Musings on the Ovate Path

When we started this New Year, no one really knew what this year had to offer. We heard via the news about the epidemic of this novel virus in China , and that they were making massive efforts to control the spread. They shut down a good chunk of the country. A few of us watched the Chinese people using fogging equipment to spray down the streets, thinking ...oh propaganda.  Until it spread past China despite the lockdown, they tried. People went around it. It spread to the Middle East, the US, Europe. We knew coping with winter in Canada, it was coming. When it came, back in the spring, I watched our government do a complete about-face in policy . They literally shut down the country. Ironically enough, earlier with the tensions between Indigenous peoples and land rights and the overreaching reaction of the RCMP in Northern BC, the people were in the streets. They stormed the BC Legislature in a show of force and protest . No more were the people going to tolerate the ...

I must admit this week the news and political discourse in Canada has been a fascinating view of the "war of words." Polarizing and divisive words can be seen as not productive, but one must still listen to get to reconciliation right. Whether it is at he personal or the larger levels, one must still listen. That requires that one respects enough to hear the words, hear the emotion, and consider the meaning. It means when the other is struggling, asking for and reflecting back what your understanding back to them. The question "help me understand" is then the most powerful acknowledgement that what was said has value and that you are listening and willing to listen more. This is the real "frontline" of healing and reconciliation.  Acknowledging that person or position or belief has some value, even if its ignorance, allows conversation to continue. Then we go from there.  Reconciliation is also a commitment to hang in and stay strong to the proce...

I have been viewing the recent  events of Canada and the W'et'swe'wet'in people and Coastal Gas Link pipeline in BC, Canada. The protests started with the raid on the camp after CGL was  granted a confirmation of an interim injunction, and sparked a lot of political action...demonstrations and blockades, across Canada and beyond. The impact of these blockades is high. Disruption.  And at the same time...a host of issues. Attention. And costs...lots of costs. First issue is the Indigneous people on the pipeline route that have not consented. Their sovereignty of title was not respected. So far, the claims look very damaging. The route ...no archeological assessment. No willingness to re route in that territory to protect what they value.  And using the RCMP as a tactical force to force squatter rights after the governments backed the project in principle. What's interesting is the rhetoric  implies that the Indigenous peoples are respected. The assumption b...