Truth & Reconciliation-Land Acknowledgment & My Family's Connection to the Kootenays

My name is Marcelline Moore (White) and I was born in Edmonton, Alberta. My father was born and raised in Fort Vermilion, Alberta and I was named after his grandmother. My father spoke of an orphanage that he attended in the 1940’s, but I am sure it was a residential school named St. Henri's.

My mother immigrated from Northern England at the age of 11 and was a proud Canadian when she passed in 2016. My Father passed shortly thereafter. I only have a very small picture of the two of them together.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge my father who was born and raised in Fort Vermilion, Alberta. We acknowledge that Fort Vermilion is situated on the traditional lands of the Cree and Dene peoples and that region has been a site of stewardship, culture, and community for generations. We honor the ancestors and elders of those Indigenous nations and recognize their ongoing connection to that land.

My father brought me to the Nelson area when I was ten years old and although I moved away to raise my own family, I returned to the Kootenays to plant my roots and to work with the community that I love.

We acknowledge that we are on the traditional and unceded territories of the Ktunaxa, Syilx, and Sinixt Nations. These lands have been cared for by Indigenous peoples for millennia, and we honor their enduring connection to this place. As we live and work in Nelson, we commit to respecting the history, culture, and rights of the Indigenous communities. Let us strive to build relationships based on understanding, respect, and a shared commitment to reconciliation.

My father played a small part in building some of the major roads in the Kootenays and I still brag that he built the Bombi Pass. I grew up thinking that my father could fix anything, and I have always felt that I took after him in this way as I have a keen sense of how things operate. I love to tinker and fix things and with the age of the internet, I am confident that I can restore almost anything.

My mother found her voice when I was in my early twenties, and she became a professional musician. The Library in the Hume Hotel in Nelson is one of the places she sang her Patsy Cline songs, and she was excited to call me from the hotel and to send me a picture of her band on the marquis at the Hume. She knew how much I loved this area.

My parents loved to do many of the same things as I enjoy doing and they shared with me stories of their camping, gardening, and entertaining adventures. I often look out my window and wonder if they loved the mountains as much as I do. I can feel my mom around us when we are camping at Kokanee, Syringa, and Lost Ledge Provincial parks, especially when we are singing around the campfire. She would have loved the fishing, and nature walks that we enjoy in our little city of Nelson. Nestled in the mountains, we are surrounded by the beauty of the Selkirk mountains, the Purcell mountains and the Valhalla mountains. When I look out my office window, I am reminded of how gorgeous the Canadian Rockies are and at any time I can take a little drive, climb a mountain and feel like I am on top of the world.

My father would have loved the diversity of the people and the animals of the Kootenays, the social connections, and the many events of the area. When we were small, we went on CB picnics and were involved with many of the local festivities that the four seasons in this area offers. I can envision him walking beside me at the Road Kings car show, the Garlic Festival out in the Valley and the logging sports at the May Days events in Kaslo, BC. He would have got a real kick out of watching me break in the motor on our Zodiac boat and whipping between Davis Creek and Lost Ledge. I was always accused of having his lead foot, but it appears I have a rubber wrist as well.

As I enjoy all of the beautiful areas that the Kootenays in South Central BC has to offer, I am reminded of my ancestors and the influences they have on my heart and soul. I wonder where their own footprints have wandered in the Kootenays, and I am grateful to have planted my own roots and call Nelson BC my home.