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Roll on Columbia showing at History Centre
A Columbia River Treaty exhibit, Roll on Columbia, is on display at the Cranbrook History Centre until September 8.
Roll On Columbia is a travelling exhibition that explores the legacy of the Columbia River Treaty and present day understanding of the trans-boundary Columbia River watershed ecosystem. Developed and circulated by Touchstones Nelson: Museum of Art and History in Nelson, Roll On Columbia won the Canadian Museums Association award of outstanding achievement in exhibitions for 2014.
Roll On Columbia takes its name from the Woody Guthrie folk song of the same name, dating from the era of the Great Depression when mega projects such as dams were celebrated and embraced. Nearly a century later, there is wide spread understanding that mega projects transformed our relationship to water and the ecology of rivers, and not necessarily for the better. Yet, the rivers of southeastern B.C. continue to roll on through the mountains and across the international boundary into the United States, governed by a 50-year-old international water agreement, the Columbia River Treaty (CRT). Set within the context the Treaty’s 10-year notification period for renegotiation (2014-2024), Roll On Columbia asks – do the public values that originally formed the treaty remain the same?
The exhibit explores a number of areas of interest including key historic events preceding the CRT; the varied geography of the upper Columbia that attracted those in search of water storage; the key players who made the CRT decisions; the power struggle between B.C. and the Federal Government on the merits of the Treaty; how major decisions were made prior to public consultation; identification and measurement of gains and losses in the First Era of construction; and finally, trans-boundary river cooperation to the present day.
Funding for Roll On Columbia was provided by the Columbia Basin Trust. The travelling history exhibit was researched and curated by Eileen Delehanty Pearkes an author and public speaker who specializes in the indigenous and natural history of the Kootenays.
Eileen will be at the Cranbrook History Centre on Saturday, July 25 at 1 p.m. for a public speaking engagement and to discuss the important topics that this exhibit brings up.
Cranbrook History Centre
