Hello there!
You have probably noticed that Hot Take has been on a bit of a hiatus and the reason for that is very simple: I packed up and moved from Toronto to Vancouver! So, needless to say, the month of June was quite busy for me, and I simply did not have the space or attention span to sit down and write this beloved newsletter.
But I’m back, baby! This time, from the mountains and it is glorious.
My partner, my dog, and I have spent the last 7 days driving across this vast country and it’s been an incredible experience. I have never seen so much of Canada, and it’s created an urge to see even more of it. Seeing the landscape, colours, and time zone change as we drove was exciting and awesome, in the truest sense of the word. As I was planning this trip and telling people about it, the most common sentiment was that the Prairies are “boring.” And, perhaps to some extent that is true. However, as a city kid who grew up in rocky, hilly Ontario, and generally always minutes from one of the Great Lakes, seeing the flatness of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and even Alberta was actually very cool. Nothing but sky, horizon everywhere you look. The sheer vastness was sometimes overwhelming; quite simply it’s just so. much. land. These things are of course novel to me, which is what I was hoping for. By the time we reached Regina, I was already so glad that we decided to do this drive. Side note: Winnipeg was cuter than I thought it would be?)
As the Rockies began to appear before us, almost from one moment to the next, we were at a loss for words. I mean, it is absolutely bonkers, ya’ll. They are so stunningly beautiful, and magnificent, and monstrous that it’s difficult to fathom that they exist at all. Thinking about it for too long right now, as I write this, feels overwhelming. The only thing that I can compare the feeling to is when I think about space for too long…except this is something that I can see and, if I wanted to, I could touch. Like, what the fuck?! How is this real?!
As we continued to drive into Banff, with every turn of the road we would coo in total and complete awe. Those of you who know me know that I am very much a “city” kid, at times in my life I have even jokingly called myself an “indoor kid.” My family is not particularly outdoorsy or adventurous, so the idea of being out in the wilderness is still, at 33, pretty foreign to me. Seeing SO MUCH natural wonder around me and really thinking about what it took to build and railroads through this land (please see: slave labour and colonialism) is a bit intense for me. Maybe that’s silly, maybe some of you who feel comfortable out in the woods think that’s dumb, but it’s true. It is truly mind-blasting to exist inside of this landscape, even from inside a car.
Continuing through the interior of BC, the air turned to a haze, and then eventually a thick smoke. As we drove through Kamloops, through Lillooet, both of which are experiencing wild forest fires and are pretty close to Lytton which was ravaged by fire recently, we saw the reality of wildfires. To our right, a whole stretch of trees that bordered a small residential township was up in smoke, red hot flames poking through the grey smoke clouds. It was scary, and devastating, and remarkable. My privilege felt so painfully obvious to me as we drove by this scene, and smelled the smoke in the air. I felt helpless and strange, flooded with concern about the land, the wildlife, and the people affected by this. It’s been weighing on my mind, and I suspect it will for a long time as wildfires become more and more intense in the province I now call home. On that note, I encourage those who can to donate to this GoFundMe started by Savage Society to help Indigenous folks that have been displaced by these fires.
As we drove through each new part of the country, crossing “borders” and weaving through small towns and cities, it was important that AK and I understood whose land we were on. Every day, often several times a day, I would search our location on Native-Land.ca, and learn about some of the Indigenous communities that live on this land, and are the rightful ‘owners’ and stewards of this land. So much of this vast nation is unceeded territory, stolen by white, European settlers and colonizers. I, myself, am the descendent of white European settlers and colonizers in Canada mostly in Ontario and Nova Scotia. I invite you all to learn about the land you are on, the Indigenous and First Nations communities that live there, and the true history of how your city, or town came to be. It is a lifelong process, it cannot be done in a day, or a month, or even a year. It is a long-term commitment, and I invite you to join me on this path.
I am currently in a small cottage in Tyaughton Lake, about 3 hours from Vancouver. We’ll be here until next week, which I am so glad we decided to do. Driving for hours every day for a week is a lot! A new place every night, never feeling settled or like you have a home base is hard, especially after having left my home of over 30 years…haven’t quite processed that one yet but you know, processing is a process.
I’ll be back next week with a more traditional Hot Take. Just wanted to take a moment and share the journey so far, because it’s been an epic one. For those who don’t follow me on IG yet, please do @amandemic to see my photos so far and @lens_bare for my film photography. I’ve shot 4 rolls of film so far, so there’s gonna be a TON of content up there. I will also, probably, get around to updating my photography “portfolio’ too at some point…which, truthfully, I haven’t done since the start of the pandemic and doesn’t even include my photos from my LAST trip to BC so…bear with me LOL
Love you!
A
PS I would be remiss not to show appreciation and gratitude to our car, Subi. She really held down the fort! LOLOLOL but actually…we felt safe, capable, and ready to rock in that car. When you don’t ‘notice’ your car on a 7-day cross-country road trip, you know you’ve got a good one on your hands. Should I send a sappy email to Subaru Canada about it? Bitch, I might.
Loved this edition with the photos and storytelling of your trip!