alexandra morton - report from the hearings --

alexandra morton
People of this coast think it is important to communicate with the Norwegian delegation visiting BC and so we are taking this opportunity wherever we can. Yesterday Sabra Woodward and Elena Edwards met the Norwegian Parliamentarians in Victoria as they walked from the Empress Hotel to the Royal Museum handing them the letter below this blog. They said the delegates were eager to communicate and asked questions. I joined a group of people today prepared to greet the delegation as they boarded the ferry and ride with them to Quadra Island.
....While we were doing the best we could to communicate Chief Bob Chamberlin, who was not invited to this meeting between First Nations and the Norwegian government did not let that stop him. Chief Chamberlin went in and sat with the president of the Storting and Saami leadership. I wish his village of Gwayasdums could see how they were represented this day. Chief Chamberlin has filed a Class Action Suit against the Norwegian fish feedlot industry.
As Geoff Gerhart and I got on the ferry to return to Quadra Island, a woman in a pickup flipped us the bird. She was likely employed by the feedlot salmon industry. I am sure she saw us as a threat to her livelihood and I can understand that, but her comment was that Americans fund us. To this woman I say – whoever is telling you this, is lying to you. Americans do not fund us. We are people taking a stand for wild salmon, because we believe they are important. No one is paying us to do this, no one can pay us to stop. We are people from towns failing under the globalized economy; we are people who care about the future of all living things that come after us. We are so low on funds, some of us hitch-hiked to be here today. We are single moms, people in wheelchairs, fishermen. You can disagree with us, but do not allow these corporations to pit us against each other with lies.