Dear Editor,
My heart sank into deep sadness when I learned that Dr. John Wilmshurst had been fired as the Head of Resource Conservation in Jasper National Park.
I feel the pain and tough implications this has for the family as much as it has for this National Park and our community.
John is a highly skilled, smart man with high values and standards for ecological and personal integrity, people skills that allowed him to rebuild a team out of a group of employees that were left shaken and demoralized after the dubious staff cuts of 2012 and he understands the essence and fibre needed to create community fabric.
These elements put together grow resilience鈥攕omething either Parks Canada or this current government don鈥檛 seem to value, because people displaying qualities such as John displayed can鈥檛 be manipulated or 鈥渂ought鈥� easily, so 鈥渂est鈥� to cut them out; this way the rest of the organization will go back without question to the new agenda of 鈥渁ttracting more money鈥� rather than being prudent about protecting this National Park and our community for those who come after our time.
Who do we have left as genuine mentors for the greater good of wholeness in this National Park?
When will we stand together? What has to happen for us to stand for each other, rather than our own personal agenda? What has to die for us to move from 鈥渕e鈥� to 鈥渨e鈥�?
The divide and conquer method currently being applied will kill us all one by one and it will not stop within the organization of Parks Canada, it will affect Jasper and our country in its entirety.
I know most don鈥檛 want to hear this.
Can we finally learn from the animals in this Park? It seems to me the elk stand together.
Can we make the connection from wolf predation/caribou to visitor experience鈥攂ig business/integrity?
Can we make the connection from cougar mother/juvenile cat (and it鈥檚 death) to mentor/young inexperienced or silenced staff?
I could come up with more of those. All along our wildlife has been trying to teach us about how we humans are connected to the wildness of life and instead we 鈥渕anage鈥� in strange ways, and those like John who are awake get 鈥渃ut out鈥� so not to disrupt the slumber and comfort of others鈥攕ad鈥攐r we could choose to wake up.
John, our heart is with you and your family. Stand proud and tall, you have every reason for it.
Ursula Winkler
Jasper, Alta.
