New section of TransCanada Trail could connect heritage park with First Nation

Jo-Ann Carignan-Vallee has a dream to one day, hopefully later this decade, have a trail in Saskatchewan connecting the Wanuskewin Heritage Park and the Whitecap Dakota First Nation.

“I can’t stress enough how this is a dream. But in five to six years it could be a dream that comes true,” said Carignan-Vallee, the Saskatchewan co-ordinator of the Trans Canada Trail.

Depending on its exact location, the proposed trail would be anywhere between 40-50 kilometres in length.

“You need a couple of good anchors at both ends and some infrastructure in between,” Carignan-Vallee said. “Wanuskewin is a very beautiful park. And Whitecap Dakota is a very progressive First Nation group.”

And in between those two points would be Saskatoon, with plenty of things to see and do in the city.

The proposed segment is part of the Trans Canada Trail, which was initiated in 1992 as a project to celebrate Canada’s 125th anniversary. The TCT is a non-profit group, with volunteers from across Canada. They want to have 22,000 km of trail connecting 1,000 communities from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic Oceans.

The TCT wants to get people outdoors enjoying the trail with any number of activities including walking, hiking, running, cycling, skiing, horseback riding, snowmobiling and canoeing.

Currently more than 15,500 km of trail marking about 400 individual sections are operational.

Carignan-Vallee said the goal is to have the entire TCT completed by 2017, exactly 25 years since the trail was started.

And that’s why she’d love to see the Wanuskwewin Heritage Park to Whitecap Dakota First Nation segment become a reality within the next half dozen years.
“It’s still very much in the dreamer’s stage,” she said. “We have no idea how much it will cost.”

No doubt the project would be a multi-million dollar venture. And how to pay for such a project is another topic that needs to be addressed.

“Where the funding is going to come from, well, that’s the $64,000 question,” Carignan-Vallee said. “And that’s why this is just a dream right now.”

Municipal, provincial and federal governments will be approached for funding, as will private donors. TCT officials are also expected to chip in financially.

“We’ve discussed this as a project we can invest in,” Carignan-Vallee said.

She noted that meetings would be held soon regarding the proposed trail.

“The first step would be to hire an engineering group to see what is the most feasible route,” she said. Only portions of the proposed trail would actually be paved. “But this is something that requires a few studies of course.”