Connection: The Stolo River Connects me to my Oma, my truth, and my duty to educate myself and others.
Connection: Remember that word.
Stolo: The people of the river. What does this mean? It means those who live along the Fraser River since time immemorial. This river connects all of us sitting here in this room. This waterway is a passage from the Pacific Ocean all the way to the Rocky Mountains. Think about this for a moment. Think about the importance of this passage, the length of it, the way it connects all of us. How many of us have walked the trails, fished, driven over bridges and paid the tolls, collected rocks, camped or had fires along its banks, or had Instagram photoshoots along its without knowing what the original purpose is? Or taking the time to think about it? Or care? How many of us take it for granted?
Before we came and took this land and water for ourselves, before residential schools like, St. Mary’s in Mission were put in place, this beautiful resource was used for fishing, travel and transportation, washing, cooking…a source that fed and bred life and connected communities…again, for time immemorial. Until Colonists came and took-continue to take, came and forced-continue to force, came and thought they were the founders and had rights to the lands-still think they have rights. Now, the Fraser River is named after one of them, as is the school we gather on.
My family comes from The Netherlands in the 1950’s, as immigrants who escaped the Holocaust, who lost family members due to the cultural genocide that occurred there. My family came to Canada to feel safe, and while they were given opportunities and felt safe, they quickly became part of the settlers who acquired homes on unceded territories. Who found employment as housekeepers in residential schools because they needed to find work, and their language barrier made them ignorant to what was really going on, they were told they were boarding schools. My ancestors ignorantly participated in the very act of cultural genocide that they were running from…and while part of me applauds the brave acts and courage that led them to Canada, another part of me feels sick…it kinda feels like a double standard…and it is very confusing.
My relatives were not ‘colonizers’ in Canada, they were immigrants, but ignorant, still living on land that was not theirs to take. But when you know, you grow, right?
So, what does the river have to do with my family? What am I going to do about it now? Well, this is the part where I apologize for my truth. Where, as much as I love and respect my Oma for her own strength, I apologize for my family’s ignorance. This is the part where carrying her name once held pride, then held guilt, now holds both, and a strength and a duty to do better, to be better, and to continue to learn and grow. This is the part where I know she wants me to reconcile. She raised her 6 children on the Fraser River in Port Coquitlam, the river that runs through the town that I raise my own children in. This is the river that connects us all to one another and connects me to my Oma. This is the river that connects me to the truth and to the reconciliation that I must do. I feel grateful to be here as an educator who can share and to teach and to learn with you all and my students. My commitment to reconciliation is to value the Stolo River, remembering the strength of connection and as a reminder to be informed-not ignorant, to teach and share about its origins, and to continue to learn and grow everyday so that I can give it and its people the respect and consideration that is long overdue.
This river connects us all. It is a vital passage of connection and life for many of us. Let us walk its banks and know, and do, and respect. Let us connect with one another, and with nature. Let us allow it to give our hearts what it is meant to do-to give life and to connect. Let us not turn blind eyes to injustice, and instead, as educators, work toward connection and knowing.
Let us know that the Stolo connects its people.
I am Jennifer Minke, and acknowledge that I live, work, play and learn of the traditional unceded territories of the Stolo territory of the Semath and Mathqui First Nations.
*Me receiving a female empowerment award on the banks of the Stolo, my late Oma who I admire for her strength, and the Indigenous book ends that I recently received from her estate. I treasure the symbolism and how they connect me to her and my duty to reconciliation as an educator.
