Tako Koning Interview by Jenny Radsma

On March 21, I interviewed Tako Koning, the longest-serving director on our CJFF board. Thanks to him—and others on the board at the time—CJFF remained viable and emerged from the pandemic to become the vibrant and energetic enterprise it is today. In recognition of his efforts on behalf of CJFF, including his role as the Partnerships Director, the Tako Audience Award was named in his honour at the 2024 Calgary Justice Film Festival.

Jenny: You’ve been on the board for 8 years. What drew you to CJFF?

Tako: I spent over 20 years working and living in Nigeria and Angola. I also lived and worked for seven years in Sumatra, Indonesia. I am a petroleum geologist by profession. When I came back to Calgary in 2015, I began attending the services of River Park Church in the Marda Loop–Altadore neighbourhood, which is where I learned about the Calgary Justice Film Festival, although at that time it was called the Marda Loop Justice Film Festival.

I was amazed to learn that this church was hosting a very well-attended justice-focused film festival. I was equally amazed that the church offered its facilities cost-free to the film festival and that they gave free rein to CJFF for the films screened. At that time, we had sometimes up to 500 attendees at individual screenings. It was inspirational to see the doors of the church wide open and many people walking in, people from all sorts of backgrounds, ages, and orientations. Attendance was cost-free. In 2017, I volunteered to join the board and have been a director since that time.

I brought board experience with me, including nine years with Sonshine Centre, a Calgary faith-based nonprofit that provided residential shelter for women and their families affected by domestic abuse. The Sonshine Centre was initially supported by River Park Church, and since that time, it has obtained broad community involvement and government support. My role on that board was as fundraising chairman. Sonshine was struggling financially. I was part of the team that managed to turn the finances around. At that time, I worked in the Calgary oil industry and leveraged my corporate contacts for financial support.

Jenny: How long have you been the partnership director with CJFF, and what does that involve?

Tako: I took on that position within two years of joining the CJFF board. The role involves developing relationships with the small businesses that support us through their donations. I have been working to maintain existing relationships while also trying to expand the CJFF donor base.

We have never had the status of being an official nonprofit organization recognized by the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA). However, this year we applied to CRA for non-profit status, and we are hopeful our application will be successful. If so, existing businesses and other potential donors will receive tax deductions and, hopefully, that will increase our donor base.

I also assist with the Peace Market, previously called the Peace Fair, which for many years has been an integral part of our film festival. Usually, about 20 – 30 nonprofit organizations have tables at the Peace Market, which provides them the opportunity to highlight their activities. I work closely on the Peace Market with Keira Prette, CJFF board member, who has lots of energy as well as IT and organizational skills, all invaluable for the Peace Market.

Last year, 2024, was the first time the film festival and the Peace Market were held at The Confluence. The Peace Market was packed with visitors talking with the various organizations, including the Alberta Wilderness Association, Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association, Building Schools for South Sudan, Citizens for Public Justice, Mennonite Central Committee, Ploughshares and many others. An excellent event!

Jenny: What does justice mean to you?

Tako: I have long been concerned about matters of justice, including environmental and social justice. Instead of trying to explain what justice means to me, I prefer to give some examples of injustice.

The first example is the proposed Grassy Mountain coal mine north of Blairmore, Alberta. This coal mine, if approved, lies on the eastern slopes of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains. This mine will be mountain-top removal mining and will create jobs in the local area. It will also benefit the mining company, Australia-based Northback Holdings, which has a terrible environmental record. However, the noise, dust, and water pollution will hurt those living in the nearby area. Also, the watershed in that area is an important source of water for southern Alberta. Will all of the silting-up of the streams and rivers and pollutants, such as selenium, justify this coal mine? So that makes this project a justice issue.

The environmental impact of the surface mining of the oil sands, aka tar sands, is also something I’ve been concerned about for a long time. The removal of so much overburden and oil-saturated sands has a huge impact on the environment, even though some restoration is being carried out. From an emissions standpoint, this type of activity has a very high emissions footprint, the highest of any type of oil production. The people of Fort Chipewyan First Nations who live nearby and downstream from the mining area have long complained about the mining’s impact on their environment. So this, too, is a huge justice issue.

A third example of a justice issue is what is happening near Bighill Springs Provincial Park, located northeast of Cochrane. This small, beautiful provincial park, visited by 250,000 people annually from Calgary, Cochrane, and other nearby towns. The key attraction is a stream beginning as springs in the western part of the park. These atypical springs are both thermal and mineral springs. Even when the temperatures are as low as -40 °C in winter, these springs flow at a constant +6 °C.

A Calgary-based aggregates company wants to build a huge and deep gravel mine just west of the park. This mine will cover almost half a section of land (320 acres) and will go as deep as 30 meters. Geologists like myself are concerned that this mine could damage the water migration paths in the subsurface and possibly ruin the springs.

For me, this is a justice issue. Twice every summer, I lead field trips to this area through a program called Adventures for Wilderness, organized by the Alberta Wilderness Association. Typically, I have up to 20 attendees, and the purpose is to raise public awareness about the dangers of gravel mining for Bighill Springs Provincial Park.

Jenny: What are your aims for CJFF in terms of fundraising and development?

Tako: A major challenge is that we are a volunteer-run organization. Being a CJFF board member is a lot of work, especially in the three or four months ahead of the November film festival. If we broaden our donor base, we could hire some part-time support staff. How do we get more money? Well, we’re going to have to broaden our donor support base and apply for funding from various organizations such as the Calgary Foundation. Having CRA non-profit status will enable us to enhance our fundraising efforts.

If our finances were to substantially improve, I would like to see more than just an annual film festival event. For many years, we had quarterly justREELS. These consisted of one-time showings of justice-related documentary films. These films were screened at the Globe Theatre, the Plaza in Kensington, and the Calgary downtown library. This resulted in our film festival having quarterly screenings in addition to the 3-day festival. So, it helped keep up our profile in terms of public recognition.

Jenny: So you see more fundraising through grants and grant writing?

Tako: Yes. A small group of us now form the CJFF fundraising committee, including Bassem Hafez, myself, and two other volunteers with experience in fundraising and grant writing.

Jenny: What do you do for fun?

Tako: I like to describe myself as being “semi-retired.” I have always been reluctant to describe myself as “retired” since that implies I spend my time on golf courses or cruises or sitting on a beach in Mexico, none of which I like to do. I give a lot of talks and presentations for three organizations: the Canadian Energy Geoscience Association, the Alberta Paleontological Society, and the Alberta Wilderness Association.

I am Holland-born and Canada-raised. I graduated with a B.Sc. in Geology from the University of Alberta in 1971, and through part-time evening studies, I also obtained a B.A. in Economics from the University of Calgary in 1981.

My profession gave me a wonderful opportunity to work worldwide and live overseas in some fascinating countries, so I do “paying back” where I share my knowledge and experience. I lead geological and paleontological field trips, or environment-focused field trips, with these organizations. In the past two years, I have given talks at conferences, symposiums, and forums in Buenos Airies, Argentina; Houston, Texas; and downtown Calgary to the geological society; Mount Royal University for the paleontological society and also in Edmonton where I returned to my alumni to give a presentation on domestic and overseas job opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

This sharing of my professional knowledge and experience began well over 40 years ago. As a volunteer, I have given presentations at publicly held conferences, conventions, and symposiums in places like Jakarta, Singapore, Istanbul, and Kazan-Russia, many locations in Africa, and the USA and South America.

Jenny: Where would you like to see CJFF head towards?

Tako: Hmm…blue-sky thinking? Several years ago, there were “satellite” justice film festivals in places like Fort MacLeod, Red Deer, and Sarnia. Organizers took advantage of the programs we had already set up for our annual film festival and then more or less duplicated them in their local areas. Some of these film festivals were the initial results of personal connections with River Park Church.

These festivals died out due to a lack of volunteers, and they were also located in smaller locations with smaller audiences. Nonetheless, maybe a group of people in a larger city, such as Regina, might want to set up a film festival like CJFF, and they could take advantage of our experience. The way I see it, CJFF is an excellent event offering justice-themed documentary films at no cost to the public. If there were more such film festivals across Canada, that would be a great legacy for the Calgary Justice Film Festival and us as volunteers.