I absolutely love this idea; that we are stories!  It inspires me to share my stories, my life, my ideas and my experiences. 

I grew up in Nelson, in a time of singular stories –of the dominant Euro-western culture– of Canada as the great melting pot. Pierre Elliot Trudeau was the Prime Minister –and my grandmother loved him – and therefore, so did I.

I am of Scottish and English heritage; however it was our Scottish roots that we were encouraged to celebrate.

My mom’s family immigrated to Canada in the early 20th century. She tells the story of how her grandfather McDougall, an electrician by trade, brought his young family over from Edinburgh Scotland to Phoenix BC (now a ghost town) to install electricity into the mines.  My Grandpa was the youngest of 8 children, and was the only child born in Phoenix.  The family eventually settled in a small community in the West Kootenays, called Bonnington. 

 My dad’s family immigrated to Canada from England; his grandparents, George and Ruby Maclean settled in Jasper BC, later establishing a shop named Ruby’s Shoes. Though Ruby was English, her husband was Scottish as is the name, Maclean.  After George & Ruby’s surviving son, Alec Maclean married my ‘Gramma Peggy‘ who was from Edmonton, they moved   to London Ontario, where my grandfather enlisted as a pilot in the Second World War.  They had two sons and a daughter of their own before traversing west again, to settle into the small rural BC community of Proctor. Dabbling in various enterprises, such as mink farming, and eventually the establishment of small transport company named, West Arm Truck Lines Ltd.