Here is what I have to say about Harper’s “discovery” of one of Franklin’s lost ships in the Arctic. Disclaimer: this is longer than a FB status update should probably be. I have quite a bit to say. I am all for solving long-lost mysteries and discovering things at the bottom of the ocean. I am a total self-professed history nerd. Those of you that follow my artistic work – especially those who saw my SummerWorks show, or supported my forthcoming film “To Live in the Age of Melting” – know that I’ve spent the last couple years working on a new project, which has at it’s heart a re-consideration (or perhaps a re-mything of the meaning) of the Franklin expedition. I love that you have covered my FB wall with news links about the ship that has been found. Since having had the chance to travel in the Arctic myself, for the past few years I have been following with interest – and skepticism - our Prime Minister’s quest to find the Franklin ships. I saw it as a strategic human-interest story, a sleight-of-hand to distract the public from his larger interests in the region: namely, mapping the ocean floor for resources and military purposes. But with this breaking news, what I am really struck by is how Prime Minister Harper and Sir John Franklin, though separated by 170 years of history, are like soul-mates. Here are two men obsessed by the strategic power of laying claim to the Arctic and Northwest Passage, motivated by the glory of their own names going down in history for “discovery”, and both unwilling or uninterested in listening to the knowledge and voices of indigenous people of the region from whose wisdom they could benefit. Two men who appear to repeatedly employ non-evidence-based decision-making. Franklin and his crew perished in the Arctic, apparently oblivious to the irony of clinging to their silverware, proper teapots, tinned food and refusal to learn tools for survival from the Inuit. Likewise, Harper is seemingly oblivious to the irony of his massive spending to find Franklin’s ships while simultaneously slashing federal budgets to science research, environmental research, archives and libraries, and Parks Canada – not to mention his refusal to commission an inquiry into the deaths of murdered and missing Aboriginal women. It might almost be funny, if there weren’t so many lives at stake. One of the questions I asked in my interviews with visitors to my Idea of North SummerWorks installation was What does Arctic Sovereignty mean to you?. Responses ranged from “I don’t actually know what that means”, to varying analyses about Harper to Inuit self-determination. The installation at SummerWorks for me was a profound beginning to what I believe it’s a crucially important conversation for Canada at this time in our history. If nothing more, the discovery of this lost Franklin ship -- and our PM’s excitement about it - means that this important conversation / debate gets a bit more national attention and airtime. The real conversation of course is not about the lost-or-found ships, it’s about our colonial heritage and legacy. It’s about the relationships between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in this country. It’s about our history and how it gets taught, or not taught. It’s about global warming, and how the Arctic is the (not-so) Distant Early Warning system telling the planet where we are headed. It’s about the future of resource development and extraction in the North. It’s about who owns and has control over our land and our water. It’s about the very near future. It’s about how we treat each other and our shared home, country and planet. We are all treaty people. Prime Minister Harper, I call on you now to look beyond artifacts, beyond oil and resource extraction, and beyond empire. I call on you to protect our water and land. To make Canada a leader for global environment policy, and for the rights of indigenous people. I’m going to borrow the lovely meme that’s circulating and say it again: Don’t let your legacy be a shipwreck.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 19:32:18 +0000
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