By Steve Hubrecht
Invermere resident Ben Mitchell-Banks was recently honoured with the Roland Michener Award at the Canadian Wildlife Federation (CWF)’s annual general meeting.
The award — named for former Canadian Governor General and noted outdoor enthusiast Roland Michener — is given out each year to an individual who demonstrates commitment and action in the conservation field.
Mitchell-Banks earned this year’s award for his long career in various conservation and environmental public services roles and for his volunteer efforts over the past decade in the Columbia Valley, including the ongoing restoration of Abel Creek (which has been the subject of multiple Pioneer reports through the years).
“I was surprised and honoured to get the award,” Mitchell-Banks told the Pioneer, modestly adding that there are so many other people doing excellent conservation work that he feels deserve recognition above him.
Mitchell-Banks received the award at the CWF meeting in Moncton, New Brunswick on Saturday, June 15.
The CWF is an umbrella group for the various provincial wildlife federations (such as the B.C. Wildlife Federation). The provincial federations in turn serve as umbrella groups for constituents member organizations that include many of B.C.’s local rod and gun clubs (such as the Lake Windermere Rod and Gun Club) and well as other conservation associations.
Mitchell-Banks was originally born in London, England, but immigrated to Canada as a child with his family in 1964, growing up in Prince Rupert.
“Ever since I was young, I’ve had a love of the outdoors,” said Mitchell-Banks. That passion stayed with him through his teenage years.
When he was 18 and 19 years old, like many young people, he was uncertain of exactly how he wanted to spend his life. Then one day, he and a friend were in northern B.C. and went through a roadside conservation officer checkpoint.
“I instantly recognized it as something I could do for a career. It had all the components I wanted: working outdoors, working with people and doing something of value,” recalled Mitchell-Banks.
At the time, in the mid to late 1970s, there was a rising environmental consciousness, with issues such as acid rain and nuclear power at the forefront of public discussion, and Mitchell-Banks held those values too. A career in conservation aligned with those values, he realized.
Mitchell-Banks, a true conservationist.
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In 1980 he moved to the East Kootenay for a conservation officer posting and immediately fell in love with the region.
In 1985 he changed course, taking a position with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) as a general duty fisheries officer. This job was interesting too, and involved managing commercial and sport fisheries as well as Indigenous food fisheries.
“There was quite a lot of habitat work,” said Mitchell-Banks.
In 1991 he transferred to the DFO’s South Coast division to take a job with its special investigation unit. This new position had Mitchell-Banks dealing with particularly difficult commercial-scale crimes.
“It was the kind of investigations that a general duty officer just doesn’t have the time or resources or sometimes even the training to deal with,” explained Mitchell-Banks.
For instance, Mitchell-Banks was, for a time, an undercover agent posing as an English supermarket owner trying to buy a million pounds of fish, poached by Taiwan drift net fleets, canned in Southeast Asia, but smuggled into the European Union as Canadian-caught fish.
“There was a lot of controversy around the issue at the time,” said Mitchell-Banks. “The investigation resulted in jail time for the Japanese yakuza member who was controlling the racket for the Taiwan ships.”
Although it sounds like a job straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster, Mitchell-Banks clarified that “it was work that could be boring for long stretches, but then yes, could turn on a dime and be quite exciting.”
In 1993 Mitchell-Banks returned to the B.C. conservation officer service, becoming the field supervisor for the service’s newly created special investigations unit. In 1997 he switched roles again, returning to a ‘normal, uniformed’ position as the senior conservation officer for Northeastern B.C. From there he moved into a role with the B.C. Oil and Gas Commission’s compliance and enforcement branch, helping develop new regulations and environmental safeguards for the energy industry.
Finally, in 2011 Mitchell-Banks retired and in 2012 he and his partner Kathleen O’Neill moved to Invermere, in the CastleRock neighbourhood. Not long after that, he met a friend near Abel Creek and the friend told Mitchell-Banks about the problems a dam was creating for the creek. Mitchell-Banks threw himself headlong into the issue. By 2015 that dam was pulled out and salmon and rainbow trout were able to come partly up Abel Creek. In 2018 a culvert on the creek was rehabilitated, and in summer 2023 another one was replaced. In fall 2023 Lake Windermere District Rod and Gun Club members led by Mitchell-Banks placed 40,000 fertilized Kokanee eggs on a gravel bed in the creek.
In his speech accepting the Roland Michener award, Mitchell-Banks emphasized the benefits of volunteering — for communities, for the environment, and for the volunteers themselves.
“There are significant mental health benefits to volunteering. When you do something that’s not for external reward, internally you get something back. In today’s society, with political divisions, misinformation, false news and cyberbullying, there are a lot of mental health issues,” said Mitchell-Banks, noting that suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15 to 34 year olds, and that suicide is often closely linked with mental health issues.
“I have been trying to encourage local rod and gun clubs to look for ways to involve young people in volunteer capacities in conservation projects, even if those people do have the hunting or fishing backgrounds typical of most rod and gun club members,” said Mitchell-Banks. “It can help everyone.”
