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SASKATOONEXPRESS - February 20-26, 2017 - Page 1
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Volume 15, Issue 7, Week of February 20, 2017
Wanuskewin’s upcoming expansion is “fantastic” and “magnificent,” says Ernie Walker. (Photo by Sandy Hutchinson)
Ernie Walker a driving force behind Wanuskewin Ned Powers Saskatoon Express or 37 years, Ernie Walker has been a pivotal figure in the founding, preservation and development of Wanuskewin Heritage Park, certainly among the most unique in the Canadian parks system. And what became a Prairie archaeologist’s vision is about to be turned into a $40-million dream expansion which will elevate Wanuskewin to a world stage, a step which Walker describes as fantastic and magnificent. A fundraising team, co-chaired by Felix Thomas and Wayne Brownlee, is already hard at work, seeking to collect $10 million for site improvements, $15 million for cultural spaces and $15 million for visitor
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experiences. About two-thirds of the target has already been raised. Park officials would like to expand the park to around 1,000 acres from its current 300 acres, make room for a herd of 50 bison, revitalize the interpretive centre and establish an RV and camping facility. Hopefully, the project would be completed within three years. At the heart of it all is the pursuit of a world heritage designation through the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which would make Wanuskewin the first UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site in Saskatchewan. Walker’s own story began with extreme curiosity and voracious reading as a child, then continued through an education system where he earned three degrees at the
University of Saskatchewan and another at the University of Texas. He has been a professor of archaeology at the University of Saskatchewan, led his students to hundreds of excavation sites, served as a forensic scientist on call 365 days of the year to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and is a happy partner in 23 years of marriage to his wife, Bobbi. “As a boy, I grew up in the King George area of Saskatoon,” said Walker. “I was near the banks of the South Saskatchewan River and I led a kind of Huck Finn existence. I collected arrowheads and bones down by the riverbank. I liked watching the fish. I liked things which were science-related. Maybe I did all these things because I was shy.” He laughs about going to the Saturday
movies at the Roxy Theatre, watching the western movies about cowboys and Indians and admitting, “I was probably the only one in the theatre cheering for the Indians.” While attending Bedford Road Collegiate, he remembers having Walter Mudge as a great biology teacher who influenced him greatly. He walked to the university daily from his west side home. One time he was in search of a cultural document called Napao, edited by Zenon Pohorecky, and that became another early influence. He contemplated different options, but his Saskatchewan training, coupled with his Texas adventure, pointed him to archeology. He has taught at the U of S since 1984. (Continued on page 6)