It’s good to give credit where credit is due.
The District of Squamish recently recognized several outstanding members of the community with the Freedom of the Municipality.
This honour was previously called the Key to the City, a throwback from earlier times when communities were walled off from the outside world, and a literal key was needed to enter.
Kiyowil (Bob Baker), Chésha7 (Gwen Harry), Humteya (Shirley Toman) and Thor Froslev were all given this honour.
I’d say this was absolutely the right choice.
For the first three, it’s a step in the right direction for truth and reconciliation.
Kiyowil, Chésha7 and Humteya, survivors of the residential system, have dedicated much time to bring to light the devastating effects that residential schools have had on Indigenous peoples in Canada.
It’s important work. It was not so long ago that this issue was relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, and I still encounter people who either know little or nothing at all about the issue.
Many who complain about the benefits Indigenous people receive from the government often don’t understand how Canada tried to systematically wipe out an entire culture.
And it’s far from being past. The echoes of this system are still reverberating today.
The last residential school closed in 1996 — well within the lifetime of this generation.
Education on the issue is still absolutely critical.
With respect to Froslev’s accomplishments, it’s hard to think of another person who has contributed more to the arts and culture scene in Squamish.
There are very few people who can say they went to a community, saw there was a need, and then addressed that need by literally building up the solution from the ground up.
Froslev, however, is one of those people.
Affectionately known by many as the President of the Republic of Brackendale, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Froslev single-handedly invigorated Squamish’s arts and culture scene.
Opened in 1973, the Brackendale Art Gallery, or BAG, sought to fill a cultural void in Squamish.
Before then, the town’s art scene was very limited. “During the 1950s and 1960s we didn’t have a place to hang our paintings,” reads the BAG website. “Vancouver artists were starving for a place to exhibit. And if you wanted to play music there were only a couple of coffee houses, The Classical Joint for one. If you were an actor there were few venues available. If you wrote a play you could kiss it good-bye. It would never be seen.”
How much that has changed.
One of the perks of the Freedom of the Municipality is that it grants its recipients the ability to vote in Squamish elections if they decide to move out of town.
Call me selfish, but that’s one perk I’m hoping these recipients will never have to use.
