Ken's Blog

Beyond Vanderhoof sixty miles east to Prince George and the highway south towards Vancouver. My map suggested nothing along the road but, twenty or so miles on, Brookside Resort. Small gas station, hot showers, campground, laundromat and convenience store. Dusty.

A little further on the First Nations Bednesti Lake Resort. Saik’uz First Nation Cultural and Exchange Centre. Closed. Fairly recently I thought. Now up for sale. Disappointing, not least because it looked to have potential. Instead, it appeared to be yet another failed indigenous business.

I was struggling to understand why. Trying to reconcile the individual charm and friendliness of the First Nations – indigenous or aboriginal – people I’d met with increasingly apparent societal issues. Drugs. Foetal Alcohol Syndrome. Failed businesses where I thought others might have succeeded.