CROW

Some families lost everything. Then
looters made their way into the
evacuation zone, loaded what they
could on to boats and destroyed
the rest for sport. After 102 years,
the village was on its knees.
Rider pride works its way into a warning for
would-be thieves. Opposite: a small section
of the wake of destruction.
absolute maximum offered for a destroyed home was
$240,000—before deducting the value of the land it sat on.
The population has dwindled to fewer than 70 people,
making Roche Percée too small to be a village under
the Saskatchewan Municipalities Act, which requires a
population of at least 100. Such a small tax base cannot
support the community on its own. If people don’t
return, Roche Percée will be taken over by the R.M. of
Coalfields and lose its right to self-governance. This worries
Jahn. Larger R.M.’s are often loath to promote little
villages in their areas, preferring to centralize services.
Finding the way forward is not so easy. The village
could restore the dike for $5 million, but there is
no guarantee it would hold in another crisis, and no
guarantee provincial authorities would allow rebuilding
in the flood zone. The flood was unprecedented
since the Watershed Authority began measuring
flows in 1912—an unbelievable one-quarter of all the
river’s entire historical flow occurred in 2010, the year
leading up to the flood. But although unprecedented
in nearly 100 years, no one can say it won’t happen
again within the next 500 years, which is the province’s
benchmark for allowing development in an area.
The way Jahn sees it, this leaves just one option for survival:
moving the town to higher ground, on a south-lying
hillside above the flood plain. Some have suggested turning
the original townsite into an RV park, because it has
good trees as well as power, sewer, water and natural gas.
Meanwhile, the village remains in a holding pattern.
Provincial officials have held meetings and consultations
to determine the cost of rebuilding the dikes and are still
deliberating on the matter. No offer has been made to compensate
the village for the loss of its town hall and village
office. PDAP officials say the agency received more than
60 individual claims from Roche Percée and has paid
out millions of dollars in compensation, but the agency
refuses to comment on the recovery effort in more detail.
The slow pace of decision-making is frustrating.
“If (the government) would have come in and developed
those 40 acres at the top of the hill like we wanted
them to, most of the people would have stayed,”
Jahn says. “They just keep stalling us and stalling us
and stalling us—and finally, everybody just gives up.”
Jahn is not willing to give up, and he’s not alone. Many
agree the community is worth saving and restoring. But
without government help, the village has no money to
develop or rebuild. The villagers know they have a fight
ahead of them. “You give it your best shot,” Jahn says.
Standing among the sandstone outcroppings for
which the village was named, he surveys the landscape
that has been his family’s home for three generations.
On balance, the valley has given more than it has taken.
He imagines a new generation of kids playing in the
rocks and tobogganing down the hillsides. “It’s the most
beautiful place in the world,” he says.
16 THE CROW Fall 2012 Fall 2012 THE CROW 17