Last weekend I went up to the very last Witness weekend ever. The Utsam-Witness program has been a joint program by the Squamish Nation and the Roundhouse Community Centre, and has been running for 10 years. I had a special request for my reflections, and since I like it when people leave comments on my blog...

The tradition at Witness is that everyone shows up at the Roundhouse on Saturday morning, and then drive together in a convoy up to the Elaho. That way, no one gets lost, and people can stay safer, since the front car has a radio on the same channel as the logging trucks and the cars are connected via a couple of walkie-talkies. Now, it's one thing to go in a convoy of 5 or even 10 cars, which is what I guess is typical. But this being the last weekend, there were some ten times more people than usual in attendance. We travelled in a 24-car convoy, up to mile 54 in the Elaho (that's 34 km of rough dusty logging roads), in 35 degree heat. Every car full to capacity. It took *hours*.

So we arrived much later than anticipated, and that kind of set the flavour for the whole weekend. With that many people up there, nothing moved quickly. Well, except getting ourselves into the glacial river quickly and then at regular intervals. That part seemed to happen organically.

Despite the chaos and heat, it was a great experience. The opening and closing ceremonies with the Squamish nation cheifs were powerful, and it's actually hard for me to describe the feeling of being up in such a beautiful place, with such a diverse group, welcomed by the people who have lived on that land for so long. There was a very timeless quality about sitting around the campfire on Saturday night, as well. Kind of like I had been there before, and would be there again, and like it was just the right place to be. Listening to stories and songs and watching children play and roast marshmallows.

They are stopping the program now in part because the Squamish Nation now owns the Tree Farm Liscence, giving them control over how resources are extracted from their traditional lands. Originally, a big intention of the Witness program was to raise awareness about that land, and the devastation that Interfor was wreaking on it with their logging. It was interesting as well to talk to people who have been involved with Witness for many years, and to people who were involved in the logging protests in the Elaho back in the late 90s. I'm very glad that the logging has slowed, but sad that it took so long. The clearcuts are everywhere up there.

Despite the history of logging, the Elaho really is spectacularly beautiful. We were told that we were welcome to come back and use the land again in future, now that we know something of the traditions and share a respect for the land and its power.

There was much more in the brief 36 hours we were gone, but this is already a long blog post, so I'll leave it there. Thank you to the wonderful people who I shared the experience with, and to all the many many volunteers who have made the Witness program happen over the past ten years.