Wet Start

Sun Prevails

Lakes and Ocean

Sun Jun 6th

The plan this morning was to do a round trip walk past Hotel Lake and down to John Henry's in Pender Harbour to buy newspapers and then back via Garden Bay Lake and Mixal Lake (anti-clockwise on the map).

The threatened rain stayed away and it was a delightful walk.  Hardly any cars, super scenery and extremely quiet.  Surely quieter than normal at this time of year due to non-essential travel restrictions, but it does make you wonder what it is like in the winter.

John Henry's does not sell newspapers we discovered and as it was too early for beer, we had a quick coffee and a chat with the owner before heading back.  Unusually, he recognized Capt Jack as a Springer (there are not that many in Canada) before telling us of his Duck Tolling Retriever and games as a youngster playing 'what dog would you like to be when you grow up'!  Jack clearly knew he was a dog-lover and allowed him a stroke!

Back home via Garden Bay Lake and our local Mixal Lake, it was a good reconnoitre for when I run it!

In the absence of newspapers at John Henry's I popped down to Madeira Park for the Sunday's and supplies.

BC's Indian Residential Schools

The Sunday news across the print and broadcast media was inevitably dominated by the Kamloops Indian Residential School, where 215 unmarked children's graves have been discovered.  One of 18 Indian residential schools in BC.  Analysis, interviews, perspectives, personal experiences contributed to the coverage.  An implication that this will not be an isolated story.  

It was telling that of the many photographs of classes or groups of children taken in past years, the only ones smiling were the nuns and staff in their supervisory roles.   

The story has broken during National Indigenous History Month.  A month promoted by the Canadian Government to celebrate the diversity and contribution of indigenous peoples in Canada, culminating in National Indigenous Peoples Day on 21st June celebrating the heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding achievements of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.  It is reported as a painful and timely reminder of Canada's unjust colonial past.  It continues to be a focus of federal and national Government initiatives to prioritize First Nation needs.  

Certainly there appears to have been a prioritization over early access to Covid vaccines, but greater involvement in management of natural resources such as the fishing, forestry and timber industry, mining and land use is yet unclear.  In some ways it is a parallel of German reparations post WWII.

Several articles leapt out at me this weekend from interviews with Indigenous tribal leaders, who did not want the Indian Residential Schools torn down, statues of former colonial leaders removed or streets renamed.  Their focus was to address current issues of health care, living wage, and fairer involvement in Canadian affairs that impact negatively on the indigenous population. That message appears not to have been picked in Toronto, where a statue of Egerton Ryerson, the alleged architect of the Indigenous  schools has been torn down at the university named after him.  'For us it [the Kamloops Indian Residential School in BC] is a huge piece of history that we do not want to be forgotten, but something that will be learned from' said the tribal leader.     A monument to and reminder of the past perhaps.

Speaking of WWII, it is interesting that on the anniversary of D-Day, what little coverage there was in the Canadian media, was focussed on UK events around the day.  This, despite Canada suffering 359 losses on D Day and over 5,000 fatalities during the Battle of Normandy.

It is a weekend of reflection, though I am unsure why the UK news industry has given so little coverage to the Kamloops story.  If it was in S Asia, the Far East or Africa it would get top billing.  

Garden Bay

Back at base, the sun came out and while Fred gave Capt Jack a once around the estate, I retired to the garden to enjoy a brief moment of sun.  The Rufous Humming Birds were out, the Robins gathering worms on the lawn and the Northern Flicker also digging for something in the grass.

Capt Jack met up with an American Bulldog and a smaller fluffy thing and their owners down at Mixal Lake.  They own a large property on Irvings Landing Road as well as several parcels of land between Garden Bay and Gibsons that are likely to come on the market.  

Fred picked up on some really useful intel on the best and worse spots on the 'Coast'.  We will be meeting for a sundowner at some point, though Jack will have to stop nicking the bulldog's balls (a she, by the way, called Silver who was being taught how/encouraged to swim in after them)!

Northern Flicker

Male American Robin

Male Rufous Humming Bird

Northern Flicker giving me the eye

 

Hotel Lake