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Reaction to BC government’s decision to proceed with Site C dam
British Columbia premier John Horgan’s announcement yesterday that his government would go forward with an $11-billion hydroelectric project in the Peace River valley continued to stir ripples in the province. The West Moberly and Prophet River First Nations announced they would file a lawsuit to halt construction. Andrew Nikikforuk at The Tyee argues the dam is a money pit and an environmental disaster, while the Vancouver Sun insists the dam will meet BC’s increasing demand for electricity.
In other dam news, Canada and the US will re-negotiate a treaty covering US dams on the Columbia River, affecting payments to Canada and restoration of salmon runs.
Opposing a pipeline one tiny house at a time
Kanahus Manuel, a member of the Secwepemc Nation, is leading a protest against proposed expansion of a Kinder-Morgan pipeline across British Columbia. Her strategy is featured in an article at Colorlines: building tiny solar powered homes on lands traditionally held by the Secwepemc that line in the path of the proposed pipeline.
Former Portland mayor Vera Katz dies
Vera Katz, who served three terms as Portland’s mayor and also speaker of the state House of Representatives, died yesterday at age 84. The Oregonian reports on her eventful life, which included fleeing Nazi Germany with her family at age 8, to overseeing the revitalization of many of Portland’s neighborhoods.
Seattle artists of the year and other lists
City Arts magazine has selected their 2017 Seattle artists of the year, including spoken word performer and mayoral candidate Nikkita Oliver, Anastacia-Reneé, Seattle’s new civic poet, and hip hop artist Porter Ray. Meanwhile, Seattle writer Donna Miscolta picks books by local authors to tuck into this year’s Christmas stockings.
On revising and revising and revising
At Powell’s Book Blog, Portland novelist Tracy Manaster reflects on the decade-long journey to finally get her novel The Done Thing published. It required many rejections and revisions and a long hiatus, (not to mention writing and publishing another novel) before Manaster’s book could find an audience. “I wanted this book in the world, as if fiction, in the form of an actual published novel, would somehow make me real.”
Vancouver’s poet laureate on the cultural power of food
Vancouver poet laureate Rachel Rose has edited a new anthology called Sustenance, featuring writers from British Columbia contemplating the importance of food in our lives. In an essay and poem in The Tyee, Rose recalls making dishes with refugees from Myanmar and Syria:
“Soak the bulgur, drain it and let it dry, then add pepper—
suddenly it happened in our own country.
Children as young as this one don’t know the sound of bombs,
they aren’t afraid of anything…” That’s all for today from the Jet City offices of Cascadia Daily. ✈️
–Andrew Engelson
Photo credit: Rachel Rose by Ayelet Tsabari, CC BY-SA 3.0.