‘Blatantly ignored’: City council endorses national urban park despite ongoing swale concern

Saskatoon councillors moved ahead with plans for an urban national park this week, despite vocal opposition from an ecological group the Swale Watchers.

Candace Savage is tempering her expectations of Saskatoon’s upcoming national urban park.

The years-long plan to have Saskatoon be one of six cities in the country to be home to a national park, this one running through city limits along the South Saskatchewan River valley, was borne out social distancing guidelines that encouraged people to get outside and connect with nature.

“If Saskatoon wants to shine in this company, we need to show up at our boldest and best,” Swale Watchers co-chair Candace Savage said. “And that means reaffirming the boundaries for the northeast and small swales that council endorsed unanimously in 2023.”

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The Swale Watchers and other advocacy groups largely supported the project until earlier this month when it was revealed the park would include some parts of the Small and Northeast Swale.

Council previously approved a boundary for the national urban park in February 2023 that excluded the swale, but the new proposal including portions of the swale has the group worried about what kind of footprint Parks Canada might make on the sensitive ecosystem as it develops the park infrastructure.

The swales natural, low-lying prairie lands, rich with many vulnerable plant and animal species and Swale Watchers are concerned the encroachment of a national park could leave them vulnerable to future development.

“In many years of observing Saskatoon city council, we have never seen a case where explicit instructions or guidance from the elected leadership have been so blatantly ignored and overwritten by the hired help as they have been in this instance,” Savage said.

On Wednesday, city council endorsed the project with plans to keep engaging with the Swale Watchers and others with the boundary of the swale and the park open to refinement in the future.

Part of the concern is Saskatoon’s plans for a new neighbourhood, which administration is pitching to be called Hawthorn. This neighbourhood would border both swales, which Savage views as a risk to encroach onto the swale lands.

“The swale boundaries that have been endorsed from council, those still stand,” Celene Anger, the general manager of community services told council on Wednesday.

“What we’re proposing today is a provisional national urban park boundary that would, also, be put forward, and that would be what we would put forward to the park; Parks Canada. But they both would coexist.”

Council heard changing boundaries while the park is so close to receiving official designation would risk delaying the project and restarting the process. During a committee meeting earlier this month, the city said it has no plans to develop the swale and is aligned with protecting those areas.

More public engagement is planned as the new neighbourhood will move through council. A legal boundary of the swale will be established as part of the concept planning process at a public hearing next year.