Commonwealth Games in India

Since the breakup or re-constructing of the British Empire over the past century we are left with a voluntary association called the British Commonwealth of Nations. Over a third of the world's population belong to this organization and it unique in as much as all the participants were once ruled by Great Britain. Regular conferences are held and all members are equal. Many still pledge allegiance to the Queen but some do not. Canada as an example still looks at the Queen as the head of our country although she appoints a Govern General to act in her place.`

Every few years a international games are held in one of the members states. Participation is limited to athletes from members of the commonwealth. These are the second largest games after the Olympics and garnish much attention. Winners of these events hold their win in high regard as many of the athletes hold world records.

This year the games are held in Delhi, India. Our athletes will mingle with others from the far flung corners of the earth. These games add a touch of class to the association and help bind the nations together. When you look at the members of this association you begin to realize the tremendous control over the seas Britain had for hundreds of years.

It is surprising as well to see that the vast majority of the commonwealth countries received their freedom without a armed conflict. In fact only a few fought for their freedom like the USA and remained friendly over the years. Today Britain and the USA are great friends but the USA is not a member of the commonwealth.

People often think these games are a waste of money but the good will gleaned through sports and culture are very strong and important. International events bring people, culture, ideas and understanding to bear for the common good.

Talking Stick

When my daughter returned from Kenya this summer she brought me a special gift of a talking stick. She wanted me to have a gift with meaning. The Masai tribe is a highly organized society, strongly patriarchal in nature, with elder men sometimes joined by retired elders, deciding most major matters for each Masai group.

The chief held the symbolic stick which gave him the power to speak without interruption. When the stick was handed to another he had the floor and respect of the others and was able to speak. This small stick gave order to the gathering. The chief traditionally held the stick to show his authority much the same way our First Nations people wear headdresses.

When my daughter wished to get one of these sticks it was given because she told them that I was once a chief (Mayor) in our land. The stick is hand crafted about 18 inches (45 cms) long. It is bound with decorative fine beadwork. The tiny beads have been the mainstay of the Masai women for centuries to show their identity and position in society through body ornaments and body painting. It is curious that in the 1800's the beads that had been made for centuries from raw materials (clay, seeds, horn) were replaced with opaque glass ones from Europe.

Would it ever be wonderful if our governing bodies had a similar system where respect would be shown to speakers in a similar manner. I treasure this gift and will produce from now on at family gatherings when the rhetoric becomes heated. We can learn much from cultures where good manners are valued and rules maintained by traditions kept for their true value.

Immigration

Other than our First Nations People everyone who make up our total population are immigrants or descendants of immigrants. America became the new home of millions of people from all corners of the world. Most of these new folk came because of special circumstances. Famine, religious persecution, chance for a better life or a thousand other reasons. These people enriched their new homeland and helped to make it prosper.

There was such an abundance of good land available that the new settlers quickly made a good life for their families. With special skills and talents came a new culture. A vigorous workforce and a need for services brought more professionals to this country and soon Canada and USA were leading the world in new ideas and technology.

All this activity caused the USA to become a melting pot of society. In Canada these was more room for individuals to maintain their identity and many immigrants settled together and formed a community with a homeland flavour. Throughout the west there are enclaves of distinct connections with their mother country. This has brought Canada to adapt a multi-cultural policy. People felt comfortable with familiar surroundings and people who spoke their native tongue.

This strength has also been a weakness as some of the immigrants brought with them cultural baggage. Some groups still were fighting their demons from their old homeland and this has caused problems. Recently there have been a rash of so called honour killings. There is no such thing in Canada as it is murder here and this clash of culture is painful.

New Canadians who grouped together maintained the richness of their former motherland's cultural while becoming true Canadians. Our first true Canadians are being recognized for their unique status as our First Nations and land claims settlements are being written to define that point. The largest land settlement agreement was the Nunavut agreement. One fifth of Canada's land mass was deeded to the Inuit as well as Territory status bestowed on this first nation.

Canada is revising their immigration policy to reflect new trends and we trust that our doors will remain open to suitable people wishing to make Canada their home. For sure immigration is the lifeblood for growth in Canada and will make our nation stronger and healthy.

World's Largest Violin

Cape Breton is is one place in Canada that you are almost always within earshot of fiddle music. From the early Scottish and French settlers came a proud and distinctive sound that is known around the world in music circles relating to the fiddle. As a child I heard the sound of the fiddle while delivering newspapers. At most family gatherings and celebrations the fiddle was the main instrument but bagpipes came a close second.

From this heritage came Canadian and world class musicians with that distinct recognition of being a Cape Breton fiddler. The city of Sydney has become a destination for tour boats and the focal point is the international dock on the harbour front. Theresa and I recently visited the site last summer and enjoyed the entertainment each night on the waterfront. Talented artists played not only for the coins they were given but by people who performed for the sheer joy of sharing their interest.

The city and tourists information people had a large fiddle built and placed in a prominent place for all to see. It stands out because of its size and significance to the fiddle tradition of the area.One must see it and hear it to gain the true feeling one gets from seeing something spectacular. You would not be disappointed if you spent a few hours on the boardwalk of Sydney and listening to the fiddle music resonate up and down the waterfront.

First Arctic Ice

Come September we get very heavy frost and low temperatures. Looking in my diary I see that on Sept 15 in 1995 the temperature was -34. I was about to try to get to my cabin by way of the river but the lack of snow made it hard on my Komitick so I decided to run up the lake instead. The ice was crystal clear and without snow it was very difficult to use the snowmobile.

It was fun to speed up and turn the machine a little and spin and spin. The weather rarely permits the ice to freeze so perfectly and all the people were out on the lake and skating and having a grand time. The ice would eventually be 9 feet thick but at this early stage it was about a foot thick. The children were lying on the ice and watching the Char swim below as clear as crystal. Some cut holes in the ice and were jigging for Char with great success.

Our hamlet was enjoying the four hours of sun before the 4 months of darkness. One family had a polar bear hide tied to the back of their snowmachine and were giving the kids a ride of their life. Boys and girls had their bikes and were travelling over the smooth surface with a skill I never mastered. Kids up here used their bikes all year and became proficient at travelling over smooth ice without incident. Sad to say that when pressure ridges occur and leads appear there are deaths from drowning as kids fall in the leads and drown. Every Inuit child is taught the dangers but every year there are deaths.

The sun started to go down and old tires were burned to provide light for skating. A merchant appeared with a small barbeque and muskoxen burgers were provided. The Hudson Bay Store and the Co-op were equally generous on occasions like this.This would be the last time the hamlet would celebrate on the ice until the spring. People lingered until the fire burned down and the burgers were finished. It was now -38 but the locals did not mind. It would be many months before we would have another get together on the ice. Remember this is the high Arctic and these folks were Inuit. Before all the people left the lake our renowned Drum Dancer offered a prayer and sang a drum song. Very moving and I thought spiritual.

Visit To A Real Gypsy Camp

Photo of Lord Gordon Parry courtesy of Wikipedia (in public domain).

In the late Seventies I had the good fortune to be a guest of the country of Wales along with my family. Lord Gordon Parry and Lady Glenys Parry were our hosts and great one at that. Our friendship came as a result of a twinning situation between Pembroke, Wales and Pembroke, Canada. We hosted Lord Parry and his friends while they were visiting Canada, and we were invited to go to Wales for a ten day holiday at a later date.

Part of our visit was a tour through a Gypsy encampment to meet singer Tom Jones' mother, who lived there. The tour began with all of us piling in our twelve passenger van and heading to this abandoned gravel pit. As we entered the gravel pit we passed what seemed like hundreds of huge lorries. These trucks were used by the Gypsy men who scavenged about the area and picked up garbage.

Before entering this area Lord Parry explained that this area was allocated as the home for Gypsies. The gravel pit was several miles long and housed several thousand people who were called Gypsies. He explained that they did not have full citizenship but had lived there for years. The further in the gravel pit you lived, the higher you were up in the hierarchy of the Gypsy royalty. He said that it would not be wise to enter this area without permission. Everyone here lived in what we call house trailers on wheels which could be moved at a moments notice.

Many of these trailers were beautiful and decorated in the traditional style of Gypsy lore. Before we actually entered the gravel pit, Lord Parry assured the people of his intentions of showing his Canadian friends the camp and meeting Mrs. Jones. That was not her actual name but she was Tom Jones' mother. We travelled a long distance before stopping in front of this particularly beautiful and ornate trailer. Mrs. Jones came out and greeted Lord Parry warmly and he introduced us to this celebrity.

We retreated from this camp and I was astonished to find that there was a double standard for Gypsies. Lord Parry was an advocate for the Gypsies and was loved by them in return. He exercised what influence he had to get them the right to vote and have regular citizenship. He was only partially successful. We as Canadians were shocked but understood the dilemma under which these people lived for centuries. The overt prejudice was apparent but they still prevailed in keeping some semblance of dignity and self worth. Their music is unique and their spirit unbroken as they continue to live the Gypsy life.

This was another experience which helped shape my value system of believing in the equality and value of each unique individual who shares the earth.

Qikiqtarjjuaq (Broughton Island)

Ikaluktutiak is a hamlet in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut. It on the south east corner of Victoria Island. The terrain is flat and barren with thousands of ponds and lakes. Easy travelling in the winter over the snow and ice covered countryside.

This was my home base for several years. My next home was almost 3ooo km east but still in Nunavut. This gives you some sense of the magnitude of the northern territory. Two examples are that Victoria Island is larger than Newfoundland and Baffin Island is almost 2000 Km long. One fifth of Canada's land mass makes up Nunavut and this land is inhabited by a little over than 25,ooo people of which over 80% are Inuit.

Qikiqtarjjuaq (Broughton Island) is in the Baffin Island region. The terrain here is rugged , mountainous and Ice covered for the most part. Because it is situated along the east coast off the south east portion of Baffin Island it faces miles of ocean known as Davis Strait. Looking over the ocean you would see Greenland some hundreds of miles due east.

There is a grandeur about this place with mountains throughout this Island rising thousands of feet and covered year long by ice - hundreds of feet thick. Fiords inundate the coastline creeping inland for miles and show ancient rock faces rising straight up, carved by successive ice scrapings just as a artist would sculpt a carving. Birds by the millions make this rock wall their home in summer.

The sea abounds with seal , walrus and whales of many kinds. The knarl whale with its great long spear pointing from its snout is one of the wonders of the area. Shrimp , clams and shellfish abound and provide the food for the diet of the walrus who consume several hundreds of pounds daily.

Caribou and musk oxen survive on the barren landscape by finding food in the low lying areas but this is the home of the mighty polar bear. Magnificent animals standing up to 11 feet tall standing on their hind legs and as agile and nimble an animal you can find while in the water or scampering over ice packs seeking their favourite food , seal.

The polar bear is used by animal rights groups and global warming groups as their poster babies. They are beautiful but I wonder if they would be used if they looked like a wart hog. You don't hear much about seals up here as this is the main food of the Inuit. I never really got used to the taste of seal although it was a food offered when you visited a home or on the land. The seal hunt is another story where people use the baby seals as a reason to interfere with the local peoples way of life in Newfoundland and the area of the St. Lawrence Gulf.

The climate along the Baffin Island coastline is harsh but not as severe as inland. Personally my time in the Baffin was not as pleasurable as the far north in the Kitikmeot. Probably the main reason was the land formations while beautiful made travel in many regions impossible.

There are many area wonders to be discovered on Baffin Island and only a few take advantage of the new and growing tourist industry. The little Hamlet that was my home there was shared with about 500 Inuit and a dozen white folks. This was one of the most culturally pure places in Nunavut and the customs and traditions were essentially intact.

These pictures are typical of the Baffin Region.