We arrived in
Kitimat on Friday to sunny blue skies and warm weather for the Solidarity of Nations Feast hosted by the
Haisla of
Kitamaat and the
Gitga'at of Hartley Bay. This feast brought people from all over coastal and interior BC to show their support of the coast and to show opposition to the proposed Northern Gateway Project. This project would bring tar sands oil from Alberta along a 1200km pipeline to
Kitimat where the oil would be transported to 225 oil tankers per year that would transport it through the
GreatBear Rainforest and out past Haida
Gwaii on it's way to Asia. The feast began on Saturday morning at 9:00am. Gerald Amos, organizer, asked me to paddle my
standup board into the
Haisla village so they could ceremoniously welcome me and our Standup4Greatbear expedition to start the feast off. We started our expedition in
Kitamaat on May 8th and this would be bringing it full circle. A very large crowd gathered to welcome me in with chief counsellor Dolores Pollard and her dance crew singing as i made my way to the dock. Dolores was there to send us off on the 8th and to bless us with her incredible songs that would carry us over the next two weeks. Her song, We Don't Need
Enbridge on the Douglas, was the theme song that we sang all the way to Bella Bella. The welcoming was incredible and a little overwhelming. So many people were there to support and offer congratulations. From there we went to the feast hall to listen to a number of guests speakers that would talk about the importance of the
GreatBear Rainforest and the traditional territories and food harvesting areas of the coastal First Nations. All were in full 100% support of not having oil tankers on our coast. There were people from Prince George to Prince Rupert and from Alaska to Bella Bella there to support. Close to a 1000 people attended. Chiefs from various nations spoke, dance groups performed throughout the day and evening and presentations were done by whale researcher Hermann
Meunter, local politicians, Dr. Riki
Ott who was there from day 1 of the Exxon Valdez spill and just recently arrived from the Gulf disaster, and the highlight for most people was listening to David Suzuki. People were excited to listen to my presentation of the Standup4Greatbear expedition. The dinner we had showcased almost every traditional food that could be found on the coast including crabs, cockles, herring eggs, seaweed, sea cucumber, salmon, seal and halibut. The feast went on all day and into the evening and ended around 10pm. The highlight for our expedition was being called onto the stage to sing our song, We don't need
Enbridge on the Douglas, with Dolores Pollard and her singers and dancers. Brian, Shannon and I stood hand in hand as we did our best to represent ourselves through song. The First Nations dancers and singers were so powerful in song and unity. I find it hard to think that
Enbridge could challenge the power of the people that were there but i am sure they will try. Two days prior to the feast they submitted their environmental proposal for review.
I have to say thank you to all of the amazing people of the coast that were there and that supported our expedition. My condolences go out to the people of
Klemtu who couldn't be there due to a death in the community hours before they were set to leave. Our journey will continue together. It was an incredibly powerful and emotional weekend that highlighted the unity of the people.
