True North.

Yesterday was the birthday of the nation of Canada. I've been thinking a lot about what I think about my country and what I think of being a Canadian lately and thought it was a good time to share.

Our Home on Native Land.
I've always liked this twist on the line "our home and native land" from our national anthem. It is true, and few places as apparent as Whitehorse and the North in general. I reflect on the history of the people who call this massive land home...Aboriginal people, European immigrants, displaced peoples from around the world, peacelovers from South of the border, former slaves, intellects, scientists, entrepreneurs, mail-order brides, fortune seekers...all of us who have come to live together, in whatever sense of the word.
It is sad and true that the first time I learned of the minimal existence of treaties in British Columbia was in my 5th year at the University of Alberta, in a 300 level Native Studies class that I begged the faculty to let me in to without the pre-requisites. The intensity of the utterly profound realization that what is now 7 generations of my family have lived on land that was never legally ceded or surrendered is as real now as it was then (my shout out to Dr. James Dempsey at the UofA School of Native Studies for powerful teaching). With a course in Constitutional Law now solidly under my belt, it is even more profound for me to contemplate this idea. Working here with a myriad of agreements, legislation, understandings and misunderstandings, it is difficult to see how our country operates on a semblance of justice or equity.
The difficult thing for my (our) generation is...where do we go? How do we move forward? How do we recognize the war that has been waged against Nations in the background of the building of our country? I was born here too, and while I did not have a hand in creating the situation we're in, I think I best take note of it and start from a different place. Billy Joel says it best: We didn't start the fire...we didn't light it but we'll try to fight it (OK, something like that, sorry Billy!).
Living in a territory where there are self-government agreements and a much larger proportion of the population that is First Nations has opened my eyes at least a little bit to the realities of the history of all our nations and what it means to the future of our country. We can't go forward and leave some people behind. We have a rich natural and cultural history tied up with the First people of Canada. The sooner we recognize that the path forward is one of building communities out of the foundations of respect and understanding, the sooner we can truely see what we can achieve together. Are we on the right track? It's not for me to say.

True North
Living for a short time in the north is something that every Canadian should do...on second thought we should probably all spend time in all the regions of Canada. But the thing is that there is MAGIC here. I have been drawn to the North, sort of circumpoloarly for a while, not knowing why. After spending a fall in Finland, at about the same latitude as I am at now but in a very different climate, I knew I needed to visist Canada's North.
I can't really describe what it is, and anybody who has been to the North knows what I mean. The pictures I take might tell 1000 words, but I need a million. It's the way it makes me feel, the way the night never comes, the trees don't block out the sun, the mountains that look like praries that got their backs up, the forgetting to go to bed because there is so much to do, the water that doesn't really warm up enough to go for a comfortable swim, the mosquitoes, the closeness of Alaska (I can see it from my backyard hahahahaha) with the ocean and the big mountains that rise right out of it. Or that there is this strange feeling that it's important to have people living up here (OK, I'm not even north or important compared to Old Crow, etc) just in case somebody wants to check in to see that we're squatting the North properly so that it doesn't get taken away buy hmmm, Russians? Greenlandians? The Swedes? I'm rooting for the Swedes, for sure...imagine our potential for hockey greatness if were were annexed by Sweden...or our potential for a school system that teaches based on merit and not ability to pay (whoa, I think I feel a whole other tangent coming on...noted and saved for later).
At any rate, there is so much to love about the North. The wild spaces (WILD!), the clear and raging rivers, the active lifestyle embraced by so may, the art, the time to make art (less a product of the North and more a product of lifestyle). But I can't tell you about it, you have to come and experience it yourself!

Strong and Free
Being to Alaska and back a few times since I've been here, even since the great passport law which I still don't understand the big deal about, I realize how lucky we are to be able to come and go (not like the Cubans I met this winter). And that while we may not always get along, we do have pretty great neighbours (good friends, good neighbours as Boris from Haines said). We need them, they need us, simple as that. Working for an organization that spans both sides of the border and connected by a river highlights that. Downstream users need us to kindly refrain from polluting their water and we need the downstream communities to take care of the migrating salmon populations that people depend on upstream. Whether there is an international border between communities doesn't much matter to fish or to water quality...the decisions we make about how to care for them is what matters.

Oh. Canada.
You are not perfect, you've got a past that you don't teach your children about. You have a neighbour that is a bit of a bully but who you know depends on you (sounds like a relationship that needs some work). You have wild things and wild places.
I think that we have some work to do if we really think that we can be a truely equitable nation that respects the dignity and history and determination of ALL the people who live here. But I don't think that I would want to do that work any other place in the world. Because this is home, from Coast to Coast to Coast. And I'm starting to feel a bit about what that means...it took me 2500 kms from my roots to start to understand that....

Happy Canada Day!

Whitehorse City Council

Last night I presented on behalf of the watershed council to the Whitehorse City Council. We are asking them to join our Council as an "Affiliated Organization", which is an agreement that essentially says that they agree in principle with the work that we do and our mission and vision. The other reason for the visit was to invite them to the Summit that is to be held in August.

I haven't been to a Council meeting since I sat on the other side of the desk (for those readers who don't know my political and work history, I served a term as a Town Councillor in Golden, BC), so there was a combination of nerves and nostalgia as I sat and waited my turn to speak. The fun part about being in a new town is that people don't know who you are...so I got to listen to one Councillor express his disdine about me getting on the agenda while I sat in the gallery and listened...wow. But rather than be disheartened by it and his questions, I took it as a chance to use the persuasiveness that I am apparenlty learning in law school. We'll see about that I guess.

As it was a Committee meeting at which City Council does not make decisions, my job was primarily to provide some information about the Summit, the YRITWC and the affiliated organization agreement. All of this in 5 minutes. Now...in Golden I believe that we had a time limit for presentations to Council, but I really don't know what it was because some were 5 minutes, some felt like 5 hours...it really depended on who they were and how many jokes Aman would make at the presenters expense (your spirit was with me in the Chambers Aman...I imagined a little brown man with a twinkle in his eye listening to the presentation). Here in Whitehorse they definitely don't run their meetings on Yukon time! They had a little box with lights and a timer to cut you off when you were supposed to finish. And the presenter before me did indeed get cut off.

The funny thing about running a government is that I think that no matter where you are or what you are doing, the issues are pretty similar. Right before me the local swim club was in begging council for more lanes for their swimmers...using the same arguments that we'd heard in Golden for figure skaters, hockey players, swimmers, soccer players, ball players, etc. I wanted to comment to the Whitehorse council about that but wasn't sure that my "sage wisdom and advice" would be welcomed!

In the end, the City Council asked a few good questions (which if you saw the video you could watch me stumble and mumble a bit) but in the end I think that we will get them on side...or at least I hope so! It was nice to get out and to use the experience and skills that I've been gathering up for the past few years.

I'll let you know if they sign on at their next Council meeting...stay tuned!

The Watershed Council and the Wizard of Oz (we also call him Rob)

Work at the YRITWC has been progressing along. Lots to learn and so many opportunities to work on interesting projects.
The Yukon office consists of myself and Maya (another Canadian Lawyers Abroad intern), Loni - co-ordinating the Summit and Albert- our water tech and all-round authority on all things Yukon.

When I was hired/selected/roped in to this internship, I'd been talking to a man named Rob Rosenfeld. Rob is an Alaskan who lives in Homer and spends his time working with Aboriginal people from all corners of the globe. He is also the kind of guy who does all his business on the phone but will answer the odd email. Oh, and did I mention he is running for Govenor of Alaksa? Anyway, I had spoken to Rob on many occassions...from my car on the way home from a ski trip, in the campaign office in Kimberley when I was working there for Norm Macdonald's re-election campaign, from the office in Whitehorse when Rob was meeting with important people in Washington, D.C. However, for the first few weeks, Mr. Rosenfeld was simply a voice on the other end of the phone...and I started to joke that he wasn't real...he was like the Wizard of Oz and we would pull back the curtain and find a voice recording instead of a man. To make it even better, the day that Rob was supposed to arrive to our office, I was still living here...waiting, waiting, made extra dinner, cleaned the place up, waiting...no Rob. 1 am. No Rob. I thought for sure that he was not coming. In the morning I woke up and the door to the other bedroom was closed. But I hadn't heard anybody come in so I thought the wind had closed it. 8am, 9am, 10am...no Rob. Then finally, there was a stirring from the room and there was the man behind the voice...slightly travel worn but in general good spirits. It had apparently been an epic travel back up to the Yukon and a late night journey from Skagway.

The week with Rob in the office was both interesting and a lot of fun. He's been with the watershed council since the beginning, and has been working in rural and Aboriginal communities for much longer. I got to learn a lot more about the YRITWC and the work that is being done on both sides of the border. Also some background issues like why there are so few salmon left in the Yukon River Watershed and just how lame Sarah Palin is.

We are working on organizing for the big Summit in early August. I have been working to build a great agenda for the youth who will be attending the Summit and also getting the Yukon First Nation youth out. The summit is going to be held on the shore of Lake Leberge, so we are planning to have some paddling opportunities, time for the youth and elders to interact, a group art project, traditional skills and more. This year we are hoping to build the group to work together in the future and an incoming intern who will be here in mid-July will continue that work. Youth empowermet is pretty near and dear to my heart, as I was able to participate in so many great character and knowledge building events, not to mention made great contacts and friends around the world. There is so much potential for these youth to take real action to protect their land, it is a matter of bringing that out in them! I am excited for the Summit...it will be a full 3 days of learning, teaching and celebrating. Water....how it brings people together and connects us! It is one thing that we can agree on: we need clean water and healthy aquatic ecosystems for humans to survive...now it's what that looks like and how much we can take that is the difficult part.

Other projects that I've been working on include researching the regulatory regime in the Yukon for the installation of a hydrokinetic generator (I think I have already written about this), which I will be writing an article about for the Summit, researching some statutes and case law concerning the Nations and Tribes adopting their own water quality standards in the Watershed (which is really interesting if you are a super nerd like me), doing outreach to Yukon municipalities to join the Council as affiliate organizations and just generally helping out where help is needed.

Next week I will go present to the Whitehorse City Council about the Watershed Council, invite them to the Summit and invite them to sign on as an affiliate organization. It will be my first time attending a council meeting on "the other side" of the table since leaving Golden Town Council. Just going into City hall and asking to be put on the agenda brought all sorts of nostalgia running back!

Over the time that Rob was here we also went to meet with the Yukon gov't about a major funding opportunity. I have also been researching potential funding sources for the Council to both continue our water quality monitoring program and to build our youth programs. It is definately a bit of a flashback to Wildsight days and it made me thankful for the experience that I got there and the work that we did. The ENGO world is a small one, that is for sure!

One month has already gone by and it's been going fast. So much to learn and so much to do...just the way I like it!

Little Cabin in the Woods

I thought it was about time to let you all in on what's been going on recently.

First things first...living the Yukon dream.


When I arrived in Whitehorse, I had been living in our office (which is a 2-bdrm apartment), which was nice, free and couldn't beat the commute of roll over, make coffee, at work. However, in my head I saw myself living in a little wooden cabin by a lake or a creek, hauling water, chopping firewood and being constantly paranoid of being eaten by a bear. What I'd like to call the Yukon dream.



It came true! I called about a "rustic but cozy"
cabin in the newspaper, the price was right and the location sounded pretty decent. So I went to look...it turned out to be better than I had imagined...down a gravel road that the Southern Lakes Caribou herd frequents (or so rumor has it). Just a few km from the cabin is Annie Lake and the Wheaton River, not to mention the Annie Lake Golf Course, which I missed on my first few drives out.
The cabin must have been built in stages, as the former inhabitants got either bored or inspired. There is beautiful handmade log furniture...a big log bed, desk, kitchen table, chairs. Maybe this is what cabin fever inspires. A wood stove for heat, propane stove for cooking, solar panel to keep a light on in my room and the bathroom. There is even a spare bedroom...so no excuses not to come and visit! A little path leads down to the Watson River and a potential swimming hole, but I'm not sure that the mosquitoes or the cold water will make that a reality!
My landlords are super, and live just a little walk away. They recently got two little black lambs that, as Brett put it "probably won't see winter". Sigh. The trouble with being vegetarian. But now I have some little buddies to eat up the leftover veggies I have without risking a compost. There are also 5 dogs that live on the property...my favorite is the Australian sheep dog named Tetra. She comes to say hello and is a little sweetheart.

Evenings at the cabin are spent drinking tea, painting and reading. I'm working on "My Life", Fidel Castro's biography. It's a big read and I'm just about to get into the good stuff...they're about to march in to Havana.

There is also a small garden just outside the door. I planted some beans and lettuce and will get some squashes and maybe potatoes to through in. I seem to have a legacy of gardens that I tear the weeds out of, plant and then move away from...Golden, Edmonton, now Whitehorse! Thank goodness the main weed here is fireweed, which is a beautiful plant in its own. The raspberry plants are also taking over the garden...so when I leave there will be something left I suppose.
I saw my first bear the other day. About 7km down the road from my house this BIG black mass was hanging out by the road near a few other homes. Now, why this beautiful creature is spending its time with the only humans within 100's of kms of wilderness is kind of beyond me! Now hopefully I don't see that guy again....