How did we land here?
Hand in hand here?
Banded together here?
Standing, sitting, well-being side by side here?

In this place where we know the land is ward to no one but/and stewarded by many collectively in, and by, and for, and with community.
In proud humility
and generous reciprocity
and grounded advocacy
and deep seated, deep seeded, transplanted, undefeated, unprecedented,
– on unceded lands – hope.

In a political climate of division
derision
indecision
inaction
fissured and fractured factions
disruption
disturbance
both rural and urban.

When we are called to task to ask and consider – what’s left of land rights when there have been so many wrongs?

There are champions and warriors and witnesses and allies and knowledge keepers and knowledge givers and supportive beams and people who funded from the foundation up.

People who are…

Shifting conservation from conversation to concerted effort.
Nursing the idea of an estuary and nursery could be a food sovereignty sanctuary.
Moving through doubts on drought management.
Doing the most to ensure we would not outgrow our old growth.
Rehoming homes designated for demolition.
Selling and buying the idea that the real state of real estate could come with generational economic security and health and housing stability and sustainability.

Choosing to not leave land governance to chance and not to hideaway to but to write the reports, expand beyond box and boundary, and name the Indigenous title in the Haida way.

Unearthing the dirt exposing where your roots camp.
Reclaiming
restating
reinstating
your worth.

Creator must have had a divine hand to plan it.
That out of all the people on this planet,
in this mysterious cosmic orbit,
this room should have and host and hold all of you in it.

That as the world, on just another Thursday, spins
we should gather to celebrate the good work and the wins
with Indigenous and unsettled settler kith and kin
spanning the lifespan – child to Elder and everyone within
for generations.
And we share medicines.
And bear witness
in hopefulness
in exuberance
in recognition of magnificence.

Where people are inspired not to build fences.
Where chasing dollars doesn’t make sense.
Where your work and your names hold not just importance but significance.
Where we can pause a moment to listen to the wind whistle and whisper and howl in applause.
Because the causes you have initiated
the gardens you have agri-cultivated
the movements you have activated
the cultural practices you have reinvigorated
renewed
restored
rescued
repurposed
re-established
self-determined
ought not to be minimized or ignored.

Where the mountains share the peak.
Where the brooks babble about you.
Where the eyes of the storm gaze upon you.
Where the ocean waves at you.
Where the rivers run to meet you.
Where the rock faces to greet you.
Where the thunder claps for you.
Where the totems told of you.
And, where as the sun sets we rise to meet you.

As we gather, what a gift to lift my hands in gratitude to each and every one of you.

What is our business here?
What is my purpose?
What is our purpose?
We are here on purpose.
For good works.

They say, many hands makes light work.
I wonder if, maybe, that is not about measuring the heaviness of the load
but instead the prism of optimism
that refracts and reverberates through the cracks and chasms of the Earth.
Maybe many hands makes light work.
And it illuminates the current state while instigating
and inspiring
and inciting
and activating
and fostering change.

Forward towards a future state
imaged
imagined
intended
better than we have previously and historically pretended and some have insinuated.

Called in to gather by protocol from all directions with all our lenses.
With protections and relations in shared territories as we share space and break bread –
with butter spread on the bottom.
At home.
In home.
Welcome.

Woven together. Point by point. With good intentions.
Hope in suspension. Held intangibly in between all of us.
To do more than just create a just world – one that sustains us substantially with sustenance, sustainably, too.

With gratitude served individually as we sing for our supper – Huy’ch’qa many many times over.
As y’all go above and beyond. Standing in strength you do not waiver beyond these walls. But/and for now held inside
is decidedly laughter
and chitter chatter
as drinks clink and dishes clatter.
The cacophony that becomes a symphony of everything except an apology.
Because we can and should and need to experience joy and magic and music
and not only somber seriousness.
To commemorate and memories make and not just commiserate.
And tend to this tender time and celebrate
because we don’t always have to get it exactly right.

Despite, and because of, the little sweet and a little sour found inside the flourishing and nourishing salmonberry.
Providing sovereignty through two currents – constantly concurrent – of fresh and salt water.
An uncolonized system that includes them, you, us.

Revitalization without hesitation
rejuvenation
reconciliation
declaration
inclusion of all voices with protection and solutions for the impacts of colonization.
And all families harvesting stories and seeds as the Earth gifts what we need.

Taking time – taking a moment – to absorb all the beauty we see in sight and mind this time.
An ancestor’s vision – a visionary.
Finding ways to modernize housing through renovation and innovation and similar passions and notions.
And raising up – both towers and the people.
And our hands, in gratitude, to all of you for what you have done and dreamed to do and continue to commit to with one another not just one or the other.
Never alone. Connected in community.
The vibrance and relevance of these entities before me.

Not just for an instant or an instance but a continuance – a pursuance of a good and healthy world. Watching and witnessing it all unfold.
Bold. Just as the ancestors foretold.
The hope and truth they hold.
Carving a new way.
Charting new – but ancient – waters.
Where policy can reflect responsibility and opportunity.
Singing a new song to have our voices heard.

Emerging and continuing and remaining and honouring leaders and teachers and trailblazers and change-makers and creators and helpers and truth-tellers, land protectors, care takers, advancers, builders, invigorators, artists, orators, activists, advocates, allies, law-makers, and more.
Together for the common good.
Doing good.
You are good.

The light is bright tonight and this room is aglow and I hope you know that as we go we are interconnected –
a cycle
a circle
never ending.
Like our work here is never done.
Moments are hard fought and hard won.
And we go with grace and with elegance, influence, persistence, power, commitment, courage, dignity, respect, and the knowing deep in your spirit.

I hope the only water shed tonight was in recognition and appreciation and revelation of the celebration of you.

Because, after all, the world needs more water.