[news] Surviving Canada: June 30: Lax Kw'alaams

[Resist!ca]

Macdonald Stainsby | Surviving Canada The village of Lax Kw'alaams, officially a reserve and still usually referred to as Port Simpson, is a short floatplane ride or ferry trip from Prince Rupert. This band of the Tsimshian Nation have settled here on and off for tens of thousands of years, living off of Pacific Ocean fishing--salmon (spring, pink, coho and sockeye), halibut and north up the coast, oolichan-- along with some hunting, on the central west coast of what is today known as British Columbia. A visitor will notice immediately the large number of eagles, hawks and equally powerful crows everywhere along the water. They fly in and around the area called Rose Island where they nest, as majestic as they have ever been. The eagles and hawks may not be here much longer; their diet consists strongly of various fish--fish that have been nearly wiped out. This lack of fish threatens more than these birds; the whole Nation is threatened.

URL: http://resist.ca/story/2005/7/8/201717/0577