Mountain Communities Conference 2005: Speakers

Dennis Shuler

Dennis received a BA and LLB from the University of Alberta and has lived in Banff for over 30 years. He retired as an active lawyer in 2001. During 1992–1993 he served one term on the Banff School Board, the last half of the term as chairperson. From 1996 to 1998 he was on Banff Town Council and from 1998 to the fall of 2004 he was elected twice as mayor and did not run in the fall 2004 election.

His years as mayor were both exciting and challenging, as Banff was the smallest community in Canada to ever host the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual convention (which remains their largest) in 2001. Banff hosted the Environmental Ministers G8 conference and was very close to the Kananaskis Leaders G8 conference in 2002, giving Dennis an education in security preparedness. In 2003 saw the largest forest fires in years occurred in Alberta and B.C. Banff heliport was host for two months to a helicopter fleet of over two dozen and the town was on 24-hour alert for several weeks. Being in a National Park and having to balance economic needs with environment needs and deal with both Federal and Provincial Governments places Banff Town Council in a perpetual public and media microscope.

Dennis is active in many sports and is considered to be perhaps the worst golfer in the Banff Springs Golf Club.