We should value and protect Saamis historical site

By Letter to the Editor on November 12, 2018.

I understand that the city is planning to demolish and replace Finlay Bridge with a new concrete structure that will be higher and wider. The approaches will need additional space, so the east wall of St. Patrick’s church will have to be cut back and in Riverside Veterans Memorial Park, the cenotaph will be moved to a new location, possibly in Kin Coulee. The mayor has requested Parks Canada to remove the federal designation on St. Pat’s so this can be accomplished.

Fake news.

Meanwhile, maybe not so fake, in last Wednesday’s Medicine Hat News, I read that the mayor and our MLA are pointing fingers at each other regarding the Saamis Site Provincial Historic Resource protection. It is difficult to understand the situation since the News covers only one side of this story. The facts of the matter are that an important and recognized Indigenous heritage site is being degraded by creek erosion and overuse and the city is legally obligated to restore it. And morally obligated as well, I would suggest.

Full disclosure: In the past I often walked my mother’s dog Lady at the site. I helped Jim Marshall build the dog mural but only recently came to appreciate the history of the site since there is no interpretive signage. I know that it is a great spot to walk a dog but it’s not the only spot in the city where a dog can run free and get muddy. It is, however, a unique location in Western Canada with such a significant deposit of artifacts dating back thousands of years. We value our built heritage such as St. Patrick’s that date from a hundred years ago. Why would we not value the much older evidence of human culture?

In 1910, there was a group of citizens who wanted to rename our city Smithville or Gasburg, a name that wouldn’t suggest the Indigenous legend. Citizens who valued our history appealed to author Rudyard Kipling, who, a few years earlier, had celebrated the name Medicine Hat and its connotations of Indigenous culture and history. He wrote a letter back that asked, “what then should a city be rechristened that has sold its name? Judasville?”

Council has endorsed a Parks Department plan to restore the site and find an alternative off-leash area for dogs.

Hopefully, the citizens of Medicine Hat, including responsible dog owners, support this initiative.