memory in flux

The following are thoughts about the reconciliation pole installed at UBC on April 1, 2017
black text - was written June 2017
red text - details added October 2019

In revisiting these short simple thoughts two years later and also adding edits and thoughts. I begin to reflect on my living memory as an archive; how my feelings and memories engage with the documents I produced in the past.



Reconciliation Pole

watching the process of an ancient tree from Haida Gwaii being carved into a reconciliation pole
nails hammered in by young and old so we can look up at the school to see the death it caused
regalia painted onto children holding hands to represent different nations.
Imagery of relationships from across turtle island.

This pole is supposed to be symbol for reconciliation but perhaps it is something more.
Could it serve to show what processes of reconciliation should look like.
conversations around the pole, where it should (and should not) go, multiple symbols from across the country. collaboration.
An eagle from the west
The guswentha from the east.....
two row wampum

Thousands of people, Indigenous and settler, come out on April fools day to raise it up. 
waiting hours.
the event for the day is not on schedule, but many stay.
many more join. there is  commitment to being a part of this.

This has become a momentous day in my daughters lives that they will not forget.
While living nearby each and every time we walk/ride bikes by... recount.

Now two and a half years later and living 4000 km away, my daughters still speak with amazement about the day we helped to raise the pole. Every time they see a totem pole or any North West coast imagery. It is one of their fondest memories of life in Vancouver.