“A real place conveys a sense of temporal depth, a sense that people have been living and laboring here for a long time.” ~ Scott Russell Sanders, Staying Put
In January, while focusing on the history of our place, we looked at the earliest peoples of our place and how they’re remembered. A community doesn’t stay frozen in time, though, and this week we’ll look at the people of your place right now. Who are they?
I come from a place originally inhabited by Indigenous Peoples, some of whom are still living here today. We have a regional Native Centre and an annual celebration of Indigenous peoples from our area. This place has also been home to Black enslaved people and European settlers and immigrants.
Many of the settlers here were British, escaping the Revolutionary War in the United States. And, my place has a distinctly British flavour to it today. The Shaw Festival Theatre celebrates the works of George Bernard Shaw, an English Playwright, along with similar works. For me personally, my grandparents included Irish immigrants who came to help build the canal which joins Lakes Erie and Ontario, and British Loyalists who came to farm.
I truly live in a small town with just under 20,000 residents. The town is predominantly White, with only 6% visible minorities, typical for a small town in Ontario. Aboriginal residents account for 0.6% of the population. This place is considered to be a great place to retire, so there is a higher than average percentage of residents (24%) that are over 65 and only 14% who are under 14. While not quite as diverse as I would like, there are people from every corner of the world. There are also many workers in the vineyards and on the fruit farms, who come from Jamaica and Mexico, and live here at least six months of the year.
Who are the heroes of your place?
The true test of a place comes from how the people care for each other and the land. This includes many unsung heroes who do things every day in big and small ways to invest in their place.
JR is a French street artist, who I first became aware of in 2011, when he won the TED prize (see the video). His TED prize wish is to use art to turn the world inside out. A truly unique photographic artist, his mission is to show the world its true face. He pastes massive portraits of the ordinary, unsung heroes of a community on buildings all over the world.
“He involves people in choosing his subjects, producing the prints, pasting them up. JR’s work is so resonant because it is about people learning to notice the places, people, stories, history and challenges around them. It wakes people, and creates connection.” ~ Rob Hopkins on JR, From What is to What if
In my town, I would have to say the first unsung heroes who come to mind are the migrant workers, who help put local food on the table. There is an amazing woman who, along with many others, advocates for migrant workers, by creating welcome packets, helping them access services, and organizing musical celebrations.
There is a group of people from one of our neighbourhoods who champion the trees in their area. They catalogue what’s growing and how the canopy is changing over time. They plant new trees.
I hope this helps you to think of the unsung heroes of your place.
Practice
Knowing the demographics is important, but more importantly, just notice the people in your town this week - the neighbours, those who work and live there, the elderly. Who are they and how do they help each other?
How diverse and inclusive is your place? How is the culture reflected in speech, habits, demographics? How have the demographics changed over the years and what’s driving that?
Who are the unsung heroes of your place right now? Whose stories need to be told?
Who are the people who know the most about your place? How can you learn from them? Check out the Human Library, an organization that recognizes the importance of listening to the experiences of others.
Finally, how do you contribute to others in your place? Do a random act of kindness for someone this week. Or, just thank someone else for what they contribute.