Last night, I heard Leigh Joseph read at the Whistler Writing Society's Stories and Music: Reflections on Wellness, Balance and Saving Lives event. Each guest author read from their work, and the Sea to Sky Orchestra, who are wonderful, played, but it was when Joseph read this, that I closed my eyes and felt my … Continue reading Indigenous Language is the DNA of place – the code for the future of life

Help tell the stories of how we got here. Of the larger communities' foundations. We live downstream of people's dreams. People who said, oh, I want a safe school for my kids (respect to the founders of the Xetolacw Community School!), or, kids could get a lot out of learning to dragon boat, or who … Continue reading telling our stories, honouring the storytellers

It is easier to destroy things, than to rebuild them. It sometimes seem to me as if destruction can happen at scale - machines get bigger, disasters get bigger, rapacious extractive systems get bigger. But the repair work has to happen one tiny stitch at a time. One seedling. One piece of plastic hand-removed. Funny, … Continue reading Acknowledge the ecological restorers

Start with Joy Harjo because this poem, Remember, is an invocation to me, a way to land back in our bodies and belonging. She reads it here, as it's become the most exquisite picture book. https://www.youtube.com/embed/U5FJ64I5wO4 Remember 1951 –  Remember the sky that you were born under,know each of the star’s stories.Remember the moon, know … Continue reading Three poems to acknowledge the mother and father I really don’t acknowledge often or well at all….

June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada, reminds the Chamber at https://www.instagram.com/p/CtH1LRFyImL/ https://www.instagram.com/p/CtH1LRFyImL/ It's a time to recognize the rich history, heritage, resilience and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis. @smallbusinessbc has a great feature on Chamber member Tanina Williams of the Líl̓wat Nation and her business amawílc. Tanina explains amawílc means to come back … Continue reading what if we start from the place that we are all indigenous?

Natalie Diaz is a Mojave / Akimel O’odham poet, language activist, educator, and former professional basketball player. Her poetry collections include Postcolonial Love Poem, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry; and When My Brother Was an Aztec, winner of an American Book Award. She is an enrolled member of the Gila Indian Community and lives in … Continue reading this is a beautiful poem and i hope you will stay with it to the end, so it can stay with you until the end

The moment I shared my intention to practice a personal acknowledgement of land and place every day, my lovely friend Lyndsey A. responded, with kind words, an acknowledgement that is is something she too is pondering, and a link to this TEDx talk, below. We both share Aussie heritage... and it is shocking to see … Continue reading How to deliver an Acknowledgement of Country that really means something… insights from Down Under

Acknowledging the land, so it becomes something dear and precious to me, so I am that person who pats a tree as I walk past it, and greet the first tiny alpine strawberries on a walk, or nibble the fresh iridescent Douglas fir tips and say thankyou, comes with a certain price. It hurts a … Continue reading Acknowledging that opening up to greater love, exposes me to more grief

One shared meal, one shared activity, one shared story, at a time. This is how the Pemberton Multicultural Network works to acknowledge the richness of this community - and the people who have chosen to make a home here, despite how much they had to leave behind. I remember taking my Canadian citizenship ceremony many … Continue reading Acknowledging those who choose to be here, despite how much they had to leave behind

The return of Stewardship Pemberton's blogs!  A few years ago , Dawn Johnson was writing semi-regular blog posts for Stewardship Pemberton and we had the privilege of sharing them here, too. A happy recent event that we are celebrating is the debut of Executive Director, Sierra Aston's blogging career. Check out her recent blog post … Continue reading Are you into nature? A guest post from Stewardship Pemberton’s Sierra Aston, acknowledging you can’t really be “into” something that you actually are