On Friday my friend and I went to our first sweat lodge. The sweat lodge was located in the Lower Similkameen Reservation (west of Penticton) and the views of surrounding hills and the valley were absolutely gorgeous that day. My friend is Metis and he is currently discovering his roots and I thought this would be a good chance for the both of us to experience Aboriginal spiritualism.

The sweat lodge is run by someone we met in Penticton and he is a sweat lodge keeper and has been operating the lodge for many years. The sweat lodge was an incredible experience, one that will stay with me forever. There were 5 of us in the lodge and we did the sweat for about 3 hours or so (I totally lost track of time during the sweat).

When we arrived a fire was going and the rocks inside the fire were nice and hot. One of the participants picked up the rocks with a pitch fork and then someone else would hit the rocks with a branch to knock off the dust and dirt before the rock was placed inside a pit in the sweat lodge. The hot rock pit is located on the left side of the sweat lodge which represents your heart (located on the left side of your body).

We crawled inside the lodge and sat in a semi-circle. At first the sweat lodge keeper put smudge (herbs such as sage or sweetgrass) on the hot rocks to purify the air. The smell was wonderful and so natural, and is apparently very healthy. It was pitch black (and I mean pitch black!) inside the tent which was very strange at first. The atmosphere inside the lodge represents a return to the womb and when someone emerges from the sweat lodge it means they are re-born like a child. In the lodge all I could hear was the sound of the sweat lodge keeper’s voice as he talked about Aboriginal history, culture and spiritual beliefs. It was by far the most spiritual experience I’ve had in my life.

We went through 4 rounds in the sweat lodge. The first round we
honoured Mother Earth and all the spirits in nature. During this round 2 of us said prayers to The Creator and did our “confessional” which was a time to thank the sweat lodge keeper and The Creator and pay respect to Mother Earth. It was also a time to talk about anything in your life that is bothering you or anything you want to get off your chest. “What is said in the sweat lodge stays in the sweat lodge,” as the sweat lodge keeper told us and and we found ourselves talking about many things. I opened up and talked about some very personal things about our family. Everyone listened and everyone grunted in support of my story (“ho,ho,” they kept saying).

After the first round we crawled outside of the sweat lodge and poured warm water over our bodies. The water was filled with different natural herbs and medicines, again to purify ourselves. The sweat lodge was right beside a small river too. One person sat down in the river to cool himself off and I tried to follow him in but only got up to my waist. The river was running very fast and it was so cold!! My legs went numb immediately but it felt fantastic to pour the ice cold water all over my body. I managed to squat down a bit in the river but couldn’t bring myself to do a complete dunking! Sweat lodges are held all year round and I cannot imagine what one must be like in the middle of winter!

During the second round we honoured all sisters because woman are important in Aboriginal culture since they bring life into the world. The third round focussed on our ancestors, and the last round centred on ourselves. During these rounds we prayed silently and also out loud, and I found myself drifting far, far away to another place and another time. My friend and I were beginners so the sweat lodge keeper was very careful not to heat up the sweat lodge too much. We were told if for any reason we felt uncomfortable we were free to leave the sweat lodge for a break. Before leaving the sweat lodge it is protocol to say “all my relations” and this is also said after you say your prayer out loud.

First Nations people have been doing sweat lodges since the beginning of time and I felt so very honoured to be a part of it. I also discovered it is natural for Aboriginal people to share everything and they had absolutely no reservations about me participating in the sweat. However, being white, I was an outsider looking into their culture but at the same time I was openly accepted and the sweat lodge keeper taught me the correct protocol and happily told me everything about the sweat lodge and native spiritual beliefs. I cannot wait to go again and bring others to this very special and sacred event.

Being married to a Japanese in Penticton puts our family in a unique position. There are few mixed couples here and we stand out. I was very aware of this during our first year in Penticton but now we are almost in our third year I have gotten used to it and do not think about it anymore. For example, I used to be very conscious of our crazy conversations  as we shopped (Atsuko speaking Japanese to me and I would respond either in English or in Japanese) but now I don’t pay any attention to it at all.

This week I read an interesting article on mixed couples in Canada (white married to visible minority or visible minority to visible minority) and found some very revealing figures. I was not surprised by Vancouver being the leading city with the highest proportion of mixed couples but I am surprised by Calgary being number 3. However, my nephew who lives in Calgary has commented on the large immigrant population in Calgary (25% of Calgarians are visible minorities).  I still tend to think of Calgary in terms of the white cowboy on horseback but that image belongs in the 1980s (when I lived in Alberta) and certainly not today.

Another big surprise was discovering there are 1,230 Japanese living in Kelowna (a 1 hour drive north of Penticton). Sure, Kelowna has a much larger population compared to Penticton (Kelowna has 160,000 residents and Penticton has 33,000) but I assumed most of the Japanese in BC live in the lower mainland. How many are in Penticton? There must be less than 20!
http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo53f-eng.htm

Here are some interesting facts I found in the article:

-more than 340,000 Canadian children are growing up in mixed-race families
- 5% of children in 2 parent families live in mixed-race households
-between 2001 and 2006 the number of mixed unions grew by 33%
-mixed unions are most common among Canadians 25-34 years old (6.8%)
-BC has the largest proportion of mixed unions (6.4%) followed by Ontario (4.6%) and then Alberta (4.2%)
-Vancouver has the largest share of mixed unions (8.5%) followed by Toronto (7.1%) and then Calgary (6.1%)
-Japanese had the highest proportion of marrying outside their visible minority group (75%) followed by Latin Americans (47%), Blacks (41%), Filipinos (33%)

Sources:
“Number of mixed-race couples on the rise in Canada: Stats Can” http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Number+mixed+race+couples+rise+Canada+StatsCan/2928592/story.html
and
http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/00599/21N_Mixed_unions_599481a.pdf

Atsuko taught Japanese cooking and culture through Okanagan College Continuing Education. She taught cooking in Summerland, Penticton, and Oliver and then did a culture class in Penticton.

Her first class was held at Penticton Secondary School with 12 students in attendance and she was so nervous! However, once she got going she began to relax and had a great time. The students had a lot of fun too! Atsuko taught them to make makizushi (rolled sushi), miso soup, gomae salad, and then topped it off with tempura. Everyone loved the sushi, of course, but they also enjoyed making and eating the miso soup, gomae salad, and tempura. The tempura recipe is from Atsuko’s mom and unlike some tempura the batter is made without eggs and is very, very light and crispy – yummy!

The Japanese tea ceremony and culture class at Okanagan College in Penticton and was a success too. Again, Atsuko was very nervous going into to it but once she got going everything fell into place and she did an excellent job. She started off with a slide show of the tea ceremony and then got the students to do the ceremony and taste the matcha and Japanese sweets. March 3 was Japanese Doll Festival Day so we brought a couple of dolls and she talked about the festival and its origins. She then moved on to talking about the Japanese kimono and the geisha culture (one of her friends is a former geisha), and then she concluded with an origami demonstration.tsuko came across as very professional and the students just loved her and were full of questions!

I have been back in Canada for almost 3 years and I am still amazed over the rapid growth of the foreign-born population. My wife is Japanese and our 2 children also look Japanese so we are very much a part of this rapidly growing movement. I remember shopping at Ikea in Coquitlam when I first got back to Canada and being amazed over the number of mixed couples wandering the store. In Osaka a mixed couple would stand out but at Ikea in Coquitlam it was the norm! Although the Okanagan population is still predominantly white the landscape is changing, and it will be very interesting to see how the rapid rise of the foreign-born population will affect Canadian society, politics, and the economy particularly in rural Canada where we live. I find articles like this one fascinating and a great insight into the changing face of Canada.

Minorities to rise significantly by 2031: StatsCan
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 | 4:42 PM ET | CBC News

About one-third of Canada’s population — up to 14.4 million people — will be a visible minority by 2031, Statistics Canada projects.

The country’s foreign-born population is also expected to rise to as much as 28 per cent, about four times faster than the rest of the population, the Statistics Canada study projects.

A growing percentage of new Canadians, like these seen reaffirming their vows of citizenship before a Toronto Blue Jays game in 2003, will be visible minorities, according to a new report by Statistics Canada. A growing percentage of new Canadians, like these seen reaffirming their vows of citizenship before a Toronto Blue Jays game in 2003, will be visible minorities, according to a new report by Statistics Canada. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

The projections suggest that whites will become the minority in Toronto and Vancouver over the course of the next three decades.

South Asians, including Indians, Pakistanis and Sri Lankans, are expected to make up the largest visible minority group, at 28 per cent, thanks in part to high fertility rates, the study projected.

The proportion of Chinese-Canadians, who have one of the lowest fertility rates in Canada, is expected to decrease from 24 to 21 per cent.

Visible minorities, as defined by the study, are “persons, other than aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-white in colour.”

Settlement primarily in urban centres

The vast majority of visible minorities — 71 per cent — are projected to live in Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal, building on a trend that has seen immigrants move to urban centres in large numbers.

Newcomers settle in urban areas because the sheer size of the cities means more job opportunities, which then leads to the creation of ethnic communities, said University of Toronto professor Jeffrey Reitz.

“(They) become kind of magnets in themselves for people of similar backgrounds,” the ethnic and immigration studies professor said.

“The existence of the communities in the cities sort of tends to become a self-perpetuating process.”

The largest proportion by far is projected to live in Toronto, where Statistics Canada says 63 per cent of the population will be a visible minority, up from 43 per cent counted in the 2006 census.

In Vancouver, the population of visible minorities is projected to reach 59 per cent, up from 42 per cent in 2006.

In Montreal, the population of visible minorities is projected to reach 31 per cent, more than double the 16 per cent counted in 2006.
With files from The Canadian Press

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/03/09/statscan-minority.html#ixzz0hkMZCDjT
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/100309/dq100309a-eng.htm

I thought my Canadians friends and friends of Canada would like to hear a bit about the Olympics now that it is all over. There is so much to say (and millions of journalists have said so much already!) that I thought I would just give you a list of interesting figures and personal opinions.

- Canada’s ‘Own the Podium’ campaign was created to draw corporate sponsorship. Nobody liked the campaign as it was too brash/vulgar, too un-Canadian, and put too much pressure on the athletes.

- However, that being said, the record-breaking 14 gold medals set a new Olympic record for the highest number won in a single Games.

- Stephen Colbert of “The Colbert Report” was upset at Canada, calling Canadians such things as “syrup-suckers,” Saskatchew-whiners,” and “ice-holes” but remarked that when he arrived in Vancouver to tape his shows he commented that “I am surrounded by the most polite mob in history.”

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/17/bc-colbert-vancouver-taping.html

- Canada’s men’s Olympic ice hockey defeat to the United States became the most-watched sports programme in Canadian history with 10.6 million viewers – over a third of the country’s population.

- Vancouver’s opening ceremony, the first to be held indoors, was the most-watched television event ever in Canada with an average of 13.3 million viewers.

- 3.5 billion worldwide television viewers are estimated to have tuned into the Games.

- Freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau became the first Canadian to win Olympic Gold at home with victory in the men’s moguls. His brother, Frederic age 28, suffers from cerebral palsy and seeing him cheer on his younger brother and seeing them embrace each other after the Gold Medal win was one, big tear-jerker. Alexandre calls his brother Frederic “my inspiration” and he has probably done more to elevate cerebral palsy to the forefront of Canadian minds that anything in years.

The Vancouver Games had an operating budget of $1.75 billion. The figure does not include the $900 million security budget, funded mostly by the Canadian federal government.

A friend of mine bought an opening ceremony ticket for $2,700.

Someone was trying to sell front row seat at US-Canada Gold Medal Final for $9,000 on CraigsList

A group of 4 box seats at the same game were going for $136,000.

$500-million target for gross retail sales of Vancouver 2010 branded merchandise met by end of Games.

Spending by international visitors on Visa cards at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games and in British Columbia topped US$100 million during the Games.

Top ten spenders:

-  USA

-  China

-  United Kingdom

-  Australia

-  Russia Federation

-  Japan

-  South Korea

-  Hong Kong

-  Norway

-  Germany

I end with a quote from The Vancouver Sun newspaper:

“Tens of thousands of people poured into downtown streets Sunday, as they had each night of the Olympics, to celebrate and cheer not only Canada’s hockey win but merely being Canadian and part of these Games. And as usual, it wasn’t just a young crowd spilling from bars. There were seniors, babies in strollers, kids holding glow-sticks and middle-aged men and women waving flags tied to hockey sticks. And at the intersection of Smithe and Howe (finance district), at 9:30 p.m., there was a full-on street hockey game, complete with nets. Five hundred people stood and watched and cheered every goal, no matter which team scored.”
(Iain Macintyre, “2010: A Heartwarming Olympic Odyssey,” The Vancouver Sun, March 2, 2010)

Atsuko acted as an interpreter for the mayor of Penticton this week. A delegation from the sister city of Ikeda, Japan was in town for the day and the mayor was worried about communication problems so the mayor’s office gave us a call Monday night. Atsuko was hesitant at first but I pushed her into it as I thought it would be a great experience for her, a boost to her self-confidence, and a good chance to meet some new people. She was very nervous throughout the day but performed well.

The day started at 10AM with a meeting at city hall and then they went for lunch at the Penticton Golf & Country Club. After lunch, there was a tour of the South Okanagan Events Centre followed by a tour of the new Penticton High School. The day went well and the Japanese delegation had a great time. The delegation was on a super high because the day before their hometown star, Keichiiro Nagashima, won a Silver Medal in speed skating:
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/countries/country=JPN/medals/index.html

The population of Ikeda is only 5,000 (about the same size as Summerland) so you can imagine the pride and joy they were feeling! The delegation was in town just for the day and then it was back to the Olympics to cheer on the other competitors. Believe it or not, there are 3 Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Olympics from Ikeda – sounds like a small town with a big heart! I have to get up there for a visit on my next trip to Japan. From the reports I’ve heard, the “Pentictonites” just love the place and the people are so warm and welcoming.

Several days ago I attended the Business Excellence Awards ceremony hosted by the Penticton Chamber of Commerce. Here are the winners for 2009:
http://www.penticton.org/2009-Excellence-Awards-Winners.html

We were nominated in the “hospitality and tourism” sector and I felt so honoured to be in the company of so many wonderful business people. I had a terrific time at the dinner and met some very interesting people at our table. I was also simply amazed when I heard the award winner bios. Penticton has so many outstanding business people and I could not believe their commitment to their community and to charity work. It was such an eye-opener for me, and I learned a lot about the importance of giving and what it means to be successful both in business and in life.

During the past few weeks I have been giving talks on the recent earthquake in Haiti and relating it to my earthquake experience in Kobe. I have been going to elementary schools and volunteer groups and doing Power Point presentations on the Kobe earthquake. The 1995 Kobe earthquake killed approximately 6,500 people, decimated over 100,000 buildings, and totalled $132 billion in damages. Of course, the situation in Haiti is 1,000 times worse and they face such an upward battle to rebuild what is left of Port Au Prince. The level of poverty in Haiti is unbelievable and I cannot imagine what it must be like to go through an earthquake in that country. A lot of the Penticton businesses have launched a “Hearts for Haiti” week and are doing fund-raising drives to help the earthquake victims. The biggest affect the earthquake had on me was psychological (lots of post-traumatic stress which lasted a long, long time) and I would like to do something to help bring some joy into their lives…not sure what to do at this point but hopefully something will come together.

It was a big day in Penticton on January 25. At 1:00pm the Olympic Torch arrived in town to great fanfare. It was a huge “to-do” with all the politicians in attendance (including BC Premier Gordon Campbell) and some great live entertainment. There was a huge turn-out with an estimate crowd of 7,000 waiting to greet the Olympic Torch. We were also very lucky to get our picture taken with the Olympic Torch too. It wasn’t lit, of course, but it was still a huge thrill for us (could not do this in Whistler!). Atsuko also took part in the ceremonies as she carried the Japanese flag and put it on the stage.