Canadian pilgrimage – postcard three

Vancouver 

“We are calling for the billions of $ being invested in this [Vancouver] pipeline
to go into social uplift programmes instead.
We call on all campaigners to join us in this act of restoration;
to join us in ceremony and prayer for the good of ourselves,
each other, the lands and the seas.” 

Cedar George-Parker, Member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation 

The Pacific Ocean wove her way through our time on the far west coast of Canada. We cycled around Stanley Park, so close to the ocean that we could dip our toes. Yet raising our gaze we landed on stockpiles of yellow sulphur on the far coast, a by-product of the natural gas production process. And always in the line of vision, two, three, more oil tankers, waiting to replenish their cargo. Plans to further dredge the harbour in Vancouver, to allow these tankers to increase their capacity, are being protested by environmental groups. We joined one campaign, called by the Tsleil-Waututh (slay-wa-tooth) Nation. Guided by our intrepid host, Anna, we were able to cross to Vancouver’s north shore by sea-bus, jump in an ‘evo-car’, then hire kayaks to join around 100 other paddle-boarders, kayakers and canoe-paddlers on the waters outside Vancouver port, to protest this ongoing disruption of the sacred waters. 

One activist we met talked of her drive to live near the ocean to campaign for the survival and thriving of the magnificent Orca. Part of our protest included calling out to the sacred Orca, to affirm their place in these oceans and to dedicate ourselves to their survival. You can keep up with this and other protest actions via the Sierra Club of Canada. 

That day, our day of protest, was book-ended by two events at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in downtown Vancouver. First, a service of thanksgiving (my sermon is here) followed by a conversation with the church’s eco-group, sharing inspiration from the Iona Community’s Eco CCN. Then in the evening, a contemplative service where many walked the Fingerprint Labyrinth and added to the Ribbon of Hope. A remarkable day of prayer, reflection, conversation, action and activist-craftivist-labyrinth walking. And what a joy to spend time that weekend with around 30 passionate folks, interested in ‘living well with difference’ at our gathering at the Centre for Peace, part of Vancouver’s oldest church, the Canadian Memorial United Church.  

God of peace and justice –
God of the Orca and the Spruce,
of the oceans and the forests,
forgive our dredging.
Forgive our disturbing of the
sacred soils of creation.
Turn deathly destruction into
torrents of ceremony,
into tides of prayer and social action
so that shrimps and seals;
whales and walruses
thrive in our oceans
for ever and ever. Amen.