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The Jasper Local // ISSUE 166 // MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2020
Cam Jenkins
COVID CHECK-IN
communicate the measures his company was putting in place to help his renters while also imparting the obligations the renters had. With nearly 200 tenants, communication proved to be a challenge. “It was hard to convey what we were trying to put in front of them as far as deferring rent,” he said. “We wanted to help.” His company gave tenants the option of deferring rent for several months. Some took up the offer. As of Monday, May 25, nearly everyone was caught up on their payments. The saving grace, of course, has been the Canada Emergency Response Benefits (CERB). When the temporary income support program rolled out, “people’s anxiety levels evaporated,” Jenkins said.
“Everyone was very polarized,” Jenkins said. “It was either super chill, ‘we’re all in this together,’ or they were lashing out. Nobody was in the middle.”
Anxieties over health and safety are a different matter. Jenkins said his company has followed the Building Owners and Managers Association’s (BOMA) pandemic guidelines, implementing an aggressive cleaning regiment in common spaces and surfaces—doorknobs, bannisters and the like. But as recommendations from experts seem to be rapidly evolving, Jenkins says Jasperites should be more worried about following another best practices guideline: the Golden Rule.
Except for Jenkins himself. He was in the middle of dozens of conversations, trying his best to
“I think we just have to be kind, and if a certain behavior is not for us, do our best to be respectful,” he said.
When the pandemic hit, life didn’t slow down for Cam Jenkins. The Jasper property manager and realtor was fielding panicked phone calls for weeks in mid-March and early April.
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Tyler Carlton Tyler Carlton should be at his graduation right about now.
Ever since she came to Jasper in 1992, Jill Seaton has, on behalf of the Jasper Environmental Association, fought to help protect local wildlife. As a watchdog, whistleblower and researcher, Seaton has helped give harlequin ducks respite from rafts, she’s guarded important grasslands from RVs and she’s stood up for threatened species when business interests proposed putting a hotel at Maligne Lake.
He started his last year of high school traveling the world on a sailboat with 59 other students. Class Afloat is a full-year program, but Carlton grew up in Jasper and wanted to graduate with his lifelong peers. So, he returned after the fall semester. Now, after spending months on a ship where “it’s a party all the time,” Carlton is at home with just his family most of the time. “It’s a big difference,” he said with a smile.
So it’s only natural, then, that when asked to ref lect on her COVIDaffected community, the 90-year-old conservationist’s thoughts go first to the animals she’s worked so hard to defend.
Though he learns better in a classroom setting, online classes do have some benefits. “I definitely wake up later, which is a bonus,” he laughed. The flexible schedule also lets him get outside and hit the trails, something that school and working multiple jobs have prevented him from fully enjoying in the past. “I have friends in cities that, if they want to go outside, can either walk around downtown or drive way out for nature,” he said. “Living in Jasper, I can walk five minutes out of town and I won’t see anybody. That’s been the biggest positive, how
Jill Seaton
“I think this pandemic has been marvellous for the wildlife,” she offered. “The park needs to breathe.” much more I appreciate living here.” Carlton won’t take school, work, or life for granted after the pandemic. COVID will be in his memory, reminding him of the time when he would have loved to be able to leave the house for a day of school. For him, the best way for our community to reach “after the pandemic” together is to stay positive. “We need to not look at what’s going wrong, but what’s going right,” he said. “Everyone has been so supportive and willing to help each other. We’re succeeding in ways we didn’t expect. When other people know we can get through this and are looking at the positives, that’s what gives me hope.” // info@thejasperlocal.com
MEGAN WARREN
Seaton has been herself breathing a little easier these days, ever since the JEA made the decision, after 30 years of stewardship, to disband. Seaton hasn’t folded her environmental tent completely, of course; she continues to write and celebrate Jasper National Park under the banner of the Facebook group Jasper: A Wild Beauty, and she’ll happily explain how the proliferation of trails on the Pyramid Bench is undermining the most important wildlife habitat in the park. However, no longer will Seaton be on the front line of battles with Ottawa and business interests. “Our concerns about the vulnerable wilderness will be passed on to the Canadian public and to the regional and national NGOs,” she said. In the meantime, Seaton hopes that the last 11 weeks will teach those same Canadians the importance of relieving the constant pressure on Jasper’s magnificent wildlife. “I hope Parks Canada has learned something from this that it’s necessary for the wildlife to have less people around them.”
