A monument to Gus will be erected in Fish Creek Park in 2023 by the Alberta Champions Society.

Posted by Bob Lefebvre

The Alberta Champions Society in Recognition of Community Enrichment was formed to commemorate, recognize and honour those Albertans that have made a significant contribution to the community in the city of Calgary and area. The Society has so far erected six “Fields of Fame” around the city as tributes to men and women of the past who contributed to the Calgary of today. The seventh set of monuments will be erected in Fish Creek Park in 2023.

From the Alberta Champions Society website:

The Fields of Fame are groupings of structural steel, architecturally designed which are placed at prominent locations throughout the city to commemorate the accomplishments of those Calgarians who have made a lasting contribution to Calgary. 

Each Field of Fame includes six steel “sheaves of wheat”, thirteen feet high, symbolic of the prairies and the farm and ranching culture that formed the early backbone of the Calgary area. 

Each sheaf of wheat includes a brief history on the individual being honoured, with a photograph and wording designed to highlight the import and significant contribution made by the particular individual to the fabric of the Calgary community.  

Gus Yaki was a lifelong birder, naturalist, and conservationist who had an enormous impact on Calgary from the time he arrived in 1993 until his passing in 2020 at the age of 87. (See this for more about Gus’s life and work.)

Those of us who were fortunate enough to know Gus and to learn from him are very pleased to see him being honoured in this way, and to have the monument erected in a place that was special to him. Gus passed away in August 2020, and due to Covid, a memorial service could not be held. Gus’s son David Yaki then planned a memorial for 2021, but again Covid forced a cancellation of the event. So it is very gratifying that there will be an event to honour Gus when the Fish Creek Field of Fame is completed in late 2023.

The other six people being honoured along with Gus are Virnetta Anderson, Peter Prince, Charles (Chuck) Mawer, Roderick (Roddy) Mah, Michael Green, and Narcisse Blood. The seven monuments will be erected near the visitor’s centre in the Bow Valley Ranch area of Fish Creek Park. It is expected to be completed in late 2023.

The Alberta Champions Society appreciates all financial donations from the community. Donations help to cover the costs of the monument and its installation. See the Donations page here. For more information on supporting this project, contact Pat Christie, the Executive Director of the Champions Society, at pat.christie[at]telus.net. Donors will be recognized either at the installation or on the Champions Society website, and a receipt will be issued. I know the Christmas season brings a lot of appeals for donations, so save the link and perhaps consider donating later in 2023 if you can.

I will give further updates on this project and its completion date in the coming months.

I’d like to acknowledge the efforts of Champions Society Board Member John Currie, who knew Gus and had birded with him. John nominated Gus for this honour and spearheaded the effort to include him in Field Of Fame #7. Sadly, Mr. Currie, himself a pillar of the community, passed away in October 2022.

Gus’s son David has been spreading the word about this project and sees it as fitting, and permanent, tribute to his father.

Nic Blanchet, the Executive Director of the Friends of Fish Creek Provincial Park Society, was instrumental in getting approval for erecting the monument in the park, which was a challenging process.

Thanks also to Champions Society President Gordon Hoffman who gave permission to use photos and other material from the Champions website.