Lake Minnewanka

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This post is a featured excerpt from Mountain Voices: The Mountain Legacy Project and a Century of Change in Western Canada (November 2025), edited by Eric Higgs, Zac Robinson, Mary Sanseverino, and Kristen Walsh. This collection is the latest book in our Canadian History and Environment series with University of Calgary Press, which is edited by Alan MacEachern. This excerpt is published in collaboration with the Alpine Club of Canada.

Cover of Mountain Voices: The Mountain Legacy Project and a Century of Change in Western Canada

return

the secret of a mountain revealed itself while I stood on the water’s edge looking at its reflection
it seemed small when I peered down into it from above with my young eyes compelled to speak,
it whispered behind me into my ear rippling its thoughts from far away through winded breath

“I once was a giant.” it spoke

looking at its curved back and horned head I whispered back, “you still are”

turning around,
the sun showered rays onto its magnificent shoulder
in the humbleness of being small,
feeling the heated breath of sun
I turned back to the water and threw stones at the cloud’s reflection hoping it would rain

in its leisure the sky finally darkened
finally

in held breath
while stars hung low in anticipation
we remained waiting
waiting for the moment of
its reawakening

  • On Cascade Mountain looking east over Lake Minnewanka, 1888
  • On Cascade Mountain looking east over Lake Minnewanka, 2008
    B 2503

First Image: On Cascade Mountain looking east over Lake Minnewanka, 1888. J. J. McArthur, 1888, Library & Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada ecopy number e002506927. Second Image: On Cascade Mountain looking east over Lake Minnewanka, 2008. Mountain Legacy Project, 2008.

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Reneltta Arluk

Reneltta Arluk, D.Litt., is Inuvialuk, Gwich’in and Denesuline, Cree from the Northwest Territories, raised by her grandparents on the trap-line until school age. This early nomadic life provided Reneltta with the unique skill set to become the multi-disciplinary nomadic performing arts artist she is. In 2008, she founded Akpik Theatre, the only professional Indigenous Theatre company existing from the Northwest Territories. Adhering to its namesake, the cloudberry, Akpik Theatre strives to flourish in the northern climate it reflects by developing, mentoring and producing performance-based work that is northern Indigenous inspired and created.

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