PM 40051145 Victoria’s monthlymagazine ideasandcultureJuly2010 ofpeople, Victoria’s ACTIVE LIFESTYLE A simple statement Experts of beauty and depth Bring in this ad and receive 10% off the regular price on anything in the store. 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Conversations 12 Linda Rogers food comes from! Now 14 24 CONNECTING SCIENCE AND ART Follow the links on our web site to order When the Garry oak meadows of Langford were threatened, Show & Tell 24 naturalist Fran Benton turned to art and politics. 250.595.6729 Brian Grison Coastlines 26 www.shareorganics.bc.ca 26 48°, 26', 14.4" N 123°, 19', 40.6" W Melanie Siebert’s new book navigates Focus 28 the idea of place, both wild and urban. FOR ALL WHO CARE Amy Reiswig My Dream City 36 28 THE ROAD TO HELL Urbanities 38 Three controversial infrastructure projects highlight the need for a better way to decide what projects are most important Rearview Mirror 40 to residents of the region—and which get funding. Katherine Palmer Gordon Natural Relations 44 34 NURTURING ROOTS AND WINGS Finding Balance 46 Bringing people together to create positive change for youth at risk, and others, is the practical, ethical path for Helen Hughes. ON THE COVER: “Big Eagle, (Great Aaren Madden Eagle), Skidigate, BC” by Emily Carr, 36 WOODWYNN FARM 1929, watercolour on paper, 30 x A therapeutic community sows seeds of hope 22.3 inches, from the collection of on farmland “pre-empted” by a Scottish settler. the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Danda Humphreys donated in memory of Dorothy 38 THE PURPOSE OF MEMORY Plaunt Dyde. See story on page 12. about PLANTS, This edited version of a speech given recently to Heritage BC HEALING and the PLANET points to the link between heritage preservation and ecology. Gene Miller aromatic flavourful teas, high-quality essential oils for your scented pleasures, 42 DISTURBING THE PEACE top-quality herbs & tinctures for Caribou and conservation need to be part of your health & well-being the conversation around the Site C dam. Briony Penn SELF-HEAL HERBS 44 SORRY, COMPUTERS ARE NOT “GREEN” Celebrating 34 years Is the world becoming greener, or does it just seem that way? 1106 Blanshard St. Rob Wipond tel: 383-1913 fax: 383-3098 46 HEALING CALLS FOR MORE THAN HOSPITALS best prices mail order available It’s time to return to patient-centred care EXPERIENCED STAFF • R.N. • aromatherapists • herbalists that includes fresh air, sunlight, plants…life! • consultations available Trudy Duivenvoorden Mitic July 2010 • focusonline.ca 3 ▲ .....editor’s letter ▲ The Briar Hill Group Beau’s story FOR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE LESLIE CAMPBELL few weeks ago David and I found ourselves in Alert Bay, a community of about 1200 people on Cormorant Island, a 40- Aminute ferry ride from Port McNeill. The Kwakwaka’wakw • determining your culture flourishes in Alert Bay, despite many insults, past and present, real estate needs to their way of life. • Answering your I plan to write about our visit at greater length in the future. But I think questions I am meant to share one of the stories I heard sooner rather than later. Under a carving shed on the beach, we met master carver Beau Dick • putting you in who was working on a memorial pole in honour of Patrick Alfred, a control of your ‘Namgis chief who had died a few years ago in a herring boat accident. real estate decisions Though only roughed in, the pole was impressive already. We could see frog and raven, thunderbird and killer whale. • I specialize in educating Beau is tall and lanky, with long brown hair and a grey beard. He you about real estate wears a rumpled black felt hat with feathers and speaks very thought- fully. Though we didn’t know at the time of our meeting, he is regarded as one of the most creative and versatile Kwakwaka’wakw carvers of Jane Johnston, M.Ed. his generation, with works in many top museums. He’s a chief, an MLS Gold Award Winner 2009 accomplished singer, composer, historian, and an initiated Hamat’sa, MLS Silver Award Winner 2007, 2008 the highest-ranking secret society of the Kwakwaka’wakw. When we started talking with Beau at the beach, competition from Listings and MOMENTUM info at a nearby chain saw proved intense and he suggested we go to his nearby www.BriarHillGroup.com house where he would “give us some information.” Or call Jane at 250-744-0775 That was an understatement. Beau wanted to read us a story he had written, one that has been passed down through generations in his family. He implied that perhaps this was what we were there for, but warned us it might be disturbing. Beau’s house is very modest and well-used. It’s obvious that chop- ping for the wood stove takes place right beside it. Every surface is well occupied, whether by cats, LPs, books, carving tools, stuff. While we were there, the front door opened frequently—to a fellow carver, a wife, a medicine woman—which barely interrupted the flow of Beau’s storytelling or our rapt attention, though each passerby discovered in turn that they couldn’t leave through the front door as the interior doorknob had disappeared. Oh well; they simply headed to the back door and exited that way. As he begins his story, first acknowledging his uncle Jimmy Dawson SALE “who kept the story alive,” Beau crosses his long legs and leans forward: “Going back to the beginning of our story, it is when James Douglas SALE proclaimed British Columbia the new found colony and he hired a man who was a topographer to make maps because Douglas had no idea SALE about the coastline that they were laying claim to. “It should be brought up again, the fact that they were laying claim • comfort clothes to our coastline and they didn’t even know what it consisted of so how can they have any jurisdictional claim at all? Even looking back 150 for the years ago it is a great embarrassment and it probably still is for British sophisticated lady • natural fibres Editor: Leslie Campbell Publisher: David Broadland tencel ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: Phone 250-388-7231 Email [email protected] bamboo EDITORIAL INQUIRIES and letters to the editor: [email protected] quality European linens WEBSITE: www.focusonline.ca MAIL: Box 5310, Victoria, V8R 6S4 Copyright © 2010. No portion of this publication june be reproduced in whole or in part, without written permis- sion of the publishers. The views expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publishers of Focus Magazine. Come visit us at 1037 Fort Street 480-5183 Canadian Publications Mail Product Sales Agreement No. 40051145. 4 July 2010 • FOCUS Summer Sale Series July & August ALL BED FRAMES 25% Off! Columbia when they look in the mirror and see the truth.” Beau told us how his great-grandfather, Kakab, as a young man of high rank, escorted Dawson around his people’s territory and offered him protection “as it was still a pretty wild place.” Kakab and Dawson became very good friends and Dawson taught Kakab how to read and write and do arithmetic on paper, which Kakab appreciated and benefited from. “In their friendship Dawson travelled further north, past Bella Bella making his PHOTO: DAVID BROADLAND PHOTO: DAVID maps and he always returned to Mimquimlees, Beau Dick the village of my great-grandfather. Whether he was on his way south to Victoria or heading north to continue his map making he would always stop and visit.” Exquisite Indulgences. Fabulous Finds. Beau’s story shifts then, to talk about the Haida of that time, and Everyday Luxuries. how up until the 1860s there were probably 14,000 of them. They would often travel in large flotillas of canoes to Fort Victoria to trade, passing through Kwakwaka’wakw waters. After one mass migra- tion, “Dawson told my great-grandfather to stay away from them when #103-2506 Beacon Avenue, Sidney • 250-654-0424 they returned from Victoria and of course Kakab asked him why. Dawson 285 Fifth Street, Courtenay • 250-334-1887 said they would all be sick and embarrassedly told him that he knew www.tabimports.com first hand that the government he worked for—that James Douglas and the Hudson’s Bay Company were holding hands, as he described it—and they had a plan to distribute smallpox-infested blankets amongst the Haida in the hopes that they would spread this disease to all the Leading edge dentistry other tribes on the coast on their way home.