Channel Migration

Channel Migration is a 13-station, 14 km long audiowalk, the narration of which was co-written by Geoff Martin and myself. The walk and its soundscape traces the length of Schneider Creek from its surfacing in Willow River (Victoria) Park in downtown/central Kitchener ON, Canada all the way to Doon, where it joins the Grand River and flows on to the Great Lakes. This creek and its flowing (and overflowing) has been in complicated relationship with the settler-wrought changes along its banks, since the first houses, farms, and industries in the area were built.

NEWS!!

I am THRILLED to announce that Geoff and I will be working with PS Guelph to publish a book based on the 2025 audio walk:

CHANNEL MIGRATION: Moving with an Urban Creek

Updates on this love letter to Schneider Creek and its publication date will be found here and on my socials.

My deep thanks to Geoff and PS Guelph for sharing this journey.

Habitat. Water Source. Water Course. Open Sewer. Flood Threat.

Schneider Creek has been All these Things.

But how will we know it in the future?

What can our relationship be if we think differently?

This project has been an opportunity to think deeply about a particular place, and by extension, to develop my thinking around what it means to be in relation with water in the broadest sense: as the source and sustainer of life for all beings on this planet. It’s also been a way to approach these ideas with the eyes of someone who is coming new to a place - in this case, Kitchener, ON - and this in itself is something of a luxury in terms of the questions I have been able to ask and the approach I have taken in getting to know this place, this water.. I had no preconceived notions of what the Creek was (or should be) within the context of its homeland; this afforded me the room to ask all kinds of questions that someone more (initially) familiar with these waters might assume to be too simple or direct to ask. A situation in which ‘not knowing’ provides a fresh way of looking both at the Creek’s circumstances, and my understanding of how water means and speaks to me.

It has also been a tremendous opportunity to think alongside my co-conspirator Geoff Martin, and see Schneider Creek and Kitchener through his eyes, as a “returned local” working to understand his relationship to the Creek and the city after time away. Geoff’s personal experiences, his generosity in sharing his love and care for this water has prompted my own reconsideration of the rivers and creeks and marine environments that I hold close, regardless of proximity. I am grateful for every insight.