Went down to Cinecenta at the University of Victoria to see the film, and hear from film maker, Twyla Roscovich and scientist/activist, Alexandra Morton. The audio quality of the Q/A is not great, but Twyla and Chris Genovali's remarks before the screening are clear. The blurb below is from the film's website: http://salmonconfidential.ca/ - ape.
Salmon Confidential is a new film on the government cover up of what is killing BC’s wild salmon. When biologist Alexandra Morton discovers BC’s wild salmon are testing positive for dangerous European salmon viruses associated with salmon farming worldwide, a chain of events is set off by government to suppress the findings. Tracking viruses, Morton moves from courtrooms, into British Columbia’s most remote rivers, Vancouver grocery stores and sushi restaurants. The film documents Morton’s journey as she attempts to overcome government and industry roadblocks thrown in her path and works to bring critical information to the public in time to save BC’s wild salmon.
The film provides surprising insight into the inner workings of government agencies, as well as rare footage of the bureaucrats tasked with managing our fish and the safety of our food supply.
Spring has arrived to the Island, and with it a renewed sense of purpose seems evident for those who would defend yet the glorious wild lands and ocean we are blessed to live amidst. Like the perpetual turning of the seasons though, some environmental battles inexorably come round again.
Such is the case with Clayoquot Sound, where years of resistance to forestry and mining abuses prompted international recognition and designation as a UNESCO global Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site, but has still proven insufficient to stem the despoilers, who rising zombie-like from apparent mortal defeat come ever back demanding more.
Clayoquot has already the dubious distinction of possessing the highest concentration of fish feed lots in the province, but that didn't stop Mainstream Canada, a subsidiary of Norwegian fish farm behemoth, Cermaq ASA from asking for another open net-pen operation. And, as they almost invariably do, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans said, "OK!" It's an unwelcome development for locals, who view this operation as more than a fish farm too far.
Steve Lawson is National Coordinator of the First Nations Environment Network of Canada, and is a former board member of both the Canadian Environmental Network and the Marine and Terrestrial Committees of the Clayoquot Biosphere Reserve. He has lived most of the last fifty years on an island off Tofino; working as a fisher, tour boat skipper, and boat builder and designer among other things. Steve says he's; "...dedicated much of my life here on the coast to protecting old growth forests, wild salmon and other life and have tried to bring forward the understanding of nature and the traditional connections in order to promote the common good for all our relations."
Steve Lawson in the first half.
And; April Fools Day marks the opening of British Columbia's Grizzly hunt in the Great Bear Rainforest. Kiff Archer and Jason Moody live within the Great Bear, located along the mid-coast of BC, and they're both with the newly formed, Central Coast Grizzly Patrol. They were here at the start of last Fall's hunting season to talk about the beginning of the Coastal First Nations Coalition and its unilaterally declared ban on trophy hunting within their collective territories. The provincial government however neither recognizes the authority of the First Nations to do this, nor honours their demand for a ban on the hunt.
Kiff Archer and Jason Moody still standing tall in defense of the bears and other "trophy" targets in the Great Bear Rainforest in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us newz from our city's streets and beyond. But first, Steve Lawson and new battle lines being drawn in Clayoquot.
I just signed the petition "The Government of British Columbia: Decline SIA's permit to dump contaminated soil in Shawnigan Lake" on Change.org.
It's important. Will you sign it too? Here's the link:
http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/the-government-of-british-columbia-decline-sia-s-permit-to-dump-contaminated-soil-in-shawnigan-lake
Thanks!
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
It's said; "March comes in like a lion..." and from Ireland to Norway to Vancouver the month begins with the 'March for Wild Salmon,' an international link-up of citizens', environmental, and indigenous groups roaring its determination to halt the spread of the transglobal fish farming industry.
Vancouver's mobilization is led by the Indigenous Salmon Defenders, kicking off a month-long campaign consisting of a series of events, culminating on the final day of March with a global vigil for wild salmon. The timing is no accident, as the coming Spring is the most crucial moment for the next generation of salmon smolt, who must transit a veritable gauntlet of disease-ridden, sea lice spawning fish feedlots dotting their migratory route to the open ocean.
Dawn Morrison is founder of the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Network, a group formed in conjunction with the BC Food Systems Network. She also coordinates the Vancouver Native Health Society's Urban Aboriginal Gardens and Kitchen Project. Morrison is too a leader for Indigenous community engagement in association with the BC Bioregional Food Assistance Planning Project, and she'll be at the head of the March for Wild Salmon. She says the message is simple: “Stop Norwegian Fish Farms from Killing Wild Salmon!”
Dawn Morrison in the first half.
And; fully three years since the great earthquake that destroyed much of Haiti's capital, Port au Prince thousands still remain homeless, jobless, and dependent on foreign aid - such as it is - to survive.The usual, and suspect, agencies are all represented in Haiti, chiefly among them being the United Nations' Minustah, or "stabilization mission."
It's long been believed in the country, it was Nepalese soldiers seconded to Minustah who introduced cholera into the water supply downstream of their base, setting off an epidemic so far credited with killing at least 8,000 Haitians, and sickening many hundreds of thousands more. Though the provenance of the outbreak was obvious, the United Nations has steadfastly denied responsibility. Investigations began, eventually finding, fully two and a half years after the fact, the UN's troopers were indeed the source of the disaster.
Last week, claims for compensation, duly filed by the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, or IJDH on behalf of the those afflicted, were rejected out of hand by the UN, with that organization's number one, Ban Ki-moon expressing "profound sympathy" for the suffering caused by the worst outbreak of its kind in the world today, while refusing to accept responsibility for it.
Brian Concannon Jr. is Director for the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti, and he joins us from Boston with reaction to the UN's decision in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us news from our city's streetz, and beyond. But first, Dawn Morrison and a month of Marching for the Wild Salmon.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
This week: Much has been written about the demise of Canada's fisheries, on both coasts. Accusations of gross incompetence on the part of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, greed on the part of local fishers and canneries, and foreign over-fishing are all cited as reasons contributing to the crash of the cod down East. A familiar, confused casting of blame exists here too to explain away the fading of the Pacific salmon and herring.
While not precluding the role rampant corporate greed, or the insurmountable ignorance and consistent incompetence of the DFO has played, long-time West Coast marine research scientist and ecology defender, Alexandra Morton wants to make one thing perfectly clear: The undoing of the Pacific wild salmon was no mistake. In her recent article, 'Salmon Feedlots - this was not a mistake,' Morton revisits the chronicles of the wild salmon's betrayal kept by the United Fisherman’s and Allied Workers Union in their newspaper, 'The Fisherman.'
What's revealed there is a corporate and government conspiracy amounting to a genus-cide and undoing of a way of life for both First Nations and settler fishing communities dependent on salmon, and an infinitely greater crime committed against an entire ecosystem.
Alexandra Morton in the first half.
And; Israel held elections last week. The results surprised many, but more surprising yet perhaps is analysis of what the elections mean for Israel's, and the Middle East's future. Jon Elmer is a Canadian freelance photo-journalist who has lived in and reported from Occupied Palestine for more than a decade. His work appears at Al Jazeera, the Inter Press Service, and Electronic Intifada among others. He's also appeared in myriad magazines and contributed chapters to several books covering the middle east.
Jon Elmer and what future for Israel/Palestine in the second half.
And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV Radio broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with what's going on on the streets of our city and beyond. But first, Alexandra Morton and the Great Fish Lot Plot's killing of the ocean commons in Canada.
Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://gorillaradioblog.blogspot.ca/
Nikolas Barry-Shaw is a Montreal-based independent researcher affiliated with the Canada-Haiti Action Network, who has spent more than three and a half years digging into the actions of Canadian NGO's operating in Haiti and elsewhere. The fruit of that research is the newly released book, 'Paved with Good Intentions: Canada's development NGO's from idealism to imperialism.' Testing just how "non-governmental" these NGO's are, 'Paved with Good Intentions' also begs the question: "Just who benefits most Canadian NGO ministrations?" Nik is also finishing his post-graduate studies at McGill and finds himself in the middle of Quebec's student uprising, or the "Maple Spring." Nikolas Barry-Shaw in the first half. And; two weeks ago, Mainstream, one of the largest fish farm operators in B.C. waters, reported a mass outbreak of infectious haematopoietic necrosis, or (IHN) at one of their operations in Clayoquot Sound. It is a disaster necessitating the destruction of thousands upon thousands of infected, and possibly infected, fish and another in a growing list of disasters for the fish farming industry as a whole. Alexandra Morton is founder of the Raincoast Research Society, Director of the Salmon Coast Field Station, and co-founder of the activist organization, Salmon are Sacred. She is famously based in the Broughton archipelago, where her studies of Orca, Salmon and other fish have advanced human knowledge of the iconic West Coast species for decades. Among her many awards, she was named Conservationist of the Year by the BC Wildlife Federation. Alexandra Morton and British Columbia waking to the fish farm nightmare in the second half. And; Victoria Street Newz publisher and CFUV broadcaster, Janine Bandcroft will join us at the bottom of the hour to bring us newz from our city's streets and beyond. But first, Printemps in Montreal with Nikolas Barry-Shaw, and; following the NGO road, paved with good intentions. Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca. He also serves as a contributing editor to the web news site, http://www.pacificfreepress.com. Check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com
G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in corporate and state media. Gorilla Radio airs live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 102FM, 104.3 cable, and on t
2013-04-24
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