Chief Beau Dick - Breaking the Coppers.

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Be with Chief Beau Dick breaking the coppers on the steps of parliament in Ottawa, Sunday July 27 2014.   Follow the journey from B.C. at   Occupation Apple Tree.

An old friend of mine is among the group coming across the country with the coppers (which is how I hear of it) but I have never heard of Beau Dick before nor of 'breaking coppers' and so troll around on the Internet trying to gain some understanding. I watch and listen carefully to these videos which begin to explain what is going on:         Journey Of The Copper From This Point On. (30 minutes); and,         The Copper's Journey to Ottawa Begins (1½ minutes). (Thanks to David Shebib.)   On Beau Dick's Wikipedia page he says, "The copper is a symbol of justice, truth and balance, and to break one is a threat, a challenge and can be an insult. If you break copper on someone and shame them, there should be an apology." Putting this together with what's in the videos I begin to see it all as a way of forcing the powers that be to publicly explain themselves. This is certainly a step in the right direction. Beau Dick is from Alert Bay. For a moment I confuse this with Hartley Bay (near Gil Island where they sank the Queen of the North, whose courageous residents came out into the dark and stormy night to save strangers, in the channel where Enbridge tells us that the oil tankers will never never never shipwreck) but Alert Bay is 100 miles or so south of Gil Island and Hartley Bay. He has broken coppers once before - last year on the steps of the BC legislature in Victoria after walking 500 km from Alert Bay - and then, it was in the company of Alexandra Morton. I have followed Alexandra Morton for some years in her efforts to have the negative effects of salmon farming exposed. So. Substantial people on an important mission.   I read about Trinity St. Paul's United Church (in Toronto) unanimously vowing divestment of their funds from fossil fuel related companies in the UC Observer. (Also available on Christine's blog.) Let's hear it for the congregation of Trinity St. Paul's. Good on 'em!  There are some excellent resources at the Trinity St. Paul's website including:         Climate Justice overview; a Primer (pdf); and, a Pamphlet (pdf). So ... I went along to church on Sunday at Beach United (which is a short walk from where I live) and heard directly from the minister, Abigail Johnson, that Beach United is doing nothing of the kind and haven't thought about it. It was obvious that the question on divestments did not please her. Her sermon was (in part) on mustard seeds. I can only hope that one will sprout. Next Sunday I think I will ride the streetcar up to Trinity St. Paul's and see for myself what is going on there. There were other, baffling elements in Abigail's sermon. More on this later perhaps. Today is Alton Lee Wilson's birthday - he would be 112 years old. He was a good man, and a smart one - and he liked to read the comics in the newspaper: It so happens to be Northrop Frye's birthday too (who would be 102). Postscript:   My sweet girl sends an email wanting a photo so I ask a kid going by to snap one and get this. Her new baby will likely be born by the time this appears. Ah!

 
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