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Stories of Resilience – Voices from Jasper

Stories of Resilience – Voices from Jasper is a new installment of one of TRI’s signature programs, Stories of Resilience, designed to explore resilience in its many forms – personal, collective, and environmental. Phase I of Stories of Resilience – Voices from Jasper is creating a space for Jasper residents from diverse backgrounds to reflect on what resilience means in the aftermath of the devastating wildfires they experienced in 2024. 

The program is uniting community members through personal reflections, interactive workshops, and art focused on storytelling, healing, and change. Each session has uncovered unique perspectives on resilience, emphasizing creative expression as a key tool for navigating a changing climate.

This ink painting was created by artist and Jasper resident Greg Deagle, a participant and an artist involved in Stories of Resilience – Voices from Jasper.

What we are learning:  

  • Resilience is deeply personal and ever-changing – Many participants shared their own journeys, reflecting on the ways they’ve adapted to challenges over time. 
  • Healing happens in community – A key theme across sessions has been the importance of shared experiences. 
  • Art and storytelling are powerful tools – From painting to poetry, creative expression has emerged as a meaningful way to process grief, celebrate renewal, and build a deeper connection with the community and the land after wildfire. 
  • Nature teaches us resilience – Participants have reflected on how nature’s cycles of renewal serve as reminders that transformation, change, and resilience is ongoing.  

 

Participant Reflections  

  • “Resilience isn’t just about surviving – it’s about finding joy and meaning despite adversity.” 
  • “The land itself teaches resilience through its cycles – change, loss, and renewal.” 
  • “Through art, we can process loss, reflect on change, and find a path forward.” 
  • “Building a resilient community means supporting each other through our individual and collective journeys.” 
  • “Resilience is not just about being strong; it’s about allowing yourself to feel and heal.”  

 

What’s Next? 

As the journey unfolds, participants will be developing different forms of creative expression – writing, painting, original songs, and more – culminating in a community event in July 2025 to mark the first anniversary of the Jasper wildfires. This event will serve as a collective reflection on the past year, celebrating resilience, honouring loss, and looking toward the future.

A wildfire northeast of the Jasper townsite was first reported on July 22, 2024, with three other fires being reported later that same day. The fire reached the town within just 48 hours.  

Parks Canada estimated that 358 out of 1,113 structures in the town, about one-third, were destroyed by the fire, which resulted in about $880 million in insured damages. Starting on August 16, Jasper residents and businesses were able to re-enter. The fire eventually consumed an estimated 32,722 hectares, and was marked as “Under Control” on September 7, 2024.

Laura Stewart

Board Member

Laura Stewart is the Community Wildfire Resilience Coordinator with Forsite Fire, supporting communities across Canada with wildfire risk assessments, mitigation planning, and program delivery. She has more than a decade of experience advancing wildfire resilience at Indigenous, municipal, provincial/territorial, and national levels. Previously, Laura served nearly eleven years as Alberta’s Provincial FireSmart Specialist, leading community, WUI, neighbourhood, and Home Ignition Zone programs, coordinating funding, and partnering with communities and fire services across the province. She has also served as Board Chair with both the Partners in Protection Association (FireSmart Canada) and the Community Wildfire Resilience Association of Alberta.

 

Sara Walsh, PhD

Board Member

Sara Walsh, PhD, is a disaster risk reduction and climate resilience specialist with more than 15 years of experience spanning Canada, Nepal, the Middle East, and North Africa. Until November 2025, she served as Thematic Lead for Climate and Resilience with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where she supported Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to strengthen their climate and risk reduction work across the region. Sara currently works as a freelance consultant with the United Nations, governments, and humanitarian organizations on recovery, risk governance, and community-based resilience. She teaches at a Canadian university and holds a PhD in Disaster Risk Reduction. Her work emphasizes anticipatory action, equity, and bridging research with practice to shape more resilient and sustainable futures.

Alison Criscitiello

Board Member

Alison Criscitiello, PhD, is an ice core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer who explores the history of climate and sea ice in polar and high-alpine regions using ice core chemistry. Alison’s work also focuses on environmental contaminant histories in ice cores from the Canadian high Arctic and the water towers of the Canadian Rockies. In 2010, she led the first all-women’s ascent of Lingsarmo, a 22,818-foot peak in the Indian Himalaya. Alison has earned three American Alpine Club (AAC) climbing awards, the John Lauchlan and Mugs Stump alpine climbing awards, as well as the first Ph.D. in Glaciology ever conferred by MIT. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta. She is the co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada.