Changing Squamish

Cleveland and Main, downtown Squamish: Where colourful mountain murals painted on the sides of 6 story condos block real mountain views. This photo was taken right across from the popular donut shop “Fox and Oak”, whose long line ups on a busy Saturday pale in comparison to those of the food bank that is a mere three blocks away. These businesses are housed in “The Main”, which rest on a plot of land that once fenced in blackberry bushes which proved a sweet snack when walking by. The entire block of land in this photo is slated for a 6 and 8 story staggered condo where market rate housing …

[Read more...] about The Value of Mountain Views

Land, land, land. For the last 500 years, the dominant mindset has been trained to see land as something to be bought and sold, developed and capitalized on, privatized, not shared. For those privileged with the resources to do so, buying and owning land is an investment, a quick way to turn a buck, especially in ‘hot markets’ like Squamish. For others, owning land translates into a simple abode where one can build a home and create community. Nowhere in the discourse do we hear words such as stolen land, ongoing colonialism, expansion, inequality or classism. Nowhere in the discourse are …

[Read more...] about On Land

Hidden, displaced, moved on, knocked down, painted over, dispossessed, outlawed, yet, still here.… Some of us anyway.... Not all of us have been uprooted from our homes and communities to more affordable, yet foreign pastures. There's something to be said about gentrification. How it unsettles and uproots communities as developers and investors work their spell into mainstream minds, feeding the ideas that their projects are not only contemporary and sustainable, but will create communities where society will thrive in experiences of adventure, hope and belonging. It is as if they are …

[Read more...] about On Gentrification

“Gentrification is a process of neighborhood change in a historically disinvested neighborhood by means of real estate investment and new higher-income residents moving in - and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents.”  In the process of gentrification, the ultimate goal of developers is to increase profit at whatever cost to the community and environment. The discourses used and decisions made shape planning towards a particular imagined result and to appeal to certain people. In Squamish, the outdoor adventure …

[Read more...] about Gentrification

“The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought himself of saying This is mine, and found people simple enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows, “Beware of listening to this imposter; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of …

[Read more...] about private property

Let’s be clear: This is not an attempt to “Bring Back Old Squamish.” What is gone is gone. But gone is gone doesn’t excuse continuing on as we have, full steam ahead. We must reverse the forces of destruction, and blend old and new knowledge to forge a new path forward. This is about protecting the community and environment and creating a diverse Squamish where everyone belongs, not just the affluent or privileged. This is about creating another way of being in the world. It is about changing the system from the ground up to ensure that our political and economic systems are more in-line …

[Read more...] about Old Squamish

“Renaissance, community, adventure…” Seldom are the words affordable, diverse, or characteristic used. Leading up to gentrification, the words more commonly heard are derelict, eyesore, property value. In the process, an area is homogenized, the familiar ripped down, and the often beige-colored, “monocultures,” are absent of difference or history and do not reflect local needs nor contain the wild, unmanicured elements that made them desirable in the first place. While “out with the old, in with the new,” is the motto among politicians, developers are “more concerned with boosting …

[Read more...] about Marketing

I walked on the trail that would lead me to Ch’íiw̓es, wanting to observe the new changes that were being made to make room for this new mega project, Oceanfront Development. A few meters after passing the “Private Property” sign, unexpectedly, the ground underneath me changed from the well known packed down earthen trail to freshly torn up earth. As I looked up, the greenery that I would have expected to border me lay scattered as debris. My eyes fell upon a large clearing and the sight of excavators. My legs stumbled amongst the mud and freshly displaced rocks. I felt a wave of loss. I …

[Read more...] about Old ways, new ways

One of many piles of disturbed earth found on the construction sites of Squamish. Each one competing with the Chief in different ways. Each taking less or more but taking nonetheless. Be it disturbing and displacing what was once there without regard if someone once called that area work or home, taking resources from somewhere else to build there, either way - it is constantly relocating and displacing, extracting and expanding… all in the name of consumption, economics and “progress.” But what is progress exactly? For me, progress means creating happy, healthy and sustainable societies. …

[Read more...] about They call this progress