Courtenay, BC I’m coming to the end of a Moleskine notebook I’ve had since March, and it’s almost filled up. I’m going through it harvesting a few things, and thought I might post a series of notes here. The journal began with a few notes that I made about the preliminary design of an Art of Hosting we ran for VIATT on Quadra Island. This particular Art of Hosting was called to train with 40 or so people who are helping us to build an Aboriginal child and familiy services system on Vancouver Island. It’s big …
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Canada’s foreign minister on how you claim sovereignty: “You can’t go around the world these days dropping a flag somewhere, this isn’t the 14th or 15th century. “ Interesting. Will a series of conversations about Aboriginal title now ensue? This is exactly how Canada did it as recently as 1851 in British Columbia. The sole claim that the Crown has to the indigenous lands of this province stems from the fact that someone surveyed the land and claimed it for the Crown. That’s all it took. Just thought I’d note that. The courts have taken a …
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In 1996, I joined the federal treaty negotiation office as a public information and consultation advisor. One of the treaty tables I was working with was a small First Nation near Vancouver. My colleague at the Tsawwassen First Nation was a young communications officer called Kim Baird. Eleven years later, Kim has led her community to approve the first ever treaty negotiated under the BC Treaty Process. It has been a long ride, and Tsawwassen is bucking a lot of currents that suggest that the current treaty process is a hoodwink and a sham. I have my own feelings about …
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Today is the national First Nations day of action, and there is certainly lots going on. Much of what makes the news will be the more dramatic events, blockades and protests. But here are some things friends of mine are up to that tells the story of what is happening away from the headlines across Aboriginal Canada: On the northern tip of Vancouver Island, the Gwa’Sala-Nakwaxda’xw communities are doing some cool stuff to record their history with the help of their kids. Elsewhere on Vancouver Island, if you didn’t yet see the video from VIATT’s celebration on June 8, you …
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Tomorrow is a national day of action called by the Assembly of First Nations to draw attention to the situation of indigenous communities across this country. I’ll be at home with my family which is a good place to be tomorrow. Yesterday in downtown Victoria, I ran into the assistant deputy minister of children and family development, Deborah Foxcroft, the woman that originally brought me on to work at VIATT. She expressed concern at how much travelling I as doing and said “remember, we are working for our children and families, so make sure you don’t abandon yours.” It was …