The Long Circle
An Example of Dedication
1889-1982

St. Barbe touched many, many hearts by his example of dedication to earth renewal.

I was asked to assist St. Barbe first on a trip to Saskatoon* in 1975. I was Secretary of the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Saskatoon. St. Barbe lived his life assuming others would arise to assist his efforts. He worked with those who were receptive. He charmed and regaled any audience, whether assembled for an arranged event or informally, with stories of his life and moving excerpts recounted by memory from his books. He would appear rehearsed but fully open to opportunity to engage those he met.

He would arrive to the city of Saskatoon with short notice and there would be a large box of correspondence forwarded to the University of Saskatchewan for him, postage stamps from around the world. I learned much later that some of these contained cheques and even cash to support his work. St. Barbe was in his old age, I am sure he faced much uncertainty, but he was on a mission and delighted and encouraged especially in meeting young people who could get animated and be inspired by his vision. In this he had charisma but was also an enigma. Did he really do all the things he claimed? How and why is he on his own in his travels? Some would dismiss him maybe as a quack – he was not a polished academic, his career path was diverse and erratic, he had too much vision – St. Barbe would move on to those receptive. He promoted the centrality of ecological literacy – the photos of St. Barbe with children are particularly inspiring. He had seen nearly a century of destruction of earth’s green mantle. He had hope for future generations.

I remember him drawing curvilinear forms of shelterbelts and mixed crops, for soil conservation, food security, and biodiversity, as his vision for a transformation of industrial agriculture at a large scale on the Canadian prairies. The images were reminiscent of configurations now promoted as permaculture.

He died in Saskatoon, I expect pleased he’d completed a long circle since his years of study at the University, to be buried across the river under three tall spruce at the Woodlawn Cemetery from where one can see the University campus on the crest of the bank. Last year, under the initiative of Robert White, we had a commemoration of the last tree we had planted together with him on World Environment Day, June 5, 1982, a few days before he died. St. Barbe drew together a group of us who shared interests in ecology, inspired by this determined soul.

If you ever come to Saskatoon, stop by for a visit to his ‘homestead’ land (never proved up), south of the city, which is now part of the Beaver Creek Conservation Area and open to the public.

*Saskatoon Saskatchewan is an odd sounding name to those not familiar. It is Cree for ‘good tasting berries’ (Saskatoons, also known as service berries) by the ‘fast flowing water’ – the South Saskatchewan River.

David van Vliet, PhD, MCIP
Associate Professor, Dept. of City Planning and Environmental Design Faculty of Architecture, University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg, Canada