Chokecherry, SC̸ET̸EṈILĆ [W̱SÁNEĆ], tuluµulhp [HUL’Q’UMI’NUM’], Prunus virginiana, as a symbol for decolonizing Canada

2017 May 7, Ruckle Provincial Park, Salt Spring Island * photo by Alex Grunenfelder & Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram

For other Canadians having very mixed feelings about next week’s 150th anniversary of the modern Canadian state (including its massive repressive apparatuses), perhaps we need an alternative symbol. This is the only native tree that is in every province and territory in the country: chokecherry, Prunus virginiana.  Chokecherry was known in nearly every indigenous language was the first fruit after the glaciers receded, has medicinal bark (for the original cherry cough lozenge), and produced the preferred poles for teepees. And in contrast the syrupy sweetness of maple syrup, the chokecherry fruit is more nutritious and with a slight bitterness. (2017 May 7, Ruckle Provincial Park, Salt Spring Island * photo by Alex Grunenfelder & Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram)

salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis, blossom

a relatively late blossom (in a late spring) of salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis, just above the high-tide line at Burgoyne Bay just north of the Cowichan village, Xwaaqw’um, Salt Spring Island 2017 April 25 * photograph taken jointly by Jan Steinman, Ecoreality Cooperative & Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram, KEXMIN field station