Two canoes are filled with Canadian senators, MPs, former chiefs, and other dignitaries dressed in casual clothes and wearing life vests. They are being greeted by a representative of Songhees Nation on the first day of Victoria Forum 2022 while a group of other conference attendees wait on the embankment above the canoes.

Canoe? No, not yet

A reflection from the summer of 2022 while awaiting approval for a Master’s of Community Development research project from the University of Victoria.