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Falher proclaims May 29, 2010 day of the honey bee
Susan Thompson
for Smoky River Express
The town of Falher has officially proclaimed May 29, 2010 the day of the honey bee. The town decided to issue the proclamation after receiving a letter from Saskatchewan’s Clinton Ekdahl, is contacting every level of government and asking them to make the same proclamation. He hopes that as various levels of government proclaim a bee day, people will realize how important bees are to food production. That in turn might result in more bee-friendly policies, and possibly government funds to research the problem of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
Ekdahl was inspired to do something to raise awareness about honey bees while on a walk home past the local food bank, where he saw broccoli being unloaded. Ekdahl began to think about how much less broccoli would be available to those in need if there were no bees.
“I knew that 90 per cent of broccoli depends on bees for pollination,” Ekdahl says. “I thought, I know honey bees are dying, and if they continue to do so, so many people are starving now. How many more will be starving then?”
Ekdahl cites the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists, saying that Canada lost 35 per cent of its honey bees last year, or 20 per cent more than a sustainable loss. He points out that without honey bees to act as pollinators, many food sources including fruits and crops will be threatened.
Ekdahl says while he’s no expert, he raises bees himself as a hobby in his backyard in the city of Saskatoon, and currently has four hives.
Ekdahl first approached the Saskatoon Food Bank and explained the importance of the honey bee to the director, who was surprised to learn how important the honey bee is to food production and how few people in the general public know it. After successfully raising awareness at the food bank, Ekdahl decided to write a letter to city hall.
He spoke at a council meeting there, and due to his passionate speech on the importance of bees to humanity, Saskatoon became the first city to proclaim May 29 the Day of the Honey Bee.
Ekdahl decided to write a letter to the city of Regina too. When that city followed suit and issued its own proclamation, the project began to snowball.
Town of Falher made the decision to issue a proclamation at the Sept. 8 council meeting.
“Obviously we made the proclamation because of where we are in the province and Peace area,” says Falher Mayor Margaret Tardif. “We’re one of the major beekeeping areas in the province. We do know the importance of the honey bee.”
Tardif says it’s too early yet to know if the town will hold any celebrations in May.
Five other municipalities in Canada have already agreed to proclaim a Day of the Honey Bee, including Saskatoon, Regina, and Tisdale in Saskatchewan, as well as Milton, Ontario and Port Alberni, B.C. Grande Prairie is also considering issuing a similar proclamation.
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