Sea to Cedar Summit

MCLENNAN DESIGN PARNTERS CHRISTINE LINTOTT AND JASON F. MCLENNAN RECENTLY TRAVELED BY INVITATION TO NIMMO BAY AND ALERT BAY NEAR THE NORTHERN TIP OF VANCOUVER ISLAND TO PARTICIPATE IN A WEEKEND OF PLANNING WITH THE MUSGAMAGW FIRST NATION. IN A Q + A WITH MCLENNAN, WE DISCUSSED THIS OPPORTUNITY AND THE AMBITIOUS GOALS OF THIS PROJECT.

The delegation, including Jason F. McLennan and Christine Lintott, with tribal edlers in the Big House at Gwa-yas-dums. Photo used with permission.

Brodie Guy

Q: TELL ME HOW THIS TRIP CAME ABOUT. WHAT WAS ITS PURPOSE, AND HOW DID YOU END UP ON THE INVITE LIST?

JFM: Power to Give, our host for this trip, supports community based health and wellness initiatives, particularly focused on Canada’s northern communities. This particular trip I was invited on because their Director of Giving, Tim Cormode, heard me talk in Victoria. He had already been working closely with Christine when we met.

Christine and I were part of a larger group of people from all over Canada—funders, influencers, people with specific relevant skills—funded through Power to Give to attend this three-day brainstorming session.

The Musgamagw First Nation in the Broughton Archipelago—just across from the tip of Vancouver Island, BC—has a dynamic young chief, K’odi Nelson. Chief K’odi has a vision of reasserting their presence on this traditional territory, reestablishing their stewardship role, and reconnecting to their traditional culture and language. In addition to wanting to stem illegal logging and poaching, there is a strong desire to also protect cultural assets. Their language is dying out as the elders pass on; there are less and less fluent speakers every year. So Chief K’odi has this idea to put together a cultural center and eco-lodge on this ancestral land that would establish a physical presence for programs of stewardship and also provide a place for a language training and cultural immersion.

Our job is to support the design process for creating the necessary infrastructure for the Nation.

Chief K’odi has a vision of reasserting their presence on this traditional territory, reestablishing their stewardship role, and reconnecting to their traditional culture and language.

Q: BRIEFLY DESCRIBE THE PROCESS OF GETTING TO NIMMO BAY.

JFM: Getting to Nimmo Bay was a process because all my planes got canceled from weather. I ended up having to drive to Vancouver, which was not how I was supposed to get there—I was supposed to get there by float plane. They chartered a little jet that took us from Vancouver to Port Hardy, which is where the road ends on Vancouver Island. And then from there we took a really cool 1930s Grumman Goose float plane to Nimmo Bay where we landed in the water. Then we were on boats going to the Big House on Alert Bay, then we were on a helicopter, and another boat…

The 1930s Grumman Goose at Nimmo Bay.

Jason F. McLennan

Q: UPON ARRIVAL, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE SPIRIT OF THE PLACE AND THE PEOPLE GATHERED THERE?

JFM: We visited Alert Bay where the Musgamagw have a cultural center and where there was a residential school. Later we visited the Big House in Gwa-yas-dums village on Gilford Island where we met Chief Robert Joseph, Bobby Joe, who talked about reconciliation, which was incredible. We also met with several elders and they shared their support for the vision.

Musgamagw Big House in Gwa-yas-dums village, Gilford Island.

Jason F. McLennan

When we first arrived we were welcomed by a whole group of Native elders drumming and singing us a welcome. We were greeted with an unbelievably warm welcome—very formal—with speeches and certain activities for which we don’t have any analogues in our culture; it felt so thin compared to theirs.

Then we went by helicopter to the proposed project site at the end of Bond Sound to get a sense of the land there and hold a ceremony. There’s a ritual for everything. It was palpable; this is the culture that has been subjugated and yet they are the ones that still have the stronger culture. How is it that the supposed conquered is the stronger culture and the conquerors have the weaker culture? It was obvious in a profound way that we needed them more than they needed us. We had more to learn. When you think about reconciliation it’s about the apology, we’re apologizing to you. But it’s also, or more like, we have something more to learn, it’s for our own good. It’s much deeper. You don’t realize that until you’re really presented with it. That was really the spirit and highlight of the trip.

Q: DESCRIBE THE LAND—FROM THE SKY, FROM THE WATER’S EDGE…

JFM: From the sky, when the clouds parted and the sun came out, it was one of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen. Imagine the view you get when the Olympics are out—that sort of “wow!” Make them twice as big, almost, and closer, and you’ll get a sense of what I saw. And then if you think about what you like about the islands here in Puget Sound, multiply that by ten in quantity. In the foreground you have hundreds of rich green, forested islands, and the backdrop is a wall of glaciers and snowy peaks. And the other difference is, there’s nobody there. It’s pure wilderness. It doesn’t have the annoying bit where you look down and you see a bad development. just the wildness and untouched nature of the place was really powerful.

The power of the tide was also on full display—because there is no development, and because the original forest comes down to the water, there’s a knife’s edge perfect line that runs around everything. It’s this incredible effect, like someone put a level up and drew a perfect line. It’s the fluctuating level of the salt water that creates this effect, which leaves a line on the rock and draws a sharp vegetation line as well. I don’t know why, but it really stuck with me. Here we’ve interrupted these boundaries. I kept using the word epic the whole weekend. It was so big—larger than life. •