CHILDREN OF A COMMON MOTHER

“CHILDREN OF A COMMON MOTHER” *  

By Jim Mullen

Though I am an American citizen, from 1959-1968 my legal residence was Vancouver, and later, New Westminster, British Columbia.  After President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Canada’s Prime Minister asked residents in Vancouver to turn on their porch lights at exactly 11 pm the night of the funeral.  Standing on the porch of our fourth-story apartment I was stunned to observe hundreds of lights switched on at precisely 11 pm! In our national grief, Canada had the US’s back.

It wasn’t always that way.  The US’s encroachment on Canada’s natural resources was a source of great tension in 1959 when we moved to Vancouver from Cincinnati, Ohio.  I experienced that resentment towards “Yanks” in school.  It wasn’t pleasant, but certainly by 1963 new leaders on both sides had managed to calm those emotions.

Jumping way ahead: about a month after the 2001 9/11 attacks, as Director of Seattle’s Office of Emergency Management I was invited to speak at an emergency management conference in downtown Vancouver.  Driving down Granville Street, one of Vancouver’s major throughfares, I could not help but notice the large number of US flags prominently displayed in front yards.  At the conference I learned that Vancouver City utility vehicles were sporting US flag decals in solidarity with us.  Frankly, it choked me up.  Later that week I had occasion to thank BC firefighters who had travelled to Ground Zero to help with the grim recovery tasks.  And years later I met BC firefighters who supported rescue and recovery efforts in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina.  Their universal response to “thank you” was that we surely would do no less for them.

As Washington State’s emergency management director I had the privilege of finalizing the Pacific Northwest Emergency Management Arrangement (PNEMA) which is a mutual aid agreement between FEMA Region 10 states (Idaho, Alaska Oregon, Washington) and British Columbia and Yukon Territory.  In 2012, In my final months as state director we utilized PNEMA in an exercise for the very first time.  That set the stage for PNEMA’s actual deployment and sharing of resources in subsequent real-time events.  But this isn’t about me, or my memories from age 16 or even later.  It’s about a shared commitment to neighbors, despite the border that divides us.  What is important is that contrived (by US) political spats do not divide us to the detriment of individuals on both sides.  As we head into fire season, what potential collateral damage will the recent ostentatious US initiatives with respect to tariffs on trade portend for this cross – border cooperative relationship? The answer should be nothing- PNEMA is a deal between sovereign entities, 4 states, a province, and a Canadian territory, authorized by the US Congress and Canada’s Parliament.  Hopefully there will be no fiddling while one part of North America burns this summer, or if the earth beneath us should move in a major way.  Let’s hope.  *Blaine, Washington border crossing inscription on the Peace Arch Photo WA State Parks