Friday August 14th
Bumblebees,
hummingbirds, great big Sandhill cranes and tiny goldfinches welcome this
visitor to their garden spot. The humans who live here are Hubert and Jacomin.
They’ve invited us for an overnight at the Nolalu
Eco Centre where they’ve built a wonderful off-grid straw-bale home.
Hubert
is also a student at the Centre for Christian Studies with Lynn and he’s
travelling with us this last leg of the journey from Kakabeka Falls to Kenora.
One
thing that strikes me today – or again today – is the great northern
Ontario industry of road building. The quality of the roads is incredible and I
realize that in a recession, the great social enterprise of an Ontario
government is to build roads – recycling tax dollars into the credit union
accounts of road construction crews.
This
passage comes to mind:
“As it is written in the book of the words of
Isaiah the prophet: "A voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Prepare
the way for the Lord, make a straight highway for him.” Luke3:4
As I
enjoy this great Empire building enterprise, I recall how the Roman Empire’s
system of roads were both the way they brought commerce and trade to the far
regions of the empire – and how the conquering armies travelled quickly to
quell any uprising. It’s perhaps not
surprising that this metaphor for John the Baptist’s “way-making” creates a
counterpoint to the Roman empire’s way.
At
many points we pass great stone crushing operations. As the Canadian shield is
blasted apart to make a greater, wider way for transport trucks, tourists, and
commuters, that stone is turned into road. We passed an operation where two
great hills were slowly (or in geological time – incredibly quickly) being
dismantled. Where once the road would have gone deep into a river valley and
back up the other side – that valley has now been filled with a rock
passage-way that we now zip across.
The
costs of Empire – on our eco-system - are what we’re going to Grassy Narrows to
witness. In exchange for our way of life – there are peoples of the land who
have paid with physical and mental suffering, with the loss of a way of life,
with tragedy and conflict. And these
human costs cannot be extracted from the effects on the Land.
When
the stories of Jesus’ birth were told, the prophecies of Isaiah were
remembered. Making a way in the wilderness. Lifting the low high and bringing
the high low. When Caesar made the way straight through the wilderness for a
peace and prosperity – it was at the cost of
the village culture Jesus grew up in – his birth was a sign that another
way was remembered and held sacred.
It
is this kind of sign I am looking for as we arrive in Kenora today.
Unlike
many of the northern communities we’ve passed through, Kenora could easily be
mistaken for a southern Ontario mid-sized town. Instead of a straggle of low
buildings spread along the highway, Kenora’s got all the major fast food chains
and a thriving downtown with historic hotels (that aren’t crumbling),
micro-breweries, and a community market. It reminds me of Orillia.
Our
Baptist church headquarters are being used by a theatre group this evening, so
we gather at the United Church instead. We meet the nine other delegation
members and our two leaders Peter and Madeline. Among us are two Americans, one
Winnipeger and the rest coming from parts of Ontario.
A
pleasant surprise is Meg who I first met at Emmanuel College twenty five years
ago. She’s just arrived to serve as a Community Outreach worker with the United
Church here. She offers Lynn and I some
lawn at her home on Hilly Lake to pitch our tent.
We’ve
arrived.
