Oral History – Gord Antoniuk
Park Warden Alumni Society of Alberta
Oral History Project – October, 2018
Telephone Interview with Gord Antoniuk
Gord Antoniuk’s Personal Write Up for Warden Alumni Oral Interview Interview conducted by Christine Crilley-Everts – October, 2018
Personal History: I was born in Lamont, Alberta, in 1951. I was raised on a mixed family farming operation consisting of grain cropping, making hay (alfalfa and native grasses), raising and showing (farm fairs) registered Horned Hereford cattle, participated in the Tofield 4-H Club, other livestock raised on the farm included pigs and poultry (chickens, ducks, geese & turkeys). I quickly developed a “green thumb”, as I assisted my parents in the art of growing a large vegetable garden, and being the youngest of a family of 5 siblings, seemed to predispose me for helping out with the farm chores. These chores, included hand milking cows. The milk was then ran through a “separator” and sold off the cream to the local Chipman Creamery, along with collecting our own chicken eggs and marketing them locally as well … I graduated from Lamont High School with a Matriculation Diploma (University qualification), having had a mother that was a teacher, was very helpful. It was during the summer of 1969, that I recall reading an article on the front page of the Edmonton Journal. The article title, in red ink (even back then), read that there would be “100 new National Parks in Canada by the year 1985”. This article quoted Jean Chretien, as the Liberal Federal Minister in charge of Indian and Northern Affairs, which was in charge of administering National Parks at the time. Further, that these new National Parks would require additional Naturalists and Park Wardens for staffing. So, the push was on to seeking recruits with more scientific education and backgrounds, such as technical institutes in the disciplines of forestry, wildlife and biological sciences. Upon further research and having been raised in the “shadows of Elk Island National Park”, I made arrangements to interview the then Superintendent, Jim Christakos, for the purpose of becoming a Park Warden. It was there that I learned that a minimum 2 year college degree would be preferable for future employment. With that in mind, I enrolled in the N.A.I.T. Forest Technology, a two year program, in Edmonton for the first year, followed up with a second year at the Hinton Forestry School. Unfortunately, the program was over subscribed in the fall of 1969, so right from High School and the farm, I managed to get a well paying job as a ground Station Attendant with Air Canada at the Edmonton International Airport. Not only did it pay well, but it was living in the “fast lane” with free air travel passes and opportunities for “getting into trouble” … lol … it was also in the fall (1969) that my father passed away rather suddenly at the age of 56, while I was only 18 years old, a rather rude “life awakening” experience. Needless to say, and with the temptations of a “jet set” lifestyle, I enrolled the following year for the N.A.I.T. Forestry program and was accepted for the fall semester of 1970. Graduating from that program in the spring of 1972, I was employed by the Alberta Forest Service conducting land project surveying which led to a permanent position as a Forest Officer in the Slave Lake Forest. It was during this employment, I noticed a job competition being advertised for seasonal Park Warden positions in Western Canada. I was interviewed in early 1973 by Bud Armstrong and George Balding, both Chief Park Wardens at the time, placed on an eligibility list and offered a position in June (1973) in Yoho National Park. Knowing it was supposed to be a 4 month seasonal position, I approached my Forest Superintendent, Rex Winn, with the hope that he would allow me the opportunity to have the summer off. Surprisingly, he agreed, and offered me my Forest Officer position back again in the fall. For me, that was a win/win proposition, so off I went, arriving in Field, B.C. I remember meeting the park staff for the first time, and were they ever surprised, with my name sounding Inuit (“Antoniak”) and coming from “Smith”, they figured it was Fort Smith, NWT, so expected me to be looking like an Inuit … lol … Initially, I was housed in the Boulder Creek Staff Bunkhouse, sharing a room with a seasonal trail crew worker. But that didn’t last too long, as with call outs for emergencies after hours, etc, it was considered too disturbing to others in the bunkhouse, so my Chief Park Warden, Hal Shepherd, re-located me into the Ranch House. A bit of history here, that log building was the second story of a tea house which was originally located at the Natural Bridge, near the junction of the Kicking Horse River and the Emerald Lake access road. Anyways, I felt fortunate to have such a prime location all to myself. During the summer months, the park horses were kept in the adjacent pasture and housed in the barn as well, with Don Mickle as the all around “wrangler” of the horse operation. The Yoho wardens at the time were Gordon Rutherford, Stan Stachera, Bill Walburger, and Art Cochrane. While I was initially offered a four month position, a 0.99 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) PRC-8 position was vacated by Jim Purdy, which Hal Shepherd offered to me. Well, that meant full time employment with supposedly one day without pay per year. So, that didn’t happen, I was never lay-ed off and was employed continuously from my start, June of 1973, through to my eventual retirement in July of 2008, for over 35 years. At the early part of my career and not knowing how long I would work for the federal government, I even bought back the one year of Provincial Forestry time for “maxing out” my pension benefits. When one compares this employment tenure to others of the era, I was very fortunate, as most other seasonal or term wardens were laid off for the winters. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time, and am ever so thankful to my CPW of the day, Hal Shepherd, for having the foresight in me to be in it for the long haul. I’ve been fortunate to have retained all my Warden notebooks and diaries for access and reference to significant events throughout my career that refresh my aging memories. (I’m not too sure what will become of them down the road though …)
Some Personal Family information … While there were good friends along my journey, shortly after relocating to the Pocahontas Warden Station, in Jasper N.P., I married Liz Little, formerly of Banff, in 1981. I had met Liz whilst working in the Lake Louise area, as she was the secretary to Andy Anderson, Chief Park Warden, in the Banff Administration (“Kremlin”) Building. While we were married, we had the enjoyment of raising two daughters, Heather (1982) & Alison (1986). At this point in time, I have the pleasure and enjoyment of three grand daughters that live in Calgary. In the pursuit of my career in the Warden Service, I accepted offers of employment to some remote posts. This meant relocating & moving a family to Isolated Posts such as Inuvik, NWT, & Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, where we always made it our home, no matter where we lived and made the most of the opportunities to engage with local Indigenous residents, with plenty of fond memories. We were divorced after 21 years of marriage (2002). I managed to spend over half of my Warden career, 18+ years of employment in Jasper, in two stints, living between the Warden Stations of Pocahontas, Decoigne, Cavell & then in the townsite. Upon retirement (2008), I continued to rent rooms under the Jasper Home Accommodations Association umbrella, meeting many folks from around the world, some of which I still stay in touch with. In 2011, I sold my house and moved to Harvie Heights, where I reside at the time of this interview. Although it was never my intention, I’ve managed to visit all seven continents along this journey of life, it really doesn’t get much better than this, for which I am gratefully thankful!
