Our Shared Responsibilities Totem Pole Journey Film & Community Dinner

The 2015 totem pole journey, led by Master Carver Jewell James of the Lummi Nation’s House of Tears Carvers will be arriving at Tsleil-Waututh August 21-22. The Pole Blessing and Kick-off the tour in Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver) takes place during 2 events:

EVENT 1 – Solidarity Film Night: Friday Aug 21, 6-9:00pm Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, 1803 E 1st Ave, Vancouver. (1 block east of 1st & Commercial). 6-7pm, Community Dinner, By donation.
7-9pm Screening a film documentary by Freddy Lane of the Lummi Nation and Sierra Club about the 2014 “Our Shared Responsibility” journey through the Pacific Northwest. There will be a discussion with Jewell James (Lummi) and Rueben George (Tsleil-Waututh) following the film. Venue sponsor: Grandview Calvary Baptist Church.

EVENT 2 – Pole Blessing: Saturday, Aug 22, 10am-1pm, Tsleil-Waututh Community Centre, 3010 Sleil Waututh Rd, North Vancouver, BC V7H 2V5
10-12noon – 2015 Totem Pole Journey arrival and ceremony outdoors;
12-1pm, Lunch in Community Centre. Free.

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Please join the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust and Wilderness Committee in supporting this year’s journey. Each year for the past two years, Indigenous carvers have transported their totem poles thousands of miles to raise public awareness and strengthen opposition to the export of fossil fuels from the west coast of the United States and Canada.

Working in close association with other tribal governments, environmental organizations as well as the faith-based community, these efforts have helped shape the public debate and understanding of what is at risk with the proposed fossil fuel exports. These journeys have reached millions of people through the mainstream and social media. The 2015 journey (August 21-August 31) comes at a defining moment in our collective effort to defeat these fossil fuel export proposals.

The 2015 Our Shared Responsibilities Totem Pole Journey

Unlike previous journeys, the 2015 journey will focus events in places of worship and in key tribal communities. Pope Francis, in his recent 184-page papal encyclical Laudato Si, issued a sweeping condemnation of the “relentless exploitation and destruction of the environment and the reckless pursuit of profits, excessive faith in technology and political shortsightedness.” The central theme of his message was “our shared responsibilities” to the Creation and to each other. This is also the theme of the 2015 totem pole and one that goes to the heart of opposition to the proposed extraction, transport and storage of fossil fuels in the Pacific Northwest. We will be holding events at places of worship during the journey to build on this interdenominational message of our shared responsibilities in the faith-based community.

We will also be stopping in major urban areas (Spokane and Portland) and are planning for events in Vancouver and with Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust, Bellingham, Seattle Area (Tulalip), Longview, Celilo Falls, Yakama, and, finally, the Northern Cheyenne reservation. The journey is scheduled to end in the territory of the Northern Cheyenne whose sacred lands would be devastated by the proposed coal mine. We must raise a total of $29,791 before the departure date of August 21, 2015, so please consider stepping up to support this powerful journey.