Unique voyage spawns fascinating book

Page 10

Review

Power-Journeys Across an

Energy Nation

By Gordon Laird

Penguin/Viking

328 pp., $35 (hc)

Freelance journalist-turned-author Gordon Laird spent almost two years travelling across Canada in search of interesting stories about interesting places. The result is a readable and fascinating look at the effects various energy industries have had, and continue to have, on the life of the nation.

An unabashed environmentalist who can recite the hard facts about global climate change in compelling detail, the 34-year-old Calgary resident weaves political and environmental matters into a fascinating and well-researched collection of stories with a unifying theme.

He takes the reader on board the Rowan Gorilla III, a huge floating city of an oilrig in the North Atlantic. From there it's over to Sable Island, Canadian territory 300 km east of Halifax where wild horses run free and scientists study climate change. The next chapter looks at what remains in Nova Scotia's Cape Breton after the coal mining industry was abandoned. Laird then shows us that hockey leagues in the far north are troubled by warming temperatures that mean no ice for games.

He visits Ellesmere Island in the far, far North, studies the political and environmental fallout of the great ice storm that hit Quebec in 1997, examines nuclear reactors in Ontario, visits Uranium City in Saskatchewan and then looks at the oil patch in Alberta (with chapters on the Stoney and Samson Cree First Nations). From there he travels up to Fort McMurray for a look at oil sands excavation and ends in British Columbia, chronicling the closing of the town of Kemano by Alcan. All in all, an incredible journey that shows us parts of Canada that are anything but ordinary.

During an interview on May 8, the great-great nephew of Treaty Commissioner David Laird-whose name has recently been prominent because he was the man a Federal Court judge ruled promised Treaty 8 people they would not be taxed by the Crown-talked about some of the conclusions he reached after completing his journey.

"I saw a lot of different stories coming down and there was a unifying thread. That was energy. Not just energy, but the way we built the 20th century. There's a legacy from that that's both positive and negative," he said. "We've created problems for ourselves for which we don't have solutions. The original solutions to our problems-shelter, speed of transportation, power-those didn't turn out to be full solutions. A lot of very complicated problems have come up from that legacy."

Looking at and truly trying to understand the realities of the last century is the only way to solve important problems that will pose challenges well into this new century, he said.

"I was really interested in the legacy of the modern world because the 20th century had a kind of golden age of growth. I think the 21st century will be, in part, to try and figure out what we did the previous century and to try to do it better. There are some huge issues at play-not only legal, but environmental, economic."

Laird spent a lot of time dealing with Aboriginal people during his travels.

"I find myself doing a lot of work with First Nations because a lot of First Nations people are the ones who really experience the true form of (Canadian) government in ways that average Canadians are too insulated from in terms of accountability, democracy and what constitutes economic development. How do you sustain traditions that you want to sustain? These are all issues of self-determination that I think regular Canadians have had the luxury of not having to think too much about but they're still with us," he said.

Native people are on the cutting edge of the basic issues that challenge Canada as it tries to evolve from a colony to a true functioning democratic country, Laid said. Cape Breton, a place where outside control by government and the coal industry caused chaos for the region's inhabitants, showed a lot of the samesocial symptoms that trouble some First Nations.

"The resources were taken out of the region, the people were left behind, without a sustainable plan. There were issues of control all along the way. It's this 'colony within a colony.' I think it's a Canadian tradition that it doesn't necessarily service all that well and, really, I think it's one that deserves to be resurrected in name because we should name these things for what they are," he said.

While some might argue that Canada has not been a colony for quite some time, Laird says the rest of world sees Canada as a "resource colony," a place to make money and then leave.

"Resource colonies always have that issue, whether they're in Africa, North America, wherever. Places with great riches aren't necessarily going to be shining stars of democracy," he said.

"The thing with Canada, and I think Alberta in particular, is we're so imbued with the short-term mindset that comes from being a resource nation. You get the stuff out of the ground, you get it to market and you get paid. That's pretty much the cycle. There's an absence of civic presence at times."

He said the country was designed chiefly to harvest its great resource wealth and the governance structures are not ideally suited for running a modern nation. While the provinces and the federal government fight over jurisdictional matters, the governments that most directly represent the people, municipalities, have little power. In many ways, the author argues, municipalities-like First Nations-don't have real self government.

"Absolutely, and municipalities face many of the same issues (as First Nations) but not perhaps in such a pronounced way. Big ones like Toronto and Calgary are dealing with a dispossessed population, a growing population that's hard to house, hard to employ. All the things that you do often see on a reserve that stem, by and large, from a lack of economic development. I think the best kind of remedy for that is having a more vibrnt local government," he said. "Today's Canadian democracy was kind of cobbled together in a way that's left us a nation that's really effective at moving resources from one place to another but not so effective at setting environmental standards and definitely not effective at ensuring accountability-both economic and political."

Laird believes the political struggles of First Nations are based on essential issues that should be of interest to all Canadians. He thinks it's a mistake for mainstream Canadians to think that First Nation issues are not relevant to them.

"First Nations issues are true Canadian issues," he said. "They're not 'Indian stuff.' That's where the big democratic and self-determination issues are."