JASPER – For Herb Robinson, the last year is hard to put into words.
While his two adjoining houses survived the Jasper wildfire last summer, much of the surrounding neighbourhood had burned down. Now he can see the ball diamond from his home when he couldn’t before.
Overall, the long-time Jasperite considers himself lucky, despite still dealing with insurance a year after the disaster.
“We all learned more about insurance than we ever wanted to know,” Robinson said. “We’re all on the same journey on slightly different paths.”
In terms of recovery, Robinson has noticed the “intermittent success” of the past year as nearly all the debris has been cleared and Jasper landowners slowly begin the process of rebuilding the 358 structures that were lost.
The fire has also caused some movement toward local autonomy with the Municipality of Jasper set to take over land-use authority from Parks Canada, but he still had questions about the added cost for the municipal government.
Robinson remained hopeful for the future, noting Jasper is a tight-knit community.
“I think the community has always had the strength of its citizens,” he said.
Nancy Addison and her husband, Mark, were among those who lost their home and remain displaced. The couple has been bouncing around for the last year and are currently staying in their Manitoba cabin.
Their names are currently at the bottom of the interim housing list, since they are retired and have dogs. Nevertheless, they hope to soon return to Jasper.
“So, we’ll have our fingers crossed for that, but we’re still two years away from a build,” Addison said. “We’re still dealing with insurance with our builder and just trying to get through all the red tape and move forward, but my understanding is it’s the same for everybody.”
Although having family to support them, she described all the moving around as “mentally exhausting.”
“We had sort of thought in our retirement years that we would have a stable place, and we just don’t,” she said. “But I don’t want to complain too much, because everybody’s in a rough patch.”
Addison, who helped settle over 100 Ukrainian refugees in Jasper, said many of them have had to find other places to live post-wildfire and only a few have managed to return.
The couple is planning to fireproof their new home and hopefully include a secondary suite to give someone else a home in Jasper. Addison also thinks Jasper can build back better, such as how the Anglican Church and the United Church are discussing a joint rebuild.
Addison herself is determined to come back to the mountain town.
“We love Jasper. Jasper is our home, and it’s got a heart and a soul like no other place,” she said.
Matricia Bauer, who runs an Indigenous tourism experience business called Warrior Women, described the last year as “challenging but hopeful” that required flexibility and creative thinking on her part.
“My job was still there, but, of course, with evacuation and rebuild, there was no clientele,” she said. “Even with this season, the numbers are down.”
Bauer has been striving to maintain her energy levels and maintain a positive outlook.
“I think recovery has had its ups and downs,” she said. “I experience more mental fatigue and have triggers with smoke, fires in the news, lightning and thunder. But I am taking it a lot easier and making time for activities that feed my soul.”
She believed there needed to be as much information about the rebuild and donations available as possible as well as what is happening on a macro level with Parks Canada and the Municipality of Jasper.
“I also think that there is a large number of individuals working on our behalf to keep Jasper running and rebuilding, and I am deeply grateful for that and the fact that we are even having a thriving summer,” she said.
