Old Cabin Near Trophy, BC
(Nov/Dec 2011 Jan 2012)

The cover photo was taken at Topley, BC, halfway to Terrace, where I went to visit my Mom this past September. During my distribution trips over the last few years, I have taken many photographs of old buildings, knowing that one day they won’t be there anymore. I wonder who built them, and what their joy and struggles must have been in building without electricity and power tools. While I was in Terrace, Mom gave me her collection of homesteading slides that graced the front cover of Issues for the first ten years. My yearning to take photos of old buildings probably came from the fact that my parents were homesteaders, moving from Michigan to Rosswood, BC, in 1958. Mom took lots of photos, showing the many stages needed to settle raw land. Back then land cost two dollars an acre plus proof that we were working the land and making improvements.

Many people have commented about enjoying the old photos and some prefer them to the new ones. Since moving to Johnson’s Landing, we have had many people ask questions, like, “How did things get started?” We show them a photo of the lodge taken in 1978 just before it went through its third enlargement. The new owners had a growing family, so they just built around the original cabin as time permitted, leaving the chimney in the middle, the porch circling the birch tree, and even digging out the basement.

This summer Tad Melbin dropped by, the man who built the original cabin in 1969. He now lives in California, and one of his friends informed him that his one-room cabin had grown into a Retreat Center, so he checked it out on the web and drove here for a holiday. He was one of the first teachers at the Argenta Friends’ School, which was run by the Quakers. He spent several summers cutting trees and working part-time to earn money to buy supplies. Tad gave us his pictures of those early days and shared his story of building what he thought was going to be a temporary location, as he had plans to build a bigger home at a better location. He made many comments about the trees and how impressed he was that they are still standing. In 1972 he sold the twenty acres to a Canadian family, who sold it to Alphonse Bouchard in 1992, who developed it into the Golden Eagle Retreat Center. But that didn’t work out, and it was then sold to Richard in June of 1998.

Back to Mom … She is now 87 years old and not looking forward to the wet, cold winter up north. She plans to move to Hazelton, hence the need to let go of the boxes of slides and other things. She keeps herself well by getting acupuncture and rolfing treatments on a regular basis, but says she does not feel like herself.

My Mom’s determination to stay well when I was a child sparked my inspiration to stay well. Her Mom was one of the original ‘health nuts.’ Grandma knew lots about herbs. She even travelled to Russia in the 1940’s, where she learned the language so she could study Russian cures for diseases. I educated myself reading Prevention Magazine, and studying what Dr. Vogel and Dr. Rudolph Ballentine taught about natural healing. I liked using natural remedies on myself and the kids when needed. I also liked supporting alternative practitioners like naturopaths, Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors and energy healers, and I still do. Once we take drugs, they weaken our body’s defense system. The promise of easy healing without knowing the natural way to do it is a lure, a magic pill that does not work in the long run. It takes time and determination to stay well.

Many people who train to be doctors start with good intentions, but soon become pawns of the pharmaceutical companies, as it takes less time to prescribe than to educate. It would be good if we got support from our doctors to use natural products instead of confusing messages that natural remedies are dangerous or useless.

I started Issues twenty some years ago as a way to educate people about options for health and the Codex Alimentarius (an international food regulatory body of the UN and WHO), which I was told would eventually control our health supplements. With the implementation of Bill C-51, we now know that those rumours about the Codex are real. Big Pharma now controls the various organizations and government departments that were designed to help us.

While doing the last distribution, I got the feeling that the next edition needed to focus on getting people to wake up to the fact that our “health-care” is being compromised. When I got home, Common Ground magazine of Vancouver had a special supplement on our “health industry under siege,” so all I had to do was choose which articles to reprint so you could read them here. Did you know that death by pharmaceuticals has surpassed death by automobile accidents as the number one killer in the United States? Natural health products are very safe, so why are Health Canada and the Natural Health Products Directorate classifying our supplements as drugs and not foods? Most politicians are much too busy or lack the interest to know about this issue, so it is up to you to let them know your opinion. I encourage you to sign the Charter of Health Freedom Act. You will find the details on page 27.

I have included an article and book review by Helke Ferrie of Ontario who writes for Vitality Magazine and has dedicated her life to publishing research as to what is happening at the corporate level of health care. The BC Health Action Network has been around for thirty years and puts out a good magazine that you can find online. If you are not a member, I suggest you check out their website and sign up. Supporting dedicated people that are keeping us informed of the crackdown on natural remedies is important or soon there will be no choices left.