Dorothy Grant

I first met Dorothy Grant in Vancouver’s Pan Pacific Hotel.  I was so nervous – hardly 20 years of age and working the front desk for a high profile business event.  I watched Dorothy – then unknown – walk towards me, her coat tails swaying side-to-side with each step.  She seemed to dance across the corridor, her coat an able partner.  When she reached the desk, I smiled and greeted the raven embroidered onto her collar.

“I like your jacket,” I said.

“Thank you.  Dorothy Grant.”

I scanned the table for her name tag.  And there it was, “Dorothy Grant of Dorothy Grant Studio.”

“What do you do?” I asked.

“I’m a fashion designer.”

Feastwear 1994, Haida Wedding Gown

I learned that Dorothy Grant gained international recognition for Feastwear, a line sported by public figures like Robin Williams, David Suzuki, and Lieutenant Governor Iona Campanella.  My excitement grew when I discovered that Dorothy Grant returned to her roots – to Haida myth and histories – to design garments now.  Grant excited my inner fashionista – the Chanel-obsessed historian-in-training who ordered both clothing and library books online.

Three years later, I would meet Dorothy Grant again – this time, in her studio on West 6th Avenue in Vancouver, BC.  I wanted to know more about her.  I wanted to know how (and why) Dorothy, of Haida and Tlingit ancestry, united fashion and Indigenous history.  And, I had Active History to offer.  Over a cup of green tea, here’s what I learned about the intersections of history and haute couture:

LUBY: What inspired you to use fashion – to use garments as a medium – for sharing Haida art, Haida histories?

GRANT: Haida art has a look of almost universality to it.  It has to do with the “Innovation” idea – that art should not be stagnant, but progressive, no matter what the culture. As for Haida people, we have always looked for new mediums to convey Haida Art.  This way, we keep ownership of it and no one else can say they did that first.  Think of fashion as a bridge between cultures. It’s a way for people of nations –

LUBY: Of different nations?

GRANT: Yes – of nations to understand the art in fashion, rather than a totem pole.  It becomes more communal.

LUBY: How do you decide which stories or symbols to share?

GRANT: Sometimes my garments tell a story from really what inspires me to create something.  And, sometimes its just esthetics of a design – that I want to put Haida art onto a particular classic style.  Like art, fashion should not be stagnant, but be constantly moving to convey a contemporary culture.

LUBY: OK. Contemporary culture.  Dorothy, your work has been displayed at museums across North America from the Smithsonian to Vancouver’s Museum of Anthropology.   Do you have any fears surrounding museum displays?  For example, the conflation of current fashion with Indigenous pasts by your viewers?

GRANT: No, I don’t fear that at all!  I think to be collected by museums is a huge honour.  Most artists or designers have to die before they are recognized that way!   I think it –

LUBY: Museum displays –

GRANT: communicates that innovation that I talk about to the general public and that is good thing.

LUBY: Alright.  So, museum displays: a good thing and fantastic exposure.  But, what sort of history do you want museum visitors to walk away with?  They see your pieces and think – what?

Dorothy and models (Feastwear 2010)

GRANT: That it’s more about progression of Haida people.  They first must see the evolution of Haida art and its people and what we have evolved from.  For instance, from about 1850 we were nearly extinct from diseases like small pox.  Our population was decimated by 90 % from contact.  And there’s so much that can be said for the period between then and now, our contemporary culture.  It’s like colonialism, social oppression, and how we have overcome that.   Haida people refuse to be victims.  Again, it’s about claiming what is rightfully ours.

“And, the history of my people is one of national interest in that we have always been progressive in politics, in art, in language, the protection of our territories (land and water rights).  The interest in Haida art is much sought after and carries a lot of weight in the Native art arena.  To see my work in museums is a lot about that progression, and evolution.   As one collector has said “You’ve come a long way, baby.”  Sweet and true.

LUBY: I love that you see museum displays as a statement of evolution.  Fashion as a piece de resistance.  Now, to a set question:  Flare and Toronto’s Globe and Mail have both claimed your garments are a site of intersection.  They are a creative space where fashion meets Haida art, myth, history.  How do you feel about this claim?  And, is this the legacy you’d like to leave?

GRANT: This is true! Yes, this is what I set out to do as part of an earlier vision from 1989, but it still carries forward today.

“Nothing ever remains the same – as for the vision, it still is the same.  However, what is changed is the Legacy of Dorothy Grant Vision.  I believe it is the impact of my work on other First Nations communities and individuals that matters.  In terms of starting something that others can try to emulate or take inspiration from to do their own thing in their own cultural esthetic.  This has been extremely – it’s impacted First Nations communities as far away as New Zealand, Maoris.  I think that is what I am inspired to do.

“When I am selling to people in shows, in art markets, there is this feeling of pride from my clients that they feel they have arrived, that they are buying something very special.  They aspire to buy for themselves or as gifts and they deliver it with pride.  This is the most gratifying for me.

“If I have helped to elevate the way a person feels about themselves in my clothing, then I have done my job well.

LUBY: Wow.  Dorothy, thank you so much for your time.  As a First Nations student, I can say that you’re a real role model for me.  A successful business woman and connected to your roots.  I hope for as much – to move forward and be true to myself and my history. Meegwetch.

And, with that, I packed away my lap top, savoured the last sip of my tea, and quickly checked the price on Dorothy’s new ribbon scarves.  I left an inspired, well-dressed historian-to-be with a story.

Benedicte Ingstad at the 50th Anniversary Ceremony (Photo by Author)

By Megan Arnott

The main story of L’Anse aux Meadows occurred 1000 years ago, when Leifr Eiriksson (or some other intrepid Norse explorer) and his crew journeyed across the North Atlantic and landed on the shores of North America. It is this story that continues to bring in national and international visitors by the thousand, and it is this story that Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism continues to present to a watching world.

But there is another prominent story at L’Anse aux Meadows, one that is tied to the 1000 year old tale, but which happened in living memory and which continues to shape the lives of the people of the Northern Peninsula. On Wednesday July the 21st, 2010 L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site celebrated the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the Norse archaeological site.

In 1960 Helge Ingstad, a Norwegian explorer and writer, arrived by boat to the community of L’Anse aux Meadows asking about Norse/Viking remains. From there a local man by the name of George Decker led Ingstad to the remnants of some old sod buildings. The rest is history.

Alan Latourelle (left) presenting art to Wade Decker (centre). Standing to the right is Kari Hoel of the Norwegian Embassy. (Photo by Author)

On the morning of July 21st the CBC came early to L’Anse aux Meadows to interview some of the important characters, including locals, like Clayton Claybourne, who had been here since the beginning in 1960, members of the Decker family, L’Anse aux Meadows resident story-teller Michael Sexton, Parks Canada archaeologist in charge of the site at L’Anse aux Meadows Birgitta Wallace and Benedicte Ingstad, daughter of Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad.

Fireworks on site at L’Anse aux Meadows. (Photo by Author)

Later that evening a reception was held, and a few of the presenters there were from members of the original archaeological team. Instead of talking about the sagas, or the implications of their finds or work, largely they showed pictures they had taken of the community when they were here in the 60s and 70s, and talked about what it was like to do the archaeology and how it felt to make a find. Their audience was the community that live here and who knew most of the people in the photos, and there was general recognition that scholarly discussions of archaeological or historical theory would not reflect what was being celebrated that day. In the evening festivities were capped off by a bonfire and fireworks.

L’Anse aux Meadows Viking interpreters, going by the Viking names of Finnbogi (left), Egil (right), and behind Egil, Bjorn. (Photo by Author)

To a distant public it is a history that is perhaps slightly less interesting, though just as important, as the millennia old story of Viking explorers. After all, without the discovery we would not know how Newfoundland fits into that epic tale. Yet for visitors who see the landscape around L’Anse aux Meadows, the story of the site’s discovery and the subsequent archaeology is found to be just as gripping a tale of humanity. And for locals, and for everyone who has been involved at L’Anse aux Meadows over the years Wednesday was not just a day to celebrate history, but a day to celebrate their own history.

Megan Arnott is a Masters student with the University of Western Ontario’s Public History program. She is currently on a Public History Internship with L’Anse aux Meadows.

Runnymede Branch Public Library ca. 1930 (City of Toronto Archives)

On Tuesday, September 14^th the Toronto Public Library (TPL) will kick off its 6 part History Matters lecture series.  As you might have guessed from the title, the idea for the series was inspired by what’s been going on over the past couple years with the folks at Active History – both at the blog and the 2008 conference.  My goal for organizing the series with the library was to encourage the development of community and exchange between active Toronto historians and the broader Toronto community.

The idea to use a public history lecture series for building these connections came from my own experiences as a first time university lecturer.  After spending 6 years working towards my doctorate, in my relatively tiny little field of nuclear history and my even tinier corner of that particular history, I felt a little disconnected from why it is that history matters.  My dissertation was about the role of activist-oriented physicians and scientists in the American anti-nuclear movement, but while writing it I always had this nagging feeling that maybe my life would have more meaning if I was doing what these activists were doing, rather than writing about them – at what felt like a turtle’s pace.  When I started regularly lecturing to undergraduate students – about the history of medicine and the history of science – I was energized.  It was immediately clear to me why it is that history matters – not only the finessed (and sometimes inaccessible) historical arguments that academic historians love to make, but stories about the past.  For me, active history has come to mean using what happened in the past to inspire people to look outside themselves and their small corner of the world, to develop empathy for their fellow human beings, and to learn from both the good and the bad that has been done in the past.  Since my students over the years seemed to get a lot out of learning about history and because lots of the people in the public places where I wrote most of my thesis seemed interested in the history I was studying, I figured the patrons of the TPL might also enjoy learning more about history from some really cool Toronto historians.  It also helped that the TPL has the largest public library system in Canada and a staff that is totally committed to developing interesting and engaging programming for library patrons across the city!

The theme of the series is Toronto history and will begin with a talk by Stuart Henderson at the Yorkville Branch, where he’ll discuss the history of hippies in the surrounding neighbourhood.  Subsequent talks will be given by the eminent Canadian labour historian, Craig Heron, Active History.ca’s own Jay Young, Susanna Miranda, Jennifer Bonnell, Megan Davies, and David Reville.  The talks cover a wide range of historical subjects, including the history of booze, the Toronto Transit Commission, Portuguese cleaning women, homelessness in the Don Valley, and the impact of deinstitutionalization on Toronto’s Parkdale neighbourhood.  The TPL did its best to have the location of each talk correspond with the topic.

See the full speakers list, with titles, dates, and times below.  If you’re in the Toronto area, I hope you’ll consider coming out to some of the talks.  With the exception of Henderson’s talk, which will take place at 2pm, all of them are scheduled in the evening.  ActiveHistory.ca plans to record and post these lectures on the website so those not able to attend the talks will still be able to hear them later on.  I would also appreciate people posting the program listing far and wide to help with marketing efforts.

Editor’s note: ActiveHistory.ca is happy to provide web support to anyone who wishes to start a History Matters lecture series in their own locale.  Please contact us at info@activehistory.ca if you are interested.

The Toronto Public Library Presents: Programs for the constantly curious…

History Matters

Connect with Toronto historians at these lively lectures showcasing current research on Toronto’s past and discover some of the surprising ways history matters to everyone in our city today.

Making the Scene in 1960s Yorkville
Stuart Henderson
Tues. Sept. 14, 2 pm
Yorkville Branch
22 Yorkville Ave. 416-393-7660

I’ll Drink to That: Booze in Hogtown
Craig Heron
Tues. Sept. 28, 7 pm
Annette Street Branch
145 Annette St. 416-393-7692

A Public Technology: The Building of Toronto’s Yonge Street Subway
Jay Young
Thurs. Oct. 14, 7 pm
Beaches Branch
2161 Queen St. E. 416-393-7703

Isolating Undesirables: Prisons, Pollution and Homelessness in Toronto’s Don River Valley, 1860-1932
Jennifer Bonnell
Thurs. Oct. 14, 7 pm
Bendale Branch
1515 Danforth Rd. 416-396-8910

Keeping the City Clean: Portuguese Women in Toronto’s Cleaning Industry, 1970-1990
Susana Miranda
Thurs. Oct. 21, 7 pm
Bloor/Gladstone Branch
1101 Bloor St. W. 416-393-7674

Locating Parkdale’s Mad History: Back Wards to Back Streets, 1980-2010
Megan Davies and David Reville
Thurs. Nov. 4, 7 pm
Parkdale Branch
1303 Queen St. W. 416-393-7686

Organized by the Toronto Public Library, with the assistance of Dr. Lisa Rumiel, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, McMaster University

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“One way of making education more holistic is to get outside the classroom and off the campus. It interrupts the programming that twelve years of classroom conditioning automatically call up; the change in environment changes everything. The class becomes a social unit; students become more fully rounded human beings not just people who either know the answer or don’t know it. Inside the classroom, it’s one kind of student that dominates; outside, it’s another. Tying course content to the world outside offers a real-world site for asking theoretical questions; it answers students’ need to feel that their education is good for something other than a grade point average.  And it begins to address the problem of the student who has no conception of what is possible after graduation…” – From A Life in School by Jane Tompkins, Duke University, Addison Wesley Longman, 1996 (from Service Learning website at St. Francis Xavier University)

Since joining the Active History CHA group a year ago I have been wrestling with the concept of what it means to be an “active historian”. While the teaching of history is an evident tool of engagement for the historian, and has been the subject here of some wonderful posts about the many diverse and fascinating projects currently on the go, I am still left with a familiar question I have had since my days as an idealistic undergraduate history student; how to mesh our sense of civic engagement/political activism/social responsibility with our interests and skills as aspiring/professional historians and, for those of us who want and actually get teaching positions, future educators?Getting to the intersection where theory meets practice and makes a tangible difference has been a long-standing challenge for scholars. While historians in public history programs at the graduate level, as profiled by Adam Crymble in a recent post on this site, or those engaged in community histories using oral history, such as students at Concordia’s Centre of Oral History and Digital Storytelling, focus on specific historical methodologies to engage with their communities, there are also tools out there for engaging undergraduates.

Community service-learning (CSL), defined loosely as “an educational approach integrating community service with intentional learning activities,” (Canadian Alliance for Community Service-Learning) is one such tool.  Students connect what they learn in class and in the community – between theory and practice – through reflections and analysis that may take the form of such things as journal writing, group discussions and written reports under faculty supervision, for which they receive academic credit.

Initiated in the United States, community service-learning was first adopted in Canada at Saint Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia in the late-1990s. Saint F.-X.’s pioneering in this regard should come as no surprise, given its historic role as a catalyst in the Antigonish Movement in the 1920s.

Boosted by a grant by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation (which runs out in 2011), CSL has grown across the country. A glance at the current list of universities participating in CSL partnerships in one form or another reveals CSL’s growing popularity in Canada. (For more on the growth of and challenges facing CSL on Canadian campuses, see a recent article published inUniversity Affairs)

If getting undergraduates to think critically about the applications of their learning and, hopefully, getting them engaged with their communities in the process while various community organizations themselves begin to reconnect with the academy in useful ways is an exciting exercise, it is difficult to gauge how much attention these initiatives have been given in university history departments.

I spoke recently with Jeffrey Keshen, Chair of the History Department at the University of Ottawa and a key player in that university’s adoption of CSL, about how historians might engage with CSL programs.

Keshen argues that opportunities for history students to use classroom skills in their communities are numerous; anything from interviewing veterans, labour or community activists; building community groups’ life histories; to helping in the writing of the histories of schools, NGOs, and not for profit organisations.  Such projects, he argues compel students to use their emerging skills to produce original works.  The key, he points out, is that faculty and students often need to make first contact with community groups about how they might help, as often they are too overburdened with the operational end of their work to be able to take advantage of such programs. The benefits to community and history student are mutual he says, “CSL makes students interact with the broader community.  That builds self-confidence, group work skills, understanding the application and limits of theory.  The organization can get benefits if the project is well defined and viable.”

The future of CSL programs is uncertain. Significant funding for CSL initiatives is set to dry out in 2011 and supporters of CSL worry that critical momentum might be lost.

While summer isn’t typically a time for deep reflection about teaching or university life, I think that it is a time when we can reflect on ways in which our university campuses allow for all of their members, not just graduate students and faculty, to become “active historians”. My hope is that those of you who have had some experience with CSL programs across the country or may know of history-related projects that students and faculty may have initiated will share your insights here.

As we drift into the hazy days of summer, some reflection about how universities engage with the wider community, and the role historians can play in that engagement, is certainly called for, and looking at how we might engage with and promote programs like CSL is a good starting point.

The oil slick as seen from space, June 22 2010 (wikipedia.com)

Public outrage mounts with every successive failure to mend the gaping wound in the Gulf of Mexico seabed. Struggling to affirm his leadership in the spill’s wake, President Obama recently described the disaster as “an environmental 9/11,” underscoring the need for a bold new energy-environment policy.

Through reference to the still-poignant memory of 9/11, the president seems to be cultivating an atmosphere conducive to a sweeping energy security agenda. “Beyond the risks inherent in drilling four miles beneath the surface of the Earth,” President Obama recently asserted, “… our continued dependence on fossil fuels will jeopardise our national security. It will smother our planet. And it will continue to put our economy and our environment at risk.”

Is this simple hyperbole aimed at distancing the Oval Office from the perceived incompetence of BP executives, not to mention his predecessor’s disaster-relief experiences on the Gulf Coast? Will the Gulf oil spill be as defining a moment for the Obama presidency as 9/11 was for Bush the Younger? Perhaps not. But the environmental-policy landscape has clearly been changed irrevocably.

Of course, much of Canadian security and foreign policy post-9/11 was forced to respond, if not always mimic,  the American experience: military engagement in Afghanistan but not Iraq, security certificates, public debates about the place of people with names like Arar and Khadr in Canada, and now Afghan detainees running into fundamental constitutional matters.

What will the environmental 9/11 mean for Canada? Offshore drilling in Newfoundland and the Arctic? The Tar Sands? How will Stephen Harper’s plans to make Canada an energy superpower be affected?

Such questions are just as pertinent here on the west coast, with controversial plans for a pipeline across Northern British Columbia to provide the Tar Sands access to the Pacific Rim market. Anxiety over the well-being of the BC Coast was already at high enough levels before the BP spill. Now, no doubt responding to the changing political climate, the federal Liberal party has officially endorsed a campaign to ban oil-tanker traffic on the BC Coast.

The Conservatives have already made clear the importance of aligning Canadian and American policies regarding energy and the environment, but will this attitude continue if the Obama administration successfully passes decidedly anti-fossil fuel legislation? With the NDP already on-board, the tanker ban and Canadian energy-environment policy in general will likely become a major political battleground in the coming months.

Of course, many now look back at 9/11 as a double tragedy: A massive loss of life followed by an even greater missed opportunity, the Bush administration’s polarizing and militaristic response amidst a global outpouring of goodwill. In years to come will people on both sides of the border and around the world look back at the Gulf Oil spill as a similarly senseless tragedy?

Jeff Slack is a 2^nd-year master’s student in the history department, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George. His thesis examines the “rediscovery” of the Coast Mountains, 1858-1939. As an outlet for his sometimes excessive interest in all things “mountain,” he recently began blogging at mountainnerd.wordpress.com/

For another post on ActiveHistory.ca related to the BP oil spill see Dana Johnson‘s Historical Perspectives on Oil Gushers, posted May 2010.

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Many Canadians were shocked by the images of riot police chasing and beating citizens in the streets of Toronto this past weekend during the G20 summit. The police violence and the limited acts of vandalism were inexcusable, but not at all unprecedented in Toronto’s history. In all of the reporting over the weekend, I was most surprised by the common refrain from news commentators about how extraordinary it was to see this kind of protest and violence in a city like Toronto, Toronto the Good.

Read the full story here:  http://www.seankheraj.com/?p=841

Five city councilors and the Mayor of Brantford have been pursuing the demolition of forty-one heritage buildings on the south side of Colborne Street in Brantford.  Colborne Street is the historic downtown of Brantford and by many accounts this stretch of buildings represents the longest stretch of pre-Confederation buildings remaining Canada.  Yet for years Brantford’s downtown has suffered, as downtowns have across Canada, from the retreat to suburbs and box store retail outlets. 

Last year the city expropriated the forty-one buildings and applied for Federal stimulus money to demolish all of the buildings.  Despite lack of a plan for the site, a grassroots public movement opposing demolition, and recent news from the Federal government that the city’s environmental, heritage and archaeological studies were insufficient and alternate uses for the buildings instead of just demolition should be explored, last Tuesday the City began demolition.

For the many heritage advocates, several of whom had never been so involved in a civic issue before, the scene was heartbreaking.  For those fighting to save these buildings they felt that the very fabric of the history of their community was at risk.

While historians often find “history” buried in documents in archives and on reels of microfilm, many find their community history visible most in the built heritage surrounding them.  These buildings are more than bricks and mortar, they represent the past and continuity to the future.  In Brantford the fight is not over as heritage advocates continue their pleas to Ontario’s Minister of Heritage and Tourism Michael Chan, and plan for future campaigns to save other heritage buildings in the city.

But Tuesday June 8^th was a dark day for history, heritage and the city of Brantford.

The event is part of a new series called Approaching the Past: A Series Connecting People Teaching History, sponsored by The History Education Network/Histoire et Éducation en Réseau and Active History, and conducted with support from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and Toronto Culture.

The idea behind the series is to bring together educators working in middle and high schools, universities, and museums to discuss teaching history in a variety of contexts. Through workshops on diverse themes related to history education, the series aims to create and strengthen ties between historians, history teachers, and public history professionals across the Greater Toronto Area.  Workshops offer the opportunity to connect with colleagues, meet people teaching history in unique and engaging ways, and be challenged to teach history in ways that connect more deeply with our students.

Professor and THEN/HiER board member Ruth Sandwell will lead our inaugural workshop June 16th with a presentation titled “History is a Verb: Using Historical Sources to Teach Canadian Rural History.” The evening will include a tour of selected historic buildings at Black Creek by museum staff, and group discussions on the subject of teaching history with material objects.

The next event in the series is scheduled to take place at Montgomery’s Inn Community Museum Thursday September 30th. We aim to take advantage of the site’s history as a nineteenth-century tavern and roadside inn by picking up the theme of “teaching history with food.”

We welcome suggestions for future workshop topics, speakers and venues. To contribute ideas, follow our activities and for word about our upcoming events, visit Approaching the Past or contact us at approachingthepast@gmail.com.

Jennifer Bonnell
Program Coordinator
The History Education Network/Histoire et Éducation en Réseau

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Sean Kheraj

Last week the federal government tabled its long anticipated copyright reform legislation for first reading in the House of Commons. The Copyright Modernization Act or Bill C-32 attempts to overhaul many of the out-dated provisions of Canada’s copyright law that have fallen far behind major technological changes of the last thirty years. For instance, under the proposed legislation, it would now be legal for Canadians to rip a CD to an iPod. Unfortunately, as we give a sarcastic slow-clap for this long overdue “reform” to legalize what has been common (and soon to be obsolete) consumer behaviour for nearly a generation, the canonization of digital locks overrides all of the new fair dealing rights in the bill. And this may be a huge problem for history researchers and educators.

Read the full story here on the Knowledge Mobilization blog.

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A recent BBC news report highlights some of the key issues in a decades-long debate over heli-skiing in the European Alps. First experimented with in British Columbia’s interior mountain ranges in the 1960s, heli-skiing entails using helicopters in lieu of chairlifts to shuttle small, guided groups of skiers to the top of otherwise difficult-to-access, and thus untracked mountain slopes.

Although this lucrative industry flourished in western North America’s wide open spaces, it also faces growing opposition, primarily over environmental concerns such as air pollution and other threats to fragile alpine ecosystems. In one recent controversy, however, opponents of a contentious heli-ski proposal voiced their concerns over potential conflicts between mechanized recreation and cultural heritage values in the region surrounding British Columbia’s highest mountain, Mount Waddington. As human demands on Canada’s natural spaces increase, such convergences of ecological and heritage concerns are likely to become a more common, and perhaps more effective, environmental strategy.

1926 Vancouver Province article about a mountaineering expedition to Mount Waddington

Soon after mountaineers began visiting Mount Waddington in the 1920s, the first calls were made to have this superlative landscape protected within a national park.   While mountaineers had successfully led similar campaigns such as at Garibaldi Park north of Vancouver, the remote and desolate Mount Waddington landscape was largely ignored by government officials. Over the next eight decades mountaineering parties from around the world continued to visit the region’s massive icefields and near-vertical spires, often likened to the “aiguilles” surrounding France’s celebrated Chamonix valley.

Never ceasing completely, park advocacy was renewed in  2007 in response to a proposed 350,000 hectare heli-ski tenure by Knight Inlet Heli Sports. For perspective, this is more than one hundred times larger than Whistler-Blackcomb, North America’s largest ski resort.

The proposal seemed consistent with the province’s ambitious tourism policies, but opponents argued that the constant presence of helicopters would compromise the wilderness experience of backcountry skiers and mountaineers, who themselves represented a substantial sector of the region’s economy. Don Serl, perhaps the region’s foremost alpinist of the past thirty years, raised concerns that “the new proposal is a massive breach of the standards of behaviour that have evolved to their present state over 80 years since the Mundays first set off to find and explore the Range.”

Opposition continued to mount even as the tenure was awarded, eventually succeeding in having the decision partially reversed. The area surrounding Mount Waddington was removed from the tenure and certain provisions were included to minimize helicopter-mountaineer contact. In so doing, long-standing (and environmentally sensitive) human interests surrounding a remote, geological wonder were acknowledged, and a non-mechanized zone was established around this globally significant mountaineering destination.

The Knight Inlet Heli-ski controversy is symptomatic of the development free-for-all that has been going on for years in the British Columbia backcountry. The initial tenure proposal’s massive area was far larger than necessary, in fact too large to service without fuel caches. Elsewhere, ever-growing heli-ski tenures dwarf older operations, and there has been a fire-sale for hydro rights to the province’s rivers. Such policies betray an alarming zeal to develop our seemingly empty and inexhaustible wilderness.

Insightful as it was at the time, W.L. Mackenzie King’s oft-repeated aphorism that “if some countries have too much history, we have too much geography” is no longer an apt description of our country.

As our natural landscapes become increasingly contested spaces, human interests need not trump environmental concerns. The Mount Waddington controversy reminds us that even in Canada’s most remote corners there is often an under-appreciated depth to past relationships with the land. Creating awareness of cultural heritage in “wilderness” areas, rather than compromising their environmental integrity, can add new layers of meaning and value.

Taking seriously the common viewpoint that our backcountry is our backyard can make us more appreciative of our wide-open spaces, and more willing to pursue and protect land-use practices that enrich our lives without compromising our natural environment.

Jeff Slack is a 2^nd-year master’s student in the history department, University of Northern British Columbia, Prince George. His thesis examines the “rediscovery” of the Coast Mountains, 1858-1939. As an outlet for his sometimes excessive interest in all things “mountain,” he recently began blogging at mountainnerd.wordpress.com/

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