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British Columbians identify as Cascadian
There’s a strong sense of regional identity growing across Cascadia, and a recent poll by Research Co. highlights how strong that feeling is in British Columbia. A poll released last week finds that two thirds (66 percent) of those surveyed in British Columbia agreed that the province shares more in common “the people of Seattle and Portland than with those in Toronto or Montreal.”
The poll also found that one in five (19 percent) think of themselves as “British Columbians first, and Canadians second” and that this rate rose to 24 percent among residents of the Fraser Valley.
There’s more at Vancouver Courier about the survey by the author of the poll, Mario Canseco, who finds that 59 percent of British Columbians believe “their views of are different from the rest of the country.” Premier Justin Trudeau, a supporter of the Trans Mountain pipeline, might want to take that into account as Canada heads into a federal election. –Andrew Engelson
“OG Bird Rescue Man,” poetry at Cascadia Magazine
Bellingham poet Robert Lashley has a brilliant poem online now at Cascadia Magazine: “OG Bird Rescue Man,” in which an elder gangster serves as a would-be savior in a broken neighborhood:
“The arcs of the busted jungle gym
lift and re-sheath their pipe swords,
lift every rock that interacts with his ash
as the swing set chains stop their hanging.”
Read the full poem, paired with gorgeous multi-media art by Seattle’s Barry Johnson here.
Oh and if you liked that poem, please consider becoming a recurring donor to Cascadia Magazine. Thank you.
Vancouver eyes chaos in Hong Kong
As protests in Hong Kong over an extradition bill have violently escalated and seriously injured one woman protester, CBC interviews expats in Vancouver who are anxiously following the events. The consulate general of the People’s Republic of China in Vancouver sided with Hong Kong authorities, but the phenomenon of a “Lennon Wall” in support for protesters took hold in Vancouver’s Gastown, and the New York Times reports on how Beijing is waging a social media war among Chinese expat communities in places like Sydney and Vancouver.
Where are Vancouver’s black communities?
The Tyee’s Dannielle Piper gives us a fascinating analysis of the lack of black ethnic enclaves in Vancouver. Piper tracks a history reaching into the present day of black communities forming and then quickly dispersing under the pressure of racism. The Metro Vancouver Regional District Black Experience Project by the Hogan’s Alley Society sets out to identify and address the challenges to integration for the black diaspora. For more on Vancouver’s marginalized populations, read Chelene Knight’s essay at Cascadia Magazine.
Mining operation banned in Columbia Gorge
OPB reports that a two-state commission has reversed itself and prohibited a gravel mine near Washougal in the Columbia Gorge, a victory for the Friends of the Columbia Gorge. In related news, NW News Network notes that the the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation released the first of thirty salmon to the Upper Columbia River for the first time in decades.
ACLU files case against ICE in Oregon
After US immigration authorities harassed and detained a US citizen at the Washington County courthouse in Hillboro, Oregon in 2017, the ACLU has filed a case against ICE, OPB reports. The suit alleges ICE officers aggressively questioned and detained the man based on a mugshot that attorneys say “did not resemble Mr. Andrade Tafolla, except that he, like Mr. Andrade Tafolla, had brown skin.”
A new documentary film on orcas and the Snake River dams
At Crosscut, Hannah Weinberger interviews filmmakers Michael Peterson and Steven Hawley about their documentary Dammed to Extinction, which premiered at the Seattle Independent Film Festival and makes the case that dams on the lower Snake River should be removed if the southern resident pod of orca in the Salish Sea is going to avoid extinction. The think tank EconNorthwest recently released a report concluding that economic benefits of removing the dams outweigh keeping them. And for an eloquent reminder of the plight of orcas in the Salish Sea, read Paul Nelson’s poem “Elegy for Tahlequah’s Calf” at Cascadia Magazine.
Poetry by Ed Harkness
At Seattle Review of Books, take a moment to read “Tying a Tie,” by Ed Harkness, who lives in Shoreline, WA. It’s a sad and lovely lament about masculinity and the incessant pressures of capitalism:
“…how to tie the tie in a way that allows me to breathe,
to not fear the squeeze of being choked.”
Read the full poem here.
That’s today’s curated selection of news, environmental reporting, culture, and poetry from across Cascadia, courtesy of Eun Hye Kim and Andrew Engelson. Enjoy the fine summer evening, and we’ll see you tomorrow!
Photo credit: immigration policy protester by Joe Frazier via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0