TSILHQOT’IN FIGHT TO SAVE FISH LAKE IS EVERYONE’S BATTLE
by Friends of
the Nemaiah Valley
Blue Gold: The Tsilhqot’in Fight for Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) is a revealing look at the Tsilhqot’in peoples’ rejection of Taseko Mines Ltd.’s proposal to drain Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) in order to stockpile mining waste. Their voices ring clearly through the same valley Taseko hopes to gut for gold, “We do not want Teztan Biny destroyed.”
The Tsilhqot’in hold proven Aboriginal hunting and trapping rights in the area Taseko wants to mine; an area that sits at the headwaters of the Taseko River and ultimately the Fraser River. The proposed mine’s two-kilometre-wide open pit will destroy the entire sub-alpine ecosystem around Teztan Biny, a lake sacred to the Tsilhqot’in Nation.
Blue Gold: Tsilhqot’in Fight for Teztan Biny
Canadian Premiere Screening
David Lam Auditorium, University of Victoria
Thursday March 11, 2010 - 7 pm
Panel Discussion: Chief Marilyn
Baptiste, Xeni Gwet’in First Nation will join Jack Woodward, Woodward
& Company and Amy Crook, Centre for Science in Public Participation
in a post-screening discussion moderated by David Williams, Friends of
the Nemaiah Valley.
“The mine will transform the Teztan Biny watershed into an industrial zone, and disrupt the cultural and spiritual practices that the Tsilhqot’in have exercised on these lands for centuries,” states Chief Marilyn Baptiste, Xeni Gwet’in First Nation. “It will not only destroy our water and important fish habitats, but also heavily affect grizzly bears, moose, deer, beaver and other wildlife we depend on to survive. We cannot agree to the destruction of the land that sustains us.”
Blue Gold gives voice to the struggle of the people of this pristine land which connects to ecosystems across the province. The permanent destruction of the lake and the watershed cannot be compensated ecologically. The fight to save Teztan Biny and its neighbouring lake, Nabas (Little Fish Lake) from the proposed Prosperity Gold-Copper Mine is the battle to preserve natural resources that supply the province in countless ways. Recent changes to the Fisheries Act allow for destruction of fresh-water bodies in Canada and threaten our water supply. The film highlights the need to put our future ahead of our present.
Join us for the Canadian Premiere Screening:
Thursday March 11, 2010 - 7 pm
Panel Discussion: Chief Marilyn Baptiste, Xeni Gwet’in First Nation will join Jack Woodward, Woodward & Company and Amy Crook, Centre for Science in Public Participation in a post-screening discussion moderated by David Williams, Friends of the Nemaiah Valley.
David Lam Auditorium, University of Victoria
All welcome, admission by donation ($10 suggested).
For more details, go to www.raventrust.com. Advance media copies of the film are available at request.
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Media contact:
Trish Rorison
Victoria (250) 588-1119
trishrorison@gmail.com
March 2nd, 2010
