Giving Thanks for Wild Salmon: Salmon Are Sacred:

Alexandra Morton’s Mission for Wild Salmon Heads South  

by Salmon Are Sacred

HorseflyRiver, B.C. – October 9^th, Salmon Are Sacred visited the Horsefly River for a Thanksgiving blessing to the salmon.  Salmon Are Sacred’s tour of the Fraser watershed reached the most northern spawning ground headwaters with a visit toTakla Landing on Friday hosted by the Takla Lake First Nation. 

 

October 10^th, Salmon Are Sacred will visit Quesnel Lake and the Mitchell River with Ecotours-BC to view thesalmon bears of B.C.’s interior rainforest. On Tuesday (12^th), the Mission for Wild Salmon visits the UNBC Quesnel River Research Centre and then travels to Vernon for anevening event hosted by the Kalamalka Fly Fishers.  The tour rounds off with events in Lumby (13^th), Enderby (14^th), Shuswap Lake (15^th), Lillooet (18^th) and Hope (19^th) before embarking from Hope on a five-day paddle downthe Fraser River to Vancouver (20^th to 25^th October). 

Dr. Alexandra Morton, who recently launched the Wild Salmon People to create a voting block, said:

“B.C. is blessed this year with a miraculous run of wildsalmon and I hope all will acknowledge this 2010 legendary sockeye run.  But not all the Fraser sockeye runswere as big as the Adams and we must not forget the upper reaches of the Fraserwatershed where wild salmon remain endangered and many streams are extinct ofsalmon.  Without people likeSharolise Baker, Clara Jack, Kirby Johnnie, Margo French and the legion of otherchampions standing guard for Fraser Lake, Stuart Lake and Takla Lake we wouldnot be so blessed.  We have theCohen Commission investigating our Fraser sockeye, but unless the Wild Salmon People supportJustice Cohen as much as possible we will never learn how much disease Frasersockeye are exposed to after they leave the river and run the gauntlet ofNorwegian salmon feedlots.” 

Anissa Reed of Ocean Aura, who is travelling with her 9-year daughterFreyja, said:

“Travelling the Fraser watershed and meeting the people who protect wildsalmon - people who are really standing guard over these areas where the salmoncome to die – opens our eyes to how First Nations treat these spawning groundsas sacred for the next ones to begin life.  The Wild Salmon People have honoured us and our journey toshare this message with you, with feasts and song, with moosehide moccasins,with hugs and thanks, places to sleep and gifts of money to carry on.  For that I give thanks.  I give thanks to the salmon and toeveryone who is taking action to protect our sacred headwaters.”

Earlier this week, Alexandra Morton visited Fraser Lake andStuart Lake where she met with representatives of the Stellat’en, NadlehWhut’en, Nakazdli and Tl’azt’enFirst Nations.  The Fraser Rivertour includes meetings with First Nations and other communities, visits tosockeye spawning grounds, walks and paddles.   

The Fraser River tour is a prelude to the Paddle for Wild Salmon which leaves Hopeon 20^th October.  InMay, thousands massed on the lawn of the Legislature in Victoria for a rally atthe end of a 500 km ‘Get Out Migration’ down Vancouver Island.  Following the Paddle for Wild Salmonthe Wild Salmon People will gather in Vancouver for a flotilla, march and rallyon 25^th October – bringing the message that we want ‘Justice forWild Salmon’ to the opening of the Cohen Commission. 

Follow the journey at Alexandra’s blog: http://alexandramorton.typepad.com/

Formore details of ‘The Paddle for Wild Salmon’ please visit: http://www.salmonaresacred.org/paddle-wild-salmon

For more details on the Wild Salmon People pleasevisit: www.wildsalmonpeople.ca