1. Elder residents and their cultural landscapes – Hafford and Val Marie, SK By Lee Everts University of Saskatchewan CAG 2007

2. Plan For Presentation Location of project Research question Definitions, Setting the scene Themes Meanings Conclusions Acknowledgements

3. Where in Canada... Val Marie area including GNP Hafford area and RLBR Hafford area and RLBR – enlarged version Val Marie area including GNP - enlarged version

4. Research Question How do elder residents of Hafford, Val Marie, and their surrounding countryside derive meaning from their cultural landscapes?

5. Defining terms... Cultural landscapes – Geographical areas comprised of an interrelated collection of diverse meanings – harmonious or conflicting – emerging from past and present experience, memory and imagination.

6. Meaning  Shared mental representations of possible relationships among things, events, and relationships.  Meaning connects things (Baumeister 1991).  How life makes emotional sense  Demands are worthy of energy investment and commitment (Korotkov 1998). Defining terms, cont'd...

7.  To achieve further economic growth, strategies must address how the medley of interrelated economic, social and political relationships extend beyond the boundary of the RLBR (Sian 2001).  In combination, the strategies would ensure equitable treatment for all citizens, particularly, youth and seniors (Sian 2001).  Generativity – “primarily the concern for establishing and guiding the next generation... (Erikson 1968, 138) Setting the scene

8. Grasslands National Park - Accurate portrayal of stories of descendants (Parks Canada 2002, 2). - Taking a “biosphere approach” in order to be sensitive to conflicting uses and stresses in surrounding land uses (J.G. Nelson 1998, 285). Setting the scene... Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve - Emphasise humans as “integral and fundamental part” (UNESCO 2002, 16). - Reconcile people and nature - Bring knowledge of the past to the needs of the future (George Francis 2004)

9. Moral judgements that tackle difficult but necessary questions of good, bad, better, worse – how we should act (David Smith 2000). Living ethically is to think about and assess moral judgements beyond one's own interests (Peter Singer 1995). Setting the scene – Ethical perspective

10. Patterns or themes in narratives  Connections to the cultural landscape  Separation from the cultural landscape  Continuity in the cultural landscape

11. Connection – meanings Taking root -Family pride -Community pride Work -Pride in work with family -Connection with life -Progress & improvement -Ingenuity & resourcefulness -Self-sufficiency Community -Togetherness (Saturday Night & Sports Day) -Shared sense of time -Familiar & equal -Responsibility to community -Reciprocal ownership

12. Changing town & countryside -Tangible symbols of change - Water quality -Large gardens -Community loss -Railway -Living landscape vs formerly lived in landscape Separation – meanings Qualities of community -Egalitarian -Togetherness -Fewer community events - Contribution of elder residents unrecognised -“Strangers” in communities -Loss of drive for independence & self-sufficiency.

13. Agriculture & changing tools of trade -Control & loss of freedom -Presumed ownership -Greed -Role of market in decisions -Chemical fertiliser & pesticide Separation – meanings Questioning bottom line -Farming as mining & business -“Poison” and progress? -Loss of continuity in agriculture -Impact on flora & fauna.

14. Continuity - meanings -Everyone lives off the land -Continuity of farming way of life -Responsibility to feed the countries -Responsibility extending to family to maintain a home -Responsibility to work with nature or “Mother Nature” -Marking old school sites -Tangible symbols linking past & present -Importance of remembering -Prairie grassland

15. -Corresponding meanings with those of RLBR and GNP (e.g. continuity of community or nature) -Source of continuity for some is a source of discontinuity for others -Responsibility to younger generation Continuity - meanings -Value of flora & fauna -Prevent certain agricultural practices -Blending of self and land RLBR, GNP & Sustainability

16. In response to research question...  Elder residents have made and can make a substantive and integral contribution to the identity of the cultural landscape: – contribute to heritage in terms of method (ethics) and meanings – ethics that inform these meanings encourage actions that engender a continuity and sharing of the meanings. – corresponds to the tenets of generativity – meanings correspond to the philosophy & principles of RLBR & GNP – meanings may reflect similar concerns to those of younger generations - - need for programmes and strategies to intentionally bridge generations

17.  First and foremost, the people whom I have met in both Hafford and Val Marie – many fond moments and memories I will never forget.  Redberry Lake Biosphere Reserve - www.redberrylake.ca and Parks Canada Agency – Grasslands National Park (http://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/sk/grasslands/www.redberrylake.cahttp://www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/sk/grasslands/  Community-University Institute for Social Research (CUISR) – especially Maria Basualdo and Evelyn Flynn (http://www.usask.ca/cuisr)http://www.usask.ca/cuisr  Steadfast Advisory Committee – Murial Montbriand, Evelyn Peters, Natalia Shostak, and Avi Akkerman (http://artsandscience.usask.ca/geography)http://artsandscience.usask.ca/geography  Ever patient and wise guidance of my Supervisor, Maureen Reed  University of Saskatchewan community including the equally patient members of this Department of Geography  Thanks also for some of the photos – Victoria Herman, Sharmalene Mendis-Millard, Scott Mitchell & Maureen Reed Thanks for listening!! Special thanks & gratitude...