the walbran

wow. so lovely

so much of who i am is based on my time there.

In some ways this whole trip is like a trip to find myself - from my visit to my family's past in kap, to the reunion of the blockade in the walbran, to seeing old friends throughout the country - it's been a trip into my past

so here i am - a settler, born of loggers and farmers, a son of a union member and a manager, who left the environmental movement out of angst around the unwillingness of that movement to deal with race, gender and class, and yet still in love with an old growth valley and still loving those who have given their lives (and continue to) to preserve wilderness

ah the contradictions.

the people in the reunion were brilliant - many of whom i had not seen in years, and though many were missed, it was amazing to see all those wonderful people. And to see the valley itself, though waking up to the sounds of logging machinery was as always disturbing

my love to you all and see you in 2016 for the 25th anniversary!

time passes - hope

so i am getting older. and times are getting harder. As i go across the country i keep meeting old and beautiful friends who are not defining themselves as "active" anymore. They run small businesses which support community struggle, represent poor migrants, work with people with addictions, or do care support for people with disabilities, organize prison justice day but do not define as activists.

we spent hours discussing this with shane and kim and nathan. and i think two things came up 1.- it's a bad time - harper as PM, demobilization and people feeling without hope, repression - be it the G20 or even the camas raid here in Victoria ( a raid on a local infoshop resulting in a key organizer/sweetie being deported), 2. the hole toughie question - how do we organize for the rev and still have some security? shit jobs, paying high rent, no family bites after a while, can we have security though, or a family and still organize?

there is a critical mass when it comes to social change - social change beyond policy change. one or two (or even twenty) of us and the world comes crashing down (or those two or three of us overwork to the point of alienating new people, or burning out and becoming corporate hacks). but even with thousands, the state still comes crashing down on our heads

 but it is a bit easier when ten thousand of your best friends are there with you

and you really feel you can win

so where do we go with this? shane talked of those moments of epiphany - when the world we are working for feels like it is right there in your grasp - of the importance of hope

let's bring back hope

let's remember that though action often brings repression, that that repression happens everyday anyways, and that no abuser ever stopped abusing because his target didn't fight back

let's remember that anything we have ever won was won through struggle

let's bring back hope

Adrift on Vancouver Island

This island place is too relaxing. We're back in Victoria after a week or so 'up island'.

First we travelled to the Walbran Valley, part of the Carmanah-Walbran Provincial Park.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/bcparks/explore/parkpgs/carmanah/
Mac and his comrades blocked the machines 20 years ago and pressured the government to agree to preserve part of the valley. Twenty years later, 20 or so people involved in that struggle or their families returned to the valley. I was very curious to see what would happen there and what the people would be like. Some people attending hadn't returned to the Valley since the days of the blockades. Some had had traumatic experiences there. Others saw that time as foundational in making them who they are today.

Bobby, Pete and Andy coordinated the reunion through a Facebook page - and the vans began to arrive, rolling over logging roads that were seriously full of potholes. As we drove along, Mac and his longstanding friend Warren pointed out various sites of protest. 'remember the time we put that kid in a barrel of concrete?'
Once there, we entered the forest and put up our tents amongst massive thousand year old trees. Its so quiet amongst these trees. I don't have a language for talking about this stuff really, but you feel like slowing down amongst them. And when I touch their bark, or leaned up against them, I feel a sort of slow vibration, almost electric.

People brought their kids. Lots of 'em. They were delighted with the river, the trees, the place. But not the bugs. The mosquitos were pretty horrendous. We had a campfire, and went to bed early. In the morning, more people arrived. I was curious about who had stayed politically active, and who hadn't. What were the paths people had chosen to take after such an intense experience. I found a lot of folks who were involved in some sort of community work - working with folks with addictions, or disabilities. There were woodworkers and some who did various environmental science stuff. Some people had had ongoing difficulties finding stability they desired, while others had found life less challenging. On the Saturday evening Bobby Arbus told the story of the valley and reported on its current state. It was obvious and heartbreaking on the way in to see the massive clearcuts, mudslides and raw waste of the logging up there. All around the Valley that is protected there is clearcutting going on. Only the Lower Walbran is protected after all - and even the Upper Walbran is being logged. There were songs sung and then a go-around of people there, telling about their connection to the blockades and the Valley. There was the woman whose family had been seriously religious and while they hadn't participated in the blockades, they had (all seven kids and their parents) prayed for the logging machinery to break. Which it often did (?!) There was a recognition that injuries on the blockades had lead to ongoing health problems. There was humour, talking about different nights. Like the night that the RCMP dropped off beer to the blockade, supposedly from a 'supporter'. The next morning, when everyone was hung over, they raided the camp.


And there was real warmth between these folks - and a recognition of both that time, and the time that had passed. I couldn't focus as much as I wanted to during the stories, as Sidney and another kid were busy playing with the campfire. But it was clear that the gathering was a good one.

The next day, most people hiked up to 'Giggling Spruce' and some went all the way to Anderson Lake. The trails were pretty rough, but the trees were jaw dropping. It was apparent that not too many people had been hiking them lately. Mac, Sidney and I camped up at Giggling Spruce for the night - listening to the stream and eating in the tent to avoid the mosquitos. The next day, everyone else had gone, but we traipsed up to ice cold Anderson Lake to swim and explore. Throughout the day we could hear the buzz and rumble of machinery, which put a bit of a damper on our sense of 'unspoilt wilderness.' When we left the following day, we got a bit lost and ended up bushwhacking and clambering down cliffs with our backpacks. After crossing a waterfall with slippery rocks Sidney mused 'Today I thought one of us was going to die..." And I know why he thought that - the thought had crossed my mind as well.

Finally we said good bye to the amazing giant trees, the waterfall and the clearcuts and headed out onto the road...



Where we headed for Tofino, Uclulet and Long Beach - and Shane, Kim, Ash (3 1/2 years old) and their friend Nathan and his dog Sequoia. We camped at a gorgeous, albeit small site at Wya Point. This is a First Nations owned and run campground where we had a site adjoining the beach. And what  beach it was - rocks, starfish, crashing waves, freezing water. Deep breath.... aaaahhhhhh.  We stayed there for a couple of days, exploring the tidal pools and eating well. But then we got booted. It was the long weekend and we hadn't reserved in advance. So, like the Holy family (well, kind of like the holy family?), we wandered, looking for an inn. or a campsite. We were welcomed at the Mackenzie Beach campground - which was more like a front yard connected to the beach that gradually filled up completely with tents. And then their back yard filled up. And then their parking lot until the whole place was like a folk festival or something. We were just glad to stay in one of the prettiest places around for another night. Sat up late, talking politics, kids literature and Monty Python and drinking around the campfire. Not a bad way to pass the time.


Once we'd got a place, Mac and I decided to see if we could remember how to surf. We'd taken one lesson, three years ago but we thought we could figure it out. We rented a board and wetsuits and headed for Long Beach. Through trial and error I remembered which way to put my wetsuit on. Where to hold the board to avoid being klonked in the head, and how to avoid being rammed into the sand by a wave. Both of us gradually figured it out and thrilled to the rush and power of surfing. Seriously. I could do this a lot. It takes my breath away to feel the wave lift the board and me and speed me towards shore.


And now we're back in Victoria - at Pete and Erica's collective house - old friends of Mac's from the blockade days. Pete's kid is named Fern, and Erica's are named Cedar and Lily. Makes me smile. Pete is an amazing, British woodworker - so the place is full of gorgeously turned wood. Erica owns the Wildfire Bakery - so there's good food too. Both of them celebrated their birthdays yesterday so we met friends and then I went out with Erica and her crew dancing at the Electronic Music festival. The music kind of sucked - but it was still entertaining to run around and get into trouble, late late in the night. Mac will have his turn tonight.

I'm feeling so relaxed now - honestly Toronto and its stresses seem pretty far away. But I have a few days of hardcore nose-to-the-grindstone work ahead - editing the 'ol book. So you may hear more from me.

Losing track

Hey all, We're on Smiley Road in Chemainus, on Vancouver Island. We've just emerged from the Walbran Valley, a Valley near the more famous Carmanah Valley that Mac helped to save twenty years ago through laying his body literally in the way of the machines. But we'll talk about that later. We have officially lost track with the blog. Last time I wrote we were heading into Vancouver. We got there.

It was 11 pm when we had been on the bus for 15 hours and arrived in Coquitlam to the welcoming arms of Auntie Dyane! My aunt gave us an amazing time - brought us swimming at her lovely new tree-house condo. She took Sidney and I to Toys R Us for the much anticipated 'once every two weeks' gift (a giant Boba Fett helmet (perfect for travelling?)). She cooked us dinner, and with my cousin Arran and his partner Theresa we caught up and connected. Vancouver was wonderful, and for those I didn't see - I swear, next time I'll find time to hang out with you all.

We only spent about 30 hours in Vancouver and then took the ferry to Victoria - spending time on the bus orienting some anti-Chavista Venezuelans who were visiting Victoria for a couple of hours. There we descended at Shane, Kim, Steve and Ash's house. Amazing to hang out after three or so years apart. We're gonna camp with them later, so it was just a tantalizing sample of them.

And then to the wonders of the majestic old growth of the Walbran. But we'll write about that tomorrow, on our way to Tofino, and a few more days offline.

The bus through beauty – Calgary to Vancouver

Yesterday we took the bus for fifteen hours from Calgary to Vancouver. I’d never come this way before and had to do a lot of that ‘accepting’ of scenery I spoke about yesterday. 

I read about the economic crisis as we rolled along, sitting next to a lovely lady named Vi. Vi was originally from Calgary, and back in the 1950s had cut her hair to compete in the rodeo at the Calgary Stampede. She did fine apparently, until her brother ratted her out. Vi told me about her poker games, her improved health, her new boyfriend, her tattoo plans, her 9 grandchildren and her 4 great grandchildren. She told me about bears, and pointed one out to me. (I got to see a Bear! I got to see a Bear!) She told me about the west and her sense of things. 

When I asked her my question about the future of the country, she told me that although she’s an NDP-er, she voted conservative because the Liberals were corrupt and   no one could elect an NDP-er in her area (she’s from Merritt BC). She said the economy is booming where she is. Although the box stores were everywhere. She showed me the gorgeous Shuswap Lakes and she told me how she learned she can communicate with animals, and heal people.

Calgary - Legoland

Calgary is way prettier than I realized. We’re here visiting Lisa and Gord and their son Myles. This stop on the tour has been hotly anticipated by Sidney as Myles has a shared passion for Star Wars, is the same age and has an unsurpassed Lego collection – because, as Myles says, ‘some of it was my brother Addison’s Lego, who died from cancer.’ Sad but true.

Gord, Lisa and I went to Queen’s as undergraduates. There, Gord and I worked on a campus paper – now he makes his living as a writer. A few years later, Lisa helped me get a job organizing workshops and conferences that would help immigrant communities access transit and bikes in Toronto. She's one of the most effective promoters and coordinators of community economic development and micro-finance I know. We've been friends a long time.

The day after we arrived, we had a marathon Lego session, and then headed to the Calgary Stampede. I was a tad nervous because we decided to go by bike, pulling Sidney on the back of a Trail-a-bike attachment. Initially he refused, but once he heard that it was ‘impossible’ to flal off, he agreed. As soon as he got on he started ‘yahoo-ing!’ as we rocketed  alongside the Elbow River, through downtown Calgary and to Stampede. 

Mac had been visiting a friend and I waited for him at the entrance to the Stampede grounds, getting irritated by the way that only first nations people and white punk kids were getting their bags searched. When Mac arrived, he almost insisted that we be searched too.

Anyhoo, we entered Stampede and went to the Indian Village for a bit. According to Gord, this part of the Stampede is a bit contested. Some native folks avoid it. There are teepees for different nations on display and the people representing different nations get paid to live there which seems a tad voyeuristic. On either side of the dancing area there is a teepee for a different police force. Still, there are full traditional dance competitions, many drummers and some aspects of a traditional pow wow. Definitely lots of First Nations kids attend.  After a time of Myles and Sidney rolling down the hill, while I watched the dancing, we headed on to the rest of the Stampede. There we saw an impressive event called ‘steer’ in which a horse rider tries to direct a cow to move in a very particular way. And then it was on to the rides, the candy apples, and all that. The Stampede is pretty fun. People really do dress up in cowboy hats. As did we. I swear I’ll post photos later.

Regina, Saskatchewan

The manager of the purple themed Knights Inn in Regina tells me; “Regina is a good place to make money.” And indeed it seems like the city is booming.  We take the bus across town to catch Cars 2 in the suburbs and pass through numerous new malls, and box stores. Things are busy. I suspect this has to do with the oil rigs and potash mines featured on the postcards we buy. In Toronto we forget how much the Canadian economy is rooted in resource extraction. But as we’ve travelled along, what I’ve seen is extensive growth and prosperity tied to mining.

On the way to Calgary, I sit next to a sweet South Asian woman from Kenya who lives in Regina. She points out all the new lakes in Saskatchewan. Lakes with fences running through them. The flooding has been pretty intense around here. She’s on her way to a wedding and tells me that God loves me and that I was blessed. I have to admit, I do feel pretty lucky.

love and hate for greyhound

well last night while traveling through the dark on the bus i remembered my love of the bus. but i have to say that greyhound has some issues.

1. can no one remember from the day before that there is construction on the highway?
2. why do the drivers never announce what's going on? you can hear the riot being organized at the back of the bus but they still don't announce that we're two hours behind schedule
3. why are there still tv's on the buses when they don't show movies? that is just cruel
4. the only real reason to take greyhound is because you can get on and off (the prices aren't that much more cheap than the airplane) now they charge extra (in theory, the drivers actually don't care) what the?
5. the washrooms, the washrooms, what is that blue stuff in the toilet?

seriously though, the drivers do pretty damn well considering, in Newfoundland they have a conductor which makes it easier
after we've taken the island coach, i will do my full review of the seven bus lines we've traveled: greyhound, acadian, dhr in Newfoundland, orleans express, caribou, ontario northland (still have to do island coach) stay tuned!

More beer and transit

- Ontario is a disappointment. Outside Ottawa (where the Beau's Lug Tread is a true delight) there are no non-southern ontario microbrews that I could find. On asking in Thunderbay I was told the only one in the area closed down five years ago. Lesley says that the major breweries dominate the beer stores and this makes it hard for new micro-breweries in Ontario. Damn you Capitalism!


Winnipeg - great city for beer. We had a lot of the Half -pints, their amber is excellent, and their IPA close to the best i've had. Saskatchewan has the great western, pretty good but I wouldn't write home about it (opps i just did). Now we're in calgary where i hope to get past the big rock - they even served big rock at the winnipeg folk fest which i think, given their commitment to serving local food, is a damn shame.


Transit - Thunder bay - ok, slow, not a lot of bus lines, coverage is limited. Pretty good if you are doing the part arthur- fort william to port arthur routre but otherwise slow and scattered

winnipeg is definitely got the ottawa angst - ready for something bigger than buses but not ready to spend the money (ottawians - don't even talk to me about the O train). Hence that thing where you make bus stops that look like little subway stations, dedicated lanes, etc - all of which are good. In particular, the displays showing the times for the next buses are nice (though lesley did point out that the same money spent instead on more buses might be better). however, they do charge a lot for a six year old

regina - strange bus system - not on a grid, very focussed on bringing people downtown from the suburbs. Very long wait times outside rush hour. Not recommended, fortunately you can walk everywhere

will write soon about calgary!

science centers

lesley wanted me to post something about science centers since sid and i have been to very many of them since st johns (including two in st johns) however, i want to talk about louis riel and the way history is written

riel is big in winnipeg. he is a "historically important person".
It's kind a like how there is a malcolm X street in harlam. They celebrate him but they don't really want to talk about him

now to be clear, i did not really see the francophone depiction of riel while in winnipeg and next time I go will go see the St Boniface museum and his grave, rather than his family home (which we went to because it is part of parks canada, and dammit, we bought a pass for parks canada so i gotta use it)

in english speaking manitoba, they talk a lot about riel, but they don't really - there is a bridge named after him, and many streets. he is said to be the "father of manitoba". He is a leader of the metis.

what they don't talk about - well, they don't mention that the manitoba provisional government was comprised of metis, francophones and anglo farmers - a cross racial alliance against a cold hearted colonial canadian government. They don't talk about how Canada ignored the initial pleas for the crazy radical demand of a local decision making structure (a provincial parliament) or how the government used the uprising to expedite railway building and to justify the formation of a national police force (which had as a primary purpose dealing with dissent amongst First Nations). They don't talk about how in the second uprising  - the northwest uprising, a gatling gun was used - one of the first uses of a machine gun in open warfare, and how in the aftermath of the second uprising eight First Nations leaders were executed, despite their being no evidence as to their involvement in the uprising (see "Loyal till Death - Indians and the North-West Rebellion" by Blair Stonechild and Bill Waiser).

Official history cannot completely ignore the resistance that creates change, so it celebrates the organizers, while trying to minimize the actuality of their struggle. Weird


as to science centers? We went to two in St Johns, and one in Regina. We also visited a little nature center in Quebec City. Regina wins out - despite the exhibit on the joys and wonders of uranium mining - lots of hands on stuff for the kids and i got to design an expedition to mars (which was foiled by eco-saboteurs from the "mars first" movement - aka the sci fi book "Green Mars")

Prairie skies

Olivia asked me to say more about my impressions of Winnipeg. Four nights is not enough to get a sense of the place but I'll try. Day one we got there. Day two we went to the folk festival. Day three we went to the Mint. Mac and Sidney have been to both Mints on our journey. It was pretty interesting. well for us it was interesting.
Did you know: Canada makes currency for 70 countries? Did you know that our coins, except the toonie have steel cores (since 2005)?
Then we went to a cool Franco-Manitoban farm/grocery place. I've been fascinated in how bilingualism manifests itself across the country. Here, in Winnipeg, these folks said everything twice - once in english, once in french. Then we walked through tree lined streets to take the kids to the splashpad. We got lost. People were very friendly in helping us. Unlike many cities, everyone knew how to get to where we were going. Unfortunately, we didn't completely believe them. But its a testament to a city when people, even people without kids, can find their way to a wading pool. One that was as multi-racial as the folk festival had been white. We ended the day by making a big ol' bbq at our hostel, and hung out with a young lassie who had come to town for next week's Winnipeg Fringe fest. It seems its festival season!

Day four Mac and Sidney went to the Riel house by transit. I walked downtown to find Mondragon and the anarchist lands I had heard so much about. When I got there, I got kind of shy. I looked at the books, and then went to the second book store to find books that were more affordable. There are amazing second hand bookstores in this city - like North Bay and Halifax. There must be an economic algorhythm that predicts the likelihood of good second hand book stores. This was was crazy chaotic though. I unearthed an edited collection on Class and history, a book on Imperialism in the Victorian Mind and Africa, and a book on African independence movements. I'm thinking that I'm going to learn more about colonialism, economics, the nation state and African history. Just a few things, right? Also I want to learn more about this whole Hudson Bay Company stuff. I realize I zoned it out in high school - now I want to understand how Canadian colonialism had its own particularities.

After I got the books, I returned to Mondragon to order a coffee and read. Unfortunately, after I got my coffee I learned that the place was shutting for the day. So I perched outside on a railing and tried to read. Then I went upstairs to visit the Emma Goldman Centre. It was cool - but being people's office spaces, they wondered if I had questions. But my question was kind of - can I hang out here. And I didn't ask it. When i spend too much time alone, I get awkward. So I wandered the city for a couple of hours. I found reference to the infamous Winnipeg General Strike - Canada's biggest labour conflict, and saw some cool old buildings in the Exchange District. But finally Mac and Sid arrived and we ate some dinner and returned to the hostel.

The verdict. I want to know more. see more in this fair city. next time, winnipeg.

Winnipeg

City of Crime - a friend of ours, Kellee  who is a street nurse here says its way more dangerous than Toronto. She won't walk alone at night. The random violence is horrendous here.
City of government - beautiful Provincial capital. Lots of fascinating history of the place as Fort Geary. All these cities are forts. But not forts of nation states, forts of corporations.
City of Metis - the centre of Louis Riel. Mac went to his old house there.
City of anarchists - there is Mondragon, an anarchist cafe, and bookstore. There's the anarchist grocery store. Office space, library, magazines, publishers. The place is like an anarchist utopia.

Thunder Bay and the Sleeping Giant Hostel.

-  We’re finding that the Backpackers chain of hostels are more variable, but cheaper and more interesting than the HI hostels. At the Sleeping Giant hostel in Thunder Bay we were welcomed by Gail. When Mac had called ahead, she explained that she would be at work, but told us where to find the key. Like the rooming houses of old, her house was full of students there for the long term. But the boundary between her house, the long term residents and the hostel was amazingly unclear. Some people seemed like relatives, lounging on the couch or walking around in their underwear – like a lovely Inuit woman and her son, while others,  like the clean cut Wisconsin cyclist, were what one normally finds at ‘youth hostels’. We had a ‘family room’ with a bunk bed for Sid. 

-          Thunder Bay seemed a curious mix of poor northern resource town, and alternative, hip centre. There were cooperatives of both kinds, pretty desperate poverty, and cool boutiques – within the same block. Yesterday we visited Fort William – which attempts to reenact the Fort in 1815. All the participants remained fully in character – as you ask them about their lives. Today a large, re-enactment of the annual trading rendez-vous will begin, where apparently hundreds of members of the public will dress in costume and play act the whole scene. Kind of hilarious, and call me a geek but I think that would be super-fun.