In this episode of The Public Circle Podcast, I return to the original format with a conversation with Salt Spring Island folk singer Luke Wallace.
As it turns out, Luke had many more questions for me than I had for him. He is a fantastic interviewer!
Over the past few years, I have come to know Luke as a powerful advocate for social justice and environmental issues and it has long been a goal of mine to get him on the podcast.
For the past decade he has been making incredible music and touring the province hosting fundraising concerts for issues he is passionate about: Trans Mountain Pipeline, Lelu Island and Site C Dam.
In this conversation, we discuss approaching life and our work with honesty and authenticity. We cover the disconnection between people and the land and our approach to governance at the community, provincial and federal levels.
Luke is a powerful advocate for Indigenous rights and we have an extended discussion about the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. I highlight how the legislation will set British Columbia on a new path, create more certainty in governance and on the landscape by requiring relationships with Indigenous people to begin at the start not after the decision has been made.
Our conversation morphs into a discussion about energy policy and the challenges with BC Hydro’s policy direction.
Needless to say, this is an expansive exchange that covers a lot of ground including future elections and political philosophy. It is highly likely that Luke and I will return with another episode together.
Until then, I encourage you to check out Luke’s website at http://lukewallacemusic.com/ and check him out on Instagram. In Spring 2020 he has a new album dropping and I truly hope you will help lift him up by supporting his music.
You can read my blog at https://adamolsenmla.ca/, check out my Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
Email me at Adam.Olsen.MLA@leg.bc.ca or call my office at 250-655-5600.
Luke is remarkable and btw I do only listen to music from my CD’s. So can’t wait for the new album.
Dear Luke and Adam – I very much enjoyed your sharing of ideas on blog 4. When it came to discussing UNDRIP though I was reminded of a previous email I’d sent to Adam questioning the incompatibility of the two world views wrapped up in the word “consent”.
On one hand we have a colonial world view which assumes that the original definition of “empty land” as laid out in a papal bull of several hundred years ago meant that all land occupied by indigenes was empty of occupants and therefore ripe for all resource extraction by the newcomers. Essentially this produced a colony whose wealth could and should be plucked for the benefit of the newcomers. This results in a “capitalist” world philosophy where one group gets rich and another group gets poor, usually without regard on the part of colonists over the welfare of indigenes or descendants of either group.
On the other hand the world view accepted by the indigenes was that resource extraction which left as sufficient resource whatever their descendants needed 7 generations down the pipe was the only way to go. This is a very “communal” philosophy which accepts that man is but a caretaker of the wealth bound up in resources and must be carefully used to pass on to those dependent on them in the future.
It would be a wonderful situation if these two views could be wedded seamlessly. But somehow they are found in our world incompatible in a world that has operated for hundreds of years on an “all for me and none for thee” basis.
Should you two have another blog together I would like you to address this anomaly, because I think that the way things are evolving now it seems that we’re making colonists of the indigenes. Should this produce the obvious conclusion we’ll have nothing left for our descendants.
Am I my brother’s keeper or not? Cheers Ian MacKenzie