Went down to the 32nd annual Earth Walk in Victoria today (April 20). I buttonholed a few local notables along the way. It was different from all the other walks, in that local organizers had abandoned the concept. Last year, corporate involvement soured the usual suspect toilers who'd put the show together with shoe-strings; this year they didn't show up. It was left for the sophomore Creatively United for the Planet, a trades fair and paid showcase for green-minded companies, artisans, and musicians to pick up the slack. Rather than culminate at the BC Legislature buildings for political posturing and speechifying, the marchers were ushered into the grounds of St. Ann's Academy, where vendors and paid stage shows awaited.
Hereditary Chief Beau Dick of the Kwakwaka'wakw nation is leading his family and supporters on a long walk that he says is for all Canadians. He left his home in Alert Bay, BC last Saturday and plans to arrive in Victoria by next Sunday, February 10. The 250-kilometer walk is inspired in part by the Idle No More Movement, an ongoing protest movement originating among the Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
Chief Beau Dick has invited Dr. Alexandra Morton, Anissa Reed, and other people of the Salmon Are Sacred movement to join the walk and be a voice for the wild salmon.
“We are honored to have the support from Alexandra Morton and the Get Out Migration team”, Chief Beau Dick said. “We are inspired by her own determination to protect the wild salmon from the corporate industrial feedlots. They carry the voice of the salmon that are so important to us.”
Members of Chief Beau Dick’s family and others are taking turns to carry two traditional copper pieces on the road. When they arrive at the Legislature in Victoria on Sunday, one of those copper pieces will be broken, as a way of representing the government’s broken promises to First Nations and the threats to the environment shared by all Canadians. It is a deeply significant and powerful ceremony as the copper represent life, the ancestors, and more.
Local community activist dynamo Paul Phillips passed away a few months back. He was remembered today in a lively send off and walk through the Fernwood neighbourhood he loved and made such a lasting impression upon.
This week: The Victoria Day Parade is terminated here today, but the parade of history never stops; and it is with an eye to History, that we have stopped our usual programming format here at CFUV to take a look back at where we've come from, in hopes of better determining where we may be going tomorrow.
Joining us first is first time Victoria City councillor, and UVic alumnus student and history professor, Dr. Benjamin Isitt. Ben is also the author of two books of historical pertinence to we here on the western fringe of Canada: 'Militant Minority: British Columbia Workers and the Rise of a New Left, 1948-1972,' and 'From Victoria to Vladivostok: Canada's Siberian Expedition, 1917-19.'
Ben Isitt in the first half.
And; Victoria is a city of immigrants from both without Canada and within it. In fact, native-born residents of the city are relative rare as hen's teeth and horse feathers. But, I've managed to corral one such curious creature today in the form of Mark Reed.
Mark is a life-long musician and composer, inventor and engineering technologist. He's a self-described "misanthrope, atheist, eco-socialist vegan, activist, and is too an alum of good old UVic, holding a masters degree in sociology.
Mark Reed and the personal Victoria in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft has a little history here herself, and she'll join us at the bottom of the hour to delve into some of the more current history unfolding on our little berg's streets.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com
On the morning of December 21st, 1918,
French-Canadian conscripts in the 259th Battalion
of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (Siberia)
mutinied at the corner of Fort and Quadra Street
in downtown Victoria. They refused to embark for
service in a new theatre of war - the Russian
port of Vladivostok and Siberia, to aid the White
Russian forces fighting the Bolsheviks in the
Russian Civil War. The war on the Western Front
had ended six weeks earlier, prompting sharp
debates within Canadian society and the military
force itself.
But at the point of the bayonet, the mutinous men
were forced to embark for Russia, exceeding the
powers granted under Canada's conscription law,
the Military Service Act 1917. The ringleaders
were shackled together in the bottom of the ship,
the SS Teesta, and received sentences of between
30 days and 3 years imprisonment with hard labour
for "Joining in a mutiny while on active service
in his majesty's armed forces."
This year, on the 93rd anniversary of the mutiny,
we are gathering to remember this forgotten
moment in the history of Victoria, French and
English Canada and the world. The event will
feature the story of the conscripts and mutiny
itself, a moment of silence for the fallen
soldiers of the Siberian Expedition, a musical
interlude, and a public call for a formal apology
for the families and a full pardon from the
federal government for the French-Canadian
soldiers wrongfully convicted of mutiny at
Victoria.
Learn more:
On Youtube
En Française
Visit Canada's
Siberian Expedition Virtual Exhibition & Digital
Archive
G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in corporate and state media. Gorilla Radio airs live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 102FM, 104.3 cable, and on t
2013-04-21
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