Camillia Buenestado Pilon, history and heritage consultant
It’s with great pleasure that I’ve agreed to be the co-spokesperson, alongside the talented Fernand Alain, for this very first Gaspesian Heritage Week.
Heritage Week is a space where people like you and me, who are passionate about issues of legacy, heritage and history, can come together to celebrate.
As you may know, I am fortunate enough to be able to earn a living from my passion. For me, heritage is everything. It’s a framework that gives us an opportunity to reflect on the spaces we inhabit, engage with and cherish. It’s a perspective from which we navigate between the past and the future, and in that dance between the two – that allows us to choose what to protect, cherish and nurture – there are so many layers of meaning.
Our heritage transcends us and defines us. Whether we are talking about movable, immovable, tangible or intangible heritage, there is something that inevitably anchors each and every one of us in existence. Whether it’s our family home, our mother’s dialect, our intertwined roots, the stories of our ancestors’ exile, zigzag fences, our father’s garage, or the foundation of our range.
The theme of this first Week is toponymy – the way we name our territories. Our ‘bends’, our ‘hollows’, our ‘pools’, our ‘ranges’, our ‘lanes’, our ‘commons’, our ‘Gospem’, our ‘Sipu’. Our spots for hunting, sliding in winter or picking saskatoons: our very own folklore.
This journey will inevitably lead us to realise that this land is, of course, inhabited by many others besides ourselves. We will need to listen. Moreover, the rich and ever-present Mi’gmaq place names will take centre stage this week.
