IAN GRAHAM / THOMPSON CITIZEN
Attempts to make Thompson the self-declared wolf capital of Canada and/or the world are not universally supported, and some city residents who oppose the plan – or parts of it – have recently begun speaking up publicly in hopes that their side of the story will be heard.
One of those opponents is Brock Weir, who made his feelings known with a post on Instagram in December. Chief among the reasons he does not support the campaign is a belief in animal rights and the accompanying opposition to keeping wolves in captivity in an enclosure at the site of what is intended to become the Boreal Discovery Centre on the old grounds of the Thompson Zoo.
“From what we’ve heard it doesn’t sound like they’re going to treat these animals with the care and respect that we would like to see,” Weir told the Thompson Citizen, adding that the idea of going out and buying wolf pups bred in captivity is a far cry from the philosophy of the old Thompson Zoo. “They’re going to now buy wolves from a place that bred them on purpose for captivity. I think most people, and myself included, really liked the fact that the Thompson Zoo used to be a rescue facility. They cared for animals that couldn’t care for themselves anymore. That’s the sort of facility I can get behind and you have to enclose those animals, I get that sort of thing, but if they’re going to be euthanized otherwise it is better to have them caged. They’re going to go buy these things. I think if people knew that there certainly wouldn’t be the same level of support or maybe there would be more people outspoken against it.”
Weir also points out that importing wolves conflicts with the idea that Thompson is a major centre for all things wolf.
“If we’re such a great place for wolves and such a good fit for that moniker why do we have to go buy them from somewhere else that has their own wolf population?” asks Weir.
Another opponent of the wolf capital campaign is Blake Ellis, a former journalist with the Citizen and Nickel Belt News and now a city councillor. To him, the issue isn’t necessarily about keeping wolves in captivity as much as it is about conflicting with the way that Thompson is trying to brand itself and not capitalizing on what is truly unique about Thompson.
“We need to celebrate who we are,” said Ellis. “The wolf capital thing, I would have to say, it’s manufactured.”
Ellis says his views – which he stresses do not represent those of other councillors or of the body as a whole – shouldn’t come as any surprise, as he was vocal about them during his campaign leading up to the October 2014 election and they haven’t changed since then. Thompson, he says, is many things – the Nickel City, the Hub of the North, Northern Manitoba’s service centre and a part of the traditional territory of Nisichawayasihk Cree Nation.
“We have a market,” says Ellis. “Let’s build on that. I think that if we can do that, Thompson will be healthy.”
Weir echoes those ideas, pointing out that the majority of visitors to Thompson come from within the Norman region.
“They’re not the international travellers coming to take photos of wildlife,” said Weir. “They’re the folks coming from the remote communities that get winter road access and come and drop thousands of dollars in our stores and hotels and restaurants. I think Spirit Way’s targeting a fairly small portion of a portion of tourism when we have a big audience who does come and does spend money and does repeat visits.”
He questioned members of Spirit Way on that topic when he was a volunteer board member with Thompson Unlimited, a post which he has since resigned.
“I asked some pointed questions when it came time for them and they didn’t get any answers,” he says. “My questions were about sustainability and the business plan. I think I mentioned that I might have had a moral objection to caging animals. My line of questioning was that and they didn’t really have a plan or couldn’t explain a plan to be sustainable or to be profitable or to do it without donations.”
For Hilda Rose Fitzner, using captive wolves as a tourist attraction ignores the importance of the animal to First Nations people.
“This plan is definitely not the wishes of the Indigenous Peoples in Northern Manitoba,” she wrote in a Dec. 3 Facebook post. “Wolves are meant to be left alone free and wild in the bush; they are a huge and important part of our ecosystem and do not need to be managed by humans. They have been successfully managing themselves since the beginning of time.”
Fitzner addressed the topic again Feb. 4.
“Another sad thing about trying to brand Thompson, Manitoba, ‘The Wolf Capital of the World’ is that in our culture, the wolf represents humility and the meaning behind our Sacred Teaching of Humility is: Recognizing and acknowledging that there is a higher power than man and it is known as the Creator is to be deemed truly humble,” wrote Fitzner. “To express deference or submission to the Creator through the acceptance that all beings are equal is to capture the spirit of humility. The expression of this humility is manifested through the consideration of others before ourselves. In this way, the Wolf became the teacher of this lesson. He bows his head in the presence of others out of deference, and once hunted, will not take of the food until it can be shared with the pack. His lack of arrogance and respect for his community is a hard lesson, but integral in the Indigenous way.”
“It is time for the City and Spirit Way to rethink what they are promoting and supporting,” Fitzner concluded. “And this goes for Travel Manitoba and any government that is backing what they are doing.”