Cesna?em, the city before the city - Victoria Film Festival 2018

Reconciliation.  It's a word charged with political fervour, a promise from the powers on high that finally the relationship between First Nations and Settler peoples will be resolved.  It's another promise broken, as plans for dirty bitumen pipeline expansion and increased tanker traffic charge ahead, threatening the health of these magnificent waters and shorelines. 

It's time to take the idea of Reconciliation into our own hands.  We can start by wondering, as we walk along beaches or through whatever remains of the ancient forests, who lived here?  Which of the many thousands of distinct languages did they speak?  Where did they harvest their medicines?  Does evidence of their lives exist under this earth where I am right now?  What happened to their villages, were they burned or bulldozed?  Why aren't archaeological excavations required before every development project is approved?

Cesna?em, the city before the city offers a step towards Reconciliation.  We can't change the story of colonisation, but we can learn about and from the people who have survived the attempted genocide.  And maybe from there we can build better relationships, and support the neo-colonialist resistance, and begin do things differently.

Cesna?em, the city before the city screens Saturday February 3 at 4:00 pm at the Vic Theatre.   Don't miss it.