The Canada C3 expedition, which sought to advance Indigenous reconciliation and climate-change protection during its voyage through the Northwest Passage, completed its 150-day journey in Victoria on Saturday.
The Polar Prince icebreaker was framed by an arc of water as a flotilla guided it into Victoria Harbour. Hundreds of onlookers stood on the docks cheering and echoing the cries of “C3” that came from crewmembers aboard the 72-metre ship.
“It’s got a heart and a soul, that ship, and it got us across the country,” expedition leader Geoff Green told the crowd after the crew disembarked the retired icebreaker. Green, the founder of the non-profit Students on Ice Foundation, conceived the project to mark 150 years of Canadian Confederation.
After departing Toronto on June 1, the ship spent 150 days sailing to the Atlantic Ocean, up to the Arctic, and then west to the Pacific Ocean. It carried a crew of 15 and an expedition staff of 25, plus 400 others who got a chance to sail on one of the 15 legs of the trip.
As the ship completed the 12,000-nautical-mile voyage along the country’s three coasts, Green said, those on board learned just how many Canadians are connected to the ocean. That sets the stage, he said, for Canada to take a leading role in the world as a champion for ocean protection.
“The ending of this journey is the beginning of so much more,” Green said.
Dominic LeBlanc, minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, announced a new, 83,000-square-kilometre marine-protection area that will be created off B.C.’s coast to protect underwater seamounts and several hydrothermal vents. The creation of a marine refuge will close the area to bottom-contact commercial and recreational fishing activities, a move that was applauded by the David Suzuki Foundation and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.
Part of his speech was interrupted by fish-farm protesters, who yelled into a megaphone and carried signs that said: “Fish farms out.”
Another protester yelled: “Stop the Kinder Morgan pipeline” during Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna’s speech.
LeBlanc continued speaking, saying the new marine refuge is part of the government’s goal of protecting five per cent of the country’s marine and coastal areas by the end of this year and 10 per cent by 2020.
The expedition was meant to be Canada’s largest multi-disciplinary science expedition through the Arctic — with science partners including the University of Victoria afforded a rare opportunity to conduct research in the Arctic and sub-Arctic — but it quickly took on other important roles: a tool of reconciliation, communication about the destructive policies of colonialism and a commitment to repairing those wounds.
Racelle Kooy, a member of the Samahquam First Nation who completed the last leg of the journey, said she was hesitant about participating in Canada 150 celebration, but said the C3 voyage put reconciliation front and centre.
Kooy said she was also moved by the personal connections made as the vessel stopped in remote communities along B.C.’s coast. Residential-school survivor Lillian Howard told those on board about the abuse she suffered as a child, Kooy said, and the group discussed the difficult path toward healing.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said reconciliation and climate change are inextricably linked as the “most important challenges and biggest opportunities of the 21st century.”
“Truth, reconciliation and climate action are woven together as we settlers on these lands learn what true respect means, what true environmentalism means and what true preservation and looking forward seven generations means,” she said. “Yes, this is the end of the journey here in Victoria, but it’s the beginning of an even bigger journey of taking everything the C3 has represented and keeping it alive in every single community across this country.”
