Wanuskewin Heritage Park is working towards a UNESCO World Heritage designation. Ernie Walker is leading the push.
Walker, the chief archaeologist and co-founder of the park, has been part of the Wanuskewin story for over 40 years, starting in 1982. He says the park, which opened in 1992, is embedded in a community focus.
The UNESCO designation process has been underway for a number of years. The final submission is to be completed in 2026, followed by a year of international review in 2027. Walker says if everything aligns, the decision will be made in June 2028 in Paris, France.
“We refer to Wanuskewin in the UNESCO submission as an archaeological landscape and so what that means, these sights are all concentrated just like a magnet that’s drawing filings in and for some reason, this place was drawing these cultures in over 6,000 years. And that’s the story; that’s the miraculous UNESCO story,” Walker said.
Walker adds that he wants the community to know that the UNESCO submission is complicated, and two years have been added to the process.
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“We’re dealing with international agencies, international governments; things go slow. It is expensive, it’s political, so these things have to be worked through. We have representation in Canada. Parks Canada is responsible for looking after the whole UNESCO bid from a Canadian perspective.”
Walker says we’ve only really scratched the surface of Wanuskewin and have suspended excavations because they want to preserve the resort.
“We don’t need to dig every square inch of it. So, I think we’ve moved into what we call a public education director rather than a lot of hard science and hard digging. And that’s fine, that’s good — we have enough to get UNESCO designation,” he added.
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