Page 21 - 04-June-2024

have its own personality. Let it continue to be its pure self.”
The goals are to make the IPE even more immersive. A Fort Edmonton app will debut in 2024. And soon, the park will unveil plans for a winter product that will transform the park into a year-round operation.
“It will be a monster for us, and a differentiator in the market,” says Dalgleish.
THE MISSION
Renee Williams shows me a picture of herself as a child, with her sister, taken at the Fort in 1983.
And Williams, now the park’s senior vice-president of customer experience and product development, says it’s
a reminder of what Fort Edmonton used to be, and why she’s there to help drive a cultural change. As a Black child growing up in Edmonton, she enjoyed the Fort, but couldn’t help but notice that it drove home a very white pioneer narrative.
That is changing. The Indigenous Peoples Experience is a big part
of that, but so is the need to tell stories about a fully multicultural Alberta, including Asian and Black communities.
“I’m a first-generation Canadian,” says Williams. “Canada is home, it’s where I was born and raised. But the Fort Edmonton Park experience, when we first came in the 1980s, was a way for us to find community. We had no other family here. We left our family in other parts of the world. So, you come to places like this to build community, connection and friendship.
“What I love about what we’re doing
now is that I can finally see myself in the narratives we’re telling. I see the Black narratives and I see the multi- cultural narratives. I didn’t see that back then. We’ve really transformed over 50 years, from telling a one-sided settler narrative, to really expanding what we do.”
Dalgleish says these narratives were always there, but, historically, the park didn’t do the best job elevating them.
Half of the interpreters are Indigenous. Another quarter represent Black, Asian and Muslim narratives. Compare that to 25 years ago, when there were two Indigenous staff members in all of
the park.
“We also tell our staff to share as
much of their identities as they want to share,” says Nichol. “And that’s what makes the park really different every time you come. Based on who you talk to, you will get a different perspective. That’s our vision. That’s our goal.”
THE PHILOSOPHY
Dalgleish: “What you take away isn’t a list of facts, but a feeling. The IPE sets us apart, but that kind of spirit was already at work, here. How do we
deliver this story and message in an engaging way? Not as a service, not as a teacher, but as an illustrator of the history of Edmonton, which is really a microcosm of our country.”
THE EXPANSION
Park renovations and the move to year-round operation are a $165 million endeavour. Nearly $50 million came from the federal government, and the City contributed over $70 million.
YES, THERE IS PUSHBACK
The Indigenous Peoples Experience and the move to multicultural pro- gramming isn’t going over well with everybody. There are those who want to hang on the old-school “cowboys and indians” narrative, and they bristle when they see images at the park depicting RCMP officers tearing Indigenous children from the arms of their mothers.
“There’s a lot we didn’t anticipate,” says Dalgleish. “But what I take from that is the commitment from our interpreters. They’re willing to take that blowback and be resolute. It’s emotional for them. It’s not like they’re leather-skinned and it bounces off of them. No. They’re choosing this work despite the perils.”
To support staff, meetings are held every two weeks for Indigenous and multicultural staff members.
“They have a chance for reflection and peer support,” says Nichol. “They can really get out those moments that are icky, but we can also celebrate the accomplishments these team members are having.”
— STEVEN SANDOR
PHOTO HANNE PEARCE PHOTOGRAPHY