Category: Indigenous People

Playlist: Rethinking Reconciliation


A fundamental rethink is needed to save Canada’s reconciliation project from being an on-going massive failure. — Bruce McIvor

UCV Podcasts

Rethinking Reconciliation

Playlist

1 Reconciliation is a Massive Failure with Bruce McIvor, Lawyer and Historian (16:34 mins)
2 Reflections on Reconciliation with Aline Laflamme, Metis Elder, and Bruce McIvor, Lawyer and Historian (23:15 mins)
3 Settler Colonialism, Indigenous People and Unitarianism with Cole Harris, UBC Professor Emeritus (31:21 mins)
4 Arrested! One Settlers Journey To and From Vancouver Unitarians with Nan Gregory, Storyteller and Artist (22:21 mins)
5 Indigenous People and the Law, Stories of Resistance and Hope with Bruce McIvor, Lawyer and Historian (23:44 mins)

Guest Speakers

Bruce McIvor
is a proud Métis from the Red River in Manitoba. He holds a law degree, a doctorate in Aboriginal and environmental history, is a Fulbright Scholar and adjunct professor at the UBC Allard School of Law

Aline LaFlamme
Her name means the light (Aline) and the flame (LaFlamme.) She also carries the name Many Buffalo Running. Aline is a grandmother and Metis from Alberta. Among her many gifts she leads a drumming circle called Daughters of the Drum

Cole Harris
is a Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia and an internationally renowned historical geographer. His academic field is colonialism and the native land question in British Columbia, and patterns of early Canadian settlement

Nan Gregory
is a professional storyteller, artist and award-winning author. Born in Boston Massachusetts, she grew up in Victoria British Columbia, and now makes her home in Vancouver. Nan pleaded guilty to criminal contempt for protesting TMX


Above: Nan Gregory gets carted away for protesting the Kinder Morgan Pipeline


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Bruce McIvor
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Aline LaFlamme

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Cole Harris
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Nan Gregory

Note from the Board Chair – Jan 1, 2021

Dear Unitarian friends,

I hope you had a rejuvenating winter break. It is a new year, a fresh start, and a lot of exciting work lies ahead. I have two invitations for you to consider in the coming weeks which both further the mission and the vision of our church.

Because we as Unitarians are committed to creating a more inclusive, compassionate and equitable world, I am organizing a Decolonizing Practices Workshop for staff, board, and members that will be run by professional Indigenous consultants.

I would like us all to have the opportunity to get better informed on decolonizing our practices and how to diversify our organization’s membership and board to include more Indigenous people and persons of colour. We need to identify the barriers to our organization and to develop the solutions. This one-day workshop will also include a half-day on the history and ongoing colonization in Canada.

The Decolonizing Practices Workshop will be in early spring and hopefully live and in person. If Covid prevails, we will pursue an online format. If you are interested in this, please let me know so I have an idea of interest and numbers. If the numbers are high, I may have to organize two workshops. president@vancouverunitarians.ca.

Secondly, I would like to invite you all to an Ideas Forum for the Upgraded Sanctuary to generate ideas together for how the new space could be used and be more productive.

This Ideas Forum will be on Sunday Jan. 17th at 12:30 on zoom. Galen Elfert and Dianne Crosbie will be on hand to answer any questions about the lighting/sound upgrades and the new chairs.

The seed behind the Sanctuary Upgrades was planted by Steven, and furthered by a generous donor. Then we asked ourselves, could our beautiful Sanctuary become a cultural and spiritual destination, a hub for various performance and spiritual groups to meet, worship, rehearse, perform, share ideas?  In this way, could we attract a younger and more diverse demographic to our Church, boosting accessibility by allowing for more varied and inclusive styles of music/art/worship?

We as a congregation are welcoming and wish to diversify our membership. So let us be pro-active and create a space that is inviting to various creative interests, ages and spiritual practices. Let us not only create that space, let us intentionally seek out and invite communities into our space. Our new Membership and Outreach staff person will definitely help with the marketing and outreach end of things, but what else can we envision for this space and how can we fill it?

Come with your ideas and let’s imagine together! I look forward to seeing many of you there and sharing our thoughts.

Best wishes for the New Year,

Diane Brown, UCV Board President.

Wild Salmon Rallies and Street Theatre — Sept 2020

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wild salmon rally outside the offices of the DFO

Above: Rally and street theatre outside the offices of the DFO in downtown Vancouver calling for an end to fish farms in the Discovery Islands

From the constituency office of MP Terry Beech, to a Wild Salmon Die-in at the DFO, the Wild Salmon Action Team joined one hundred and one BC First Nations calling for the removal of fish farms from the Discovery Islands

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50 years ago a meeting in the Fireside Room launched the inaugeral voyage of Greenpeace

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iconic photo of Greenpeace founder Bob Hunter aboard the Phyllis Cormack

Above 1971: Robert Hunter on the first voyage of a fishing boat renamed Greenpeace  |  Photo by Robert Keziere

left quotation mark My contact sheets indicate the photo was taken at sea, eastbound, somewhere between Akutan Island and Sand Point, Alaska. Our ship was underway to the customs office in Sand Point, alas, away from Amchitka Island and the Cannikin nuclear test. Understood at the time. — Robert Keziere

photo of Fireside Room where the first Greenpeace voyage was ratified

Above: Fireside Room circa 2020


By Anne D.

February 25, 2020

Vancouver Unitarians have deep roots in the peace and environmental activism that flourished in the 1960s and 1970s.

Few people know that, 50 years ago, a meeting in the Fireside Room launched the inaugeral voyage of Greenpeace.

Fewer people know that the inspiration for the name Greenpeace occurred in the courtyard outside the Sanctuary.


According to Rex Weyler, in 1969, two American ex-pats residing in Point Grey, Dorothy and Irving Stowe, formed the “Don’t Make a Wave Committee” to oppose underground nuclear testing, by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, at a remote island in Alaska.

The origin of Greenpeace International began with the the Don’t Make a Wave Committee. The name of the committee was inspired by fears that shock waves from the underground detonations would cause a major earthquake and tsunami.

In 1970, the Don’t Make a Wave Committee … an eclectic group of hippies, Quakers, pacifists, ecologists, journalists and visionaries … held an emergency meeting in the Fireside Room at the Unitarian Church on Oak Street.

Without a boat, or the funds to charter a boat, the committee unanimously ratified a plan to sail a boat to Amchitka Island, at the western tip of the Aleutian Islands, 2400 miles north west of Vancouver BC.

The plan was to sail into the test zone of the Cannikin, a five megaton underground nuclear bomb, to heighten public opposition to nuclear testing and prevent the detonation of the Cannikin.

(A five megaton nuclear bomb has the explosive energy of five million tons of TNT or almost 400 times the power of the Hiroshima bomb.)

At the end of the meeting in the Fireside Room, people drifted into the courtyard outside the Sanctuary and gathered in small discussion groups.

As he took leave of the meeting, Irving Stowe flashed the V sign and said, “Peace.”

Ecologist Bill Darnell responded, “Make it a green peace.”

A hush fell over the assembly. Everyone heard the magic in the two words. Over the next few days, people talked about the hypothetical boat as if it existed. Some began calling it the “Green Peace.”

photo of courtyard where the name Greenpeace was inspired

Above: Courtyard outside Hewett Centre circa 2020

backstage at the first concert for Greenpeace

Above 1970: Amchitka Concert, backstage at the Pacific Coliseum. On the right, from background to foreground: Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Elliot Roberts (Joni Mitchell’s manager) and Phil Ochs

Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Phil Ochs and a local band named Chilliwack performed at the historic Amchitka Concert on October 16, 1970, before an audience of 10,000 people. The venue was the Pacific Coliseum in East Vancouver.

The money raised, just over $17,000, was used to charter an 82-foot fishing boat named the Phyllis Cormack, based out of Richmond BC, for the now-legendary voyage to Amchitka Island.

The fishing boat renamed the Greenpeace for the anti-nuclear expedition set sail on September 15th, 1971, with a crew of 12 activists.

At ‘Yalis (Alert Bay) in the traditional territory of the ‘Namgis First Nation, the Kwakwaka’wakw held a ceremony in traditional regalia, at their Big House, to honour the Greenpeace crew and bless their voyage.

The remote village of Alert Bay is no stranger to the power of a tsunami. In 1964, the village was devastated by a tsunami caused by the 9.2 Alaska Earthquake.

600 miles from Amchitka, at Harbor Bay in the Aleutian Islands, the fishing boat was intercepted by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter, the Confidence, and ordered to sail to Akutan.

At Akutan Bay, the captain of the Confidence boarded the fishing boat. Unaware the anti-nuclear activists operated by consensus, he ordered the “leaders” of the expedition to sail their vessel out of American waters.

While the captain and some of the activists conferred in the wheelhouse  … a dinghy from the Confidence arrived with two U.S. coast guards … hand delivering a letter to the Greenpeace crew.

The letter signed by 18 crew members of the Confidence stated they fully supported the anti-nuclear activists and their mission. The signatories, all U.S. Coast Guard members, later faced military discipline for their action.

Their type-written letter stated:

Due to the situation we are in we the crew of the Confidence feel that what you are doing is for the good of all mankind. If our hands weren’t tied by these military bonds, we would be in the same position you are in if it were at all possible.

Good luck we are behind you 100%

The Cannikin was detonated on November 6th, 1971. Due to public opposition it was the last nuclear test at Amchitka. The Don’t Make a Wave Committee was renamed Greenpeace in 1972.

The first voyage of the Greenpeace boat to Amchitka is considered the inaugural voyage of the eponymous Greenpeace International, one of the most successful environmental organizations in the world today, headquartered in Amsterdam with (as of this writing) offices in more than 55 countries.


CUC National Voice Statement, February 2020

The recent RCMP raids of Wet’suwet’en land defenders in northwestern British Columbia has provoked widespread rallies, blockades and protests, world-wide media coverage, public statements by First Nations, politicians, industry, labour, and the public.  In view of these developments, we think it timely and important to restate the initial position taken by the Canadian Unitarian Council (CUC) on January 10, 2019:

CUC Pledges Solidarity with ​Wet’suwet’en

The Canadian Unitarian Council has joined thousands of organizations and individuals pledging solidarity with the ​Wet’suwet’en​ Hereditary Chiefs, who are blocking the development of a Coastal GasLink pipeline on their traditional territories in northwestern British Columbia:

  1. WE COMMEND the courage and vision of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and their community of activists.
  2. WE ARE WATCHING across the province, country and internationally.
  3. WE DENOUNCE any attempt by Coastal GasLink Pipeline, the federal government, provincial government or RCMP to interfere in the rights of the Wet’suwet’en to occupy, manage or maintain their lands.
  4. WE URGE that any and all actions taken by the federal and provincial government, industry, and policing agencies must be consistent with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Anuk Nu’at’en (Wet’suwet’en laws) and collective Title.
  5. WE PLEDGE support to the frontline land defenders and affirm the collective hereditary governance of the Wet’suwet’en who are enforcing Wet’suwet’en laws on their unceded lands.

Obviously, the situation has continued to evolve since last year. We recognise this is a complex matter and many of us bring strong opinions and passionate voices to the conversation—given our Unitarian Universalist principles and history, that is how it should be. We recognise, as well, quoting the Afro-American abolitionist Frederick Douglass, that “if there is no struggle, there is no progress” for “power concedes nothing without a demand.”

While we reaffirm the January 10, 2019 CUC Statement pledging solidarity with Wet’suwet’en, we urge Canadian Unitarian Universalists to reflect on how we live our faith and convictions when interests and constituencies are polarized.  We urge each other to live our principles.  May our actions be guided by respect for each other’s dignity, by compassion and empathy, by the voice of conscience and reason, by a desire for justice and equity, and by a deep respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

We urge Canadian Unitarian Universalists to read and become familiar with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples—our nation is a signatory to this Declaration; many of its articles clarify and promote the work of reconciliation and de-colonialisation which we dare hope is still alive in Canada today and will be for generations to come.


More Highlights from the Educational Event for Wild Salmon

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If our salmon are not healthy, then our watersheds are not healthy, and if our watersheds our not healthy, then we have truly squandered our heritage and mortgaged our future

— John Kitzhaber

Educational Event Raises $8300 for Wild Salmon

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Above: Second from right, guest speaker Ernest Alfred elected band counsellor and a teacher for Indigenous language and culture from Alert Bay, descending from the ‘Namgis, Mamalilikala and Tawit’sis First Nations

February 16, 2018

An educational event on wild salmon was held, February 16, at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver on unceded Musqueam land. More than $8300 was raised to support wild salmon and coastal First Nations calling for the urgent removal of open-net fish farms. Importantly, we also raised awareness, inspiration, hope, knowledge and commitment – to do more.

The evening began with an entrance into the Sanctuary following traditional coastal First Nations protocol. Visitors declare who they are and request permission to land (or enter) the territory of their host. Cecilia Point representing the Musqueam First Nation welcomed the visitors with drumming and song. She then lead the visitors in a grand procession to the front of the chapel.

Speakers for the evening were Cecilia Point, Ernest Alfred, Julia McIntyre-Smith and Dr. David Suzuki. Musical entertainment by Barry Truter, Michael Averill and the Re:Sisters. The entire evening was recorded and well worth watching more than once.

You’ll find event highlights below, with photos and bios of speakers and musicians. Thank you to all !

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