Sometimes I get myself tangled up in this thinking: if “we” are the source of all the bad that has been visited upon First Nations (we settlers, we newcomers, we land-stealers, we non-First Nations), then the cure must be for us to leave. Given that my people were displaced from parts of the United Kingdom by the Industrial Revolution and the land enclosures of the 1830s and 1840s, and who knows what before that, I don’t actually have anywhere to go to where I would not also be a newcomer and a compounding insult to people surviving colonial oppression. So I get kind of stuck in that ditch, spinning my wheels. I think that’s partly why I appreciated new Lil’wat Councillor Roxanne Joe’s facebook post, reflecting on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, so much. One, because she is so wonderfully articulate about her own feelings and experiences. And two, because in what she shared, I could see a glimpse of a role to play, of a place for us all. As my lovely friend Lisa Sambo has shared about how she tried to frame community invitations: “will you be a helper?”

I feel as if the invitation is not to disappear or go away or be smaller, but to show up, to help make the load lighter, to find ways to walk together, to build our capacity to listen and hear hard, painful, shocking things, as witnesses and supporters, and to relinquish the need to always be at the centre of things.

I’m grateful Roxanne was wiling to share her post and photos here, too.

Reflecting on today’s Day of National Truth and Reconciliation

Since my experience and participation in closing this park in August- it was important for myself, for my spirit to hike Pipi7iyekw- Joffre Lakes this morning and make it back down in time for pipe ceremony hosted by our Lil’wat Lands And Resources….

We are all aware that the path to Truth and Reconciliation is a difficult trail to hike much like the difficulty of the trail hike to the third lake of Pipi7iyekw.

My reflection of today is gratitude to my best friend Sara who I invited on this hike- (I other wise would have hiked alone).

This hike symbolizes and reminds me that this difficult path of reconciliation does not need to be travelled alone- and that there are ally’s out there who know the truth , willing to help, learn and heal with you.

My hope for the future generations is that everyone has an ally, a friend to help get us through these horrors of the past……

In the words of our Chief “you can’t unknow what you know”

kúkwstum̓ckál̓ap