Feds won’t run urban park proposed for Saskatoon

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A national urban park proposed for Saskatoon wouldn’t mean handing over the Meewasin Valley to the federal government.

City councillors heard confirmation Wednesday from Parks Canada project manager Raeanne Kurtz that the planned urban park covering parts of the South Saskatchewan River valley currently administered by the Meewasin Valley Authority “would not be a federally administered place.”

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Kurz said whatever emerges from ongoing negotiations will be  “very different” from the federally run parks Saskatchewan people might be familiar with, such as Grasslands National Park or Prince Albert National Park.

She said the MVA continues to be viewed as “the lead partner” to run the proposed national urban park, which would be established by policy, rather then set up by legislation like one of the fully fledged national parks.

Kurtz was one of two Parks Canada representatives to speak to council’s governance and priorities committee on talks underway since 2021, when the federal government first announced a $130 million program to create national urban parks in Saskatoon, Halifax, Montreal, Edmonton, Victoria, Windsor and Winnipeg.

The committee also heard from Mike Velonas, the MVA’s director of planning and conservation, and Lynn Lacroix, the city’s general manager of community services.

Ten governments and agencies with land, cultural, conservation or funding interests involved in the project have been at the table over the last three years. These have included Indigenous representatives and regional voices, including the Rural Municipality of Corman Park.

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The committee heard no final decision has been made on designating the new park; current timelines would have any designation coming in late 2025 or early 2026.

Work is underway on a draft capital and operating plan that would propose a vision for the urban park, including its governance, boundaries and costs associated with running it now and into the future.

During questions from Ward 6 Coun. Cynthia Block on the proposed boundaries for the new park, the committee heard there is discussion of establishing it in phases, with the first phase comprising land already owned by partners involved in the discussions.

Block also got confirmation that planners are looking at ways of incorporating the ecologically sensitive Northeast Swale and Small Swale areas on the city’s northern edge.

Velonas said early work leads him to believe the MVA is already “meeting or exceeding” most of the federal requirements for funding as a national urban park. But he told Block the program will allow an opportunity to look at ways to enhance and improve everything from the trails themselves to amenities like seating areas, washrooms and water fountains.

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Committee members asked several questions on the subject of potential expansion of the park beyond the city limits and the possibility that land would have to be purchased.

The committee heard there are no plans to expropriate land for the new park. Velonas said any land acquisition would be on a case-by-case basis but would always require a willing seller. He also noted there are mechanisms allowing the MVA to have jurisdiction for conservation on land it doesn’t own.

Mayor Charlie Clark got further confirmation from the Parks Canada staff at the meeting that there is no intent for a national urban park to impose any additional “conservation overlays” in Saskatoon or the broader region, or to add any regulations that could affect farmland or other private property adjacent to the proposed park.

With no decisions to make on the urban park file Wednesday, the committee voted to receive the update as information.

In comments before the vote, Clark said the prospect of an urban park running adjacent to other potential developments like a new downtown arena district and a possible UNESCO World Heritage site at Wanuskewin is an opportunity to “offer a whole new picture to the world” of what Saskatoon and its surrounding region have to offer.

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