My 9 year old asked me to create him a TinkerCAD account, so he could keep working on the hospital he started designing while at school, the thing he thinks future Pemberton most needs.

I’ve never suggested anything along these lines. He’s on this train of thinking thanks to the Village of Pemberton’s planning team, who took the Official Community Plan process to Signal Hill last week and asked the most important constituents in the community, the future holders, what they should be planning for.

(The only thing that would make this approach better would be if we could somehow ask their children, yet to be born, what we need to hold in our hearts as we dream their futures… then we’d be starting to think like ancestors… instead of like emotionally immature people who can only centre our own immediate gratification. Not to point fingers at anyone… just to name the shift in thinking our culture needs to make. Like, for sure, if someone asks me what I’d like most to see, I’m going vote for a few shiny things that make my life more delicious right now, but if you ask me what I truly and secretly long for, it might feel more like, I’d like to be a grandmother and a great-grandmother and I’d like to always be able to swim in clear mountain-fed lakes and I’d like my descendants to stand along the banks of the Birkenhead as a ceremony of salmon-welcoming takes place and be able to understand everything that is sung in Ucwalmitcws. I’d also like Pemberton to be known by it’s Ucwalmictws name, Nkwúkwma, and be a destination because of its beautiful healing retreat centre, that offers locally accessible and leading edge programming on resilience, trauma healing, and learning from nature. But that’s just me.)

How about you?

Because, Your turn is now here!

The Village of Pemberton will be hosting a Community Open House on March 6, 2023 from 4:30pm – 7:30pm at the Pemberton and District Community Centre. 

The open house will include a 20-minute presentation by the Village’s planning consultants at 5:00pm with small group discussions to follow. Presentation boards (with interactive activities) will be on display throughout the evening for those who can drop by for a short time only.

The Community Open House will be a family-friendly event. There will be age-appropriate activities for youth to engage in. but babysitting will not be provided.

Everyone is invited to get involved, share their feedback. And the Village of Pemberton will report back to the community what they’ve heard, and keep us informed as things move along.

Make sure your voice and your dreams and hopes are part of the process.

And please, hold those still to come, in your hearts.