On Canada Day, teacher and activist Ash Thackaberry wants to encourage an alternative way of marking the big day.
On July 1, she is organizing the action Raise a Paddle in Solidarity, billing it as a gathering for all water protectors - an opportunity to concentrate on healing the environment, and listening to and learning from the land’s Indigenous peoples.
On Canada’s 150th anniversary, many across the country are bringing focus to the land’s Indigenous culture and heritage, and shining a light on the aspects of nation building that are less worthy of celebration. Thackaberry is doing similar in Guelph.
“It is to question what we are actually celebrating and partying about on this occasion,” she said in an interview. “It is also about moving into hope. What do we actually want to see within the next 150 years, and how do we take the steps to accomplish these things.”
As the event title suggests, there is a paddling component. Participants will gather in Marianne’s Park across from The Boathouse, where the Eramosa and Speed rivers meet. The plan is to spend an hour in the park, hearing from a number of speakers. A land acknowledgement, as well as a presentation by a representative from the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, are planned.
And then the canoes will be launched. A three-hour paddle up the Eramosa River is planned. Thackaberry hopes to put together a fleet of donated canoes.
“In order to honour ourselves as human beings, what do we need?” she reflected. “We need things like fresh air and clean water. We need healthy, nutritious food, and we need community. We need to remember the essential, foundational things that human beings need for life.”
Part of goal of the event is to raise some funds for the Chippewas of the Thames, to assist in its Supreme Court of Canada legal challenge against Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline and federal government.
“We are going to be paddling the Eramosa River, which is approximately a three-hour paddle,” she said. “It’s going to be very family friendly. I think we will just go with the natural rhythm of the water and the earth.”
The event starts are 10 a.m. There is no time limit on the speakers.
“It’s hard to work within manmade time when people are speaking from their hearts,” she said.
