
Science & Tech
20 Canadian innovations you should know about
Celebrating Canadian Innovation Week 2023 by spotlighting the people and organizations designing a better future
- 3327 words
- 14 minutes
Places
Edmonton’s River Valley is a space the musician, writer and artist can go to just be herself
One of the challenging things about living in a small city is that you sometimes feel overexposed. When I was growing up in Edmonton, there was this feeling that there was only one bookstore or one restaurant or one mall, and that you were inevitably going to run into people you know. Some people like that small-town vibe, but for me — especially being queer and brown — sometimes I wanted spaces to be invisible in. The North Saskatchewan River Valley was a space within the city to feel anonymous. I have such a tender spot for the River Valley because I associate it with finding my own way. It feels like a choice. I go there when I want to do something with the people I love who aren’t biological family.
This might speak to just how displaced I felt as a teenager, but there were a lot of times I was in the River Valley and I didn’t even know that I was in the River Valley. Sometimes when you’re in a space where you feel safe, it’s not that you arrive at the space and think “I feel safe now” or “I can be myself now.” Sometimes it’s about being in a space where I forget to worry about not feeling safe or acting a certain way. I can let my guard down.
When I go there, there’s probably a good chance I’ll run into someone I know — but I never have. It feels expansive and private. I feel weird about bringing my parents into this space. It’s like, as a teenager, you never have your parents hanging out with you in your bedroom — your bedroom is your private space. The River Valley feels like my Edmonton bedroom. It’s for friends, and it’s for me.
Edmonton is in Treaty 6 territory and Métis homelands. This land is the traditional and ancestral territory of the Néhiyaw (Cree), Denesųłiné (Dene), Nakota Sioux (Stoney), Anishinaabe (Saulteaux) and Niitsitapi (Blackfoot). It is within the Métis Nation of Alberta Region 4.
Are you passionate about Canadian geography?
You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:
Science & Tech
Celebrating Canadian Innovation Week 2023 by spotlighting the people and organizations designing a better future
Travel
The trail started with a vision to link Canada coast to coast to coast. Now fully connected, it’s charting an ambitious course for the future.
Environment
One of the most complex challenges for nature conservation comes from a simple question: what must we save?
Places
In Banff National Park, Alberta, as in protected areas across the country, managers find it difficult to balance the desire of people to experience wilderness with an imperative to conserve it
Please help us improve our website by taking our short survey.