About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
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Description
The remarkable story of how a First Nations chief, an artist and a mountaineer evolved a new form of environmental and cultural activism, and saved 50,000 hectares of forest in the process
The history of British Columbia is rife with stories of conflict between loggers and environmentalists, First Nations and government-backed corporations. Many of them have ended in violence, arrests and clear-cutting. Between 1997 and 2007 Farm License 38 , encompassing Sims Creek in the upper Elaho Valley became the site of a wholly different kind of protest. Because of the actions of ten thousand people brought together by Squamish Nation Hereditary Chief Bill Williams, artist Nancy Bleck and the late mountaineer John Clarke, this land - a 50,000-hectare section of the Squamish First Nation now known as Wild Spirit Places--was saved. It was a stunning example of how welcoming people to the land, showing them its physical and spiritual wealth and allowing them to experience it themselves transformed the way they saw it. And by quietly, cumulatively building a critical mass of people who had seen--witnessed--this land firsthand and come to view it as important; the Uts'am/WitnessProject provided a new way for peacefully mobilizing people and preserving land from logging.
Picturing Transformation is the story of Uts'am/Witness, a series of camping weekends held at Sims Creek that brought together First Nations and non-First Nations people to walk, sleep, eat, make art, have conversations and participate in ceremonies on this disputed land. Through the words and photos of those who attended, this beautiful book pays homage to the power that people with strong vision and a common purpose can play in honouring tradition, safeguarding land and changing policy. It is a lesson in the possibilities for resolving conflict peacefully, now and in the future. homage to the power that people with strong vision and a common purpose can play in honouring tradition, safeguarding land and changing policy. It is a lesson in the possibilities for resolving conflict peacefully, now and in the future.
Contributor Notes
Nancy Bleck, SlanaySp'ak'wus, is an artist, photographer, educator and co-founder of Uts'am/Witness (1997-2007). She became the first artist-in-residence at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver, teaches at Emily Carr University and is a recipient of the YMCA's Women of Distinction Award for her work on Uts'am/Witness. She lives in Vancouver. Chief Bill Williams, telsemkin-siyam, has served as an elected member of the Squamish First Nation Council since 1980 and as a member of the community? Hereditary Council since 1995. He is co-founder of Uts'am/Witness and his family has watched over Nexw-yantsut since time immemorial. He lives in his traditional territory of Squamish Nation, British Columbia.
Katherine Dodds began her advertising career with Adbusters, went on to form Hello Cool World (HCW) in 2001 and is a recipient of the Women in Film "Woman of Vision" Award. She is a long-time contributor to Uts'am/Witness and wrote the text for Picturing Transformation together with Chief Bill Williams and many others. She lives in Vancouver.
