My Community Valleyview
Valleyview, Alberta Canada is a small town located about 350 kilometers north of the city of Edmonton. The major inhabitants of the town are Cree Indians and aboriginal persons. The town boasts of major modern highways such as Highway 49, Highway 43, Mackenzie Highway and Alaska Highway leading to Peace River, Dawson Creek, Northwest territories and Alaska as well as British Columbia respectively. In addition, the town has an Airport with about 3500 foot runway and security is provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. With a population of around 1884 within the town and 5000 in the trading area, the major sources of income include agriculture, tourism and oil/gas industry (Town of Valleyview, n.d).
The native inhabitants of the region are the Alberta Indian tribes which include Northern Cree Indians. Currently, the region is inhabited by the Cree communities and the aboriginals as well as Caucasians. The Cree Indians were the first traders in the town mainly dealing with fur which led to the establishment of the Hudson’s Bay Company and later the ‘fur fort’ or Sturgeon Lake Indian Reserve. With the rich climatic conditions and fertile soils, the communities are actively engaged in agriculture with the main produce being wheat, barley, oats, peas and forage grass which are mainly grown along the northern part of the town. In addition, the town’s south and east region is very rich and is mostly use for the growth of hay and livestock farming. Moreover, modern agriculture has taken root with wildcrafting being practiced as well as diversification of crop production to include varieties such as canary seed, milk thistle and seed potatoes. The modernization and diversification of agriculture has also led to more income generation through agri-tourism. Diversification of agriculture is also practiced in livestock farming where bison (buffalos) are sometimes kept instead of cattle. The former are preferred due to its low cost of production as they require lesser amount and quality of hay and are more immune to diseases although they may become a challenge due to their wildness and slow rate of maturation.
Although the town boasts of high food production, the credit goes to one of the pioneers of the agriculture in the region, Fred Young, who established large farmland in the area. The land is currently the Young’s Point Provincial Park after it was sold to the Government and converted to a park, and is one of the main tourist attraction sites in the town. The aboriginal community is also an entrepreneurial lot with major business establishments in the town. The success of their business has also been aided through the help of Innovation Network project whose vision is assist the entrepreneurs through research and technology, product commercialization and innovation especially in the Peace region (Valleyview Opportunities Seminar, 2002).
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