27 October 2008
the road
This blog's title, the road, serves a dual purpose: to tie together two separate journeys that have occupied RR's time for the past three months. The phrase, "the road," was used by the principals and politicians connected with that initial vast undertaking by this young nation:, the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1871 Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, promised a railway to that other British colony at the western end of this continent and that they would have it within ten years if only they would agree to join the Canadian federation. That story is told by Pierre Berton in two volumes: 1) The National Dream: The Great Railway 1871-1881 (Random House, 1970/Anchor Paperback 2001) and 2) The Last Spike: The Great Railway 1881-1885 (Random House Canada 1971/Anchor paperback 2001).The road also describes RR's latest adventure in which she travelled a distance of 15,000 km in twelve days by land, air and sea.
This particular trip touched down in three cities (Calgary, Prince Rupert, and Victoria), traversed multiple landscapes (rolling prairies & foothills, the western mountain cordillera, the Inside Passage adjacent to BC's northern and central coastline, and ended in the very rare Garry Oak /arbutus setting of the marvellous Abhekazy Gardens in Victoria.To cover the distance, RR availed herself of multiple public transportation options: Air Canada, airport shuttles and local taxis, Greyhound between cities, local bus and Light Rail Transit systems within cities, the BC Ferries and Victoria Harbour Ferry System, plus old-fashioned carbon-neutral pedal on pavement power. Accommodations covered the range from a private suite in a residential condominium project, a bed and breakfast, a basic motel, a rather funky, cheap but eminently suitable hostel, and one night's attempted sleep on the Greyhound bus as it crossed the Continental Divide. Note to the wise: seasoned bus travellers carry a pillow and blanket with them; at the last minute, RR had jettisoned a warm jacket that would have served that dual purpose in order to travel light. One must make tradeoffs and RR's interest is always in photographing other places and for now, RR continues to carry a film camera, multiple lenses, and rolls of film with her. One can always catch up on sleep, but never, ever on that fleeting moment captured forever on film if one is prepared. The passion for photography is also la raison d'etre for travelling solo and acting as one's personal tour agent. Time-consuming, yes, but always worthwhile to better understand these new places and faces one encounters while adventuring.
I
n preparing for this trip, RR had duly researched the role played by the Grand Trunk Railway in opening up north western BC to settlement ca 1890-1914. It was only by reading Berton's first volume en route to Calgary that RR became aware of the depth of her ignorance about the historical background of the regions she was about to explore. The paperback was a last-minute addition to her carry-on baggage-- a gift from an offspring who bemoaned RR's decision to travel light. That paperback soon acquired its travelling companion-- another paperback purchased to make the most of the rainy 15+ hour Inside Passage run: John Vaillant's The Golden Spruce ( Vintage Canada 2005) --subtitled " A true story of Myth, Madness and Greed" set in the same water/landscape the ferry was traversing. A visit to the Victoria offices of the Western Canada Wilderness Committeeprovided Dave Foreman's groundbreaking vision for 21st century conservation Rewilding North America ( Island Press 2004). RR's companion for the late evening flight to Toronto? Elizabeth Hay, Late Nights on Air (McLelland & Stewart 2007).
What follows is "a then....and now" reflection on the two roads RR has just finished travelling.
Berton's telling of that noble adventure is a masterpiece of epic storytelling: a complex cast of characters pitted against a wilderness environment of indomitable proportions and daunting challenges soon to be embroiled in bitter rivalries and desperate financing schemes in order to achieve the impossible-- to breach the impenetrable mountains separating Canada's west coast from the rest of Canada in order to create one nation from sea to sea.Two characters in this tale acquire heroic proportions:
1) the role of politician so ably played by "Old Tomorrow" (Sir John A.) who managed feuding financiers and elected Members of Parliament to secure the massive monies required by this project &
2) the role of master builder, William Cornelius van Horne, who rode the newly-laid rails to track progress and managed the finances and the work schedules of thousands of men and contractors to bring this project to successful completion. In the process, this imported American became truly Canadian and forever after called this country his home and (native) land.
We owe the following to the CPR:
- the location, settlement and growth of all of our major western cities (Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary, Vancouver, and even Victoria) as the company controlled where the train stations were to be placed; indeed the last minute choice of the Rogers Pass as the preferred route to the Pacific Coast guaranteed that the less arduous Yellowhead Pass and equally fertile grasslands lying in the northern Prairies would wait another century for further development; the Canadian pattern of settlement along a thin ribbon closely paralleling the Canada-US border was pre-determined by the railway's requirements for a route with the easiest grades and fewest number of bridges.
- the development of the prairies into the fertile wheat-farming country it is today & the development of the rolling ranchlands as prime
ranching country & this country's beef exports to European markets; - the rapid settlement of the prairie provinces -- so rapid that within 20 years of completion of the railway, Alberta and Saskatchewan had acquired enough settlers to achieve provincial government status within Confederation. To accomplish this, the CPR advertised widely for immigrants all over Europe and brought them here via their steamships and passenger trains.
- the development of Canada's national parks system: thus Banff National Park adjacent to the CPR Banff Springs Hotel followed upon the company's policy to build passenger traffic by advertising the scenic values of places such as Banff and Princess Louise Lake.
- the strengthening of national security as in the second Riel-led rebellion, the CPR managed to move thousands of troops from vicinity of North Bay to Winnipeg in the space of eleven days; prior to the building of the Railway, it took ninety-six days to send troops to put down the Metis uprising in the Red River colony near Winnipeg. A foreshadowing of the Trudeau government's imposition of the War Measures Act during the 1960's separatist crisis?
- an iconic, distinctive architectural style: the chateau-style hotels of the CPR (now Fairmont) are landmark buildings in the provincial capitals across this country;
- the mapping and surveying of vast reaches of this country previously unexplored by Europeans....and the list goes on.
However, this magnificent tale has other unsavoury aspects that too are part of our shared history:- the importation of Chinese labour to save costs in the Fraser Canyon stretch --many of whom were left stranded here without the financial means to return home and were denied full enfranchisement here for decades to come;
- real estate speculation that made wealthy a fortunate few who had inside knowledge of where track was going to be laid;
- Van Horne's cost-cutting mentality appears to have become part of the CPR's corporate culture viz. CTV's W5 program carried an investigative report a few years back regarding locomotives hauling freight through the most dangerous passes with deficient braking equipment at a tremendous cost in the lives of engineers and crew.
- a tradition of corporate bailouts that continues to this day-- an assumption that if it's good for the company and secures jobs, then it's good for the country. Berton's story never tells the readers if and when the CPR ever paid back all of the loans it received from the federal government.
- British Columbia government agency documents reveal a much greater awareness of aboriginal rights and concerns as they could affect future planning and development than Ontario's. Why so?
- Historically, the colonial government of British Columbia under its first governor James Douglas did not negotiate treaties with its aboriginal peoples; hence, most aboriginal issues are dealt with by the federal and provincial governments under the comprehensive claims process. Locally, most issues involving land claims go through the specific claims process & involve a vastly different legal process. The most recent ground-breaking Supreme Court decisions affecting aboriginal claims have come as a result of the comprehensive treaty process applied to lands in the north west of British Columbia: 1) the Haida decision involving the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii), the Nisga'a decision involving the people of the Nass Valley just north of Prince Rupert, and the Delgamaku'uw decision involving the Tsimshian-speaking peoples of the Skeena River watershed. The mountains
appear to serve as a barrier in the dissemination of news affecting all Canadians in their relationship with aboriginal peoples. - Possibly socio-cultural factors are at work as well. Example, when the potlatch was outlawed by the federal government during the late nineteenth century, various First Nations moved the ceremony farther into the remote interior wilderness-- far from the purvey of the federal agents assigned to enforce the new law-- and so kept this institution alive. As well, First Nations in the North West are organizing
themselves into larger organizations in order to consolidate their resources to more comprehensively document their histories in support of their claims. Example, the Carrier-Sekani peoples whose traditional territory is centered around Prince George have produced an exhaustive environmental study opposing the two proposed pipelines (Kitimat/Prince Rupert to Fort MacMurray) that will endanger their traditional territory. The excellence and thoroughness of the Carrier-Sekani EA is frequently cited by non-aboriginal sources as well.
Since last RR called these two provinces home, both provinces have taken great strides forward in preservation of their built heritage resources.- The city of Calgary has at its heart a National Historic Site (NHS), the Stephen Avenue Walk, which preserves the city's original sandstone buildings for future generations. This NHS site is very much a living, thriving commercial enterprise that marries wonderful heritage buildings with commercially viable adaptive reuses and should be experienced by planners across this country. Prince Rupert's merchants take considerable pride in their built heritage resourcesand leverage that city's distinctive architectural character to promote the cruise ship tourist trade. The city of Victoria is awash with architectural marvels and appears to have the most stringent policies against demolition of heritage resources anywhere RR has travelled. Victoria offered up several buildings designed by the architect Rattenbury: the CPR Empress Hotel, the CPR steamship terminal, and the imposing provincial legislative buildings. By preserving
and maintaining its historical buildings, Victoria is in the enviable position of offering visitors a unique cultural experience. No wonder there were tourists everywhere! When, oh when, when will locals realize that our brick buildings and fieldstone houses are what makes us distinctive and gives our communities their particular edge in the global tourist trade? - This vast landscape is under siege and its very lifeblood is threatened by the forces of a) climate change and b) globalization that has global corporations with no stake in the cumulative impact poised to plunder and strip the land bare of its vast natural resources (mineral, water, and oil/gas, whatever). Everywhere the battle lines are drawn between corporate giants and the "environmentalists"-- a group who no longer include those who were once scornfully called tree-huggers but concerned average citizens who are worried about what will be left for their grandchildren.
- North of Prince George, there are those who oppose proposed methane plant and coal extraction mining operation. Prince George's City Council is holding consultations to devise a response to the twin disasters of 1) the Red Tide (the mountain pine beetle infestation) that is turning the vast boreal forest into dry tinder for the next
forest fire epidemic. Farther west, there are concerns about the decline in the wild salmon and oolichan fisheries as well as the impact of clearcutting logging operations. Along the central coast, one of the planet's last extensive rain forests is being stripped of its old growth timber. On Vancouver Island, there are those struggling to preserve the little that remains of that island's rain forest. Just this past Saturday, Victoria's Wilderness Committee organized a 3,000 strong rally at the Legislative Buildings to draw attention to the loss of its trees and jobs for the B. C. workforce. ..................So much seen in such a short time, so many photographs still to develop, caption and scan, so many impressions still to digest....all of that must needs await another day or snowbound winter evening when memory will keep this adventure alive.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference
--Robert Frost
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference
--Robert Frost
Labels: aboriginal, built heritage, history, land claims, wilderness
03 October 2008
the national dream
The highway from mile zero in St. John's Newfoundland to mile zero Victoria BC spans 7,349 km across land and water--an impossibility according to a young Aussie visiting/working Canada's west coast. According to her, gentle reader, as soon as the highway ends at a water body that numbered highway should end and a new highway number be assigned. She has yet to encounter this nation's impossible? national dream or even this nation's motto: one country from sea to sea (a mare usque ad mare).
That dream was first dreamed by this nation's first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, who according to Pierre Berton had formed the "intention to defy nature and fashion a nation in the process." Alexander MacKenzie, Liberal opposition leader at the time, described MacDonald's plan as an "act of insane recklessness."
When this national dream was first dreamed in 1871, this four-year old nation comprised five provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba) with a total population of 3,500,000. In order to persuade British Columbia to join Confederation, MacDonald had promised to construct the greatest of all railways--longer by 1,000 miles than the first American railroad to the Pacific Ocean (USA population of 40,000,000) that had just been completed. This all-Canadian railroad would have to overcome greater obstacles: 700 miles of granite wasteland and muskeg in the Precambrian Shield of northern Ontario, the vast treeless prairies that would require vast quantities of timber construction to be hauled in, and after that a sea of mountains 500 miles wide and up to 8,000 feet above sea level requiring a suitable pass yet to be determined. MacDonald insisted that only a railway could stitch this nation together and that he would build it within a decade. The result against all odds was the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The national dream continued. When Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949, Canada was finally joined from sea to sea. Where once the railway carried passengers and freight from sea to sea, the Transcanada Highway #1 assumed that stitching function as of the 1960's; this century will see the completion of the Trans Canada Trail system. How many Canadians dream of crossing the entire length of that highway as RR has? She was reminded of such seemingly impossible dreams when she visited mile zero, Victoria BC this week. Since last she was here, two memorable crossings have been honoured. Terry Fox's heartfelt prayer that "the hurting [should] stop" has been honoured with a statue. Terry's dream to run the entire length was carried to completion in 1985 by Steve Fonjo, who apparently ran 20km a day for 400 days. Steve's achievement too is recognized at mile zero with a plaque. And Sir John A? RR photographed a wonderful statue of our first big dreamer at the entrance to Victoria's City Hall.
Until she arrived in Victoria, RR had concluded that two institutions join Canadians everywhere together: a) hockey and b) Tim Horton's coffee. To her dismay, RR has yet to locate a Timmy's in downtown Victoria but has spent considerable time in a nearby Blenz coffee shop with an oversized fragrant cup of Java and the local rag, The Times Colonist. Thus, she learned that staid Victoria's* reputation is as "the capital of laid-back." Nonetheless, a local columnist opined that visiting national politicians would be best advised to wear business suits and ties when speaking to a "West Coast audience, of everyone from teenage punks and Tilley-hat seniors to union hardliners and ranting activists." For her part, RR too has committed another social faux paux as today she noted that it is customary to thank local bus drivers when one is leaving the bus.
*Victoria is booming with construction projects underway at every street corner and a constant influx of immigrants and migrant Canadians arriving daily to start new jobs or even retirement in this "city of gardens." One Times Colonist editorial "Saving the city from addictions" this week addressed the issue of Victoria's increasing homeless problem and noted "many of whom are addicts." The editor cited BC Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield's observation: "Our law against drug possession contributes to the very harm it seeks to prevent." As well, this city has the most stringent anti-smoking legislation anywhere in this country with the unintended consequence of discarded cigarette butts littering the streets everywhere downtown. There are some homeless denizens of the downtown who assiduously salvage these butts to roll their own. All in all, this has been the liveliest downtown RR has ever encountered -- tourists enjoying 24C autumn weather in this blooming Eden, Victorians dashing off to work, and then the homeless rolling their shopping carts with bedding and recyclables to be cashed in. Quite a change from the last time RR was here--- some years ago when according to one local, this city was the haunt of the "newly wed" or the dead. ====> therein lies another tale: of Rattenbury, the city's most famous architect who met both qualifications i.e. newly wed and dead as in murdered & perhaps the subject of another post someday?
That dream was first dreamed by this nation's first prime minister, Sir John A. MacDonald, who according to Pierre Berton had formed the "intention to defy nature and fashion a nation in the process." Alexander MacKenzie, Liberal opposition leader at the time, described MacDonald's plan as an "act of insane recklessness."
When this national dream was first dreamed in 1871, this four-year old nation comprised five provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Manitoba) with a total population of 3,500,000. In order to persuade British Columbia to join Confederation, MacDonald had promised to construct the greatest of all railways--longer by 1,000 miles than the first American railroad to the Pacific Ocean (USA population of 40,000,000) that had just been completed. This all-Canadian railroad would have to overcome greater obstacles: 700 miles of granite wasteland and muskeg in the Precambrian Shield of northern Ontario, the vast treeless prairies that would require vast quantities of timber construction to be hauled in, and after that a sea of mountains 500 miles wide and up to 8,000 feet above sea level requiring a suitable pass yet to be determined. MacDonald insisted that only a railway could stitch this nation together and that he would build it within a decade. The result against all odds was the Canadian Pacific Railway.
The national dream continued. When Newfoundland joined Confederation in 1949, Canada was finally joined from sea to sea. Where once the railway carried passengers and freight from sea to sea, the Transcanada Highway #1 assumed that stitching function as of the 1960's; this century will see the completion of the Trans Canada Trail system. How many Canadians dream of crossing the entire length of that highway as RR has? She was reminded of such seemingly impossible dreams when she visited mile zero, Victoria BC this week. Since last she was here, two memorable crossings have been honoured. Terry Fox's heartfelt prayer that "the hurting [should] stop" has been honoured with a statue. Terry's dream to run the entire length was carried to completion in 1985 by Steve Fonjo, who apparently ran 20km a day for 400 days. Steve's achievement too is recognized at mile zero with a plaque. And Sir John A? RR photographed a wonderful statue of our first big dreamer at the entrance to Victoria's City Hall.
Until she arrived in Victoria, RR had concluded that two institutions join Canadians everywhere together: a) hockey and b) Tim Horton's coffee. To her dismay, RR has yet to locate a Timmy's in downtown Victoria but has spent considerable time in a nearby Blenz coffee shop with an oversized fragrant cup of Java and the local rag, The Times Colonist. Thus, she learned that staid Victoria's* reputation is as "the capital of laid-back." Nonetheless, a local columnist opined that visiting national politicians would be best advised to wear business suits and ties when speaking to a "West Coast audience, of everyone from teenage punks and Tilley-hat seniors to union hardliners and ranting activists." For her part, RR too has committed another social faux paux as today she noted that it is customary to thank local bus drivers when one is leaving the bus.
*Victoria is booming with construction projects underway at every street corner and a constant influx of immigrants and migrant Canadians arriving daily to start new jobs or even retirement in this "city of gardens." One Times Colonist editorial "Saving the city from addictions" this week addressed the issue of Victoria's increasing homeless problem and noted "many of whom are addicts." The editor cited BC Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield's observation: "Our law against drug possession contributes to the very harm it seeks to prevent." As well, this city has the most stringent anti-smoking legislation anywhere in this country with the unintended consequence of discarded cigarette butts littering the streets everywhere downtown. There are some homeless denizens of the downtown who assiduously salvage these butts to roll their own. All in all, this has been the liveliest downtown RR has ever encountered -- tourists enjoying 24C autumn weather in this blooming Eden, Victorians dashing off to work, and then the homeless rolling their shopping carts with bedding and recyclables to be cashed in. Quite a change from the last time RR was here--- some years ago when according to one local, this city was the haunt of the "newly wed" or the dead. ====> therein lies another tale: of Rattenbury, the city's most famous architect who met both qualifications i.e. newly wed and dead as in murdered & perhaps the subject of another post someday?
Labels: history
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