My trip to Quebec - pt1

 A whirl wind trip to Ville de Quebec.   Here were some highlights:

Each island has a name, and many stories of relationships

1.   The flight.   

As ever, it is magical to have the opportunity to see the beauty of the Salish world.   

The islands (the SENCOTHEN name for which is 'ancestors of the deep') were laid out below, nestled in the water, and holding stories.  

It is an astonishing 13 minute ride.  Beautiful.

comparing the colour of the land and sky

On the Vancouver/Toronto flight, I was on "The Dreamliner".   

Last time I was on this plane, it got rerouted to Yellowknife, and I ended up with a stay in the hospital.   Blech (to the need for the hospital visit, that is.  Not blech to Yellowknife, which i love, and to the medical team, who were wonderful).  

It was great to be able to enjoy the flight and the wonderful views from the window.

And even better, on the plane, the movie choices included "Edge of the Knife" (the first feature film totally in the Haida language). 

the film choices!

Gwaai Edenshaw (who was part of the Testify! project) is one of the directors.  Arta and I saw it at the Victoria Film Festival last year.  It is such a gripping film.  If you are flying in the next month, check it out!

2.  Le Conference annuelle Claire L'Heureux-Dube

On the less positive side of things, on my travelling day, my luggage did not run as fast as I did in order to catch the Toronto/Quebec connection:  it thus remained behind, and I got to spend my day at the Conference annuelle Claire L'Heureux-Dube in the same clothes I wore to travel in.   

Ah well.   

At least I was in the traditional 'all black', and wasn't wearing sweatpants!

a gang of former clerks:  Renee Theriault, Marie-Claire Belleau, Francois Lacasse, Eric Marcoux [Claire L'Heureux-Dube], me and Andrew Lenz

Marie-Claire and I enjoyed a lovely morning brunch that morning with Claire and Marie Deschamps, France Thibault, Renee Theriault, Julie Lemay-Lafleur and CJ Richard Wagner (who was to give the lecture later in the day).   

The lecture itself was interesting (on minority language rights), with significant discussion of the importance of indigenous languages to the work of justice.   

Arriving at the Reception, in the new Military College edifice

My french being what it is, I know that many of the nuances were beyond me, but it was such a pleasure to have the opportunity to really try to drop myself deep into my second language.   

Lots of opportunities for me to really process at an embodied level why languages matter not just for 'transmitting information', but because of the way they enable you to experience the world, others and yourself.   

I also got to attend the Rentrez des Juges that evening at the Courthouse.  Quite something.  

On the Wall at the Military College: a Carte du Canada circa 1760?!

It is not something that I think we have in BC:  quite an evening of ceremony, speeches and honours given.  

Again, a reminder of all that I do NOT really know about the shape of bi-juridicalism in Canada, and that there is so much more for me to learn and grasp about the history, nuance, structure, and ceremonies of the civilian legal traditions.

The luggage arrived in time for me to change shirts before the reception!

And of course, after such an event, there has to be a party!  The party was at the old military college.  Amazing food and drink, lots of people and conversation, and a rocking live band.  On wall, as we left, I took a few minutes to study an old "map of canada".  It reminded me quite a bit of the mural at the legislature in BC.   Interesting thinking about how to begin to change our stories of ourselves and others!