April 29 2010

Paddle to Save Wild Salmon

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The ceremony at Island 22 was put together quickly by Gadsen who also supplied hot coffee and donuts to help fuel the paddlers. He was pleased that the drummers showed up to take part in the ceremony. "It's great to have the Williams family drummers here," he said.

Fraser Valley Salmon Society President Frank Kwak said his group was totally in support of what the paddlers and Morton were doing.

Kwak also said the Society recently donated $1000 to Morton's work and presented a cheque to Edwards from money the club raised the previous night to help with costs the canoeists incur on their trip.

"We want to thank everybody for coming today," said Kwak. "Last night we had our annual general meeting and we decided to have a 50/50 raffle and we raised just over $80."

Federal NDP candidate, Gwen O'Mahony was there avidly supporting the paddlers. "I think it's great. It's one of these things that I'd just as soon people understand this issue. It's been in newsprint, it's been online, you google it, but even at one of the all-candidate meetings I went to when I ran provincially, I was invited to lunch and I asked the server if the salmon was wild or was it farmed, which is something I've been doing for years, and she didn't understand why and neither did some of the people there and I explained to them 'I will not eat salmon that is farmed,'" said O'Mahony.

Paddle for the Wild Salmon organizer, Elena Edwards, was enthusiastic about the support and friends she's made on the trip. She described the hospitality at Cheam Beach.

"Last night was incredible. The first night I've slept in a Longhouse, the fact that the Cheam native band has shared a very sacred part of their culture and opened their family, their home, everything to us in support of this."

When asked about how the salmon paddle started Edwards said it was pretty spontaneous because she was planning on joining Migration walk, contacted Morton's assistant, Megan Adams, and asked if they wanted her to film parts of the journey.

"Alex said what started in the walk as one person, turned into five and she didn't expect to be hundreds so by the same token we didn't expect this to grow into something this big that is very inspiring and encouraging," said Edwards.

The group has a 40-foot aluminum support boat which can take their canoes and ferry them across the strait if the weather is too rough. The RCMP provided an escort as a safety precaution for the paddlers as they moved down the river.

Once all were on shore at Island 22 and mingling, Mission paddler, Rita Holmes, left Hope with one group in the big 10-seat canoe and took a moment to speak with the Voice. She also said the night before at Cheam Beach was an amazing experience.

"The people were so welcoming and warm," she said. "They invited us in and they shared their food with us and they allowed us to sleep in the longhouse, and they had their young dancers there, it was very moving."

Graham Girard spoke on behalf of Morton telling the crowd that for the last two years he had the opportunity to work with Morton in the Archipelago.

"Really it seems it's been kind of a one-way battle up against government and the ministry and First Nations have been fighting for years and years and years," said Girard.

"Over the last year, I've been all over the province and it's been quite inspiring to see how many people are coming together, standing up for the wild salmon and saying what wild salmon means to all of us. Salmon are the backbone of the entire province, from forestry to tourism, so change is definitely afoot and it's an honour to see so many people coming out to support this journey," added Girard.

Squiala elder Paul Burnsen, who now lives in Chilliwack, spoke to supporters saying "Saving the salmon is everybody's business. The farmed fish, they don't feed the eagles, they don't feed the wolves, they don't feed the bears, but the wild salmon do." (pull quote this)

Burnsen said the smoking guns are there and farmed fish are doing harm, not only to the salmon but also to clams and other marine life.

"The wild salmon is what sustains not only a rich economy but also a tradition that has been part of BC for thousands and thousands of years, so when we see so many changes that are going on around here with pollution in the water, with mismanaged fish, and now a new threat to the salmon – that's farmed fish," said Burnsen.

He went on to say that "The burden of proof needs to be placed on government and big companies, not on us to prove that it's harmful. They have to prove that it's not harmful and they've got a tough road ahead for them to do that," he said.

For more information visit www.salmonaresacred.org

NDP Federal candidate Gwen O'Mahony.

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