in the Qu’applle Valley underneath trees as we picked berries. These memories are precious and are moments that bind families together. These are memories that many Indigenous families as we harvested this food from the land.

Misaskwatomina – Kevin Wesaquate

Stew ColesCommunity Features, Decolonizing Conservation, Featured

A freshly planted Saskatoon sapling

Your words are powerful and my words are said. Your words are dancing to the new notes in my head. My words are like trees of autumn days like leaves that leave me in so different ways, while your words trickle out like a spring run-off. Your words bring new meaning and life, while my words have been sustaining me all these winter nights.

The Beacon Project

Stew ColesDecolonizing Conservation

CPAWS board member Tom Waldron

The Beacon Project is a three part series made in collaboration with Indigenous communities along The Great Trail and is a companion piece to the feature documentary 500 Days in the Wild — the five-year, 24,000 km ecological and reconciliation pilgrimage of filmmaker Dianne Whelan.

Community Feature: Jimmy MacDonald

Stew ColesCommunity Features, Featured

Jimmy Macdonald

Each morning the Sharp-tail Grouse gather at a lek nearby the swale but it is nothing like what I experienced out in a healthy prairie environment. With dismal numbers, and constant disturbance and pollution from nearby construction, roads, and housing developments, the grouse are skittish and uncomfortable at best in their situation.

Jimmy MacDonald, Expedition Guide

Stew ColesCommunity Features

Jimmy Macdonald

Jimmy MacDonald is a professional paddling & wildlife expedition guide, leading trips across the country and around the world in the polar regions. Despite his passion for travel and exploring new environments, his favourite place to be is up in Northern Saskatchewan, Canoeing and Kayaking in the waters of Treaty 10 – the traditional home of the Woodland Cree and Dene people.