In 2009, The Cohen inquiry into the decline of Fraser River sockeye made 75 recommendations to the federal department of fisheries (DFO).
Most haven’t been implemented, says Watershed Watch. Salmon are still in steep decline.
The problem is contamination from sewage, industrial toxins, pesticides.
Katzie First Nations (FN) elder Rick Bailey has a suggestion to improve the river’s health. He says the Fraser needs the legal protections we give people.
“It’s hard to hurt something you think of as your matriarch, your grandmother,” Bailey says.
“I was taught everything has a spirit. Rocks, water, salmon, they’re our ancestors. Each of us is responsible for their well-being.”
There are precedents for river personhood, notes Bailey.
The Whanganui has spiritual significance to the Maori of New Zealand. In 2017, the government guaranteed it “the rights, duties, and responsibilities of a legal person.”
Today, it’s defended by two officials, one Maori, the other government.
In 2017, The Magpie River in Quebec, won person rights through the combined efforts of indigenous groups, environmentalists, and local communities, determined to protect it from harmful development forever. Today, the Magpie has “the right to live, flow, be preserved, and take legal action when threatened by industrial projects.”
Bailey believes the Fraser’s survival begins with greater public awareness and individual commitment to action.
Six years ago, Simon Fraser professor Cher Hill heard him talk at SFU about the river and his salmon family.
“I felt the same way he did,” Hill says. “I asked him what we could do together.”
Since then, Hill says they've collaborated with KEEPS, ARMS, Watershed Watch, Metro Vancouver Parks, and 23 schools to support eight creek clean-ups, and plant 2,496 trees.
“I tell kids that planting one tree near a stream will help keep the water from warming up,” says Bailey.
On Oct. 24, Hill and Bailey co-hosted "The River Knows What It Needs: Our Responsibility for the Fraser," a forum in the Katzie Community Centre.
The gathering, introduced by Katzie elders, was attended by DFO personnel, MLA Finn Donnelly, ecologist Craig Orr, SFU faculty who shared data of negative impacts on the river, and members of the public who have spoken up for the Fraser’s protection.
All were introduced to a 74-page booklet produced by the Lower Fraser Fisheries Alliance (LFFA).
Bailey says the LFFA met with elders from Yale to the river’s mouth for input.
The resulting booklet, Revitalizing Indigenous Law, identifies FN principles, decision making, responsibilities, and rights and standards for clean water and “habitat for all living beings to survive.”
Unlike colonial law that relies on punishment, RELAW teaches the “natural, spiritual and human consequences” of not respecting the Fraser.
(RELAW) identifies FN principles, decision making, responsibilities, and “habitat for all living beings to survive,” and teaches the “natural, spiritual, and human consequences” of not respecting the Fraser.
This philosophy deserves a seat in legal decision-making.
In Why Manners Matter, Lucinda Holdforth says the more we respect others, the less we need legislation. How much healthier might the Fraser be if we volunteered respect?
As for Canadian law alone? The Harper government (2006-2015) eliminated Fish Act prohibitions (HADDS) against dumping deleterious substances into waterways, redefined fish-bearing streams as “ditches,” and renamed lakes as schedule 2 to contain mining effluent.
In 1926, a dam ended the migration of six species of salmon into Alouette Lake. Government and BC Hydro have not funded a fish way above it, a small measure of respect.
And as for salmon once reared in Katzie Slough, a culturally sensitive FN waterway, today there isn’t enough oxygen there to sustain them.
That’s legal?
LFFA director Murry Ned says, “Political and management decisions based on commercial needs are regularly in conflict with conditions needed for fish. The RELAW project captures our inherent laws and principles in a way that can play a key role of our governance processes along commercial and government bodies.”
This fall, Bailey held a salmon ceremony in Widgeon Slough, the first allowed by the DFO in decades. This Fraser tributary is home to sturgeon, salmon, trout, and wapato – a FN potato.
The Pacific Salmon Commission, Bailey says, reluctantly conceded one sockeye for the event.
“We all ate a small piece of the sockeye. And then, I returned the bones to the river so they will always return.”
Hill thinks government will act if enough of us demand more respect for the natural world.
“It’s the work of educators to help people understand the issues. Many people will say, 'I had no idea that this was happening to the Fraser.' After that they’ll say, 'What can I do to help?"
– Jack Emberly is a retired teacher, local author, and environmentalist
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