Saying ‘yes’ to wild salmon and a clean energy future – and saying ‘no’ to Christy Clark
January 25, 2016
For Immediate Release
Northern First Nations and community leaders have categorically rejected Premier Christy Clark’s paternalistic characterization of this weekend’s Lelu Island Declaration as being the work of what she has labeled the “Forces of No.”
“The Premier is right about one thing, and only one thing – we are a force, a growing force, and we are a force to be reckoned with,” said Des Nobels, long-time North Coast fisherman, co-chair of the historic Salmon Nation Summit, and an elected municipal leader with the Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District. “If she thinks she can just come up here and destroy critical salmon habitat, to threaten the very basis of an economy that has shaped our culture and sustained our families for untold generations, well, of course we say ‘no’ to that.”
Nobels was reacting to Clark’s dismissal Monday of the widely supported Lelu Island Declaration, which called permanent protection of Lelu Island as well as and Flora and Agnew Banks near the mouth of the Skeena River.
“What we say ‘yes’ to is to wild salmon, to real respect for Aboriginal rights and title, and to a green economy in the north that will be a model for how British Columbia can lead a global transition to a fossil-fuel-free future,” Nobels said. “Clark wants to blame us for trying to halt Petronas in its tracks. Actually, it is her utter lack of respect for us, for our Indigenous peoples, for our laws, and for wild salmon that has placed this project on death row – not us. And make no mistake, this project will not proceed,” Nobels said.
Gerald Amos, Chairperson of Friends of Wild Salmon, and Aboriginal co – chair of the Summit added: “Christy Clark should read the declaration. What we are for is protecting one of the most unique and precious places on the BC coast for all Canadians. What we are for is respecting regional economies built on the health of Wild Salmon. What we are for is our children and grandchildren having the opportunity to enjoy the very thing that has sustained us as peoples for untold generations.” Amos added “In 40 years of being a FN leader and conservation leader in the north this is one of the most paternalistic and ill formed comments I have heard. If she actually cared about our people, if she cared about our environment, and if she was serious about working to design an economy for all our futures, she would actually sign the declaration herself.”
Chief Glen Williams, President of the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs Office confirmed Monday that the Gitanyow First Nation will be signing the Lelu Island Declaration. He said, “This project (Petronas) would have enormous impacts. Our scientists have confirmed this part of the Skeena Estuary is 25 times more important to our salmon as anywhere else on the Skeena estuary. This project was sited on Lelu Island absent of any consultations with us. Christy Clark should be aware that this is illegal in Canada, and the fact this project is collapsing before her eyes is a consequence of her government’s broken promises and broken policies. We will protect our food.”
Dr. Jonathan Moore, Chair of Coastal Science and Management at Simon Fraser University, and one of Canada’s preeminent experts on salmon ecology, said in response to Christy Clarks views on science “ Historic and recent scientific research has consistently found that the Flora Bank region is exceptionally important to young salmon from throughout the Skeena Watershed. Industrial development in this location, such as that proposed by PNW LNG, poses particularly high risks to salmon and the fisheries that they support." Dr. Moore has been working on Flora Bank with a team of scientists for three years, and his work on Flora Bank was peer reviewed and published in the Journal of Science, the world’s preeminent journal of science.
For more information contact:
Jonathan Moore – 604-779-5523
Gerald Amos – 250-632-1521
Des Nobels – 250-627-1859
Glen Williams – 250-615-9597