TLC friend-raiser event with Ann Mortifee at Arthur Erickson designed Baldwin House
 
Tuesday November 21, 2006
Baldwin House on the shore of Deer Lake, Burnaby

Ann Mortifee held the First Nations hand drum.  She talked about how as a teenager, she had learned from Chief Dan George – her
co-performer in George Ryga's The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, which premiered
at the Vancouver Playhouse.  She talked about how she took a walk
in the forest with him, and how he instilled within her, an
understanding and appreciation of silence – long before she fully
understood it.  She told a story about watching a whale breach and
flap its flipper down on the water… and how a song immediately came to her and she wrote it down with her sister's lipstick.

Here was a white woman born in Zululand South Africa, raised in Canada as a young child, who learned from a treasured
First Nations chief who was nominated for and Academy Award for his
role in the movie Little Big Man, standing in Arthur Erickson designed Baldwin House on the South shore of Deer Lake. Beside her is her new husband Paul Horn, whose most famous music album is the solo flute recording Inside the Great Pyramid.  And she was introduced by one of Canada's newest Order of Canada recipients – Bill Turner, executive director of The Land Conservancy of BC. Wow!  How Canadian is that?

I
first met Ann Mortifee many years ago when she did a performance at
Celebration of Life Centre.  As she did then, she talked again
about the importance of all people, red, white, black, yellow and brown
– to come together in peace and harmony.  She has an incredible
presence full of radiant peace and joy.  She seems delighted when
I recount this story to her.  I share with her a First Nations
story about the seventh generation of all colours coming together in
North America.  She smiles and says “We are the seventh
generation.”

And now Ann Mortifee's newest project is The Trust for Sustainable Forestry,  a new non-profit group dedicated to saving forests in sensitive areas.  Their group has now partnered with The Land Conservancy of BC (TLC),
a non-profit group dedicated to saving, preserving and operating
historically, and environmentally important areas and houses in
BC.  She now lives on Cortes Island, near Campbell River – between
Quadra Island and Powell River on the BC Mainland. 

This
is a “friend-raiser” event.  TLC and TSF invited 20 friends to
attend a presentation and to join the membership of TLC.  I attend
as part of Kogawa House Committee
– a group created to help save the childhood home of Joy Kogawa. 
Last September we began our campaign after an inquiry for demolition to
kogawa House was recieved at Vancouver City Hall.  On December
1st, TLC officially joined our campaign and took over the fundraising
aspects, ultimately becoming the proud owner of the historic Kogawa
House 6 months later, after raising $700,000.  I told the story of
Kogawa House to the gathering and said that “saving the house was a
miracle, and TLC became more than partners – they became friends.”

Kogawa House
will again recieve a portion of the funds raised by the Gung Haggis Fat
Choy Robbie Burns Dinner set for January 28th, 2007.  TLC will
again be present along with Kogawa House Committee, as everybody had so
much fun last year. Many
of the people attending the gathering had heard about Gung Haggis
Fat Choy, and said they had even heard me on CBC Radio.  Hopefully
our new friends will attend the January dinner, and even be wearing
their kilts…  We know that TLC executive director Bill Turner
will be!
                                                                      

The Trust for Sustainable Forestry (TSF)
http://www.sustainableforestry.com was founded by a group of four friends passionate about the forest and
the many values it bestows on us and the world in which we live. From
modest beginnings on Cortes Island, British Columbia,
the Trust has grown through its relationship with Universities,
companies, NGOs and individuals who believe in its Vision of truly
sustainable ecosystem based forestry as a means to reinvigorate local
economies through job creation, to create low impact Community housing
and conserve habitat for the future.

The Trust seeks to be a financially self sustaining organization that
helps to bridge the gap between the vision of complete ‘preservation of
habitat’ and the established methods of conventional logging and high
density land development. –  ‘Healthy forests for a healthy world.’

The Land Conservancy of British Columbia (TLC)  http://www.conservancy.bc.ca

is a non-profit, charitable Land Trust working throughout British Columbia. TLC
protects important habitat for plants, animals and natural communities
as well as properties with historical, cultural, scientific, scenic or
compatible recreational value.

Founded in 1997 with $500, TLC
is modeled after the National Trust of Britain and is a
membership-based and governed by an elected volunteer Board of
Directors. TLC relies on its 5,500 growing membership and volunteer base to help maintain its operations.

TLC
achieves its conservation objectives by working in a
non-confrontational, businesslike manner. They work with many partners,
all levels of government, other agencies, businesses, community groups
and individuals to ensure the broadest support for our activities. They
are here for the long term.  When they take properties under their
care, their goal is to protect them in perpetuity.