Marninwarntikura - discovering healing, understanding trauma

For those of you unaware of where and what Nunavut (meaning ‘our land’ in Inuktitut) is, I’ve inserted a link to a handy map.  http://www.athropolis.com/map-nunavut.htm It is an Inuit governed territory of Canada. It’s a gigantic land of immense proportions, covering much of Canada’s eastern Arctic extending to the north pole. You may have heard of the history of the territory’s incredible formation. http://www.nunavut-physicians.gov.nu.ca/history.shtml I’ve been in this territory, well minute segments of it, during the onset of the Arctic’s summer. I spent time in the territory’s capital, Iqaluit. I went west across the Hudson Bay to Rankin Inlet in the Kivalliq region. I finished up heading to Clyde River toward the top of Baffin Island, set in amongst the fjords well above the 60 th parallel. The title of this blog is a word I was told by a person that gave me great insight into the lives of Inuit today. It means always look back. It was explained ...

Vancouver is a city on edge.  On the edge of the wild, the urban and water; the haves and have-nots; the edge between dereliction and gentrification; it pushes environmental movements, it was where Greenpeace was established, while edging Alberta, a province big on natural resource extraction and building pipelines into BC; it’s been on the edge of drug crises for years. Right now, it is in the midst’s of an opioid crisis; It edges the USA. Washington States’ Cascade mountain range can be seen from Vancouver, and the state’s Olympic Mountains from Victoria, Vancouver Island. The jagged edges of these fortress-like ranges are visible to all Canadians from these ‘safe’, Canadian vantage points. When we all walk into a bar… The many contrasts laid bare across the Vancouver landscape attracts interesting critique, which pushes the public policy discourse, and seems to allow Vancouver to push the edge of working practices in the social service sector. Of cou...