Heritage Saskatchewan has announced the winners of the 2021 Heritage Awards, and there are a couple of recipients with local connections.
In the Intangible Cultural Heritage category, Garrick Schmidt, an educator from the White Bear Education Complex, won for his Land Based Learning and Southeastern Saskatchewan project.
Marieke De Roos, a communications co-ordinator with Heritage Saskatchewan, said Schmidt is a perfect example of demonstrating intangible cultural heritage. It encompasses stories, skills, traditions, ways of doing things, ways of speaking and methods of interacting with each other in the environment.
“It is our heritage, but expressed in ways that are not material to us, so dances or cooking methods, or things like that,” said De Roos.
Schmidt teaches his students ways of living on the land and in traditional Indigenous ways. He has worked with the Ochapowace Nation in addition to White Bear and with the Metis Nation of Saskatchewan.
In the public outreach category, the late Adrian K. Paton, who lived in Arcola, won for An Honest, Genial and Kindly People – A Private Collection of First Nations Photographs from the Turn of the Century in Southern Saskatchewan. The book was released in 2019.
De Roos noted Paton’s daughter nominated him. Paton was recognized for working very closely with Indigenous people and respecting the information they provided him.
“It has been very successful and distributed quite widely throughout Saskatchewan and Canada,” said De Roos.
Paton, who died earlier this year, always took a keen interest in history and in photographs of people, particularly Indigenous individuals, building up an impressive collection of pictures during his life.
He released the book at age of 85.
An Honest, Genial and Kindly People also features history and stories that Paton gathered over the years.
Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor Russell Mirasty will present the winners with their awards on Nov. 2 at Government House in Regina. This annual event celebrates those projects that safeguard the living heritage of this rich and diverse province for future generations.
Recognition is given for the skills, knowledge and commitment that each of the nine winners demonstrated during the development and implementation of each heritage project.
